1251 Basics of Combat Games

Bao Xu paused for a moment and continued. "Some professional terms in combat games, such as 'stand back', 'choose', and so on, often emphasize not one thing but a very broad and very general concept. The strength of players is in their mastery and flexibility of these abilities."

"For example, the concept of 'return' is very difficult to translate. It refers to all the movements you do before attacking the other party or defend against the other party's attack. Whether you walk back and forth, restrict, or deceive others, you can be regarded as part of 'stand back'."

"In other words, the goal of setting up a stand back is to do everything possible to enter a situation that is beneficial to yourself and let the other party fall into a more unfavorable situation."

"If you really can't understand it, you can roughly understand it as the pre-prepared ability that includes consciousness and operations. It's just like how you use frequent small positioning to deceive skills in MOBA games and lead the enemy to a terrain that is beneficial to you."

"Therefore, even though action games like Repent and be Saved are also very torturous, its growth curve is relatively scientific. At the very most, it is a little difficult to play it. Once it is on the right track, it will gradually adapt."

"On the other hand, combat games are different. Their growth curve is very low, and their growth is very slow. What's more, the upper limit is far away. During this process, it's very difficult for you to accurately assess how much you've become. It's very likely that you'll be tortured to death by a big boss."

"Compared to action games where the memorisation can make you stronger, combat games are not only limited to that or training the reaction speed and rubbing movements. It also requires a lot of targeted practice. Many times, every movement has to be dismantled into a frame through muscle memory."

"If we compare the figures, many players would be able to become proficient in games like Repent and be Saved after playing for 30 hours. They would become veterans in 100 hours. If we add more time, they would only be able to play quickly or kill the boss in seconds."

"However, combat games are different. 100 hours is normal. 1,000 hours might still be torturous. 3,000 hours or 5,000 hours might not be the limit."

Yu Fei could not help but be dumbfounded. "5,000 hours…"

He did some simple calculations.

If he played daily and played for five hours on average, he would still have to play for three years.

If they played for an hour on average, it would take more than ten years.

Just thinking about it scared him.

There might be something like the 'Ten Thousand Hour Law' but it was a discussion about very complicated and profound professional fields.

Games were different. Even if they were to squeeze out so much time, it would always be boring and lose its fun. After all, they did not have the depth of a professional.

The key was that the improvement that many games could obtain after playing for hundreds of hours was negligible.

Perhaps his ability had reached its limit, or perhaps the game's mechanism was not supporting it.

MOBA games and shooting games also had characteristics that could be played again. However, even in shooting games, they could at least be shot once or twice by big shots.

If it was a combat game, it would probably be difficult to even move when facing a real big boss.

Bao Xu continued, "Therefore, there is a very important problem here. Fighting games must have a certain heritage."

"Those real big shots played for thousands of hours in all the combat games because all combat games actually had certain common points. The original experience could be used in new games. They could get used to it quickly."

"These people are the most loyal to fighting games and are also the most picky."

"If a combat game conflicts with their existing experience, they would think that the game is not good enough and would not play it at all."

"Of course, from another perspective, this also saved us some time in the design process: We don't have to worry about them after knowing that certain traditions must be continued."

"For example, the basic combat system, tricks, and other operations must not be greatly modified."

Yu Fei nodded. He was more deeply aware of the mistake of his original idea.

For combat gamers, rubbing moves had become muscle memory and an instinctive reaction. In a flustered state during battle, rubbing a super kill every midnight was a skill that every combat gamer had to master.

If all the hard work that he had put into training did not exist in Ghost General 2, why would he play it?

Therefore, since Ghost General 2 was a combat game, it could not be forcefully modified in terms of basic combat. It could only be slightly modified on the basis of traditional classic combat games. Any changes had to be done carefully.

Character designs, movements, moves, and so on could be changed, but the core could not be changed. The operation method could not be changed.

The reason why the game genre was strictly divided into action games, crossover games, and combat games was because every game had a very clear restriction that could not be confused.

Yu Fei thought for a moment and said, "Therefore, Ghost General 2 must continue the operation of the combat game. The joystick must be able to accommodate movement, jumping, and rubbing. It cannot become the operation method of an action game."

Bao Xu nodded. "That's right. That would damage the fun of combat games fundamentally. It would no longer be called a combat game."

He took a game controller from Yu Fei's table as he spoke.

"The regular game controller has four zones on the front. They are the left right joystick, left functional zone (top, bottom, left, right), right functional zone (ABXY). However, in combat games, there are only two zones that are really used."

"Put your right thumb on ABXY. You don't have to use the right joystick at all."

"Use the cross key or left joystick on the left thumb. That depends on your personal habits. However, no matter which one you use, you don't use the other."

"On the other hand, the special controller for combat games in the market directly canceled all the joysticks that were not needed and added two more keys to the A-BXY area."

"The combat controller in your hand is a floating cross key, which is easy to use. On the left side of the controller that is similar to a large game machine is a large joystick. The principle is the same, but how to choose depends on your personal preferences."

"However, no matter the difference in form, they have one thing in common: players' hands can only care about two zones, and the functions of these two zones are very fixed."

Bao Xu spoke in detail, and Yu Fei quickly understood.

The pace of the combat game was too fast, so he could not spare time to do anything else.

In action games, players could let their left thumb leave the left joystick to press the cross button to use the prop. They could also let their right thumb stop to press the attack button or the tumbling button to adjust the perspective of the right joystick.

It might affect the original movements but there would not be any fatal consequences if they lost a few milliseconds after all. They just had to make time to do it during the battle.

However, it was different for combat games. That was because a mistake in a fraction of a second could be caught by the opponent and cause huge losses. Therefore, players could not take their hand out to press other keys.

Of course, the layout of the combat game controller even appeared earlier than the main controller now, and much earlier.

Thus, the operation mode of combat games and the shape of the controller were independent. Moreover, it was difficult to be completely compatible with the current mainstream controller method.

He could use the mainstream controller to simulate the controller of the combat game, but he could not design the gameplay of the combat game according to the mainstream controller.

Yu Fei suddenly realized a problem. "Doesn't that mean that we can only walk back and forth on a flat surface? In fact, we can become two-dimensional creatures?"

The cross keys of the combat game were front and back movements, as well as jumps and squats.

That way, there would be no key to be responsible for moving horizontally to the left or right side of the screen.

Of course, this would not be a big problem if it was in other 2D combat games. However, Boss Pei said that Ghost General 2 was a pure 3D game. What's more, the small soldiers might come from all directions!

If he wanted to hit the soldiers on the side, how could he?

Bao Xu said, "Actually, some combat games have already solved this problem. The solution is to press the button twice. The effect is to move to the left, which is to move horizontally towards the screen."

"Not only would it allow the character to dodge the opponent's attack, but it would also make the entire image rotate and move."

"Similarly, if you press the button twice in a row, it would be to the right side, which is to dodge out of the screen. The camera would also turn."

"We can go one step further. We can continue to move horizontally through double-click and press, or use combination keys to complete the horizontal movement."

This method of operation was relatively scientific. In combat games, single hits, double hits, and press were different operations. For example, after pressing the right key, it was movement. After the double hit, there was a fast rush of pressing.

Yu Fei nodded in realization. "I see. That means that the operation itself can be completed, and there is a ready-made design plan."

"However, it is still under the operating system of combat games. Compared to other games, especially action games, it is two completely different systems."

"In that case, we can actually not design much for the most basic combat system. It is mainly to continue the classic gameplay of combat games. We can only fix some minor details."

"Hmm… I've said so much and gained a certain amount. I've eliminated many impossible directions."

"However, this is just a minesweeper. I have no idea how to do it."

Bao Xu smiled and explained, "Of course, this is equivalent to building a foundation. Design games are not something that can be done in a short time. We have to repeatedly weigh the pros and cons and think about the details."

"It's just like building a building. This is a complete project. If you don't handle it well in any area, the entire project might be affected. In serious cases, you might even have to start over."

"Now that the foundation has been set, the next step is to perfect everything bit by bit."

"As for the specific approach, it's actually very simple. We'll start from Boss Pei's needs and analyze it bit by bit. We'll first confirm a prototype and then slowly fill in the details."

"I can't help you too much in this process. You have to have enough time to think independently."

Yu Fei thought for a moment. "In that case, I have some ideas."

"However, the combat system is still very difficult. Even if we have to follow other games, the characters, skills, and movements have to be based on the settings of Ghost General. There's no way to copy it."

Bao Xu said, "That's very simple. Since you're not good at it, look for someone who is."

"There are many champions in domestic combat games competitions. Wouldn't it be enough to spend some money to invite them as an action coach?"

"Boss Pei asked you to be in charge of the design of this game, definitely not to fight to the death with these content. After all, this would require thousands of hours of game experience."

"You should change your direction and dig out the difference between yourself and others. You should find a breakthrough point from Boss Pei's words and from there, complete the design of the entire game bit by bit."