Chapter 1306 Game Background

Actually, when discussing the game *Turning Back is the Shore*, many people fell into the misconception that skipping class is always wrong.

That's true in this game, because if you skip class, you have to make it up later, and suffering is inevitable sooner or later.

But this statement doesn't hold true if you put it into the larger category of action games.

Is skipping class always wrong? Of course not.

Games are, in the final analysis, a form of entertainment, and everyone gets enjoyment from games in different ways.

Some people hope to constantly hone their skills in the game and enjoy the sense of accomplishment of defeating the Boss with their hard power, while others are born with clumsy hands and slow reactions, but they also enjoy the pleasure of defeating the boss by making reasonable use of the game mechanics.

Overemphasizing one kind of fun is actually one-sided.

*Turning Back is the Shore* can be said to have reached the pinnacle in the first aspect, but it is not to say that this is the only way to do it.

Yan Qi felt that he could delve deeper into the second point.

This is also completely in line with what Li Yada said before: "President Pei believes that we should not always cater to the superficial habits and thoughts of players, but should strive to explore the deeper needs of players."

Skipping class is itself one of the deep needs of players, and doing a good job of the skipping class mechanism is also a good innovation.

"Next, is the game's story background."

"If you want to show the different characteristics of the four systems, you must make them target different monsters. Therefore, in addition to humanoid enemies, there must also be demons and ghosts."

"Demon, devil, and ghost, these are three different monsters, and in terms of exorcising demons, subduing devils, and dispelling ghosts, Daoist techniques, Buddhist dharma, Confucian techniques, and military strategies definitely have different methods and focuses."

"A purely fictional world view is fine, and choosing a suitable historical stage is also fine."

"But the entire story background must be an era in which monsters are rampant and wars are frequent, and, it must be an era in which the four schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the military are all prosperous and fiercely competitive."

"Hmm..."

"If you want to find a historical prototype, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties seem to be the most suitable!"

Although Yan Qi had not specifically studied history, this historical knowledge was common sense.

The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were a period of extremely long division and prolonged continuous war in history.

The major events in this stage included a series of iconic events such as the Five Barbarians Uprising and the Destruction of Buddhism, which were very consistent with the system of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the military that Yan Qi had conceived.

A world full of wars also makes the prevalence of various demons and ghosts very reasonable.

"However, choosing this historical period as the story background will face a problem, which is that the slices are not easy to choose."

"Characters with recognition cannot connect the story, and characters who can connect the story are not well-known."

"How should this plot be made?"

"We still have to create an original story background."

Yan Qi quickly encountered a new problem.

As the saying goes, heroes emerge in troubled times, but sometimes troubled times do not produce heroes, but are simply chaotic.

The reason why the history of the Three Kingdoms period has been repeatedly adapted by various literary works and film and television works is because the plot of this history is rich, the characters are distinct, and the subject matter itself is suitable.

However, historical stages such as the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are not suitable for making romances because they do not have many iconic events or a large number of well-known heroes.

If Yan Qi really wants to choose this historical period as the story background of the game, should he add historical figures from this period?

If you add it, should you strictly follow history?

If you follow history, the images of these people themselves are not very recognizable and are not easy to distinguish. It takes a lot of effort to check historical data, and the final result may be a waste of effort, and players will not buy it at all.

Moreover, according to history, the war years lasted too long. If the plot does not progress to unification, it would be quite strange, and it seems that the protagonist has been busy for a long time with no results, and the whole story has no beginning or end; if the plot progresses to unification, then the positioning of the era seems to deviate to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

If you don't follow history and carry out full magic reform and re-creation...

Then you may be criticized for not respecting history and why not just create an original?

After thinking about it, Yan Qi felt that it would be better to directly create an original overhead history.

Of course, this historical period is not useless and can be used as original material.

If you start from scratch with purely original creation, many iconic events and some details of the entire social environment in the game will be more troublesome to create.

However, referring to this historical period and integrating many key elements into the game can make the entire story background richer.

There can be many core contradictions in this story, such as:

Multiple countries are divided and separated, wars are frequent, and people are living in poverty;

Foreign tribes invade the border, burning, killing, and looting, with internal and external troubles;

The hatred and resentment caused by the war allowed demons and ghosts to run rampant;

The four schools of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the military compete with each other, subduing demons, participating in wars between countries, and having a profound impact on events;

The excessive prosperity of Buddhism has triggered a series of anti-Buddhist movements;

Among the four schools of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the military, there are true enlightened people who want to save the people from fire and water, but there are also scumbags who instigate wars, seize power, and achieve ulterior motives.

In short, it is a word, chaos!

In this chaotic world, the protagonist is positioned as an ordinary person determined to slay demons and eliminate demons, constantly learning the fighting abilities of the four schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the military, constantly honing his martial arts skills, slaying demons, and also participating in wars between countries and with foreign races, getting involved in a series of major events.

Depending on the player's choices in the story, the story will lead to many different endings.

The story background of *Turning Back is the Shore* is relatively clear, so the number of endings is relatively small, while the game conceived by Yan Qi has a complex background, and three or two endings are definitely not enough.

He considered explaining several different aspects separately and then combining them.

The first is the unified state of the country, which has three types: an enlightened emperor completes the great unification; an ambitious person completes the great unification; the unification fails when it is about to be completed, and the whole world falls into division again.

The second is the state of the foreign race, which has two types: successfully blocking the foreign race, the foreign race is expelled; failing to block the foreign race, large areas of land are lost, and a large number of civilians are massacred.

The third is the state of the four schools of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the military: it may be that one is the most prosperous and occupies a dominant position, or it may be that some decline and some coexist.

Finally, there are four endings for the protagonist: becoming the emperor or the real ruler behind the country; becoming a knight errant who travels around and hunts demons and ghosts; becoming the incarnation of a demon, the demon king of the dark world; becoming the Buddha, Dao Ancestor, or Sage of the four schools of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the military, and promoting it.

Depending on the player's journey in the game, the choices at some key nodes, and whether they have completed the ultimate challenge tasks of each school, the ending that the player finally achieves is a combination of these endings.

The game encourages players to play multiple weeks, and at the same time, there will be different equipment affixes, set attributes, secret transmissions from the four schools of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the military, and systems such as Qi Luck, allowing players to brush equipment in the later stages and carry out free matching, so that players also have different goals to strive for in the later stages.

Of course, in order to allow players to brush better, an endless mode of repeatedly fighting bosses is also essential.

Yan Qi was conceiving and recording at the same time, and when he looked back, he realized that he had written so much content.

Moreover, the overall framework of the game has been built!

Starting from the difficulty and trying to make changes to the approach of *Turning Back is the Shore* and embarking on another path, Yan Qi was surprised to find that the subsequent derived combat system, story background and other content came out as a matter of course, and it was quite smooth and natural!

Looking back at this design plan, Yan Qi was a little surprised and couldn't believe that he had designed it.

Because this game gave him a bright feeling, just like when he saw *Turning Back is the Shore* and *Eternal Reincarnation*!

"Sister Li really didn't lie to me, this method is really useful!"

"Looking at the problem from a different perspective, it will naturally inspire inspiration."

Yan Qi thought back, Li Yada didn't tell him the specific design method, but provided a correct general direction.

This general direction is: do not imitate *Turning Back is the Shore*, but take a spiral upward path, retaining the advantages and making differences.

Finding different entry points, striving to explore the deep fun in the players' hearts, and making good use of traditional Chinese culture as the story background...

Yan Qi used all the points mentioned by Li Yada in the design of this game, and the effect was excellent!

Yan Qi diverged his thinking slightly in this direction, and the game's design draft naturally came out.

Now Yan Qi can say with great certainty that this game is completely different from *Turning Back is the Shore*. Regardless of whether it is successful or not, at least it will be a very special game.

However, the difficulty of developing such a game is also conceivable.

Different weapons, four auxiliary systems of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the military, various different enemies such as demons and ghosts and humans, and different scenes designed around some key events...

This is all workload.

Compared with the previous mobile game *Empire's Edge*, this difficulty has increased many times over.

How many people are needed and how much development funding is needed are all problems that Yan Qi has to worry about.

Although he foresaw these problems, Yan Qi's attitude was even more firm than before, and he was very eager to make this game, even if he had to sell everything he had!

Because when he thought of the state of this game after it was completed, Yan Qi felt very excited.

It doesn't matter even if the players don't buy it. He feels that as a game producer, he can make such a game, even if he loses everything, it is worth it!

What if it really can't be made?

Then ask grandpa to sue grandma to find investors. Anyway, it is impossible for Yan Qi to put aside and remain indifferent after writing such a propaganda plan.

"No matter what, the new game will be it!"

"Hmm... there is another problem, what name should this game be called?" Yan Qi fell into deep thought again.

I haven't thought of a name. Let's brainstorm and think about it. If there is a suitable one, I will adopt it. If there is no suitable one, I will think about it for a few more days. The game prototype is the mowing game *Nioh*. To be honest, as far as my personal taste is concerned, I don't really have a feeling for Miyazaki Laozei's games, as well as Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry. I can understand where it is fun, but I can't experience the fun. Only *Nioh* is really on my mind. I can't get enough of playing two or three hundred hours. It can be said to be my favorite action game. If you are interested, you can also try it. Maybe it suits your taste.