Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Page 177

Compared to other entertainment products, games are a medium that...

Its biggest advantage is that it can fulfill players' desire to enter another world and allow them to experience it firsthand.

Of course, if Lin Li takes this path.

Players will feel more immersed and have higher user engagement, but at the same time, the requirements for the entire storyline and copywriting will also be higher.

If the character controlled by the player is not well-developed, it will not only fail to create a sense of immersion for the player, but will also have the opposite effect.

Adapting a work with a masterpiece as its predecessor is no easier than creating an original, and may even be more difficult.

Chapter 223 Battle Demo!

"Forget it! I don't want to think about it anymore. Let's check how the combat demo is coming along."

After hesitating for a while, Lin Li casually closed the outline of the Touhou mobile game script, which he hadn't even started writing yet, and opened another folder.

This file is the combat demo that the project team sent him yesterday.

It was originally intended to be demonstrated at the game festival.

However, because the demo was not very complete, Lin Li did not go on stage to demonstrate it.

~~~

Lin Li was still hesitant about how to write the copy for the Eastern mobile game.

However, the gameplay was already under development when the project was launched in April.

Otherwise, Lin Li wouldn't be able to see this demo now.

The demo was presented on a PC.

After Lin Li opened the demo, two little figures, one on the left and one on the right, quickly appeared on the screen.

This scene is a battle demo for beginners.

Standing on the left is Marisa Kirisame, and on the right is Reimu Hakurei, controlled by the player.

The proportions of the figures are similar to those in 1999, but the figures in this demo are more detailed.

Looking at Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame in their standby state, Lin Li nodded in approval.

Whether a character's idle animation is fluid and detailed is actually a classic hidden aspect of game development.

Manufacturers can easily cut corners, but once they do, it creates a frustrating experience for players.

This demo only features two characters: Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame.

However, because Lin Li had written the standards in advance, and the characters' personalities were already deeply ingrained in people's minds, the art designer could easily create the feeling that Lin Li wanted.

"The DEMO's idle animation is good. If there are more special animations that showcase the character's personality, it can be considered the standard."

After sending the voice message to the DEMO production team, Lin Li continued reading.

Instead of using the three-layer background commonly found in traditional side-scrolling games, the battle background uses 3D modeling as the scene background.

This is also very similar to returning to 1999 in my previous life.

However, unlike the previous game, Return to 1999, Touhou Gensokyo features more detailed scene modeling and a wider range of camera angles.

This is because the recreation of various scenes in Touhou Gensokyo is one of the details that players look forward to the most.

What does the Lake of Mist look like?

What does the Scarlet Devil Mansion look like? What is the library inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion like?

The flower field with Yuuka Kazami, the shrine of Reimu Hakurei, Hakugyokurou, Eientei...

There are far too many scenes from the original work that need to be recreated.

Therefore, rendering the scene in 3D is the best option.

In addition, Lin Li had the idea of ​​exploring more gameplay using this scene in the later stages, so this DEMO looks about the same quality as Return to 1999.

But Lin Li will have higher requirements for the final product.

Now...

He didn't really care about these things.

After all, this demo is just a basic combat gameplay demo.

Click to start.

Three spell cards gradually appeared in front of Lin Li, occupying the bottom third of the screen.

These three spell cards are Reimu Hakurei's basic attack spell card, Dream Seal, her advanced spell card, Dream Innate, and her support spell card, Yin Yang Orb.

Lin Li clicked on each card in turn to place them into the release slot, and then the cards were placed.

The round begins.

Reimu Hakurei began to move.

She gently raised her small hand, and her long red sleeves fluttered in the breeze. The seemingly casual movement contained an indescribable power.

As she moved, a red and white rotating yin-yang sphere appeared in the air.

This is a simple attack animation, but the light changes noticeably after the Yin-Yang sphere appears.

The slowly rotating yin-yang sphere is gradually absorbing the light from the scene, causing the overall scene to darken.

It creates a sense of quality.

Immediately, the red and white spinning yin-yang ball drew a perfect arc in the air and crashed into the enemy with a strong impact.

The entire attack animation is very smooth, and when the Yin-Yang Orb comes into contact with the enemy, it produces a powerful explosion.

The explosion effect, combined with Marisa Kirisame's reaction to being hit.

"Hmm, it's perfect, I'm getting the hang of it."

As the first attack ended, Reimu Hakurei reappeared on the screen.

Following the order in the card slots, the second skill will be automatically released.

Reimu slowly closed her eyes, then clasped her hands together and suddenly swung them downwards.

As she moved, a dazzling beam of light crashed to the ground, bursting into countless light spots that formed a barrage of bullets flying through the air.

They then gathered together and fired directly at the enemy.

This is the second skill, the attack spell card Dreamborn.

After the second round of attacks, Marisa Kirisame lost half her health.

Reimu Hakurei begins to automatically unleash her third skill.

The last skill is a buff skill.

As Reimu Hakurei appeared, several Yin-Yang spheres slowly rotated around the girl.

According to the skill description, an attack when there are Yin-Yang Orbs will activate one Yin-Yang Orb.

However, Lin Li saved this skill for last.

Therefore, this skill was not activated.

However, Reimu Hakurei used three skills in a row.

A golden bullet light up above the game character's head. Once this randomly selected art asset lights up, it means that the character has completed charging.

Following the prompt, Lin Li clicked on the character and immediately unleashed his ultimate skill.

"Yes, it still managed to reproduce what I wanted."

This combat mechanism is very similar to the combat system in my previous life, Return to 1999.

But not quite like it.

The biggest difference is this ultimate move.

In the combat system of the previous 1999, ultimate moves required consuming the action bar.

After accumulating passion points, you need to use them in the second round for them to take effect.

This certainly led to a set of exciting gameplay, while also providing a small feature that could enhance the excitement by swapping card positions.

But in Lin Li's view...

He didn't quite like this "unnecessary addition".

Because whether it's swapping card positions or unleashing a special move, it requires occupying an action bar.

It seems to add more strategy, but the cost is the reduced smoothness of player controls.

To put it simply, it's a clunky, annoying situation.

Reference: Stardust Railway.

While both are turn-based games, Star Railway offers far less of a card-based gameplay experience.

Although many people say that Star Railway's turn-based system is the most foolproof turn-based system.

However, it must be admitted that Star Rail is much smoother than the turn-based system of 1999.

Although the two systems seem to be completely different.

Yes, as long as it's a turn-based game.

There is one absolute ironclad rule.

The smoother the combat, the stronger the positive feedback for players.

Therefore, Lin Li's modified 1999 combat system has undergone two major changes based on the original version from the previous life.

One is that it gives you a movement slot, allowing you to move a card once more each turn.

This makes it easier for players to combine cards after obtaining the same type of rune card.

Secondly, the ultimate skill can be released immediately once it's ready, even during the enemy's attack round.

Both of these changes reduce the difficulty and increase the enjoyment and smoothness at the mechanism level.

This idea had been on Lin Li's mind for a long time.

However, he was never sure if this approach would work in Touhou Gensokyo.

It wasn't until today, after actually controlling the demo and playing through it several times, that I became more and more certain that this was the right path for me.

Overall, the experience was indeed very smooth.

Furthermore, watching Reimu Hakurei unleash various gorgeous skills from Touhou Project achieves what Lin Li wanted, allowing players to easily create a dazzling display of bullet hell.

Chapter 224 The "Living" Gensokyo

After running the demo for a while, Lin Li nodded in satisfaction.

The underlying principle of any game development is to start with a specific point and then expand outwards.

As long as there is something anchored to it.

Extending it further outwards will make things much easier.

For example, this demo.

It may seem like there's not much content, but once Lin Li makes the final decision and confirms this combat mode, a whole series of subsequent things can be approved.

The artists can start creating the character figures based on the standard character portrait proportions.

The numerical values, design, and synchronization of each character's spell cards, positioning, and skills are all carefully considered.

This is the combat mode.

Each character will have three spell cards, one ultimate skill, and one or more character traits.

Let's compare it to Return to 1999.

In short, the character in 1999 has 2 skills plus an ultimate move.

In a standard battle, the number of players on the field at the same time is 3 plus one substitute, and players have 3 action points per turn.

However, in Touhou Gensokyo...