Chapter 107: This Is a True Satisfying Game!
Chapter 107: This Is a True Satisfying Game!
Hearing Qin Yi's words, Chen Xu revealed a meaningful smile.
Without saying anything, he silently added a Black Knight wielding a Greatsword into the map of Road of Sacrifices.
Is the game too difficult?
This was actually a question Chen Xu had carefully consideredâhe had conducted thorough market research even before development began.
Why did they choose to develop Dark Souls 3 instead of Dark Souls 1, following the chronological order of the story?
Simply because, in terms of difficulty, Dark Souls 3 was significantly more beginner-friendly than its predecessor.
Moreover, Dark Souls was not a game designed to deliberately torment players.
Only after players picked it up, played through it once or twice, and overcame enemies through their own efforts, would they realize how explosively satisfying the game truly wasâa genuine Satisfying Game.
The only downside? The price of that satisfaction was just a bit steep.
However, Qin Yi clearly didn't understand this.
Seeing Chen Xuâs expression and actions, Qin Yi realized Chen had no intention of making any changes.
With that, he could only silently mourn for the future players.
Players, I've done my best!
At the very least, when designing the death screen, heâd ask the Art Team to make the word "death" look more aesthetically pleasing.
And for the various monsters, bosses, and traps that killed the character, they could add more death close-ups.
Let players die with flair, die with creativity.
âŚâŚâŚâŚ
After such a long period of development, most of Dark Souls was already complete.
What remained now was mainly polishing and testing.
This included testing all the levels in the game and the combat between the player-controlled character and bosses using various weaponsâelements that needed to be tested after the gameâs core development was finished.
Based on the test results, they would decide whether minor adjustments were needed or if the game could launch as-is.
During this time, while Dark Souls continued development and Valiant Hearts: The Great War participated in the Game Design Competition,
Sanguosha and Fall Guys were also seeing significant activity.
For Fall Guys, the subsequent focus was on the Operations team managing various collaborations, such as accessory skins.
As for maps, aside from the official themed maps, the Workshop (modding platform) played a crucial role in maintaining Fall Guysâ popularity. Additionally, compared to its previous life, Fall Guys introduced several new modes:
Team mode, Individual Speedrun (mode), Level Entertainment Mode, and custom rule rooms open to players.
However, unlike its peak, Fall Guysâ popularity had significantly declined. Its highest daily concurrent player count had dropped to around 150,000.
On the other hand, Sanguosha maintained exceptionally high player retention. Compared to its launch period, player numbers were steadily increasing.
Alongside new releases, the game simultaneously launched new modes such as Duel Arena, 2V2 Dragon-Tiger Four-Player Arena, and special events featuring new skins.
Nebula Games didnât run any special pay-to-win events to boost gross revenue.
Yet, as the player base expanded, revenue naturally increased.
Monthly gross revenue stabilized at 11 million yuan. It was evident that Sanguosha would serve as a sustainable cash cow for a long time to come.
As for Fall Guys, with proper operation and an active community, its popularity might not reach the heights of its initial launch, but it would certainly enjoy a long lifespan.
Sanguosha was no differentâbeing a card-based board game, its longevity was guaranteed to last for years.
Meanwhile, at the Nebula Games experience store, Chen Xu and his team were preparing the next stage of promotional warm-up for Dark Souls.
In the project office, all employees involved in the Dark Souls development had gathered.
Qin Yi was reporting on the gameâs completion rate, current testing results, its strengths and weaknesses, and potential areas for improvement.
During the meeting, Qin Yi once again brought up the previously mentioned issue of difficulty.
With a complicated expression, he looked at Chen Xu, hesitated for a long while, and finally spoke: "Mr. Chen, are we really not adjusting the boss stats for Dark Souls?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, not only Qin Yi, but the employees from the Combat System and Numerical Levels teams instinctively nodded simultaneously.
They had strong feelings about this.
After the numerical parameters for each boss were finalized and, per Chen Xuâs instructions, the monsters and bosses were inserted into the game,
They had become the first batch of testers.
Each of them had played through the game from the beginning.
Everyone had mentally prepared themselves for the gameâs difficulty.
After all, the stats, monster placement, and various traps and mechanisms in the map were all clearly evident.
But when they actually played, they realized they had been too naive, too inexperienced.
What they had imagined as "hard" was completely different from the actual experience!
The result? Even the first boss, Ash Judgment Gundyr, had stalled most of them for a long time.
Only a few exceptionally talented team members managed to defeat Ash Judgment Gundyr after multiple attempts.
And this was just the beginning.
It wasn't just the bossesâeven regular mobs like the Crystal Lizard and Uchigatana Guy caused first-time deaths for most of the team.
Even Crestfallen Warrior in the Firelink Shrine, after three consecutive attacks triggered hostility, brutally beat them up.
This made them seriously doubt life itself.
As for the Lothric Knights on the High Wall of Lothricâwhether wielding swords or spearsâor the Mimic, Fatty Winged Knight, and Pus of Man?
Except for the Hollow Skeleton soldiers, every single one felt like a boss!
Even those Skeleton Soldiersâif not fighting one-on-one, and instead surrounded by two or three, especially when accompanied by Hollow Houndsâwould likely end in death.
Hearing Qin Yiâs words, Ruan Ningxue, Yang Xin, and other employees responsible for Music, Scene Construction, and related areas all wore expressions of surprise.
Was the game really that difficult?
Were they questioning Mr. Chenâs numerical design?
After all, in everyoneâs minds, Mr. Chenâs image was extremely lofty. Moreover, they werenât questioning a minor detail, but the core of a gameâits data.
"Iâll test it later," Chen Xu smiled and said to Qin Yi.
Hearing this, Qin Yi scratched his head and continued reporting the remaining content.
Zhang Yida from the Marketing Department took careful notes.
About twenty minutes later,
Chen Xu, Yang Xin, Ruan Ningxue, and Zhang Yidaâwho needed to finalize the promotional plan based on actual gameplayâarrived at Qin Yiâs project team.
As soon as they entered, they saw three large words displayed on a demonstration screen hanging on the wall: "YOU DIED."
Clearly, someone had died during testing and hadnât exited the game yet.
Seeing those familiar words, along with the grayish-white UI interface tinged with dark red, Chen Xu couldnât help but smile.
"Let me take a look."
He pulled up a chair, sat in front of the computer, exited the game, and re-entered.
Beside him, Qin Yi and the others watched Chen Xu with eager eyes, hoping to see the scene they were anticipating.
(Wuwuwu, please give recommendation votes and Monthly Pass!)
(End of Chapter) <