Chapter 239: System Design Full of Targeted Mechanics (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 239: System Design Full of Targeted Mechanics (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Inside Nebula Games, watching the players' various comments under the official Weibo account, Ruan Ningxue couldn't help but sighed with emotion: "Players have unintentionally revealed the truth!"

"Exactly!" Hearing this, Yang Xin beside her couldn't help but chuckle.

Chen Xu, who had just finished reviewing some parameter adjustments and optimizations for the AI at Qin Yi's workstation, spoke earnestly: "Don't say that. We skipped the gameplay Expo simply to focus better on developing Monster Hunter: World so players can enter the game world sooner."

No promotional video means no exhibition?

Was he, Chen Xu, that kind of person?

Didn't their hearts ache saying such things?

Although, admittedly, the third-party outsourced promotional video hadn't been completed yet.

But that wasn't the core reason. The real reason was that due to the earlier operations involving Nebula Games Platform's transformation, the entire team hadn't started any new projects.

Only after this channel war had temporarily settled did they begin their new plan.

But by then, there was less than a month left until the gameplay Expo—far less preparation time compared to previous years.

With nothing ready, Chen Xu naturally hadn't planned to attend.

But now, looking back, did that even sound reasonable?

Especially online, where Nebula Games was being heavily mocked.

Phrases like: 'Don't rush, it's being made, it's being made—has Brother Xu ever lied to you?' or 'Almost done, nearly finished, the folder's already created!'—all kinds of jokes were circulating.

Even memes pairing folders with his previous kind smile had emerged. It was simply outrageous!

Hearing Chen Xu's words, Ruan Ningxue, Yang Xin, and Qin Yi silently lowered their heads.

Others might not understand, but how could they not?

If during the earlier meeting, their understanding of Monster Hunter: World's difficulty curve was still vague,

now, as the game entered detailed development with systems being separated and defined, they fully grasped the game's core tone.

Simply put, Monster Hunter: World's difficulty was a roller coaster experience.

It first dropped players to the lowest valley, then suddenly hurled them to the peak. After letting players savor that peak sensation, the difficulty slowly decreased. Just as players started feeling confident, the Tempered monster mechanic would reappear, making them experience that earlier struggle all over again.

And it wasn't just monster design—the game's various system designs were equally targeted.

Yet, although targeted, they were as distinctive as the map traps in Dark Souls.

For example, in the game, if a Hunter's weapon performed prolonged attacks, its Sharpness would decrease.

Now, Sharpness didn't mean the literal taste of the blade—it could be understood as sharpness level.

The higher a weapon's sharpness, the higher the damage per hit, and the easier it was to damage hard parts of monsters.

As sharpness decreased, the weapon's damage output would also drop.

When sharpness got too low, attacking hard monster parts would result in Deflect—causing not only a significant loss in Sharpness but also putting the Hunter into a stun state.

To recover, players had to stop and honestly use the Whetstone in their inventory to sharpen their weapon.

Different sharpness levels were indicated by various colors, with white being the highest.

Obsessive-compulsive Hunters might feel compelled to pull out the Whetstone every time their sharpness dropped below white.

And if a Dragon Charge happened at that moment, they could only hope their health bar was full.

Additionally, while the game supported multiplayer hunts and had no so-called team-damage system, it did feature blow and flinch/stun effects.

Attacking a teammate would put them into a flinch/stun state, interrupting their current action and attack.

At that moment, all you could do was pray your teammate survived the boss's assault.

In ordinary games, Team Up was an effective way to reduce difficulty. But in Monster Hunter: World, sometimes the scariest thing wasn't the Elder Dragon you faced, but the three Katana Bros standing beside you.

Moreover, the game didn't display a monster's health value.

Players could only judge if a monster was near death based on its injuries and behavior.

"Mr. Chen, players will definitely be very 'delightfully' surprised when they play," Ruan Ningxue remarked with emotion.

"Of course! After all, isn't the goal of every Game Designer to deliver surprising experiences in each game?" Chen Xu chuckled.

Whether there was more 'shock' or more 'delight,' as long as there was some surprise, that's all that mattered.

After chatting briefly in the break room, when work hours began, everyone put aside their laughter and focused intently on developing Monster Hunter: World.

Ruan Ningxue's Art Team steadily progressed with concept art and original illustrations.

Then, through an outsourced art company, they produced model materials.

For Monster Hunter: World, graphics and Art Modeling clearly needed to be as exquisite as possible.

Structures, maps, monsters, weapons, armor—resource demands were far greater than those of the earlier Dark Souls.

Qin Yi continued fine-tuning various parameters of the game's AI system, ensuring monsters exhibited higher intelligence while maintaining precise control over difficulty.

After all, every monster had Numerical Design. If AI complexity increased difficulty, monster attributes would need to be nerfed accordingly, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, Chen Xu had also hired a top-tier symphonic team to record the game's Soundtrack.

After all, Monster Hunter's soundtrack was legendary—especially the series' theme, Proof of a Hero, which carried immense grandeur and震撼, stirring热血沸腾 in listeners.

Throughout the Monster Hunter series, whenever the Dragonator or Ballista appeared...

Yes! That meant someone had selected Proof of a Hero on their playlist!

Because in Monster Hunter, this typically happened during the final stage when Hunters used the Dragonator to pierce an Elder Dragon—but failed to kill it.

…………………

As Nebula Games steadily advanced Monster Hunter: World's progress,

the gaming industry was also discussing Chen Xu's earlier explanation on the official Weibo account about why they skipped the gameplay Expo.

Undoubtedly, Nebula Games was developing a new game.

And it sounded like a blockbuster.

Yet they revealed nothing—not even gameplay content or genre.

Still, most players believed Chen Xu's next project would be a Souls-like game, since Nebula Games' only previous large-scale title was Dark Souls.

Although the story of linking the fire had seemingly ended, couldn't they just create a new story?

After all, Dark Souls' Gameplay and map design were equally vital aspects of the game.

Of course, some players remained skeptical. After all, Minecraft and the earlier Don't Starve had directly ignited the sandbox game wave. Plus, recently, The Alliance Corporation and other major channels were aggressively launching their own blockbusters—anyone could see the underlying implications.

Thus, many players speculated that Nebula Games might capitalize on their success and release another large sandbox game.

However, others objected, pointing out Minecraft's sales were terrifyingly high—nothing short of a miracle in the gaming world, a miracle that broke records daily.

Under such circumstances, Chen Xu had no reason to develop another sandbox game—too risky.

In short, players had their own beliefs, until three days after the gameplay Expo,

when Nebula Games' official Weibo account and Chen Xu finally released a warm-up promotion about the new game.

(End of Chapter) <>