Chapter 640: A More Refined Movement System
As for the notion that the "battle royale mode" is too lowbrow for the mainstream, and that many major FPS studios wouldn't deign to touch it... that's clearly nonsense too.
It's not just domestic game companies scrambling to imitate it; major foreign studios are also studying the battle royale mode.
EA's CEO, Andrew, praised *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* for injecting fresh blood into the industry and expressed great admiration for its development team. He also indicated that future *Battlefield* games might feature a similar battle royale mode.
Ubisoft, during its financial conference call, also responded to related questions by stating that battle royale games are currently a very interesting gameplay format, and they might introduce this mode in future game DLCs.
Even these classic FPS giants take *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* so seriously, which shows the unprecedented success of this mode.
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For Chen Mo, *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* is currently the most cost-effective game, especially as a VR title, because its resource requirements are very manageable.
From a gameplay mechanics perspective, *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* involves 100 players parachuting onto every corner of an isolated island, searching for weapons, vehicles, and supplies empty-handed, and surviving until the end.
There are many firearms in *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds*, nearly thirty types, but that's still within Chen Mo's acceptable range.
As for various items and vehicles, many have already been implemented in numerous FPS games; it's just a matter of adding more variety.
The biggest challenge lies in recreating the entire map.
Unlike *League of Legends*, the map in *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* isn't something you can just memorize by rote. The entire map is 64 square kilometers, filled with complex terrain and buildings. You could say the vast majority of the workload is on this map.
Fortunately, Chen Mo had also looked up some materials when he played this game in his previous life. Websites like SVSVr had the full overview of the map. Using the Memory Recall Potion, he should be able to reconstruct it fairly accurately.
Even if there are some discrepancies, it doesn't matter. Chen Mo can now rely entirely on his own level design skills to fill in the gaps.
Of course, even if he couldn't remember it at all, it wouldn't be a problem. Level design is something that can be refined over time. With the design philosophy and basic rules already very clear, it's just a matter of how to divide the terrain, place the houses, and distribute the resources.
Next are some of the game's basic settings.
In terms of movement, *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* has a survival element, so the actions must be more varied than in traditional FPS games, even including actions like leaning left and right and vaulting over walls.
For a VR game, Chen Mo considers adding more actions to make the player's experience closer to reality.
On one hand, adding the "take cover" operation. At this point, the player will back up against and stick to the cover, and can pop out to shoot at any time. After shooting, they automatically return to the "sticking to cover" state.
(Similar operation modes exist in *GTA V* and *Uncharted*.)
On the other hand, adding the "blind fire" operation. When a player is hiding behind cover and doesn't want to expose their head for precise shooting, they can use blind fire, which means extending their gun out from behind cover to shoot. Of course, the accuracy of shooting in this situation will be greatly reduced.
Furthermore, a "stock strike" operation can be added. When the player is very close to an enemy, they can use the gunstock to hit the enemy, causing a brief stun effect and a small amount of damage.
In terms of movement, the "climbing system" is further enhanced, allowing players to climb some steep slopes or house walls. However, during the climbing process, the player will be in a "holstered weapon" state the entire time, and will take fall damage based on the height of the fall. There will also be stamina restrictions during climbing; once stamina is depleted, the player will fall.
Also, not everywhere can be climbed. Only some slopes with relatively soft soil and house walls with climbing handholds can be climbed.
Obviously, this climbing system is designed to give players more route options, a high-risk, high-reward behavior.
Additionally, players will gain more tactical actions, such as rolling, diving, and so on. These actions will also consume the player's stamina system and have a certain built-in cooldown, usable only at critical moments.
These actions can interact with the physics engine. For example, when a player is blown away by a fragmentation grenade explosion or falls from a height, they can perform a rolling action to mitigate some fall damage while adjusting their position.
Rolling when jumping out of a moving vehicle can also mitigate some damage, but if the speed is too high, they will still die.
Furthermore, the game will also retain some classic settings, such as different weapon recoil when the player adopts different stances (standing, crouching, prone), bullet drop during flight, and so on.
Ultimately, the purpose of these changes is twofold.
One is to make the in-game battle situations more complex, giving players who like to think more winning strategies. The other is to make the entire game closer to real combat, at least so that when an enemy spots you first, you can still roll to cover and wait for a chance to counterattack.
As for censorship, there aren't really any major issues.
Not to mention that the policies in this parallel world are different from his previous life, with various reviews being more relaxed. Chen Mo is also an honorary committee member. Even *Prototype* passed censorship, let alone *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds*. On the other hand, even if censorship gets stuck, it's just a matter of repackaging. Change the story background to a simulated military training exercise, and explain at the start that everything in the game is virtual and no one will die.
If all else fails, you can even put up a banner in the game with slogans like "Train Hard, Defend the Country, Strive for Excellence, Keep Forging Ahead," or something similar. Package it however you want, as long as it highlights positive energy...
Of course, Chen Mo doesn't need to deliberately court controversy. The story background of *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds* is still set on an isolated island, and the various character models will feature traits from all races and regions around the world, doing their utmost to downplay the game's background.
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Soon, the game design concept document was written, and it was time for the routine meeting and explanation session.
It was clear that everyone present was very excited. After all, this was Chen Mo's first game of the new year. No one could guess what he was going to make.
According to most people's guesses, Chen Mo would probably continue the line of thought from *Dark Souls* and *Super Mario Odyssey*, focusing on classic works with grander spectacles. After all, having just won TGN's Game of the Year, Chen Mo's current journey was towards the stars and the sea; making money was already a secondary goal.
Chen Mo smiled as he looked at everyone. The concept document wasn't yet displayed on the projection screen. "Our main development task next is *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds*."
Everyone present was stunned.
Qian Kun weakly asked, "Uh, Boss, *Digging for Ascension*... haven't we already made that? Are we making a sequel?"