The development of a game requires many processes, and it is not achieved overnight.

Among them, single-player games are slightly better, at least there are not so many things to consider, and there is no need to worry too much about server-side problems.

Even if there are bugs in the game, for a single-player game, the problem is actually not that big, and then it can be fixed slowly.

But online games are different.

Because online games involve multiplayer, players and developers are much less tolerant of game bugs than single-player games.

Because of this, the development cycle of an online game is often not much different from that of a single-player game, and it may be developed in one or two years. But players who want to play this game may have to wait a long time.

Here's an example.

Two games with the same investment scale, one is a stand-alone game and the other is an online game, and the development work is carried out at the same time.

Stand-alone games may have started to sell, online games are still in the first test, stand-alone games have been updated for several rounds, sales can't rise, and online games are still in the second test......

When this stand-alone machine can't be sold, the popularity has dropped sharply, and the developer has discounted the game, at this time, the online game may start to "test without deletion"!

Don't think it's an exaggeration.

In fact, it's a very common phenomenon in the gaming world.

The main reason for this situation is that stand-alone games can be "semi-finished" and then slowly updated and repaired.

Is there a bug in the game?

Doesn't matter!

Who's stand-alone without bugs? In the early days of the game's release, all kinds of bugs were everywhere, such as the most classic "Cyberpunk 2077" and "No Man's Sky", and everyone who played it when it was first released.

But this does not affect the release of the game according to the predetermined plan, at most the word-of-mouth among players will drop a little, and the game should be sold how to sell.

Can online games do this?

The answer is, no!

Stand-alone machines can be sold as semi-finished products, and even if there are a bunch of bugs, it will not affect the normal release of the game.

But the online game dares to release a semi-finished product, and there are still a bunch of bugs that have not been fixed and solved during the public beta, so wait for death!

This does not mean that bugs are not allowed in online games during open beta......

It's that there can't be too many bugs, and it can't be too serious, at least it can't be treated with the standard of a single-player game for an online game that is about to be open beta.

"One test, two tests, three tests......"

Chen Ba explained: "With so many rounds of testing, is it really a waste of time? Definitely not, every round of testing has a purpose. ”

"Even if the game is gone, that's it?" Huang Qing quipped.

"Don't be embarrassed!"

Chen Ba said speechlessly: "The game is gone, and the version number is generally embarrassed, which has little to do with the game itself." ”

For example, DNF mobile games, right?

and "Exciting Battlefield", the predecessor of "Peace Elite", why did the closed beta take so long?

These are all because of the version number problem, so I have been testing for so long, and even measured that the game is gone, or that the game has changed its name.

"We don't have a version number."

Chen Ba patted his chest and promised: "Based on this, the testing process of "Xiuzhen Fantasy" should be much simpler, and it will not drag on for a long time. ”

It's almost time to do a one-test and two-test.

After the second test, you can almost connect to the public beta, and there will be no steps such as three tests, closed tests, and internal tests without deletion.

"Only two rounds of testing?"

Huang Qing didn't expect that Chen Ba was so bold, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and he dared to conduct an open beta after only two rounds of testing?

"Two rounds are enough!"

"No matter how many rounds of testing it is, you have to know that the games produced by our Tianba Studio are of perfect quality without bugs."

Chen Ba said this, his expression was slightly embarrassed and said: "There may be a little game feature, but believe me, there must be no game bugs." ”

"I believe you're a ......"

Although Huang Qing has not been joining Tianba Studio for a long time, he has long heard of this magical game studio.

It is impossible to do without bugs.

No game can be bug-free, but the game produced by Tianba Studio must not be without bugs.

There is a saying in the Tianba community, if there is no bug in the game made by Brother Ba, then you can stop playing!

Joke!

As a studio built on game bugs, players would rather believe that men can have children than that of Brother Ba's game.

"If you don't believe me, then I can't help it! However, it is enough to test two rounds, and there is no point in continuing to test bugs that cannot be found in two rounds. ”

This is Chen Ba's personal feeling.

In the past, he didn't think that the work of testing bugs to the death could not rely on brute force, but needed a little luck.

Sometimes, after half a day of testing, nothing is found, and the player exposes a big problem as soon as he gets started.

Who can be blamed for this?

Blame them for not being careful enough in their tests? Fart! Obviously, their brains are not flexible enough to simulate the strange brain circuits of players.

Two rounds of testing.

The first round is an internal test, which is not open to the public, and only conducts the game test within Tianba Studios.

The second round is the public test, which invites a group of players to enter the game in the form of issuing activation codes to test the stability and playability of the game.

Once you've made the appropriate arrangements, the next thing to do is to make a half-finished game for the upcoming first round of internal testing.

The development process is quite impressive.

Although it is the first time to make a large-scale Xianxia MMO game, the development team led by Chen Ba is experienced in many battles after all, and the game development experience is quite experienced and mature.

Perhaps the only difficulty is that the core "merit" system of the game needs to use the Tie Hanhan system to achieve some functions.

No way!

To put it bluntly, the merit system is actually a hidden three-level monetary system.

The whole system does not seem to be complicated, and it is even quite simple and crude. But in the specific development process, there is a bit of a tricky problem.

How is merit determined?

"In the background of the game, the player plays as a cultivator, who can obtain merit rewards issued by the Heavenly Dao by slaying demons and eliminating demons or accumulating virtue by doing good deeds."

Chen Ba introduced: "The problem now is that the Heavenly Dao is a relatively general concept, and it does not have a clear standard for judging the acquisition of merits. ”

To put it mildly, there is no specific standard for quantifying the distribution and deduction of merits, and the degree of freedom of judgment is relatively high.

"Why don't you just get a set of values and put them in?"

Xiao Lu was puzzled, thinking what was so difficult about this? It is enough to set a set of fixed numerical frameworks for this merit system, and then calculate merit according to this numerical framework.

How easy it is!

For example, slaying demons......

As long as in the game, according to the strength of the demon, a constant basic merit value, and then put it into the formula to calculate the amount of merit obtained by the player.

This is also a common practice in other games, where formulas are used to calculate values.

"No way!"

"I understand what you said, but you have overlooked one point, and that is the interference of other factors in this calculation formula, as well as the selfless fairness of the Heavenly Dao in issuing merits."

Or slaying demons and eliminating demons, Chen Ba gave an example of a situation that may be encountered in reality.

A demon in the Jindan period, for the sake of the disaster, killed 10 people, and has a certain amount of karma.

And another demon in the Jindan period, although it also killed the people, but it was to protect its own cave, and the human race took the initiative to break into the territory in order to capture its body and cubs.

If the player kills these two demons, will the Heavenly Dao give out the same amount of merit?

"There is one more situation......"

Liu Jinfu, who participated in the discussion, gave an example: "They are also demons in the Jindan period, but their combat power may not be the same, and the difficulty of players to destroy them is also different. ”

A demon has a powerful magic weapon in his hand, or a particularly powerful secret magic immortal method, so the threat level is relatively high!

But the cultivation realm of this demon remains the same, but the combat power is a bit high, so will the merit obtained after the elimination change?

"Forehead ......"

Xiao Lu scratched his head and said, "Then add a few new variables to include these situations!" ”

"After adding in, although these situations have been resolved, do you dare to guarantee that there are no new accidents?"

Chen Ba asked rhetorically: "Could it be that in the game, every time there is a special situation, we have to add a new calculation variable to this set of merit calculation formulas?" ”

It's too complicated.

Moreover, treating the symptoms is not the root cause, and it is often a special situation in the game that needs to be updated and added to change the original merit calculation formula.

Chen Ba believes that it is better to make the merit calculation system a subtraction by constantly doing addition.

"Do subtraction?"

"That's right! There is no need to make it so complicated, and there is no need to carry out tedious calculations, let alone set any formulas to add so-called variables......"

Chen Ba explained: "We can completely subtract these complicated and trivial things and leave the discretion of merit to the Heavenly Dao. ”

The Heavenly Dao in the game is actually the core code of the merit system.

There is no need for any formulas or calculations, just a certain amount of discretion is given to the Heavenly Dao, and it can make reasonable judgments based on the actual situation.

Xiao Lu's plan is actually to use legal provisions to stipulate how much merit should be obtained for XX behavior, and how XX should be determined, that is, to make additions, so that there are more and more legal provisions.

Chen Ba's plan abolished the thick and long legal provisions, and instead set up a special position of "judge", allowing judges to freely determine how much merit should be given according to the actual situation of the case.

Both plans can be used.

It's just that in the specific execution process, the actual experience of the game. Xiao Lu's plan will seem very cumbersome and cumbersome, and he has been doing addition.

Therefore, the most suitable solution for the game is to set up a "Heavenly Judge" and let it have a certain amount of discretion.

Of course!

After all, the Heavenly Dao in the game is a "dead thing", so it is a certain degree of freedom, not a complete degree of freedom.

On the premise that there are examples to follow, Tiandao will calculate the amount of merit obtained by the player according to the basic formula.

In some special circumstances, or under the premise that the situation is more complicated, then it is up to the Heavenly Dao itself to make a decision, whether to give 10 points of merit or 100 points of merit.

"That's a hassle, isn't it?"

After understanding what Brother Ba meant, Xiao Lu frowned and said, "Although your plan is very feasible, what should you do with this Heavenly Dao and merit punishment system?" ”

Ideas are ideas.

When making a game, everyone may have one or another idea, and these ideas are very interesting, but whether they can make the finished product or not is another matter.

Being able to make a finished product and turn it into a practical idea is the point of discussion.

Who wouldn't just talk about it?

If you can make a great game with a mouthpiece, there won't be a "you can do it" phrase.

Xiao Lu agreed with Brother Ba's idea.

Subtraction is indeed more reasonable and meaningful than addition. But the key to subtraction is to ensure the autonomy of the merit system.

It's hard to do......

He thought about it for a while, at least he couldn't make a "Heavenly Dao" with discretion to judge whether the player's behavior met the merit distribution criteria.

"Don't worry, I'll fix it."

Since Chen Ba dared to say this idea, it proved that he already had a corresponding solution.

He can't do it, and neither can Xiao Lu......

Isn't there also an iron hanhan system! With the degree of Tie Hanhan's system, simulating a "fair and selfless" heavenly way in the game is just a piece of cake.

Seriously.

This Heavenly Dao is actually half AI, and the reason why it is half is mainly because the "Heavenly Dao" requires absolute impartiality and selflessness.

To put it bluntly, rigid procedures.

The way of heaven is in the game, which is the supreme and a monitoring program for judging the sins and merits of sentient beings. This program, in theory, does not belong to the category of AI, because it is more ruthless and rigid than AI.

When players enter the game "Xiuzhen Fantasy", their every move will be monitored by the "Heavenly Dao".

A bit like an anti-cheat program?

Almost! Anyway, that's what it means, by monitoring the player's behavior, and then judging the merit system, and issuing the corresponding rewards.

This "Heavenly Dao" is very powerful!

The "Heavenly Dao" made by using the Tie Hanhan system is simply pervasive, and to some extent it is even more exaggerated than the game GM.

As the old saying goes: there are gods in the head!

I'm sorry, but in the game "Xiuzhen Fantasy", "God" really exists, and the way of heaven, as a monitoring program, is above all living beings.

"Isn't that private?"

Xiao Lu complained: "Being stared at all the time feels like a lot of pressure to play games!" ”

"Being stared at?"

When Chen Ba heard this, he immediately laughed.

"The premise of being stared at and making you feel uncomfortable is that you have to be alone! But is Heaven a human being? It's not, not even AI, it's just a program! ”

From this point of view, Xiao Lu thinks that players lack a sense of privacy and are very uncomfortable being stared at, and this concern does not exist.

Because this Heavenly Dao is theoretically just a small program hanging in the background of the game.

It's dead things, a program......

Players don't need to understand the way of heaven, they just need to know that this is the same as the nature of the wegame hanging in the background when you launch the League of Legends client.

(End of chapter)