Chapter 203: Discussions in the Gaming Industry (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 203: Discussions in the Gaming Industry (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

The meta-game concept in Undertale, originally developed by Chen Xu, had opened up a new train of thought for many game designers in the industry.

Later, the independent gaming community experienced a surge of interest in meta-games.

The second wave came with the release of Overcooked and Fall Guys. The cooperative and variety-show style gameplay similarly inspired many game designers.

Yet, even though Dark Souls and It Takes Two also offered significant inspiration,

the key takeaways were the lack of excellent two-player co-op games and the realization that players' acceptance of hardcore games was higher than expected.

However, in terms of actual gameplay and setting, these titles offered little reference value for most game designers.

Because their success stemmed from an overall synthesis of qualities, and many small studios and independent game designer teams simply couldn’t afford the cost risks involved.

Now, with the emergence of Don't Starve and its so-called sandbox game genre, many game designers felt suddenly enlightened.

Although, up to this point, no game designer had fully grasped the core concept of Don't Starve, or even the concept of sandbox games in general.

For example, what exactly made Don't Starve successful? Was it the survival gameplay, the collecting and building gameplay, or some other hidden factor?

Nevertheless, it was undeniable that this type of game was worth attempting.

Because it had one fundamental advantage: Don't Starve was not a big-budget production.

Judging from its art resources and final product scale, it was clearly a standard independent team game.

Small-scale production meant low trial-and-error costs.

Moreover, from a broader external framework perspective, many designers felt that replicating the success of Don't Starve would be far easier than replicating that of Dark Souls.

Because Don't Starve had a very clear theme: simulating a content-rich sandbox world and letting players survive within it.

The only question was how to achieve the same effect in other sandbox games.

On a well-known forum in the gaming industry, many renowned independent game designers and designers from second- and third-tier developers were discussing the strengths, weaknesses, and future directions of Don't Starve.

"Sandbox games seem to be a direction with tremendous potential!"

"Nebula Games Platform seems to be taking off. Judging from the sales figures announced so far, first-month sales should be around 4 million, and that's just on the Nebula Games platform alone!"

"Forget about Nebula Games Platform—has nothing to do with us. Let’s talk about the sandbox gameplay in Don't Starve."

"Actually, I feel Don't Starve has provided a relatively clear direction: clear objectives combined with rich elements. Think about it—Don't Starve's central theme is survival, and every design element supports that goal. So I think a sandbox game should feature a large map paired with a core thematic gameplay, yet without restricting the player."

"Exactly. You can replace survival with other themes, and the principle still holds. For example, set the game’s theme as treasure hunting, scatter various tombs across the game world, don’t restrict the player’s direction in exploring these tombs, and add some randomness—it feels like a sandbox already."

"Right. The tech tree in Don't Starve could easily be replaced with a skill tree. In a treasure-hunting sandbox game, every time a player discovers a new item, they could link that item to the skill tree and unlock new abilities."

On the forum, game designers from all over debated what the true focus of a sandbox game should be.

Each designer had their own corresponding ideas.

…………………………

In the rest area of Nebula Games, Ruan Ningxue was playing Don't Starve, with Yang Xin and others watching from behind.

In this save file, Ruan Ningxue had survived for over sixty days, and the current season was summer.

"Xiaoxue, your base is probably the largest in the entire company, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, how long have you been grinding, Sister Xue?"

The group behind Ruan Ningxue asked.

All sorts of traps, enclosed Pig Houses, and boxes storing resources.

Rows upon rows of Berry Bushes and other crops were planted everywhere.

At the entrance of her home base, numerous dog teeth traps were placed.

The entire base was completely surrounded by grass walls.

"It's not that great!" Ruan Ningxue smiled brightly.

While chatting with Yang Xin and the others, Ruan Ningxue checked her dog teeth traps.

Because the Hounds were about to attack her soon.

But what could they do? She had so many dog teeth traps.

However, when the Hound pack appeared and she spotted a few red figures among them, Ruan Ningxue’s expression changed instantly: "Doomed! I forgot to refill the fuel in the fire extinguisher!"

"What’s wrong? Didn’t you kill all the Hounds?" Yang Xin, who mainly played story mode, didn’t know much about monster characteristics. She herself hadn’t survived more than 20 days in the game yet, so she found Ruan Ningxue’s reaction strange.

But the next moment, she understood.

After the red Hound died, a patch of flames appeared on the spot.

Then, under Ruan Ningxue’s horrified gaze, the large fire began to spread.

Pig Houses, Berry Bushes, saplings… until the fire consumed two-thirds of her base.

Burning structures, blazing flames—everywhere she looked, it spelled despair.

The group standing behind her shook their heads with emotion.

In truth, this kind of devastation was something most players in Don't Starve had experienced.

Dying due to an accident wasn’t too bad—after all, death meant game over. The real tragedy was when an accident wiped out your entire base.

In such cases, it truly felt like it's better to die than to live.

"I’m not playing anymore. I’m tired…" Staring at the burning screen, Ruan Ningxue quietly exited the game with Alt+F4.

"This game is always full of surprises, just like life itself." Chen Xu, who had just arrived at the rest area to take a break, had witnessed Ruan Ningxue’s complete mental breakdown and couldn’t help but say with a smile.

A deeply philosophical statement, yet everyone present rolled their eyes in unison.

"By the way, Mr. Chen, lately many game designers in the industry have been discussing our Don't Starve and the topic of sandbox games. It feels like a flood of sandbox-style games is about to erupt!" Qin Yi suddenly remembered and said to Chen Xu.

"I’ve been keeping an eye on it, but their focus is slightly off," Chen Xu nodded, then shook his head.

"Focus is off?" Hearing this, everyone looked curious.

"What do you think is the core aspect of sandbox games?" Chen Xu asked.

"Survival and freedom?"

"No, I think it’s collecting and survival equally."

Everyone discussed among themselves.

But Chen Xu didn’t wait for them to summarize. He continued directly: "Creation! That’s the core of sandbox games."

"It’s creativity that leads to exploration—the core gameplay of sandbox games. Simply put, let players use the resources and materials provided by the game to create whatever they want, then use what they’ve created to explore a broader world." Chen Xu looked at them as he spoke.

From Chen Xu’s previous life perspective, the current discussions in the gaming industry each had their merits, but weren’t entirely correct.

Instead, they leaned more toward combining elements of box garden games and open-world games. As for sandbox games, although Don't Starve gave players a strong objective—survival—its core philosophy truly revolved around creation born from survival.

Survival was merely a strong objective to prevent players from feeling lost.

Listening to Chen Xu, everyone wore expressions of partial understanding but not complete clarity.

"You’ll understand what I mean when we start developing the next game," Chen Xu smiled.

Next game?

Everyone perked up.

"Mr. Chen, so soon?" Ruan Ningxue and Yang Xin were both shocked.

After all, Don't Starve had only launched less than two weeks ago!

"Compared to Don't Starve, the development cycle for the new work will be longer. For the next few months leading up to the year-end, our focus will be on this new game. Of course, I’m just giving you a heads-up now. If you have questions, we’ll discuss them in the meeting. For now, everyone’s main task remains running the MOD operations for Don't Starve and developing subsequent DLCs," Chen Xu said.

(End of Chapter) <>