Magic and mechanics coexist, berserker, gunsmith and other classes, multi-skill combos... Last year, "Crystal Nucleus" broke out among many ARPGs with these personality labels, and is expected to compete for the best action mobile game in 2023.
Netizens shouted - don't play baby bus, this is the new choice of "8 million players"!
But what do games look like today? Where does the actual inspiration come from? Taking advantage of the recent test of "Crystal Nucleus", the editorial room specially invited the game planner Cat Brother to talk about the game and his views on the joking claims of netizens.
It cannot be summarized by "3D version of DNF"
Editor: Many players call the game "3D version of DNF", what do you think of this statement?
Cat Brother: Players have this impression mainly because "Crystal Nucleus" and DNF are MMOARPG type games that emphasize the sense of combat blow and refreshment, and take multi-class, multi-skill and brush equipment as the core experience of the game.
There are many games in this genre, and DNF can be said to be one of the most successful, and well-known game works with the most players, so players will use DNF as a comparison to other games to facilitate communication.
But! "Crystal Nucleus" is not a 3D version of DNF that can be summarized. The large-scale 3D-based box court replica design, unique aerial combat system, and rich game exploration content and teamwork and PVP content are all difficult to achieve in 2D games, waiting for players to explore and explore by themselves.
Editorial room: How to understand the "magic punk" theme of the game?
Cat Brother: Regarding the establishment of the "magic punk" theme, we hope to create a world full of romantic feelings for players, which is different from the apocalypse and disaster that have become popular in recent years. The Atlantan we imagine is not oppressive, it should be sunny, high-speed, and can arouse people's imagination and pursuit.
Inspired by the "steampunk" genre, they are based on the Victorian European world and successfully shape a rapidly evolving world of romantic imagination and conflicting minds.
On the other hand, we retain the magic elements that appear in a large number of Western fantasy works, and integrate it with industrial and mechanical senses. Magic and machinery work together to eventually form the "magic guide", in which the world energy comes from the special substance "crystal nucleus".
The theme "punk" means a kind of resistance, innovation, and transcendence. Unlike the high threshold of magic, the magic guide industry is accessible to everyone.
The explosive extravagance of the magic industry will impact the inherent order of society, people no longer rely on the mutual protection of the group, and everyone has the opportunity to be themselves. Based on the trend of thought and pursuit of freedom, countless stories have happened.
Editor: What did you do for this game?
Mao Brother: The members of our core team are loyal players of MMOARPG games in the era of terminal games, but most of the ARPG mobile games on the market are card cultivation.
Neither in terms of the number of skills, the growth of a single character, the diversity of equipment builds, and the richness of multiplayer team cooperation, it could not satisfy the thrill of fighting and brushing when playing MMOARPG games on PC at that time.
Our core team members have cooperated for seven or eight years, first doing MMO games with martial arts themes, and later making two Japanese anime IP card mobile games and ARPG mobile game products.
As a result, the team has accumulated rich experience in multiplayer server technology and combat design of action games, and is confident that it will make an ideal ARPG
Is it a single-player adventure, or an MMO?
Editorial room: What games have influenced you the most?
Brother Cat: The biggest influence on me in MMO games is World of Warcraft. The huge game world view, immersive world design, and rich and diverse gameplay allow every player to find their own game fun in the game.
It is a reference model for all subsequent MMO games, especially in the multiplayer gameplay mechanism design of large-scale team quest boss battles, which has brought us a lot of inspiration.
Editing room: Why did the copy choose to make a box court map?
Cat Brother: The idea of the stereoscopic box court mainly comes from the integration of the advantages of the open world and the traditional copy push, which not only retains the combat coherence and sense of goal of the traditional copy game, but also integrates some of the scene immersion and exploration that players value now.
The design complexity of each of our box courts is relatively high, and it is formed by connecting multiple linear replicas, and there is no need to enter and exit the replicas for level loading during the process of player pushing.
When the player guides the entire box court, it will also be presented to the player in the form of an overall exploration area, so that when the player enters the box court again, he will find some hidden paths and exploration content designed in it, and will have a new understanding of the entire map.
In the new Void Trial Group Book in this test, there are different sub-worlds in each layer of the Void World, and players defeat the bosses of each layer of the sub-world to obtain gifts to improve their strength, reduce the difficulty of battle, and are more conducive to players defeating the final boss of this layer; Players can also ignore the sub-world and go directly to challenge the boss of this layer. Then the difficulty of the battle will be relatively high, and you must rely on your absolute strength to win.
Editing room: Is "Crystal Nucleus" more focused on single-player experience, or multi-person collaboration?
Cat Brother: The early stage of the game is mainly based on single-player adventure and personal growth, players can more immerse themselves in the game world view, familiar with character skills and experience personal growth in the adventure.
As the player's level increases, multiplayer cooperative gameplay will gradually be introduced, allowing players to cooperate to defeat more powerful enemies, such as the Void Dungeon opened at level 45, and the 8-player team quest opened after the full level, and the top epic equipment in the later stage requires players to raid these difficult multiplayer dungeons.
But considering that many players don't have much time on mobile to team up to play quests every day, the full-level Abyss gameplay that can be singled can also allow players to obtain epic equipment. A simple version of the team quest will also be provided to this part of the player, and players can raid through the quick matchmaking mechanism, the difficulty of the quest is reduced, and the reward is slightly reduced, but it can meet the basic needs of this part of the player.
No matter how strong the seniors are, they are afraid of being young
Editor's Room: What is your favorite class when fighting? Why?
Brother Cat: I have experienced all the professions in depth and like them very much, and recently I have played more about the profession of gunsmith.
This is a very rich class of operation, based on whether the skills used by the player belong to melee combat or range, can change the form of general attack, very test the player's application of short-range and long-range skills, and use it well to play very ornamental combos and changes.
Editors: What's more in this test than the last one? Which design is most satisfying to you?
Brother Cat: In this test, we have made relatively large adjustments to the game's equipment enhancement system and circuit system according to the suggestions of players.
Add open mini-games, high-level unlocked Void Quest, Magic Chess Group, Mine Battle PVP and other team gameplay, so that players have more ways to play after reaching the full level.
It's hard to say what is most satisfied, but the large Titan server boss we designed in the mine battle is very worthy of the player's expectation, and I hope you can experience it for yourself.
Editing room: The same type of predecessors are also very good, how to break through "Crystal Nucleus"?
Brother Mao: Most of the excellent predecessor products of the same type have been online for many years. In recent years, with the improvement of game engine technology and hardware product performance, the MMOARPG category has been able to achieve many unimaginable art effects and combat experiences on the mobile terminal.
In terms of battle scenes, we implemented Unreal mobile support for multiple dynamic light sources and static lighting switching of the entire scene, and also created multiple weather effects for key battles, so that the scene can undergo huge visual effects changes during the battle.
In terms of combat AI, the behavior tree system has been improved, and functions such as player skills, parallel nodes, and AI collaboration have been added. In addition to ensuring that players have a closer combat experience to ACT games, we have layered the battle AI of large bosses, and each layer will bring different combat methods and operations.
Whether it is in level design or boss battle AI, it can achieve a level of complexity that cannot be achieved by previous ARPG games, which will be the key to the breakthrough of "Crystal Nucleus".