Game Development Giant

This is really, really annoying.

Jester remembers that he was only in high school at the time, and he was stuck in this place for a long time. In addition, there was no way to find guides at that time. The game was also in Japanese, so he could only communicate with friends who also played PS2.

In addition, the city where Jester lives is not a big city. In the school where he goes, only a few people have ps2.

Therefore, he usually does not have many opportunities to communicate.

Of course, on weekends, whenever there is a chance, Jester will still go to the video game store to ask the owner of the video game store. The owner of the video game store is very skilled. After being stuck for almost a week, Jester has no choice but to , I had to ask the owner of the video game store how he was doing. At that time, the owner of the video game store showed Jester what normal life should be like.

At that time, Jester was stunned.

To get past the-end, you need to keep running. When te finds you, he will shoot. After he shoots, a red dot will be displayed on the mini-map. This red dot is the location where te just shot. , at this time, turn on infrared imaging, you will find his footprints, follow his footprints, go around his back, kill him... This method of play is very simple.

In fact, it is very troublesome to play. First of all, you need a backboard and remember several places where te often appears.

Anyway, just thinking about it made Jester annoying. In addition, Jester was also handicapped at the time. After seeing the video game store owner's style of play, Jester suddenly felt that he had a hopeless feeling in this life.

However, when the video game store owner saw Jester's expression, he smiled and told him a very special play. This play was what Jester said was the most unforgettable for him, and made him feel like "Unspoken" at the time. "Dragon" is a setting that instantly sublimates the game.

That is, in the ps2 system, the adjustment time is about four weeks. Then enter the game again and you will find that something different happens.

Jester, who was still a little confused at the time, did as he was told.

Then, after Jester re-entered the game, he found that the boss who was so difficult that he couldn't eat was actually dead.

Dead of old age.

Then, Jester went to the video game store owner to inquire. After the video game store owner's explanation, Jester knew why this was the case. That's why the game is called Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater.

It is also the most important setting of this game.

That is, the time in the game is linked to your real time.

In this game, when playing the plot of te, in the setting, te is almost dead of old age, and it was adjusted a few weeks later. It was during this period that te spent the last period of his life, and then died of old age. The player also successfully passed this extremely difficult level. Of course, it was extremely difficult for Jester.

After listening to the video game store owner's explanation, Jester felt a deep shock. It’s hard to imagine how this kind of shock must have been for a person who had just been exposed to top-level games at that time.

Anyway. In Jester's memory.

At that time, he was so shocked that he couldn't say a word.

This setting is simply awesome.

This was the only thought in his mind.

Since then, Jester has become a loyal fan of the "Metal Gear" series and Hideo Kojima without any hesitation.

Therefore, Jester and Hideo Kojima talked about such a setting, such a boss, and such a fighting method as if they were chatting normally. After hearing this, Hideo Kojima was even more excited. He stood up directly from his seat.

He looked at Jester with eyes full of surprise.

Then, words of reverence came out of his mouth like a barrage of cannons.

It can be seen that Jester's idea is indeed very consistent with Hideo Kojima's idea, and it can even make Hideo Kojima unable to control his emotions.

It can be seen that this shocked him greatly.

Listening to Hideo Kojima's praise, Jester was actually a little embarrassed, because these were originally some of the future Hideo Kojima's ideas about the "Metal Gear" series, but now they have become what he told him. .

About ten minutes after Hideo Kojima left, Jester took a cursory look at what he was going to say at the discussion, and was about to rush to the conference room.

In fact, there is an issue that Jester needs to explain clearly to the attendees first, which is about the development funds of the game. The development funds this time are actual US$200 million. At least, all of these funds are It is included in the research and development expenses, but there are no publicity expenses.

Because whether it is later generations or modern times, when talking about development funds, many people like to mix development and publicity funds.

Jester remembered reading an interview about this.

The interviewee is a level designer at Warner Montreal Studio. One point is worth explaining. Maybe many people don’t know the role of level designers in modern games. Many people’s understanding of levels is still limited to twenty years ago. The arcade thinking above, in fact, is not the same thing at all.

Never underestimate level designers.

Many people may have seen the "Uncharted 4" demo video shown at the end of Sony's pre-show press conference at the 2015 E3 exhibition.

In this video, Naughty Dog demonstrates a great car chase scene.

Many people may ask, what does this level designer have to do with it.

In fact, the relationship here is huge. If you watch the video carefully, you will find that Drake is driving a four-wheel drive jeep through the city. He seems to be able to do whatever he wants. It seems that Shenhai has become A liberal game, like GTA, you can open it however you want, but you will also find that no matter how Drake opens it in the demonstration video.

Everyone can see that no matter where he drives, the armored vehicle chasing him can catch up from other roads.

However, in the cover-up, the cover-up is indeed a random choice of path to proceed.

In fact, this is the powerful ability of level designers to make fakes come true. This is why Naughty Dog relies on their top level designers to design such a level. That is, you can choose a seemingly free path, but this It's just an illusion created through some clever arrangements.

The real thing behind these illusions is.

No matter which road you choose, no matter how you drive, as long as you don't turn back, your final destination will be the same.

That's the beauty of level designers.

Let’s stop talking about “Uncharted 4” here. Let’s continue with the interview about Warner’s Montreal studio. One more thing is worth mentioning. In fact, Ubisoft also has a Montreal studio. The famous “Assassin’s Creed” was originally this one. The work of the studio, but the two are not the same.

In this interview, this level designer from Warner Montreal introduced in detail how much money it costs to develop a top-notch masterpiece.

The entire interview was conducted in a question and answer format.

At the beginning, the questioner went straight to the point and asked the designer a very direct question, that is: "Does it require hundreds of millions of funds to develop a game?"

Then, the designer immediately gave his answer.

"In terms of pure development, it is impossible for most games to have such a high cost. Note that this only refers to development, not promotion."

Of course, the questioner would not be fooled by the designer.

Just after the designer finished answering, the questioner immediately asked the question he had prepared for a long time, that is: "Why does GTA5 cost so much money?"

Everyone originally thought that this question would definitely be difficult for the designer to answer, but surprisingly, the designer answered very calmly: "A special case! And the reason why it is a special case is because people know it. , this game is guaranteed to make money, that’s why I can spend so much money.”

Then, the designer explained in detail why gta5 costs so much money.

"Time + manpower, that's all."

"gtav took a total of 5 years, and the team totaled thousands of people. Only Rockstar could create such a large scale - it took so many people, it took so long, and the development tools were extremely Stable, people are constantly adding content, so there can be countless details, and these details are all piled up by people x time = money."

Then, the designer explained how much a normal 3A-level masterpiece should cost under normal circumstances.

"Generally, the cost must be controlled below 50m, which is 50 million. If it exceeds this number, it will be very difficult to make a profit. So what is the concept of 50 million? It is a year and a half of pre-production with a small team, plus It took a year and a half for a large team to produce. If the entire production lasts for more than two years, it will be very risky because the cost is huge."

As for why the cost is huge, the designer also explained.

"Here we need to discuss the profitability of games. A game sells for 60 dollars, and only 20 dollars of it actually goes to the developer. The rest is exploited by retailers, distribution, logistics, etc. If it is The publisher's own studio may reach 25 dollars. So conservatively calculating, how many units does a game costing 50 million need to sell to break even? Answer: 2.5 million units. Is it difficult to sell this number?"

"I can only say it's not easy."

"It's not easy." (To be continued...)