Wasn't this just a traditional RPG?

Pay-per-hour...

An extremely bold idea.

But through this crazy idea, Wynn saw Lin Lixin's absolute confidence in the game.

Just like with Hotline Miami, he has absolute confidence that players will be willing to spend a lot of money on it.

Unlike arcade games, if Diablo were to be implemented according to the model described by Lin Lixin, it would have to have one crucial characteristic.

It's so good you won't want to stop!

Unlike arcade games that blur the lines of coin insertion and rely on death or specific levels to constrain players' coin insertion, it doesn't.

Using time as a unit of measurement naturally gives players a unique sense of time.

They will unconsciously and actively calculate time.

How much time do I have left? What else can I do?

And after this period ends, what awaits them most likely is... departure.

Because in this model, most people come with a specific goal from the very beginning. "I plan to play for two hours today."

In this situation, the goal is to keep players engaged for a while longer, even if they already have an answer in their minds, simply by relying on the game's content...

It's incredibly difficult.

Are you really that confident that players will buy into it?

Wynn looked at Lin Lixin was standing to the side.

He seemed to have great faith in the picture he had just painted for himself, as if he had already foreseen its success.

"Who knows? The game is right here, why don't you see for yourself?"

Lin Lixin shrugged, showing no intention of explaining.

If conditions allowed, he really wanted to implement a complete time-based subscription model like Warcraft right away.

Although this can only be considered a transitional form of online games, it will eventually evolve into the future free-to-play (F2P) model.

However, no matter how much Lin Lixin hopes, the hardware barrier is there. No matter how strong Gamenova's technology is, it cannot single-handedly promote the infrastructure development of all human Civilization.

The internet can't keep up, the availability of high-performance PC hardware can't keep up, and public awareness can't keep up... Many things can't be solved simply by having the technology, like unlocking something in a game.

Society is a vast and complex machine; without the cooperation of any link, these seemingly wonderful things are nothing but castles in the air.

The transfer of technology must proceed in tandem with the cognitive revolution among the masses.

Technological advancements must also wait for infrastructure development to keep pace.

As for now...

Using an arcade-style machine, combined with local storage paid for by the vendor and a light-weight internet-based soft connection, was the most feasible solution he could come up with.

"Um..."

Wynn didn't ask any further questions and turned his attention back to the arcade game itself.

His experience told him that the machine had no addictive qualities and had many problems from the very beginning of its design.

But his intuition contradicted this idea, prompting him to try trusting this man who had never failed before.

In any case, to figure out exactly how it works, you have to do it yourself.

"Ding!" Wynn selected the option to start the game.

A very traditional RPG menu.

Choose one of the three professions to start with.

The class designs for warriors, archers, and mages are unoriginal and very conservative.

The character's stats are displayed on the left.

[level]:1

[Strength]: 30

[magic]:...

This time, Wynn didn't waste any more words.

Although getting here had already started to make him a little irritable.

Because this thing is just too traditional. Apart from the amazing CGs at the beginning, it can only be considered a slightly better RPG even now.

"Ta-da--"

The game's background music begins to play the moment you enter the map.

The classic Tristram, though not created by the original team, Matt Eulmen.

After all, at that time he was still just a little kid who had just come of age.

This version of Tristram was produced by Lin Lixin and Hans Zimmer.

Hans Zimmer is particularly good at composing these kinds of atmospheric pieces, and he was naturally involved in this project as well.

The musical style is somewhat different from the "Tristram" that Lin Lixin remembers.

Lin Lixin only wrote the first short section as an introduction; the rest was imagined by Hans Zimmer based on the emotions expressed by Lin Lixin and some design sketches.

Although different, it has its own unique flavor.

The warm, cozy atmosphere of the town paints a picture of the tranquil town of Tristram.

But Wynn wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he always felt that behind this warm facade, at the heart of the music, there seemed to be an unspeakable... sadness. The main melody sampled from the acoustic guitar carried a touch of a bard's melody.

No further explanation is needed; he can imagine how the story begins.

This must be the image of a traveler who has been wandering far from home, returning to their hometown.

The feeling of salvation after wandering in the wilderness for a long time and finally encountering a living person.

But despite its cozy atmosphere, it felt very empty.

It's not the kind of cheap, thin sound caused by poor arrangement, but rather a deliberate use of blank space.

Long, drawn-out pauses with deliberate echo effects.

There probably aren't many people left living in this town.

Wynn dragged the mouse, trying out a random click.

The protagonist immediately started walking in the direction he pointed.

Well, at least in terms of operation, it is indeed very easy to get started.

Unlike traditional games that use buttons or joysticks to control movement, it uses a very remote method: tapping with the mouse.

It's a bit strange, but it's not hard to get used to once you start.

The entire town was shrouded in darkness, with only a few houses still lit up.

In the central square, a figure stood before the fountain.

He is Cain.

To players who have just met him, he may just seem like an old man with little presence.

But he will definitely be a key NPC who runs throughout the Diablo series, making players both love and hate him.

Because in Tristram, his task is to appraise equipment.

The village is not small, but there are very few NPCs.

Including Cain, there were only seven or eight people in total.

Lin Lixin optimized the map to some extent.

Early versions of Diablo were, after all, from a small studio, and to claim they were absolutely perfect would be self-deception. While Diablo 1 pioneered the use of Rogue-style randomized dungeons in its map design, it had many problems.

Its problems include excessive repetition and a lack of interactive elements.

Large and empty.

Without a sufficiently excellent atmosphere to support it, the map design of D1 is really not very good.

Now that Gamenova has taken over, they naturally want to do their best.

Optimize traffic flow, optimize dungeon generation algorithm, optimize scene element placement, optimize human-computer interaction experience...

Regardless of how the dungeons have changed, the improvements in Tristram Town as a whole have been enormous.

Lin Lixin deliberately preserved its original sense of deathly emptiness.

However, to prevent the kind of problem that many players encountered when playing Diablo 1 for the first time, where it took them a long time to figure out where to enter the dungeon, the entire town was designed with intuitive features.

Wynn was led forward step by step until the entrance to the dungeon appeared before him.

A crimson light emanated from within.

A man, barely alive and covered in wounds, lay in front of the door. [Please, listen to me.]

[That bastard Archbishop Lazarus tricked us into a trap]

[Now everyone is dead, killed by a demon known as "The Butcher"...]

[Avenge us! Find this the Butcher and kill him!]

"What are you mumbling about..."

Wynn glanced at the plot text, then turned away and forgot about it.

The more complicated things become in front of him, the lower his opinion of them will be.

Lin Lixin seems to place too much emphasis on "ritual."

The project is highly engineered and over-designed...

This is the Wynn experience so far.

They might as well just make a simple, action-packed game like Hotline Miami.

Stepping into the dungeon, the atmosphere above and below ground is completely different.

In the pitch-black dungeon, only torches provided limited visibility.

The warm and peaceful background music abruptly stopped, replaced by a rather eerie and terrifying piece of music.

It was also designed by Hans Zimmer.

In terms of creating atmosphere, he is truly a genius unparalleled in the world.

The prelude, lasting only a few seconds, already evoked a Porky's sense of oppression.

A coffin lay not far from him, its lid slightly ajar.

This was clearly a deliberate attempt to get him to lift it up and take a look.

With a gentle tap, the protagonist Aidan immediately began to walk towards the coffin.

The process was very smooth; the game ran through the entire pathfinding algorithm seamlessly without disrupting the overall experience.

"Gurgle--"

The coffin lid was slowly pushed open. A cluster of gold coins, gleaming brightly in the dark dungeon and particularly eye-catching, burst out and piled on the ground.

A barely perceptible feathered highlight of only one or two pixels appears around it.

But it is precisely this slight highlighting effect that makes it so noticeable in the dark dungeon.

Lin Lixin did not retain the loot drop mechanism of the original D1, which lacked even highlighting.

Instead, they went straight to the point and chose a more mature lighting design.

While it does somewhat disrupt the dark immersion of the dungeon, making it feel more like a "Hollywood popcorn movie."

But it must be said that its effect is very good.

It's like the spectacular special effects when you win a prize on a slot machine.

A reward, in essence, must make players feel rewarded.

"Crackling"

The sound of bones grinding together rang out, and behind the coffin, a mass of skeletons suddenly formed a human shape, came to life, and headed straight for Wynn.

Almost instinctively, he dragged the mouse to aim at the opponent and pressed the button as if to attack. And the game indeed responded to his intuition.

"Crack"

With a single sword strike, the skeleton was reduced to withered bones, losing all life.

But that's not all.

Just like when the box was being rummaged through, as it fell, a ball of white light shone from its chest, then flew into the air before landing.

"Bite!"

Wynn's breath hitched involuntarily.

It was just an ordinary sword, nothing special.

Reason told him so.

However, the sentimentality deep within his soul thought otherwise.

Almost instinctively, he quickly dragged the mouse and picked up the weapon with the highlighted white edges.

If UI existed in the real world, a line of large golden characters would definitely pop up on his forehead right now. "Ding!"

[They've taken the bait!]