Chapter 638: The Innovation Points of FPS?
As for the current state of FPS games...
Domestic FPS games still lag somewhat behind those abroad.
And similar to the previous life, domestic FPS games are mostly online multiplayer titles, while a large portion of foreign FPS games are single-player experiences.
Creating a truly massive FPS game is extremely difficult. It’s not just about professional knowledge of various firearms; it also requires a grand modern battlefield framework, specialized military knowledge, historical knowledge, and advanced understanding of modern weaponry.
If possible, Chen Mo would love to create a massive modern battlefield, but the difficulty is too high...
If he were just making a basic FPS, that would be easy—just a few maps, some guns, and a bit of character animation. But the problem is that players are already tired of that kind of game. Wolf Soul, Fire Assault, and several foreign FPS titles have long since moved past that stage.
Although, as an S-Class designer, Chen Mo could access various databases and even obtain some classified military knowledge through the Game Committee’s connections, time was simply too tight.
Moreover, Chen Mo’s personality never inclined him to force himself into areas he wasn’t skilled in or to make games he wasn’t prepared for.
He had indeed drawn Modern Weapon Skill Books before, but those were all basic, introductory-level ones. They were enough for making the kind of aircraft and tanks seen in Prototype—just empty shells, really. If he tried to make them more complex, he’d be over his head.
For Chen Mo right now, it was more suitable to choose a game with a relatively smaller scope, simpler production requirements, and broad appeal among players.
...
On the seventh day of the New Year, the first official day back at work.
For Chen Mo, every Spring Festival was pretty much the same—boring.
Maybe that was true for most modern young people. The New Year didn’t feel like a joyous holiday; it felt more like a ritual, and an uncomfortable one at that.
The New Year was unavoidable. If you didn’t go home, you’d definitely feel very lonely. But if you did go home, you’d always have to face things you didn’t enjoy.
It had a somewhat awkward, no-win quality. For some young people, they’d almost rather there was no Spring Festival at all.
Chen Mo didn’t feel like staying long at his parents’ place either. After all, making games was when he truly got to stretch his legs—and when he was happiest.
Besides, now that his time was his own, he could go back to visit his parents anytime he wanted. It didn’t have to be during the New Year.
Most of the experience store’s employees had already arrived, except for a few who lived far away and had taken leave in advance, not yet back.
There weren’t many players in the store either. After all, it was the first day back at work—how many idle people would come to an experience store to play games?
However, three familiar faces did show up today: Jia Peng, Wen Lingwei, and Chang Xiuya.
Su Jinyu and Qian Kun had already made arrangements. Everyone was happy to see each other after so long. To celebrate, Chen Mo even treated everyone to lunch, welcoming the three back.
On the first day of the new year, it was clear that most people hadn’t yet adjusted from the Spring Festival state. Chen Mo didn’t assign any special tasks; he just had everyone finish up any leftover work and get back into the groove as quickly as possible.
Coincidentally, Chen Mo also planned to use this time to draft the design concept for his new game.
...
At the Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment headquarters, in the conference room.
Lin Zhaoxu sat in the central seat, silently reading the meeting materials in front of him while listening to the other designers’ discussions.
There weren’t many designers present, but they were all significant figures within Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, and almost all of them had experience designing FPS games.
Qin Xiao, the designer of Wolf Soul, one of the three major domestic FPS games.
Jin Jieguang, the operations manager who had worked on Gunfire Chronicles.
Sun Bing, the lead designer of Gunfire Chronicles.
Also present were the operations manager, core feature designer, and professional consultant for Wolf Soul, as well as the core creative team for Gunfire Chronicles.
Although domestic FPS games couldn’t match the depth of European and American developers, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment had essentially gathered most of the domestic FPS talent.
In terms of the domestic market, FPS games were a strong genre for Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment.
At least for now, the FPS field was still a three-way standoff between Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, Zen Interactive Entertainment, and Thunder Interactive Entertainment.
The topic of this meeting at Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment was to discuss a new FPS game project.
Clearly, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment had also received the Game Committee’s notice and was considering developing a new FPS game.
But whether to actually do it, and how to do it, Lin Zhaoxu still couldn’t decide. That was why this meeting had been called, gathering the more experienced FPS designers within the company to discuss.
Jin Jieguang cleared his throat and said, “First, let me briefly outline the focus of our discussion. The Game Committee’s intent is quite clear this time. They essentially want us to use the latest Pangu Engine to create an FPS game, partly for military training in VR. Today’s key question is: can we do it, and if so, in what direction should we go?”
Lin Zhaoxu looked at Sun Bing. “You go first.”
Sun Bing nodded, organized the materials in front of him, and then said, “Regarding this question, with President Lin and President Qin here, my opinion can only serve as a humble starting point. I can’t definitively say whether we should do it or not. I’ll just share my views on the current state of domestic FPS games.”
Sun Bing was the lead designer of Gunfire Chronicles. Although Gunfire Chronicles, like Ancient Calamity, was a project that had basically cooled off, overall it was still slightly better than Ancient Calamity—it could still maintain operations.
And strictly speaking, Gunfire Chronicles died because of its ranked mode. In terms of pure game quality, it was at the upper tier domestically. As the lead designer of Gunfire Chronicles, Sun Bing also had extensive experience in FPS game development, so his opinion was quite important to Lin Zhaoxu.
Sun Bing had clearly done his homework before coming. His speech was well-organized and logically rigorous.
“Currently, the domestic FPS landscape is a three-way standoff between Wolf Soul, Fire Assault, and Overwatch. In terms of gameplay, Wolf Soul and Fire Assault are somewhat more traditional, while Overwatch represents a relatively innovative FPS approach.”
“Previously, everyone believed that Overwatch would represent the future direction of FPS games, because it was incredibly popular for a time and even won Game of the Year. However, looking at the situation since then, Overwatch’s development has stabilized, and it may not have room for further growth.”
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