Throughout the history of gaming, there has never been a shortage of all sorts of strange and unusual works.
Some were purely experimental, but they became internet sensations because of a likable streamer or some unexpected event.
Some are ingeniously designed; though small in size, they manage to carve out their own little corner amidst the tides of time.
The Grow Sphere is one of these "smart" ones.
In an era when video games were booming and hardware technology was rapidly evolving.
Instead of engaging in the same frenzied competition as other works, it chose a completely different path.
Strictly speaking, the background color of the Grow Sphere should actually be classified as a type of "casual puzzle game".
Or perhaps it falls under the category of Flash animation games.
The gameplay is very simple: clicking on pre-set items in different orders will trigger completely different animations.
By observing the animation, one can deduce the logic behind the placement of the items, cleverly solve the mystery, and ultimately see the perfect ending in the animation.
Essentially, it's like a corner with multiple endings, a piece of wood.
Among these, eyezmaze is the most well-known. Perhaps the name of this studio is not as immediately recognizable to players as those famous companies.
But their works left a deep impression on the children of that era who were immersed in the joy of web games.
Treating sick patients, waking up sleeping little people with cannons, little people from different disciplines working together to develop a valley into a paradise, little people from different disciplines working together to build an island with trains, houses, and even machine rooms and satellites... It's just like Kairosoft are to simulation management games.
During that period, when people mentioned Grow Sphere games, eyezmaze's work was the most likely to come to mind.
Of course, pure branching narrative games are not limited to the Grow Sphere type.
Works such as " Henry Stickmin " and " The Shit " are actually quite good.
But regardless of which of these works, they all share a very common characteristic.
The code is not complex.
At least relatively not that high.
In most cases, recording just a few simple variables may suffice.
At this level, with proper packaging, even anyone can quickly produce their own work after getting started.
This is a typical game genre where animation outweighs gameplay. "It sounds... but it's actually like guessing a password; if you guess the right combination, you can open the door."
After listening to Lin Lixin's account, everyone present formed a basic impression.
"That's pretty much it. The point is, like Papa's Pizzeria, it's a work that's both a failure and part of the fun."
Many web-based games tend to minimize negative feedback from players.
This is not necessarily a deliberate act by the designer.
In reality, more often than not, it's simply a matter of helplessness caused by the prevailing market trends.
"Ladies and gentlemen, so much time has passed, I believe you have obtained enough data."
Lin Lixin turned around and faced Activision's core team.
These people are considered core second-party members who have been with Amenva since its early days.
"So, can anyone explain why we designed the negative feedback in ' Papa's Pizzeria ' this way? Or, why do web games control negative feedback in this way?"
"Once you grasp this point, you've already mastered the secret to web games."
In " Papa's Pizzeria," they went to great lengths to mitigate the punishment of failure, employing tactics such as exaggerated physical gestures and expressions from customers, and greater creative freedom and tolerance.
I think... it's because of the difference in cost.
After a moment, David spoke first, giving his answer, "The development of web games has not only affected the development costs of independent developers, but also the gameplay costs for players."
"Oh?" "You see, in the past, if players wanted to play a game, they had to spend a long time queuing up to buy it, spending $50 or even more to buy a disc."
David gestured with his hands, "Even though the game has some unsatisfactory flaws, players are still willing to patiently continue playing because of the initial investment."
"But web games are different; the cost for players to play and the cost to quit are both too low."
" GG Platform business allows developers to no longer need to make money from players."
Players do not need to spend money to buy products.
This cost was entirely passed on to the businesses that invested in Google Play.
All players need to do is focus their attention.
In the attention economy model, developers no longer need to rely on exquisite design and sufficient immersion to gradually draw players into the game's world.
If you can't capture a player's interest within minutes, they'll leave the page without hesitation. "Why should I choose from so many other sites?" In this context, negative feedback design can easily trigger a player to leave.
"Yeah, that's about it."
Lin Lixin nodded.
David's statement is almost correct.
However, the matter is not actually that extreme.
"The attention economy doesn't mean we should pamper players and give them no challenge at all."
In fact, as long as the adjustment window for negative feedback is very short, that's enough, like... the feeling of " Hotline Miami ".
"It's understandable that games are challenging; they are an important source of achievement and satisfaction in games."
The key is to make the intervals between retryes short enough that the player's brain doesn't even have time to process them.
Just like in " Hotline Miami ".
Many players get so engrossed in the game that they don't even realize what they're doing.
The brain is overwhelmed by that distinctively psychedelic electronic music, and the coins are gone in the blink of an eye. The real point is to get players addicted in an instant.
This is a technical skill.
"You have all been leaders in the mini-game industry in the past, and I believe that in this new era, you can create the same great success once again."
"... canvas-api."
The core of modern web-based games.
In the era of FLAS, a FLAS game was created through a combination of animation and scripting.
But canvas is different.
It is a dedicated graphics library developed based on the nvascript scripting language.
If you want to create visuals using the ns language, you can't do without the help of this API.
Simply put, if you want to draw a rectangle, you need the front and back ends to work together.
The front end, which is the webpage that faces the user.
The designer needs to write down the control item on the first line. On the backend, which is the code part responsible for implementing the logic, the designer needs to obtain this control item and then draw on it in the form of code.
For example, to draw a square on the canvas, you only need to write this line: `canvas. etcntext("2"). fillrect(10,10,50,50);`
To someone unfamiliar with development, this sounds daunting and tedious.
But you really need to know, what kind of development environment did developers in this world face before Amenva? 6502 assembly! That required directly manipulating registers.
If you want to draw the same square using 6502 assembly, first help cp find the video memory and convert all the coordinates that need to be drawn into memory addresses.
Because there is no concept of variables, these addresses must be stored in registers.
However, the world of 6502 assembly does not have 16-bit addresses. If you want to store a 16-bit address, you'll need to combine two 8-bit registers. Just be careful not to mix up the addresses.
Only then did the actual drawing begin.
Let's set up a new register and store the side length of the square.
Find the color that needs to be written to this pixel, put it into the register, and then write it to the previously stored video memory address + y.
Repeat this process "side length" times until the first row is successfully drawn.
Increment the y-step by 1, corresponding to the next column of pixels. Repeat the entire process for "side length" times. Congratulations, you have successfully drawn a small square in the world of 6502 assembly language.
Today, thanks to Amenva's vigorous promotion of the JIT concept and the NvaScript scripting language, [the company's success is largely due to its efforts in this area].
Programmers can now accomplish in a single line what used to be a whole morning of frantic work.
This explains why browser games only experienced an explosive growth after the Switch.
Even the current version is still too complicated for people who are not programming enthusiasts.
So... could this process be made even simpler? Yes, some people do.
... Next, let us proudly introduce the world's first web game development engine - "nva flas".
"Although it was a last-minute press conference, the venue was still set up quite properly."
The location was chosen to be a small auditorium in the new headquarters.
Compared to the scale of the previous "alf-life" event, today's spectacle is considerably smaller.
Notably, even Lin Lixin was absent; instead, Activision CEO David took the stage on his Activision.
"I know everyone wants to see our big star on stage, but I'm sorry, Mr. Lin has important matters to attend to these days and simply cannot get away." David gestured for him to leave.
It was clear that everyone was somewhat distracted today because of Lin Lixin's absence.
But he wasn't in a hurry.
Because today's release is FLAS.
He has already used it himself.
David swore to God that this was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen in his life.
This is the perfect first stop for newcomers to video game development! "Excuse me, Mr. David, is Mr. Lin working on the rumored sequel to the Legend of Zelda?" A reporter in the audience raised his hand and shouted.
This is a question that many people present also wanted to ask.
"Well... Mr. Lin instructed me to keep this a secret."
"Let's get back to flas, shall we?" David smiled and held up a box.
Standard soft packaging box.
The entire packaging extensively uses a red and gold color scheme. Even from a distance, it's easily recognizable.
This design style... it's kind of like the Flash, isn't it? That's definitely not just my imagination; since C is their second-party developer, they'll naturally take advantage of the copyright.
American comics are a field where artists gather in large numbers.