I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 677 - 209: Stonewell! The God-level Map Design That Silenced Designers Globally!_11

Chapter 677: Chapter 209: Stonewell! The God-level Map Design That Silenced Designers Globally!_11

"But after understanding the plot, you’ll realize that he’s inherently very weak in the narrative, practically anyone could trample him, even the guards from his own house dared to dance on his grave after his death, which shows his lack of strength."

"Designing a boss that’s too powerful would actually detract from players’ immersion in the story."

"To be able to consider such detailed settings, I can only say, truly deserving of the top player! Designer Ke has earned my approval!"

After giving a thumbs-up to the screen, Czcu also waved to the viewers in front of the screen.

"Alright, glancing at the time, I’ve been streaming for almost 10 hours without noticing, that’s it for today’s broadcast, see you all tomorrow~"

With the chat scrolling by with a uniform series of ’Bye,’ ’See you’

Czcu finally took a deep breath and stopped the live stream.

————

"Ssshh..."

With the streaming in the live room coming to an end,

The entire Hope Flute design department was plunged into darkness.

It was already night outside the window.

But no one in the office had turned on the lights.

There was even a strangely eerie silence pervading the space.

After a long, drawn-out silence,

George finally went to the wall and turned on the light.

Light filled the room,

And the mood of almost all the employees present was particularly somber.

Most of them were looking down as if in deep thought,

While a few designers outright covered their faces, sighing deeply.

As someone who joined in the latter half and watched the livestream with his team, Conna

Now appeared completely listless, slumped in his chair, his gaze vacant and unfocused.

Even if he didn’t understand game design,

After the streamers’ analysis of the entire Stonewell City,

He could sense the excellence of the map’s creation.

Moreover, as the head of a gaming platform,

Even with daily exposure, he had at least some understanding of game design.

With a basic understanding of game design, after seeing the design of Stonewell City in Elden Ring,

The only word that could sum up Conna’s feelings at that moment was

Despair.

This unprecedented diorama-style design,

Even as a competitor, Conna had to admit after seeing it,

The design was too excellent!

Whether it was the architectural visual aesthetics,

Or the clever spatial topology,

Even

There was hardly a single flaw to pick out!

Is Stonewell City big?

No, it’s not.

Considering it as a military fortification positioned as a bridgehead, the city actually isn’t that large.

But to the player, it felt incredibly vast.

Not large in terms of the area it covered,

But large in terms of the space in which the player could move around.

With a three-level structure, whether players travel between various towers and rooftops,

Or weave through rooms,

Or even venture deep beneath Stonewell City,

There was so much for players to explore within this castle.

The top player had virtually opened up all possible spaces within the city for players to freely explore.

Beyond encountering different monsters in different areas,

Elden Ring also excelled in perhaps overlooked details.

There was an armory filled with military gear,

A hall where soldiers dined,

And a library where the nobles read.

A chapel for worship,

A yard for martial training,

A cellar with air-dried fish, meats, and barrels of wine,

A hall for meetings,

And a mysterious underground unknown to outsiders.

The path to the underground was designed to be ’inaccessible through normal routes,’

Maintaining a sense of mystery about the underground area from a rational perspective, thus surprising the player even more.

All the necessary facilities were in place, just like a true bridgehead capable of fulfilling all the needs of battle.

And these seemingly insignificant details could subconsciously immerse players.

It was as if they were truly visiting an ancient castle on their own, touring and checking in along the way.

When it came to guidance, it seemed weak,

But in reality, without breaking immersion, the guidance was directly integrated into the game itself.

Either through some glowing objects that tell players which areas are unexplored, which are accessible,

Or through some tough enemies, unexpectedly revealing surrounding paths.

"I just realized, there’s another important point," George, after a lengthy silence, began to speak with a hoarse voice.

"Sir, as I mentioned before, Ke used a rather novel ’hatred attraction’ principle when designing ’Elden,’ right?"

"Think about it, many Blue Star games probably also subtly utilize this kind of setting. Why is it that Elden’s hatred attraction works so well? Why is it that we can even notice it?"

"What do you mean?" Conna turned, puzzled, looking at George.

He could only grasp a very superficial understanding,

Deeper aspects required the company’s more professional game designers to see through.

"It’s like this," George said, and all the surrounding employees’ gazes were drawn to him,

"The hatred attraction principle, in essence, means that if the player is bullied by the monsters and dies at their hands, they are subconsciously driven to seek revenge after reviving. This setup is actually quite common in many games, I don’t even consider it a setup, but rather, ummm, how should I put this... it’s like the innate requirement for ’action games to have an attack command.’"