If it is released directly, what should I do if the brand value declines due to poor reputation? But if it is to re-made, what should I do if the R&D costs are spent on it?

Neither of these two issues should be considered by a game designer, which is something the boss of a game company needs to consider.

But Jester still asked this because he knew very well that the designer was responsible for the quality of a game, not the company's boss.

A qualified game designer must be responsible for his own work.

Seeing that everyone was speechless, Jester continued to ask the next question with a smile.

"Then let's look at this question in a different direction - why do we have to wait until a game is almost completed until eighty or ninety percent of it is almost completed to know that this game is just Just-so-so. Didn't we find out when we did it before?"

These words made the eyes of more than 30 Mars Entertainment designers lit up, as if they had thought of some key points, but they couldn't grasp it for a while.

"perhaps……"

Mark Seney is worthy of being the original creator of this theory. After hearing Jester's inducing questions, he also had some of his own ideas.

However, this theory was produced by the accumulation of countless game development experiences from Sega, Global Entertainment (Vivendi Games), Sony Entertainment's development team, and countless game development experience. Now he is far from his level.

He only said the word "maybe" and there was no further text.

Like everyone else, he seemed to have touched the doorbar in his heart, but to break the thick layer of window paper, it would take a long time to accumulate game development experience.

This is why Mark Seney's "Senior Theory" was so popular after it was proposed, because his theory explains how to make an excellent game in a nearly methodological way.

To the designers standing outside the door, they pushed open the door that could lead them to success.

So Jester continued his speech, and everyone listened silently. They were indeed attracted by Jester's theory.

"We continued to deepen on this issue. When we designed it, we thought that 'this creativity was great' or 'this gameplay was beautiful', but when we programmed them, we found that it was actually 'average average', so I asked, how long did we need to complete this game before we could know that our initial idea was wrong: it was not a great thing, but a piece of shit."

"How much does a game occupy the content of this game? Take my "American Squares" as an example. After digging out all the unnecessary background patterns, the electronic music, and some text copy that players may not read, the most core gameplay of this game is to eliminate the seven different blocks that appear randomly. How much capacity is left for this game?"

As he said, Jester stretched out a hand, but his thumb was shrunk back.

He held up his palm with four fingers exposed to everyone, and then gave his answer: "Forty percent."

Then, Jester spoke out the three most important points among the four core points of Seni's theory.

"A game, a designer must have the concept of a pre-product. This pre-product must be the first releaseable trial version that contains the designer's most core gameplay of the game. I assume it is called the alpha version."

"In addition to focusing on the core of the game you want to make, the alpha version must have the quality that can be released, rather than a simple piece of piecemeal game content - so I call it a releaseable version."

"Then, by understanding whether the player master is interested in the trial of this "first releaseable trial version", we can assist and optimize our own development process."

"In other words, were we correct when we first imagined it."

"As a game designer, the first thing we need to understand is that it is not whether we think it is good to do this, but to think about whether the players want to do it - I asked you before whether you make a game with the mentality of making or designing a game. In fact, this is a very interesting question. We produce products - so do we also need to do it with the mentality of making a product?"

Jester said it very seriously. He experienced the explosion of games in later generations, and the audio-visual enjoyment was far more than the current pixel era. At that time, games were called the ninth art. Making a game is not much easier than making a movie. But now, no one except Jester may have the idea that games are art.

"When a teacher at UCLA was talking about what art is, this is how it explains art."

"He said that-'Art is a very subjective thing. I thought it was an art thing, maybe others would think it was just a lump, so there may not be an exact and standardized definition of this subjective thing, but I think art should be someone putting something together to respond in a certain group'. If so, then when we do games, are we also putting something together and responding in a certain group?"

Seeing someone nodding constantly, Jester continued to smile and said.

"Faced with the previous problems, everyone can have a different mindset. I personally think that I am not just a game designer, I am an artist, I am passing my thoughts to players who play my game, and I want to get their responses and their feedback."

"So, games are art in my mind."

"But the essence of the game is the same product. It needs to be sold. It is completely different from the artwork that is generally believed to be just for appreciation. It does not need to be independent or self-admiration. It needs to be popularized and universal, and can be accepted by ordinary people. So I think we should use the thinking of designing artworks to make a product."

“But our essence is to incorporate our thoughts into the artists in our works, not just designers.”

"A game without a designer's thought will never succeed."

After Jester finished speaking with a passionate expression, the audience suddenly burst into thunderous applause, and everyone patted their palms hard. Jester's words were enough to make them deafening.

Then, Jester seemed to be unsatisfied. He raised his hands, pressed down, and continued to smile and said, "Then let's have a real brainstorm. I have a type of game here. You will mobilize your brain as a game designer to help me improve this game. It must be special and unique, and make people take a look. Even if you only know this way of playing, you will be interested in a big student and have such an idea - I want to play this game!"

Looking at the people who were eager to try below, Jester smiled maliciously and said his title: "We will only have one you have played. Richard Garrett's "Genesis" I think you should all know. My title is RPG. Come and help me perfect this type of game."

RPG, role-playing, is the most popular game type, with a wide audience, but it is very difficult to do it well.

"I think we can make the plot more moving!" Someone said that.

"I think we can design a powerful treasure so that players can get it desperately!" Some people also said so.

"I think we can establish a growth system so that players can feel the heroes he controls are constantly growing." There is also such a saying.

All kinds of statements filled Jester's ears. He just smiled and didn't make any comments. Then he waited until everyone's opinions were almost done, and then he said, "In this way, I'll give you an example with another game, and then you will consider how to make an RPG new in terms of gameplay. For example, what is the core gameplay of my "American Squares"?"

"Eliminate!" someone answered immediately.

"It's the sense of accomplishment that points increase!" Someone also answered this.

"It is the superiority of defeating others!" There are also those who say so.

"It's that easter egg!" As soon as he said this, someone immediately retorted, "Even if there is no easter egg, "American Cubes" is still fun!"

"It's elimination, but not just elimination." Mark Seney, who had never spoken at this time, suddenly spoke out, "To be precise, this game is essentially a puzzle game. What players like is the process of elimination that is not difficult but infinitely changing. Every time the block falls, he needs to constantly think about what I should do. As for points and easter eggs, they are all additional things. As Jester said before, these are not the real core gameplay of this game, but just some fragmentary content."

Jester clapped, he was not surprised by this. Mark Seney was the designer who could see through the core of a game.

"Then I will continue to redesign several games using this core gameplay of "not difficult but endlessly changing consideration process to eliminate". For example, there is such a game..." Jester's face showed a thoughtful look. There were many elimination games he had played in later generations, and it would be enough to find a few of them to worship these designers today.

"This is how I set the rules of this game."

"Suppose there is a 10X10 square in which there is a gem in each grid. These gems have many kinds and colors, and there may be seven or eight types. Let's not discuss this for now."

"What we can know is that they do not have three same connections, whether horizontal or vertical, and what the player has to do is exchange two adjacent gems at will, horizontal or vertical to achieve three identical gems connected - and as long as such conditions are formed, the three gems will be eliminated, and the empty positions they are responsible for being filled by the gems above them in turn, and new gems will fall down to fill the vacant space at the top. When these gems fall down, if they can form a new three-in-one connection, they will still be eliminated..."

"I set the mode to three, one normal mode. In this mode, players can continuously eliminate gems in the square until the gems cannot be eliminated - of course, the number of gems is to be scored if they eliminate gems. The more they eliminate in one operation, the higher the score will be."

"The second type is the time mode. When the player eliminates it, a countdown bar will appear. At the beginning, this countdown bar is very slow. Players can supplement the countdown by eliminating the reward time to get success. However, as time goes by, the countdown will become faster and faster. Players need to eliminate as many gems as possible before the countdown ends, so as to get more points!"

"The third type is competitive mode. This is no different from the time mode. It's just that two people play the time mode game separately. Whoever ends the game first will lose the game."

As Jester briefly talked about the creativity of "Gem Maze" designed by POPCAP in 2000, many designers in front of him lit up, and they all heard the incredible playability contained in this simple game like "American Cubes"!

You should know that even in two thousand years, "Gem Maze" caused a sensation after its release, selling 25 million copies on various platforms, and two years later it was selected as the electronic game Hall of Fame sponsored by IGN. There were only two elimination games selected, in addition to "Gem Maze", there were also "Tetris".

This shows how excellent this game is, not to mention, in the desert of electronic games like this in 1984.

The impact Jester brought to them was indescribable.

Their eyes when they looked at Jester became different. Some people thought that he was lucky and had a sudden inspiration. Now, judging from Jester's performance, it was not the same thing at all.

Otherwise, how could he be able to say such a super-thrilling game idea casually like drinking water and eating? And it also has the elimination style of "American Cube", which is completely comparable to "American Cube", but is completely different from "American Cube"?

Then in order to deepen his shocking image and status among these designers, Jester repeatedly spoke out the two extremely excellent design ideas of eliminating games, "Zuma" and "Bubble Dragon", which made these young designers worship directly.

Each of them showed a look of extreme fanaticism on their faces. The look they looked at Jester was as if they saw the god of game design. He seemed to have no need to think about it. He could express a game idea that they would never think of anyway in just a thought.

And these ideas sound so fun!

Even Mark Seney looked at Jester speechlessly, and then he sighed deeply, feeling ashamed of being in vain.

However, Jester's face did not show any smug look, but instead he still had a faint smile. He continued to talk about the question just now.

"Then, now you can use another angle, just like the way I just analyzed the core gameplay of "American Cubes" to design a completely different RPG game that can make people shine and can't help but play."

Then, just after Jester's words were finished, everyone fell into deep thought.

Just now, Jester's process and ideas for designing the game based on "American Cubes" had a very, very impact on them. It seemed that before they came to a door, they could enter a completely different field by just pushing open the door.

They seemed to see the future.
Chapter completed!