"An open-world CRPG Adventure game? What do you mean?"
In the hall, listening to Lin Lixin's introduction, Lucas really found it hard to imagine what kind of work this was.
"Well, you can understand it this way for now: it's an interactive detective novel that you can play."
Lin Lixin took out a business card and pinned it under the card with the game title.
This is clearly used to represent the game's main character.
But instead of writing down the protagonist's name right away, he took out a pen and wrote a big question mark.
"So the question is, for a fictional other world, a grand fictional world, how do we create a sufficient sense of immersion for players, allowing them to truly step into that world?"
This is of paramount importance for all Adventure and RPG games.
If a game like this can't create a sense of immersion, then all the other embellishments are meaningless.
"First-person perspective... wait, this is a 2D game, right?"
Lucas instinctively blurted out the idea of using the first person.
This was also the first thought of the developers from Infocom Studios present. Adventure games, especially Adventure on PCs in the 70s and 80s, were almost always played from a first-person perspective.
This approach naturally creates a sense of immersion.
"Let me think... For example, we could design a character creation system? Let players customize their own characters or something?"
"Right, but not suitable for this work."
Lin Lixin nodded, then shook his head.
Character creation is indeed a very common feature in RPG games.
However, it is not truly a perfect system.
It's a bit better for RPGs.
However, Adventure games inherently have a very large amount of content.
In this situation, the creative team's desire to express themselves has become part of the work itself.
However, sculpting human figures can, to some extent, limit the author's wild desire for expression.
After all, a cold-blooded killer with a cool and ruthless persona wouldn't suddenly act silly and tell dirty jokes. Disrupting the author's interpretation of a character would seriously affect the overall tone of the work and interfere with the author's creative process.
For a work like Disco Elysium, which is essentially a novel, character creation isn't necessarily a good system.
"Oh... I see..."
Lucas nodded thoughtfully.
This is also why he enjoys participating in the game projects led by Lin Lixin.
He not only receives a lot of help in terms of hardware and technology, but also often surprises him with his ideas.
Games, especially narrative games, actually share many similarities with the film industry in terms of design.
Hideo Kojima, the go-to game director for Gamenova, spends all his time studying in Hollywood.
Conversely, many ideas from games can also benefit the film industry.
Sometimes it can have surprising effects.
So what are your thoughts?
The first update is available at suduɡu. cc, with no typos. If you don't see the ". cc" suffix in the address, you'll be taken to the first update site. "This will be a gradual process of discovery; the protagonist's own identity is part of the case."
Lin Lixin chuckled and patted the question mark on the business card.
Anyone who has played this game will surely remember " Harry " or " Harry Duboa".
Although the main storyline revolves around solving the case of the corpse found in Whirling-in-Rags's backyard.
However, what truly drives players to continue exploring in the early stages of the game is the process of finding their own identity.
"If we just throw out a fully-developed character, although we can gradually reveal the world through subsequent developments, we actually lack a sense of 'identification' with the protagonist."
"Furthermore, the character creation system you just mentioned can also somewhat disrupt the sense of immersion."
Creating characters is always a double-edged sword.
One potential problem is that it can cause players to be taken out of the game during character creation.
Regardless of how the character is ultimately created, it is an avatar of the player, not a character from the game.
That's good, after all, it makes the sense of immersion stronger.
However, immersion is not always directly equivalent to a sense of being fully immersed. A character is the player's avatar, which also means that there will always be a barrier between the player and the world, which may not be very strong, but is certainly objectively real.
Like a thin film, it always separates the player from the game world, forever leaving them as... someone not accepted by the world.
So?
"Therefore, our protagonist will be a super alcoholic who drinks himself into a stupor, to the point of blacking out and losing his memory."
"Slap"
As Lin Lixin spoke, he casually picked up another card and pasted it below the question mark card.
Then, he wrote a line of text on it.
[Occupation]: [Detective]
A detective suffering from amnesia, who has no idea who he is or what he is supposed to do.
"Oh! You mean... letting players gradually uncover the protagonist's identity step by step during the game, similar to a gradual information output?"
Lucas's eyes lit up.
This approach is excellent. If all the information in a completely fictional world were thrown at the audience, or rather, the players, right from the start, it would definitely cause severe information overload.
The end result is that even though the game has only just begun, players are already experiencing a very strong sense of fatigue.
This symptom is actually quite typical in simulation games.
For example, works like " Civilization " and " Hearts of Iron ".
In later generations, many players quit the game because of the overwhelming amount of information presented at the start of these two games.
Only by truly persevering and getting through the initial complexities can one truly appreciate their charm.
But this very step has deterred countless players.
Everyone knows Civilization VI is amazing, and with its historically low price, almost everyone owns a Platinum Edition.
But should we really let them go play?
Please, I'm already exhausted, and I really don't want to waste any more energy on this.
The approach described by Lin Lixin can, to some extent, effectively avoid this problem.
While it's impossible to completely solve the problem, it can certainly reduce the amount of information required. A similar approach was used in * The Return of the Obra Dinn *.
Minimize the amount of information available so that players can focus on the main events and quickly discover the fun of the game itself, skipping over lengthy and tedious parts.
But the problem is...
According to Lin Lixin, Disco Elysium should be an open-world CRPG Adventure, unlike Return of the Obra Dinn, which is completely centered around a case.
Because that would directly result in a significant loss of freedom in the game itself.
"Indeed, but this isn't the process of revealing the truth; rather, it's... sculpting a person."
Lin Lixin smiled and pasted four new cards in one go.
[ Intellect ][Mental State][Physical Fitness][Skills]
"We won't completely abandon the character creation system, but rather absorb some of its ideas and make it a part of the process for players to accept this world."
"Huh? How?"
"You mean, branching dialogue?"
While Lucas was still wondering, Tim, the lead developer at Infocom, had already figured it out. Being a veteran Adventure game developer, he quickly grasped the beauty of the mechanic.
Seeing Lin Lixin nod, Tim knew he was right, and then spoke up to explain to Lucas on his behalf:
"An amnesiac alcoholic means that the character himself is like a blank sheet of paper, Mr. Lucas. Apart from the fact that he is an alcoholic, we know nothing else about him."
"Okay?"
"Then... we can design various branching dialogues, just like in romance adventure games, where players can choose their own style of response or what to do."
There is a very stunning design in Return of the Obra Dinn.
That is, the entire case was based on inferences drawn entirely from the investigators' investigations.
This design, in a sense, makes the player feel like a member of the development team.
This is a story co-written by developers and players.
Extracting this idea and incorporating it into Disco Elysium gave birth to its true main storyline.
"That's right."
Lin Lixin nodded in satisfaction. "On the surface, the main storyline of the game is about the protagonist, a detective, solving cases that occur in the city."
"But..."
"The real main storyline, or rather the underlying storyline, is actually the process by which players gradually come to know themselves."
This will be a creative process that lasts for several hours, or even dozens of hours.
Every branch, every choice, is part of the process of shaping " Harry ".
What kind of character is he exactly? What kind of personality does he have...?
Everything is decided by the players.
What exactly is his political stance? Is his behavior moderate or radical and reckless? Does he believe in God or is he absolutely rational?
Should one strive to become a better version of oneself by quitting drinking, or should one boldly embrace their true nature, indulging in the pleasures of alcohol and sex, and eventually Electrochemistry?
From the moment Harry awoke, groggily from his hangover, the creative freedom had already been handed over to the players.
Every creation made by the player will have an impact on the future storyline, whether it affects the direction of the case or Harry's relationships in Revachol.
Every seemingly insignificant choice is part of the butterfly effect.
Even a seemingly unremarkable, kind old woman sitting quietly in a corner of the bar in a wheelchair...
"Of course, to measure this change, we still need some attributes to quantify it; however, we can package these attributes in a more aesthetically pleasing way."
Several red strings are connected between the [?] and the attribute card by thumbtacks, symbolizing their relationship.
"We need to concretize vague and abstract attributes into something easier to understand."
As he spoke, he drew out six more branches based on his Intellect.
[Logical thinking][ Encyclopedia ][Eloquent speech][Mystification][Innovation][Insightful observation]
The age-old dilemma of RPGs: do players portray themselves, or do they control the characters created by the author?
The former offers greater freedom, but the character is like an empty shell, while the latter is the opposite.
Disco Elysium, however, has found a unique path for this age-old debate.