I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 272 - 112: Everything Can Be Spared, Except Elizabeth!_1

Chapter 272: Chapter 112: Everything Can Be Spared, Except Elizabeth!_1

He fished out a blind box and entered the keywords.

"Dystopia" "High AI Female Lead"

This time, he was fairly lucky.

After just one attempt, the blind box opened to reveal the item Ke Jin wanted.

With the "Infinite" project proposal in hand, Ke Jin began planning right away.

This game’s popularity in his previous life’s domestic market wasn’t particularly high, but that did not mean it was the product of a small workshop.

On the contrary, its parent company was Take-Two, which, alongside the illustrious EA, was revered as one of the titans of North America.

Take-Two might not have been as well-known among players due to it being merely a financial investor.

But under its banner were two gaming development companies that had a decent reputation among the gaming community.

One was called 2K Games

The other, R Star.

"Infinite" was the concluding title in the BioShock trilogy developed by 2K Games.

This company also had another highly popular signature title—the "Civilization" series.

Even among the highly competitive gaming industry, 2K was considered as one of the notables.

In 2007, with the debut of the first installment of the BioShock series, it captured the Game of the Year award at TGA.

And by the third installment, "Infinite," it earned the nomination for Game of the Year at the 2013 TGA.

The main reason it ultimately didn’t win the grand prize

was a year of titans clashing.

Games nominated for the best alongside "Infinite" included

"The Last of Us"

"Super Mario 3D"

"Tomb Raider 9"

In the end, the Game of the Year award went to a seemingly humble little game.

Its name was—

GTA5.

Of course, being too capable of a fighter was one thing,

but another reason "Infinite" fell short was that the game—was only half-finished.

Yes, a game that had an additional half a billion dollars poured into it later on.

Despite its half-finished state upon release, it still received extreme critiques from players, both praise and disdain, yet still garnered a Game of the Year nomination and won a total of 85 awards in the gaming industry.

Many people lamented that if "Infinite" hadn’t undergone a major corporate overhaul midway, almost completely scrapping the original and redoing everything—even leading to a post-release game that was nearly unrecognizable from the demo—it’s tough to tell where the Game of the Year award of 2013 would’ve gone, and it wouldn’t have been so obscure in later years.

Ke Jin never liked this line of thought.

Indeed, there were regrets that "Infinite" came out as a half-baked product, but it wasn’t due to external forces.

It wasn’t because their big brother, R Star, was holding back their hand, preventing them from completing "Infinite."

On the contrary, during the game’s design phase, R Star provided a series of elite designers to assist 2K Games.

It was due to their own significant flaws; they simply didn’t do a good job, and when criticized, they had to stand up and take it.

What if?

There weren’t that many what-ifs.

However, having been reborn and now in possession of a vibrant, high-quality gaming design company,

and even having the detailed, meticulous project proposal for "BioShock: Infinite,"

Ke Jin planned to let this Ninth Art masterpiece, which, though unfinished, was still remarkably outstanding, shed its chaff through revisions and radiate a new and more resilient vitality!

Firstly, there was the combat system.

"Infinite" had devoted a large portion of its budget to accentuate the graphical art style and the strong connection between the narrative and gameplay.

As a result, there wasn’t much left for the combat mechanics.

On the other hand, the linear storytelling also significantly reduced the time players had to understand the plot.

What does this mean?

Players were essentially following the paths set by the developers to experience the game, which is a characteristic of linear games.

This characteristic leads to another outcome—the time players spend understanding the game’s core is drastically reduced.

If I can complete missions by following the developer’s route and feel the thrill of combat along the way,

then why should I spend time and effort to understand the core of your game?

This is almost a chronic issue in linear game design—that is, it’s challenging to present a deeply meaningful game theme within a limited space.

To avoid making their games appear too monotonous, many developers from the previous era would adopt another approach.

They increased the difficulty of levels, causing players to get stuck at certain points or battles.

Forced to backtrack, players would repeatedly face earlier enemies to level up and improve before trying again.

During the upgrading process, they would calmly piece together the game’s world through details like the art scenes, a diary found on a bench, a letter from a trash can, and so on.

"Infinite," however, didn’t do this—the weapons given to players at the start were sufficient to see them through to the end of the game.

This resulted in the game’s narrative being squeezed into an even smaller space.

For a straightforward example,

you currently need to convey the minor detail of ’Xiao Ming eating three types of food’ within the first level of a game, letting the player know which three types and leaving a lasting impression.

In this case, the best approach would be to

tell a story that connects the three foods, and if it’s engaging enough, it will be memorable.

But don’t forget that this is a game, and the content should encompass more than just a story.