Today (December 16), "Magic Tower", which has undergone four tests, finally ushered in a full-platform public beta.
This highly anticipated open world new product has been widely discussed by players and the industry every time it has been tested and demonstrated before. As soon as it was launched, it immediately detonated the market heat, quickly achieved the 1st place in the free list, and rushed to the 6th place in the best-seller list in 10 hours.
In recent years, as the popularity of "open world" gameplay continues to rise, more and more players have become enthusiastic about this kind of gameplay mode full of freedom, exploration and substitution. Especially due to the increasing maturity of such games on the mobile end, more players can experience a good sense of exploration on mobile phones, further expanding the audience of this category.
But the popularity of the category does not mean that the open world is a kind of "wealth code", on the contrary, it is definitely a category that is challenging in multiple dimensions such as design, optimization and operation. To complete the seamless big world, there are both technical difficulties and many content fillings. At the end of the day, if a game can't present a world that's real and vivid with a unique experience, it's hard to attract and retain users.
So why does "The Phantom Tower" continue to receive such a high level of attention?
What is unique about the construction of the big world? Is there enough padding in the gameplay content? The mature beta version is now available, and perhaps now is the best time for us to examine this new open world product.
Wasteland light science fiction, different big world
Science fiction, wasteland, open world, these three words are not new words. Science fiction game works abound, the setting of the doomsday wasteland worldview is also frequently appearing in the international AAA masterpieces, and the open world has been the darling of the game industry in recent years. But after combining these three keywords, it will form a set of progressive logical settings, showing a unique worldview charm.
Such works are not uncommon, such as the critically acclaimed Fallout series. But on the mobile side, especially the domestic self-developed products, this kind of open world product that integrates science fiction and wasteland is very rare. The emergence of "Magic Tower" undoubtedly broke the dilemma of the lack of works in this genre, which can be said to be the "people who dare to eat crabs" in the domestic mobile game industry, and this is also a major difference in the positioning of "Magic Tower" and other similar products.
So, what kind of world has "Magic Tower" created?
In terms of specific settings, "Magic Tower" depicts the discovery of a habitable planet Ada star in space, and the discovery of mysterious cosmic matter "prime energy" on the planet. In the face of mysterious cosmic energy, human beings did not suppress their curiosity, and began to study the "original energy" and even built the "magic tower" to obtain the "original energy".
Like other "technological reflection" science fiction works, the setting of "Magic Tower" does not jump out of the catastrophe caused by the loss of technological control. Ida Star became a dangerous place full of radiation during the original energy leakage accident, and the human camp split into two major factions: the organization called "Sons of Ida" founded by the survivors of the disaster, and the "Haigard" who wanted to control the surviving humans. All of the plot revolves around the struggle between these two factions, and the player's character will embark on his own adventure in this chaotic battle.
This is a light sci-fi world set by The Phantom Tower, and you might think that such a worldview is not too much of a surprise, but the game also uses excellent cartoon rendering to present a new open wasteland world. Walk around the game, you will clearly feel the charm of science fiction, wasteland, open world and other elements in the "Magic Tower" organic combination.
In terms of screen performance, the world of "Phantom Tower" does not show the "wasteland" scene that everyone has always known. Most science fiction works will use dark, gloomy tones to emphasize the serious atmosphere of the end times, but when the player opens the "Magic Tower" to Ada Star, they will find that the world presented in front of them is not compatible with the above words such as dark and gloomy. The world of "Magic Tower" is bright and gorgeous, which is not that the production team does not understand the meaning of "wasteland", but they want to present a world that is different from stereotypical cognition.
Green mountains, birds and beasts, the beauty in front of you makes people think that everything in the end is an illusion, but the ruins and walls and mutant monsters that run rampant in the wilderness remind the player that this is indeed a wasteland that is experiencing turmoil. The bright hues simply tell the player that by working hard and holding out hope, we can restore the planet to its former life.
In terms of character image, the exquisite two-dimensional painting style is supplemented by a variety of accessories full of details, and each character has its own distinctive characteristics. Whether it is an NPC or a character played by a player, the appearance and personality can be distinguished by various details. At the same time, many elements of the game are designed to supplement and depict the world setting of Ada Star a little bit.
For example, the design of the tooling in the character costume, the goggles and mechanical ear in the accessories, the wild treasure chest of the mechanical structure, the robot NPC, the vehicle system full of science and technology, etc., it is these bits and pieces of detail that show the industrial, sci-fi, wasteland and other elements in the setting of Magic Tower. Along with the player's journey of exploration, these details will make the player intuitively feel the uniqueness of the world of "Magic Tower".
How to make the open world "big and not empty"?
Avid open-world players must understand that the world is never necessarily "bigger is better"
Admittedly, we need a vast stage for us to gallop, preferably "everything we see can reach", crossing the mountains, crossing the grasslands, flying away from the sky, enjoying the scenery, such an experience is really fascinating. Therefore, we often can't help but measure a product in terms of "map scale", thinking that the larger the map and the more places, it is a good game with a large amount of tubes.
However, from the feedback of many players in the past two years, it is not difficult to see that players want to see the "ingenuity" of the production team more than those automatically generated "big and empty" maps. Rich and interesting scene interactions, delicate customs and customs of different regions, and diversified gameplay content may be the fundamental reason why players can immerse themselves in a big world. And this is undoubtedly a major problem that all open-world products have to face - how to make the open world "big and not empty"?
For this puzzle, "The Phantom Tower" is clearly prepared.
First of all, "Magic Tower" understands the fun of "interaction", and successive tests have continued to enhance the player's interaction and detail with the scene. The interactive framework and action of the game itself are relatively rich, swimming and climbing, skateboarding, and flying freely with a jetpack, all of which are fun designs.
With the optimization of previous tests, the current character movements and interactions are not only more natural and smooth, but also many details are easier to immerse people in. For example, when crossing an obstacle, the characters facing different heights of the obstacle will present different climbing actions. When going to areas of different temperatures, characters also have differentiated reactions: they rub their hands to make a fire in areas with lower temperatures, and fan the wind with their hands in areas with higher temperatures. The interaction with the scene object such as pushing the box and cutting down the tree can feel the collision feedback between the character and the object.
It can be said that "Magic Tower" is trying to restore the various reactions of the characters in a real world, trying to make the characters interact with the ground, the surface of the water, and even the air. These details you may not deliberately feel, but they can subtly make your journey real and believable, thus avoiding the pure running away of "empty and boring".
Secondly, "Magic Tower" also pays attention to the gameplay to let players always "have something to do". The diversified experience in the game not only covers the basic dimensions of exploration, combat, and cultivation, but also provides users with heterogeneous gameplay such as racing and rhythmic music games, so as to provide fun for players with different preferences and tendencies.
In addition to the next quest and battle, we can relax and study the recipe and enjoy a meal, or exercise our balance through the ability training devices all over the map, drive a vehicle and compete with friends in racing mode, and parkour jumping in the world of Clarel's dream machine. Do not underestimate these more casual content, it is with the filling of these gameplay, so that players in the world of "Magic Tower" really feel "life", with enough freshness and emotional release channels.
Self-research cuisine
At the same time, compared with many similar products, "Magic Tower" also attaches more importance to the construction of "social". Provide players with a social scene based on not forcing them to participate in social interactions. Players have the freedom to be "lone wolves," but the game also naturally guides players to feel social content.
These social gameplay are not just challenging gameplay content such as "brush dungeons" or "PVP", but "living" experiences like visiting Moby Dick Island Amusement Park. Invite friends to hang out in the playground, ride a roller coaster and carousel together, grab a doll and chat for a few small talks, what a pleasant moment. If you can develop your own interpersonal relationships in the game, then the world of "Magic Tower" will become a stage for players to adventure and live together, which will undoubtedly greatly enhance the overall sense of substitution of the world and allow players to completely integrate into it.
How to keep the world alive on the basis of expanding the scale is a proposition that involves many constraints such as technical power, design ideas and production costs. The answer given by "Magic Tower" may not surprise you too much, but it has given a relatively good faith in quality and quantity, and it is presumably able to give players an unforgettable journey.
The Future: Write a new chapter with players
It can be said that "Magic Tower" has presented a framework with considerable potential in terms of theme, screen and gameplay content, so on this basis, the follow-up operation will undoubtedly be an important dimension of the long-term development of IP. At this point, "Magic Tower" has actually shown a clearer idea - to continue to communicate with players.
If you've followed information about the previous tests of The Phantom Tower, you should be impressed by the "list of bald heads" given by the production team. Based on the principle of transparency and openness, the production team will fully absorb user feedback through various channels inside and outside the game for each large-scale test, and optimize the various experience dimensions of the game accordingly. The adjustment of the production team members "balding" one by one has made the public beta version have the degree of completion it has today.
To know that the diversified framework of "Magic Tower" will surely attract users with various circles and preferences. Quadratic, open world, MMO, social, different focus players will definitely have a lot of suggestions for the game. In order to allow different types of users to have a better experience, and at the same time try to guide players to try more new dimensions, it can be said that they have responded to user suggestions at all levels.
From the "bald list" covering the three angles of vision, gameplay and system, it can be clearly seen that from the red dot prompt and UI position, to the content update and gameplay adjustment, "Magic Tower" can basically give more accurate and comprehensive feedback for user opinions.
Some players believe that some modes of the game have a higher degree of "liver", and the production team has adjusted the content of "source enhancement" and "divine personality system". Some players are worried that the PVP mode will cause the crushing situation of krypton players, and the production team will focus on designing a fair arena with balanced values to ensure that the player's operation dominates. Through repeated communication with users, "Magic Tower" can be described as a continuous evolution.
Of course, the official launch of the public beta is just a new beginning, and "Magic Tower" still has a long way to go. It remains to be seen how far games can bring the charm of the open world to mobile in the future. But this transparent and smooth communication channel, as well as the high execution of user suggestions, at least can ensure that the game will develop in the direction that players want, which will undoubtedly be an important source of potential for the future development of "Magic Tower".
I believe that many players have fantasized about being able to live in a magnificent and strange world, and the open world is the type of gameplay that can best lead us to this experience. I'm excited to see more domestic games like Magic Tower emerge and see more domestic teams challenge this difficult category. It requires technical accumulation and long-term polishing, but it can also open more windows for us and break through our imagination. "Magic Tower" will show us what new possibilities in the future, let's start with this public beta.