Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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The camera finally stopped in front of a half-open hatch and slowly moved in.

The game has officially entered the controllable phase.

This is not a large room, and it's clear that it was originally intended to be a room for accommodation on a cruise ship.

However, by this time, the room had been completely dismantled.

In the center of the room, a small pile of firewood was burning, crackling and popping, providing the only light and heat source in the room.

The dim, flickering firelight dispelled some of the darkness, illuminating the mottled marks on the walls and the clutter piled up in the corner.

A young girl sat huddled around a campfire.

She lowered her head, seemingly gazing at the flickering flames. The firelight outlined her slender figure, and her disheveled hair fell over her shoulders, obscuring her face and giving her an air of loneliness and tranquility.

Apart from the sound of burning firewood, there was nothing else in the room except for the sea outside the window and the faint sound of wind and rain, which made the tranquility here seem unusual.

"I'm coming!!"

Although the scene was somewhat unfamiliar, Huang Wenfeng was quite familiar with the girl.

"star!"

The girl's name is Xing, which appeared in the previous PS5 gameplay demo, so Huang Wenfeng didn't need to introduce her and directly called out the female lead's name.

"This atmosphere... it's got something special. The sense of immersion is immediately apparent."

"Speaking of which, why did you light a fire in the cabin?"

Once the game enters the control interface, many games will have the character stand up here and then enter normal game controls.

However, here, Xinghuo does the opposite.

After the player subconsciously clicks on the main character, the camera switches to the main character's front view.

The girl named Xing had short blonde hair, sculpted and cute features, and crystal-clear blue eyes. She was wearing a sailor uniform that she had picked up from somewhere.

This sailor uniform is a long dress style, but it doesn't actually fit very well. It's obvious that it's not the female lead's clothes. In addition, there are some other small details on the female lead's body.

So although the clothes are relatively ordinary, there are still many details.

For example, the silver bracelet hanging from the girl's sleeve, or the plush bear hanging on the girl's back.

Side Story 2: Project Ark II

Actually, on this interface, if the player doesn't select controls...

The character will also perform some actions in this room, such as organizing their backpack. Spark Studios even added a small Easter egg in this area.

If the player hovers the mouse over the area for a while, they will see that after Xing finishes organizing her things, she will put her backpack on the floor and lie down to sleep.

However, Huang Wenfeng was clearly an "impatient boy" who frantically clicked on the character before even seeing the first animation, until the camera switched to the back of the character.

"Let's go, we need to find today's food first."

After entering the control interface, a cool yet somewhat cute voice appeared in Huang Wenfeng's ear.

At the same time, a pop-up message appeared in the upper left corner displaying the current task: "Find Food".

The plot begins to move forward.

Although the game was promoted with tags such as "suspense" and "science fiction" in the trailer, the development team did not start with any grand scenes in the game itself.

The game has a rather elegant style and a very unique atmosphere of horror.

This terrifying atmosphere comes from the game's environment. Stepping out of the area covered by the campfire and into the corridor, all you see are the eerie blue emergency lights.

"We've searched all the rooms in the back. Let's look in the rooms in the front; I remember that's where the restaurant is..."

The character in the game spoke again.

In fact, this method of characters talking to themselves to guide the game's progress was not very common in the previous life, and it was mainly used in games like The Stanley Parse and the domestic game ICEY to communicate with players through narration.

However, in this timeline, thanks to the success of Galaxy Park: Discovery, games where the protagonist guides the game through monologues have become more common.

However, although there are many, very few can achieve the same feeling as Galaxy Park: Discovery.

Moreover, this type of game has become less common in the past two years.

Because most developers soon discovered that this kind of game, which uses the protagonist talking to himself to guide player interaction, has a fatal problem: it requires the script and the scene to be able to immerse the player in it.

Especially the script.

Full voice acting is not a problem for the modern game industry; the problem is how to get players to listen to the protagonist speak.

In Galaxy Paradise: Explore/Survival, the protagonist's monologues are integrated into the exploration gameplay, and although they seem to talk a lot, the actual amount of text is not that exaggerated.

The game only triggers the character's self-talk when it's useful.

In "Project Ark," it's clear that Spark has taken this a step further, with the female lead's self-talk on screen feeling very natural.

This naturalness comes partly from the setting: it's an unmanned giant cruise ship, and in the early stages of the game, apart from the sound of the waves, there aren't many other noises.

In this quiet environment, the female protagonist's soliloquy seems all the more "precious".

Moreover, the female protagonist tells the player from the beginning why she is talking to herself. Of course, she doesn't say it directly, but after the player finds food in the restaurant and a "battery".

There will be an animation.

The female protagonist picked up the battery and put it into a socket in the room. Immediately afterward, the entire dining room lit up.

The female protagonist then placed the doll from her backpack on the opposite side of the table.

"Little Bear, how was my meal today? It was pretty good, wasn't it? There was even meat! Much better than yesterday's canned food."

In this game, two gameplay elements are presented, the first being the battery.

In any game, resource allocation is always a crucial core element of gameplay, such as ammunition allocation in Dead Space, or experience and supplies in various RPG games.

Why are these resources considered the core of the gameplay?

Players are motivated by resources, and the role of these resources in the game directly determines the positive feedback players receive when they acquire them.

Taking "Project Ark" as an example, batteries are the core resource of this game. The reason they are core resources is that all the cabins on this giant ship have two modes.

One type is the power-off exploration mode, which is characterized by complete darkness, emergency lights, and dim lighting.

The other is the "bright" exploration mode, which is activated after inserting the battery.

In this mode, not only do the lights become brighter and the corresponding functions of the cabins are unlocked, but the entire game's plot is driven by switching between these two different modes.

To switch, you need to use batteries.

The most amazing thing is that the battery is supposed to be consumed in the settings.

Although the game generally provides players with a relatively large amount of battery redundancy, players will certainly be more careful when exploring and using batteries.

Batteries are also very precious because they are consumables.

This feeling will last for about 2 hours of gameplay, and it will also motivate players to unlock and restart the engine, ultimately leading to the player successfully restarting the engine.

Electricity itself is neither particularly noticeable nor scarce, but as the game builds up, it creates a sense of scarcity for players.

The previous feeling of oppression will turn into a very subtle yet intense sense of pleasure when the entire ship is powered on.

I've experienced a power outage, and that's what it felt like the moment the power came back on.

Besides the electric matching gameplay.

The female protagonist's monologue also draws the player's emotions into another realm.

Although the player controls the female protagonist, the game developers put a lot of thought into the bear's design because the female protagonist would occasionally tease the bear.

Many of the female protagonist's soliloquies, seemingly directed at the teddy bear, are actually penetrating the fourth wall and are also being spoken to the player.

In the story, because the female protagonist is afraid of being alone, the teddy bear becomes her only "listener" to alleviate this loneliness.

That's also very reasonable.

Moreover, this approach actually provides the production team with a shortcut to character development.

For example, a player has just completed a "tutorial" and found a battery and food.

Where should the female lead sit?

"Little Bear, look, we're having a better meal today! There's meat! Much better than yesterday's canned food, right?"

This kind of sharing carries a touch of childish boasting, yet it also reveals an unfathomable loneliness.

This series of interactions makes it easy for players to subconsciously understand that she is not a cold-blooded executor, but an ordinary person who needs comfort.

What's even more ingenious is that these words often carry a double meaning.

In addition, she would also complain to the teddy bear.

"You know, building such a huge ship and the restaurant can't even find a decent spoon? Thumbs down!"

Every interaction with the teddy bear deepens the emotional connection between the player and the female protagonist.

Of course, the production team also grasped the degree of this interaction very well. It's like when you go to a restaurant to eat, the main thing is to eat and fill your stomach, rather than to experience the atmosphere.

~~~

Two more side stories are being written tomorrow.

In addition, the new book has been included in the first round of recommendations, and you are welcome to try it.

What?! This planet is mine?!

Side Story: The Three Ark Project Completed

After searching several rooms, Huang Wenfeng...

I quickly became familiar with the gameplay. In short, it's a game with light combat, puzzle-solving elements, and story demonstrations.

There are battles in the game.

For example, in the second room, players must use a gun to defeat a "mechanical waiter".

Interestingly, in this gameplay...

The battery still plays a significant role; enemies in the room remain inactive unless powered by a player. In other words, when players search a room, they are essentially memorizing its layout.

And this was at night.

Following the plot, after finishing dinner, I slept until the next day.

The game's setting is completely different.

Although it's still the same ship, the scene appears completely different under the sunlight.

A unique aesthetic of desolation and apocalypse.

The tree's roots and green branches are featured in many scenes.

"Holy crap, this is so beautiful..."

This unique style, in certain special scenes, can create a very good experience even without a plot; the scene itself can be quite pleasing to the eye.

For example, there's a theater on the top of this ship's cabin.

The high dome had been smashed by something unknown, and sunlight poured down through the jagged cracks, with rubble everywhere in the theater.

However, beneath this very scene, there are gnarled plant roots.

They are wrapped around the gilded columns.

Tender green shoots covered the pillars, making it look as if the pillars had sprouted green leaves. The piano in the center of the stage was also pierced by a sharp plant root.

This surreal, yet not so surreal scene was effectively adjusted by Xinghuo.

It's very...artistic...

Yes, Huang Wenfeng rarely uses these three words to describe a game, but in this scene, these three words were indeed the only ones he could think of.

"I feel this game is a bit too free. Putting everything else aside, I feel like I could play for a long time just by strolling around this ship."

Unlike most linear games.

Although Ark Project is a story-driven game, it takes a different approach in terms of its scenes, which are all unlocked from the start.

Players can wander around the ship freely.

However, since it is a game, and a linear story game at that, the plot must be advanced within a fixed timeframe.