Restart the Gaming Era

Jia Jia's design ideas are generally similar to those of "City Defense War". It is basically an optimized version. The method of changing the soup without changing the medicine can also be regarded as "City Defense War 2".

Although there are some slight changes on the map and optimizations in terms of arms, combat system, etc., in Zhong Ming's view, these changes are still a bit conservative.

At the time when "City Guard War" appeared, this gameplay was unique and very fresh to players, so it could achieve such good results; and now, "City Guard War" has become a successful mobile game around the world. Manufacturers are studying and copying the gameplay of "City Guard War". At this time, it will be difficult to achieve such success if they launch a new version of "City Guard War 2" without changing the medicine.

What's more, such a game similar to "City Guard War" will impact the status of "City Guard War". It's not interesting if their own games collide with each other.

Since we want to make a new game, we must take a long-term view and be able to completely surpass the gameplay of "City Guard War" and create a dimensionality reduction attack on all other game manufacturers that produce similar gameplay.

Zhong Ming took a hand-drawn tablet from the side and simply drew a sketch on it.

Jia Jia looked at the horizontal and vertical lines drawn by Zhong Ming: "Is this a chessboard?"

It does look like a chessboard, a chess board. This is an 8*8 chessboard, with a total of 64 grids. Zhong Ming also symbolically drew a few little people on the chessboard. There are a small army above and below the chessboard, and the two sides are distinguished by different colors.

"This game is called 'Auto Chess'." Zhong Ming said, "As the name suggests, the main gameplay of this game is to assemble the lineup and arrange the troops. All battles are carried out automatically by the chess pieces."

"Hmm..." Jia Jia looked at the sketch drawn by Zhong Ming and nodded.

"The game has some basic concepts. Such as population, money, how to extract chess pieces, upgrades of chess pieces, lineup matching..."

The basic mechanism of the game is not complicated. Zhong Ming briefly explained it to Jia Jia, and Jia Jia quickly understood it.

The basic mechanism of auto-chess, to put it bluntly, is to use the limited funds given by the system to maximize the funds in your hands by upgrading the game records/refreshing the pieces/earning interest, cultivating the strongest lineup, and finally standing Become the winner in the end.

From this gameplay point of view, auto chess is a bit like playing chicken. You have to fight to the end as much as possible. Survive to the last place to win the chicken, and get the first few points to get points.

Players' strengths are sorted and graded through points, and matched according to the player's ranking level. A similar ranking mechanism can, on the one hand, ensure that the matched players are of similar levels and ensure the game experience, and on the other hand, it can allow players to have a long-term game goal.

"As for the lineup matching, we mainly consider three aspects. The bond of the chess pieces, the strength of the chess pieces, and the difficulty of obtaining the chess pieces. Different lineups can be formed between the chess pieces. For example, if N soldiers of the same type are put into battle at the same time, there will be special lineup bonuses. The chess pieces themselves can release skills, and rare cards have higher attributes and stronger skills. Of course, these rare cards are also more difficult to obtain, and some easy-to-obtain chess pieces are easier to synthesize into three stars."

"At the same time, three dimensions are used to restrict the player's lineup selection. At the same time, there will be a certain degree of randomness every time the chess pieces are refreshed. After adding random factors, players need to always consider their own lineup matching and use limited resources to find winning cards. Optimal solution, this is the fun of auto-chess.”

Jia Jia nodded while listening.

Sure enough, this design plan basically has nothing to do with "City Guard War". This is a completely different game.

Jia Jia subconsciously compared this game with "City Guard War". The combat strategy of "Auto Chess" is obviously completely different. There are no defense towers, and it is impossible to independently place the positions of troops during the battle to form the effect of gathering troops.

In other words, "Auto Chess" is a bit like some very traditional mobile card games. Players have no way to interfere with how the lineup will look after it is set up. Players only need to focus on pre-battle strategy, there is no strategy during the battle.

"City Guard War" is a game that takes into account both pre-war and mid-war strategies. There is definitely a difference in game experience.

"This gameplay is indeed a bit like chess. It's just that the packaging of the chess pieces has been changed to game characters." Jia Jia said.

Zhong Ming nodded: "Yes, and don't you think it's a bit like mahjong?"

Jia Jia was stunned for a moment, but when she thought about it, it was true.

Auto Chess is really similar to Mahjong in some aspects. For example, playing cards depends on luck, and playing cards depends on strategy. Real masters use good cards to win as much money as possible and lose less money when they get bad cards.

In auto chess, three chess pieces can be upgraded, which is somewhat similar to the bumps and bars in mahjong. The ultimate goal of auto chess is to form a perfect lineup, which is also a bit like the pursuit of high-level Hufa in mahjong. similar.

In the actual game experience, Auto Chess also feels similar to Mahjong, so many players who get good cards for free at the beginning are called "Brother Tianhu". This term should also have some connection with Mahjong.

As for the rich playability and fun of mahjong, a traditional chess game, it goes without saying. Auto Chess has the characteristics of both chess and mahjong, so there is no problem with the richness of the gameplay.

Then there are the specific chess pieces of Auto Chess. Each chess piece has different elements such as basic attributes, skills, and bonds. Players need to filter out a lineup that suits them through these contents.

If you are a novice player, you only need to remember a few well-matched common lineups, and then work hard to get them together; if you are an expert, you should also pay attention to other players' lineups or make improvised combinations based on the chess pieces you get. .

In short, "Auto Chess" is a game that is not particularly easy to learn and difficult to master. Compared with "City Guard War", its learning cost is higher. Players must first memorize at least a relatively powerful lineup, and they must understand the most basic gameplay of the game (for example, don't rush when you first get money. Only by constantly grinding chess pieces and spending all the money can you get the fun of the game, otherwise you will just have a confused game.

But once players get started, this game brings far more happiness to players than "City Guard War". Moreover, the balance of this game is much better than that of "City Guard War".

After briefly talking about the gameplay, there are some relatively less important designs, such as the game's style, special effects, and the game's profit mechanism.

Now that wristband games are fully holographically projected, "Auto Chess" must be in holographic projection mode. This is a matter of course. On the holographically projected virtual chessboard, players feel like they are playing chess in the real world. The three-dimensional display effect of holographic projection mode is much better than the flat display effect.

As for the operation method of the game, it is mainly completed through dragging, clicking and other operations. Just follow the general operation methods of most mobile games.

In addition, there is the art style of the game.

Zhong Ming's previous auto-chess player played in the Q version style. On the one hand, this was to take into account possible copyright issues, and on the other hand, it was to take care of a wider user group as much as possible, such as female players.

But in Zhong Ming’s opinion, the Q version style doesn’t actually match well with auto chess.

There are many problems with the art style of the Q version. First of all, the Q version makes the recognition of chess pieces not high enough. In addition, the screen of the mobile game itself is relatively small, so it will be more difficult to distinguish the chess pieces. Secondly, the core player group of "Auto Chess" is Male players even account for more than 80% of the game group. The Q version style does not suit their taste. Even if it is a Q version, the head-to-body ratio should be kept at about 1:3. A more Q style is not suitable for straight men. They have some dissuasive effects; at the same time, the Q version style means that the entire game style has to be adjusted, whether it is combat special effects, dubbing, actions, etc., they will inevitably move closer to the Q version, and the effect is very good Hard to stand out.

Therefore, the "Auto Chess" produced by Zhong Ming this time is basically based on realistic painting style, trying to enhance the differences in appearance of different chess pieces as much as possible, and make some rare chess pieces as handsome as possible, making the entire game The texture is stronger.

Of course, a little detail will be added to make the whole game not look so serious. For example, the daily movements of these chess pieces, the lines when playing/being sold, etc. will be made more playful. Some of the female chess pieces in the game are also made to be very good-looking, taking care of the appearance of the players.

There is also the issue of game revenue.

The game "Auto Chess" is not suitable for a game like "City Guard Battle" where you spend money to draw cards, because the fun of "Auto Chess" lies in the lineup of different chess pieces. Although giving players all the chess pieces at once will increase their learning costs, restricting their access to chess pieces will cause great unfairness.

Even if a matching mechanism is added based on the strength of the player lineup to match all novice players together, the "castrated" lineup matching method will also change, directly causing novices and veterans to play different games, which is completely inconsistent with " How to play the game "Auto Chess".

Therefore, the profit model adopted by Zhong Ming is the jewelry selling model of DOTA2.

Players can obtain in-game tokens by playing games or recharging money, and can obtain accessories through drawings of these tokens. These accessories mainly change the appearance of chess pieces, boards, or other elements in the game and have no impact on combat power.

Ornaments can decorate various parts of different chess pieces, and their quality varies depending on their appearance. At the same time, these accessories are allowed to be traded within the game and have a certain value-preserving effect.

As for the way the appearance is displayed, whether it is jewelry or skin, there is actually not much difference.

The advantage of making skins is that they are highly controllable, because the skins are designed as a whole by specialized artists, there will be no eye-catching combinations, and they are more convenient to make; and the advantage of accessories is that they can be matched at will, and players can You can create a unique outfit plan based on your own preferences and needs.

…

Zhong Ming explained all aspects of the game, and then the general lineup composition.

Based on the bonds between chess pieces, players need to comprehensively consider many aspects such as the bond effect, the strength of the chess pieces, and the difficulty of obtaining them when forming a lineup. Naturally, there are countless types of lineups. But in the final analysis, players will definitely summarize the optimal solutions for several commonly used lineups. This is normal. Officials encourage novice players to memorize these optimal solutions. All that needs to be done is to balance the various lineups and not let the game Falling into homogeneity.

As for the specific balance, it must be done by Jia Jia. Zhong Ming only needs to give him the list of these commonly used chess pieces.

"Boss, I feel like this game will be very long." Jia Jia suddenly realized a problem.

"Auto Chess" is divided into the early, middle and late stages. Even if some game time is compressed, the forty rounds will take at least thirty-five minutes. If you can really win the chicken or reach the top three, and the battle in the finals is relatively anxious, the game time will be at least 35 minutes. It could be longer. As a mobile game, this is obviously quite slow-paced.

However, it is inappropriate to forcibly compress the game time, because "Auto Chess" has different strategies in the early, middle and late stages. For example, some players will choose to sell blood in the early stage to save money to hold back chess pieces in the later stage. This is also a strategic choice. If the game time is forcibly compressed and the game rhythm is accelerated, players may be more inclined to use units that are powerful in the early stage, resulting in homogenization of game tactics.

Therefore, Zhong Ming's approach can only be to shorten the battle time of the chess pieces as much as possible. After all, the battles are all automatic battles. While the overall battle speed is accelerated by 1.5 times, some battles that "slow down the battle time" can be accelerated. For example, when a battle has been going on for a period of time and all other battles have ended, and only two relatively strong lineups are still fighting, the playback speed will be accelerated at this time to end the battle as soon as possible.

In addition, you can also add a "Ready to Complete" button. When everyone has finished arranging their troops, click this button to immediately enter the next round without waiting for the time to run out.

For some handicapped players, there may not be enough time in some cases, and the game may start before the lineup is adjusted. In this regard, Zhong Ming followed the usual practice of general board and card games and added a "time bank" mechanism.

Each player has a "time bank". When the player's formation time times out, the game will not start directly, but will enter an extra few seconds of stoppage time, allowing players to make more complete preparations. This additional time comes from the "time bank" and cannot be used frequently. It is only an emergency measure.

At the same time, if the player completes the operation within the specified time, or presses the preparation button in advance, he can charge the "time bank". The more time saved in the front, the more "time bank" will be available later, thus forming a A dynamic time balancing mechanism. This can also encourage players to use the "ready" button more often, saving game time.

Of course, having said that, although the game "Auto Chess" is time-consuming, it is also part of the fun. What Zhong Ming needs to do is to optimize it as much as possible while ensuring the fun of the game, so that it can adapt to the player's game rhythm.