After listening to the description of George, the director of the first design department.

Connor remembered only one sentence.

"It's hard, but it's fun."

He only felt a little dizzy in his brain, and it was difficult to understand the concept.

It's hard, it's fun.

These two words...... In the gaming industry, it's theoretically contradictory.

Because, if the difficulty is too high, it means that there is a high rate of player persuasion.

In the end, only a small percentage of hardcore players will be screened out.

But this part of the players, the sales that can contribute to the game manufacturers are not so optimistic.

After all, the ultimate goal of any game is to become popular.

The more people play, the more money you make, and that's a truth that any manufacturer understands.

As a result, many manufacturers give the game several different difficulty options.

Let ordinary players experience the fun of the game itself, so that hardcore players can also gain the joy of overcoming difficulties from various hero-level and challenge-level difficulties.

So let's go back to it.

Elden Ring is a game that does it when you can't choose the difficulty.

Let most players be abused to death and come back to life, but can you still scream and scream excitedly and keep challenging?

Soon, Connor's doubts were raised.

The employees of Weiwangdi Design Department 1 have given some answers.

"I don't know why, but this game is very immersive...... It's as if the player is adventuring through the world themselves. ”

"Although it is difficult, it is not the kind of difficulty that deliberately makes things difficult for people, and it also gives a lot of ideas for solving problems. For example, if you can't beat the Tree Guard, you can take a detour, level up first, get better equipment, and then come back to challenge. ”

"And how to play and how to play is also up to the players themselves, and the number one player has never forced players to use a single number of ways during the game."

"On the contrary, Player One also encourages players to use various genres and experience more fun gameplay through different weak guides."

"This approach was completely born out of the open world, and if you follow our traditional linear process, you can't get the player to get the equipment in the back first, and then fight the monster in front. That would make all the rest of the content lose the sense of anticipation. ”

Hearing this, Connor grasped a detail.

"Wait...... Are you saying that "Elden" has the practice of skipping a level and coming back to kill the boss? ”

"This ...... Isn't that weird? ”

He frowned and stared at the employees: "Just like you said, players get their follow-up weapons in advance, or upgrade them to a higher level...... Are you still interested in the early bosses? ”

Upon hearing this, George's face was filled with a bitter smile.

"That's what I thought at first, but looking at the game streamers on multiple global streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch in the past few hours...... Far from being bored, they were in high spirits, and the excitement of defeating the boss did not wane. ”

"Why is this happening?" Connor thought for a moment and said, "I remember doing something similar a few years ago, when our game design style was still immature. But it turned out that it was extremely stupid to do so, why did "Elden" succeed? ”

A few years ago, Vivendi launched a whimsical creation.

The genre is a linear narrative FPS.

The specific gameplay is that players can get some equipment for strengthening weapons in advance before fighting the boss, and they can easily get through the boss difficulties.

The reason for this is simple.

At that time, everyone in the market complained about the same, fighting monsters, then leveling up, and then continuing to fight monsters, continuing to upgrade.

So Viwangdi wants to give the player a whole big one!

I'll let you level up first, and then go to fight monsters, from the beginning to the end, there is no resistance at all, isn't this cool?

It turned out to be true.

The Viwang flute is not a whole big one, but a big one.

The violent death of that game also made other manufacturers who had similar ideas directly give up this stupid approach.

But now let's watch "Elden".

Putting aside its other settings, just talking about 'allowing players to skip the level to challenge the boss' is the same as the FPS that died violently back then.

Why is Elden so popular with players?

George pondered for a moment on this question and gave an answer.

"I think...... Or the advantage of the open world, the existence of the open world, will lead to a whole new concept...... I'll call it the 'hate-attracted' design concept for now. ”

"Hate attracted?"

"Yes, probably that means, sir you grew up in a rural environment full of discrimination, and everyone around you didn't approve of you. Now that you can afford a luxury car and a villa, what is the first thing you want to do? ”

“ummm…… drove a luxury car back to the countryside with a celebrity babes, and made all the people who looked down on me before look down on me to look up to me. Connor thought for a moment and replied, "It's cool to think about, really." ”

George added: "I think this coolness is because of the thrill of revenge, because you yourself have become stronger than before, right?" ”

"It's the same in the game, a boss that you couldn't have beaten before, and now you have a stronger weapon, and you go back and kill it, which is also proof that you are stronger than before." Kill the boss who couldn't be defeated before', this fact itself is a kind of recognition. ”

"So there won't be a situation where 'it's boring to fight the early boss with a powerful weapon', on the contrary, it will be very satisfying."

"But in a linear game, you can't do that, you can't give the player a taste of something new before they fight the boss. Basically, the opening of the follow-up content is unlocked with the defeat of the current boss. ”

"Therefore, the best thing to do in a linear RPG game is to allow players to return to their original place to farm some levels and weapons when they encounter a boss that cannot be beaten."

"But then again, there is a problem...... The original place is explored by players along the linear narrative, and there will be a high degree of repetition and fatigue when leveling up in the places that have already been explored. ”

"And the open world is different, you can't beat this boss, it doesn't matter, you change places to explore and level up, because you can go anywhere, so everywhere you go is fresh, and you have never set foot in it."

Connor heard this, and thought seriously for a moment.

The frowning brow deepened.

If it's really according to what George said.

The open world is indeed a set of logic that is currently unsolvable.

Because of the openness, the constraints that many linear games used to have had have been easily solved.

Besides.

He also heard from George and other employees about Elden's macro visual aesthetics, unique combat system design, and a series of perfect designs.

"Aren't we going to lose?" Connor's face turned ugly: "We spent a lot of money on media marketing to have the current "Shadow Realm" with one million sales in the first week, and it will be shattered by "Elden"? ”

The ripple effect of letting "Elden" kill "Shadow Realm" is undoubtedly huge, and Connor can't afford to lose.

However, George's next words gave him a glimmer of hope.

"Not exactly."

"Elden is a very good interpretation of the concept of open world, and if the concept of open world is maintained, then this game will be flawless."

"But there seems to be something wrong with the current progress."

"Oh??" Connor suddenly ignited hope and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?" ”

George pointed to the live broadcast of Elden on the projection screen, and spoke slowly.

"Elden prides itself on its brilliant, unique open-world concept. Can ...... now Ke is killing it with his own hands. ”

"At present, the player's general progress has been explored to a place called Stonewell City."

"After that, the concept of an open world doesn't exist, and it's replaced by a very linear traditional box-court gameplay."

"There are big drawbacks to this gameplay, just like I mentioned to Sir you just now."

"Elden itself is too difficult, but because of the open world, players have a choice, and it will become fun."

"Once you enter the traditional box garden mode, players have no choice, and if they encounter difficult monsters, they can only challenge them over and over again."

"This will only lead to two results, first, the vast majority of ordinary players can't stand being abused on the spot, so they just quit the game and quit the game."

"Second, return to Nimgerford until you can easily pass Stonewell."

"But as far as I know, most of the streamers who have come to Stonewell so far are players who have explored both areas of Nimgefo + the Weeping Peninsula. But they still don't seem to be able to get past Stonewell. ”

"Then next, it will be reduced to the boredom of repeated leveling."

When George's words fell, Connor's face suddenly turned overjoyed.

Ok, good, good!

I'll just say it.

No matter how awesome your number one player is, you can't perfect a 3D masterpiece, right?

Especially innovative 3D masterpieces.

What does it mean to be innovative?

Crossing the river by feeling the stones!

Can you be the number one player and build a bridge across the river at the same time?

"This must be their lack of technical strength!" Connerton was excited, and he said excitedly.

"I can't support a huge open world, so I have to forcibly stuff a box garden type that has been played by people into it."

"As long as this Stonewell City can't do it, we don't need to say anything, and the players will naturally help us take the initiative to attack the number one player."

"That way, we have a buffer time!"

Drag Elden with Shadow Realm.

Then integrate all the people in the design department of Viwangdi, grab the definition of open world, fire all the power and bypass the mistakes made by the number one player, and directly pull out a better open world game!

Your open world concept is good.

But now, it's mine!

And then step on the corpse of "Elden" to take the position!

Finally, I will buy the amount everywhere and publicize it.

Call Vivendi's new game truly the world's first open-world game!

So.

Fame and fortune!

When the time comes, let alone the number one player who has already been grounded.

Even if you watch Art Electronics and Blizzard, you have to be a little scared!

With that in mind, Connor didn't go home.

Pull over a chair and sit down.

stared intently at the live broadcast of the anchor on the big screen.

He was looking forward to the number one player being at the key juncture of Stonewell City and pulling him a big bubble!

At this time, the character controlled by the anchor on the screen stumbled and fell off the cliff, and slapped the table and shouted angrily.

It made Connor applaud again and again.

"Good! You've done a good job, Ready Player One! That's how the game should be designed! ”

————

"Fuck you Ready Player One!"

"This terrain design is disgusting, fuck!"

"Wonder if you can design Elden!"

CZCU live broadcast room.

He's going crazy.

When I first came to Stonewell City, I was shocked by this majestic building, and I sighed from the bottom of my heart.

As a result, the main gate was shot indiscriminately by the powerful fire of Stonewell City, and he was killed several times.

Only then did CZCU realize that the game design really allowed players to explore the path.

I'm afraid it's the path that the doorman next to me reminded me of.

After passing through the broken eaves and walls, we came to the wooden plank road built close to the perimeter of the castle.

The wooden plank road is built in the air, although it seems to be very firm, but there is an abyss under the feet, which still gives people a very dangerous feeling.

Going up the boardwalk, he saw a Stonewell soldier with a horn in his hand.

I felt bad in my heart.

Hurriedly stepped forward and slashed out, wanting to quickly cut through the chaos and kill the trumpet soldiers.

Unexpectedly, a soldier holding a shield suddenly appeared next to the wall on the side.

Coldly popped out, startling Czcu, and subconsciously rolled backwards to avoid the sneak attack.

Then, he fell straight down the boardwalk and stumbled on the cliff.

DIED！

Czcu is very dissatisfied with this situation.

Because he felt that he was mainly limited by the terrain.

was killed by the terrain, and it was inevitable that I would be a little depressed in my heart.

If you have the ability, you will let me go up, and let's compare and match again?

The second time, Czcu directly chose to charge.

He doesn't love war, and he doesn't intend to kill trumpeters.

It's a reckless run.

Passing through the gap between several soldiers who had heard the horn and drawing their swords, he ran onto the plank road, turned left, and finally entered the relatively safe tower.

Drilling into the tower is equivalent to entering the interior of Stonewell City.

Don't worry about stumbling anymore.

But soon, new problems arose.

These Stonewell soldiers are not only stronger than those Greck soldiers at the front of the level.

It also has a higher aggro value and will follow the player all the way into the tower.

There are many people, and each person is equipped with a brass shield.

Even a single soldier can't break through the defense with a single sword.

I can only continue to escape.

You can just go upstairs along the stairs.

Then he saw a pile of barrels blocking the way.

Just when Czcu was still thinking about what these barrels were doing here, wouldn't these soldiers be in the way when they went up and down the stairs normally?

Suddenly, I saw a soldier standing directly above the stairs holding a torch, and directly threw a fire pot.

Czcu's pupils suddenly contracted!

"Boom !!"

Wait 2 minutes, and return a chapter

(End of chapter)