Chapter 766: Chapter 726: Iron Armor Steel Fist
“It’s not that 1vs4 gameplay doesn’t need balance,”
Lincoln stood in the virtual office of the “Hunter” operation team, explaining the work tasks to everyone.
Usually, the number of people in the “Hunter: Call of the Wilderness” operation team is very small, just a small group under Samuel.
But because the new gameplay was introduced, Lincoln specifically called on 18 experts to temporarily join the team, almost doubling the number of people in the office.
The goal, of course, was to let these people accumulate some important experience-
“In this kind of asymmetric gameplay, we need to ensure not a straight line fairness, but a dynamic balance,”
“Such design thinking is very difficult, and the gameplay we are launching now does not fully achieve this.”
“One obvious problem is that the hunter side needs to ensure that there are no weak links among the four people and cooperate tacitly to guarantee their average strength. Once a person lags behind or idles, the team’s combat power will be significantly reduced.”
“But the Iron-Blooded Warrior doesn’t have this burden, as he only needs to be responsible for himself.”
“In addition, there is another obvious problem: if a player who plays as the Iron-Blooded Warrior is a camper, he might turn the game into a hide-and-seek competition and strive to stay alive from start to finish, finally crushing the hunter players when fully armed.”
“This can easily lead to a significant reduction in the game’s fun.”
“In order to prevent this from happening, we added the “Tracking Fragrance”, but its effectiveness still needs more observation.”
“So this gameplay is, at most, a prototype, an experimental Demo, and cannot guarantee long-term operations.”
“Of course, as a short-term activity, its novelty should still be sufficient,”
“What we need to do is collect players’ feedback as much as possible, adjust the game balance based on the big data of matches, and find the balance point as much as possible.”
“And the experience you accumulate in this process will be the most valuable thing in this event.”
…
Seeing the boss’s serious expression, the employees were also very focused.
They had already realized that the boss was planning a new project, and they were accumulating experience to prepare for it.
Planning ahead has always been the boss’s routine operation.
Although they didn’t know where the boss got his explosive insights, it didn’t stop their joy — as they had already reserved places in the new project’s development team.
Lincoln encouraged them once more, then left the office.
The production process of “Pacific Rim” is somewhat similar to “Chang’an”, starting with the game environment.
The agreement for [Virtual Berlin] has been reached, and a Cloud Dream team will go to Germany in January to start building [Virtual Berlin] with the help of German authorities.
After [Virtual Berlin], the city construction department’s next task is [Virtual Hong Kong].
This is the most important location for the “Pacific Rim” storyline, and the construction of this city will be benchmarked against [Virtual Xiajing].
In addition, to accompany the storyline, they will also build [San Francisco], [Hawaii], [Tokyo], [Sydney], [Vladivostok], etc. However, the construction of these cities will not be benchmarked against [Virtual Xiajing] – in that case, the project would be too large and unnecessary.
Lincoln’s current plan is to turn these places into “instances”, where players can only fight in mechs of various sizes and cannot leave mechs to freely explore the city as humans.
Or only a very limited area can be designated where players can leave the mechs and explore.
This can save a lot of time and computational power, greatly shortening the game’s development time.
For gaming, it is also a very wise move.
Because in “Pacific Rim”, players’ focus will inevitably and exclusively be on the various mechs, and perhaps monsters as well.
As for the supermarkets, they accidentally step on during fights, or the office buildings they knock down… who cares?
As a substitute, in “Pacific Rim”, Lincoln will launch [Small Mecha], [Large Mecha], and [Giant Mecha] in one fell swoop, with heights of [within 3 meters], [around 10 meters], and [over 70 meters], meeting player needs all at once.
Yes, just like Starbucks doesn’t have a small cup of coffee, “Pacific Rim” also doesn’t have [Medium Mecha].
[Giant Mecha] are the absolute power within the storyline, and their presence doesn’t need further explanation.
[Large Mecha] As for inserting it into the game, Lincoln had a few immature ideas, but he hasn’t made a decision yet.
As for the [Small Mecha], its small size determines that it is not meant for fighting monsters.
However, whether to develop an instance dedicated to the [Small Mecha], Lincoln hasn’t decided yet.
That’s because in his plan, [Small Mecha] is mainly used for playing in fighting competitions.
Previously, many players suggested to Cloud Dream that they wanted a game similar to Daxia’s [Martial Arts Championship] or America’s [Ultimate Fighting Championship].
But Lincoln thought it was too petty, so he didn’t bother doing it.
Because whether it’s “Assassins’ Alliance” or “Speed Chase”, just pick a venue, make some adjustments, and you can organize a competition.
Even now, in Metropolis and Night City, there are similar gameplay styles and player-organized competitions.
Why bother developing a separate game for it?
If you really want to do it, it has to be something different.
For example—
[Mechanical Armor Fighting]!
Lincoln has even thought of the name for this gameplay, calling it [Iron Fist]!
Two small mechas step into the arena, punching with iron fists, making clanging noises, sparks flying, and parts flying off at its climax!
It has the wild and passionate excitement of shattered limbs, yet it doesn’t make people feel too bloody – even if the loser is completely taken apart, it’s just a pile of mechanical debris on the ground.
With the driver heavily protected, even if injured, it’s only a minor injury at most, perhaps a bruised nose and a swollen face, completely harmless.
Lincoln is looking forward to the day when there will be “Kung Fu Mecha” battles.
Just thinking about it is exciting.
*
Los Angeles time is a full 16 hours behind Daxia.
Lincoln has been asleep for quite a while, and it’s just arriving at the morning of the 24th here.
Alex, the former adolescent who was once arrested by the Los Angeles Police for calling on players to protest and later saved by Lincoln through remote payments, hiring lawyers, and bail, received a Christmas gift in advance.
It was a brand new [Mirage 2.0].
And the one who sent out this package was the [Freedom of Life and Democratic Rights Foundation].
While the foundation’s headquarters is in New York, and Alex is in Los Angeles, due to the uncertainty of logistics, the Christmas gift arrived one day early.
Alex, puzzled, picked up the card on the console and read the content—
“Merry Christmas, Alex.
I originally wanted to send each of you a game cabin, but as you know, all Cloud Dream products are banned from sale and transportation in America, and the Mirage Console is already the limit; a game cabin simply can’t be delivered to your hands.
I know you all have Mirage consoles, so this one, just give it to your family or friends.
I hope they too can enjoy the fun of the virtual world.
The virtual world is a gift of the new era, and no one should be excluded from it.
So, your efforts are progressive, just, and bound to succeed.
Keep up the good work!
— Lincoln”
“!!!”, Alex widened his eyes, “Lincoln?!”