The development cycle of a game is not up to the producer.

Because plans often don't keep up with changes!

said that the new game that will be released next week may test a major bug today, and it has to be postponed and jumped, and then it faces countless unsuspecting players.

said that the new game to be released next year may also have to release semi-finished products in advance due to financial problems and pressure from investors, and then be scolded by players so much that they can't raise their heads......

These are common things.

In addition, there are many factors that affect the development cycle, such as the most classic "main policy is sick", "company team building tourism", "producers are fishing and paddling" and so on.

What to watch?

That's you, Hideo Kojima!

Because there are so many different challenges and problems that can be solved during game development, and the time it takes to solve them is incalculable, mature game producers use the terms "probably" and "probably" to describe the pre-release time.

Chen Ba is the same.

Ever since the release of the first promotional CG video of "Star Emperor", he has been constantly harassed by players.

There are also acquaintances and friends around him, who will also come to him and ask, "How is the new game?" ”

That's not particularly outrageous.

What is really outrageous is that when Chen Ba was squatting in the toilet, he received a harassing call promoting the krypton gold skin-changing mobile game.

On the phone, the game's customer service announced that he was the chosen "lucky player", and he could receive VIP999 privileges and an exclusive Guangwu gift package when he went online......

"Do you know who I am?"

Chen Ba became interested and immediately introduced himself to the game customer service.

Then, God turned around!

I thought that after learning his identity, this customer service would inevitably retreat, but unexpectedly, this guy is also a player of "Cold Window Reading Simulator" and a member of the Cattle Herding Sect.

"Huh? Are you Brother Ba? ”

"It's really you! So when will the new game be released? ”

God knows how speechless Chen Ba was at that time, he could run into the cattle herding sect when he received a harassing phone call, and he was also asked by the other party about the development progress of the new game.

Come on!

Can you take your work seriously, and ah, how many followers do you have in the cattle herding sect?

Chen Ba was also convinced.

Cold Window Reading Simulator has sold more than 700,000 copies so far, and the total number of players is unlikely to exceed 1 million.

But how does he feel that there are more than a million followers of the Cattle Herding Sect alone?

"There are a lot of cloud players in the Cattle Herding Sect."

Yang Dong, who was fiddling with the remote control of the air conditioner, couldn't help but smile when he heard this: "It's not just the cattle herding teaching, in fact, many people have seen our two games but haven't played them." ”

"I've seen it but haven't played it?!"

"Yes!"

Yang Dong explained: "Taking the cold window hard reading simulator as an example, some people just swiped the relevant video, and after watching it, they knew the game process, but they didn't buy it. ”

So Chen Ba's theory is valid.

Regardless of the fact that the game only sold more than 700,000 copies, the number of followers of the Cattle Herding Cult may be higher than the sales of the game.

Here's an example.

Previously, "Invisible Guardian" was a big hit, and the line "My wife Bingqing Yujie" became popular in the circle, attracting countless people to watch and see.

At that time, the people who knew the game, the people who knew the plot of the game, and the people who knew the origin of the line meme were far greater than the actual sales of the game.

That's how it is with the herding of cattle!

The reason why Chen Ba feels that the influence of the Cattle Herding Sect is so amazing, and even more than the number of real players, is mainly because there are many "cloud players" who play memes.

They may not even have bought the game, let alone played it.

I just brushed up on some related videos, and I thought the "cattle herding bug" was very interesting, and I happened to learn about the existence of the cattle herding sect, so I mixed in and acted as a fun person.

"I see......"

Chen Ba nodded, reluctantly accepting this fact.

He actually thought of this as well, which is why he didn't continue to strengthen the story game after "Simulator Under the Fence".

A strong story game, the look and feel may be good, but it's also too easy to be spoiled.

And once you are spoiled, or watch someone else's live video play once, it is difficult for you to be interested in buying and playing.

"I agree with you."

Yang Dong said with a solemn expression: "This is also the reason why many excellent strong plot games have a good reputation and the quality of the games is not bad, but the sales have never been able to rise." ”

Tianba Studio, in fact, has already suffered a loss.

Therefore, when discussing the "Star Emperor" project, he and Chen Ba thought of the same place, and resolutely did not make too complex and esoteric plots.

Pointless!

Just do a good job in the fighting part of the fighting game, who will write so much plot copy? Cloud players?

But cloud players don't buy games......

"There are pros and cons."

Chen Ba did not deny the importance of a good plot because of this, if a game can have an excellent plot, it can still enhance the great sense of immersion and substitution.

Just relatively.

As a fighting game, "Star Emperor" really doesn't need too complicated plot lines.

Of course!

The plot and the setting are two different things.

Although the new game does not have a complicated plot, the setting is not simple, especially the background setting, ability setting, etc.

"In the game, the stand-alone mode is the path of the protagonist Starry Sky Emperor, but what about the online mode?" Yang Dong asked.

"Fight to become an immortal!"

Chen Ba said with a smile: "Whether it is the Emperor of the Human Race or the Supreme of the Alien Race, even if the combat power is shocking, he is not an immortal after all. ”

"According to the setting, the place where players play in online mode is Chengxian Road, but it is divided into different areas......"

One life becomes an immortal, two or three people!

When the time comes, it will be a season system, and a certain number of "immortals" will be given in one season, and you can get special titles after becoming immortals.

This is not the end, you can also combine the ranking rank mechanism to create a set of rank grading matching system exclusive to the online mode.

"The Great Emperor/Supreme is the entry rank, and then it is called the Heavenly Emperor level, and then the Ninth Red Dust Immortal, and if you go up one rank, you will add a ......."

Chen Ba, who often reads online novels, is easy to set these immortals, and said casually: "After living out the ninth generation, there will be immortal kings, immortal emperors and other ranks." ”

It is difficult to become an immortal, which means that the Immortal King Immortal Emperor is like the master king rank in LOL, and only a small group of people can reach this rank every season.

Most players can't become immortals.

This set of season rank system settings made Yang Dong a little surprised, because he thought that the online mode was a simple matchmaking battle, but he didn't expect that there would be ranks.

"This is to retain players, otherwise the online mode will not have motivation and will soon get tired of playing." Chen Ba shook his head.

Without this ranked rank mechanism, it is estimated that the online mode will be tired of playing two, and players will not have a sense of accomplishment and motivation to continue playing.

This is definitely not going to work!