Game Development Giant

"I named this new card game magi-the-gathering. Why did I choose such a name? It's very simple. This is a game based on the magical world of the Middle Ages. You can call it Magic: The Gathering. Card."

Jester was talking on it, and the others were also listening attentively. Obviously, what Jester said about this card game that completely subverted the gameplay of poker has completely aroused their interest. Jester Jester looked around and saw that no one had any intention of asking questions, but they were all quietly waiting for his next story. At this time, Jester couldn't help but think of the G that Blizzard later created based on Magic: The Gathering. This card game with the background of Warcraft has actually made many innovations compared to the original Magic: The Gathering. The biggest one is that Blizzard has expanded the two-player battle of the trading card game into a battle between players and the dungeon boss. This is somewhat like a copy of World of Warcraft, but it is very different.

Generally speaking, Blizzard divides the battle between players and bosses into two modes in G, one is raid and the other is dungeon. In short, it is a battle between player camp and player boss. Of course , the other is a battle between the player camp and the random mechanism. But what makes Jester a little disappointed is that it is obvious that these designers are not very interested in this additional gameplay that he came up with on a whim. What they really want to hear is what Jester said. Players choose a certain number of decks from the card pool to play against each other. How should such a game be designed?

To be honest, Jester is actually quite interested in this kind of gameplay where the player plays the boss. Especially at parties, this kind of gameplay is much more interesting than two-person battles. Although it is not very balanced, but there is no real thing now, even if he talks nonsense, it is difficult for these people to understand the fun of this gameplay, so Jester simply started talking about how to design Magic cards.

As for basic concepts such as various classification cards, land factions, etc., Jester briefly explained them first. These are the most basic settings. It is up to the designer to change the type of cards. In his previous life, he was only interested in Magic: The Gathering for a while, so he was asked to tell all the basics of Magic: The Gathering. It's an impossible task, but he can describe the operating mechanism of Magic. In this case, with the operating mechanism, it will be much easier to set the cards according to the mechanism. Bo? Isn't this what a small jazz band means? Why are card games connected to these unknown contents?

Faced with everyone's doubts. Jester just smiled and continued: "Bo here does not mean a jazz band, nor does it mean a radio, but a combination of his original intention, that is, except that we have to set up different In addition to the strength of a single card that makes up the entire card pool, it must also be able to form some very unique combinations of different cards. Once these combinations appear, some effects that far exceed the strength of a single card can appear. Such card combinations. My name is bo, that is to say, combination of cards."…

Hearing what Jester said, the faces of those present showed a look of surprise. They had already heard Jester introduce the basics of this new card game before, and knew that in each round , the player will not just play the cards once, but will play the cards according to the cost. In this way, when multiple cards are played, this kind of bo setting will naturally appear.

Therefore, the card designers present nodded their heads after realizing it. This is indeed a setting that expands more gameplay options. In Jester's eyes, it is natural, because in the countless card games that will evolve from Magic: The Gathering in the future, bo will be an indispensable setting, not just TG, even TG-like card games, For card games like g or even dbg, bo is an absolutely indispensable setting. This is the beginning of the depth of card games.

But Jester obviously hadn't finished what he wanted to say. After waiting for everyone present to understand his setting, he continued: "But bo didn't come up with it by patting his head. Except for me, As mentioned before, after each card is created, it must be mathematically modeled based on the skills on the card and the age of the cost card it needs to spend. After the modeling is completed, a large number of tests are required. Let’s test whether the strength of a single card you calculated through modeling is reliable. After testing the strength of a single card, a large number of bosses will be spun."

Seeing that the people below were surprised when they heard him say the word web, Jester still had that faint smile: "You heard it right, it's bo's web, a card It’s not just one bo, it’s called weaving a web.”

As what Jester said became more and more complicated, the people below also began to take detailed notes, instead of just picking up the key points and chatting and jotting down a few notes, because what Jester said now has already Entering the real core elements of this card game, that is to say, even if the previous basic settings are known to outsiders, it doesn't matter, they are just superficial.

"TG Cards, which is what I call trading cards, is Magic: The Gathering. In my vision, I want more and more people to participate in games like this, and make those who participate more and more addicted. , this is completely different from designing video games. When I was at Mars Entertainment, I often told the game designers not to show your so-called IQ superiority in the game, but to understand who the players who buy you are. People, why do they play your game? They play games to relax in the future. Appropriate difficulty can make players more focused, but too abnormal difficulty will deter many players who originally like your game."

Jester paused for a moment, then looked around at the people present before continuing: "However, the TG card game is not like this. Such a game is a card game based on complex rules. He can accept This setting first blocks out a large number of players who lack the heart for this kind of rules. People who can accept our initial setting will definitely not want such a card game to be simple. On the contrary, they There must be great hope that games like this will become more and more complex.”

Hearing what Jester said, someone immediately showed a look of disapproval. He obviously didn't understand what Jester said very much, so he raised his hand to indicate that he had something to say, and Jester was After saying the above paragraph, he was also looking at everyone's reaction. He knew that his previous paragraph would definitely arouse many people's confusion as to why he wanted to complicate the game to attract people to play this card. Card game?

as expected.

Jester waved his hand, indicating that he could just ask his question directly.

This is a young white man who is not very old. He has fluffy curly hair. He must have just left college. His face is still a little shy. He asked the questions of many people present: "Why do we have to take exams constantly How complex is the big game to attract players?"

"Because our selling point is complexity, just look at our rules. People who have no interest in these rules are unlikely to play our card game, but those who accept our rules, You must want to experience a kind of IQ confrontation. If it is too simple, how can you embody this characteristic? This complex process must become more and more profound as there are more and more cards. Because no matter how perfect the game mechanism is, as long as it is a TG game, if a mode lasts too long, it will inevitably lead to players mastering its rules. If they master the rules, they will also master the optimal solution of our game. This is our game. The most unacceptable thing in the system.”

What Jester said was very simple, but it made the people present less and less understanding, because there is a limit to complexity, and it is impossible to make it infinitely complicated. There is a limit.

Therefore, the young designer continued to ask Jester questions.

Jester smiled, but many thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. In fact, when it comes to this, the core elements of Magic have reached the biggest issue that has not been solved even after decades of development. The disadvantage is that as the card mechanism becomes more and more complex, all such trading card games will face a situation.

But Jester only hesitated for a moment, and he gave his answer, which was also the most standard answer for this type of card game.