Game Development Giant

"I feel like there needs to be strong and substantial community involvement."

Almost without much thought, Jack Lovey gave his answer, and the next moment he gave his answer, a smile appeared on Jester's face.

However, it is still impossible to tell what Jester's specific thoughts are just by looking at his smile.

But at this time, Jester stretched out his fingers and tapped the table gently. Obviously, he was in a good mood at this time. Therefore, after hearing Jack Lovey say this, Jester smiled. He said: "I have some ideas, have you thought about it in detail?"

"I thought about it."

Immediately, Jack Lovey made his own reply.

Jester didn't say anything, but made an expression to ask the other party to continue talking. Jack Luofe thought for a moment, organized his words, and then spoke in detail.

“The greatest fun of this kind of self-made map game is actually that many people come to participate and share the maps they have made, and then more people can participate and conquer these level maps made by community members themselves. We can even allow players to rate the difficulty of these maps, and even set up a ranking list for each level - we can even reward designers who can design amazing levels, for example, Allow their levels to be sold within the community..."

Jester listened silently, even nodding from time to time.

Although he hasn't said it clearly yet, you can tell from his expression that he is extremely satisfied with Jack Lofey's answer.

Sure enough, after Jack Luofe finished speaking, Jester clapped his hands: "That's a very good idea. Do you think our current community environment can achieve the situation you mentioned?" Next Generation Mars Entertainment The host dreambox3 will add networking capabilities. This is not a secret. Although Mars Entertainment does not publicize it to the outside world, when developing Dreambox 3 games internally, the designers of these development teams still know some of the differences between the next generation console and the previous generation.

This is also the biggest difference between Dreambox 3 and Sega Saturn and Sony's PS2.

Of course, this is also because Mars Entertainment started to build their community group a few years ago. Although Mars Battle Network was only on PC before, the number of monthly paid members has spread across several continents. It has reached more than 500,000, not paying members. But there are more people who are active members.

Mars Entertainment has benefited a lot from this, so it is so attentive to this matter.

Of course, some of the membership terms on Mars Battle Online for PC cannot be transplanted to the console in the same way. For example, the simplest monthly free games, the current console does not have a hard drive, Jester I had previously considered adding a hard drive to the game console, but after repeated discussions with the development team, this idea was removed.

Since there is no such condition. Then the free games for monthly members cannot be used temporarily.

However, on PC, playing games online is a basic function, and this is available without paying. Of course, some MMORPGs cost money to play these games, so this is not the case.

On the contrary, it is a game that can be played online for PS+ and Microsoft Gold members in later generations. Only by purchasing a paid membership can you get the online gaming experience.

This is a good breakthrough.

Because these online games require you to provide servers for them.

certainly. If some other game companies are willing to provide their own servers, then it is completely feasible for their own games to allow players to connect online without charging membership fees. However, due to network conditions, there is no guarantee.

For example, EA's servers have been criticized the most among the network services of many major game companies in later generations.

Jester remembers one time, when he applied for the internal beta test of Need for Speed ​​19, and then logged into the PS4 and played the beta version of Need for Speed ​​to try out the feeling of driving without thinking. After all, he had played DC and The wastes are all very tired from playing, and they urgently need to use mindless games like Need for Speed ​​to relieve their stress.

As a result, I couldn't connect to EA's server at all...

For a game that must be connected to the Internet at all times during promotion, this situation is unforgivable.

Jester looked at Jack Luofe's face and thought about it. This should be regarded as a designer he had trained in this world. As for his potential, Jester did not see through the future, and I don’t know how far he can grow in the future, but judging from his analysis of "Balotelli Maker", plus Jester's reference to some situations in the future "Mario Maker" game.

We can still draw a conclusion that this designer’s abilities and ideas are very good.

Moreover, the American game development environment actually has much lower requirements for a producer than the Japanese one. When it comes to initial game ideas, the American style advocates brainstorming, while Japan is a one-man dictatorship.

But can such a young man really take on such a big responsibility?

Although Jester had previously given important tasks to Itagaki Tomonobu, Naka Yuji, and Kojima Hideo... so many people had entrusted them with important responsibilities at a very young age. Some even gave them direct responsibility within less than a year after joining the company. A large project with an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the video game market when Mars Entertainment was first established, hundreds of thousands of dollars was really not a small project.

However, this is because Jester knows these people, and he knows how bad these people were in their original history.

Although it was a bit risky for him to do so, it was definitely not gambling.

After thinking for a while, Jester smiled. He felt that he was overestimating himself. He finally found a young man with great potential that was unprecedented in history. He should work harder to cultivate him. Does the other party have any? The ability to become a legendary producer can only depend on his own ability.

"Let's do this. You go back and write a detailed development plan and submit it. After we approve it, I will allow you to recruit people to develop this..." After thinking for a long time, Jester agreed to let the other party develop this. He had an idea for a game, but halfway through, he discovered that neither of them had given the game a suitable name.

But that doesn't matter.

For Jester, the name was ready-made and didn't even need to be changed.

"...The name of the game is "Made by Balotelli"."

After saying that, Jester ended the conversation. He had said everything he wanted to say. His time was precious and he had many things to do. There isn't much time wasted either.

It's impossible to see such whimsical games every day. For Jester, his usual work is the same game development life, and after entering December, time seems to be passing faster and faster. .

With the overwhelming advertising campaigns of Sony and Sega, the PS2, which was first unveiled, finally ushered in its release date.

Jester couldn't imagine how Sony or Kutaragi Ken, or the entire ps2 development team, and the designers who had placed their bets on the ps2 were feeling. He can only express his own thoughts. The PS2 of this era is actually the PS in his original world, because his appearance has changed the development trajectory of the entire video game.

Let ps appear in advance. Therefore, Sony's second-generation console can only be called ps2.

However, Jester can think of the change in his inner mood the night before the release of his previous Dreambox 2 as a reference.

He felt that between the two. It should be almost the same.

First of all, it must be a dream, after all. It took four or five years of hard work to develop something, and it was the result of thousands of days and nights of hard work. I definitely hope that he can be a great success.

Moreover, this thing is the best opportunity for the company to take advantage of the mistakes of its opponents in this new era, turn defeat into victory, and reverse the previous disadvantage. It must not be missed. Of course, there will definitely be worries.

Will players like it? Will you pay the bill?

What if it fails?

The night before the release, Jester had all kinds of thoughts in his mind.

But the day came when it was actually released.

Then I will cheer up, abandon all random thoughts, and then there will be only one belief in my heart, that is, I will definitely win.

What makes Jester gratified is that his previous two generations of consoles, Dreambox and Dreambx2, were both successful.

Sony has a big presence in Los Angeles.

You know, this is the home base of Mars Entertainment. Almost 90% of gamers in Los Angeles, even if they are not fans of Mars Entertainment, still have a great impression of Mars Entertainment.

Because Mars Entertainment is their local company, it gives them a sense of belonging.

Moreover, Mars Entertainment’s games have never disappointed players and are worthy of their expectations.

Sony has deployed a heavy presence in Los Angeles this time. It is said that it has opened 14 specialized sales stores, almost all over the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

They even set up stages at two specialized sales points in the city center and invited several famous singers to perform. It was a big deal. Obviously, Sony is very confident in their PS2 this time.

When Jester rushed to the company in the morning, he found that many people were a little unfamiliar and often whispered about things about PS2, such as their launch games, their graphics, etc., Jester could only It was a wry smile, but in fact he himself was not the same.

Sony's publicity expenses are not in vain.

In addition, the Sony brand is indeed very popular in North America. Among consumer electronics products, they are considered the best.

There are many fans.

Therefore, on the day of release, many Sony fans came to support it.

In addition, there are many good games on PS1 and there are many supporters of the games. Therefore, basically, before the official release time, there are queues in front of the fourteen sales points in the entire Los Angeles area. of the team.

Of course, the team could not be said to be long. There were as many as thirty or forty people and as few as eleven or two.

Compared with the time when Mars Entertainment's consoles or games were released, especially Jester's games, fans were able to stay up two days in advance to queue up, and even brought tents and blankets to sleep on. The situation is still far behind.

Although Mars Entertainment cannot obtain accurate sales reports at any time like Sony, the specialized investigators they hire will also have their own statistical methods to report the sales of Sony's PS2. Generally speaking, Sony's previous promotion of 3D games was very successful. Indeed, many players are very interested in this kind of game.

In addition, among the games released by Sony this time, "Ridge Racing" specially created by Namco is indeed very sophisticated.

It was this game that was open to players to play on site, so to a certain extent, it increased sales a lot - many players who could have bought it or not experienced Ridge Racing with their own hands in the sales store. This gaming experience, which was more enjoyable than playing in an arcade, immediately made them fall in love with this console and this game.

By noon, Jester received the first report from the investigation company in his office.

Sony's ps2 went on sale at 8:30, and as of 12:00, approximately 300,000 units were sold throughout North America.

This number also made Jester vaguely worried.

Because this number is really very high.

This shows that players are very receptive to Sony's PS2. Of course, the sales volume is only 300,000 units, compared to the tens of millions units of their own Dreambox 2 worldwide. Even compared to the sales volume of their own PS2, which is more than 20 million units, it is still Not worth mentioning.

But the problem is that both Dreambox 3 and PS1 are consoles from the previous era, and they are now starting to become rotten.

The ps2 is a console that has just appeared, and it is extremely vital.

No one can say what the future will look like or how far ps2 will grow.

In fact, in addition to Jester, the Sega headquarters in Japan is also always paying attention to Sony's launch of PS2 in North America, because Sony has said that the main competition location is in the north this time. , it was held half a day in advance in North America. The morning in North America happened to be midnight in Japan, after the first day of sales in North America ended.

It’s time for Japanese sales to begin. (To be continued...)