After leaving Universal Interactive, Zhang Lexing immediately contacted the people of Oriental Electronic Entertainment Co., Ltd. and asked them to come over immediately to discuss the details of the acquisition with Naughty Dog. When someone from Oriental Electronic Entertainment Co., Ltd. appeared in front of Jason Rubin and took out the development materials of the PS game console and the technical data of the analog stick, all the members of Naughty Dog were shocked. The subsequent acquisition negotiations went very smoothly, negotiating all the details in just one day, and finally successfully won Naughty Dog for $4 million, which gave Jason Rubin the development funds and PS console development technology he desperately needed, and Zhang Lexing also added another chip to his future game console.

After completing the acquisition of Naughty Dog, the time gradually came to late June, Zhang Lexing went around San Jose, and then came to the Boston area, because Chen Zishan was on vacation. Since Chen Zishan returned to the United States, because the two of them are very busy, they have not been together for a long time, except for the week of spring break, most of the other times are Zhang Lexing constantly flying around like migratory birds, occasionally going to the Boston area and Chen Zishan are two days away, and they have been looking forward to this summer vacation for a long time. After a two-day break in Boston, Zhang and Chen traveled to San Francisco, planning to head to BigSur, their first destination.

Big Sur is located on Highway 1, which refers to the winding coastal road about 150 kilometers from Carmel to San Simon, about 200 kilometers from San Francisco, and it takes about 2 hours to drive. It is said that the best time of year to visit Big Sur is autumn, when it is not easy to encounter fog and does not have the bleakness of winter, and the sea is even more blue in the thick of autumn.

Zhang Lexing drove the car himself, and the bodyguards drove two cars respectively, protecting one after the other. Thanks to Yang Xinxin's great help, under her secret special training, Zhang Lexing finally succeeded in breaking through his heart barrier, passed the road test, and got the book.

As we drove past Carmel, there were hardly any traces of people on either side of the road, except for the vastness of the Pacific Ocean and the winding mountain roads. The entire coastline is filled with rocky rocks, and the water is crystal clear, lapping against the abrupt rocks and stirring up white spray. Seabirds swept past the water in a row, while California vulture chirped and hovered in the air. Scene after scene is breathtaking, revealing a pristine natural beauty that has never been polluted.

Before coming to Zhang Lexing heard that the road of Big Sur is very crooked and steep, even thrilling, it is a huge challenge for the weak-willed, weak-hearted and acrophobia, although Zhang Lexing does not have these problems, but for a novice, the difficulty of this road has exceeded imagination, and the speed of the car can't help but slow down, fortunately, there are not many people who come to Big Sur in this season, and the cars passing by on the road are even more rare, but just take a look at the scenery.

Chen Zishan can happily enjoy the coastal scenery along the way, and even have the interest to take photos along the way, of course, at this time, she will eventually shout: "Stop...... Slow down...... Okay, let's go. ”

But Zhang Lexing is not so lucky, of course, as a driver, he can't be often distracted, plus the road is narrow, while looking down, it is directly a cliff and a sea, and the mountains and rocks on the other side are still in danger of falling, so he is naturally more cautious. Fortunately, as one of the best scenic highways in the United States, the government deliberately set aside some viewpoints where you can park on the section of the road with ornamental value.

Along the way, Zhang Lexing and Chen Zishan have seen the heroic posture of seals basking in the sun by the beach, admired the Bixby Bridge, which is known as the first in the history of bridge construction in the United States, visited the rare seaside waterfall, watched the clouds and mist on Big Sur Mountain, tasted the food and sea view of RockyPoint Restaurant, and experienced the feeling of camping in a tent at night. Of course, in front of such a beautiful season and such a wonderful sea water, the two naturally went to the sea to play a few times.

After two days in Big Sur, Mr. Cheung and Mr. Chan headed to Yosemite National Park, located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California, where it's a good time to visit because the waterfall is at its highest.

Covering an area of 2,848 square kilometers, Yosemite is one of the most beautiful and visited national parks in the western United States, with elevations ranging from 600 meters to 3,966 meters above sea level, with lawns, lakes and woods, as well as cliffs, canyons and snow-capped mountains. Waterfalls, wildflowers, two rivers that originate here, and some of California's most famous redwoods grow here, Yosemite has long been considered one of California's most treasured natural treasures.

Hearing that Zhang Lexing was coming to Yosemite, Yang Xinxin specially confessed as a passer-by: "If you want to spend the night in Yosemite, you must not put food in the car, otherwise the big bear that haunts the night will dismantle the car......"

When he was resting in broad daylight, a squirrel came out of nowhere, stole a piece of cake from Chen Zishan's backpack and ran away, and when Zhang Lexing and Chen Zishan came back to their senses, the thief squirrel had already run away.

Fortunately, the scenery here is very beautiful, the ghostly cliffs, the various waterfalls that flow down and the thousand-year-old American pine are very pleasant to see, especially a meadow in the canyon, which is even more beautiful and breathtaking, which makes the two completely forget the unhappiness of losing food, so that the cunning squirrel succeeds again.

……

It wasn't until the last day of June that the two reluctantly ended their happy journey, returned to San Francisco, and took a short break to catch a flight to Beijing.

On the second day after returning to Beijing, after breakfast, Zhang Lexing sat in the car driven by Ma Guanghai and picked up Wang Mengyao first, and then went to the Beihang Building where the creative workshop was located, intending to see the development of the game.

On the way, Wang Mengyao opened the notebook and reported the recent situation: "Boss, we are investigating the piracy of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", and the sources that have been mastered are mainly from Guangdong and Fujian, and the three versions we have produced have appeared, among which the pirated sales of the mainland version are the most popular, but because the popularity of optical drives is not ideal, the sales volume of pirated copies is roughly equivalent to three times that of the genuine version, but it is estimated that there will be room for growth in the future......"

"Well, it's a good job, at present, the state does not pay enough attention to this area, we can only grasp more of the situation ourselves first, and then act when needed. ”

Wang Mengyao continued: "Boss, at present, the PS version of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" is being produced by Tianzhiyuan, and it is expected to officially land in the Japanese market before the end of the year......

After completing the game development task, the members of the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" project team have been disbanded and returned to the workshop. Due to the addition of the new graduates of Fengyun Game Academy, the number of developers in the workshop has risen to 350, including 70 planners, 164 programmers, 62 artists, 42 QAs, and 12 musicians......

The development of the shooter game "Rage Tank" has been completed and is scheduled to be released on July 9. The development of the simulation game "Happy Farm" and the adventure game "C+ Detective" has been completed, and it is scheduled to be released on July 16. The FPS game "Bloody Battle on the Beach" is in final testing and is expected to be released on August 15. The real-time strategy game "Three Kingdoms" and the card battle game "Myth" continue to be developed......

Tianzhiyuan plans to launch 15 games this month, including 10 SFC games, 3 GB games, and 2 PS games......"

"Tianzhiyuan is full of veterans, and I'm more relieved that I'm back this time mainly to see the situation of the creative workshop. By the way, when was the China Game Industry Association seminar held?"

Wang Mengyao thought for a while and said: "Boss, the seminar was held on July 5, that is, two days later, and the meeting lasted for three days. ”

"Well, you'll come with me then. ”

Wang Mengyao closed the notebook, suddenly remembered one more thing, and said: "Oh, boss, Sister Yan told me that the villa you need has already selected two places, when are you free, go and take a look." ”

"Well, if it's okay tomorrow, I'll check it out then. Zhang Lexing nodded and said.

……

The car stopped at the entrance of the Beihang Building, and after Zhang Lexing and Wang Mengyao got off the car, they took the elevator through the lobby to the floor where the creative workshop was located. There are not as many people in the company as Zhang Lexing imagined, the "Legend of Blackstone" project team led by Mike Ronald has not returned from the field, and the project team of "Rage Tank", "Happy Farm" and "C+ Detective" has taken a week's vacation after completing development, except for a few people, most of them have not returned. The development of the "Bloody Battle on the Beach" project team has been completed, but because it is still being tested, in order to prevent accidents, it has not left.

After coming to the company, Zhang Lexing first went to the "Three Kingdoms" project team, intending to see the progress of their balance adjustment, after all, this is the first real-time strategy game in the creative workshop, and Zhang Lexing hopes to do better.

I didn't see Ren Haoqiang and the group of planners in the studio, and when I inquired about it next to him, I found out that the group had gone to the conference room for a meeting. Walking to the door of the conference room, because the door was not closed, Zhang Lexing clearly heard the fierce arguments coming from inside.

"This piece shouldn't be designed that way, and a scope limit should be added ......"

"Shield Hand's damage output needs to be reduced......"

"No, the defense of the sword and shield hand should be strengthened......"

"It should not be changed like this, but there must be a systematic overall adjustment ......"

After standing outside the door for a few minutes, the sound inside the door seemed to be getting louder and louder, Zhang Lexing reached out and pushed open the door of the conference room and walked in. The debate in the conference room had gradually heated up, and everyone was red-faced, and no one noticed that someone walked in.

It wasn't until Zhang Lexing stood at the conference table for a while that everyone noticed that they hurriedly put down the topic they were arguing about and hurriedly greeted Zhang Lexing.

Zhang Lexing actually understood, but deliberately pretended not to know, and asked, "What was everyone fighting about just now?"

After everyone glanced at each other, Ren Haoqiang said, "Boss, we are studying the game balance of "Three Kingdoms". ”

"Well, I remember that there seems to be some problems at the bottom of "Three Kingdoms", how is the situation now?" Zhang Lexing asked.

Ren Haoqiang scratched his head embarrassedly and said: "Boss, the previous "Three Kingdoms" was developed on the Kylin system, and there are many parts that need to be modified if there are problems with the underlying design, and we plan to simply change it to KylinWindows95." ”

"It's nothing, you can change it if you want to. Zhang Lexing didn't mind, but looking at Ren Haoqiang's expression, it seemed that there was something to follow.

"There are a lot of problems in the early design, the most prominent is the balance of the game, the original system is very complex, it is very difficult to adjust, we are discussing whether to redesign, so the game has not been modified for the time being. Ren Haoqiang looked even more embarrassed.

"So have you come up with a solution now?"

"We ...... is being discussed. "I didn't expect it to be like this for the first time when I took on the project, Ren Haoqiang's head was almost buried under the table, and his voice was much quieter.

"Then what are the main problems now?" Zhang Lexing asked.

"Boss, in order to make the game richer, we have designed a lot of troops, such as the most conventional light cavalry, heavy cavalry, archers, crossbowmen, sword and shield men, pikemen, scouts, volunteers, etc., and there are many special troops, such as Lu Bu's Bingzhou Flying Cavalry, Gao Shun's Trap Camp, Gongsun Zhan's White Horse Yicong, Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Liu Bei's White-eared Elite Soldiers and Sun Quan's Relief Camp, etc., in addition to some offensive and defensive equipment such as ladders, nest cars, rushing cars, thunderbolt cars, and ballistas. There are many things in this design, and there are many factors that need to be balanced, and some arms are implicated in each other, and the result is ......" Ren Haoqiang shook his head and sighed.

Zhang Lexing originally only knew that there was a problem with the balance of "Three Kingdoms", but he didn't expect Ren Haoqiang to design such a complex system when he was just starting out, so he had to control it.

"By the way, I remember that the online game was a three-way battle, is it still like this now?" Zhang Lexing thought about it and asked.

"Well, that's the case, it was originally considered that Wei Shu and Wu were tripartite, but if 4 or more people are online, then there will be players using the same troops, in order to reduce this situation, we ......" Ren Haoqiang hesitated for a moment, and said hesitantly: "We have added more forces to choose from, such as Gongsun Zhan, Lu Bu, Yuan Shao, Ma Teng, Liu Biao, plus the original setting of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Ce (Sun Quan), there are a total of eight factions to choose from, and in order to highlight the different characteristics, the classes become complicated. ”

Zhang Lexing only understood this time, no wonder he still had to make a merge state flying horse, trapping camp and white horse righteousness or something, it turned out to be like this, he couldn't help but shook his head and said: "You have committed a big taboo in balance setting, and the game system design is too complicated, no wonder the balance is always not good." Originally, the three parties did not need to be controlled, but as a result, you became the eight parties, and the workload increased exponentially. ”

"Boss, what do you think we should do?" Ren Haoqiang heard that his boss was a senior game designer who was said to have more than ten years of experience, so he naturally asked this question.

"Well, to put it simply, it's to reduce the complexity, don't design so many forces, the mainstream of real-time strategy should be the tripartite forces for a period ......of time in the future, so that there will be a lot less content that needs to be balanced, and then consider adding new forces after it is done, step by step" Zhang Lexing said, remembering "Warcraft 3", although the original "Three Kingdoms" refers to "Dune 2", or "StarCraft" However, since the military generals in the Three Kingdoms game are indispensable, in fact, the most suitable combat performance of "Three Kingdoms" should be similar to the combat mode of the hero squad in "Warcraft 3".

Thinking of this, Zhang Lexing came to the whiteboard in the conference room, and said while drawing: "I think about it like this, in a few steps, with the current computer performance, the game can't be too complicated, otherwise the operation efficiency will be a problem, so "Three Kingdoms" can be designed into a series." First of all, in the first part of the game, we focus on the three forces, and then add some characteristics of the three kingdoms game, such as the granary (to provide food for the generals and soldiers in the battlefield, the granary is destroyed for a certain period of time to greatly reduce the combat effectiveness of the troops), villages (to provide population, the basis for recruiting soldiers), training ground (a place to recruit various soldiers), etc., the scale of the battle is composed of 1 general plus a maximum of 20 soldiers per unit, and each force can control 3~5 troops. Reduce the number of troops, the conventional arms are divided into cavalry, archers, sword and shield men, and pikemen, and there is a restraint design between each other, for example, the cavalry has additional damage to the sword and shield hand, and then each side is providing two special troops, such as Cao Cao can have tiger and leopard cavalry and tiger guard battalion, Liu Bei is a white-eared elite soldier and Wudang flying army, etc., special troops have strong combat effectiveness, and have certain special abilities, such as tiger and leopard riding can disperse the opponent's troops, and cause a short period of stun......

In this part, our design is mainly based on small-scale contact battles in the field, and does not involve the common offensive and defensive battles of the city during the Three Kingdoms period, and the field base is designed according to the image of the camp. Resource collection can't learn "Dune 2", to have the characteristics of the Three Kingdoms, you can design some villages on the map, you can get funds, grain and grass and population after occupying it, you need a granary to store grain and grass, and the increase rate of funds, grain and grass and population is related to the level of the village......

In the next part, we can add wars about the offensive and defensive aspects of the city, and the scale of the battle can be further increased, and the size of the troops under control can also be increased......"

After comparing with several other planners on the paper and discussing with each other for a while, Ren Haoqiang nodded and said, "If this is the case, the content that needs to be considered is reduced a lot, and it should be much less difficult to consider." Several other planners also nodded yes.

"Well, you should think about how to perfect it. This time, when designing the system, we should carefully consider it, pay attention to the modularity of the game elements, maintain a coherent design purpose, and control and adjust the complexity. Well, you guys get busy first. After saying goodbye, Zhang Lexing left the conference room after saying goodbye to everyone, he knew that many things were easier said than done, and game planning was not achieved overnight, but he would not urge them to come up with the finished product immediately.

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