The development process of Watch Dogs was quite smooth, but the more difficult part was how to make players feel the power of hacking in the game.

After all, the main core gameplay of "Watch Dogs" is still about using hacking technology to interact with the items in the scene to complete the mission.

Freshness, which is also a must-have factor in any game.

Just like in GTA, in order to tell the story of three men and one dog, a real Los Santos was created, in which players can drag race, triathlon, skydive, or suddenly, or even work as a taxi driver.

These are the freshness of different gameplay, and the freshness of different games is also different.

In ACT games like God of War, the freshness is a variety of combo skills, such as equipment-driven games like "Borderlands", and the freshness is to brush out different equipment, and the novelty of story-driven RPGs like "The Witcher: Wild Hunt" is a variety of plots, and like level-driven games like "Wolf: Shadow Twice" and "Dark Souls", the freshness is the follow-up of different levels and enemies with different attack methods.

The novelty of "Watch Dogs" is that players use various hacking methods to complete a series of missions, or do something interesting in Chicago with hacking methods.

However, what makes Yang Chen feel interesting is that the player is really powerful.

The details and gameplay of the game "Watch Dogs" have not been announced, but there are some players who have been blinded by some content.

That is, Watch Dogs is indeed related to Assassin's Creed.

In the game, all the data and information of the city's citizens, including the city's public facilities, are controlled by ctOS, a hyper-informational central operating system.

This system can control all aspects including public transportation, city electricity, electronic surveillance, banking systems, police systems, etc.

At the same time, all network information is collected and integrated, recording citizens' personal information, medical insurance number, medical records, criminal records, and even online reading content, input habits, etc., combined with big data analysis to update background information in real time, and even use this system to understand a person, find a person, and kill a person.

In the modern plot of Assassin's Creed, clues about the ctOS system can also be found.

However, while ctOS is closely associated with the Templars, Aiden Pierce is not an assassin.

He's just a simple avenger.

But it also provided Yang Chen with some interesting ideas, adding enough easter egg content to the game, which seems to be good.

For example, the timeline in Watch Dogs is after Desmond in Assassin's Creed, and while Aiden Pierce is searching for his enemies, some side quests can inadvertently uncover some information about Desmond and the Assassin Order.

………………

After a period of brewing, Nebula Games also released some game content during this period.

For example, the game is just as the player thinks, and hacking will be one of the main ways to play.

Of course, this hacking gameplay is the hack that players imagine - mysterious, powerful, and super cool!

After all, as a game, it is impossible to really make a hacker simulator for players.

There must be handsome hackers, but Yang Chen thought about the big men in the game development department in Nebula Games, and to describe it in exaggerated words, that is, there is a little reflection when the lights are turned on.

If you really want to do this, in fact, if it is a niche similar to the existence of indie games, players may really be very interested in the effect of curiosity.

But in this kind of triple-A masterpiece, the game's protagonist is not good, which will basically reduce the player's psychological expectations a lot, although it is impossible to say that as long as the protagonist is ugly, the game will definitely die, but it will affect sales, this is certain, unless the ugly protagonist in the game is very individual, and the plot of the game itself can also shape it well, so that players will ignore his appearance and shift their attention to the character itself, such as Trevor in "GTA".

It's just that after the content of "Watch Dogs" was revealed little by little by Nebula Games, players and major game manufacturers were stunned.

A game that is not a meta element?

Open world?

An open-world game with a hacking theme?

Looking at Yang Chen's reply to the player on the official blog, Ma Lei of Netdragon was a little stupid.

I predicted a lot of things before, and what I said was reasonable, and this Nebula game officially explained it directly?

They don't make meta games, they do traditional popular open world games!

Then if you don't make a meta game, what are you doing with this "Under the Legend"!

And after you finish it, your new work is still hidden, and it wasn't until the major game manufacturers said that they wanted to make meta games, and it was a big production, that you announced the latest news of your own game.

It's not just NetDragon that's stupid, but also overseas game manufacturers such as Apex Games and UEgame, all of whom are a little confused at this time.

Although Nebula Games did not say that the new work would be a meta game before, but referring to the current popularity of meta games, as well as the rave reviews of "Under the Legend", in fact, everyone also assumes that Nebula Games is likely to make meta games next.

Including the initial news of "Watch Dogs", everyone still has such an idea.

After all, imagine that the theme of cyber hacking is a good match for the meta element that breaks the fourth wall!

But now Nebula Games says that you think too much, and what they do is the most stable open world game.

Although he didn't say it, Apex Games and UEgame were still extremely resentful at this time.

Especially UEgame, after all, they are still in a partnership with Nebula Games.

It's inflated!

I knew that I should have communicated with Nebulas Games in advance!

Looking at the news on Yang Chen's official blog, Grayson looked annoyed in the UEgame conference room.

But he was more confused.

Aren't meta games suitable for triple-A masterpieces?

Just like a horror game, limited by the genre itself?

After all, aside from Nebula Games, there is no game with meta elements.

Judging from the degree of matching between this type of game and VR, as well as the current popularity, it should be quite easy to live and succeed!

Compared with the doubts of other manufacturers, Yang Chen really doesn't have too many ideas about meta elements.

Because this subject matter is really embarrassing.

You can't say he's bad, you can only say he's not suitable.

Because with a simple meta element, it still can't support the content of a 3A-level masterpiece.

For example, the game flow of "Under the Legend" is very short, which will make players very impressed with the game, because the player's acceptance of the plot is very tight because of the time.

The content of the triple-A masterpiece is different, up to dozens of hours, which means that the digestion of the game content must be separated by players.

This is also the main story-oriented game of most of them, which will turn the plot into a chapter body, and tell the story chapter by chapter.

In this case, it is difficult for the meta element to reflect its advantages.

At best, it can only be used as a finishing touch to a special system, such as the pattern of Nier's Automata.

However, if other manufacturers do it, Yang Chen doesn't care at all.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with him, and it's not a hole he dug on purpose.

You have to do meta games, that's your business.

Blame me?