Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Page 77

Let's take a look at the bizarre history of FGO card art.

Ultimately, it's because Japanese FGO players and fans are far too lenient with the official team; it seems like as long as there's something to play, they're happy.

No matter what the authorities do, the revenue stream remains strong.

When Shiokawa was in charge, he only managed to raise FGO's gameplay score from 30 to 60.

That is, a level where you can play.

Even so, Japanese players felt that was enough, and for the next few years, regardless of whether the game developers did a good job or a bad job.

No matter how outrageous the card art is, as long as the official team guarantees a continuous stream of new Servants, those whales will keep throwing money away.

This game has almost become a religion.

However, these official measures are not without their costs.

FGO could have gone much further, but it failed because of DEWOKRS' inaction.

This completely transformed FGO into a fan-oriented "hardcore" game.

Aside from die-hard fans, it's really hard for ordinary people and casual viewers to fit in.

Without the influx of new talent, by 23, the operation had basically become stagnant, relying solely on the swimsuit-themed events to entice players to spend money each year.

Apart from the Japanese server, other servers are not buying it, and there is no future for the main game.

Many people have even started to see it as a retirement game.

What's most infuriating is that despite the developer DEwokrs making so much money every year, they haven't invested any in technological development, except for routine updates to the story and servants to trick people into spending money.

They're even unwilling to put much effort into the card design to trick people into spending money...

It was precisely because of so many lingering regrets that Lin Li ultimately chose to expend so much effort to acquire the copyright for FATE.

"In the next two months, we will be resetting the character illustrations and models of all Servants, as well as the in-game models and battles."

"Next, we will demonstrate a remastered battle scene."

After saying this.

As soon as the new version's battle footage was released, almost all the bullet comments started refreshing like crazy.

Chapter 100: Rin's Big White Legs

Ever since we acquired DEworks.

Lin Li has been thinking about the future of FGO.

Among them, the combat module is the point that Lin Li is most conflicted about.

In his initial plan, Lin Li had considered simply not touching FGO's battle system at all.

After all, the current FGO battle system is very simple, straightforward, and well-suited.

For the original FGO, this simple and straightforward battle system was not a weakness of the game.

It's simple, with a very low skill ceiling for combat, allowing even beginners to master the entire combat system in a short time.

It's straightforward; the combat system is intuitive and simple, without too much complicated thinking involved.

The entire system only requires players to focus on HP and NP.

When HP is depleted, you're doomed; when NP is full, you can unleash your Noble Phantas

Then it's a very simple combination of 15 cards, where you draw three cards each time to attack.

It's over.

Although this card system has evolved to include red, blue, and green cards.

The cards come in three colors: red, blue, and green. Red cards correspond to attacks and deal the highest damage.

Blue card attacks are generally weak, but they can generate NP, which speeds up the release of Noble Phantasms.

Green cards deal the least damage, but they can earn critical stars to increase critical hit rate.

There are also things like synergy, coloring, and Master skills.

Overall, in this combat system, the player's operation is to choose three out of five attacks each turn, then accumulate NP, and unleash skills when the NP is full.

At first glance, it seems somewhat interesting, but after playing it too much, people will complain that it's really not interesting.

However, in 16, the whole system was considered fairly standard.

In addition, FGO itself is a nurturing game. Its core selling point is the story, its core monetization point is for players to draw characters, and its core gameplay is to nurture the characters they draw.

The entire game is built around this framework.

Combat system?

Yes, but it's not the core issue.

In addition, the core gameplay of FGO, besides the story, revolves around character development.

Therefore, the cost of developing a character is very high.

Once you finish the story during the beginner phase, the game experience will quickly decline. Overall, it's both grindy and boring, with long periods of material hell and quantum hell that's no joke.

Even many long-time FGO players, if you ask them to go back in time and ask them if they would be willing to do it all again, most of them would shake their heads.

In this context, the original FGO's combat and character development systems actually created a subtle chemical reaction.

Given such high development costs, the combat system cannot be made too complex.

It's already so grindy, and there's no sweep function yet, plus the battle system has a bunch of fancy stuff.

Then even fewer people will be able to stick with playing.

This actually fully illustrates a design truth in mobile games: no single battle mode is inherently good, nor is any single battle mode inherently bad.

It's simply a matter of whether it's suitable or not.

From this perspective alone, the original FGO battle system is actually fine.

However, after Lin Li reformed the character illustrations and UI, and improved the image quality...

I'm not entirely satisfied with the overall battle pacing and details in FGO.

In addition, with the current proliferation of world lines and plans to launch Fate/stay night a year later, FGO will be developed into a secondary game and supplement.

Therefore, after optimizing the UI and character illustrations of FGO.

Lin Li still took out the entire FGO, and after carefully observing it, he planned to simplify it to gradually adapt to Lin Li's definition of it.

These reductions include directly removing some characters created to fill the gacha pool, adjusting the character progression curve, adding auto-battle, and adding early-game resource allocation, allowing players to develop several main characters to handle various gameplay modes while completing the main storyline.

The removal of some characters created solely for filler purposes is intended to improve the overall art quality and optimize the gacha pool, reducing the probability of players getting low-quality characters.

The adjustment to the progression curve is mainly due to considerations for the future positioning of the game as a secondary game. In addition, overly difficult progression would raise the game's entry barrier.

This conflicts with Lin Li's strategy of low profit margins and high sales volume in the gaming industry.

However, this change...

While it has reduced the amount of time players need to grind, as mentioned before, character development is a crucial system for keeping players online in FGO.

If the character development aspect is reduced, then new gameplay elements are needed to fill the gap to some extent.

Otherwise, the entire game's playability would collapse.

Players can level up quickly, but once they've finished, they find there's nothing left to do, so wouldn't they quit even faster?

At this point.

The combat system had to be changed.

Lin Li's idea for the new FGO battle system is to ensure a certain level of playability while making it easy for the vast majority of players to get started, so they won't be stumped by the battles and can enjoy a simple and fun experience.

At the same time, there should be enough room to increase the difficulty through means other than numerical values. At the peak of a major version or storyline, the difficulty should be increased to allow players to gain a sense of accomplishment through their skills.

Finally, this combat system itself must also be able to support a portion of the gameplay.

For example, the Abyss and Tower Climbing are "good things" prepared for high-spending and high-grind players.

After softening all of these things.

What players ultimately see is a "brand new" FGO battle screen.

On the big stage.

Lin Li opened the demo.

The battle scene unfolds.

From left to right, they are four Servants: Saber, Yuuki Rin, Jeanne d'Arc, and Tamamo-no-Mae.

These four people occupy about one-third of the left side of the image.

On the right are three skeleton soldiers.

"Holy crap, the model looks better! And it even has an entrance animation?"

"The background is much more detailed now!"

"The battle UI feels much clearer now."

"Indeed, it doesn't look so messy anymore."

The scene has just begun; there hasn't been any actual combat yet.

Players at the scene and fans online couldn't help but start discussing it, and the number of comments on the screen increased noticeably.

In standby mode.

Compared to the original version.

The most noticeable change is the character modeling, which is significantly more detailed.

Although it is still a life-size character illustration, the new model is significantly smoother than the original, which was more like a "shadow puppet show".

"As expected of a frontline girl, well done! This looks much better now."

"Wuhu, who is this Gong Lin? A new character? Those long white legs, oh my, I really want to touch them."

"Indeed, looking at this model makes me want to smack it even more."

"I really want to put that foot in my mouth..."

Wow, I can't wait to see the other characters after the remake!

"Honey, I'm back!"

When the Chinese server launches, will it be the old version or a remastered version?

Amidst countless bullet comments and cheers from fans at the scene.

Lin Li continued demonstrating the actual combat gameplay.

Chapter 101 The New System

As the battle began, Saber and Jeanne d'Arc rushed forward to begin their attacks, while Rin and Tamamo-no-Mae launched ranged attacks from the rear.

This is the first major change in the new battle mode.

The entire battle has been changed from a full-turn battle to a real-time turn-based battle.

As the battle began, an energy bar composed of countless grids appeared at the bottom edge.

Above the energy bar are the portraits of four Servants arranged in a row.

Just like the original, each small portrait has a health bar and an NP bar next to it.

However, the proportion is not as large as it was originally; it is closer to the collapsed railway of later generations.

Above the character portrait are several cards floating in from right to left.

In this way, the entire screen is divided into two areas: the top is the battle screen, and the bottom is the player's control area.

Combined with a simple UI, it looks quite harmonious.

The battle cards are still in three colors. Lin Li has not reset the battle cards for all characters. For the time being, he has directly reused the materials from FGO.

The cards are now shrouded in a layer of gray.