At present, the game structure of the game is quite simple. Even more than a decade ago, the system of the old game, which was popular at that time, could not be simpler. In the DOS era when personal computers are not powerful, it may be a good choice for game developers to develop games with simple game structure. There are not many special effects in the game, nor do you need a lot of memory to read huge scenes, nor do you need a fast CPU to calculate the actions of every NPC controlled by AI. All the computer needs to do is record the player's choice, then calculate the range of a random number and add it to a specific attribute. When the property reaches a certain numerical range, a special event will be triggered. Although it is very simple, because there are many attributes in the game, and these attributes change completely according to the player's will, the freedom of the game is quite high, and this freedom is to play the greatest charm of the game. Even in today's powerful computer, some large RPG or other types of games often add some formative elements to expand the freedom of the game. The most obvious is the ghost rearing in Legend of Wulin Heroes and Legend of Xuanyuan Sword 3: Tianji, which separates RPG mode from parenting mode. This shows the charm of the game.
Let's recall from the beginning and develop the history of the game.
Initial culture
The brave man touched the little girl's head kindly and asked her, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Warm sunshine poured into the window, reflecting the little girl's red face: "I want to be the bride of the prince!" " "
The main business scope of GAINAX, which makes the series of "Dream Works for Beautiful Girls", is not video games, but Japanese animation in full swing. The Famous Gospel Warrior in the New Century and The Story of a Man and a Woman were both written by Genax. GAINAX comes from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. A local dialect called "がぃなな", together with the newly coined English word X, means "great" and "wonderful".
1989, Takami Akai, one of the main members of GAINAX, finished his own PC game "Computer Academy", which is GAINAX's first work, computer game, which was made according to the humorous question-and-answer form of the film. After that, the same form of Computer College 2 ハィィバス-"AND" Computer College 3 トップをねらぇ! "and" Computer College 4 ェィプハンタ J "make this game a series. GAINAX took this opportunity to enter the PC game market.
199 1 year, the release of DreamWorks for Beautiful Girls opened a historic page in the development of games. Not only won the Best Game Award of Japan BSH annual simulation game, but also was the first Japanese game software transplanted into Chinese in Taiwan Province Province. Takami Akai, the main person in charge of GAINAX game section, is responsible for DreamWorks' supervision of beautiful girls and the setting of original paintings. By virtue of their foundation in the Japanese comic industry, they brought advantages in hardware and software to DreamWorks' exquisite game screen "Beautiful Girl". DreamWorks' earliest beautiful girl game was to train a girl to be the queen of the world. However, there is not only one ending of the game. Because of flexible and diverse parenting methods, girls can eventually be trained as dancers or martial artists. This is the fun of the game. Of course, there are still many RPG elements in this initial game. Players can let their daughters go out for adventure, and they may encounter various creatures on the way. Depending on their properties, there will be different options, such as "hit", "say" and "hide". This adventure is very similar to most RPGs at that time, or it is a small RPG itself. Even so, the elements of RPG are just embellishments. Players can not fight any battles at all, and there will be no losses. Even if they win the battle, there is no such thing as experience.
1993, the second generation of DreamWorks for Beautiful Girls added the story of marriage. The story of the game is much richer than that of the first generation, with more than 70 different endings, which is more playable. Takami Akai, who has started to work independently, is still a producer and original painter. Compared with the first generation system, the second generation system is more mature and the picture is more beautiful, so it has set off a new climax of developing games far better than the first generation. This generation still retains the characteristics of RPG, and also allows lovely daughters to take risks everywhere to defeat monsters and get treasures. Takami Akai, who benefited from the word "cultivation", completely abandoned the RPG elements in the next three generations. She believes that players like the "Dream Works of Beautiful Girls" series to cultivate the freedom of the game, and don't want to see the modular game content of "Down with monsters and get treasures" that can be seen everywhere in other RPGs. So in Dream Girl DreamWorks ~ Dream Fairy (commonly known as Dream Girl DreamWorks 3), the RPG mode of going out for adventure was completely abolished, and this generation became the purest nurturing game. At the same time, as Takami Akai wished, it achieved the best results in the history of Dream Girl DreamWorks series of games.
Love and cultivation
In Guanghui University, there has always been a legend that girls believe in: "On graduation day, under the big tree on campus, if girls successfully declare their love to boys, the couple will live happily together forever."
If DreamWorks is a milestone in creating the game type of "parenting game", then Shimu Memorial must be regarded as the originator of "love parenting game". For most players, the name Konami is not unfamiliar. If you really don't know, let's take a look at those familiar FC games: Porky Pig, Rocket Car, Contra and Shaloman Snake. These games that accompanied our childhood were marked with Konami's logo on the screen. On the nearest PS and PS2 consoles, there are main games such as Demon City, metal gear and Fantasy Water Margin, and heartbeat memory is a leap for Konami.
Konami, who stands at the top of Japan's game industry in scale, did not make his fortune entirely by making computer games. Mainly engaged in home entertainment software products, online games and other electronic entertainment products manufacturing and sales, business scope includes large shopping malls, magazines, health clubs, sporting goods, pinball machines and so on. By the end of March 2002, there were 265,438+09 health clubs operated by it, ranking first in Japan in market share. There are three departments responsible for making games: KCE (Konami Computer Entertainment), which specializes in making console games, and AM (Amusement Machine) and GM (Game Machine), which specialize in making commercial game machines.
Memory of Heartbeat appeared several years before the PC-Engine electronic game instrument of NEC was launched, but it really became famous after the release of 1994 PC-Engine CD. At that time, Konami became increasingly depressed in the arcade market, and also used fried cold rice to deal with players in the console market. "Heartbeat Memories" was refurbished and redone at this time, which became a milestone in the development of the game. Perhaps it's because PC-Engine is more powerful than previous models, and it has a completely different feeling in pictures and music. As soon as the PC engine version of Heartbeat Memories went on the market, it caused a rush to buy, ranking second in the total sales of PC engine game software. Beautiful pictures, beautiful theme songs and background music, and many unique heroines became the most talked about topics by players at that time.
1June, 995, Koami transplanted the heartbeat memory from PC-Engine to PS, and renamed it Tokimeki Memory ~ Always with you. Then based on PS version,/kloc-0 was transplanted to SS in July, 1996, and/kloc-0 was transplanted to PC in February, 1997. Because the performance of PS and SS is much stronger than that of PC-Engine, this version is far better than PC-Engine in both picture and sound effect. PS version won the annual sales champion in one fell swoop, and also won the highest award of CESA's best game of the year, which established its masterpiece status and officially created the golden age of "love to develop games". After that, Colami made a series of related games according to its settings. In addition to naturally launching Heartbeat Memory 2 and Heartbeat Memory 3 ~ Bound Place on PS and PS2, there are also Heartbeat Memory ~ Rainbow Teenager and Daughter-in-law version of Heartbeat Memory Girl featuring Saki Nijino, which appear on PC, PS, SS, GB and PS2 respectively. So far, Heartbeat Memories has not only occupied the field of video games, but also been adapted into animation and sold in the form of OVA. In addition, in Japan, a large number of related hand-made toys are scraping the wallets of "heartbeat fans", and Shiori, the heroine of "Heartbeat Memories", is regarded as the most perfect dream lover in the minds of players.
Star-making movement
"As long as three years! I want you to be the king of art! " Wang pointed to Fang Ruoqi in the folk song restaurant and said firmly.
Although Japan has a unique environment for the production of nurturance games, there are many excellent nurturance games in China. Although this is related to the low technical and financial requirements of game development, it also shows that China's games are not inferior to other countries in creativity and production. Let's not talk about a game called "China Ball King" launched by Genesis Technology in 1996, which made China people's football dream complete. In fact, as early as 1995, the first work of interstellar volunteers has entered the molding game market. Although Star Volunteer was not remembered by most people at that time, it was the basis for the birth of a new game mode. This mode is now called "strategy development game", and the strategy component in the game is stronger than other development games.
"Star Volunteers" series of games are produced by Daewoo Information. China Taiwan Province Province is the first company specializing in the development of Chinese computer games. It has been committed to developing PC-based games. Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man, Xuanyuan Sword and Monopoly are the most proud game series of Chinese people, and some games also include Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, Korean and English (under revision). With the accumulation of capital and experience, the tentacles of Daewoo products have gradually expanded from computer games to more aspects. In addition to online games that almost every large game company is involved in now, Daewoo Information has also been involved in home computers, mobile games, casual games and other fields, and Daewoo's games can be seen on computers, game consoles, mobile phones and PDA. In addition to the familiar "fanatic" team and "DOMO" team, Daewoo's team also has a game development team called NPC. Maniacs and DOMO are responsible for the production of the Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man and the Xuanyuan Sword respectively, while the NPC team specializes in producing various relatively low-cost and small-scale games, including the Volunteers of the Stars and the authentic Sixteen Mahjong of Taiwan Province, as well as an RPG named Fantastic Knight and many smaller games. It can be seen that, unlike the other two groups, NPC group takes a fast and fruitful route, but this does not mean that more games will reduce the quality of the game. The game they play is only relatively low in production cycle and cost, and the quality of the game itself is not worse than that of fanatics and DOMO.
Maybe we can use "many short and pithy games" to describe the works of NPC Group. It is precisely because of this that NPC star volunteers can become one of Daewoo's signature games at 1995. Even from the present point of view, it still has all the elements necessary for an excellent game. Judging from the sales volume and evaluation at that time, this game surpassed other development games released at the same time in China. The first generation of star volunteers played the role of brokers and started their own star companies. Players can find their favorite talents in the game and then cultivate them into big stars who can make a blockbuster in the entertainment circle. Although Star Volunteer has quite attractive elements, it is gradually forgotten by people in the face of many excellent Japanese development games that have mushroomed in the next two years.
1999 10, Daewoo invited the very popular singer Hou Xiangting to endorse a game for the first time. This is the most familiar Star Volunteer 2. In February of the following year, Star Volunteer 2 won the Best Cultivation Award of Millennium Game Stars sponsored by Taipei Computer Association, Video Game Fast Play, Software World, Next Generation and New Game Era. This was the greatest honor to develop a game at that time. Star Volunteer 2 has made great progress in music and pictures. "Don't Come in Autumn", written by famous musician Wu and sung by Yao, is the theme song of "Starlight Volunteer II". In addition, any scene in the game will have independent and different music, which will make the game better musically. The picture of the game was also extremely fine at that time, and it was Daewoo's first game with 800×600 picture resolution. In addition to the progress in the appearance of the game, the second generation is also very different from the previous generation in the game system. Players no longer cultivate stars from the third perspective of a broker, but play a beautiful MM-Fang Ruoqi, who is attracted by the famous director Wang and must cultivate herself into a star within a predetermined time. Although this setting makes many players who are used to being brokers feel uncomfortable, it has ushered in more players. After all, the protagonist of the star dream is to become a star himself, not to cultivate a star. However, these are not the main reasons for the success of Star Volunteer 2. The nuanced story setting allows players to deeply understand the difficult process of star growth infiltrated in the game. These details are simply reflected in the fact that when the reputation is low, a slightly famous big company will give Fang Ruoqi a look and even refuse to enter. When Fang Ruoqi becomes a famous star in the industry, there will be countless fans looking for his autograph when he goes out, and even he can't breathe. Another factor of success is the integration of plot and game. Although it is difficult to connect the game with such a relatively rigid thing as "plot" in theory, Star Volunteer 2 did it well. From the beginning of the game, the player was set as the fixed role "Fang Ruoqi", and the NPC team gradually brought this nurturing game into their set plot. Of course, these plots are all related to Fang Ruoqi's love. During the game, Fang Ruoqi, played by the player, will appear several different plot trends according to the player's choice, and may eventually enter the marriage hall with one of the four male characters in the game. This place not only has the flavor of love games, but also retains the excellent plots that are difficult to embody in love games. The final advantage of success is a variety of endings. Although this is an inevitable condition of every game, the ability values in the second generation are much more and more detailed than those in the first generation, and each ability value is related to future development, so the ending of the game is much more. The winners and losers are graded according to the players' achievements and abilities in the past three years. It's up to the player to become a winner, a singer or a famous host in the future. If the player makes outstanding achievements, he can also get the ultimate title of "Art King".
In fact, Star Volunteer 2 can be said to be the pinnacle of domestic game development. Not only has it achieved good results in sales volume, but it has also enabled players to see the strength of domestic game development, thus promoting the rapid listing of Star Volunteer 2000 and making players look forward to it. In June 2000, Star Volunteer 2000 was officially listed. From Star Volunteer 2, which was sharpened four years ago, to this sequel that was launched less than a year ago, players are a little worried. Sure enough, Star Volunteer 2000 has not changed much compared with Star Volunteer 2, no matter the screen or the game system. The only difference is that the role played by the player has changed from a beautiful girl Fang Ruoqi to a handsome boy RED Lin. Another small improvement worth mentioning is the re-adoption of the previously highly acclaimed brokerage system. In the game, players can relive the broker model of that generation, not only being stars themselves, but also looking for someone to train them. Strictly speaking, Star Volunteer 2000 can only be regarded as an expanded or enhanced version of Star Volunteer 2, and it can't be regarded as the third generation of the series. The real Star Volunteer 3 is also expected to be released this summer.
Dreams and the future
Practice game is a kind of dream game. No matter which game you develop has the ability to dream for players, whether you want to raise a little girl, have a romantic and pure love, or become a famous star in the entertainment circle, developing games can help you realize these wishes. In the game, we can do things that we dare not do or are unable to do on weekdays, but in the game, we can let our own ideas go and let the characters in the game set foot on the road they want without any restrictions.
In the face of many large-scale and costly games, the road to developing games is arduous and difficult, and some of them can't even keep up with the times. But the unparalleled freedom charm of developing games is irreplaceable by other games. The power of freedom is powerful and inspiring, which is also the way to cultivate the survival of games. Therefore, this summer, DreamWorks 4 and Volunteer 3, which game fans are looking forward to, will soon appear in front of us. Although the experience in the game is somewhat different from the reality, the bumps on the road to these dreams are exactly the same.