Chapter 45
On the 8th of October, just after the National Day vacation, the core mbers of the developnt team, including Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue, were called into Chen Xus office.
Morning everyone, I trust you had a restful holiday. If you recall, I ntioned we will be busy when we get back, so Im going to lay out the plans for our next project.
It will have action elents. Qin Yi, please make arrangents with the motion capture studio in our contacts list as soon as possible. Were going to take the chance to establish a library of rig motions.
Chen Xu gave instructions to a young man in his twenties who looked to be developing a bald spot, how unfortunate.
Noted, Mr Chen. Qin Yi nodded.
The concept and usage of motion capture is similar to that of his previous life, it was not considered a high-end expenditure.
It is simply a convenient thod to save ti and money compared to animating manually. The movents will co out more naturally as well.
And here, with the saturated establishnt of motion capture studios, the problem of high initial investnt is eliminated.
Chen Xu plans to form good relations with a mature studio. After all, such materials will likely be used frequently in his future projects.
Alright, have a look at whats in store this ti.
Chen Xu had his workstation connected to the projector, and with a tap of a button, the draft design concepts of Outlast, was displayed on the wall.
This was sothing he had been working on with the aid of a mory capsule for the past few days.
Its a horror ga? Yang Xin looked at Chen Xu in surprise.
The people gathered in the room sat in stunned silence, unsure of how to respond. This kind of ga was definitely not sothing they expected.
They ca in expecting story-focused, plot driven experiences like To the Moon and Undertale, gas that were fundantally RPGs.
But to venture into the horror genre, and it wasnt even in an RPG style Its really unexpected.
And theres a very important point: didnt you say earlier, Mr Chen, that youre a warrior of love?
What has that got to do with horror gas!?
Looking at the expressions on everyones faces, Chen Xu could more or less guess what they were thinking.
Because this kind of ga is really difficult to make.
You could say that horror gas are a type of ga that really puts your production capabilities to the test.
If a horror ga cant make the player feel scared, itll be downgraded to a funny ga instead.
Plus, the market for horror gas is perpetually overlooked by large companies, with only small and dium sized companies bothering to produce anything.
With the difference in funding, most designers who try their hand at the horror genre will make liberal use of the most common, cheap technique in horror dia, the Jump Scare.
Put simply, a Jump Scare is when an image or scene changes abruptly and without warning, often accompanied by loud noises.
For example, when you are trying to take a picture of a tall girl, and when youre about to press the button, she turns into a monster and gets in your face, thats a standard jump scare.
Although many consider it clich, it cannot be denied that it is a classic and effective technique to bring fear to the players.
But jump scares are also a double-edged sword, when used well, its a satisfying experience that will be rembered fondly.
Used poorly, its trash.
Excellent horror gas often make use of jump scares, but this gives the wrong impression to less experienced designers, so they tend to make gas filled purely with jump scares and wonder why the ratings are low.
A genuinely good horror ga wants to keep players in prolonged states of oppression with short lulls in between.
Because the most stressful part of a horror ga is not the scare itself, but the anticipation and uncertainty about when the scare will happen.
Having jump scares is fine for a horror ga, but its bad when overused. The core of horror is to have the audience scare themselves with their imagination, which is the most difficult aspect.
Inside his office, Chen Xu was busy explaining these concepts to everyone and emphasizing key points to pay attention to in Outlast.
To be honest, for personal reasons, the developnt ti for this project will be tight. Otherwise, I would have liked to take everyone on a field trip to soak in realistic atmospheres. Like abandoned hospitals, schools or villages to gain a deeper understanding. Chen Xu said with a remorseful look on his face.
Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue stared at him in wide-eyed disbelief. While Qin Yi and the others all lowered their heads or looked away.
Its alright, I can feel how disheartened you are by the loss of this opportunity. But no worries, when we develop more horror gas in the future, Ill definitely take every one of you there, Chen Xu said with a smile.
The silence continued.
Who would regret such a thing!?
Also, Zhang Yida, regarding the marketing of the new ga, we need to pay special attention to video sharing and live streaming platforms. Youll need to co up with a good proposition for that, and get
a list of suitable influencers.
Chen Xu turned to regard the young man, who nodded and gave a curt reply, Understood.
With their current available funding, Nebula Gas had no reason to skimp on marketing.
Moreover, horror gas have inherently good synergy with live streaming. So leveraging streaming and video platforms will quickly spread hype and awareness, and if the ga turns out to be worthwhile, word-of-mouth will quickly outpace any paid marketing campaigns.
Theres also a difference between playing a horror ga and watching soone else do it.
After all, many players dont have the courage to play a horror ga by themselves, but enjoy watching other people play it to see their reactions, living vicariously while being carried.
So may even grow bolder after watching, and decide to try it out themselves. But they might still stop progressing after a particularly stressful scare.
While this might be a problem for so types of gas, it is not so for a horror ga. Instead, this will likely contribute to growing the popularity and prestige of the ga.
In his past life, the Outlast series managed to achieve sales of over 15 million copies, largely thanks to the rise in popularity of the video content and live streaming industry.
Chen Xu continued his explanations. Narrowing down the core concepts of Outlast to his awaiting team.
First, the outline. Players take on the role of a non-combatant thrust into a threatening environnt. And just like the na of the title, the only way to move forward is to Outlast the situation.
Second, the key feature, the cara. Unlike most other horror gas in the market with their nuclear-powered flashlights that never run out of power, the player will be dependent on the night-vision mode of their equipped video cara for navigation.
The cara will use up battery power and the player will have to go out of their way to find more, so this becos another driving point in the ga.
Third, the plot and pacing. Chen Xu spent extra ti going through this part, because the feel of the ga would greatly hinge on this.
and Ruan Ningxue, regarding the video cara and atmosphere of the scenes, youll need to pay special attention to this part. The players have to be as imrsed as possible.
When you get back ho, wait until around 3am and turn off all the lights at ho, I want you to really experience it and bring it to life.
This is the type of video cara the in-ga version will be based on. Please take this ho and experience it in the dark as well. We have to get this right.
While speaking, Chen Xu reached under his desk to retrieve a handheld video cara and placed it in front of Ruan Ningxue.
Ruan Ningxue: ??????
Staring at the cara in front of her, it felt more and more difficult to maintain her smile.
Boss, please have so humanity.
Reviews
All reviews (0)