MTL - Underworld Game Producer-Chapter 23 The difficulty is actually to compromise the market

Xiaotian operated the mouse to enter the game.

Please select difficulty:

Simple

normal

There are two levels of difficulty in the game. This is a decision made by Li Wen and the game team after discussion.

In the simple mode, the enemy NPC can only act according to the program settings, without intelligent AI bonus, and can easily pass the level with only the back panel, and the difficulty will not be too high.

Of course, the game is also quite scary, especially when the player first comes into contact with the game, the fear will be even greater.

The normal difficulty is exactly the idea that Li Wen has been using when making games.

The game is difficult, the enemy has intelligent AI, and can make a lot of unimaginable tricks, making it difficult for players to guard against when playing.

At the same time, the key decryption props will be hidden by the enemy...

Every time you open the game to play, you will have a new experience.

In addition to the fact that the scene of the game is fixed, both the behavior of the enemy and the position of the decrypted props will change.

Of course, the game will not hide the decrypted props where the player cannot find them. Generally, there will be clues left by the enemy NPC.

However, most players will not be able to stand the normal difficulty escape, and only some players who like to challenge high difficulty will like it.

Therefore, making a simple difficulty is also a manifestation of Li Wen and the production team's compromise with the market.

He is very clear that if a game is full of horror and difficulty, then the sales of this game must not be good.

Not all players like challenging difficult games.

Just like before Li Wen traveled.

When Demon's Soul was first released, there were a lot of bad reviews, and very few players liked it. It was also because as more and more players played it, it gradually became famous, but the sales volume was really not good.

Dark Soul, the masterpiece of Demon's Soul, has good sales and reputation after release. The reason is very simple, because the difficulty of Dark Soul is easier than that of Demon's Soul...

Get more players into the pit.

The sales volume of Dark Soul 2 was mediocre, the reputation was mediocre, and many players were even directly expelled from the soul registration. The reason is very simple, and it is also because of the difficulty...

Bloodborne, which was released at the same time as Dark Souls 2, as an exclusive game, sold well and gained a good reputation, and was even called "No. 1 in the world" by Souls game players.

It is also because the difficulty of blood source is more moderate.

The following Dark Soul 3 directly brought the Black Soul series to the top and became one of the most popular games in the world.

Dark Souls 3 is even harder than Bloodborne.

Although Sekiro has no stamina bar, the game is difficult and requires too many backboards, resulting in less sales than Black Soul 3.

In the end, there were only more than 5 million sales, and because it became popular in China, basically half of the sales were provided by the country.

Old Thief's latest work, Elden's Ring, has reduced the difficulty of the game to the lowest level in the history of soul games because of countless skipping strategies, and the sales volume of the game has exceeded 10 million copies in a week.

In many cases, the sales volume and difficulty of a game are actually related to a certain extent.

Therefore, in order to sell Escape, Li Wenhe and the production team had to compromise on the difficulty of the game.

Of course, difficulty is only one reason that affects game sales.

The above example is just an illustration of the Old Thieves series of games.

The core point of game sales is actually whether the game is fun or not, and whether it can make players enter a state of flow.

A flow state is a state in which time passes quickly after someone becomes obsessed with something.

There used to be a joke, after get off work on Friday night, turn on the computer and play a game of civilization.

When waiting for the next round, I suddenly found that it was Monday morning...

This is the flow state.

If a person can reach the state of flow at work, then this person is definitely an elite in the workplace and has a very rich future!

Xiaotian in the live broadcast room seems to be a little hesitant, and the mouse cursor keeps hesitating between the easy difficulty and the normal difficulty.

The barrage on the screen became active.

‘Xiao Tian, ​​you are a technical anchor, how can you choose easy difficulty, although I don’t know why the game has difficulty selection, but I suggest you choose normal difficulty. ’ (As mentioned in the previous chapter, there is no difficulty selection in this world game, all are simple modes.)

'Hi! You are also a technical anchor, you dare not play on normal difficulty, you are a fart for being technical! '

‘Is there still an easy difficulty in this game? Isn't this insulting... If it is me, I will never let the game production team insult me, so I choose not to buy it! '

‘Hurry up, wait for you to live broadcast the game for so long, why do you still put this tangled difficulty? '

Every barrage despises Xiaotian.

When Xiaotian tried to play before, she played on normal difficulty. The game was very scary and the difficulty was super high. She was really worried that she would overturn the car today.

After all, the part she played was only a small part of the whole game.

Rolling over is not terrible, but after the rollover, I promised the welfare of fans...

Well, she gritted her teeth and took it as a gift to fans.

In the end, she chose normal difficulty.

A dialogue pops up in the game: 'Normal difficulty will bring you the ultimate heartbeat, and there is no save point, if you die, all progress will disappear, and you need to start from the beginning, you are ready to start masturbation ? '

She clicks the yes option.

The game prompt appears.

'"Escape" contains strong violence, gore, sexual abuse screen content, and very rough language. This game is an R18 game... Please enjoy it. '

'You are Miles Upsher, an investigative reporter embarking on the most treacherous journey to Hell on the Blue Star, always willing to take risks to unearth stories that other journalists dare not touch, you will uncover the giant mountain mental illness. The dark secrets at the heart of the academy, survive as long as possible, and record everything. '

'You're not a fighter, and you want to make your way through a horrific mental hospital and uncover the truth. Your options are to run, hide, or die...'

Xiao Tian clicked the button to continue until the audience in the live broadcast room had seen the game prompt almost.

The opening CG of the game starts playing.

The protagonist from the first-person perspective is driving a car on a dilapidated country road.

It was night at this moment, UU reading www.uukanshu.com only provided illumination by car lights.

The night is like a beast, engulfing the light source of the headlights, leaving only a short viewing distance.

The radio in the car played some background stories about the escape.

After driving the bumpy vehicle for a period of time, the Jushan Mental Hospital, which was built in the wilderness, finally appeared in front of my eyes...

Against the background of darkness, the Jushan Mental Hospital becomes particularly strange.

The door of Jushan's mental illness is open, and the protagonist drives a vehicle into it.

The vehicle stopped, and the main perspective turned to look at the co-pilot, besides the camcorder and two batteries placed on the seat.

There is also a printed document.

'September 17, 2013'

'From: [email protected]'

'To: [email protected]'

'Title: Illegal activities of the Mukoff Psychiatric Research Group. '

'You don't know me, let's talk quickly, they may be watching me. '

‘I spent two weeks as a software consultant for the Mukoff Psychiatric Research Group at Jushan Mental Asylum. '

‘The number of applications for all types of new drugs here is staggering. One thing to say, the people here are beasts. '

‘Terrible things are happening here, I don’t understand, I can’t even believe what I’ve seen. '

‘Doctors keep saying dream interpretation is too deep to wade in, something is waiting for them in the mountains, people are being tortured, and Mukhov is making money. '

'The truth needs to be revealed. '

From the words on the document, it seems that the sender of the message is a little delirious and his logical thinking is confused.

However, the protagonist still drove to Jushan Mental Hospital to find out.