Chapter 1304 A Preliminary Exploration of President Pei's Design Philosophy

Yan Qi asked very eagerly, "Sister Li, then how should we analyze the source of President Pei's inspiration?"

Li Yada paused slightly and said, "Regarding this, my friend can't be 100% sure, it's just some speculation. After listening to her, I thought it made a lot of sense, and you can also discern it yourself."

Yan Qi nodded immediately, "Of course."

After all, it was hearsay, passed through several mouths, and the meaning conveyed inevitably had omissions and errors.

Moreover, no one knows what President Pei is really thinking.

Even designers who have worked with President Pei can only speculate on his true intentions, and as long as it is speculation, there will inevitably be some deviations.

Yan Qi certainly wouldn't believe everything. If what Li Yada said made sense, he would listen to it, and maybe he could get some inspiration. If it didn't make sense, he just wouldn't listen, and Yan Qi wouldn't lose anything.

Li Yada first put on a disclaimer patch before saying, "Actually, if you want to deduce the source of President Pei's inspiration, you mainly need to start with the basic requirements given by President Pei."

"Obviously, President Pei deduced these requirements from his source of inspiration. This is the cornerstone of game design, and then he confirmed the game's ultimate form."

"This ultimate form, the core has been completely locked by President Pei, and only the external presentation can change to a certain extent. And this change actually has no impact on the essence of the game."

"After President Pei has set the general direction, he only needs to check the work from time to time to make sure that the game has not deviated too far, and there is no problem at all."

"This is the basic process of Tengda developing games."

"It is certainly difficult to reverse engineer the source of President Pei's inspiration from these basic conditions. After all, there are few sources of inspiration, and there are many basic conditions. It is difficult for us to determine which basic condition is directly derived from the source of inspiration, and which one was supplemented by President Pei later based on the final form of the game."

"This is also a difficult point that has plagued my friend for a long time."

Yan Qi nodded, deeply agreeing.

The point he was puzzled about was also this.

According to the speculated design process of President Pei, there should be a few sources of inspiration first, and then the basic requirements of the game are derived from the source of inspiration, and then the real form of the game is designed.

But after that, there is another step, which is to add a few basic requirements according to the real form of the game, because these basic requirements are for the designers to see, and it must be ensured that the game will not deviate.

For example, President Pei wants to build a building. First, he erected a few pillars on the ground, and then he thought of what the building would look like after it was completed based on these pillars.

But with only these pillars, other designers may not be able to do it in accordance with President Pei's requirements, so President Pei added a few pillars according to the completed state of the building.

The combination of these two batches of pillars can completely lock the shape of the entire building, and other designers can build the building that President Pei wants based on these pillars.

Now the point that Yan Qi is confused about is, how should these two batches of pillars be distinguished?

It is necessary to distinguish which are the source of President Pei's inspiration and which are the later supplements.

Just like when building a house, the walls look similar, but some are load-bearing walls and cannot be demolished, and some are not load-bearing walls and can be knocked down.

If you find the wrong one, and regard the non-load-bearing wall as the load-bearing wall, or knock down the load-bearing wall, the consequences will be very serious.

Li Yada said, "Actually, this is very difficult to say, but it is also very simple to say."

"If there is only one design plan, then it is indeed impossible to distinguish."

"But if you can go through every game designed by President Pei, put all the requirements put forward by President Pei together, compare and analyze, you can naturally extract their commonality from them."

Yan Qi couldn't help but suddenly realize.

That's right! That's the truth!

If there is only one game, it will indeed not work.

But if there are requirements put forward by President Pei when designing all games, summarize these requirements, and filter them, you can naturally find a relatively correct answer!

The more samples, the closer the deduced law will be to the truth!

Although he has not yet come to a truly useful conclusion, Yan Qi is already quite convinced of Li Yada, and feels that this person is really hidden, as if opening the door to a new world for himself.

Li Yada continued, "Because there are too many games involved, my friend didn't explain them to me one by one, but she revealed some of the rules she summarized to me."

Yan Qi nodded, which is very reasonable. After all, President Pei has made so many games. Even if this friend in Li Yada's mouth, as a designer, has straightened out all these games, the detailed process will definitely not be told to Li Yada.

The key is to look at the final result.

Li Yada: "To sum up, President Pei's decision to make games does have some starting points, some of which cannot be referenced or learned, but some of them can be referenced and also reflect some rules in game design."

"First of all, President Pei likes to make game types that he has never made before. Even if it is the same game type, he must choose a completely different entry point."

"And among many game types, President Pei prefers some unpopular niche games, and strives to make niche games meet the tastes of the public, thereby creating a breakout."

"Secondly, President Pei likes to go against the popular competitive games on the market and choose unexpected approaches."

"But this difference, the premise is that it cannot violate the core fun and objective laws of the game, to achieve a kind of 'on the surface, it looks bizarre, but careful analysis is reasonable' effect."

"Again, President Pei believes that we should not always follow the superficial habits and thoughts of players, but should strive to explore the deeper needs of players."

"That is, to strive to find the deeper level of fun that the same gameplay can bring to players."

"Finally, in terms of packaging, President Pei will choose the most representative story background of Chinese traditional culture, and add some philosophical thinking that can resonate with domestic players."

"In summary, President Pei is very good at going against the popular practices on the market."

"On the surface, this seems to be going against the tastes of players, but in fact, it breaks the stereotypes that are the same and have made players tired of playing, and guides players with another, deeper level of fun, and stands out among a crowd of games."

While listening, Yan Qi quickly recorded on the computer.

This content sounds more empty, more like pure theory. If there are no corresponding cases for annotation, it is actually difficult to understand.

Yan Qi has not been able to understand it very deeply now, but he can slowly understand it by comparing it with these games of Tengda.

After finishing the recording, Yan Qi quickly scanned these rules and realized something: "So, my previous idea was completely wrong."

"I think *回头是岸* (*Hui Tou Shi An*, Turning Back is the Shore) has been perfected in the field of domestic action games. In fact, I am looking at the problem with a rigid and static eye."

"What I saw was actually the picture that President Pei had already seen two years ago."

"If President Pei decides to make another action game now, the game he makes will definitely be very different from *Hui Tou Shi An*."

"And if I want to make the game successful, I must learn from President Pei and try to think about the problem from President Pei's perspective."

Li Yada nodded with satisfaction: "That's right, that's the truth."

Yan Qi's previous ideas have been completely overturned, he frowned and began to think seriously.

*Hui Tou Shi An* has indeed not been outdated until now, but he must never make a game that imitates *Hui Tou Shi An*.

Because President Pei's games are all successful because they are ahead of the times.

If Yan Qi wants to succeed, he must learn from President Pei and design a game that is ahead of the times.

It must have a very obvious difference in style from *Hui Tou Shi An*.

Yan Qi knows very well that he can't reach the level of President Pei, and the action games he makes are almost impossible to reach the height of *Hui Tou Shi An*.

But there is a saying that, if you aim for the top, you will get the middle. If you strive for 100 points, you may get 90 points in the end, but if you strive for 60 points, the final result is likely to be a failure.

Therefore, Yan Qi must work hard in the direction of President Pei, so that even if it does not become popular, at least he can make money and lay a solid foundation for future hit games.

"Then... Sister Li, how should I go against it?"

"*Hui Tou Shi An* did go against the previous domestic action games and forcibly increased the difficulty. If I want to go against it again and lower the difficulty, wouldn't that be going back again?"

"It doesn't seem to work either."

Li Yada smiled slightly: "Of course you can't go back."

"The so-called 'going against it' is not a straight line, but a spiral upward process. Going against it is not to make you go backwards, but to continue to pursue higher development after consolidating the existing rules."

"As for how to spiral upward, that is the question you have to think about, and I can't help you."

In fact, Li Yada can design, but she is unwilling to interfere too much.

It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish. She has already taught Yan Qi the methodology. Whether the game can be made and what level it can eventually reach depends on Yan Qi himself.

Yan Qi quickly said, "Thank you so much!"

"If it weren't for Sister Li for waking me up, I might still be thinking about making a game that imitates *Hui Tou Shi An*, which would probably end in failure."

"Although there is still no clue about the new game, the general direction is much clearer!"

"You shared such valuable content with me, I really don't know how to thank you!"

Li Yada smiled and said, "You don't need to thank me, thank President Pei."

"Making more and more excellent domestic games is President Pei's long-cherished wish and what President Pei has been promoting."

"Being able to make an excellent domestic action game is a kind of repayment in itself."

"In my opinion, you actually lack nothing, what you lack is just the correct way and method, as well as confidence and courage."

"Now that you have mastered the way and method, as long as you always maintain confidence and courage, there will definitely be no problem!"