I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 555 - 178: The Internet is buzzing! The company that teaches the whole world how to make games!_4

Chapter 555: Chapter 178: The Internet is buzzing! The company that teaches the whole world how to make games!_4

Players need to continually pick up parts and gradually accelerate, then overtake opponents one by one.

So as to achieve a design philosophy of side-scrolling from left to right.

This philosophy may have a sound starting point.

But when applied to a racing game, there’s always an odd scent to it.

Current racing games generally are immersive experiences, the closer to reality, the better.

They allow players to experience an exhilarating racing journey without leaving home, seeing the scenery swiftly receding on both sides, and the thrill of leaving opponents far behind, all of which cause a surge in adrenaline throughout the process.

Highly realistic scenes, or reproducing landmark buildings, can also give players a relaxing travel simulation.

It can be seen that, whether it’s racing or scenic simulation, an immersive experience is the main melody of today’s racing games.

But this characteristic, when put into a 2D cross-section, naturally falls short in terms of player experience.

It’s difficult for a 2D game to achieve the immersive experience of a 3D game.

If "Breath of the Wild" were made into a 2D side-scroller, even with the same art style, players would no longer praise its immersion.

For this reason, adding racing mechanics to a side-scrolling racing game always seems somewhat misfit.

As for platform jumping, that’s precisely what Ke Jin feels is a key aspect that this game hasn’t done well.

Switching lanes by jumping with the car, and then continuing to drive normally.

In some respect, this might indeed qualify as an alternative form of platform jumping, which Ke Jin wouldn’t deliberately nitpick.

On the contrary, he encourages game designers to create more bizarre and ingenious platform jumping styles.

But this platform jumping in a racing game presents a serious problem.

Take Ke Jin’s half-hour experience, for example.

He often found himself missing parts or supplies on a track if he wasn’t paying close attention.

And this issue worsens as the speed increases—players miss more and more.

It’s not like "Mario Kart," where pickups have their utility, but missing them doesn’t necessarily mean you lose everything.

This is a gamble game.

If you miss a power-up as it zips by, that’s it—you can’t get it later...

If it’s the core part of a whole style and you miss it,

Well, that whole round is wasted.

By the time Ke Jin had fully analyzed it, looking at the game again,

It inevitably evoked the sensation of ’chocolate-flavored feces.’

All three themes seem to fit.

But each point contains design choices that make it difficult for players to swallow.

The graphics and music are indeed top-tier among the batch of game submissions he had on hand.

But if a game only has graphics and music left, why wouldn’t I just go to an art exhibit or collect albums instead?

After some thought, Ke Jin did not immediately reject the game.

This game had many flaws, but it wasn’t unfixable.

After all, due to the misaligned development of the game’s tech tree on Blue Star, many design concepts that need time to mature are still in the exploratory phase, which Ke Jin understood.

Therefore, if it could be optimized going forward, it just might stand out and sweep all the awards.

Ke Jin then combined features from similar games he knew from Earth to provide a broad direction for improvement.

In fact, for every competition entry that isn’t too poor or deliberately quirky,

Ke Jin would play it seriously, and, drawing upon the design experiences of great predecessors from Earth, he would offer constructive feedback as a sign of respect for the contestants’ works.

After some consideration, Ke Jin briefly outlined the direction for improvement on the electronic receipt:

1. The gameplay design for gamble games is passable, but try to optimize the ’random values’ aspect. Otherwise, a player could still lose a race due to bad luck with the lowest random values after collecting a complete set of parts, which would be a flaw in game design.

2. Since you’ve chosen a 2D side-scrolling mode, step outside the traditional racing emphasis on ’immersion.’ Rather than focusing on speed, emphasize obstacle course navigation.

You could place some strong race cars along the way, gaining parts by knocking them over to achieve a ’beat-them-up upgrade’ approach instead of the rather tedious ’overtaking them.’

And yes, it’s possible to design bosses for racing games.

Ke Jin generously shared an idea from the arcade "Dinosaur Quick Hit" that involved a side-scrolling car boss fight.

And suggested trying to convert ’speed’ into ’damage.’

During a boss fight, a huge armored car races alongside or surpasses the player, the player’s higher speed at impact causes more damage to the boss.

And speed could be cleverly tied to the various styles within the gambling mechanics, unleashing more gameplay possibilities.

3. Reduce the frequency of crucial power-ups appearing on the track.

The race could be divided into sections, and currency items like Gold Coins, rather than important random power-ups, could be placed on the track.

Crucial power-ups, on the other hand, could be awarded at ’gas stations’ or ’P houses’ (repair areas) where players stop after completing a section, where they could get gamble rewards or purchase important items with currency.

Ke Jin also recommended that they try playing "Slaughter Spire."