The true flourishing of this type of game can perhaps be traced back to a 1994 DOS title.
Worms, developed by Team17
Team17 can be considered a prominent figure in the video game industry.
They started as a publisher in Britain and built their own development team.
In just a few years, it rapidly expanded into a leading company.
With a portfolio of hit titles, it has become a significant publisher and developer on the Amiga platform.
As for Worms —players from the mysterious Eastern forces are probably more familiar with another IP derived from it.
DDTank
Regardless, these cases are enough to prove that artillery games always have their own market.
At the same time, it also possesses the key qualities to be a launch title for NovaSwift.
Simple! Direct! Awesome!
The game's WYSIWYG design stems entirely from instinctive, simple controls, aided by a physics engine.
All of these factors combined create a great game that even an 80-year-old can instantly enjoy.
"There have been a lot of hardcore games lately, it's time to switch things up with something more refreshing."
Lin Lixin grinned.
As the saying goes, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
This statement perhaps best encapsulates the key to what makes these types of games so captivating.
"Hey Sam, here, I just made this on the spot."
Lin Lixin pulled a slingshot from his pocket, tossed it to Sam, and then continued, "Artillery games aren't new, but if we want to do them well, we still need to take them seriously and give it our all."
"Like ' Hill Climb Racing,' what we need is to subtract, to subtract a lot!"
The simpler and purer it is, the more captivating it becomes.
Sometimes, a simple, repetitive action can be addictive in itself.
He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Sam, who was sitting to one side, seemingly lost in thought.
This guy is unconsciously pulling the slingshot in his hand and firing it without any feedback.
Judging from his eyes, he's already completely lost in thought.
With just a slingshot, without even needing to prepare any projectiles, you can easily smooth out the wrinkles in a person's brain.
In fact, the stress-relieving toys that become popular every now and then in later generations are pretty much the same thing.
Whether it's a fidget spinner, fidget blocks, or a card pusher, the underlying logic is the same.
Video games have a huge advantage over these stress-relieving toys.
Dynamic goals and challenges.
In other words, they had already thoroughly grasped the flow theory back in the " Hill Climb Racing " era.
"But—why a slingshot?"
Will looked at the bouncy bow in Sam's hand, somewhat puzzled.
Based on their capabilities, they should theoretically be able to create the world's most advanced ballistic calculation simulator.
"If it's ballistic simulation, wouldn't it be better to make tanks or even warships?"
Imagine players piloting a heavily fortified battleship across the seas.
Players must actively calculate parameters such as ballistic angle, propellant type, and launch distance.
The two fleets then exchanged fire.
Just thinking about it is so exciting!
However, Lin Lixin actually planned to turn it into a bouncy bow!
Who can hold back like this?
"Battleships—I do have that idea, but the current technology isn't mature enough. I think we'll definitely make one when the 3D revolution truly arrives."
Lin Lixin laughed heartily.
He's familiar with this; it's like making slop poop—something he'll definitely have to do sooner or later.
However, NovaSwift is simply not a machine with that kind of personality.
Different gameplay styles and themes should be chosen to cater to different player groups.
He recalled a quote from Jaakko, the creator of Angry Birds, during an interview. "The only thing that can make players immediately understand how to play is the slingshot."
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In the original version, Angry Birds actually had nothing to do with slingshots at all.
But when producer Jaakko showed it to his friends to try, none of them had any idea how to play it.
This situation is undoubtedly fatal for a casual game.
Keep in mind that this was in 2009, when touchscreens and smartphones were already widespread; it was truly unacceptable that this situation occurred.
So Jaakko began to try various different methods.
The answer that ultimately stood out was the slingshot.
An instinct etched into the human genome.
"NovaSwift targets players of all ages, and what we need is a design that players of different cultures and ages around the world can understand at a glance."
Lin Lixin reached out and snatched the slingshot from Sam's hand. "It's such a little thing, tell me, who could resist pulling it a couple of times?"
Third floor, hardware department.
Lin Lixin and Gerald conducted a simple verification of the technologies needed for the project.
The result was naturally without any problems.
The persistence of analog signals has once again proven its significance.
"On another note,"
After briefly understanding Lin Lixin's idea, Gerald had another solution in mind. "Lin, have you ever thought about whether we could try making a touch screen?"
Touchscreen?
"Yes, actually I wanted to talk about this when I was making ' Cut the Rope '."
Gerald nodded and flipped a palm-sized, semi-transparent panel from the table.
Two ribbon cables extend from one side of the panel.
With Lin Lixin's keen eye, he could recognize what it was at a glance.
Resistive touchscreens are a technology that was invented as early as 1971.
This hardware technology determines the click location by pressing two conductive films into contact and then detecting changes in resistance.
"Touchscreen" is not a new concept.
Perhaps ever since the invention of the screen, everyone has been thinking about this.
If we could interact with the screen simply by tapping it, wouldn't that be incredibly awesome?
While keyboards are powerful, they are not flexible enough.
While the mouse is flexible, it doesn't always provide a WYSIWYG experience.
The joystick lacks precise positioning.
Every interaction method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Judging from Lin Lixin's eyes, Gerald could tell that he definitely knew what this thing was.
Indium tin oxide (ITO) deposited thin film.
Gerald rubbed the translucent glass plate with his hand.
What reduces its transparency is the thin layer of indium tin oxide deposited on it.
Indium tin oxide, also known as ITO, is a highly transparent and highly conductive n-type oxide semiconductor material.
It is also a core material for optoelectronic components such as displays and touch screens.
Essentially, touch screens achieved a major technological breakthrough more than a decade or two ago, and the necessary technological prerequisites already existed on paper.
But what truly hinders its development is materials science and processing technology.
"Elographics recently built a factory in California, so I stopped by and ordered a few samples."
Gerald handed the touchscreen to Lin Lixin. "What I mean is, have you ever thought about making a touchscreen for the NS?"
Gerald already had a vague feeling about this when " Cut the Rope " came out.
As the head of GAMENOVA's hardware department and one of the core members who had spent the most time with Lin Lixin, Gerald and Lin Lixin had long since developed an unspoken understanding.
Those who work on hardware are far more perceptive of interaction logic than those who are solely responsible for software.
This made him realize a problem that others might not have noticed.
The Cut the Rope project was probably not originally intended for joysticks and buttons.
Although Lin Lixin designed many operational optimizations for it, making the gamepad experience quite smooth.
But for Gerald, the moment he saw the project, a bold idea had already formed in his mind.
Touchscreens—is that even possible?
After this idea came to mind, Gerald went back to look at the interactive elements of Cut the Rope and always felt uncomfortable about them.
It's like----
It's as if Lin Lixin intended to use it for touch screens from the very beginning.
"Hmm? You sensed it? As expected of you."
Lin Lixin raised an eyebrow, surprised by Gerald's keen insight. "That's true, but due to cost and technological maturity considerations, I didn't adopt this plan."
Touchscreens are still a rather immature technology.
Both its durability and clarity are far from ideal.
Lin Lixin looked at the seemingly unremarkable touch panel in his hand.
Judging by visual inspection, the light transmittance is probably less than 70%, it looks hazy.
If you want it to integrate with the screen, this thing needs to be attached to the existing screen of the NS.
The current LCD screens are already less than ideal in terms of color and brightness, and there have been no revolutionary breakthroughs in backlight technology.
If you then stick a semi-transparent board on top, you can forget about seeing anything at all.
"And—is this a resistive touchscreen?"
Lin Lixin carefully inspected its ribbon cable and gained a general understanding of the screen's specifications. "This thing isn't sensitive enough; you have to press it hard to get a response, which makes it very unsuitable for a handheld console."
Resistive touchscreens were the absolute mainstream in the 1980s and 90s, but they were rapidly phased out after the turn of the millennium.
It's simply because this thing is too much trouble to use.
Its design flaws, such as being a finger destroyer and lacking multi-touch support, have made it unsuitable for the needs of modern consumers.
Of course, the biggest influencing factor here was actually a novel idea that one of Lin Lixin's good friends came up with in 2007.
In short, Angry Birds doesn't really require a touchscreen.
Lin Lixin gently placed the touchscreen aside, but then changed the subject, "However, you're right, the development of touchscreens should indeed be put on the agenda. Even if NovaSwift doesn't use it, our next-generation handheld console will definitely use it."
In the upcoming fifth generation, where top players gather, no amount of preparation is excessive.