Game Development Giant

"About the self-destruction principle I just talked about."

Jester spoke, his voice a little hoarse. After all, he had been talking for a long time today, but Jester seemed to be in the mood, so he just drank some water and continued.

"The example I want to talk about this time is about a very common setting in our games."

"Players can ruin their experience in all kinds of amazing ways, and it's our job as designers to protect them from themselves. One of the problems is the save system. I've seen some Civilization Players will save before each battle, and if the battle is lost, they will reload until the battle is won. This is not the gameplay I designed, nor is it the most interesting gameplay in my mind, because it does not require a flexible overall strategy and Think forward.”

"If players can win every battle, the fun of the game will inevitably decrease. Therefore, in the sequel of "Civilization", we will introduce random numbers into the archive - in other words, the battle after loading will maintain the results before loading. .”

"If the archive mechanism is too simple, the player's game experience will also be affected. In "Pirates", we set archive points in various ports. In other words, after the ship goes to sea, it has to be left to its fate. By using the background settings of the game itself , we have concealed our intention to limit player archives to a certain extent, and making archive restrictions an integral part of the game background is also a lesson that designers need to master."

When Jester said this, he seemed to be interested.

"From here, you will understand that the so-called self-destruction means that players and designers can fool each other into destroying the game. I talked about the players before, and then I talked about the designers, after all. Compared to the players , I am better at thinking as a designer.”

"Another way designers ruin the gaming experience is by giving players too many options and customizations during the game. Of course, moderate customization is a good thing, such as allowing left-handed players to change the direction of the joystick, but The current trend has gone too far. Players face too many choices. We designers are the ones who decide how to play the game. We cannot hand over half-finished games to players. This should not be the reason for designers to design a half-finished game - —'We don't know how this game should be played. You figure it out.', so designers should think carefully about what permissions they should open to players."

In fact, when Jester talked about this matter, he was thinking of the many favor lights on Steam in later generations.

Many Greenlight games on Steam are designed with this kind of thinking.

They designed a half-finished game. They didn’t even know whether the game they designed was interesting to play, but they dared to release the game. They called it the freedom to play whatever they want, and let players play how they want. Find out for yourself.

But in fact.

This is just an excuse for their incompetence.

"Another thing that can cause the game to self-destruct is the cheat code. This is a very serious issue. We are all adults. No one likes to cheat during exams. Of course. Playing games is not an exam. However, using cheating There’s no way to have any fun playing the game because it completely defeats the purpose of the designer.”

"I think cheat codes are the most effective way for players to ruin their gaming experience."

"I remember when we were developing Civilization 2. One of our designers, named Brian Robz, designed a main menu like this - with the word 'cheating' written on it."

"I was very surprised when I saw it. I said to him, Brian, is this a bit too much? He said: How cool is this, you can summon tank formations in the Middle Ages."

When talking about this interesting incident, Jester couldn't help but laugh. He even gestured with his hands, hoping that others could understand the emotion he wanted to express. However, it was obvious that the people under the stage just He smiled without any other expression, and then continued.

"I don't deny that this is cool. In fact, I like to torture the computer while cheating. However, he told him very seriously at the time: 'But Brian, do we have to put the cheat option on the main menu? We can't. Can you hide it more tightly?"

"Actually, I'm not against cheat codes, but I want players to experience the real game first, and then explore things like cheat codes and easter eggs."

"Of course, there's a bright side to cheat codes."

"The good news is that the concept that goes hand in hand with cheating is modification. Modification is the key to the breakthrough of the Civilization series and cheating with a happy ending. Modification can release the designer potential in players and make them become members of a wider group of people. As a member of the team, I have an ambivalent attitude towards cheating, but the modification is undoubtedly a good thing.”

When Jester finished speaking, he clapped his hands again, and then he looked down at his watch.

"We don't have much time. You should probably ask three or four questions."

Then, many people's hands were raised again, but Jester still didn't have much choice. The previous two times he chose one that was closer to the podium. This time, he planned to choose one that was further away from the podium.

This one is yellow-skinned.

The boy introduced himself first. He is also Chinese. The reason why he came back to UCLA to study game design is because Jester is his idol. He hopes to become a designer like Jester in the future. division.

Jester paused his compliments, but Jester still reminded him that at this time he needed to ask questions as soon as possible instead of saying these.

It's such a waste of time to talk about this.

"I heard one of your speeches before. You said in that speech that producers should learn to listen to the voices of players. I would like you to talk about this in detail..." After hearing Jester's reminder, this The Chinese man also apologized a little embarrassedly, and then asked a question that he had obviously prepared carefully, and Jester nodded after hearing this question.

"This question is indeed very well-asked."

Moreover, Jester also praised the other party. You can see that the Chinese student's fists clenched hard after hearing Jester praise him like this.

Obviously, he was very satisfied and excited about this compliment.

"How should I answer this question..."

Jester did not answer directly. Instead, he pondered and began to think. (To be continued...)