Otherworldly Architect

In the offline brand store, after buying two ties and checking out.

Ming Yan saw that it was past nine o'clock, and he planned to go directly back to the company.

But a very coincidental thing happened. As soon as I walked out of the store, a man with a surprised face walked towards him.

"Brother Cheng! Why are you here?" He greeted him and looked at Xia Cheng eagerly.

Xia Cheng nodded and said, "Come and buy something. It's such a coincidence that you are here."

Ming Yan glanced at the man in front of him. He had a baby face, and when he smiled, he felt innocent and youthful.

Xia Cheng took a step back and introduced the two respectively:

"This is Ming Yan, the chief designer of Bluestar Studio, and an old friend of mine."

"This is Zhu Wenshu, who is working as a game architect at Forest Wolf Company and has also cooperated with IPP."

Ming Yan and Zhu Wenshu shook hands, and said somewhat unexpectedly, "It's a coincidence, we're colleagues."

Zhu Wenshu looked at him, smiled slowly, and said, "Senior, you are the famous 'teacher'. I really admired the name for a long time. When the League of Legends was launched, I heard about you in school. deeds."

I wish Wen Shu looked very enthusiastic, and insisted on inviting the two of them to have a cup of coffee.

Ming Yan originally had no interest, but unexpectedly heard that a game designed by Zhu Wenshu called "Grip of the Empire", which also received a high score of 9.5 in the A League evaluation.

- If designers communicate with each other, there may be unexpected gains.

With this thought in mind, Ming Yan sat down happily.

Xia Cheng sat down next to him, and the three found a very secluded corner.

When asked about "Grip of the Empire", Zhu Wenshu also had a proud smile on his face.

He looked at Xia Cheng, and said softly: "I have to thank Brother Cheng for giving me the opportunity to talk about what happened back then. He is my noble man. "Grip of the Empire" was only created because of his recommendation. , I really don't know how to repay..."

Coffee is here.

As Zhu Wenshu spoke, he skillfully put a piece of sugar in it, stirred it gently, and placed it in front of Xia Cheng.

For some reason, Xia Cheng straightened up slightly and looked sideways at Ming Yan.

Xia Cheng said: "No, these are all my job duties, and there is nothing to talk about giving opportunities. Mr. Zhu doesn't have to be so polite..."

Zhu Wenshu flattened his mouth and said, "Is it because I've been too busy playing games recently? I feel like I'm separated from Brother Cheng! The last time I promised to go to the Wilderness Survival Club together, I never made it..."

Xia Cheng's back was straight, and he sat upright and said, "No, no, I'll talk about it later when I have a chance."

Zhu Wenshu didn't seem to be able to hear the polite words, and he put his palms together and smiled: "Great, when I finish the new game at hand, I will have the opportunity to go out with Brother Cheng soon!"

Xia Cheng opened his mouth, but he hadn't found a line to evade bluntly.

At this time, I only listened to Ming Yan on the side and asked curiously: "Can you introduce the new game? I am also preparing for a new project recently, and I think we can share our experience in this regard."

Zhu Wenshu: "…"

Xia Cheng: "…"

Wow, Xia Cheng really loves Mingyan's ability to find the key points now.

The strange atmosphere on the coffee table suddenly became inexplicably upright again.

Zhu Wenshu's mouth twitched, and he said, "If there is a chance in the future, let's email again. Today I want to talk to Brother Cheng..."

Before he finished speaking, Ming Yan lowered his head and took out his business card.

The two exchanged business cards, and then Zhu Wenshu was a little confused, looked at Xia Cheng, and then looked at Ming Yan.

After a long while, Zhu Wenshu said: "Then... Can I chat with Brother Cheng alone today?"

Ming Yan said boldly: "No problem, I'm going back to work overtime."

Xia Cheng almost jumped off the table and said hurriedly, "No no no, I'm going to work overtime too."

Ming Yan: "?" Huh? Are you going back to play games with me?

Xia Cheng hurriedly added: "Mr. Zhu and I don't really have anything to talk about. It's all about work cooperation. I really haven't opened a back door for him. Everything can be negotiated during the day. Today I only I'm going out to play with you-"

Clearly: "???"

"…"

I wish Wenshu finally saw the clue, and the smile gradually became difficult to maintain, leaving a somewhat ugly expression.

He said sarcastically: "Mr. Ming is such a big arrogant. No matter how he invites Brother Cheng, you can't invite him. You can play a small temper and threaten him to leave when you are not happy. It really is the game industry. The senior of my class is very high-ranking, in fact, if you don't like me, you can say it directly!"

Ming Yan was stunned for a moment, and said blankly: "What happened? I don't mean anything, just talk first."

He got up, picked up his coat, and walked outside the door.

When Xia Cheng saw this, he immediately stood up and strode after him.

From beginning to end, Xia Cheng never touched the cup of coffee.

Ming Yan walked outside first, only to find that Xia Cheng was still following him.

Xia Cheng was about to break out in a cold sweat, and said in a loud voice, "I'm really not familiar with that Zhu Wenshu. I only have work contacts! I have never helped him in anything, you have to believe me!"

Ming Yan smiled and said, "I know, you have a good eye for games. You signed Minecraft back then."

Xia Cheng: "…"

He carefully looked at Ming Yan's expression, and finally determined that Ming Yan was not at all annoyed.

Oh my god.

Xia Cheng didn't know whether he should be happy or disappointed.

Soon, Xia Cheng called his driver and sent Mingyan back to the Bluestar studio first.

Well, the driver is the same old Comrade Li.

It has been more than three years, and he has long been used to Ming Yan getting in the car from time to time.

And he has seen through the two people in the back seat! There will no longer be the confusion of "driving faster or slower" in the past!

He now knows that the chief designer Ming's heart is definitely: "Come to the company quickly, I really want to work."

Master Xia's heart is definitely: "Drive slower, and chat outside for a while."

At this moment, Lao Li's heart is: Look at this status gap! Young master, I'm sorry for you, anyway, even if you ask, you must have listened to Mr. Ming, so let's hurry up and finish.

This little episode that happened in the mall was quickly forgotten by Ming Yan.

But what I didn't expect was that some people were brooding about it.

In June, the "Star Show Contest" held by the IPP platform went ahead as scheduled, and successfully reached the final final.

The five judges have all been determined and came to the online venue to make the final score.

Mingyan looked at the list of contestants in the background, and said hello to the other judges by the way.

Unexpectedly, I met Zhu Wenshu.

Zhu Wenshu was also the first to greet Mingyan and said, "Senior, how are you."

Ming Yan was a little surprised and said, "It's such a coincidence that you are also a judge?"

He saw the work permit on Zhu Wenshu's chest.

Zhu Wenshu said with a smile: "Yesterday I saw the list of judges for the Star Show Competition on the official website, and then I knew that you would come too, senior. No wonder Brother Cheng would have dinner with you yesterday. For the competition planned by Brother Cheng, then I can't either. It's far worse than the senior, so I volunteered for it temporarily..."

Halfway through he said, a staff member said, "Who is the fifth judge? We need to arrange your position."

Zhu Wenshu said, "I'll go over there first, goodbye senior."

In fact, it was a little surprising.

In all fairness, although Zhu Wenshu has a high-quality game with good traffic, his qualifications in the industry should not be enough to be a judge.

He graduated two years later than Mingyan, and currently this is the "Grip of the Empire".

His own personality among the players is almost like a "genius designer who explodes with a game", which is similar to when Ming Yan was just a fledgling.

If you sit on the jury's seat, will you be able to convince the public?

Soon, Mingyan guessed the reason behind this while chatting with another judge in the background.

To be honest, the rest of the judges didn't like Zhu Wenshu very much, but they just maintained the harmony on the surface.

One of the younger judges was particularly blunt.

He said to Ming Yan: "After all, it is an event organized by IPP, and the first session is already a master. It is foreseeable that it will bring a lot of traffic in the future, so it is very rare to be able to show up in the first session. Wen Shu bought traffic and came in through the back door, so you don't need to pay attention to him."

Clearly: "…"

Since it was through a special relationship to sit on the jury seat, it is natural to be vaguely excluded.

The work of the judges is actually quite easy, as long as the top eight works are tested, commented and scored in turn.

During this period, several judges were reluctant to take Zhu Wenshu's words.

On the one hand, it was indeed his act of going through the back door that caused public anger;

On the other hand, it is also because his words are more embarrassing.

Several contestants came to the stage to show their works, and several judges mainly criticized and encouraged, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of the works and opportunities for improvement.

But Zhu Wenshu was pointing at Jiangshan and directly put forward "revision suggestions", saying: "You can directly cut off the third profession, there is nothing outstanding in the design, and it can be incorporated into the second profession. In addition, Your combat system can completely change the combo mechanism..."

When he was talking, the contestants on the stage were gradually unable to maintain their smiles.

According to Zhu Wenshu, this game will have to be drastically changed, and it will become completely unrecognizable.

But at that time, was the game their own, or was it the design of Zhu Wenshu?

Maybe it's a kind of conceit about their own abilities that all "geniuses" have.

Zhu Wenshu is like pouring out his talents to the fullest, making similar modifications to each entry, turning them into what he imagined, and scoring the entries based on this.

Other judges tried to correct Zhu Wenshu's tendency, and Mingyan also reminded him, "...I think it depends on the designer's own ideas."

But Zhu Wenshu smiled and said to Ming Yan, "Don't you have any design ideas, senior? You don't know how to change it is the best choice for it?"

Ming Yan did not speak any more.

When it comes to game design ideas, there are thousands of ideas in the world, and I clearly have so many ideas in my heart... But after all, this is someone else's work, someone else's game.

Ming Yan's euphemistic reminder aroused Zhu Wenshu's dissatisfaction.

The remaining judges saw it, and there seemed to be some discord between the two.

When the next contestant came to the stage, he looked at Mingyan excitedly, opened his mouth and shouted, "Hello, teacher! ... Uh, hello, judges and teachers!"

The audience below the stage burst into laughter.

The most famous teacher on the jury is obviously the chief designer Ming of Bluestar.

At the beginning of the competition, when the judges were introduced, the audience gave Ming Yan the most enthusiastic applause.

In fact, among the contestants who came to the stage, there are many people who take Ming Yan as their idol—but none of them are as sincere as this one, and their admiration is beyond words.

The contestant's face flushed with excitement, and his teammates grabbed him, but did not pull him back.

Ming Yan had no choice but to nod and remind him, "Hello, let me introduce myself first."

As a result, he stood on the stage and said excitedly: "My name is Yu Bing. I am a junior this year. I am the teacher's apprentice, and I am also a Mingjiao believer. After I played "Minecraft" three years ago, I especially worshipped The chief designer of Ming, so I applied for the game design major! I...I participated in the competition today, just to imagine that the teacher will be on par, and I will also make the best game in the world!"

He is still a very tender student, and his nervousness can be seen from the conversation.

The audience below the stage spontaneously applauded him as a form of encouragement.

Soon, the rest of the team also finished introducing themselves.

Yu Bing then calmed down and introduced his entry.

This is a mobile phone stand-alone game with interesting gameplay. The theme is that the protagonist of the game is constantly climbing a high tower and defeating all kinds of monsters.

The characteristic is that the protagonist is fighting automatically.

The player only needs to click to let the protagonist release the corresponding skills, and occasionally add points to the protagonist when he upgrades.

After all, it was a game that was done in three days, and the content was quite simple.

The completion of this game is already very good, and it ranks third in the top eight games for the time being.

But to be honest, the function of "automatic combat" is very unpopular in the interstellar era.

In the public opinion, "battle" is the most important main content of a game.

So there is still some controversy in this game.

Sure enough, other judges were also the first to ask this question.

And Yu Bing explained stumblingly: "Our game is not for players to focus on fighting monsters and leveling up, I just want to... let them play games while watching TV. Or when they are waiting in line, Neither boring nor so focused that you miss something…”

After listening to him, the judges discussed it privately in a daze.

Mingyan smiled and asked, "Did you have this idea when you first designed it?"

Yu Bing blushed as soon as he saw him, rubbed his hand on his clothes nervously, wiped off the sweat from his hands, and said, "Yes, yes. I imagined Dad watching TV on the sofa..."

The shrill laughter began to appear from the audience.

Ming Yan nodded and said gently: "In fact, this is a very correct design idea. I call it 'situational requirements analysis'."

As soon as he opened his mouth, both inside and outside the venue were suddenly quiet, and the audience's eyes widened unexpectedly.

—Hey, hey, so there is profound knowledge behind this?

Mingyan explained: "Many people know that demand analysis is the only way we must go before designing. Many large companies will research the market in advance to understand the playing time, play style and game type of people of all ages... But this is not Absolute approach. Sometimes, the information excavated from big data is cold and absolute. It can only be said to be a mathematical tool, but it cannot bring inspiration to creation.

"Real creation often starts from small things. Yu Bing can keenly dig out the entertainment needs of people around him from a life situation, and use this as a basis to design a game that meets the needs - this is an observation The combination of strength and action can be said to be quite gifted."

After Ming Yan finished speaking, Yu Bing on the stage was blushing so red that he was about to smoke, and the sweat on his forehead soaked his bangs.

Joy and excitement were evident on his face, and he almost choked up: "Thank you, Sect Master! Thank you!"

Ming Yan thought for a while and said, "Keep going."

Then, he looked at the score sheet at hand and gave a high score for "play design" first.

At this moment, another voice suddenly appeared beside Ming Yan.

"I don't think so."

Zhu Wenshu said.

The eyes on and off the stage all came to him immediately.

Yu Bing's expression also became a little uneasy again, and said, "Please ask the judges for advice."

Zhu Wenshu said: "No matter what the design idea is, I only see what the result of the game design is - does the game itself provide us with any playability? The 'battle' itself has already been determined by the protagonist, or simply the game. It's done by ourselves. As players, do we have anything to play? No, we can only stare at the game and play by ourselves. Is this a game?"

After he finished speaking, Yu Bing's expression instantly turned pale again.

His teammates were also very nervous and said, "Actually, players can use skills and add points to the protagonist..."

"Without combat, a combat adventure game without combat is useless at all." Zhu Wenshu interrupted him, "I have this time to play your games, so I might as well just go watch the anchor and play 3A masterpieces, at least it will blow up from the screen. for you."

The criticism in this sentence is very heavy, and the minds of several nervous contestants are suddenly blank, unable to find suitable words to refute in the spotlight.

A judge next to him frowned slightly and reminded Zhu Wenshu in a low voice, "It's not like that."

Zhu Wenshu didn't look at the people around him, but just had his usual confident smile on his face.

He said: "I can assert that you must add a suitable combat system to it, otherwise the game will be no different from death. It is also very simple to add a combat system, so I have a brilliant idea - it's better to put you The skills are replaced with wizard cards, and the corresponding damage is caused according to the face value of the cards..."

The wizard card is a popular card game in Interstellar, which pays attention to playing cards in order to achieve a combo.

No one has thought before that chess and card games can also be integrated into the combat system... using cards to cause damage?

Two of the judges started discussing with each other.

Another said: "But if you do this, this adventure game will become a card game, which is essentially a card game, and the adventure content is just a meaningless performance."

Zhu Wenshu raised his chin and said, "It's just an empty shell now. It's better to join my gameplay and make it meaningful."

Another judge looked at Ming Yan and said, "What does the chief designer Ming think?"

The discussion has developed to this point, and it seems that it has become a contradiction between Ming Yan and Zhu Wenshu's views.

Even the audience below the stage was silent.

Anyone with eyes can see that there is a big difference of opinion among the judges!

The atmosphere became tense, and the ratings unexpectedly increased.

When the director in the background saw that something was wrong, he hurriedly gestured, ready to control the scene at any time.

At this time, Ming Yan had already thought about it.

He carefully considered Zhu Wenshu's "revision opinion", and finally said: "I cannot agree with this statement. If it is really revised in this way, the original creativity and characteristics will be lost."

He has always been right against people, and of course his intention was to make this little game better.

But as soon as these words were spoken, Zhu Wenshu's face became ugly.

Yu Bing's expression was full of gratitude.

Zhu Wenshu smiled "haha", probably wanting to ease the embarrassment, and then asked: "Chief designer Ming really has a lot of ideas. Then how do you think this game should be changed, so as not to bury the creativity, and let it be More fun?"

Mingyan shook his head and said, "It has no lack of playability. If I have to say, you can even reduce some players' operations. It is enough to just select points and equipment, and some skills can be changed to automatic. release effect."

The judges were surprised, and the audience also made a "Huh?" voice.

"This is an attempt at a new type of game." Ming Yan thought about it and explained, "I don't think you can use the previous point of view to evaluate such a game. Its value is not in making people work hard to pass the level, but in Some windfall fun in your spare time. Well... maybe it's apt to call it the 'idle game'."

Zhu Wenshu smiled and said, "As expected of the chief designer of Ming, he 'created' a new game category while talking. It's amazing!"

He gave a thumbs up, but that expression couldn't seem like a sincere compliment.

Ming Yan shook his head and said to Yu Bing, "If you are interested, we can talk in detail after the game."

After he finished speaking, he lit up his scoreboard.

He gave the game a high score of 8.5, which is mainly due to the "play design".

At this time, Zhu Wenshu, who was beside him, also lit up a sign.

— He hit a 3.0.