Everyone present in the conference room was in a daze.
Before this, they also knew that Chen Xu would lead them to make a new game, and it was basically a sandbox type game.
They have thought about many themes and related gameplay.
But now, looking at the building blocks that Chen Xu put on the table to give better examples, both Qin Yi and Ruan Ningxue were a little confused.
"Mr. Chen, is our next new project a building block game?" Yang Xin asked curiously, looking at the building block toys in front of him and the simple concept draft on the projection screen.
Although the content is detailed, Chen Xu has not fully explained the concept draft.
But at present, Qin Yi and the others have also determined some features of this game called "Minecraft".
First of all, in terms of art, the game uses a pixel style.
Everything in the game is basically made of pixels and can be destroyed.
For example, the basic pixel blocks in the game are 1x1, so a huge stone may be composed of four 1x1 blocks.
The same goes for other things.
"Mr. Chen, is the content of the game "Minecraft" too simple? I am not talking about the extended combination content in the game, but a direction of the game itself." Qin Yi also took Yang Xin's words and organized After a moment of language he continued.
Qin Yi didn't say anything else, but everyone present understood what he meant.
That is, compared to "Don't Starve", "Minecraft" does not seem to have a clear gameplay.
"Moreover, Mr. Chen will probably have a large number of sandbox games online in the future." Zhang Yida said, this is what he is most concerned about as an operator.
It is also a very critical core issue.
Other game manufacturers want to take a bite of the sandbox game style brought by "Don't Starve".
There may be bad ones, but there may also be some high-quality games that will have an impact on "Minecraft."
In addition, there is a very critical factor, that is, the time when the same sandbox game "Minecraft" was launched and "Don't Starve" was launched was too short.
If the quality is not as good as "Don't Starve", it will have a certain impact on the reputation of Nebula Games.
"As for game art, Mr. Chen, why do we use pixel style? It feels a little weird." Ruan Ningxue, who is in charge of art, also asked her doubts.
Pixel-style games are actually very rare nowadays.
After all, pixels often represent retro. The reason why pixel game screens were used in the past was due to the limitations of display devices and the limitations of the memory size of game consoles.
Moreover, it is really not easy to make pixel games well, because pixels are simply bitmaps, which are composed of square pixels. If you really want to make pixels well, you need art. Clicking on the edges one by one is more troublesome than normal art.
Therefore, unless it is a game that uses era and emotion as its selling points, pixel style is generally not chosen nowadays.
But "Minecraft" chose to use a pixel style, which made Ruan Ningxue feel a little strange.
After all, judging from the design concept draft, "Minecraft" is not a retro or sentimental game.
Everyone spoke out the doubts in their hearts.
Obviously at this time, the development of such a sandbox game, and it is also a pixel-style sandbox game, is confusing to everyone.
After listening to everyone's words, Chen Xu smiled.
He didn't care about everyone's doubts.
He even thinks this is a good thing, after all, everyone is thinking about it.
"First of all, recall what I told you before about the core content of "Don't Starve". Survival is a strong goal for players, but it is not the core of the game. Creation is the core of the sandbox game."
"Everything in Minecraft revolves around the core gameplay of 'creation'."
“This creation is not just about building blocks, but using Minecraft as a carrier to create gameplay.”
"In fact, if other sandbox games at the same time all use the survival of "Don't Starve" as a reference point, then they have gone completely wrong. They may become an excellent survival game or cooperative game, but they will not It's an excellent sandbox game." Chen Xu said to Qin Yi and the others.
Qin Yi thoughtfully said: "So sandbox games are based on creativity and freedom, and everything else can be discarded."
"Yes, that's what I mean. Of course, I didn't know whether players could accept this unique sandbox gameplay before, so "Don't Starve" can be regarded as a trial work, and based on player feedback and results, it seems that it is not good."
"In terms of art, first of all, I need to correct a perception. It is not that "Minecraft" must adopt a pixel art style, but that "Minecraft" needs to be pixelated! Pixels are sacrificed for freedom and creation. Because the gameplay of "Minecraft" is destined to be composed of countless squares, just like building blocks." Ruan Ningxue was also enlightened after listening to Chen Xu's words.
These are two completely different concepts. Pixel style games just mean that the game is made in this art style, but "Minecraft" is different. It needs to pixelate the game world, which means dividing the game world. into cubes, which are pixels in normal pixelation.
The concept of departure is completely different.
To put it simply, a sandbox game like Don't Starve is a semi-assembled toy.
After buying this toy, players need to piece it together according to the pieced-together body.
Change clothes and match colors, but the basics remain the same.
"Minecraft" is made of plasticine and sand. It looks ordinary in itself, but what it can be shaped into, whether it is beautiful or ugly, depends on the player's creativity.
"Don't Starve" is played within the established rules of the world, while "Minecraft" creates its own world as the name of the game says.
It was very quiet in the conference room, and everyone was obviously still summarizing and thinking about Chen Xu's words.
"So that's it." Qin Yi nodded deeply.
Judging from the design concept draft alone, Qin Yi feels that there is nothing special about "Minecraft".
But after Chen Xu's in-depth analysis, he already fully understood.
Although he is not sure whether such a game can be recognized by players and the market.
But there is one thing not to worry about.
That is, Chen Xu has obviously thought deeply about the game "Minecraft".
"And pixels don't have to be crude, they can also be made beautiful." Chen Xu looked at Ruan Ningxue and said.
Pixel style does symbolize retro.
But that doesn’t mean it must be retro.
Can’t modern art technology be applied to pixel style
Of course, there was a very famous pixel game in the previous life, which perfectly integrated its technology into pixels, that is "Octopath Traveler" produced by SE. Of course, because of the price of SE, it was also called 50 a party by players.
The traditional royal plot and the fragmented group portrait narrative are not perfect. The most commendable thing is the pixel art style that combines music and modern technology.
In the previous life, "Minecraft" was equipped with various high-definition texture packs and various light and shadow effects, which can also give players a feeling of not losing to the graphics of 3a-level games. It can be seen that pixels do not necessarily mean that the graphics are backward.