Improve the quality of the game with details, and build a mountain village with dignity

[[151804]]

We often say that details determine success or failure. Although the quality of a game is determined by the fundamental gameplay, good details can make the game even better.

In today's world where games are becoming increasingly homogenized, many investors hope to make a game that adopts classic mechanisms to quickly turn over funds, which is what we often call "skin-changing games". There is no need for us to discuss the impact of these games on the market or their deeper meanings - since they appear, it proves that this is a market demand - what I want to discuss here is: how to make a dignified skin-changing (shan) game.

Game homogeneity is an inevitable product of the game development process. In the tide of game history development, there will always be games or game types that can lead the trend. When these games guide the players' preferences and wallets, similar games will be produced. In this way, game homogeneity will occur.

Game homogeneity is not a bad thing, because many "copycat" games have become big winners, such as "Warcraft" imitating "Dune" and "League of Legends" imitating "DOTA". Details play a crucial role in the success of these games that imitate popular works.

Achieve your goals through details

Game design usually has a theme, which is what the designer wants players to do and what they want them to gain. For example, fighting games pursue a sense of attack and excitement, and designers of card games want players to collect and cultivate in the long term. Good details in the game can help designers achieve their goals. The design purpose of horror games is naturally to scare players, so how to achieve this goal through details?

Take Silent Hill PT as an example. The game established its position in the hearts of players with just a "trial play". Players who have played Silent Hill PT have described it as "very scary" and "scared people to death". As a horror game, such evaluation is naturally the best proof of its success, but why is Silent Hill PT so scary?

JumpScare - a common technique in horror works, which refers to the behavior of "jumping out to scare you", such as the sudden appearance of a monster in the game, a sudden loud noise in the movie, a skeleton specimen suddenly falling from the haunted house in the amusement park, or even hiding behind the wall to scare your friends. It is not limited to games, but also widely used in movies or similar horror works. The *** in "Silent Hill PT", the female ghost that appears from behind the player and pounces on the player is JumpScare.

[[151805]]

▲The female ghost jumping out of the *** in "Silent Hill PT" is not scary at all.

If you analyze the structure of "Silent Hill PT" carefully, you will find that it is no different from other horror games. They all have an exploration-scare structure, and they still use the old-fashioned JumpScare. So what makes "Silent Hill PT" even more terrifying?

The answer is that Silent Hill PT is a game that uses player psychology to scare people.

In the movie "Emily the Angel", there is a scene where the heroine sneaks into the home of an annoying grocery store owner to create various phenomena to "trick" him in order to punish him. Every day, the grocery store owner finds a little change in his home, such as the shoes become smaller, the lights become dimmer, or the door handle is reversed, and finally the annoying owner collapses. This shows that if the familiar environment around you changes slowly, it will make people feel fearful and uneasy.

The entire game process of Silent Hill PT is to walk back and forth in a circular corridor, but each new cycle is subtly different from the previous one. Many players are not afraid of JumpScare, but will still be scared by PT. These subtle details are just like Angel Emily, which uses human instinct to make people gradually feel uneasy and fearful, and to create fear.

This method of utilizing human instincts also has successful cases in mobile games, and it is used in "Clash of Clans (COC)" - the player's mentality of "not being able to accept losses". Of course, this design that stimulates players to go online and play games through human weaknesses actually has moral risks.

▲The looting system of Clash of Clans has been widely used in mobile games

The handling of details in "Silent Hill PT" really amazes us. This unconventional way of fear, which uses the player's psychology to make the player feel terrified, has epoch-making significance.

Details make the game more fascinating

The simpler a successful game is, the easier it is to be imitated, especially in the mobile game industry. Some imitators have no innovation in the mechanism and gameplay, but have gained greater profits; others have tried to make minor innovations but have not achieved the desired results.

For example, the "Temple Run" imitator "Subway Surfers", which has just released data, has a total global download volume of more than 1 billion times, catching up with its imitator itself and becoming the fourth most downloaded mobile game in the world.

▲Subway Surfers Beijing Edition

Subway Surfers is a game that is exactly the same as Temple Run in terms of gameplay. You can call it a "skin-changing" game, but we cannot ignore that "skin-changing" games usually have good results. This is because "skin-changing" games are based on successful games and use a better IP to attract more players. At the same time, "skin-changing" games will optimize the original game system, make some of the original operations more user-friendly, or make the UI and art more exquisite - this is the important "detail processing" in skin-changing games.

Subway Surfers has enhanced these two details: in terms of gameplay, it has added air turn judgment and optimized the operating feel; in terms of art, it has adopted a bright cartoon style (which makes it easier for "audiences" who see players playing games to join). These two details make it stand out from many homogeneous games, and its continuous version updates and optimization of the game with more details have led to its ultimate success.

This kind of optimization is not unique. Hearthstone has also continuously optimized game details through version updates. In the earliest version of Hearthstone, many orange cards had no special effects. As the versions changed, the special effects of the cards gradually increased, and the orange card special effects became more and more exquisite and attractive. This kind of carving of details not only made Hearthstone a great success, but also made those imitations that were rushed out without paying attention to details completely unable to surpass.

▲The special effects added to Ysera in the patch

Blizzard once again emphasized its consistent demand for game details in Hearthstone, thus firmly grasping the hearts of users. In fact, it is not only Blizzard that does this, many successful games continue to optimize the game through updated versions.

▲The update of the April version of Puzzle & Dragons

Puzzle & Dragons is a time-honored bead-spinning game. There have been some imitators at home and abroad, but none of them have reached the height of Puzzle & Dragons, which is inseparable from its pursuit of details. Even today, three years after its release, Puzzle & Dragons still updates its UI and art presentation with version updates, even simple operation details like the one shown above.

Whether it is Hearthstone or Puzzle & Dragons, their success is inseparable from the pursuit of details. Maybe the game has no time to take care of these details when it is launched, but by constantly supplementing the details through version updates, players can know that the game makers attach importance to the game, and they can also make them feel that they are valued. The mood of the players has improved, and the prospects of the game have naturally improved.

Summarize

The details of the game are an important guarantee of game quality.

Although game details are not always a priority, they are also necessary game elements. Game workers should set aside time for game details in their work, focusing on the following two aspects:

• Use details to show purpose

In the early stages, review the entire game, think about and carefully plan which details will highlight the design purpose, make players feel friendly and not abrupt, and accept what you want them to do. Of course, you can use details to lay the groundwork for the "pitfalls" later.

• Sculpting the game with details

In the later stages of game production or the initial testing phase, pay attention to collecting player feedback, continuously optimizing the game, and understanding what players want. Use these opinions to adjust game details to make players like your game more. After the game begins operating, it should also be continuously optimized to make the game more in line with player preferences.

Optimizing details can turn a game from a "pheasant" into a "phoenix". Many game developers may not have the energy or funds to improve the game details when the first version of the game is released, but based on the importance of details to the game mentioned above, collecting examples of details that can be further optimized in the game will definitely be helpful when making games in the future.