Chapter 1277: Professional Design

The designers looked at the design plan and Min Jingchao’s explanation with different expressions.

Obviously, this design plan was quite subversive for traditional FPS games.

What’s more, it was not a sudden overhaul. It was a kind of improvement to the FPS gameplay after Min Jingchao accumulated a lot of game balance and mechanism innovation experience at GOG.

Would such a game be more fun than the traditional bomb and pop mode?

That might not be the case.

That was because the classic model was known as the classic model because its fun might gradually dissipate, but it would never be outdated.

At the very least, within a few years, FPS games would still have a large number of players.

However, the mission of Bullet Hole 2 was not to surpass it, but to walk another path.

Just as Min Jingchao had said before, Boss Pei had hinted very clearly that continuing on the classic mode path would definitely clash with games like Ocean Stronghold and Counter Strike. As a latecomer, Bullet Hole 2 did not have any accumulation of players. It was actually very disadvantageous.

Thus, choosing this new PvP mode was equivalent to providing FPS gamers with a different gaming experience. It would become a mismatch with other FPS games.

From this point of view, Bullet Hole 2 did not need to surpass Ocean Stronghold and Counter Strike. It only needed to do its best in this segment and generate steady profits. That would achieve its goal.

Some designers were moved by Min Jingchao’s idea. They felt that this plan was bold and subversive. Some designers were filled with doubts.

Would a new game with such a high level of originality work?

Sun Strike Studios was under the influence of Zhou Muyan. In order to make the game profitable and to avoid risks, they had to prioritize stability.

It would be best if he could find the prototype of a successful game before developing the game so that he would have no doubts.

Otherwise, if they failed, millions or even tens of millions of yuan would be wasted. This was not something ordinary games companies could afford.

However, they looked at Zhou Muyan and realized that he did not raise any objections. Thus, they remained silent.

Of course, Zhou Muyan felt nervous as well.

That was because everything from the start of the project to the development of Bullet Hole 2 was unreliable!

At first, Boss Pei only gave a few simple suggestions during the meeting. Then, Min Jingchao’s unconstrained design produced the prototype of the game.

A successful game’s prototype? Market research? Verification?

Nothing!

This was completely different from the development process that Zhou Muyan was used to.

However, he could not say much. After all, this concerned Boss Pei’s reputation. Min Jingchao was a very capable designer under Boss Pei. He had GOG’s successful experience as the foundation. That was not something he could question.

What’s more, this plan looked relatively perfect in theory. Min Jingchao had considered all sorts of problems. It was not risky.

Sun Xi raised his hand and said, “I saw some special character mechanisms written on the design plan. For example, professional settings.”

“This profession is different from the one I understood.”

“At first, I thought it was a combat profession. I didn’t expect it to be closer to a living profession.”

“Do you have any special considerations?”

The so-called combat profession was a profession that directly affected combat ability.

For example, traditional Warriors, Assassins, and Mages had different combat styles. Some ran fast while others had high long-range damage.

In Bullet Hole 2, the profession that Sun Xi understood would also affect combat ability.

For example, when a sniper used a sniper rifle, the damage would be higher. At the same time, it would have a certain amount of stealth and detection effect. Assault soldiers might mainly use submachine guns and have rapid displacement skills. Heavy armor soldiers would move slower but have stronger firepower.

It was not easy to make a professional distinction in games with modern war backgrounds, but it would not be a problem in the future battlefield.

All of these skills could be explained using high-tech.

In Sun Xi’s opinion, Min Jingchao was the designer of GOG since these mechanisms had been made on the map. Wasn’t it normal to give players some skills?

However, the profession written in Min Jingchao’s design plan was more like a living profession, which would not directly affect combat ability.

For example, a doctor’s job would be to save lives faster. At the same time, it would be easier to obtain medical supplies if he opened the box when he was plundering. The medical supplies scattered on the map would also be displayed highlights. They could carry more medical items. They could also use a certain amount of time to modify these supplies so that they could recover more blood or have other beneficial effects.

The engineers had the mechanical ability to repair the stronghold. They could use resources to increase the lethality of some stronghold weapons and repair the outer wall of the stronghold.

The only thing that was slightly related to combat ability was the machine gunner. He could reload faster and hit more accurately when operating the heavy machine guns in the stronghold. However, this increase was very limited. In order to use this ability, he had to first occupy the next stronghold and only use it after occupying the fixed machine guns.

There were also a series of restrictions such as blind spots and limited number of bullets.

Some of the abilities that could be made into professional skills did not become in the profession. Instead, they were made into props or conventional skills, such as anti-detection.

There were two different anti-detection methods in the game. One was the optical camouflage effect, the other was the anti-radar effect. The former could integrate himself with the environment and make it difficult for other players to discover him with the naked eye. The latter would make himself disappear on the radar.

He could only choose one of the two types of detection effects. What’s more, he had to change according to the actual situation. For example, large bases had radars covering them. It would be better to use optical camouflage in areas that could not be covered by field radars.

Of course, these resources would be limited in order to prevent the situation of optical camouflage everywhere. At the same time, players could also have the countermeasure of ‘small portable radar’.

This ability could actually be used to develop a career similar to ‘apparition’, but Min Jingchao did not do that. Instead, he made it into a universal prop. Everyone could use it once they found it. Of course, there was a certain number and time limit.

Min Jingchao said, “In this aspect, my consideration is… the combat profession might look more distinct and have more gameplay, but it would easily have the opposite effect in FPS games.”

“It looks like there are more gameplays, but it actually makes the gameplays more singular.”

“It’s very difficult to balance FPS games with combat classes. It might even conflict with the core of FPS games.”

“FPS games must be a game that you can kill me and I can kill you instantly. That’s a prerequisite. If it’s made into a MOBA game with the same level of balance, you have to let the long-range professionals scratch the short-range professionals. That’s obviously not appropriate.”

In MOBA games, many archers had guns, but they still had to shoot many tank heroes and assassins to kill them.

That was because the range of the archers was long, to begin with. If the damage was higher, the group battle might become brainless. It would depend on which archer was more ruthless in attack.

If he wanted to ensure the balance of the game, he had to form a cycle restraint and restrict the archer’s output.

However, FPS games could not do that. Otherwise, the basic fun would be gone.

It would be very difficult to maintain the core gameplay of FPS games and add combat classes.

Min Jingchao explained, “Let me give a more common example. Let’s say that there are several different types of FPS games: Tank classes have slow movement speed, high defense, and many bullets; advanced classes have fast-displacement speed; sniper classes have a certain level of stealth effect and high long-range damage; healing classes can heal teammates.”

“Let me ask you, which profession should a newbie choose?”

Sun Xi pondered for a moment. “A tank or a healing job?”

Min Jingchao shook his head. “If you choose a tank job, you will find that you have become a live target. You will not be able to catch the expert if he chooses a charging job to fly around. Then, you will be lying down even if he hurts your tank job. If you choose a healing job, you will find that you followed behind your teammates obediently the entire time. However, any enemy will be able to kill you.”

“Thus, when the healer asked, ‘Why didn’t you protect me?’ Others might be thinking, ‘This healer is so noob, why did he die so easily?”

“At this time, you might think that since the sudden profession is so powerful, I will also play it. Here comes the problem. Even though you are indeed stronger than before, you will still be useless if you meet other experts who also play the sudden profession.”

Sun Xi was confused. “That’s not right. If the advancement is so strong, the game would be unbalanced. We have to weaken it.”

Min Jingchao asked, “How much do you think is suitable?”

“The setting of a sudden job is to be agile in positioning. When an expert uses it, he kills people invisible. If you change its damage to be very Gua Sha, the expert might as well play a tank or a sniper. This game might become the world of tanks or snipping again.”

“MOBA games make different professions because they can make a cycle restraint relationship. Players can accept things like a long-range razor.”

“However, in FPS games, everyone uses a gun. Ranged weapons would be used for close combat. That would be equivalent to directly spoiling the fun of FPS games.”

“However, under the premise that this kind of fun is retained, FPS games are a game that ‘you can kill me in seconds, I can kill you in seconds’. There is a huge natural advantage in attacking the profession. You can either cripple them with one blow and kill them until no one wants to play them anymore, or you can’t achieve the effect no matter how you hack. There is still no way to deal with experts.”

“For newbies, it would be a vicious cycle. If they don’t play the advanced class, they would be beaten by the big boss. If they play the advanced class, they would still be beaten by the big boss.”

“Players’ gaming experience would be destroyed apart from those who can really play dirty.”

“The pleasure of FPS games is to kill quickly and die quickly. Newbies can also kill experts through underhanded means. As long as the level difference is not too big, they would have no way to fight back.”

“Therefore, these special mechanisms must be restrained. The displacement ability, be it teleportation, acceleration, or sliding, they must not be given if they can. The more they are given, the greater the gap between players. The new players would have no gaming experience.”

“The distinction between the living classes is very obvious. It is to allow players to have a division of labor in the second stage of the battle. Some are in charge of opening the autocannons to guard the points, some are in charge of plundering medical supplies to save people, and some are in charge of repairing machinery.”

“If we want to occupy a stronghold and quickly make it operate, we need players of different classes to cooperate. The commander must also distribute manpower.”

“No matter what profession it is, the gap in battle would not be too big. That would ensure the gaming experience of new players to the maximum. There would not be a situation where veteran players kill dozens of people in one game.”