At the beginning of the concept is a concept art of the game.

Although I didn't do a demo, I still have to have a concept map, because the concept map gives people the most intuitive feeling, and without a concept map, it is likely to be a chicken and a duck, and the other party can't understand what he's talking about for a long time.

"This is the concept of the game of "Ink and Smoke", as you can see, this is a side-scrolling 2D game, the painting style is the traditional Chinese ink style, and the gameplay is a small number of action elements + other interactions. As for the specific ways to interact, we will introduce them later. ”

The judges all looked at the concept map carefully, and they all had some expressions of surprise on their faces.

Pretty! It's so beautiful!

There are Du Mingxian, a professor of the Department of Fine Arts, and a senior art director, who have very high attainments in art.

Moreover, others, such as senior game producers, must also have a rough judgment about art, and can't say too many technical terms, but simple beauty and ugliness can still be distinguished from good and bad.

Even Jin Xi also understands ink painting and landscape painting, after all, there is a saying that "calligraphy and painting are not separated".

This concept map is a traditional 2D layout, that is, the feeling of a paper man, and the painting style is the traditional Chinese ink style, but it is very fine, which is a compromise, which looks antique and antique, and is also more suitable for the taste of ordinary players and the standard of the current game.

The picture is clearly divided into two parts, bounded by the center.

The left half of the concept map shows pine and cypress, rippling blue waves on the water surface, and clouds and mist lingering in the mountains, like a fairyland.

Outside the bamboo forest, a young man who looks like a scholar, holding a scroll in his left hand and a brush in his right hand, is looking into the distance.

And in the right half of the concept art, on the top of the towering mountain, a black gas lingers, which looks a little like a dark cloud, but it is obviously not a dark cloud, because the black gas is faintly visible, like the phantom of a huge beast.

Du Mingxian approached Jin Xi a little and said in a low voice: "Look, just this painting should mean that there is a very powerful artist in their group!" ”

Jin Xi nodded: "You can ask later, if this artist also comes, you can let him come to the stage to speak." ”

Because Zhong Ming was in charge of explaining the concept draft, most of the judges subconsciously regarded him as a designer, not the main artist.

Zhong Ming continues to introduce the background of the story of this game.

"In ancient times, there was a vicious beast in Huaxia called Nightmare."

"The reason for the birth of the Nightmare Beast is unknown, but it is rumored that the Nightmare Beast can weave dreams and feed on negative emotions such as fear, hatred, despair, and resentment, and will grow stronger by day."

"The Nightmare Beast has put everyone in Yangmengcheng into dreams, trapped them in their own dreams, and fed themselves with fear, hatred, and despair, and continued to grow."

"Once the Nightmare Beast grows and grows, the entire Yangmeng City, and even the entire human world, will become the Nightmare Beast's food!"

"Fortunately, a scholar realized that he was trapped in a dream, holding a scroll in his left hand and a pen and ink in his right hand, trying to break the nightmare and defeat the Nightmare Beast."

"The beast is ferocious, and it can continue to breed evil demons in nightmares, block the footsteps of scholars, and even want to get rid of them quickly!"

"Scholars are invincible with pen and ink and painting scrolls, borrowing the momentum of the landscape in the painting, and using poetry and calligraphy as the sword!"

Zhong Ming spoke on the stage, and the judges below all listened carefully.

This worldview is very simple, from beginning to end, there are only two characters, one is the scholar played by the player, and the other is the final boss in the game, that is, the Nightmare Beast.

Of course, in the course of the game, the Nightmare Beast will constantly send out all kinds of demons to block the scholars, and those demons are some monsters that stand in the way.

The veteran producer, Wu Zhicheng, nodded approvingly: "The idea is good, but you have to focus on the operation and combat system of this game." In terms of graphics, as an independent game, it is definitely top-notch, and even this kind of traditional Chinese ink style game is relatively rare in the game market, which can be said to be unusual. However, the gameplay must be able to hold up, otherwise the game will collapse. ”

The other judge also nodded and said, "Yes, let's talk about the operation and combat system." Is this a bracelet game, or a computer game? ”

Zhong Ming said: "Bracelets, computers, you can play. It's just a slightly different way of doing it. The bracelet is operated with a virtual joystick and a touch, while the computer uses a keyboard and mouse. Of course, if the computer is a touchscreen computer, it can also be operated with a touch of a button. In addition, we allow players to connect external devices such as tablet and pen to play. ”

Wu Zhicheng was stunned: "External hand-drawn tablet, pressure pen? I heard you right, what are you doing playing games, connecting to all this? ”

Zhong Ming smiled slightly: "I'll continue to talk about the operation mode of this game first." ”

"This game can be seen as a 2D side-scrolling game, with basic operations such as movement, jumping, two-stage jumping, defense, and basic attack. You can see the general layout when operating on the bracelet. In the lower left corner of the screen is the virtual joystick, and in the lower right corner of the screen are the five buttons of jumping, attacking, defending, writing, and drawing. ”

There is a basic button layout on the concept draft.

Needless to say, the virtual joystick in the lower left corner, most of the function keys are integrated in the lower right corner, and the largest button is [Jump], and when you press it in the air, it is a two-stage jump.

The four icons around [Jump] are Sword (Basic Attack), Shield (Basic Defense), Brush (Calligraphy Skill), and Picture Scroll (Painting Skill).

Of course, the attack and defense, except that the icons are swords and shields, are meant to be easy for the player to understand. In fact, the attack method in the game is that the scholar wields a brush and throws pen and ink to inflict a long-range attack on the enemy, and the defense method is to block the scroll in front of him like a shield.

This layout is the default mode of operation on the bracelet.

The bracelet of this world can be expanded on the virtual screen, and when the player wants to operate, it is directly operated on the virtual screen.

Therefore, the operation of the bracelet is basically the same as Zhong Ming's mobile phone in his previous life, except that the screen of the bracelet is a virtual image, unlike a mobile phone, which is a physical object, and you need to adapt to it when playing.

Of course, it is only for Zhong Ming to get used to it, people in this world have played bracelet games a lot, and they have long been accustomed to this kind of virtual image.

On the computer, these keys can all be replaced by ASD, space, UIJK, etc.

At this stage, this is actually a relatively common side-scrolling game, moving, jumping, and attacking, which are not much different from traditional side-scrolling games.

In fact, the special feature of this game is not only in the painting style, but more importantly, in the two skills of [calligraphy skills] and [painting skills].

These two skills can be said to completely change the gameplay of this game.

Zhong Ming continued to explain.

"The biggest difference between this game and other side-scrolling games is the two skills of 'painting' and 'calligraphy'."

"As mentioned in the background story, this scholar is fighting the Nightmare Beast in a dream, so the brush and scroll he carries are endowed with special abilities, that is, he can rewrite the dream to a certain extent!"

"First of all, painting. The Painting skill allows the player to create objects in a setting, or erase some elements permanently. ”

Here's how it works:"

"After the player clicks on the [Paint] skill, the game pauses, and time freezes, and the player can freely modify the current game screen by touching, mouse, or a pen."