Game Design: Who Rated My Games as Very Easy? - Chapter 10
Chapter 10: This is the feel!
Translator: Daoist6fubtiW
Ye Feng didn’t have any publicity recommendations, but when people opened the Steam gaming platform, they could see several newly released games.
Among them was “Dead Cell” produced by Sprout Studio, which needed to be scrolled down to find, ranked quite far back.
The price was set at 48 yuan, and Brother Yin frowned when he saw it.
He only remembered this studio for making low-quality games like “Digging for Ascension” with poor graphics and not worth 10 yuan in terms of production value.
But is graphics all that matters in a game?
No, what players care about the most is the gameplay of the game.
When he saw the game’s homepage, the first thing that caught his eye was the big words “Dead Cell.”
The game’s description was simple – “Always in danger, death is always imminent. No checkpoints, only slaughter, death, learning, and repetition!”
Brother Yin’s focus was on the word “repetition.”
Now it was more like PTSD; he shuddered when he saw those two words, feeling a chill down his spine.
Other comments popped up in the bullet comments:
“I have some PTSD too. I wanted to play ‘Shovel It: Digging for Ascension,’ but now I don’t know what to do.”
“I watched another streamer reach the top in just 2 minutes. When I played, it felt like a different game.”
“I heard he’s really skilled, but his room is filled with broken keyboards.”
Brother Yin thought of something and quickly checked the game designer’s information. When he saw the introduction, he couldn’t help but laugh.
The last time he checked, the game designer was an independent individual named “Black Star,” but now the game’s developer was listed as “Sprout Studio” with only two people in the team.
Under their name were two games: “Digging for Ascension” and “Dead Cell.”
Brother Yin laughed, thinking, “He’s got quite the mindset. No wonder he can make such unique games.”
He continued to read the bullet comments:
“Game designer: Mindset? Are you talking to me about mindset?”
“Game designer: I was just messed with. How could my situation compare to yours?”
When “Digging for Ascension” went back online, everyone was shocked. Could they take back their boastful comments now?
“Ahem…” Brother Yin couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the barrage of comments. When the game was taken down, everyone was criticizing it, but now that it’s back on a new platform, their attitudes changed.
“Just based on the designer’s mindset, I’m getting ‘Dead Cell’ directly! We support excellent games, not those reskinned ones!” Brother Yin said, then proceeded to purchase the game. It was not large in size, only 1.5GB.
In just a few minutes, the game finished downloading. As he started a new game, he immediately noticed that the graphics were vastly improved, a hundred times more refined and detailed than the previous one.
When he clicked to start the game, the distant castle quickly zoomed in under the setting sun, and the scene swiftly changed into a dark and filthy underground location.
[Prisoner’s Cell]
[On this island, rats and wild dogs are at the bottom of the social hierarchy, but the prisoners’ status is even lower.]
A glob of greenish slimy seaweed-like substance dropped from the ceiling, making a “plop” sound, and rolled forward with a sticky noise.
Sunlight penetrated the barred windows, illuminating the sealed cell made of stone bricks underground. Behind the slimy substance was a huge, lifeless, decayed corpse.
As the greenish substance rolled forward, it transformed into a little figure wearing deep blue clothes. The figure had a red scarf tied around its neck, and the end of the scarf fluttered up and down as the character ran.
Brother Yin controlled the character to run left and right. When passing by a platform on the ground covered in fresh red blood, three words appeared on the screen: “Decapitation Platform.”
Behind the gigantic corpse, only white bones remained, and the clothes it wore had deteriorated over time.
He opened the door in his location and walked outside. Not far away, a woman wearing armor and carrying weapons stood.
She looked at Brother Yin’s character and said calmly, “You’re the guy running around without a head, aren’t you?”
Brother Yin turned to look at the decapitation platform behind him and realized that the protagonist had been beheaded and lost his head from the beginning of the game.
“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” The woman’s initial words received no response from him, so she continued, “Oh, right, you can’t speak.”
“Being resurrected must be a strange experience…”
“But you should have noticed something, right?”
“You can’t die.”
“While I don’t fully understand it myself, you’re not the first person to encounter this situation.”
…
The woman in armor kept chattering, seemingly narrating the protagonist’s background, but she didn’t know why he couldn’t die. All she knew was that he was a prisoner in this dungeon.
Behind her, there were two weapons.
A bow and a shield.
Brother Yin walked up to the shield, and an explanation of the weapon appeared on the screen. He noticed a highlighted word: “Parry!”
[Hold to absorb some damage. Press to parry, and if successful, you can block all damage.]
“Block all damage? Sounds cool,” Brother Yin said as he looked at the monster behind the shield. He tried to pick up the bow but found that his sword had been replaced on the ground.
After a moment’s hesitation, he picked up his sword again.
In any game, at the beginning, a reckless warrior wielding a sword is always more effective than an archer with a bow and arrow.
After all, he was the top player in the console gaming community and had his understanding of games.
The monster behind the door was emitting a bright pink glow. Brother Yin charged at it with his sword, and the moment the blade made contact with the monster, the game feedback provided a direct sense of impact that thrilled him to the core.
Most action games on the market emphasized precise control, with distinct sections and very accurate stagger settings, and strict demands for movement.
However, when controlling “Dead Cell,” Brother Yin felt that the controls were exceptionally smooth!
Even in mid-air, he could perform acrobatic rolls!
