David, being a seasoned gamer, quickly recovered after a brief moment of surprise.
Optical illusion!
A typical technique for simulating 3D effects in the 2D era.
Because of the rapid advancements in 3D technology these days, David had momentarily forgotten that he could do that.
"This approach is somewhat similar to Sega's OUTRUN arcade racing game."
Last year's arcade game used similar technology to achieve a relatively smooth 3D terrain effect.
Unfortunately, due to Gamenova's great success in the 3D field, its influence was not as great as expected.
However, as a rare 3D title for arcade platforms, OUTRUN still achieved remarkable success in Japan and parts of North America.
"That's right, but instead of using the racing game approach, we'll greatly simplify the controls."
Lin Lixin recalled the development of parkour-style action games, ultimately tracing its origins back to a PS1-era title.
Pepsiman
As its name suggests, this is a promotional game launched in collaboration with Pepsi-Cola.
The main character is a grotesque figure wearing Pepsi classic blue and white Pepsi bodysuit.
Dodge obstacles and collect cola by jumping, dashing, and other actions.
This gameplay seems to be essentially the same as the parkour games that emerged after mobile devices became popular.
This type of gameplay has a very counterintuitive mechanism compared to most games today, and it even goes against the paradigm of game design.
"We've made it so that the character doesn't need to control movement, but can focus on avoiding obstacles and collecting items."
"Ah?"
"Control" has always been a fundamental requirement for players in a game.
Even interactive movie-style visual novels follow this system, giving players sufficient control.
A game can only truly immerse players when their actions are meaningful and when they feel a sense of control over the game.
Otherwise, it would be no different from a movie.
As hardware capabilities have advanced, manufacturers are trying to cram in as many features as possible, making game controls as complex and varied as possible.
Just like in racing games, in the 8-bit era, players could only rigidly and mechanically control the car to switch lanes to avoid obstacles in a certain lane.
However, thanks to the increased capabilities of arcade platforms, games like Outrun were able to implement open-world designs that were unimaginable in the past.
The exhilarating feeling of pushing boundaries when the wheels roll over the lane lines is a unique happiness belonging to these players who have been suppressed by the limitations of the game's features for so long.
Games like " Pepsiman " even have a sprint function, and racing games often feature nitro boosts.
It's fair to say that if a game doesn't make the most of all the buttons on the controller, it's being lazy.
However, Lin Lixin's words simply and directly told David: it's not necessary.
"No need to control movement? What does that mean?"
"It means exactly what it says, keeping the character in a state of automatic forward movement."
Lin Lixin thought for a moment, then simply went back to his computer and continued writing a few more paragraphs.
Thanks to the excellent performance of the N Language compiler, he was able to quickly implement what he wanted to do.
"Look, we've simplified all the game controls to just four directional keys: up, down, left, and right."
As he restarted the game, when Lin Lixin pressed the up key, the block representing the character bounced up and then fell back down.
Although it hasn't been integrated with the physics engine designed by Christopher yet, the animation appears somewhat stiff.
But it's sufficient for demonstration purposes.
Then it moved downwards, and the block was suddenly flattened, as if it had lay down, before quickly springing back.
As for left and right, the effect of turning is simulated by rotating the horizontal line during the fall.
It was simple, but it was enough for David to understand what he meant.
"Incredible!"
David clapped his hands suddenly, "Simplify the complex, return to the basics!"
Simple yet sophisticated, such seemingly simple content often requires designers to invest a great deal of effort in refining it.
This ingenious design perfectly reflects David's own design philosophy.
"I thought you were a component-hoarding fanatic----"
He laughed heartily, and his eyes held a different kind of gleam as he looked at Lin Lixin.
The highest quality of a designer lies in their ability to intricate details within limited functionality and to use ingenuity to provide players with the best possible gaming experience!
"We started out in a rented room, after all."
"So, let's follow the theme of PitfalI!? Moving through the rainforest, collecting treasures? The obstacles will be classic things like crocodile pools and poisonous snakes."
After calming down, David began to further develop the subject matter.
Since it's based on Pitfal!, he naturally found corresponding images for various elements as soon as possible.
"Hmm—I have a better idea."
These types of parkour games share a common characteristic.
Whether it's the police officer relentlessly chasing after them in " Subway Surfers " or the baboons after " Temple Run ".
In these types of games, there's always something chasing after the player, and if caught, it's Game Over.
"Let the sense of crisis come from the feeling of falling behind, rather than from the immediate crisis we see and experience, thus transforming the sense of crisis into psychological fear."
Sometimes, the tension is more frightening than pure jump scares.
The constant threat of the enemy amplifies the potential consequences of mistakes to the player's subconscious.
Moreover, there is an extremely insidious factor involved here—sunk costs.
As players' scores increase and their results approach their limits, even nearing the leaderboard, the consequences of failure become increasingly difficult for them to accept.
In this environment, a seemingly insignificant mistake allows the baboons to catch up a few steps; simply having them peek out from the bottom of the screen is enough to send the player's heart rate soaring to 180.
Who says playing games isn't keeping you healthy? This is so good for aerobics, bro.
"----Goodness."
David briefly simulated the concept proposed by Lin Lixin in his mind, and a strange expression immediately appeared on his face.
That's terrible!
This is scarier than those poorly made horror movies.
"I understand what you mean. A player won't be defeated by a small mistake; instead, it will shorten the distance between the pursuer and the player, right?"
David nodded, then suddenly a thought struck him.
This relatively abstract mechanism reminded him of something more concrete.
"Simply put—it's like a health bar, right?"
"That's true."
"I understand—then let's use ' Raiders of the Lost Ark ' as the model and design the scene as an ancient temple?"
"That's right, this is a good opportunity to test out true 3D models of polygons."
Without the complex rendering required for games like Quake, they could use the freed-up graphics performance elsewhere to create something that looks incredibly impressive in this day and age.
"Hiss... Come to think of it, why did we choose it as a model?"
Lin Lixin suddenly slapped his forehead.
Wasn't the official gamification of Raiders of the Lost Ark made by Howard Warshaw?
Why don't you just go directly to Spielberg and Lucas?