They are truly a group of excellent developers.
Despite their outdated and antiquated ideas, with a little guidance, they progressed at an unexpectedly rapid pace.
Before long, the conference room was bustling with activity again.
Around the "core cycle model" on the planning board, the group finally found a breakthrough and rushed to put in their own good ideas.
It's still the same stitching process, but with a simple adjustment and the addition of new features, it becomes much more harmonious.
"The store layout can also be incorporated! It can be directly linked to the entire order process, for example, allowing customers more time to wait..."
"Right! That's exactly what I was thinking!"
The two developers looked at each other and laughed simultaneously.
It's a feeling of exhilaration when your mind is completely opened up.
Frankly speaking, as more and more games are made and their commercialization deepens,
These developers have gradually lost some of the "brilliance" they had in their early years.
Or perhaps it's a quick wit or cleverness. That's why they say game development is a young person's game.
When that passion and enthusiasm are slowly worn away, the works that can be produced will also lose their luster.
A work of art is a reflection of the designer's inner world.
Just like Fat E and his " The Binding of Isaac ".
Edmund McCillen once said that this work expresses the growing-up experience of a child from a poor single-parent family who feels he doesn't belong anywhere.
Beneath the excellent experience brought by the exhilarating combination of numerous props lies the despair that Little Isaac faces when confronted with family problems, religion, social issues, and self-doubt.
From the design of every monster and item in the game to even each character, everything tells players about the inner world of designer edmund.
When players actually learned his story, the two lines of tears on Isaac's face no longer seemed as humorous.
Little Taka and his Dark Souls, Little Little Taka and his Danganronpa, Kojima-san and Metal Gear and Death Stranding...
In fact, every great game is a projection of the designer's inner world onto reality.
In other words, they are the windows to the soul.
When designers lose their inspiration and become mere wage slaves trying to make ends meet rather than artists, it becomes difficult for them to create anything truly amazing. Even with past experience and formulas, they can still continuously replicate one formulaic good work after another.
But that's where the upper limit is locked.
Want to take it a step further?
We must find a way to rediscover our original aspirations.
The ever-growing scale and increasing capabilities of games have left these designers, who once shone brightly in the Atari era, feeling a sense of... bewilderment.
Talented individuals are emerging in droves, and game consoles are able to accommodate an ever-increasing amount of new content.
However, they have lost some of the initial enthusiasm they had for studying the game, and even their passion for playing the game has diminished somewhat.
There is a precursor to an electronic ED.
If this continues, when industrialization truly sweeps the world and masterpieces become the mainstream of discussion, they will inevitably fade into obscurity.
Once their initial enthusiasm fades, even if the golden age of indie games arrives, they will no longer have the drive to return to the world of video games.
And now.
This large truck, sped off recklessly with its fuel full of gas, was brought to a stop by Lin Lixin's slap. He returned to simplicity, using subtraction to achieve addition.
If removing a system doesn't affect the core gameplay at all, then it's just a filler element.
It is a bloated burden of over-industrialization.
A concise and clean work that serves only the core content!
This is what they've always wanted.
"Great idea! Upgrading the store's decor is part of the satisfaction it brings, not bad at all..."
Lin Lixin reached out and drew a line on the loop, then wrote down the new mechanism that the group had just discussed.
I calculated the time, and it was already early noon.
He put down his pen, faced the crowd still engaged in a heated discussion, and began to speak:
"Next comes the most crucial step, which will affect the final quality of the entire project! Do you know what it is?"
"I... I know, it's the architecture design; it determines the final quality of our project."
"Wrong!" Lin Lixin laughed, took out his mobile phone, and made a call.
"The answer is to order a few pizzas, then have a nice lunch and a relaxing nap to recharge and prepare for the afternoon's battle."
Amidst the stunned expressions of the developers, the call was quickly answered.
"Thanks for calling Papa John's's Pizza. How can I help you?"
Yes, we need to order delivery.
As Lin Lixin spoke, he leaned his shoulder against the mobile phone and wrote a line on the planning board.
[Papa's pizzeria]
The project name was thus officially decided without much fanfare.
Papa's Pizzeria
"Sure, sir, what would you like to order?"
Telephone food ordering has long been a mature industry chain, although it is not as sophisticated as Uber Eats or some mysterious yellow kangaroo from the East in later years.
In fact, PandaExpress has been around for many years now. "Let me think..."
Lin Lixin counted the number of people.
"One of every kind of large pizza on your menu."
There was a noticeable hesitation on the other end of the phone, as if trying to determine if it was a prank call.
But after hearing the distinctive background noise and sound quality of that old-fashioned mobile phone, the other party was clearly an expert and quickly determined that the person dialing was probably a wealthy customer.
Are you sure you want one of each?
"Yeah yeah, we have a lot of people here. Take us to 44 Front Street, Activision Studios Apartments."
"Wait, Activision? Wow... sir, we'll deliver it as soon as possible. Tom! You take over the shift, I have to go out for a bit..."
Hang up the phone.
Lin Lixin smiled and glanced at everyone.
"The service was good; I almost couldn't resist giving him a tip." As he spoke, he reached out and patted the [Rating System] section on the whiteboard.
Everyone immediately understood.
As the saying goes, art originates from life.
When a restaurant provides good service, it really makes you feel good. If you happen to have some extra money, it's perfectly fine to give them a generous tip to reward their positive experience.
A rose given away leaves a lingering fragrance in your hand.
"But then again, how can you represent smell in a game? Games can't make people smell fragrances."
David leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
He now understands how to do subtraction and addition.
To make this process more interesting, you naturally need to focus on the cooking process itself.
But taste is something that's very difficult to convey through visuals.
"Use a scoring system, keep everything simple, and the final evaluation is directly based on the average performance throughout the entire process."
This time, Lin Lixin didn't even need to say anything; Kitchen explained it for him. These people have now mastered the essence of subtraction.
Does it really matter whether or not you can taste it?
Perhaps so, but it's not something that can't be simplified.
The core enjoyment of the entire game, when abstracted, boils down to the process of placing an order, creating the game, and submitting it.
This final submission step is actually just to provide players with positive feedback.
The reason why jobs in video games are so addictive is precisely because of the sense of accomplishment that comes from the reward of labor.
Every bit of effort and every bit of dedication you put in will receive ample feedback in a very short time.
If this requirement is met, no one will refuse to work hard.
"That's true... but there's another problem. As the game's difficulty increases, won't the rating system become a source of negative feedback?"
David looked at the growing amount of information on the planning board.
There are many ways to make a pizza.
However, he also understands the principle of gradual progression; the game will inevitably unlock more changes as the game progresses. This will maintain the player's curiosity and enthusiasm while gradually increasing the challenge.
A game that offers absolutely no challenge can easily become boring.
However, excessive challenges can also easily lead to feelings of frustration.
To achieve a relatively reliable result, numerical planning and extensive testing are necessary.
However, one thing is certain: as the difficulty increases, the scoring system is designed to quantify and display all behaviors...
It can easily become a source of negative feedback.
When players have given their all but still receive a very poor rating, they can't help but feel resentful.
"Well... there's no way around it; we can only try to avoid this as much as possible through extensive testing."
Kitchen shook his head.
This problem has always existed in various game genres.
Especially action games.
The " Papa's Pizzeria " project cleverly combines action and simulation, naturally presenting a challenge. "No, actually the solution is very simple."
Listening to the two's discussion, Lin Lixin had already sat back down and was waiting for the meal to be served, suddenly spoke up.
What they said is true.
Negative feedback has always been a difficult thing to control.
Is it necessary for it to exist?
The answer is yes.
A game with absolutely no negative feedback might give players an overwhelming sense of enjoyment in the early stages, but it will also quickly diminish the game's lifespan.
It's like having a Fengling Yueying; all you need to do is follow the storyline and mindlessly solve all the problems you encounter.
Negative feedback brings a sense of challenge and fun.
It is an important component of video games in itself.
It's like the interdependent relationship between light and shadow.
Without negative feedback, positive feedback seems quite cheap. But this doesn't mean that indiscriminately cramming in negative feedback is the right approach.
If we actually did that, the final product would be... " E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ".
Ta-da!
There is a lot of strong negative feedback, to the point that players die countless times in the same place without even knowing what they did wrong.
Early versions of Ninja Gaiden also had this problem.
However, if managed properly, one can obtain Dark Souls, Castlevania, etc.
So the question is, how does the Papa's Series address the frustration caused by this negative feedback?
The answer is actually very simple.
What if... failure itself is part of the fun?