Almighty Game Designer

A while later.

Taylor sent a message: "Ouch, spit blood. It was a lot farther than it looked, and I walked two legs shaking like jelly, and I didn't know if I was halfway there. ”

“Great. All I'm thinking about right now is jelly. ”

[Taylor busy]

Chang Xiu Yaben was delighted. I thought it was less than an hour before I wrote back. I sure as hell wouldn't keep the players waiting that long. At first glance, the message was silent.

I just had time to reply! And then it got busy again.

I can't help it, Chang Xiuya continues to wait.

Finally, an hour later, Taylor sends a message again and asks whether Chang Xiuya should go to the crew area or the cockpit.

Chang Xiuya thought about it, and the scene suggested that he should try to find the survivors, so he chose the crew area.

Thus, Chang Xiuya and Taylor chatted unsuccessfully, the rhythm of the plot was well controlled, always broken in a more critical place, leaving Chang Xiuya to wait a little bit for Taylor's reply.

Moreover, the plot is progressing at an appropriate pace, not too fast, and Tyler will ask some key questions from time to time to let Chang Xiuya make a decision.

Chang Xiuya guided Taylor through the spacecraft to find food and places to stay.

“I want to go to the tail of the ship and set up a tent at the engine, which will be warmer," Taylor asked. But that engine has radiation. Can you help me find out if it's going to take 150 rads a night? My costume sensor says the radiation level is probably this value. ”

Chang Xiu Ya shocked, what? Let me check the radiation levels?

Looks like this is a more critical plot, and Taylor can choose between a warm but radioactive stern, or a cold but radioactive interior of the ship.

Chang Xiuya doesn't know how to choose, 150 rad radiation. What is that?

No way, Chang Xiuya feels that this option should be critical and can only turn on the computer search: “150 rad”.

Soon, the search results came out: "There were no short-term effects below absorbed dose (rad) 150. ”

Chang Xiuya replied: "Go to the reactor. ”

Taylor replied, "Speaking from the heart, my heart is empty right now. ”

“I mean, thank you for helping me through today - definitely the worst day of my life. ”

“So I've decided to believe you, as to whether this radiation intensity is really okay… I guess it won't be until tomorrow morning. ”

“With this pleasant thought… Good night, wherever you are. May everything be all right tomorrow. ”

[Taylor busy]

Chang Xiuya dragged the screen, gone, and went busy again.

“Are you sure you want to wait one night? I don't think I can sleep well tonight...”

Chang Xiuya was really worried. Although the internet said that 150 rad of radiation was fine, who could guarantee that this was a trap? But there's no use worrying, and it seems to take hours for Taylor to get back to me.

Chang Xiuya stood up and said to Chen Qiao: "Master, can I bring my phone back? ”

Chen Jiao said: "Hmm? Is the first day done? In fact, whenever you reply to the plot, you will move forward normally, and there is no need to reply at the first time. ”

Chang Xiuya nodded: “Well, I know, but... I still want to take it back...”

Chen smiled and laughed: "Okay, then take it back. Don't let Taylor wait too long. ”

Chang Xiuya said: "Okay, thanks to the manager! ”

……

After seeing Chang Xiuya's reaction to the game, Chen Qiao was generally relieved, and the play was a good recreation.

In previous life, Lifeline was still on fire because of the recommendations of several famous writers, such as Ma Bo-yong, on Twitter.

Soon after the game came out of the Chinese version, it was ranked first on the pay list, which is arguably a success for a text adventure game as simple as this.

In fact, this game is not so much a novel idea, it's just an interface that looks like chat software, plus a virtual character that keeps talking.

It doesn't even perform as well as some text adventure games from a few years ago, and if you pull out all the text and read it, it becomes tasteless.

But the real beauty of the game is that its narrative rhythm depends not on the reader's reading speed, but on the real time flow rate.

Every step of Taylor's action, players have to wait patiently, a few minutes, a few hours longer, in a way that perfectly fits the social rhythm of the Internet era, breaking constant contact, not only does it leave people tired, it fills them with anticipation.

Thereafter, as the plot progresses, Taylor will encounter many difficulties, even many dilemmas, and players will easily play badending, and each death of Taylor will lead to players' hearts.

So, the players had to check it out a lot, or communicate with each other, carefully come up with an idea for Taylor, scared that a wrong idea would kill him.

In the process, the players' identity with Taylor grew steadily, as if he was not a virtual AI, but a real person, a person trapped in space waiting for his own rescue, a friend...

And this sense of identity, elevated in the eventual happy yending, releases the emotions of the players, as if it really saved a good life.

And this triple stimulus of rhythm + plot + identity gives this seemingly simple text adventure a powerful vitality that has won a lot of positive reviews.

……

The next day, Chen Qiao released Lifeline.

In fact, this game is only hands-on by Chen Jiaoxi to Zheng Hongxi. It is also to test the current number of users of Thunder Game Platform.

This time, Lifeline did not hang in the official app store, but on the Thunder Game platform for only a dollar.

At the same time, Chen Qiao also sent a tweet.

“The new game Lifeline is already hanging on the Thunder Game platform. It's a text adventure game, where an astronaut's ship crashed and he accidentally contacted you. The whole process is him talking to you constantly, without images, plain text, in-game and out-of-game time. Remember to push this game open. ”

No other propaganda preheating, just a tweet, and a push from Thunder Game Platform. All players who log in through the Thunder Game platform will see an extra game that can be played after spending $1 to buy it.

“Hang on, wait and see how much it sells around the clock.” Chen Jiayu said to Su Jianyu and Zheng Hongxi.

The two guys are also very sloppy. Once they come to this game, it's too simple. Second, there are no other channels to promote it. Without official referrals, how many players can see and download it?