Chapter 97: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Chapter 97: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Chen Xu called Ruan Ningxue into the office and first confirmed with her the matters concerning Art and related resource output for Dark Souls.
After that, Chen Xu brought up the Game Design Competition.
"So during this period, are we also going to develop a game for the competition simultaneously?" Ruan Ningxue asked curiously.
"To put it simply, it's just me. The remaining work on Dark Souls is merely a matter of time. For the new game, I'll handle it myselfājust assign two people from the Art Team to help me with materials. The rest I'll take care of alone," Chen Xu said.
"Understood," Ruan Ningxue nodded.
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While Chen Xu was talking with Ruan Ningxue,
news of the Game Design Competition had already begun spreading throughout the gaming industry.
'Nebula Games has launched a new Game Design Competition again!'
'Anti-war theme this timeāthis one isn't simple at all!'
'World Peace Day is in two months, and in recent years, there's been growing social concern that war-themed games promote violence. Choosing an anti-war theme this time gives the competition a slightly political flavor.'
'To be honest, all that is nonsenseādon't know which clowns are spouting that every day.'
'Forget the noiseājust a bunch of clowns. The gaming industry pays so much in taxes each year. We game developers stand upright and fear no shadow. Letās just discuss this competition.'
'I wonder if NetDragon and TengHua will participate this year? Last year, NetDragonās Sword, Fire, and Thunder joined in.'
'No news so far, but honestly, Iām more curious whether Chen Xu will participate. Last yearās To the Moon was completely unexpected.'
'I donāt think so. Isnāt he developing that PC blockbuster, Dark Souls?'
'Yeah, for Nebula Games, that game should be extremely important. If successful, their platform has a high probability of becoming an exclusive one. Probably wonāt want to be distracted, right?'
'Then I can relax. I was seriously afraid of running into Chen Xu again. And that guy is a Quick Shooterāthis competition has a much shorter development cycle than before. If he joins, heād have a huge advantage.'
Many game designers across the industry were discussing the news of the competition.
Mainly because this time, the development cycle was relatively short.
And truthfully, when it came to war-themed games, everyone knew how to make one if the goal was simply to depict war.
It was just about showing grand battle scenesāafter that, it all boiled down to whether the gameplay felt satisfying.
But an anti-war theme? That was far more difficult.
One misstep, and instead of prompting players to reflect on anti-war ideals, the game would just feel awkward.
Under such circumstances, creating an excellent anti-war game was extremely challenging.
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In Nebula Gamesā office, Chen Xu was typing on his keyboard.
On the computer screen was a design concept draft titled: Valiant Hearts: The Great War.
In his previous life, there had been many anti-war games.
But unlike most anti-war games, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, developed by Ubisoft, was a particularly unique work.
In terms of Game Scale, Valiant Hearts: The Great War was quite small.
It was a 2D doodle-style cartoon Adventure game with puzzle-solving elements.
In fact, the characters had very few lines of dialogue.
And it didnāt depict cruel war scenes. Instead, it used a unique perspective and narrative technique to let players understand the true nature of war through a personal story.
The game didnāt offer players the visceral thrill of bayonets dripping with blood, yet it carried the same profound emotional impact found in All Quiet on the Western Front and Schindler's Listāemotions that only erupt in the midst of the most tragic and horrifying disasters.
Of course, there was another reason for choosing this game.
Its scale was manageable, and like To the Moon, it was deeply moving.
Perfect for tapping into a wave of playersā emotional sentiment.
After all, the upcoming Dark Souls, as well as the currently trending Sanguosha and Fall Guys, werenāt exactly games that would make players cry or feel heartbroken.
Hmmā¦ perhaps when Dark Souls launches, players whoāve accumulated tens of thousands of souls without spending them, then die once, and then die again immediately after, might experience a wave of sorrow.
Sitting in front of his computer, Chen Xu began drafting the gameās background.
Three soldiers from different countries, a female nurse, and a dog.
The game didnāt tell the story of warās impact from a macro perspective,
nor did it explore the core nature of war.
It simply focused on ordinary people caught in war, telling their personal stories.
It profoundly depicted the tragic scenes of war and the immense suffering it inflicted.
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As the days passed, for Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Chen Xu mainly pulled two employees from the Art Team to assist with Art resources.
Everything else he handled himself. Progress was steady but not rushed, and he wasnāt in a hurry.
After all, there was still plenty of time before the competition deadline.
Meanwhile, the Combat System for Dark Souls had been essentially finalized.
The remaining work involved minor optimizations and adjustmentsānothing major.
However, the difficulty level left Qin Yi and other designers involved in Numerical Design and BOSS design feeling uncertain.
At first, when they heard thereād be no difficulty settings, no mini-map, and high monster attributes, Qin Yi didnāt have a concrete sense of what that meant.
But later, during the Level Design phase, the "water temperature" gradually felt off.
First, the map design was indeed brilliant.
Although Dark Souls 3ās maps werenāt as artistically rich as Dark Souls 1ās, the individual scene designs of Dark Souls 3 still surpassed the vast majority of games.
But beyond admiring the intricate map design,
the subsequent addition of traps and monster placements gave Qin Yi only one impression: pure malice!
This was downright inhumane!
To put it simply, the world was filled with danger.
The game featured collectible elements that glowed conspicuously, practically shouting at players: "Come on, come get me! Iām right here waiting for you!"
Nothing unusual thereāpretty much every RPG, and even non-RPGs, had such mechanics.
But Dark Souls was nothing like those Seductive Pretenders.
In the world of Dark Souls, above the item you were about to pick up might lurk a hidden monster, waiting to ambush you the moment you bent down to collect it.
In addition, the game had all sorts of monsters hiding in dark corners or behind cover, or suddenly appearing around corners.
There were also Mimics disguised as treasure chests. Youād run over excitedly, thinking youād found a chest, only to be devoured alive.
And donāt even get started on the complex death traps scattered across various map scenes.
Even in the early game, along branching paths, there were enemies far stronger than Regular mobsāso powerful that if you hadnāt yet grasped the gameās basic mechanics,
encountering one meant instant death!
On top of that, the game had a mechanic where the currency used for leveling up and purchasing items would drop upon death.
If you didnāt recover it before dying again, it would be permanently lost. There was also a monster respawn mechanism.
Though still in the concept design phase without full implementation, Qin Yi could already mentally picture the gameās scenes just by reading the documents.
(End of Chapter) <