Game Development Giant

"So, I'd like to share some of my experiences with you."

After Jester finished saying this, the audience burst into extremely enthusiastic cheers. Obviously, they were still very interested in what Jester had to say.

Jester waited until the voice subsided.

Only then said with a smile: "Before coming, to be precise, I thought about it after receiving a call from Sid Meier. What exactly am I going to talk about? This is a big question. First of all, I need to know that I What is the theme of the lecture you are preparing? The name must be determined, right?"

As Jester began his lecture.

The expressions of the audience present also gradually calmed down.

"Actually, I decided from the beginning that I wanted to talk about the game "Civilization". This game is the proud work of your current professor, Sid Meier. I have also participated in it, and , also gave me a lot of inspiration when I was working on this game with Mr. Sid Meier, which will be mentioned in what I am going to talk about later.”

"Getting back to the subject, let me start by saying that the name of this lecture or speech - Game Design Psychology - everything you know is wrong. This is the name I have decided on now. It was definitely not like this at the beginning. Attention, so direct, in fact, several of my previous alternative names were like this, such as 'the game is not interesting', 'the players are unreliable', 'everything you know is unreliable', etc. But. Or 'Everything you know is wrong' is more powerful, so I chose that one."

Following Jester's slightly humorous opening, the audience present also showed a slight smile.

"What will I talk about in this speech?"

As Jester asked this question, the students and the audience became attentive.

Jester paused for a moment, as if to give people a moment to think, and then. Then he continued.

"Playing games is a psychological process. Many of the games I designed with Mr. Sid Meier are based on historical themes, such as "Civilization", "Railway" and "Pirates". I was inspired by this and made "Empire". era"."

As he spoke, Jester looked at Sid Meier, who was sitting in the first row under the podium, and applauded. All the audience also gave Sid Meier warm applause. applause. In tribute to some of the outstanding games he had made before, Sid Meier also stood up and bowed slightly to show his modesty.

Moreover, this seems to be the first time that Jester said that the source of his inspiration for "Age of Empires" actually came from Sid Meier's game.

Then, Jester smiled and continued.

"When we design these types of games, we always strive for authenticity and want to embody as much history as possible; the more railways and pirates there is, the better the game is. After taking this route, I discovered a lot of things I thought I knew. Things went wrong because I didn't take into account what was going on in the player's head. Once I realized this, a lot of the problems were solved. By acknowledging that playing games is a psychological process, we can reduce some of the process of playing games. Difficulty. Increase the difficulty of another part of the game flow and get a better game."

"Why do I say that?"

"When studying this concept, we will encounter several psychological concepts, such as egocentrism. If you like to play "Civilization", then your egocentrism must be very serious. Because the packaging box of "Civilization" It clearly says: 'Build a civilization that has been honed over thousands of years.', and then you think to yourself: This is a piece of cake!"

When Jester said this, a burst of goodwill broke out from the audience.

Indeed, many of them have such thoughts and experiences. They are interested in this kind of historical game. After seeing this sentence on the game box, they feel that this sentence simply speaks to their hearts, and they also think that they are definitely qualified for this game.

But Jester's voice did not break with this low laughter.

he continued.

“…we also look at paranoia, hallucinations, and self-destructive behavior—the last of which refers to players intentionally making the game less fun or directing attention to factors other than fun. As game designers, we can Minimize the factors that may cause these psychological phenomena, or take preventive measures to prevent these phenomena from occurring.”

"This is what a designer must pay attention to when designing. A game is a game producer. He must have this ability to figure out the player's psychology... Many of you sitting here are Students of the Department of Game Design, so I would like to ask, what do you think is the theory in psychology that has the most profound influence on our game design?"

Jester asked this question as he spoke.

He stopped talking, and then looked around the venue with his eyes to see if anyone could answer his question.

However, he did not leave much time for these people. He was silent for just ten seconds, and everyone sitting there was also thinking hard, but it was a pity that no one could raise their hand to answer this question.

But Jester didn't feel sorry for it either.

After all, the current theory of game development is still relatively crude and not systematic at all. It is much worse than this in future generations. If he asks a more experienced player like this in later generations, that player may be able to answer you quickly, let alone Talk about those game designers.

When Jester saw no one answered, he just smiled and continued.

"Don't think of it as too difficult. It's not a too advanced theory, it's very basic... The first major influence of psychology on game design is the so-called 'winner's paradox'."

As Jester finished speaking, many people present had a look of astonishment on their faces. Many people have heard of this basic theory of psychology, but it is difficult to relate game development to this theory. , this was the first time they had heard of it, and when many people heard Jester say this, the expressions on their faces were obviously very excited.

"...Why do I say that? It's simple, because in reality we rarely win, not just us, but everyone... For example, there are eighteen teams in the National Football League, and only one can Winning the Super Bowl. There are more than 20 teams in the NBA, and only one can win the championship. But in the game we always win, and the players never complain, and never think this is a problem." (To be continued. .)