I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 743 - 232: The Game Design Concept That Made Global Manufacturers Kneel!

Chapter 743: Chapter 232: The Game Design Concept That Made Global Manufacturers Kneel!

"The Lighthouse Effect used in games is not the socio-economic Lighthouse Effect; it is more visualized. Just as the name suggests, it is like a lighthouse in the vast sea, guiding the direction for lost ships."

"In linear games, the presence of the Lighthouse Effect is not important, as many times NPCs, quests, item rewards, and various other things can guide players forward."

"But open-world games provide players with a higher degree of freedom, and how to help players establish goals out of confusion is very important."

"Let’s take a simple example. In ’Elden Ring,’ there’s a most obvious Lighthouse Effect—the Golden Tree."

"Standing at the crossroads, the Golden Tree, unless you are in the underground world, can be seen from any angle. It is like a guiding light for players, leading them towards the base of the tree no matter where they go."

"Getting to the Golden Tree is a kind of invisible pull, but many game manufacturers in the market, when designing open worlds, borrow from this ’mighty beauty’ idea. They set up various prominent buildings that don’t lead well but just make it visually striking. Some of these giant buildings can’t even be interacted with or entered; they are just textures. From the data I collected, the sales of such games are also not ideal."

"Let’s see how ’Zelda’ uses the Lighthouse Effect."

"Those who have played ’Zelda’ should be clear, scattered throughout the Hyrule Continent, you can see a towering Sheikah Tower at various locations." (Those who played the original can consider them as resembling the Divine Statues.)

"In fact, in the game, unlocked Divine Temples can also be used for teleportation, so why do Sheikah Towers still exist?"

"The leading player is not a company that likes to design useless stuff."

"Obviously, these Sheikah Towers, standing all over, catch the player’s attention from afar and act as lighthouses in the sea."

"Of course, catching the player’s attention alone isn’t enough, you must give players some benefits, for instance... Climbing up a Sheikah Tower enables you to dispel the fog of war on that area’s map."

"This exists in ’Elden’ as well, but compared to the inconspicuous and easily overlooked monuments in ’Elden,’ ’Zelda’ uses the Lighthouse Effect to its fullest, making it a better-designed mechanic."

"Now, the Lighthouse is tied to the reward mechanism. With these, players at least establish a short-term goal in their minds. Whether I am taming horses, cooking, catching butterflies, or making snowballs, I will eventually climb the nearby Sheikah Tower and unlock the map of this area."

"Then, relying on Sheikah Towers, it invisibly guides the player to slowly move forward. So don’t think ’Zelda’ lacks guidance; on the contrary, the strongest design in ’Zelda’ is its guidance system. It’s so well-made that it brings out the path without the player noticing, yet does not hinder exploration. After all, the lighthouse is there and won’t move; even if players get lost, by looking up and seeing a landmark Sheikah Tower, they will get back on track. This design is undoubtedly very clever."

"From what I observed, this is something that no open-world game on the market has achieved so far."

"And now the second core feature of ’Zelda,’ the triangular design."

"Perhaps it’s difficult for many players to understand what that means just by mentioning the term."

"I brought a cross-comparison from ’Divine Land’."

Beici inserted a game screenshot from ’Divine Land’ in the middle of the article.

In this image, the design around the points of interest is very rich.

At the far left of the city gate, there’s a vendor shouting to sell items; turning left just after leaving the city, you can spot an NPC distributing side quests.

To the right, there’s a mine illuminated by a burning torch.

Further ahead, there is a giant water wheel shimmering with strange lights.

And right in the center of the gate, there’s an overturned carriage on the ground, obviously also an interactive task that needs player investigation.

If your gaze drifts to the distant mountaintop, you can see a Gothic-style tower continuously sounding irregular bell tolls.

Looking up into the sky, flocks of birds periodically flutter back and forth, with the large leader bird appearing to carry a letter in its beak.

These are just some of the more noticeable interactive events; the game has many more small details that Beici also circled in red.

"This is a screenshot taken shortly after the start at the secondary main city ’Almia’s’ gate. As you can see, the points of interest meant to guide players are plentiful, overwhelming to the eye."

"But in reality, having too many points of interest will not provoke the player’s curiosity but instead can lead to a feeling of boredom due to too many choices."

"At that time, a simple method can change the current state, please see Figure 2."

Beici supplemented the text with another image.

He photoshopped a wall across the city exit, making it look like the side of a public restroom sign indicating men to the left and women to the right.

"Now we can notice that once this wall appears, our field of vision instantly reduces to only the vendor on the very left and the torch-lit mine on the right."