Game Development Giant

Jester was thinking about how to talk to John Carmack.

Carmack saw Jester walking towards him, he also greeted Jester, and then said impatiently: I was just testing it just now, it was not my best result. It seems that he is I want to explain that the reason why he ran so slowly in the last lap was just because he didn't run with all his strength, not because he could only run so slowly.

But everyone has had some time to adapt to these competition cars. Logically speaking, Carmack's excuse is not very convincing.

But Jester came to him not to discuss how to make Mitsubishi's sports car beat Ferrari's lap speed, but to talk to him about virtual reality. As for Jester, he didn't. There is a way to allow a technical genius to transform in the direction he wants, but he can tell the other party about things that the other party may be interested in.

Only if enough interest is generated can he conduct further in-depth research in this area in the future.

Just like the reason why Carmack made a 3D engine is not because the 3D engine can make a lot of money, but because he feels that making this thing is a recognition of his extraordinary programming skills. He can complete other tasks by himself. A team of more than a dozen people cannot complete the work.

But such people always have a common problem, that is, when the thing they are interested in is out of their control, or to put it more accurately, when the thing they are interested in is them and they If the individual's ability is unable to complete the task within the appropriate time and maintain first-class quality, they will quickly lose interest in the matter.

This kind of person seems to be self-centered, similar to patients in the late second stage of middle school, but they are indeed proud of their own areas of expertise.

Current 3D engine development. There are already signs of this. Generally speaking, some 3D engines are far inferior to the 3D engines currently used in Quake. Development teams of several people from other game companies can complete such an engine. For Carmack, it takes a week. , one person is enough, but some advanced ones, such as those big game companies, invest a lot of manpower. The most outstanding 3D engine developed with material resources.

For Carmack, it has become very difficult to develop one of the same level.

However, for the brand-new engine that he is currently developing, which will be used in the next generation of Quake, it has completely exceeded the level that he can complete alone, not because it is too difficult, but because it is too difficult. Carmack had no choice but to lead a few assistants to complete the engine they originally conceived within a suitable time.

Engines are becoming more and more complex.

From the very beginning it was just about processing some 3D images. The functions are becoming more and more complex and powerful.

For example, the real-time weather system proposed by Jester in the ‘Era’ project. For example, the full-reflective visual interactive entertainment proposed by Jester still has very high requirements for the engine.

Carmack wanted the engine to achieve this effect under suitable hardware conditions. It also took a lot of attempts. According to Carmack himself, this was almost the most difficult and difficult thing he had ever encountered since he started programming. At that time, Jester asked Carmack to help complete the game. Function can also be said to be the most important element of a sandbox game.

There are also many worries, that is, there is no way to achieve this kind of full visual response entertainment under the current hardware conditions.

The so-called full visual response entertainment is very common in later generations of games. Players can interact with everything they see in the game, whether it is people, animals or other things.

For example, all people can have conversations, and these people may make corresponding changes as time changes. Another example, if you see a drawer in the game, the drawer can be opened. If there is a Mars in the drawer, An entertainment gameboy. There is a game on this gameboy, which is American Cube. Then, this player can interact with this gameboy.

The interaction is that he can play the games on this gameboy.

In Jester's memory, Suzuki Yu's original Shenmue is like this. In this game, the starting point of the protagonist is Yokosuka. In the arcade of this place, the protagonist can enter and follow the arcade. All the arcade games in it are interactive. These arcade games were also developed by Sega before. This setting also allows many Sega fans to play these very sentimental old streets when playing Shenmue. If you have a chance, you will also smile knowingly.

Then I will also praise, this setting is really amazing.

Of course, because Jester's sandbox game is set in ancient times, there is no need to include these arcade games of his own. Otherwise, doing so would be a really good idea, just like Like Yakuza 0, which was highly rated later, in Jester's memory, because this Yakuza series was the first Chinese version of Yakuza in Sega's history, domestic players bought it very much.

The sales volume of the Chinese version is also very surprising.

Even not long after its release, because the sales of the Chinese version were so unexpected, Sega officials, including Nobuyoshi Nagoshi, the producer of the Yakuza series, personally came out to announce the unexpected life.

At the later Tokyo Show, that is, at the TGs, Sega announced the latest work in the Like a Dragon series, for example, the first HD reset of Like a Dragon, and completed some of the features in the original Like a Dragon 1, some of the things that were not explained clearly were renamed as Yakuza Ji. Another example is the orthodox sequel Yakuza 6.

Both works, Minhiro Nagoshi, personally announced that both will have Chinese subtitles.

Even when Nagoshi Nohiro was interviewed by domestic media later, he was happy to share with the media that the sales of the Chinese version of Yakuza 0 were two to three times higher than their best expected sales, although Minhiro Nagoshi did not say clearly what the specific sales volume was, but some good people did their own statistics and came up with a figure of about 150,000 to 200,000 sets.

You know, the total sales of the entire Yakuza 0 may only be 600,000 units.

certainly. This number is already very good. After all, for Minhiro Nagoshi, the cost for them to make Yakuza 0 is negligible. The modeling can be used in the past. They only need to find someone to complete an excellent script and then find some actresses. Just voice some of the female characters in it.

The worst part is that even the dubbing is optional.

Although from a design point of view, this game is relatively stingy and the map is small. You can't run around, you can't drive... There are almost countless shortcomings, but I have to admit that this is really an excellent game.

Jester remembered that he once recommended this game to his friend. His friend was originally not interested in this type of game. As for the reasons, one was that he had not played the previous games in this series before, and the other was that he was not interested in Japan. The gangster theme is not very popular either...

However, under Jester's strong recommendation, his friend still got a share.

This friend of his. After playing it, I found that the plot of the gangster was surprisingly interesting. The game's style of solving problems with money and fists is a bit addictive...

In addition to the plot of the game, some mini-games built into Yakuza also made Jester's friends shine. The games include business games, gambling games, music games, sports games, etc. You can even start these mini-games directly on the main game interface. These mini-games are made with great care and are very time-consuming to play.

Basically, just play into it. Hundreds of hours can't be taken away.

After Jester knew about it, he also considered the reasons at that time, and then he thought about it deeply. In fact, not only Yakuza, many excellent games will come with some interesting mini-games. Some mini-games are not just icing on the cake, but some have also become iconic elements of the game itself.

In fact, this kind of setting is also found in domestic games. For example, in Legend of Martial Arts of the Heluo Trilogy, there are very interesting mini-games, including their reset after more than ten years. Version, The Legend of Knights also inherited this very well. At least when Jester was playing mining, clicking on treasure chests was very addictive.

As the originator of this kind of setting, Sega is even more comfortable in setting up this kind of small game, and even feels a bit unique.

For example, in Yakuza 0, the number of mini-games is really scary. From phone hookups, women's wrestling, disco, karaoke, four-wheel drive, shogi, mahjong, darts, bowling, baseball, billiards, fishing, doll catching, casinos, and the older generation Sega Center, it can be said that it has everything, not to mention real-life actresses To develop something... some mini-games really make people forget what the game itself is.

Very addictive.

One of the ingenious features of Yakuza's game design is that it integrates so many types of mini-games into the fictional world of Yakuza. This design gives the game a deeper sense of immersion. When players walk in Kamurocho and see the rich game venues on the street, these scenes are no longer stickers, but real entertainment venues.

After entering the scene, we can play mini-games. These game methods can be said to be some of the popular things in Japan at that time, such as disco and karaoke in the karaoke hall. These are rhythm music games; there are also gambling, cat fighting and women's wrestling. It is similar to gambling on boxing, but the rock-paper-scissors moves and confrontations in each game can increase the winning rate to a certain extent; Shogi is a simple dice-throwing game. 4 people throw 3 dices respectively, and 2 of them have the same number. The number on the remaining dice represents the size of your bet, and this size is used to determine the outcome; you can also play mahjong in Yakuza 0, and the rules are the traditional Japanese mahjong playing methods. Players who have only played national mahjong can still Gotta know the rules a little bit.

Of course, Yakuza 0 is a restricted game with an 18-ban limit, and some sexy mini-games are also very good...

In the game, you can run a karaoke club store. The goal is to become the number one store in the region. The total number of reception girls can reach 30. You can cultivate girls with rich personalities and have a sense of accomplishment!

There is even a dating mini game in the game... The gameplay is to chat with some girls on the phone, and then identify the photos, names and voices. The rules are very simple. This mini game fits well with the overall style of Yakuza. Very high, the sense of substitution is very high! As a gangster, it's normal to pick up girls on the phone!

In addition to these high-quality mini-games, Yakuza also has some spoof-style mini-games, such as four-wheel drive...

The 4x4 game is a form of development gameplay such as collecting accessories. After collecting more advanced equipment, you can participate in various levels of conferences and 4x4 warrior challenges. There is also a Sega Game Center in the city, which includes some old Sega arcade machines. Games and claw machines…

But Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima played by the player are people of the right kind! Their fists are stained with other people's blood! Why are they trying to catch cute dolls! Why do they want to race four-wheel drive vehicles with others! Why do they still act so upright! I even yelled while playing - Cyclone Charge Tornado! ! !

But later Jester couldn't understand it and stopped thinking about it. This sense of dissonance and cute contrast really made many people fall in love with this game.

Of course, when it comes to embedding games in games, there is another game that must be mentioned.

That's Gwent 3...oh, no, it's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Of course, this is a game that can be praised with any kind of praise. The persistent Polish jackasses...ah, it's not like the Poles have finally developed what they set out to do with this series, to make the best game ever. rpg.

The Witcher 3 also deserves this title.

Of course, what we are talking about here is a very interesting card game in it - Gwent. With the great success of The Witcher 3, Gwent has become more and more famous and has almost become a symbol of this masterpiece. Gwent 3 is not something to talk about casually, it even seems to overshadow the show. Of course, this is a joke, but - boy, let’s play Gwent!

In Jester's memory, after the release of The Witcher 3, countless people have been brainwashed by this sentence. It can be summarized in this sentence - if you have played The Witcher 3, you must know its position in the game. If you haven’t played it, half of the titles of countless game forums, game media, and game review posts at that time were “Gwent Card 3” to represent a certain game. Even if you don’t play it, you can almost get an idea of ​​it.

Some players even jokingly called this 3a masterpiece: Gwent 3 - buy Gwent and get a 3a masterpiece... (To be continued...)