How Did The Open World Become The "Code Of Wealth" In The Gaming Industry?

"It's 2020, who is still buying "GTA5"?"

As an old game that has been released for 7 years, "GTA5" has seen incredible sales. Not only did it not decline, but it also went upstream, often climbing into the top of the steam imagination list. According to Take Two's August earnings report, "GTA5" has sold 135 million copies.

There are many reasons why "GTA5" is so popular, one of which is its interesting open world. In "GTA5", you can travel freely in the city and do everything you want, and you can also be a good citizen and obey the law. Players do whatever they want in Los Santos, deal with various NPCs, and complete bizarre side missions.

This kind of free and unconstrained experience is difficult to give in a linear level game. With the development of video games, more and more games begin to adopt this design, even "Halo: Infinity", which became popular with ghosts and beasts last month. Although the official claim that the game is not a completely seamless big map, players can return to the explored area, which is essentially an open world in disguise.

Nowadays, more and more games begin to adopt the open world design, but can the open world be directly equated with fun?

Obviously it can't. Although some open worlds like "Red Dead Redemption 2" are well received, some are not to be seen because of too many repeated experiences. These games seem to have a huge world. As a result, the experience in each area is the same. The vast number of mission points makes people feel scalp numb.

The above-mentioned situations are not limited to stand-alone games. The open world of online games also has this problem. It’s just that, compared to the open world set by some programs, online games are made up of real players. In terms of interactivity and experience, there are naturally some advantages. After all, you never know that the strange players you meet can be adjusted. What a good job.

Take "World of Warcraft" as an example, it is also an open world, but because there are other players in the world, there will be situations such as looting monsters and loot. Of course, this does not mean that manufacturers can be lazy. In terms of the richness and development of the online game development world, players also have high requirements.

After all, judging from the classic stories that took place in the online game world, many of them are based on the basic design of the game. Even if part of the script in the online game world is written by the player, multiple themes must be given so that the players can enjoy. Play.

The open world of online games requires a differentiated experience, as do mobile games, but many domestic mobile games are currently in an embarrassing situation. Most of the so-called "open worlds" are empty and boring, and some of the better ones just build up the most basic framework with lackluster content.

This is not that domestic mobile game manufacturers do not have the corresponding strength, but it is not a small challenge to build an open world with high risks, unknown returns, and bias towards stand-alone. But it is not that no one is willing to try, Mihayou's "Original God" is one of them. Although the completion of the game is not very high compared with those mature masterpieces, in the mobile game, the open world of "Original God" can still come up with something worth talking about.

The most obvious one is the environment structure of the game. With the support of high-precision modeling and excellent lighting and special effects, a very vivid "Tivat" continent has been constructed. Dynamic weather, day and night changes, and the interaction between the environment and the weather make the whole world come alive. Compared with those immutable and rigid worlds, the world of "Original God" undoubtedly has a little more "aura" and has become a solid cornerstone of an excellent open world.

This constitutes the basic framework of a mature and open world. Among similar products, many products fall into this step. They may have top-notch picture quality, but they are not so vivid in the dynamic shaping of the open world. Players live in the real world, and they will inevitably substitute some of their usual cognitions when experiencing the game, such as time is flowing, weather is changing, etc. An open world that is not vivid enough can easily reduce the player's sense of substitution.

Each area has its own piece of scenery, coupled with the real environment blessing, stimulates players' desire to explore. Human beings are born with curiosity, when you run across the plains, wading across the river, jumping from the top of the mountain, gliding in the air, overlooking everything in the Tivat continent. You will be curious about the view on the farthest mountain where you can see. Perhaps "The Original God" did not give you specific guidelines, but the clearly diverse scenery and the distribution of different monsters and treasures will also stimulate you to continue to explore.

You will continue to be surprised at your own "ignorance" and at the same time be pleased with the "discovery". Perhaps this is one of the goals the game wants to achieve.

The vivid world is more like a basic framework, which must be filled with diversified and rich content to ensure the playability of the open world. For "Original God", fighting, gathering, exploring, solving puzzles, cooking, etc. are all important components to ensure that the entire Tivat continent is interesting enough.

These basic content will give birth to players' independent exploration of gameplay. For example, gathering and cooking. In the game, when you find some ingredients, you will involuntarily think of what kind of dishes it can make; when encountering a monster camp, you will give priority to observing the terrain, whether there are elements, and whether there is blasting Things and so on, because you know, there are many solutions in the game that can do more with less. The game will not teach you how to play, it only tells you the basic rules of the world. All creation and exploration require you to do it yourself.

It is precisely because of this that players can diverge their minds, create more gameplay, and make this open world more diverse and interesting from another perspective. The more so, the more interesting it will be, and a virtuous circle will be formed over time.

But only with these conventional content, it is difficult to guarantee a low-repetition gaming experience throughout the open world. The reason why "Original God" can make an open world that exceeds the pass line depends largely on two systems, one of which is element interaction.

There are seven elements of wind, fire, ice, water, thunder, grass, and rock in the game, and different elements can have corresponding reactions. This interaction between different elements provides more "problem-solving ideas". Whether it is fighting or interacting with some scenes, there will be more than one solution. Sometimes, making good use of the interaction between elements can make it easier for you to solve problems.

For example, when facing the wooden shields of Qiuqiu people, it is much easier to burn them with fire attributes than with brute force; and in places with water, using thunder attributes can not only increase the electric shock The BUFF can also form a chain of lightning; when the lightning attribute and the ice and fire attribute meet, it will trigger an "overload" and cause a lot of damage.

In the world of the original god, when you are fighting or interacting, there may not necessarily be suitable elements to cooperate. At this time, multi-role switching plays a role. In "Original God", different characters often have different skill attributes. During the battle, you can switch between the roles to allow the two elements you want to interact. This improves the player's sense of operation. On the other hand, Let players have more choices when fighting.

Combat is an important part of the game experience. For an excellent open world, players must not become "brainless brushes" early. The diverse and low-repetition combat experience can stimulate players' desire to explore , Thereby enhancing the fun of the whole world.

Another reason why the open world of "Original God" is interesting is its relatively high degree of freedom. The game splits the main storyline into different stages. Only when the corresponding adventure level is reached can the corresponding mission be unlocked. This brings a certain blank period, and there is no task to remind you that there is something to do. You can better feel the whole world, instead of rushing to push the main line and miss the scenery along the way. At the same time, this brings a staged growth experience. At different stages, your ultimate goal is different, and the game experience will naturally be biased. But in general, you are still free. Most of the content of the game emphasizes the fun of "exploration". It does not force players to deal with intensive tasks. Many achievements and unlocking content are more like taking advantage of the trend.

Although many side tasks in many games are not done and will not affect the progress of the main line, players are always a hurdle. "Did I miss any plot", "Does the branch have more rewards", once these thoughts linger in the player's mind, then this open world is no longer so free, you will always see those branch missions consciously or unconsciously. You feel that they are saying "DO IT" to you. "Original God" weakens the existence of the task, after all, for the open world, the joy of exploration is the first. Without the oppression of tasks, players can enjoy the charm of the entire world. Although the game also has a phased purpose, it does not affect your free exploration of the entire Tivat continent.

You can spend a whole day wandering in the mountains and woods, trying to climb the highest mountain in the whole continent. You can also collect all the ingredients and become the king of Tiwat chefs. No one urges you, and there will be no time for your opponent to kidnap you. The rhythm of the game is under your control. You can savor the world without thinking more, and focus on "making yourself happy."

But this open world is not without its shortcomings. Because it needs to be based on equipment, the holy relics (wearing equipment) in the game need to be updated and strengthened in the later stage, and the characters themselves also have levels and other content to be developed. In addition, in order to interact with the corresponding elements, you must at least have a basic level of skill for each attribute character. If you don't have a basic equipment, you can't use mechanisms to make up for the difference in values ​​in the later battles. The conversion of these materials is also a lot of value, which has certain requirements for the player's liver degree.

If you want to experience more areas, you have to burst your liver. This may be something that many players don't want to see.

In addition, it is more unit-priced and free, which may make players who are accustomed to online games and traditional mobile game routines feel novel while increasing part of the learning cost.

The open world should not be a simple shell. It should reduce the repetition of the experience and enhance the sense of interaction while carrying a large volume of the world, so that players have a sense of being in the real world.

Conclusion:

Today, more and more games have been added to the family bucket of the open world, but some have added bricks to the mature framework to build an increasingly exciting open world; and some games treat the open world as a gimmick , Has become a means to attract players. Of course, there are also some games similar to "Original God", the framework is completed, the content is filled and passed, there is still a certain gap between excellence and perfection, but because the path is right, there is still a lot of potential.

With the improvement of players' aesthetic ability, the attractiveness of open world games that are purely stacked with materials and gameplay will inevitably become weaker. Only those carefully polished and charming open worlds can firmly grasp the hearts of players.

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