America: The Godfather Game Development, Chapter 443
After a lifetime of reflection, he returns still a youth at heart.
An awkward silence fell over the entire Blizzard Studio.
I thought that after all this training, everyone had grown into capable individuals who could stand on their own.
However, the ending was another slap in the face.
In the end, it all boils down to a flimsy "start over".
It's not much different from the Command & Conquer game.
Mike Morhaime, the "big brother," stood quietly in front of Lin Lixin, his fists unconsciously clenched.
Noticing the change in the atmosphere around him, Lin Lixin realized that he might not have explained himself clearly.
"Oh, don't worry, this RPG has a very good foundation. You can save it for a future project; we'll talk about that then."
Lin Lixin looked at the content on the screen and pondered for a moment.
Frankly speaking, the outsourcing work during this period has been absolutely effective.
Compared to the naive and inexperienced trio who were fresh out of college back then, the current trio is clearly much more mature and composed.
The difference in proficiency with the project is quite noticeable.
This is a purely experiential gap.
The implementation of many functions has evolved from impulsive, guesswork-based approaches to more sophisticated solutions.
The architecture is also very mature.
From any perspective, this RPG game demo is quite good.
But the problem is—this thing has nothing to do with Diablo.
Its visual style is bright and vibrant, with clear outlines and high recognizability.
They had even prepared two initial characters.
A warrior who can slash enemies with a sword and a mage who can unleash fireballs.
The map was temporary, but it's quite well-made and can already be used for basic exploration by players.
As for the combat system—it has some RTS elements, and it seems to be led by the two brothers at Westwood Studios.
This thing—rather than Diablo demo, it made Lin Lixin feel more like a story about a future world engulfed in bloodshed.
The true god of the world.
"Don't completely abandon this project. Archive it properly and continue iterating. You might need it in the future."
"However, that's not quite appropriate for this project. I never said I was going to make an RPG—at least not entirely."
Lin Lixin paused, then looked at Mike and asked, "It's not your fault, I did forget to mention the project's tone. Do you know 'Rogue'?"
"Rogue?"
Mike's eyes widened slightly, then he nodded without hesitation, "Of course I know!"
Rogue, a PC game that was created in 1980, is active in computer circles in various universities.
Thanks to its incredibly catchy design and open-source philosophy of free distribution, Rogue remains a renowned work in the community to this day.
However, this influence is extremely limited.
The PC gaming market is too small; compared to arcades and game consoles, it's more like a niche culture within the geek community.
However, the Blizzard trio happens to be members of this so-called "college geek circle".
"If we examine the underlying design of our project, it leans more towards Rogue than RPG, or rather—Roguelike."
"You mean----"
Mike's mouth opened slightly, as if he understood what Lin Lixin meant.
If there's one revolutionary design element in Rogue, it's undoubtedly the procedural randomization.
In traditional RPG games, there are as many levels as there are designed.
To access more content, you need more storage space and spend more time designing levels.
But Rogue decided to say no to this rule.
It chose a path that was unprecedented, yet has been followed by countless others.
Programmatic generation, also known as random generation.
In Rogue, the map for each game is randomly generated, and the items are also different for each game.
With its permadeath and resource management mechanics, Rogue boasts a replayability level that no other game can match.
This also created a terrible game genre, Roguelike, commonly known as "meat pigeon".
The heartland of indie games, and the secret weapon for grassroots indie developers to break through the competition.
If Lin Lixin wants a Roguelike game based on Rogue, then this game should be----
"Randomly generated level instances?"
"That's right, to be precise, it's a 'dungeon'."
What about the battle?
The two Westwood brothers, who were standing nearby, pressed for an answer.
They care more about the combat aspect than the mechanics design.
After all, they were responsible for the combat system in this demo.
If we were to design it strictly according to Rogue, we would need to create an extremely complex turn-based combat system similar to CRPGs.
The entire Blizzard team had to immediately get moving and reinvent the wheel.
"Combat? Needless to say, it's real-time combat."
Lin Lixin laughed heartily, "Remember, we're just referencing Rogue. What we're making is Roguelite, not Roguelike."
The pigeon was a great pioneer, but that doesn't mean it was perfect.
It's great in every way, but it has one fatal flaw—
It's not fun.
Isn't this utter nonsense?
Its overly anti-human design means it will ultimately remain a niche hobby within the geek community, rather than a truly Volkswagen entertainment product.
The biggest problem, of course, is the lack of visuals.
The entire game screen was limited by the capabilities of PCs at the time, consisting entirely of ASCII characters.
This alone is enough to deter ordinary people who come looking to relax.
This was a common problem in early PC games.
Although gameplay is the most direct determining factor in the quality of a video game.
However, the visuals can determine whether it attracts viewers and whether it can generate player interest.
How many people were deterred from getting into Minecraft because of its early, pixelated textures, thus missing out on this Legend game?
It wasn't until after version 1.14, when the great Mojang art director Jasper Boerstra emerged, that the redrawing of the MC texture pack was officially started.
The softer, more refined materials have indeed lowered the barrier to entry for Minecraft.
The building system, which originally required extensive architectural knowledge to master, has become much easier for beginners with the addition of various new decorative blocks such as peeled spruce, cherry blossom wood, waste rock, calcite, and tuff.
Graphics don't determine the quality of a game, but they are certainly an indispensable element.
The first major problem that Diablo solved was turning those damn characters into actual, visible game graphics.
Rogue's second, more fatal flaw was something Gamenova had already already addressed.
Permanent death.
Once a player dies in Rogue, their character is completely wiped out. No matter how well you've managed your character or how many hours you've spent on it, it all vanishes in an instant.
This system was used in Fire Emblem.
However, due to the save/load system in Fire Emblem and the large number of new characters added in each stage, the game has a limited number of save/load options.
Permanent death isn't such a severe negative consequence in Fire Emblem.
Keeping players under constant high pressure isn't necessarily a bad thing.
This is crucial, at least for some designs.
However, if we want it to reach Volkswagen of gamers, this system still needs to be modified.
Diablo makes death less dangerous.
At most, it will just reduce durability a bit.
However, if we were to pinpoint the biggest change Diablo made compared to Rogue, it would undoubtedly be abandoning the turn-based system, a remnant of the past, and embracing real-time combat in full force.
At the same time, its faster-paced arcade-style combat also gives it a brand new capability.
Lin Lixin glanced at Bandura was still listening in.
"We must carry forward and promote Mr. Skinner's behavioral psychology theory, especially the random reward mechanism!"
In Rogue, it's quite normal to not earn anything for an hour.
But if no beam of light appears in Diablo after an hour, players will curse the game planners to the eighteenth generation.
A large amount of dense and intense positive feedback is perfectly incorporated into the game's flow.
According to Skinner's theory, probabilistic rewards are far more damaging than fixed-time rewards.
Once a designer masters this, he can practically dominate the entire gaming industry.
Gacha games, online game item drops, single-player games, slot machines----
Do you get the feeling that Diablo embodies the underlying logic of modern games?
It can be said that it was Skinner's operant conditioning theory that established the research on addiction in the field of video games.
This is a terrible double-edged sword.
When a designer decides to use it to control players—the consequences can be terrifying.
"Please stop your development work for the next couple of days; you have more important things to do."
Lin Lixin stood up. He needed to arrange a thorough training camp for these people, a specialized training program. "Pack your bags, let's go to Las Vegas for some fun—I mean, some critical learning."
NovaArcade, the headquarters of the Nova Arcade.
" Sam, what brings you here all of a sudden? Does the boss have a new mission?"
Gary received a call from his assistant and rushed over to greet Sam in his office.
"I guess so. Lin's busy with a new project, and he asked me to do something for you."
"Arcade business?"
"Hmm... not quite, but it's close enough."
Sam scratched his head, pondering what Lin Lixin had told him. "Lin thinks the current arcade business model, which is almost like a rental system, is very interesting and wants to try taking it a step further and applying it to other areas."
"What does it mean to use it elsewhere?"
Gary was completely baffled, but his keen senses told him that this was definitely not an ordinary matter.
Otherwise, you could just give him a direct call and tell him the details; there's no need for Sam, the head steward, to come and coordinate with him.
"For example—setting up a section in the arcade specifically for—computers? Like a computer lab in a university."
"Huh? Like those demo consoles used for hands-on testing?"
"Yes, but the difference is that it comes pre-installed with mainstream PC games, so players don't need to spend any money on them, but there is a play fee, which is charged by the hour."
"Oh My God----"