If it is said to be sold directly, what about the decline in brand value due to poor word-of-mouth? But if we talk about redoing it, what about the R&D expenses spent on it?

Neither of these issues should be considered by a game designer in nature, it is something that the owner of a game company needs to consider.

But Jester asked anyway, because he knew that the designer was responsible for the quality of a game, not the boss of the company.

A qualified game designer must be responsible for his own work.

Seeing that the crowd was still speechless, Jester continued to smile and ask the next question.

"So let's look at this question in a different direction - why do we wait until a game is almost 80 or 90 percent finished to know that the game is just just-so-so, can't we find out when we made it before?"

These words made the eyes of the more than 30 designers of Mars Entertainment light up, it seemed that they thought of something critical, but they couldn't grasp it for a while.

"Maybe ......"

Mark Seni is the original author of this theory, and he also had some thoughts of his own after hearing Jester's provocative question.

However, this theory is the result of his nearly 20 years of experience in game development, through the development team of Sega, Universal Entertainment (Vivendi Games), Sony Entertainment, and countless game development experience.

He only said the word 'maybe' and there was no more to follow.

Like everyone else, he seems to have touched the door, but it will take a long time of experience in game development to pierce that thick layer of window paper.

That's why Mark Saini's 'Saini Theory' was so popular in the first place, because his theory explains how to make a good game in an almost methodological way.

For the designers who stand outside the door, push open the door that can lead them to success.

Jester continued his speech, and everyone listened silently, they were indeed attracted by Jester's theory.

"We continued to dig deeper on this issue, and we were like, 'This idea is great,' or maybe it's beautiful,' but when we programmed them, it turned out to be 'average,' so I asked how far we needed to finish the game to realize that we were wrong at the beginning: it wasn't a great thing, it was a piece of."

"How much of a game's core elements make up the game's content? Take my "American Cubes" as an example, after digging out all the unnecessary background patterns, electronic music, and some text that players may not read, only the core gameplay of this game is retained, which is to eliminate the seven different blocks that appear randomly, how much capacity is left in this game? ”

As he spoke, Jester held out a hand, only for his thumb to be retracted.

He shook his palm, which showed four fingers, at everyone, and then said his answer: "Forty percent." ”

Jester then named the three most important of the four cores of Saini's theory.

"For a game, a designer has to have a pre-product concept, and this pre-product has to be the first releasable demo that contains all of the designer's core gameplay of the game, and I assume it's called the alpha version."

"In addition to focusing on the core of the game you want to make, the alpha version has to be releasable, not a simple patchwork of bits and pieces of game content - that's why I call it a replayable version."

Then, knowing whether players buy or don't buy this "first releasable demo" trial, we can correct and optimize our own development process. ”

"In other words, when we first conceived it, we were not right."

"As a game designer, the first thing we need to understand is that it's not that we think it's good or not, but whether we want to think about whether the gamers should make a game or not—I asked you earlier whether you make a game with the mentality of making a game or designing a game, and it's actually a very interesting question, we produce a product -- so should we also do it with the mentality of making a product?"

Jester said very seriously, he has experienced the explosion of games in later generations, and the audio-visual enjoyment is far more than the current pixel era, at that time games were called the ninth art, and making a game is not much easier than making a movie, but now, except for Jester, no one will have the idea that games are art.

"That's how one of my teachers at UCLA explained art when she talked about what art is."

"That's what he said: 'Art is a very subjective thing, and what I think is art may be thought that it is just a lump of flying, so there may not be a precise and normative definition of this subjective thing, but I think art should be someone putting something together in order to produce a response in a certain group', if this is the case, then when we make a game, are we also combining something together in order to produce a response in a certain group?"

Seeing someone nodding incessantly, Jester continued to smile and say.

"Everyone can have a different mindset in the face of the previous problems, and I personally believe that I am not just a game designer, I am an artist, and I am passing my thoughts on the players who play my game, and I want to get their response, their feedback."

"So, games are art in my mind."

"But the essence of the game is a commodity, it needs to be sold, it is completely different from the general idea that it is just a work of art for appreciation, it does not need to be a maverick and does not need to be alone, it needs to be popular, universal, and can be accepted by ordinary people, so I think we should use the thinking of designing artwork to make a product."

"But our essence is to be an artist, not just a designer, to put our thoughts into our work."

"A game that doesn't have a designer's mind is never going to work."

Jester finished speaking with an excited expression, and the audience suddenly erupted in thunderous applause, and everyone clapped their palms vigorously, Jester's words were enough to make them deafening.

Then, Jester seemed to be unsatisfied, he raised his two hands, pressed them down, and continued to smile and said: "Then let's have a real brainstorming, I have a game type here, you can use your brain as a game designer to help me perfect this game, it has to be special, unique, people look at it, or even just know such a way to play, so I am interested, and I have this idea - I want to play this game!" ”

Looking at the eager people below, Jester smiled maliciously and said his title: "Let's have a book of Genesis that you've all played, Richard Garrett's "Genesis", I think you all know, my title is RPG, you can help me perfect this type of game." ”

RPGs, role-playing, one of the most popular genres, have a wide audience, but it is very difficult to do well.

"I think we can make the plot more moving!" Someone said so.

"I think it's possible to design a powerful artifact that players want to get their hands on!" Some people say so.

"I think we can build a growth system where players can feel the growth of the heroes they control." That's what is also said.

All kinds of arguments filled Jester's ears, he just smiled and didn't make any comments, and then when everyone's opinions were almost finished, he spoke: "So, I'll give you an example of another game, and then you can think about how to make an RPG new in terms of gameplay, for example, what is the core gameplay of my American Cubes?" ”

"Eliminate!" Someone immediately answered.

"It's a sense of accomplishment that goes up with points!" Some people also replied in this way.

"It's the superiority that beats others!" There are also those who say so.

"It's that easter egg!" As soon as this was said, someone immediately retorted, "Even without that easter egg, "American Cubes" is still fun!" ”

"It's elimination, but it's not just elimination." Mark Saini, who had never opened his mouth at this time, suddenly said, "To be precise, this game is essentially a puzzle game, and the player likes the process of considering elimination that is not difficult but endlessly varied, and every time a block falls, he needs to constantly think - what should I do." As for the points and easter eggs, they are all add-ons, and as Jester said before, these are not the real core gameplay of this game, but just bits and pieces. ”

Jester applauded, and he wasn't surprised that Mark Saini was the kind of designer who could get to the heart of a game.

"Then I'm going to continue to redesign a few games with this core gameplay of 'not too difficult but endlessly varied consideration process to eliminate'. For example, there is such a game......" Jester's face showed a thoughtful look, he has played a lot of matching games in later generations, and just a few of them are enough for these current designers to worship.

"That's how I set the rules of this game."

"Suppose there is a 10x10 square, and there is a gem in each compartment, and these gems have many types and colors, it may be seven or eight, we will not discuss this for now."

"What can be known is that they do not have three identical connections, whether horizontal or vertical, and all the player has to do is to arbitrarily exchange two adjacent gems, horizontally and vertically, to achieve three identical gems connected - and as long as such conditions are formed, then these three gems will be eliminated, and their vacant places will be filled by the gems above them in turn, and there will be new gems at the top to fill the vacancy, and when these gems fall, if they can form a new triple, Then it will still be eliminated......"

"I've set the mode to three, one is a normal mode, in this mode, the player can keep eliminating the gems in the square until the gems can't be eliminated - of course, the elimination of gems is to be scored, and the more you eliminate in one operation, the higher the score."

"The second is the time mode, when the player eliminates, there will be a countdown bar, at the beginning this countdown bar is very slow, the player can use guò to successfully eliminate the time to get the reward to replenish the countdown, but as time goes by, the countdown will get faster and faster, and the player needs to eliminate as many gems as possible before the countdown ends, so as to get more points!"

"The third is the competitive mode, which is no different from the time mode, but it is a game in which two people play the time mode separately, and whoever finishes the game first loses the game."

As Jester briefly talked about the idea of this 2000 Bejeweled by POPCAP, the eyes of many designers in front of him lit up, and they all heard the incredible replayability of this simple game like "American Cubes"!

Even in the past 2,000 years, Bejeweled became a sensation upon its release, selling 25 million copies on all platforms, and two years later it was inducted into the IGN-sponsored Video Games Hall of Fame, while only two match-matching games were selected, in addition to Bejeweled, there was also Tetris.

This shows how good this game is, let alone in a video game desert like '84.

The impact Jester had on them was indescribable.

And the way they looked at Jester also became different, some people thought that he was able to make "American Cubes" just by luck and inspiration, but now judging from Jester's watch, it is not the same thing at all.

Otherwise, how could he be able to say such a top-explosive game idea as casually as drinking water and eating? And it has the elimination style of "American Cubes", which is completely comparable to "American Cubes", but a completely different game from the gameplay of "American Cubes"?

Then, in order to deepen his shocking and tall image and status among these designers, Jester continued to say the design ideas of "Zuma" and "Bubble Dragon", two equally excellent match-solving games, which made these young designers worship directly.

Each of them had a feverish look on their faces, and they looked at Jester as if they were seeing a god of game design, as if he didn't need to think, and that he could come up with a game idea that they couldn't have imagined anyway.

And these ideas sound so much fun!

Even Mark Seni looked at Jester speechlessly, and then he sighed deeply, ashamed of himself.

However, Jester's face did not show the slightest smug look, but still had that faint smile, and he continued to talk about the question just now.

"Well, now you're going to use a different angle, like the way I just analyzed the core gameplay of American Cubes, to design a completely different RPG that makes people shine and can't help but play it."

Then, as soon as Jester's words were finished, everyone fell into deep thought.

The process and ideas of Jester's design of the game based on "American Cubes" just now had a very, very big impact on them, as if they had come to a door, and as long as they pushed open this door, they could enter a completely different realm.

It's as if they see the future.