Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: DLS_MWZZ

When games ask for the highest configuration-friends.

In recent days, multiplayer games seem to have a "blowout" trend. Eagle Horn has released a new book, Pombom, and the long-awaited "Beast Party" has been officially launched. If you look a little further, starting from "Trine 5" at the end of August, there has been a new "We explored here" in September, and there are also "MythForce" and "Chained Together", and even the old classic "Snowman Brothers" suddenly "Renaissance".

No wonder some people joke that after the two-dimensional game PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, does the multiplayer game have to be rolled up?

In any case, the sense of existence of multiplayer games has been greatly enhanced recently, which is very different from the situation of "only recommended two-person trip" in previous years. This has to make people worry about the legendary "top configuration"-friends, especially close friends who can pick up the handle side by side.

There are still few interesting multiplayer PvE games. The changing history of multiplayer games has taken on a social nature since its birth. The earliest "Pong" was a game for two. During the Atari period in the 1970s, there was also a habit of bundling two joysticks, as well as a large number of games for two people.

With the progress of technology and the change of the form of games, in the era of FC, double-player mode has become a popular trend. ACT and STG games, which are common in this era, are inherently suitable for two players to fight side by side because of their fast-paced and scroll pictures. Even, under the trend at that time, the pure single-player game appeared to be in some decline, and there were many games that supported two players to take turns playing with the death of the character as a node, so as to meet the needs of multi-player play.

With the in-depth development of the FC function, the two handles seem to be "insufficient". Whether overseas or domestic, almost all the small partner groups with more than 2 people have shared the fun rule of "life and death replacement". Some manufacturers smell business opportunities from the needs of these users. For example, Konami's Bing Bee 2 supports three players to play together-the third player can use an external handle to play together through the interface originally prepared for the bare Gun.

My brother is one more than you. If you are afraid of three, you will have four. After that, the handle forked interface appeared on the stage, so that games such as the "Hot Blood" series can be amazingly fun for four people-yes, the concept of "four players playing at the same time" has been mature since the era of FC. In the 16-bit era, Sega's MD referred to a similar idea, with an extra handle interface in the fuselage for emergencies.

In the middle and late 1990s, PS, Saturn and N64 fought each other, and the differences between each camp were very obvious. Saturn is a little too avant-garde, and even has a "guardian hero" who supports a six-player game. N64 itself directly put on 4 handle interfaces, clearly telling players that they can have at least 3 good friends. PS games, which specialize in high-volume games based on CD-ROMs, unwittingly begin to show their shortcomings in the multiplayer camp-certainly not to say that players don't have friends.

In the sixth generation, Sega's new mainframe DC also comes with four handle interfaces, and there is no lack of excellent multi-person works. Such as "death or Life 2", although this fighting game is still the traditional 1v1 form on the field, but it supports replacement at any time, the replacement can release the joint attack, the characters who rest in the next game can also recover a small amount of blood, and 4 people do not have some fun when they play.

Now, it may be a kind of party game enlightenment, but DC lost to PS2 for a variety of reasons, and the fall of the platform evaporated the possibility of a large number of multiplayer games. Although N64 has maintained its position, it objectively affects the performance of producers because of the limited capacity of the cassette. Overall, as PS gradually occupies the market and voice, the number of mainframe players sharing fun begins to decline.

In the PS2 era, even ACT games were often single-player forms such as "Ninja Dragon Sword" and "Ghost crying" because of their functions and fashion trends, and double play was almost extinct. But as a result, it has also formed a special market hunger effect. As almost the only 3D masterpiece on the market that supports two people, "unparalleled in the three Kingdoms" is full of dividends of the entire era.

There are not many two-player games on PS2, and it is even rarer to increase the number of people. For example, in the Chronicle of Digital Baby, which supports four people, players have to buy an extra handle splitter to play-at that time, it was as difficult as finding three friends! The above-mentioned "death or Life 2" is also available in PS2, but because the splitter is difficult, in most cases, the DC version is more suitable for 4 people to play.

This is a screenshot from Taobao. I can't even find another version. On the contrary, the PC side is a different scene. As a result of the relatively mature and stable local area network in the 1990s, the advantages of PC games in multiplayer have been shown, of which FPS games and real-time strategy games have benefited the most. These two types of games not only rely more on keyboard and mouse support, with the help of higher computer configuration and iteration, but also more conducive to computing games that a large number of players participate in at the same time.

For example, inspired by Dune Castle in 1992, Command and Conquest and Warcraft, which had an anchored conceptual level in 1995, supported two to eight players to play at the same time. Since then, most real-time strategy games have also used eight players as a reference standard. To the 2002 "Warcraft 3", but also ushered in the peak of 12 people happy together.

The FPS game was even more unrestrained, when it was in the midst of an arms race for graphics card hardware, and game makers liked to push their limits deliberately. For example, Delta Special Forces reached the horror limit of 32 people-most Internet cafes in the country didn't have 30 computers at that time. As a result, there is often a happy atmosphere that almost all the Internet cafes are grabbing the same mountain, "the mantis catches the cicada and the yellow sparrow" is common, and the cheers of "persecution" and the laughter of "victims" occur one after another.

As long as there are seats in the game, most of the brothers are convenient and wayward, but both the mainframe and PC have ushered in a big update with full access to the Internet at the beginning of this century. Different from the pure online games provided by the official server, the multiplayer games that limit the circle of friends mostly rely on a player as the "host". As the Internet speeds of different players vary, the more people there are, the more likely they are to have problems, and one person stutter will affect the overall game experience. As a result, multiplayer games such as moments begin to reduce the number of players having fun.

In addition, the end of the first round of mainframe wars also made developers in the console camp realize that they could not be "hanged by a tree" and began to promote the whole platform, intersecting with the PC platform more frequently, and bringing some of the habits of the mainframe platform to the past. Under the multiple intersection of various restrictions and needs, 4-person online has gradually become standard in the industry.

Some games are too popular, it is inevitable to have a model effect, and network speed is a phased technical problem after all. now, with the increasing progress of the network construction of the whole world, especially more and more newer forms of network servers and game information transmission algorithms, it is enough to restore to the effect similar to that of the local area network in the 1990s. As a result, the multiplayer game seems to have returned to the previous round, lively again. In the NS platform, which focuses on multi-player fun, you can see a lot of games with a limit of 8 or even 16 people.

So, there is a game, what's next?

Although several different "friend widgets" are multiplayer games, there are also many different types of designs, which may have different effects when players choose the "plug-in" of friends to deal with the game.

The first is "difficulty change", which is common in FC's early games. As the level design was relatively simple at that time, many times the enemy was a fixed configuration, which made the additional second player become the "second gun", the firepower and health of the player camp doubled, and the difficulty of the game was greatly reduced.

As a result, developers have made adjustments. In some games, enemies tend to double in two-player mode. This may seem fair, but there are problems soon, because 2P players are often played by 1P, and their game level may be lower than 1P, which makes it harder for 1P players to face double enemies and the game experience is not good. Therefore, in more mature games, the intensity of the double face is often only increased by 50%, and it is basically the standard of the times.

But from another point of view, as long as two friends are equally good, it will be much easier than fighting alone, and it can also be regarded as an encouragement for many people to play. The most typical of these is the "double interception tactics" named after the name of the game. In "double interception Dragons", the player's signature skill to defeat the enemy is "whirlwind leg". The duration of the attack is about the same as the hard time, when playing alone, it is easy to be counterattacked by the enemy because of the hard attack. When playing in pairs, it can connect seamlessly, so that the enemy has no chance to fight back, and there is no pressure to increase the number of enemies and blood volume. The game experience is completely different from the difficulty of playing alone.

"remember to yell about love and bondage". The second type is "asymmetric", or commonly known as "father with son". The representative work of this type is the "Sonic" series. The 1P player who controls Sonic occupies the dominant position of the game progress, the screen closely follows the action of 1P, and the blood volume is judged completely according to the condition of 1P. The 2P player who plays Theos is completely subordinate. If you leave the screen range too far, too long or die, it will automatically refresh back to 1P after a short period of time.

This form is very suitable for players who are proficient in games to lead players who are less familiar with the game to experience the fun of participating together, but there are other problems. Some people realize that because Theos will not "die", it is a human shield with unlimited blood, so it is very suitable for dedicated, iron friends to be responsible, blocking everything for the smooth progress of 1P players.

This type of design is also more troublesome, if you want to have the right game experience, is equal to at least half the protagonist, so it is not common. In today's games, "Cat Quest" takes this form. Another more famous one is the new "God of War"-such as the fake "father with son".

This is a game where you don't have to worry about the life or death of the little fox. The third type is "play by chance", and the FPS type is the most commonly used, such as "CSGO", "Watchman Vanguard", "Star Battle: extinction" and other works. This type does not require players to have friends or limit the number of friends, but as long as they have friends, the fun of the game will increase accordingly. Among them, the "Delta Special Forces" is relatively different.

Unlike the multiplayer mode of "beating each other" in most computer games at that time, the Delta series has always supported multiplayer battles similar to console games. In particular, the third generation of Delta Special Forces: the Earth Warrior, which went on sale in 2000, has many rich and interesting battle levels, and can be resurrected at checkpoints or by medics after death in multiplayer mode. coupled with the upper limit of the number of participants up to 32, the multiplayer play of this work is very enjoyable, far exceeding the fun of regular single-player campaigns or traditional death competitions-sometimes. The enemies of a level all add up to only about 30 people, so think about what it would be like to see a dozen players who can be resurrected scramble to rush past.

It may be the feeling that the number of players' friends is not stable because of the changes of the times, but now this type is also developing and iterating so that players can have the right experience no matter how many friends they bring. For example, "Galaxy Battle: extinction" has an intelligent brushing algorithm, which will arrange appropriate "extras" to participate according to the number of players in each game, so as not to be too difficult or boring. Many players need to participate in the "chicken eating" game at the same time, but also began to standard with moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor robot opponents.

When the number of players increases, the enemy will not see enough. The fourth "must type" has only been formed in recent years, and it is almost necessary to lock up the only relative and friend and have fun for a long time. Yes, "double trip" is the representative of the darkest moment of "I person", and it is also a sharp weapon for "E person" to show itself. Of course, it's not surprising that StarCraft II alone has been operating the "commander mode" of double cooperation for a long time, and there are many popular works that turn campaign demons into two-person checkpoints on unofficial maps, reflecting the long-standing demand for this kind of "quality PvE"-there are very few excellent cooperative games, mostly for players to fight each other, which is not very helpful to unity.

However, the flaw of this type is obvious-it requires too much configuration for friends. In modern society, there are not many opportunities for two people to play games for a period of time at the same time, and the progress in the game is not easy to split, and the time is not short. It is really not easy to find friends who come down together.

At this time of the game that makes people feel the "highest configuration" threshold, it is not surprising that the fifth kind of "must be compatible" emergency. after all, the video game itself has the original intention of replacing socialization. on the other hand, the backstab players force the friend pendant to be somewhat "immoral". The right light should be to maximize the player's game experience as much as possible-whether you have friends or not, video games will and should be your friends!

The "Spratt" series is the representative of this concept. Even if it is a game that focuses on online games, the original "Sprattern" has a high-quality single player level, playing a 3D action adventure similar to "Sonic Adventure", but shrinking slightly (because there are no 2P characters). Not only can tired players in multiplayer mode enjoy the relaxation of single player, but it is also fun to experience single player content.

Recently, the typical example of meeting this ideal standard is "Baird Gate 3," whose single-player game experience is needless to say, while multiplayer mode brings greater happiness and is quite desirable. With the popularity of "Baird's Gate 3", perhaps in the future, this kind of work, which can well balance the number of players' friends, will be more popular.

"Spratt" single level even makes people have a kind of "unfortunately can not be online" regret in addition to these categories, there are some temporarily can not be summarized, but there are already some miraculous designs. For example, "egg party" has the form of designing levels for relatives and friends to experience, so that friends do not have to be online at the same time, but also can realistically share the joy of playing the same game.

Balancing games and life is not just time that prevents us from bringing friends into the game. Each of us is not perfect, there will always be some congenital defects, such as halo 3D, or color blindness, and so on, will have a real impact on the experience of the game-if you find a friend who unfortunately faints 3D, you can't go in pairs. At this time, it is very important whether the game has compatible design or not.

"Watchman Pioneer" once supported several display ratios that seemed "weird" to ordinary people, and the ordinary screen also supported 21:9, with a wider horizontal view, sometimes allowing some players to ease the effect of 3D vertigo. More and more games support adjusting FOV (field of view), which also allows players to find a display that is less prone to dizziness as much as possible.

Of course, auxiliary functions such as color-blind mode cannot be forced for the time being. in addition, some seemingly inconspicuous functions in the game may also become the key to some kind of screening. For example, I have experienced with my friend online "turret 2", he needs to take care of the child temporarily. Fortunately, "turret 2" supports the pause function, which is very convenient, so that the man-machine entertainment of our two old boys is not actually affected.

But we also know that many multiplayer games rarely have a pause function. For those old guys who have already had children, of course they have enough patience to wait for their friends to deal with troubles outside the game, so there is a reasonable pause function in the game, as more and more players enter middle age. I'm afraid there will be some rigid demand. Jokingly, maybe the appropriate pause design should be the design direction of the next "volume" of party games.

Players in "Raft" can lie in bed if they want to go offline temporarily, so the effect of pausing themselves is very convenient. Here, I suddenly re-understand the meaning of the ending of "Sean the Zombie".

When I first watched this movie, I was still an undergraduate, and sometimes I would roll the death knight's keyboard for my temporary classmates; sometimes I puzzled and won five, so that my brother's earth-shaking god cow could take away five enemies; sometimes it was the whole dormitory Rush B, and then died together crying and laughing. Yes, surrounded by friends, I don't know for years.

At that time, I only thought that at the end of "Sean the Zombie", the brother who became a zombie could also maintain his sense of mind and continue to play games with the protagonist, just black humor. But now, I seem to better understand that good brothers and sisters can overcome difficulties and play games together. This is a good wish that even zombies can't be isolated.

So, who do these very different styles of multiplayer games remind you of? Maybe we can find an opportunity-- whether it's a frequent contact partner or a long-lost friend-- to enter the world of games together.

Probably also a kind of "immortal friendship"?

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