What does it mean to develop a game?

War and killing have always been important themes in games. Whether it is gun battles or melee combat, violence and bloody elements are always indispensable in most games, and only a small number of simulation games can get rid of bullets and blood. infestation. In this hot summer, another wave of new game craze has also brought a large number of hot and exciting wars to attract enthusiastic players. Among them, there is a game that comes out without any smoke at all, and it is particularly conspicuous in the forest of swords and guns. This is the PC version of "Princess Maker 4" by Japan's GAINAX Corporation. Players with some experience will definitely know that the "Pretty Girl DreamWorks" series of games created a craze for raising children in the DOS era more than ten years ago. Even some parents who opposed games were deeply attracted by this game and "fell" into the ranks of players. This is the charm of development games, a game type that has nothing to do with war and violence. The simple and unique game form, coupled with the exquisite and delicate 2D graphics, is enough to make you tired of the noisy gunfire. players feel a different kind of warmth. The large number of endings and huge degree of freedom unique to development games have become the reason why players are endlessly interested in development games. Some players even play a game over and over again in order to get all the endings, and they don't want to play it until all the endings appear. Let's give it up...

From today's perspective, the game structure of the development game is quite simple. Even more than ten years ago, the system of the older games that were relatively popular at the time was extremely simple. . In the DOS era when personal computers were not very powerful, development games with simple game structures might be a good choice for game developers. There are not many visual effects in the game, and it does not require a lot of memory to read a huge scene, nor does it require a fast CPU to calculate the actions of each AI-controlled NPC. All the computer needs to do is record the player's choice, then calculate a random number within a range, add it to a specific attribute, and trigger a special event when the attribute reaches a certain value range. Although it is very simple, because there are so many types of attributes in the game, and the increase or decrease of these attributes changes completely according to the player's will, the degree of freedom of the game is quite high. This degree of freedom is the greatest charm of the development game. Even today with powerful computers, some large-scale RPGs or other types of games often add some development elements to expand the freedom of the game. The most obvious one is "Wulin Group" which separates the RPG mode and the development mode. The charm of raising talisman ghosts in "Xia Zhuan" and "Xuanyuan Sword 3 Side Story: Traces of the Sky" can be seen from this.

Let us recall the development history of the game from the beginning.

Initial development

The brave man touched the little girl's head affectionately and asked her: "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Warm sunlight poured into the window. , reflecting the little girl's rosy face: "I want to be the prince's bride!"

The main business scope of GAINAX Corporation, which produces the "Pretty Girl DreamWorks" series of games, is not video games, but It is a popular anime in Japan. The famous "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "The Story of a Man and a Woman" were both created by GAINAX. The name GAINAX comes from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is a word made from the local dialect がいな called "Yonago", plus the English word X, which contains the meaning of "great" and "wonderful".

In 1989, Takami Akai, one of the main members of GAINAX, completed her independently produced PC game "Computer Gakuen Sahara". This is GAINAX's first computer game and is based on the film's quiz format. Games made. Afterwards, "Computer Academy 2 Plots-" and "Computer Academy 3 Plots" in the same format were released! "The series of attacks with "Computer Academy 4 Ethnic J" makes this game a series. GAINAX took this opportunity to enter the PC game market.

In 1991, the release of "Pretty Girl DreamWorks" opened a historic page for development games. Not only did it win the Best Game Award for Japan's BSH Simulation Game of the Year, it was also the first Japanese game software to be transplanted into the Chinese version in Taiwan. Takami Akai, the main person in charge of the GAINAX game department, was responsible for the supervision and original painting setting of "Pretty Girl Dream Workshop". Relying on their foundation in the Japanese manga industry, they brought hardware and the exquisite graphics of the "Pretty Girl Dream Workshop" game. Software advantages. The purpose of the earliest game "Pretty Girl Dream Factory" was to train a girl to become a queen who will be the queen of the world. However, the game does not only have one ending. Because the parenting methods are flexible and diverse, the girl can eventually be trained to become a queen. Become a dancer or a martial artist, this is where the fun of the game lies. Of course, there are still many RPG elements in this initial development game. Players can let their daughters go out on adventures, and may encounter various creatures on the way. Different options will be available depending on the attributes of the daughter, such as : "fight", "talk", "hide", etc. This outing adventure was very similar to most RPGs at the time, or it could be said to be a small RPG in itself. Even so, the elements of RPG are just embellishments. Players can not engage in any battles and will not lose anything. Even if they win the battle, there is no such thing as experience points to gain.

In the 1993 "Pretty Girl DreamWorks II", the plot of marriage and post-marriage was added. The plot of the game is much richer than that of the first generation, and it has more than 70 different endings. Higher playability. The second-generation system, still supervised by Takami Akai, who has started to work independently, and the original painting settings are more mature than the first-generation system, and the graphics are more beautiful, so it has set off a new climax of development games that is far better than the first-generation system. This generation still retains the characteristics of RPG. It also allows the lovely daughter to go on adventures to various places to defeat monsters and obtain treasures. Takami Akai, who benefited from the word "nurture", completely abandoned the RPG elements in the next three generations. She believes that players like the "Pretty Girl DreamWorks" series of games just to develop the freedom of the game. , and do not want to see the stereotyped game content of "defeat monsters and obtain treasures" that can be seen everywhere in other RPGs in the game. So in "Pretty Little Dream Works ~ Fantasy Fairy" (commonly known as: Pretty Little Dream Works 3), the RPG mode of going out for adventure was completely abolished, and this generation became the purest development game, and at the same time, as Takami Akai wished, she obtained It has achieved the best results in the history of the "Pretty Girl DreamWorks" series of games.

Love and cultivation

In Guanghui University, there has been a legend that girls believe in: "On graduation day, under the big tree on campus, if a girl If you successfully express your love to the boy, the couple will live happily ever after."

If "Pretty Girl Dream Factory" is a milestone in the creation of the "development game" game type, Then "Tokimeki Memorial" must be regarded as the originator of "love development games". For most players, the name Konami will be familiar. If you really don’t know, then take a look at those familiar FC games: Pig Boy, Rocket Car, Contra, and Salamander. These are all with us. Childhood games are all marked with the Konami logo on the start screen, and on more recent consoles such as PS and PS2, there are main games such as Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, and Suikoden as representatives, and Heartbeat Memories is Konami. Works across multiple gaming platforms.

Konami, which stands at the top of the Japanese gaming industry in terms of scale, did not make its fortune solely by producing computer games. It is mainly engaged in the manufacturing and sales of home entertainment software products, online games and other electronic entertainment products. Its business scope includes large arcade machines, magazine publications, fitness clubs, sporting goods, "Pachinko" pinball machines, etc. The fitness clubs it operates had 219 branches by the end of March 2002, ranking first in market share in Japan. There are three departments specifically responsible for producing games: KCE (Konami Computer Entertainment), which specializes in producing home console games, and AM (Amusement Machines) and GM (Gaming Machines), which specialize in producing commercial game consoles.

"Heartbeat Memories" appeared several years before the launch of NEC's PC-Engine video game console, but its real fame came after the PC-Engine disc version was released in 1994. At that time, Konami was increasingly depressed in the arcade market, and in the home machine market, it was mostly trying to cope with players. "Heartbeat Memories" was renovated and reworked at this time, becoming a milestone work in development games. Perhaps it's because PC-Engine has more powerful functions than previous models, and the graphics and music have a completely different feel from before. The PC-Engine version of "Heartbeat Memories" caused a rush of buying as soon as it was launched, ranking second in the total sales of PC-Engine game software. Beautiful graphics, beautiful theme songs and background music, and many unique heroines became the most talked about topics among players at that time.

In October 1995, Koami ported "Tokimeki Memorial" from PC-Engine to PS and renamed it "Tokimeki Memorial ~ Forever With You" (Tokimeki Memorial ~ Forever With You). Later, based on the PS version, it was ported to SS in July 1996 and to PC in December 1997. Since the performance of PS and SS is much stronger than that of PC-Engine, this version is far better than the PC-Engine version in terms of picture and sound effects. The PS version won the sales championship of the year in one fell swoop and also won the CESA Best of the Year award. Lie Rong, who won the Game Awards, established its status as a masterpiece and officially created the golden age of "love development games". Afterwards, Konami produced a series of related games based on its settings. In addition to the logical launch of "Dokime Memories 2" and "Dokimi Memories 3 - Land of Restraint" on PS and PS2, there are also games based on Saki Nijino. "Heartbeat Memories ~ Rainbow-Colored Youth" as the protagonist and the female version of "Heartbeat Memories Girls Side" appeared on PC, PS, SS, GB, PS2 and other platforms, setting the highest sales volume. So far, "Heartbeat Memories" has not only occupied the field of video games, but has also been adapted into animation and sold in the form of OVA.

In addition, a large number of related peripheral figures and toys in Japan are ruthlessly grabbing the wallets of "Doki Doki fans", and the heroine of "Doki Doki Memories" Fujiki Shiori is regarded as the most perfect in the eyes of players. Dream lover.

Star-Making Movement

"It only takes three years! I want you to become the king of entertainment!" Wang Ruiqi pointed at Fang Ruoqi in the folk song restaurant and said firmly.

Although Japan has a unique environment for the production of development games, many excellent development games have been produced in China. Although this has something to do with the low technical and financial requirements for game development, it also shows that Chinese games are not weaker than other countries in terms of creativity and production. Not to mention that a game called "Chinese Football King" launched by Genes Technology in 1996 made Chinese people's football dreams come true. In fact, as early as 1995, Star Volunteer's first work had already entered the development game market. Although "Star Willing" was not remembered by most people at the time, it was the basis for the birth of a new game model. This model is now called a "strategy development game", and the strategy component in the game is stronger than other development games.

The "Star Willing" series of games is produced by Daewoo Information, which is the first company in Taiwan that specializes in the development of Chinese computer games. It has been committed to developing PC platform games mainly, "Legend of Sword and Fairy" " series, "Xuanyuan Sword" series and "Monopoly" series of games are the game series that Chinese people are most proud of. Some games also include Chinese (Simplified, Traditional), Japanese, Korean, English (under revision) and other languages, and are marketed around the world. countries. With the increasing accumulation of capital and experience, the reach of Daewoo's products has gradually expanded from computer games to more aspects. In addition to online games that almost every large game company is now involved in, Daewoo Information also has home consoles, Daewoo's games are involved in mobile games, casual games and other fields. You can see Daewoo's games on computers, game consoles, mobile phones and PDAs. In addition to the "Crazy" group and "DOMO" group that everyone is familiar with, Daewoo's groups also have a game development group called "NPC". "Crazy Outlaws" and "DOMO" are responsible for the production of the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" series and the "Xuanyuan Sword" series respectively, while the NPC team specializes in the production of various smaller-scale games with relatively low production costs, including "Star "Volunteer" series of games and the "Authentic Taiwan Sixteen-Card Mahjong" series of games, as well as an RPG called "Magic Knight" and many smaller games. It can be seen that, unlike the other two groups, the NPC group takes a fast and productive route, but this does not mean that the large number of games will reduce the quality of the games. The games they produce are just that the production cycle and cost are relatively low, and the quality of the games themselves is no worse than Outlaws and DOMO.

Perhaps we can use "a large number of short and concise games" to describe the works of the NPC group. It is precisely because of this that NPC's "Star Willing" became one of Daewoo's signature games in 1995. Even from today's perspective, it still has all the elements necessary for an excellent development game. Judging from the sales and reviews at the time, this game exceeded other development games released in the country during the same period. Players of the first generation of Star Volunteers play the role of agents and open their own star company. Players can find their favorite talents in the game and then train them to become big stars who can make all the difference in the entertainment industry. Although "Star Ambition" has quite attractive elements, in the face of many excellent Japanese development games that have sprung up in the following two years, "Star Ambition" has gradually been forgotten by people.

In October 1999, Daewoo invited Hou Xiangting, a popular singer at the time, to endorse a game for the first time. This is the game we are most familiar with, "Star Volunteer 2". In February of the following year, "Star 2" won the Millennium Game Star Best Development Award sponsored by the Taipei Computer Association, Video Game Kombat, Software World, Next Generation, and New Game Era. This can be regarded as the greatest honor for a development game at that time. "Star 2" has made great progress in music and graphics. "Farewell in Autumn", composed by the famous musician Wu Sikai, lyrics by Yao Suan, and sung by Hou Xiangting, is used as the theme song of Star Volunteer 2. In addition, every scene in the game will have independent and different music, making the game even more musically superior. One chip. The graphics of the game were also extremely detailed at the time, and it was Daewoo's first game with a screen resolution of 800×600. In addition to the improvement in the appearance of the game, the game system of the second generation is also very different from its predecessor. Players no longer cultivate stars from the third perspective of an agent, but play as a beautiful MM— —Fang Ruoqi, who was spotted by the famous director Wang Ruiqi and had to cultivate herself into a star within a predetermined time. Although this setting makes many players who are accustomed to being agents feel uncomfortable, it has ushered in more players. After all, the protagonists of star dreams are to become stars themselves, rather than to cultivate a star. But these are not the main reasons for the success of "Star Volunteer 2". The meticulous story setting allows players to have a deeper understanding of the difficult process of star growth that permeates the game.

These details are simply reflected in the fact that when Fang Ruoqi's reputation was low, big companies with a little bit of fame would look down on Fang Ruoqi and not even let her in. But when Fang Ruoqi became a famous star in the industry, she would be surrounded by countless fans asking for autographs when she went out. , can't even breathe. Another successful factor is integrating the plot and gameplay into the game. Although theoretically speaking, it is difficult for development games, which are known for their high degree of freedom, to be closely connected with relatively rigid things like "plot", but "Star Ambition 2" does this very well. Since the player was set as a fixed character "Fang Ruoqi" at the beginning of the game, the NPC team has gradually brought this development game into the plot they set. Of course, these plots are all related to Fang Ruoqi's love. During the game, Fang Ruoqi, played by the player, will have several different plot trends based on the player's choices. In the end, she may get married to one of the four male protagonists in the game. It not only has the flavor of a love development game, but also retains an excellent plot that is difficult to express in a development game. The final advantage of success is the variety of endings. Although this is an inevitable condition for every development game, because the ability value settings in the second generation are much more and more detailed than in the first generation, and each ability value They are all related to future development, so there are many more endings to the game. The ending is graded based on the player's performance and ability in the three years. In the future, it is up to the player to decide whether he will become a movie queen, a singer, or a host. If the player's performance is extraordinary, he can also get the title of King of Entertainment. The ultimate ban.

In fact, "Star Volunteer 2" can be said to be the pinnacle of domestic development games. It not only achieved good results in sales, but also allowed players to see the strength of domestic development games, so Promoted the rapid launch of "Star Volunteer 2000", which is more anticipated by players. In June 2000, "Star 2000" was officially launched. From the previous four years of "Star 2" grinding to this sequel, which was released in less than a year, players were a little worried about it. As expected, "Star 2000" has not changed much in terms of graphics and game system compared to "Star 2". The only difference is that the role played by the player has changed from the beautiful Fang Ruoqi to the handsome Lin Lixiang. Another improvement worth mentioning is that the previously well-received agent system has been re-adopted. In the game, players can relive a generation of time. With the agent model, you can not only become a star yourself but also find talents to train. Strictly speaking, "Star 2000" can only be regarded as an expansion pack or enhanced version of "Star 2", and cannot be regarded as the third generation of the series. The real "Star 3" is also expected to be released this summer.

Dreams and the Future

Development games are a type of dream-making games. No matter which nurturing game you play, it has the ability to help players realize their dreams. Whether you want to raise a little girl, have a romantic and pure love, or become a famous star in the entertainment industry, nurturing games can help you. Fulfill these wishes. In the game, we can do things that we dare not do or are not capable of doing in ordinary times. In the game, we can let our own ideas go and let the characters in the game embark on the path of our own wishes without any restrictions.

In the face of countless large-scale and high-cost games, the road to developing a game is arduous and difficult, and some even cannot keep up with the times. But the incomparable freedom charm of the development game cannot be replaced by other games. The power of freedom is powerful and inspiring, which is also the way to survive in developing games. Therefore, this summer, "Pretty Girls DreamWorks 4" and "Star 3" that game fans have been waiting for are about to appear in front of us. Although the experience in the game is somewhat different from reality, the bumps on the road to these dreams are exactly the same.