America: The Godfather Game Development, Chapter 618
"Huh?"
The game is much simpler than I imagined.
That makes sense.
It's a game from several years ago; it's a small-scale arcade game.
Compared to Gamenova's flagship title, this is really unfair.
However, although the low-resolution pixelated image is somewhat rudimentary.
But the way of playing looked somewhat familiar to Lin Lixin.
The core loop is not complicated.
Players need to first place their own castle, or base, on the game map.
Then, walls and cannons can be deployed to protect the castle as much as possible.
Meanwhile, the enemy will launch a continuous barrage of attacks on the base.
Players need to eliminate enemies with artillery fire and repair damaged fortifications after the battle.
It continues round after round.
Although it's rudimentary, it's surprisingly quite interesting because of its robust core loop.
No wonder it achieved such good results despite its primitive visuals.
It even thoughtfully includes a two-player mode.
Two players can be divided into red and blue teams to compete against each other.
It's decent, nothing special.
It has everything it should have, and it's even been implemented quite well.
" Atari had quite a few good products back in the day—"
As Lin Lixin spoke, he watched Sam intently studying the configuration of the turret.
The way the city walls are built and the placement of the artillery emplacements will affect the final effectiveness of the defensive line.
That can be considered a strategic gameplay style.
"That's interesting, so this is a game of spatial planning."
Lin Lixin watched as his cannons sank the Pirates! ship that was approaching the shore, and nodded thoughtfully.
He suddenly realized why he had such a strong sense of déjà vu.
He remembered the name "Rampart".
No wonder I felt like I'd heard that somewhere before.
The grandfather of tower defense games!
This game, which was created in 1990, laid the foundation for the core concept of tower defense games.
Its design was widely adopted by RTS games, influencing many later renowned RTS real-time strategy games.
However, the release of Rampart did not truly usher in the golden age of tower defense games.
What truly made this concept popular was the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Because Blizzard pulled off two major moves back then.
One is called StarCraft, and the other is called Warcraft.
The advent of map editors completely changed the course of gaming history.
Tower defense, RPG, arena, MOBA----
Almost omnipotent.
With a large number of tower defense maps flooding the community, the true golden formula for tower defense games was finally born.
"Um----"
Lin Lixin pondered for a moment.
This project seems to have some potential.
With the gradual promotion of the GG Platform, the commercialized Internet will enter an unprecedented period of vigorous development.
This is definitely good news for GAMENOVA.
Many future plans will require the continued expansion of internet penetration.
If we could create another phenomenal web game IP like the Papa's Series, it would undoubtedly speed up the process significantly.
And tower defense games----
It is a natural fit for this need.
Tower defense games are one of the game genres with the lowest input complexity.
Most of the time, all the player needs to do is drag the mouse and click on the screen.
"Okay, Sam, looks like I'll have to go to Los Angeles."
Activision, Development Department.
Although Activision is much larger than it used to be, the vast majority of its staff belong to the distribution department.
Their workplace remains at the original Activision site.
The Activision office, which is located alongside studios like Blizzard and Bullfrog, only houses Activision's core development team.
For these developers, this period was both painful and joyful.
The sweetest trouble in the world is having too much money and not knowing where to start earning it all.
As it turns out, Lin Lixin's "Papa's Series has achieved unprecedented success.
It is neither the only web-based game in the world, nor the first.
As its predecessor, Screeps was created much earlier.
Many website owners have also tried using the NovaScript language to write some interesting interactive web pages.
But what about something like Papa's Pizzeria?
Never before.
Before this, no one had ever thought that PC games could appeal to all age groups.
No one believed that PCs belonged to complete laymen.
This complex and difficult-to-operate device was, for the first time, truly mastered by an ordinary person.
It's for entertainment, for making pizzas in the virtual world.
It's weird, but it's so damn addictive!
Ordering, shaping, and baking----
It's incredibly simple, yet it has a magical quality that makes it impossible to stop watching.
Whether you're an adult or a child, if you're using a computer, you'll unconsciously turn it on and play around with it for a while.
----Or one day.
Following closely behind, Papa John's's also seized this momentum, along with the large amount of capital injected by Lin Lixin, and gained a valuable opportunity for rapid expansion.
"We are setting up a studio for the Papa's Series as you instructed, and preparing for the sequel."
David explained something to Lin Lixin.
This model is very clean and pure, and extremely easy to replicate.
David and his team of outstanding developers who emerged from the golden age are fully capable of handling such a project on their own.
Lin Lixin simply let them do whatever they wanted.
"That's good, but that's not why I came."
He waved his hand and got to the point.
A few minutes later.
"Tower----Defense?"
David repeated Lin Lixin's new concept thoughtfully.
This phrase is easy to understand; it contains no neologisms and simply combines "tower" and "defense."
Just from these two words, you can roughly guess the idea behind this type of game.
To build towers to defend against enemies.
"Ah, I know, it's 'Rampart,' right? That's definitely a good game."
David suddenly looked enlightened. "Should we port it to the web version? With some optimization, it should run on most machines."
"No, David, we'll have a brand new IP, like Papa's Pizzeria."
Lin Lixin smiled.
Tower defense games are definitely a perennial favorite among casual games.
As times change and web-based games become more widespread, they will usher in their golden age.
As web-based games gradually declined, mobile platforms emerged as the replacement, giving tower defense games a second spring.
For the casual game sector, developing a tower defense IP is indeed a very suitable option.
But what exactly needs to be done?
That requires some consideration.
If you're looking for a classic tower defense game, there are actually many good options.
Maze TD, Master of Defense, Desktop Tower Defense
Each of them had achieved remarkable success in their respective eras.
There's also the timeless classic that originated from Warcraft III and became synonymous with the term "tower defense" —Gem TD.
If we look at the modern era, there are even more choices.
Kingdom Rush and PvZ are undoubtedly among the best, each reaching the pinnacle of their respective paths.
Enter the conference room.
Lin Lixin pondered these choices.
Kingdom Rush is undoubtedly the most suitable browser game.
However, it also has a problem, which is neither too big nor too small.
There's so much information!
This is actually a good thing for video games.
This means the game has a good lifespan; you can play it for a long time without getting bored.
However, it conflicts somewhat with Lin Lixin's strategy.
He needs a simpler, cleaner, more WYSIWYG work that is easy to understand at a glance.
As he was pondering this, something in the room suddenly caught his eye.
That was a balloon.
Whether it's due to the phenomenal success of " Mirror's Edge " or the popularity of the " Papa's Pizzeria " series.
Activision has also been holding a small celebration banquet these days.
Although not as outrageous as Bullfrog Studio.
But they still stuck some balloons on to make up for the atmosphere.
"Huh?! This is it!"
His eyes lit up, and he quickly pulled David in front of him, taking the balloon from his hand. "Let's play a balloon-popping game."
"Ha?"
David felt that he had once again failed to keep up with Lin Lixin's train of thought.
Tower defense games, first and foremost, need towers, right?
Does popping balloons have anything to do with tower defense?
"Having fun is enough, David. Don't be so rigid."
Noticing David's confusion, Lin Lixin laughed heartily.
These developers are great in every way, except for one small flaw.
As a group of engineers who grew up during the golden age of the 1980s, their thinking is highly influenced by science and engineering.
Like Will, though not to the extreme of pursuing realistic simulation.
However, they are often constrained by so-called "rationality," which restricts their ability to fully unleash their imagination.
In fact, the matter is not that complicated at all.
"Popping balloons is so much fun, don't you think?"
Rather than watching Pixel War sink or enemy tanks explode, it's much more enjoyable.
The popping of a balloon may seem insignificant, but it contains the most excellent positive feedback.
It has sound and feedback, making it inherently a form of instant positive feedback.
More importantly, simple shapes like balloons are perfect for drawing using vector graphics.
"Uh... but... tower..."
David muttered something.
He could probably understand what Lin Lixin meant.
One great advantage of using balloons as a theme is that it's very eco-friendly.
If the soldiers were involved, the entire process would be designed to depict a brutal scene of shooting the enemy.
The same principle applies to tanks, warships, and the like.
Ultimately, it can't escape the plastic feel of the cheap war.
Balloons, however, can effectively avoid this problem.
Popping balloons is a simple and fun activity that doesn't lead to any negative consequences.
This is very important for David and his team, who are currently working hard on the " Papa's Series.
"A tower? That's just an abstract concept, David. Anything that can eliminate a target can be a 'tower,' even—a monkey."
"Wait, what?"
"Monkeys, a bunch of silly, cartoonish, cute, and absurd monkeys, a bunch of monkeys who love popping balloons."
Lin Lixin picked up a pen and wrote the project's name on the whiteboard.
Bloons Tower Defense