Game Development Giant

"How did he change it?"

Jester asked such a question, but he had no intention of letting anyone answer it.

Instead, he immediately answered it himself.

"Split a big battle into many automatic small battles, so that the battle results are more in line with the player's expectations. This time the player won, but the offense and defense changed. The computer's winning rate was a big three, and the player's winning rate was Little one, at this time I went to ask the tester again, don’t you think something is wrong? How could you, the little one, defeat the big three?”

"Then, he told me in a righteous tone, why is it wrong? I can win because of my superb technical and tactical skills!"

When Jester said this, the whole audience laughed.

Including himself.

Jester pressed his palms to signal the loud voice to turn down.

"Obviously, the way players think does not follow mathematical principles at all. If the player's winning rate against the computer is three to one or four to one, then the player always expects to win every time. So I asked the player, what if your winning rate is Two to one, can you accept the result of losing once in a while?”

"He answered me quickly, okay, if it's two to one, it's reasonable to lose a game occasionally."

"I continued to ask him, do you have any questions? He told me that my winning rate in this battle is 20 to 10, and I still lost. Twenty to 10, I have a better winning rate than the opponent. That’s ten more points!”

"I'm just curious, isn't twenty to ten equal to two to one?"

"No, twenty to ten is twenty to ten, not two to one at all. So, we had no choice, so we adjusted the system according to the new requirements, and then asked him, you should be satisfied now, right? He Answer: Almost, but there is still a little problem. That day I fought a battle with a winning rate of 2 to 1. I lost. No problem, we have already talked about it. Occasionally, you will lose a battle of 2 to 1. But I immediately had another two-on-one fight and lost again. How could this be possible? Isn't the computer cheating?"

"So we added new adjustments so that the result of the last battle has an impact on the next one. This time the players are finally completely happy."

After Jester finished speaking this paragraph, he raised his head and looked around at all the listeners present.

"We are making this series of adjustments not only to make players happy. If players feel that there is something wrong with the combat system, they will not continue to shelve their doubts and quit the game. During the adjustment process, I gradually realized the logic, mathematics and psychology Interaction in the player's mind. The interaction of these three often produces counter-intuitive results. As long as the role of psychology is taken into account in the game design process, counter-intuitive designs will definitely be made. However, in many cases, this A little bit can actually be used by designers.”

"Having said so much, we have summarized some of our experiences. Next, let me talk about some of the mistakes we made when designing the game as an adjustment."

Hearing what Jester said, many people had curious looks on their faces.

Obviously, they were very interested in what Jester had to say about some of the mistakes they made when designing "Civilization."

"Actually, this is a very common thing. After any game is designed and released, some mistakes will be discovered, and some things will happen that are completely inconsistent with our original design concept."

"For example, we have set up the concept of ups and downs in the game. If the civilization built by the player is bound to collapse, and we provide the player with an opportunity to turn the tide before the civilization completely collapses, so that the player can not only rebuild the original civilization, but also You can also create new glories. How exciting is that? Not at all. We found that the vast majority of players reload the game just before the civilization they built is about to collapse, and never experience the glorious revitalization we have prepared for them - - Therefore, we have learned a lesson from this. The essence of "Civilization" is the word progress. It will not fall if it rises and rises again."

"For another example, there is another mistake. It is the design of the technology tree."

"I need to talk about why we design the technology tree - my original idea was to use the technology tree to reflect the process of human civilization groping in the dark. Players will not know what development path a specific technology will lead to. . I think it is ridiculous to think that in the third millennium BC, we would vigorously develop iron tools in order to one day develop gunpowder and even nuclear weapons."

Hearing what Jester said, many people laughed.

However, Jester continued speaking without any change in his expression, just taking a slight breath.

"So, the original tech tree contained a lot of randomness, but after the players finished the game, they knew there was gunpowder on the tech tree, so their only goal in replaying the game was to light the gunpowder as quickly as possible. Only then did we understand Players want to be in control. The implication of this lesson is that any random design must be treated very carefully."

"We once designed a natural disaster system for Civilization. Wouldn't it be cool if historical events such as volcanic eruptions and plagues happened randomly? No. All random factors in the game will make players suspicious. Players will think The computer is deliberately making things difficult for them on the eve of their victory. If randomness is important, players will definitely find the worst and most paranoid explanation for the consequences of randomness. Low-level randomness does help improve replayability. , but you must be careful, careful, and even more careful when designing high-level randomness.”

After saying this, Jester once again threw his speech aside.

"This is the main content I want to talk about today, but when accepting this speech, Mr. Sid Meier suggested to me and asked me if I could talk about how to save millions of dollars through game design. This is a difficult topic to talk about, but I was very interested in it, so after much thought, I agreed to the request.”

"If you are interested in this topic, I think you have to cheer up."

"Because this question is a question I often ask when interviewing employees who come to our Mars Entertainment. This is also a question that an excellent designer must understand."

As Jester finished speaking, as he had imagined, those who wanted to pursue a career in game development after graduation instantly showed their bright eyes. (To be continued...)