Min Jingchao paused for a moment before continuing, "The background of the game can take place in an abandoned battlefield in the future world. Players will be playing the role of soldiers undergoing special training and need to win the mock battle.
"In my vision, the game is divided into two stages.
"The first stage can be called the exploration stage or the battle royale stage.
"Before players enter the game, they can choose their own identity: ordinary soldier, team leader, or battlefield commander. There are two choices: main and reserve.
"The default in the game is a four-man team with a team leader. Players can form a single team or choose to form multiple teams.
"The system will adjust based on the current situation of the players in the game. For example, if there are not enough main team leaders in the battlefield, they will be screened from the reserve team leaders. If there are still not enough players, they will be selected from ordinary soldiers with better data.
"After forming a team, the team leader will designate a certain location on the map to land and begin to collect resources nearby. They will look for better firearms, more bullets, medical supplies, and so on.
"Whether they want to fight at this time depends entirely on the players' personal preferences.
"If players want to fight, they will go to strategic locations with abundant resources, such as battlefield hospitals, airports, bunkers, and so on. Such places will encounter other players very early, and the battle will be intense.
"If players don't want to fight, they will go to places with relatively less resources, such as camps or strongholds in the wild.
"If a team member dies in the early stage, his teammates can go to a designated location to revive him. If the dead team member exits the game, a new player can be summoned in.
"Of course, in the matchmaking interface, players can freely choose whether they want to join a match that is already halfway through.
"If the entire team is wiped out, they will be eliminated from the match.
"The first stage of the battle is 100 VS 100, which means a total of 200 people, and 50 teams will be sent into the map.
"To prevent players from hiding and dragging time, I added a setting of 'anti-radiation suit battery'. Players must find the battery of the anti-radiation suit to maintain full HP. Once the battery is depleted, their HP will continue to drop due to radiation until they die.
"When there are only 100 people left in the field, which means that half of the teams have been eliminated, or when the game has gone on for a certain amount of time, we will enter the second stage.
"At this time, the system will take into account the achievements of the players in the first phase, the distribution of players in various strategic locations, and other factors to divide the battlefield into two evenly matched sides."
"In the initial state, the two parties are bound to be mixed together. Some squads may be naturally in the depths of the enemy's camp, occupying a critical fortress, and some squads may be in the rear of their own camp, which is very safe.
"At this time, the commander selected by the system can start commanding the battlefield and give instructions to all the teams."
"In order to facilitate communication between players, we need to make a very complete signal marking system. Team leaders and commanders can directly issue orders through the marking system, and they can also use voice calls."
"At this stage, even if players die, they can be resurrected in the camp or the hospital, but they will need to consume resources, such as batteries for anti-radiation suits. The resources on the map are limited, and once they're used up, they can't be revived. In the end, the number of strategic locations occupied by both sides, the number of enemies killed, and the number of resources collected will be used to calculate the score. "
Sun Xi hesitated for a moment before asking, "Wouldn't that be too long? Most FPS games have a quick mode of a small round in a few minutes. It's quick and direct to stimulate the players' emotions. If it's divided into two stages like this, it definitely won't be completed in a few minutes, right? "
Min Jingchao nodded. "Yes, I expected the entire game to last about 30 minutes. Actually, that's not too bad. It's basically similar to GOG's bladder games.
"What's more, unlike games like GOG, Bullet Hole 2 has a screening mechanism. Not every player will play for 30 minutes.
"The first stage is the screening stage. If players jump into a crowded area and engage in an intense battle, they might kill everyone, allowing their party to occupy a strategic location, or they might wipe out the entire party and be forced to retreat."
"Thus, for players who like a fast pace, they don't need to last for 30 minutes. For players who like a slow pace and like to loot slowly, they can jump into less populated areas in the first stage. As long as they survive the first stage, they can keep reviving in the second stage. They can also keep their good weapons and resources.
"Moreover, if you die in the first stage, you die. If you leave, you can immediately start a new match. It won't delay anything. If you survive the first stage, you can resurrect in the second stage. You'll have better weapons and equipment. Plus, you'll get rewards after the battle ends. You'll have plenty of motivation.
"As players' marksmanship gets better and they understand the game's mechanics better, they can gradually try to choose more competitive locations so that the players can achieve a natural flow.
"This mechanism is equivalent to subdividing different types of players so that players can find a way to play in this mode that suits them."
Zhou Muyan and the others nodded. Min Jingchao's method seemed to really work.
In fact, MOBA games were popular because there were different kinds of fun in the beginning, middle, and later stages of the game.
In the early stages, players could use their own skills to establish an initial advantage. In the middle stages, they could roam around to support and help the whole team open up the situation. In the later stages, they could fight for resources or find opportunities to turn the tables and win.
Moreover, in this type of game, the players' levels and equipment were constantly improving, which was similar to the sense of growth in MMORPGs. Therefore, in the middle and late stages of the game, unless the situation was completely one-sided, as long as the players had enough equipment and could put up a fight, they wouldn't easily give up on the sunk cost of the first twenty minutes or so. They would always look for ways to turn the tables.
Min Jingchao's design of the large map mechanism for Bullet Hole 2 was obviously based on some ideas from MOBA games. On one hand, it was to filter and subdivide players through the game mechanism so that different types of players could experience different kinds of fun. On the other hand, it was to ensure that there was enough fun in the later stages of the game.
Min Jingchao continued. "However, in theory, the design of the large map mechanism took into account the experience of different players. However, in reality, there might be some unexpected situations.
"For example, the matching mechanism might not be able to balance the strengths of both sides after the initial screening because of insufficient data. Or the game mechanism might not be perfect, which might cause the progress of different stages to be too fast or too slow. That might affect the actual gaming experience of players.
"There is actually no good solution to this problem. We can only adjust it slowly.
"However, during the adjustment process, there might be a loss of players."
That was actually very easy to understand. A game mechanism needed a lot of data to operate perfectly.
For example, in MOBA games like GOG, the experience was outstanding because of the number of minions killed per minute, the amount of experience gained, the amount of money earned, the attributes of the wild monsters, and so on. All of these data went through careful and complicated modifications and adjustments to become what it was now.
Once there was a problem in one segment, such as players leveling up too quickly, the rhythm of the entire game would be disrupted. That would create a serious chain reaction that might completely disrupt the original concept.
Min Jingchao had been balancing GOG for such a long time. Of course, he knew this very well.
What's more, it was not possible to completely avoid these problems from the beginning. They could only continuously adjust the game based on the feedback of players and the data collected.
Zhou Muyan said, "That's actually not a problem. At most, we can run a few tests after the game is developed. We can only release it after we adjust it.
"In any case, the other games would have to be tested for a long time before they are officially released."
Min Jingchao nodded and said, "Testing is one way, but I've thought of another way.
"That is to use the existing large map and create a few new game mechanisms.
"On the basis of the original mechanism, we can split it up and simplify it. That way, even if the classic mechanism of the large map encounters some problems in the early stages and affects the players' experience, they will still have other modes to play.
"Boss Pei cut many modes previously, so we definitely won't do them anymore. Compared to Ocean Stronghold, we only kept the most basic mode.
"I thought about it and came up with three models."
"The first one is a pure 'Tu Tu Tu Tu' mode. Players can choose a small spot on the big map, and players can continuously resurrect. By default, they will hold their favorite gun and shoot anyone they see. In the end, points will be scored based on the number of kills."
"In any case, we're using materials from the world map. We just need to make some slight changes to the map before we can use it. Dividing the world map into many smaller maps will not only satisfy our needs, but it will also help players familiarize themselves with the world map's terrain."
"The players have fought in this mode many times, so they will naturally know the way when they go to the big map."
"The second one is to keep only one stage of the model, but we need to make some adjustments to the details."
"Because this stage is a team battle, there is no need to balance strength. In any case, the last one standing will be the winner."
"However, since there's no battle in the second stage, there's no point in having so many players left on the map. We'll have to speed up the deaths of the players and make them quit the game. Therefore, I'm considering adding a 'mechanical army invasion' mechanism."
"In layman's terms, after a certain amount of time has passed in the game, the mechanical army will continuously spawn around the map. What's more, their attributes will gradually increase.
"Players will have two choices. One is to run deeper into the map. That way, they will naturally encounter other players and start fighting. The other is to plunder resources, occupy advantageous terrain and strategic locations, and fight the mechanical army head-on.
"If they don't want to fight with other players, they can stand in a fortress and kill the mechanical army. It's similar to Ocean Stronghold's zombie mode.
"The former is considered an 'escape' gameplay while the latter is a 'stand your ground' gameplay. This depends on the player's location at the time and their personal gaming habits.
"The third gameplay is the classic gameplay that I just introduced.
"Different gameplay can bring different kinds of fun to players during the game and complement each other.
"That way, Bullet Hole 2 can give players a rich and unique gaming experience!"
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