Chapter 1278 Professional Settings

The designers looked at the design proposal and, combined with Min Jingchao’s explanation, had varying expressions.

Obviously, this design proposal was quite subversive for traditional FPS games.

Moreover, it wasn't the kind of subversion that came from a spur-of-the-moment idea, but rather an improvement to the FPS gameplay made by Min Jingchao after accumulating a lot of experience in game balance and mechanism innovation at GOG.

Will this kind of gameplay be more fun than the traditional demolition mode or the run-and-gun mode?

That's not certain.

Because the classic mode is called the classic mode because its fun may gradually fade, but it will never be outdated.

At least for the next few years, the classic mode of FPS games will still have a large number of players.

But the mission of "Traces of Bullets 2" is not to surpass, but to find another path.

As Min Jingchao said before, President Pei actually hinted very clearly that continuing to follow the classic mode would inevitably clash with games such as "Sea Fortress" and "Counter-Terrorism Plan." As a latecomer, "Traces of Bullets 2" does not have any player accumulation, which is actually a disadvantage.

Therefore, choosing this new type of battle mode is equivalent to providing FPS players with another different game experience, forming a differentiated competition with other FPS games.

From this point of view, "Traces of Bullets 2" does not need to surpass "Sea Fortress" and "Counter-Terrorism Plan." It only needs to be the best in this segmented field and be able to make a stable profit to fully achieve its purpose.

Some designers were amazed by Min Jingchao's whimsical ideas, thinking that this plan was bold and subversive, while others were full of doubts.

Can a new gameplay with such a high degree of originality work?

Tianhuo Studio is influenced by Zhou Muyan. In order to make profits and avoid risks, the overall focus is on stability.

Before developing a game, it is best to find a prototype from a successful game so that there are no doubts when making it.

Otherwise, once it fails, the research and development funds, ranging from several million to tens of millions, will be wasted, which is not something that ordinary game companies can afford.

However, they looked at Zhou Muyan and found that Zhou Muyan did not raise any objections, so they silently remained silent.

Of course, Zhou Muyan was also nervous.

Because the process of "Traces of Bullets 2" from project establishment to development is full of unreliability!

At the beginning, President Pei just briefly mentioned a few opinions at the meeting, and then Min Jingchao made a series of whimsical designs, and the prototype of this game came out.

The prototype of a successful game? Market research? Feasibility study?

None of that!

This is completely contrary to the development process that Zhou Muyan was used to.

But he couldn't say much, after all, President Pei's reputation was there, and Min Jingchao was a very capable designer under President Pei, with the successful experience of GOG as a foundation, which he could not question.

Moreover, this plan looks relatively perfect in theory, and Min Jingchao has considered all aspects of the problem, so it is not an adventure.

Sun Xi raised his hand and said, "I saw that the design plan also wrote some special character mechanisms, such as professional settings."

"This profession is not quite the same as the profession I understand."

"I originally thought it was a combat profession, but I didn't expect it to be closer to a life profession."

"Is there any special consideration in this regard?"

The so-called combat profession is a profession that has a direct impact on combat ability.

For example, the traditional settings of warriors, assassins, and mages. Different professions have different combat methods. Some run fast, and some have high long-range damage.

In the game "Traces of Bullets 2", the profession that Sun Xi understood would also affect combat ability.

For example, snipers deal more damage when using sniper rifles, and have certain concealment and anti-reconnaissance effects; assault soldiers may mainly use submachine guns and have fast movement skills; heavy armor soldiers have slow movement speed but stronger firepower, and so on.

It is not easy to distinguish professions in games with modern warfare backgrounds, but it is not a problem in future battlefields.

All these skills can be explained with high technology.

In Sun Xi's opinion, since the big map has already made these mechanisms, and Min Jingchao is a GOG designer, isn't it normal to give players some skills?

However, the profession written in Min Jingchao's design plan is more inclined to a life profession, that is, a profession that does not have a direct impact on combat ability.

For example, the doctor profession saves people faster, and at the same time, opening boxes during scavenging can more easily obtain medical supplies, and the medical supplies scattered on the map will also be highlighted. They can carry more medical items, and can also use a certain amount of time to transform these supplies to make them restore more health or have some other beneficial effects.

Engineers have the ability to repair mechanical structures in strongholds and can use materials to improve the lethality of some stronghold weapons and repair the outer walls of the strongholds.

The only thing that has something to do with combat ability is the machine gunner, who can reload faster and shoot more accurately when operating the heavy machine gun in the stronghold, but this increase is also very limited, and if you want to use this ability, you must first occupy a stronghold and use it after occupying a fixed machine gun.

In addition, there are a series of limiting factors such as blind spots and limited number of bullets.

Some abilities that can be made into professions are not made into professions, but are made into props or conventional skills, such as anti-reconnaissance.

There are two different anti-reconnaissance methods in the game, one is the optical camouflage effect, and the other is the anti-radar effect. The former can make oneself blend into the environment, making it difficult for other players' eyes to find, while the latter makes oneself disappear on radar detection.

These two detection effects can only choose one, and must be changed according to the actual situation. For example, large strongholds are covered by radar, and optical camouflage is better in places where radar does not cover the wild.

Of course, in order to prevent optical camouflage everywhere, these resources will be limited to a certain extent. At the same time, players can also have "small portable radar" as a countermeasure.

This ability can actually be used to develop a profession similar to "Ghost", but Min Jingchao did not do this. Instead, he made it a general prop. Everyone can use it if they find it, but of course there are certain quantity and time limits.

Min Jingchao said, "In this regard, my consideration is... although combat professions seem to have a higher degree of differentiation and richer gameplay, they can easily have the opposite effect in FPS games."

"That is, it seems that the gameplay is richer, but in fact it makes the gameplay more monotonous."

"The balance of adding combat professions to FPS games is very difficult to achieve, and it even conflicts with the core of FPS games."

"FPS games must be a game where you kill me and I kill you. This is a prerequisite. If you make it into the balance of a MOBA game, you must let the ranged profession scratch the melee profession, which is obviously not suitable."

In MOBA games, many shooters are obviously holding guns, but they still need to attack many times to kill some tank heroes and assassins.

This is because the shooter's range is originally long. If the damage is higher, then the team battle may become a brainless four-protect-one, and the fight depends entirely on which shooter outputs more fiercely.

If you want to ensure the balance of the game, you must form a cycle of restraint, and impose some restrictions on the shooter's output ability.

But FPS games can't be like this, otherwise its most basic fun will be lost.

To retain the core gameplay of FPS games, and then add combat professions, the balance will be difficult to achieve.

Min Jingchao explained, "Let me give you a more popular example. Suppose there are several different types in FPS games: tank profession, slow movement speed, high defense, and many bullets; assault profession, fast movement speed; sniper profession, has a certain concealment effect and high long-range damage; healing profession, can heal teammates."

"Then I ask you, which profession should a novice choose?"

Sun Xi thought for a while: "Tank profession or healing profession?"

Min Jingchao shook his head: "If you choose the tank profession, you will find that you have become a living target. Masters choose the assault profession to fly around and you can't catch it, and then a set of damage will directly knock you out; if you choose the healing profession, you will find that you are cautiously following your teammates throughout the whole process, but any enemy can kill you."

"So the healer asks, why don't you protect me? Others may be thinking, this healer is so bad, why does he die so easily?"

"At this time, you may think, the assault profession is so powerful, I will play it too, then the problem comes. Although you are indeed stronger than before, you are still giving away free kills when you encounter other masters who also play the assault profession."

Sun Xi wondered: "That's not right, if the assault profession is so strong, then the game is not balanced, it has to be weakened."

Min Jingchao asked back: "Then what level of weakening do you think is appropriate?"

"The setting of the assault profession is flexible movement. When a master uses it, they can kill people invisible. If you change its damage to be very weak, then the master will simply go to play the tank or sniper, and the game may become the world of tanks or snipers again."

"MOBA games make different professions because they can make a cycle of restraint. Players can accept things like ranged professions scratching melee professions."

"But in FPS games, everyone is holding guns. Ranged professions scratching melee professions is equivalent to directly destroying the fun of FPS games."

"But on the premise of retaining this kind of fun, FPS games are a 'you kill me, I kill you' game, and the assault profession naturally has a huge advantage. You either chop it to waste, chop it to the point where no one plays it anymore, or you can't achieve the effect no matter how you chop it. Masters can still use it without a solution."

"For novices, it falls into a dead cycle. If you don't play the assault profession, you will be beaten badly by the big shots. If you play the assault profession, you will still be beaten badly by the big shots."

"Except for those big shots who can really play fancy operations, the game experience of other players will be destroyed."

"The fun of FPS games lies in killing quickly and dying quickly. Novices can also kill masters by tricking them. As long as the rank difference is not too big, there will always be a chance to fight back."

"Therefore, these special mechanisms must be restrained. Movement ability, whether it is teleportation, acceleration, or sliding, should not be given if possible. The more you give, the greater the gap between players, and the more game experience novice players will have."

"And the distinction of life professions is very obvious. It is to allow players to have a division of labor in the second stage of the battle. Some people are responsible for manning the machine guns to defend the point, some are responsible for scavenging medical supplies to save people, and some are responsible for repairing the machinery."

"If you want to quickly restore a stronghold to operation after occupying it, you need the cooperation of players of different professions, and the commander must also allocate manpower."

"And no matter what profession, the gap in combat will not be too big, so as to maximize the game experience of novice players, so that there will not be frequent situations where a big shot player kills dozens of people in a game."

The second chapter will be later.