tkworld #506 - Mr. Lu's reverse development method
#506 - Mr. Lu's reverse development method
After seeing this promotional video, the comments section exploded:
1. @WestwardJourneyFan123: Oh my god! Someone finally combined Journey to the West and Werewolf! This is literally the game of my dreams, can't wait to play!
2. @GameExpert007: The trailer is amazing! The scene of Sun Wukong fighting monsters is so exciting, I hope there are more action elements like this in the game.
3. @DeductionLoverXiaoWang: After watching the trailer, my head is full of questions. Who is the traitor? Why does Sha Monk transform? What does Tang Monk know? This plot is so attractive!
4. @CultureResearcher: Combining traditional Chinese culture with modern game mechanics, "Westward Journey: Werewolf Heist" has created a brand new game genre. I hope it can let more people understand and love Chinese culture.
5. @AppearanceIsJustice: Oh my god, the characters in this game are so good-looking! Especially that Sun Wukong, so handsome! I'm going to play it just for the looks!
6. @StrategyMaster: Finally, there is a Journey to the West-themed game that requires brainstorming! Deduction, strategy, betrayal, it sounds exciting just thinking about it. This will definitely be a breath of fresh air in the Werewolf game world!
7. @BuddhistGamer: Although I don't usually play games, the theme of "test of faith" and "inner redemption" really touched me. Maybe I can get some life inspiration from it?
8. @VoiceActorFangirl: Oh my god! I can hear it, the voice acting is definitely done by my favorite voice actors! I'm going to support it just for this! I look forward to hearing more of their performances in the game.
9. @HardcoreGamer: I hope this game isn't too easy, it's best to design some high-difficulty hidden plots. If possible, I hope there are multiple endings to increase the replayability of the game.
10. @CasualGamerXiaoMei: Although I'm not very good at playing Werewolf, this Journey to the West version looks super interesting! I hope there will be a newbie tutorial in the game so that newbies like me can get started quickly~
......
At this time, Pei Shengnan and other potential competitors bribed game media to publish negative news about Taoyuan Township's new game, "Code: Village."
Media Name: Game Vanguard Network
Author: Chen Zhiyuan
Title: "Code: Village": A Village Simulation Game Lacking Innovation
Recently, Taoyuan Township Studio's highly anticipated new game "Code: Village" has finally revealed more game details. However, after careful study, we have to say that this game does not seem to meet players' expectations, but instead appears mediocre and boring.
First of all, the core gameplay of "Code: Village" lacks innovation. The game focuses on the two themes of "village construction" and "interpersonal relationships", but these elements have been repeatedly used in simulation management games in the past decade. Players need to manage resources, develop agriculture, and build infrastructure. These mechanisms are no different from other farm management games on the market. Even if some so-called "Chinese characteristics" elements are added, it cannot hide the outdated gameplay.
Secondly, the game's visual performance is disappointing. As a game released in 2024, the picture quality of "Code: Village" is only at the level of 5 years ago. The character models are rough, the scene details are missing, and the lighting effects are perfunctory. At a time when players have increasingly high requirements for picture quality, such performance will undoubtedly affect the game experience.
Furthermore, the plot design of the game appears superficial. It is reported that the game attempts to explore social issues such as rural revitalization, but based on the currently released information, the plot is too idealized and lacks in-depth consideration of real-world problems. The character shaping also appears thin and difficult to resonate with players emotionally.
In addition, there are many problems with the game's operating system. The interface design is complex and cumbersome, making it difficult for novices to get started. The operational logic of many functions is not intuitive enough, which increases unnecessary learning costs. These problems may cause a large number of players to lose interest in the early stages of the game.
It is worth mentioning that the business model of "Code: Village" has also sparked controversy. The game adopts a basic free + in-app purchase model, but many core gameplay contents are locked behind the paywall. This approach will undoubtedly affect the balance of the game and may lead to a huge gap between "recharge" players and ordinary players.
Finally, the technical problems of the game cannot be ignored. In recent small-scale tests, many players reported that the game had serious lag and crashes. Considering that there are less than two months left before the official release, it is worrying whether these technical problems can be resolved in time.
In general, "Code: Village" gives the impression of being a hastily completed work. It has neither made breakthroughs in gameplay, nor has it reached industry standards in terms of graphics, plot, etc. In today's highly competitive game market, such performance may be difficult to win the favor of players.
We hope that Taoyuan Township Studio can seriously listen to player feedback and conduct a comprehensive optimization and improvement of the game before its official release. Otherwise, "Code: Village" is likely to become a major Waterloo in the gaming circle this year.
......
Lu Yu pushed open the door of the conference room, and a wave of anger came towards him. The newly recruited members of the entire project team were gathered here, their faces full of anger and unwillingness.
"This is simply nonsense!" Li Ming, the company's new technical director, slammed the table, "How could our picture quality be stuck at the level of 5 years ago? We stayed up all night to create those lighting effects!"
"That's right," Zhao Xiaohong, the art director, took over, "Rough character models? Missing scene details? Are they lying with their eyes open?"
Planner Wang Lei couldn't help but interject: "What do you mean the plot is superficial? We hired several rural grass-roots workers as consultants, and the script was revised more than a dozen times."
The entire conference room was filled with injustice and anger. The three project leaders, Mo Xiaoxuan, Hua Wu, and Wan Xiaotong, sat at the head, frowning and saying nothing.
At this moment, Lu Yu cleared his throat, and everyone's eyes focused on him.
Seeing the project team members were very angry after reading this negative review, Lu Yu was secretly delighted, but on the surface, he took the opportunity to comfort everyone.
"Everyone, calm down," Lu Yu's voice was calm and firm, "I understand how you feel. We have put so much effort into this project, but to be slandered like this is indeed unacceptable."
He looked around and continued, "However, we must look at this issue rationally. Although this article is full of malice, it is not completely without reference value. For example, it mentions the operating system problem, which is indeed something we need to further optimize."
Lu Yu's words slightly eased the atmosphere in the conference room. He continued, "We must believe in our work and believe in the players' vision. When the game is officially released, players will naturally use their actual experience to verify the authenticity of this article."
"That's right," Zhang Wei finally spoke, "General Manager Lu is right. The most important thing for us now is to concentrate on making the game well. Use facts to refute these false statements."
Lu Yu looked at his colleagues who were gradually calming down, but he was secretly delighted in his heart.
This negative review is exactly what he wanted!
It not only dampened the morale of the project team, but also laid the groundwork for his future actions. But on the surface, he still maintained a concerned and encouraging posture.
......
As the development of "Code: Village" entered a critical stage, the project team's work rhythm became more and more intense. However, just when everyone thought everything was going according to plan, an unexpected problem quietly surfaced.
Initially, the problem was not obvious. The planning team raised in a routine meeting that the task design in the player feedback test version was too monotonous. But soon, this seemingly simple problem snowballed.
Zhang Wei convened a meeting of core members to discuss. "Our initial project idea was to make a game that integrates traditional culture and modern rural construction," he said with a frown, "But now it seems that the combination of these two elements is not as smooth as we imagined."
Wang Lei took over the topic: "That's right, we found when designing tasks that many traditional cultural elements conflict with the concept of modern rural construction. For example, how to promote modernization while protecting traditional buildings? This balance is difficult to grasp."
Technical Director Li Ming also expressed his concerns: "Moreover, in order to present traditional cultural elements, we have developed many special visual effects and interaction mechanisms. These additional development tasks have greatly increased our workload and may affect the release date."
Lu Yu had been listening to everyone's discussion quietly, and finally spoke at this time: "I think we are now facing two choices. First, stick to the original plan, continue to improve the game content, but may miss the best time to market. Second, simplify some functions, speed up the development progress, and strive to be on the market before our competitors."
Zhang Wei fell into deep thought. Simplifying functions means giving up some carefully designed content, which violates their original intention of pursuing high quality. But if they stick to the original plan, they may lose the market opportunity.
At this moment, Art Director Zhao Xiaohong put forward a bold idea:
"Maybe we can try a new approach. We can first release a core gameplay version, and then add those traditional cultural elements in subsequent updates. This will ensure timely listing without losing our unique features."
This proposal sparked a heated discussion. Some people think this is a good compromise, but others worry that it will affect the player's first experience.
In the heated debate, Zhang Wei finally made a decision: "Okay, let's follow Zhao Xiaohong's suggestion."
......
As the "Code: Village" project encountered difficulties, Lu Yu was secretly delighted in his heart, and he saw an excellent opportunity to realize his plan. In the next few days, he began to spread some seemingly innovative but actually absurd ideas in the project team, calling them "innovative game development process" and "optimized workflow."
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First of all, Lu Yu proposed the concept of "flexible working hours". He said passionately at a general meeting: "Colleagues, we all know that creativity is not divided by time. Why limit yourself to the 9-to-5 framework? I suggest we implement completely free working hours, and everyone can choose the time when they are most inspired to work."
This proposal immediately aroused the interest of some young employees. However, project leader Zhang Wei frowned and said, "Will this affect team collaboration?"
Lu Yu was prepared: "No, we can use online collaboration tools. Moreover, I believe that giving employees more freedom will give full play to their creativity."
Although Zhang Wei still had some doubts, under Lu Yu's persuasion, the project team decided to try this "flexible working hours".
Then, Lu Yu put forward an even more outrageous idea - "random character development method". He explained: "We all know that the biggest feature of "Code: Village" is the rich NPCs. In order to make these characters more unique, I suggest we adopt a random draw to design character characteristics."
"How exactly does it work?" Art Director Zhao Xiaohong asked curiously.
Lu Yu said with great interest: "We can make a 'character characteristic roulette', which contains various personalities, backgrounds, hobbies, etc. Every time we design a new character, we spin the roulette and create according to the results. This can avoid routines and create more unique characters."
This idea caused a lot of controversy in the team. Some people think that this is too casual and may lead to inconsistent character settings. But some people think that this method may bring unexpected creative sparks. Under Lu Yu's strong promotion, the project team decided to try this method in the design of some minor NPCs.
But Lu Yu didn't stop there. He also put forward the concept of a "reverse development method".
"We always start from the gameplay to design the levels," he said, "But what if we do the opposite? We can first design some seemingly impossible levels, and then think about how to let players pass these levels. This can inspire our creativity and design more novel gameplay."
This idea confused many people. Technical Director Li Ming questioned: "Will this make the game too difficult and affect the player experience?"
Lu Yu said with a smile: "This is exactly the problem we want to solve. Through this method, we can think of some unprecedented innovative gameplay. Moreover, don't players now like challenging games?"
Although many people in the team were skeptical about this idea, under Lu Yu's eloquent tongue, the project team decided to try this method in some small levels.
With the implementation of these "innovative" methods, the project team's work efficiency began to decline significantly!
"Flexible working hours" made team collaboration difficult, and there were frequent situations where someone needed a module but the person in charge was not online. Although the "random character development method" created some interesting characters, it also produced many uncoordinated and even absurd settings, which took a lot of time to adjust. The "reverse development method" made the level design fall into a bottleneck, and the designers spent a lot of time but were unable to come up with reasonable solutions.
However, whenever someone raised a question, Lu Yu could always find various reasons to defend these methods.
He said: "Innovation is always accompanied by growing pains. The difficulties we are encountering now are precisely because we are breaking the routine and exploring new possibilities."
In this atmosphere, the project team's progress slowed down significantly. Some employees began to become lazy, thinking that anyway, they are "innovating", so it doesn't matter if they are slow.
Lu Yu then took the opportunity to encourage everyone, "Don't put too much pressure on yourselves; creativity needs time to settle. We must believe that good works are slowly polished."
Zhang Wei began to realize that something was wrong. He privately approached Lu Yu to express his concerns: "Director Lu, I think some of our practices may be affecting the project's progress. Should we return to a more traditional development model?"
Lu Yu cleverly shifted the topic to their competitors: "Little Zhang, do you remember our competitors? They are using the traditional development model. If we do the same, how can we stand out in the market? I believe that as long as we stick to this innovative approach, we will eventually create a revolutionary work."
These words made Zhang Wei fall into deep thought. Although he still had some doubts, he had to admit that what Lu Yu said made some sense.
Thus, under Lu Yu's leadership, the development of 'Project: Village' fell into a state that seemed innovative but was actually inefficient. Although team members were 'working' every day, the actual output was very little. Lu Yu was secretly pleased; his plan was being realized step by step—by doing this, he could not only slow down the project's progress but also seek more benefits for himself at a crucial moment.