Game Development Giant

This game must be mounted on the dual-ppu high-end eight-bit substrate that has not yet been sampled. Only the color processing capabilities of this substrate can barely meet Jester's requirements.

The content of the game will be very large. It is just a preliminary idea. Jester has set up nine completely different aircraft for this game, all of which are designed based on historical fighter aircraft during World War II.

In Jester's memory, in the entire history of 2D arcade flight shooting games, no game has ever had so many machine settings.

Today's similar games, such as "Iron Formation" and "1942", and even the extremely classic "Saraman Snake" can only control a solitary aircraft and do not give players the right to make independent choices at all.

Moreover, Jester remembered an interview he had seen before, which was about the history of game development.

He remembered that one of the guests mentioned "Hypermarathon" and mentioned the issue of players' sense of immersion.

"People are tired of playing as a cold spaceship, a pixelated racket, and a Pac-Man circle in games. They want to play as a human being."

Jester knew that Super Horse wasn't the first video game to feature a human protagonist, but it was the first to be a huge success. The success of this game has made many designers understand that people are the easiest characters for players to bring into the game.

Even though it's a small detail, Jester thinks it's crucial.

Even if the current game uses dual 8-bit PPUs for picture processing, the precision cannot be compared to that of later generations. Moreover, it is much more difficult for ordinary people to identify two different aircraft than two different people. .

Players are not military nerds, and they will not like a lifeless aircraft, and it is also an outdated World War II-era aircraft.

They are not Transformers, so why should players like them?

But if it's a human being, and he's a handsome man, or a beautiful, charming woman with big boobs, it's completely different.

Human beings naturally like beautiful things.

Therefore, Jester's setting at the beginning of the game allowed players to choose the driver instead of directly selecting the aircraft model.

The driver Jester chose the aesthetic style of Japanese comics. He really can't appreciate the American comic style, and the future has proved that the aesthetics of Japanese comics are universal, and only gays can like the aesthetics of American comics. .

However, Jester himself has no experience in this area. Although he has read many comics from later generations and knows a lot of classic characters, he still feels that he should find a professional comic artist to design this character according to his character setting. Pictures aren't too much trouble.

For this game, Jester’s goal is to keep improving.

After choosing the driver, you go to the hangar to choose the aircraft type - there are nine different aircraft to choose from, three from the United States: F4U Corsair, P51 Mustang, F38 Lightning, and two from the UK: Mk9 Spitfire. , mk1 hurricane, Japan's two types: n1k1-j Zidian, Zero, Germany's two types: fw190 Moxa and bf109.

After selecting the pilot and aircraft type, Jester also prepared for the players. This has basically become a common gameplay in many masturbation games in later generations, but currently no game has similar settings. Definitely - the weapon system of your choice.

In fact, this is a very common humanized setting in later games, but in the eyes of players of this era, it is extremely shocking.

Players no longer fly a fixed aircraft designed by the designer, but one set by themselves - the engine of their choice, the ordinary weapons of their choice, and the special weapons of their choice.

This kind of DIY setting is an irresistible attraction for players who come into contact with it for the first time, because in the process of self-design, players will invest their emotions, and with emotions, they will naturally have a sense of involvement.

When players think about me flying a plane designed by myself to save the earth, and when they think about flying a plane designed by others to save the earth, they have two completely different mentality.

Regarding the specific gameplay, Jester referred to many later games of the same type, such as engine skills, power storage system, bomb system, etc.

Engine skills vary depending on the engine selected. Some engine skills can accelerate breakthroughs after use, some can quickly descend to emergency evade barrages that are difficult to avoid, and some can cause the aircraft to fly upside down.

Of course, the engine skill will enter a cooldown every time it is used, and it can only be used a second time after the cooldown is completed.

These were just common settings in later generations, but they were groundbreaking in this era.

Not to mention the bomb system. This is the most important setting in flight shooting games. It first appeared in the sequel of "1942", but a similar setting also appeared in "1942". The aircraft controlled by the player can be Perform an evasion in an emergency.

The bomb system set by Jester is a special weapon selected by the player. There are laser cannons that can clear a straight channel, some can carry out indiscriminate attacks within a fan-shaped range in front of the body, and some can generate a protective cover within a certain range. No damage will be taken during the time.

There are many more, such as the auxiliary machine system, the gold coin system, the bonus point system, the life bonus system and so on.

Most of these specific settings are based on the classic air combat game "Strike 1945" from the future. This game came from ten years later. At that time, this type of game had reached its peak, and the perfection of the settings was far from what it is now. Comparable.

Jester wrote several pages on the paper eloquently, and also drew several various accompanying pictures.

As for the level design, Jester hasn't started designing it yet. He was not very good at playing this type of game before, and he has never memorized the version of this type of game, so his memory is not very clear. He can only slightly recall a few levels. Even if These levels can only be roughly stated, and many specific details are not clear at all.

He just checked the system in his mind and found out that trying out the two games "Thunderbolt" and "Strider 1942" requires four purchase points for each game. The eight points he has left are just enough for the trial.

The system in Jester's mind is quite user-friendly. Playing the trial once allows you to clear the level once, with unlimited lives and the ability to continue the level indefinitely. Otherwise, for Jester, "Strider 1945" is not bad. "Thunder and Lightning" He could only look up to the sky and sigh.

This game is really not for humans.

Taking the setting he had written, Jester walked towards Mark Saini's office. He wanted to discuss it with the other party and listen to the other party's opinion, although he was not satisfied with his own setting, which was a combination of countless classic settings of later generations. A hodgepodge of games with a lot of confidence.

Mark Cerny has been in a very depressed mood recently, because the progress of "Avengers", which he had high hopes for, has almost completely stalled.

Hearing Jester's intention, Mark Saini nodded. It would be good for him to temporarily change the settings and think about it. Anyway, he had some ideas on how to deal with the smoothness of movements under low memory. , and the substrate of the high-end version has not yet been completed, so he is not in a hurry.

Taking the setting written by Jester, which was not too detailed and did not even have a name, Mark Saini carefully browsed it several times. As he looked at it, his eyes were still full of excitement.

"Every time I see your design, it gives me a lot of inspiration. For example, this bomb system, I can definitely add it to "Avengers" so that the characters in it also have such a protective move - of course , you also need to make restrictions. Your restriction that each aircraft can only be used three times in one game is good for flying games, but it is not suitable for my fighting beat-'em-up game."

Mark Saini put the design draft in his hand on the table and said thoughtfully.

Jester was a little surprised when he heard what he said. What Mark Seney was talking about was exactly a setting that would definitely be included in beat-em-up games in later generations. Jester remembered that he was called this before he was reborn. The move is 'Dabao'. When released, a portion of the health bar will be deducted proportionally, but it can knock all enemies around you away. It is a very useful life-saving skill.

If Jester remembers correctly, this setting first appeared in "Double Dragon 2". I didn't expect that Mark Cerney would be able to come up with this idea just when he saw his own bomb system. It's worthy of being said. A legend who can win the GDC Lifetime Achievement Award.

After Mark Saini finished speaking, he took out his pen and immediately started writing and drawing on the table.

When he finished writing, he remembered that Jester was still in his room.

Mark Saini said with some embarrassment: "This inspiration came to me suddenly. If I don't write it down immediately, I may forget it in an instant. I have been too busy with work recently."

Jester also sincerely admires Mark Cerny's passion for making games.

He himself is almost a hands-off master of several games under his name, especially "Snowman Brothers". He almost made a back version of the game, drew all the level setting diagrams, and listed The details of the settings are then left to others to handle the programming.

This also made him a little ashamed.

In his opinion, he had almost no contribution to this game, but he was able to enjoy all the fame after the success of this game.

But Mark Saini is completely different. Not only did he complete the settings from the beginning, he even personally participated in setting up the maps, levels, and even solving the problems encountered during programming.

At this point, Jester is far inferior.

"It's extremely groundbreaking." Mark Saini commented with admiration on the initial setting of the game that Jester just showed him. Although the content was very rough, he could still see the wonderful things in it. design concept.

In addition to the bomb system he saw just now, Mark Saini was also impressed by this DIY idea from the beginning.

When he thought of this, he couldn't wait to play this game. This feeling was simply too difficult to describe.

As Mark Saini spoke, a puzzled look suddenly appeared on his face.

He picked up the setting draft on the table again, pointed to the large world view introduction at the beginning of the game and asked Jester: "Why do you want to make it so detailed?"

Jester smiled. Today's designers, even geniuses like Mark Cerny, have not realized that the future development of video games has changed from simply playing a game to experiencing a story.

This is also the core value of game immersion.

"A starting setting for the world view. I plan to find someone to write a few novels based on this setting. The protagonists are the four characters of this game, two men and two women. This will make it easier for players to recognize this world, in the future we can continue to add new works based on this worldview to improve the settings of this world. Maybe more than ten years later, as we produce more games under this worldview, this world will gradually It will be perfected, and this worldview will become a world that players truly recognize. At that time, when they look at this world, it will be like looking at the world of Star Wars."

Jester explained carefully in a joking tone. When he spoke, his mind automatically thought of Blizzard's "Warcraft" series.

Mark Saini nodded in surprise while listening.

He suddenly discovered that his world of "Avengers" could be operated in this way. He suddenly remembered that Jester had recently purchased a comic studio, didn't he? Can this game of yours be made into a comic?

Thinking of this, Mark Saini's eyes lit up.

This seems like a very good idea.

ps: Please vote for recommendation! !