Game Development Giant

In the post, Jester talked about his views on these two FPS games in detail.

And explained why he is currently not optimistic about the old-school FPS. He believes that such games are gradually being abandoned by players, which does not mean that they will be abandoned forever. As long as someone can solve the troubles and problems faced by such games. Disadvantages, with this fast-paced and refreshing confrontation method, many people will still like it.

Jester’s post quickly received attention.

After all, as a blue post, the title of his post is also specially marked in blue font. In fact, it is not new within Mars Entertainment for developers of Mars Entertainment to interact with players on the game community forum. For example, in fact, members of the development team within Mars Entertainment also particularly like to interact with players in the community, and they often respond to some players’ thoughts.

Of course, players’ thoughts will also be collected. Whether to use it or not in the future is a completely different matter.

Therefore, when a fresh blue post appeared in the post list, some people did not take it seriously, but after seeing the ID of the poster, they immediately sobered up.

Most of the people who are still posting on the forum at this late hour are die-hard fans of some shooting games, and they were also criticized by a group of people in the previous post about the debate over whether the old-school FPS is outdated or not. Jester's The two replies in the post did not dissuade them from continuing to complain about this issue, so even though it was late at night, there were still many people there.

Moreover, when they saw the name of Jester's new post, which seemed to support their conservative views, they immediately became excited and prepared to come in to reply. However, when they came in and saw that it was Jester from before, The replies were only more detailed, which made them even more dissatisfied. They wanted to spray Jester, but they found that there seemed to be nothing to spray in what Jester said.

The number of replies to this post quickly increased.

Supporters of the old-school PFS are also somewhat silent. They asked in the post how they could bring their favorite games back to life.

Jester didn't feel sleepy either, even though it was already late at night. He used to like to stay up late to drink forums, and this time he seemed to have found the same feeling again. Seeing other people's inquiries, he thought for a moment before replying.

"Actually, I made it very clear at the previous GDC awards night. If a game wants to succeed in fierce competition, it must make the people who play the game feel happy, because Red Sea and The blue ocean is completely different. In the blue ocean period, there are no competitors. We are the only provider of such games. No matter how difficult the game is for newcomers to get started, players can accept it because in addition There is no other clan to choose from.”

"However, FPS games have now become a red ocean market. A similar game enters the market every month. Everyone, every development team, and every game company wants to compete in this vast market. Take a piece of the pie. In this case, this type of game must change to become easier to play and allow players to feel the fun of the game. Video games are not a place where a small group of people gain happiness; Most people can harvest something that makes them happy.”

However, Jester's answer did not satisfy the supporters of the old-school FPS, and they asked Jester further.

"Would you make a game like this in the future?"

This sentence made Jester's heart move, but after thinking for a few minutes, he couldn't help but shake his head. He replied in the post: "I think it is unlikely, because FPS games are indeed not my area of ​​expertise. In Mars Entertainment, I make FPS games, whether they are old-school or modern with down-to-earth combat like "Counter-Strike" When it comes to FPS, there are many people who are better than me. If they can’t solve the problem, I can’t solve it either.”

"I won't be better than Carmack and others in making old-school FPS games, and I won't be better than the new team in making this new-style FPS game. Instead of expecting me to do it, it's better to expect these people."

"After all, everyone has things they are good at, and everyone has things they are not good at."

Jester's answer is also very frustrating.

However, fans of the old-school FPS continue to ask in the post: "Have you not thought about how to improve it? Let the old-school FPS game maintain the style it should have, while also making players more Is it easy to get started?”

"We have considered it, but have not solved it. We have imagined many interesting gameplays. For example, our "Quake" development team privately produced a MOD based on "Quake 3". This MOD is very Interestingly, we are conducting internal testing, and if players welcome it, maybe we will develop it into a new independent client game."

At the end, Jester added: "This is an old-school FPS style MOD."

Hearing Jester suddenly change the topic, these old-school FPS players were not angry. For them, their love for the game is still greater than anything else. When Jester talked about this MOD of "Quake 3", They are also very interested. Now the biggest advantage of "Quake 3" over other shooting games is that it allows various self-made MODs to run.

Nowadays, among shooting games, there is "Counter-Strike", which is catching up from behind, but it is just a game MOD made by some developers of the "Quake 3" development team with different production concepts. I did not expect that this game MOD is easy to use and is based on real-life gun battles. A confrontational game is so popular among players. On Mars Entertainment’s battle network, there are more people playing this MOD than the people who have finished the original version of “Quake 3.” This has to be said to be an irony. .

"Can you please reveal a little bit of information about this game? It's the old-school FPS MOD you're talking about, not the official Counter-Strike game you've been talking about for a long time."

Jester didn't hesitate to answer this, because this MOD is an idea he put forward for some design teams who are confused about the old-school FPS. In fact, it is the idea of ​​"Team Fortress" and "Overwatch" He mentioned that he did not mention it because the current conditions are not mature. They may not be willing to make it easier for newbies to get started.

After listening to his introduction to the gameplay of "Team Fortress", the development team felt that the idea was very interesting, so they quickly made an experience MOD and posted it on Zhihu as soon as it was made. The development team themselves had a great time playing it, so they also decided to refine this MOD and put it into the market to see the response.

In fact, Jester also knows that this is just a game to extend the life of the old-school FPS, and it cannot fundamentally change the reality that the trend of FPS games will change.

And in the original history. "Team Fortress" first appeared as a MOD for "Quake". Because this MOD was too good, the production team of this MOD was recruited by Valve's G Fat and asked them to make an independent version similar to "Legion". A game like "Fortress", this game is "Team Fortress 2", and this game was announced at E3 in 1999.

After this game came out, there was indeed a scene of reviving the old-school FPS, but this type of game inherently has an irreconcilable flaw.

Moreover, when "Team Fortress 2" came out. It is no longer the few opponents that "Quake 3" faced before. Their opponents are more powerful, such as "Halo", such as "Call of Duty", such as "Battlefield" and so on. There are endless shooting games, so in the end, I was drowned in the vast sea of ​​​​people.

To say this game is dead would be a bit inaccurate.

But as a game that is already free to play, online in real time, and with only tens of thousands of people around the world, it really cannot be called a success.

Another shooting game on Valve's platform, "CS: GO Global Offensive," has hundreds of thousands of people online at once. On game days, there were as many as 800,000 in-game spectators, and the number of spectators on the Mouse Channel was also hundreds of thousands, crushing the existence of LOL.

Comparing the two, in fact, in the era when Jester traveled through, the revival of the old-school FPS seemed to be far away. However, there is finally a refreshing and completely different "Overwatch" - a shooting game that is easy to use, fiercely competitive, but has all the characteristics of an old-school FPS.

Jester doesn't know how the game will end, after all. At the beginning, this game was only in closed beta testing, but Jester felt that this game still had the potential to be a big success.

Jester briefly talked about the content of the "Team Fortress" MOD in the post. Although he did not reveal too much, it still satisfied fans of old-school FPS games. At least they know that Mars Entertainment has not abandoned it. The games they like are still working hard on this type of game.

"Tell me about your new game. I heard you said it was "Monster Hunter" at GDC last night!"

People who like FPS games also have fans of other games. This person calls himself a fan of ACT games. When he knew that Jester was making a game that he thought would be the most perfect ACT game, he felt like Extremely excited, although he didn't know much about Jester's game. Specifically, Jester didn't reveal much other information except that the name of the game was "Monster Hunter".

However, this player felt that he could take advantage of this opportunity and ask Jester, maybe Jester could reveal more information.

Jester did not shy away from talking about it.

He tells the truth directly.

"This game has been improved a lot in terms of planning. In fact, this is a very simple and easy-to-understand game. There is nothing too profound in its connotation. This is just what its name says. , a game about hunters hunting monsters. However, the production of this game has not officially started. Production will probably start after I return to Los Angeles from Chicago. The expected production time should be within one and a half to two years, no. More than two years.”

Two years of game development is a long time in this day and age.

But compared to the development of "The Heroes" which took five years, the time is still much less.

Moreover, Jester added something later.

"Actually, this is a game with a different style from other ACT games. It is a game without fancy moves, fancy combos, or those things you have seen in other ACT games before. , you must be careful when playing, dodge, roll, attack, and then continue like this. If you are not careful, or you are too greedy, it is very likely that your victory over the monster will fall short..."

Jester was also getting excited about talking, so he continued to talk some more.

"...In short, a game should have target players at the beginning of its design. All the designer needs to do is to please these players. As for those who are not in the target group from the beginning, their opinions can be simply ignored. Even so, It’s a bit utilitarian, unlike my previous game development guidelines, but it’s still something experimental.”

Although it is said that, before a game is made, no one can predict whether there will be a large or small number of people who like the game. Su Ri'an can predict in advance, but the judgment is always inaccurate. .

Sometimes after a game has determined its target audience, it feels that there are many of them, so it starts to develop the game for these audiences. However, when the game is developed, it is discovered that it is not the same thing at all. Players who like this kind of game simply do not like it. Not many. Players who used to think they were your target audience don’t find it fun after playing your game.

The target audience slowly shrinks, and in the end only a handful of people can be saved.

When the gameplay of this kind of game sets the wrong target audience, no matter how high the level of game production is, it will not help.

The most typical example is "Heroes of the Storm", which is a game made with a wrong estimate of the target audience. Of course, it may be that Blizzard itself positioned it as a niche game for fans, which can be considered a game. It’s about seeking benevolence and getting benevolence.

But, didn’t the original Hearthstone think so? (~^~)