Recently, we noticed that a two-dimensional game "Wildfire Lumen" opened the first online test "Bailing Test", and announced the test PV. The unique art style and retro weird setting are eye-catching. The game is paved with ink, with the overhead Republican style as the background, and integrates retro, fantasy, monster and other elements to depict an oriental fantasy world where humans and demons coexist.
After being fortunate enough to experience the first beta, its innovative wargame gameplay also brought a high degree of strategy and playability to the game. Make the worldview design more eye-catching.
So, in this article, the author will combine the results of the experience to make an analysis of the unique theme and art style design of "Wildfire Lumen", or the arrangement of wargame gameplay, to see:
How is the unique visual presentation of Wildfire Lumens constituted? How is great wargaming designed?
A unique visual presentation of Wildfire Lumens
As a second tour, the art of "Wildfire Lumen" is a big plus. It is a good-looking standard, but also with rich details and personality carving.
The game is mainly thick painted, but the color is not heavy, and the color preference is to grasp the taste of the Republic of China, more elegant and cool color matching, and the look and feel of lighting is also yellow with a little green, so that the scene is not so bright and beautiful, becoming calmer.
Even for characters with relatively rich color matching, the colors are not very bright, and the elegant color selection is the unified direction of the game
Because the picture does not pursue bright color styles, and uses colors to go towards several stable color palettes, on this basis, the visual presentation of "Wildfire Lumen" also achieves the following 5 characteristics, so that non-vivid colors become particularly conspicuous.
(1): The unique aging effect of the Republic of China
First, let's start with the outermost layer of "skin" that visually presents. The graphics of "Wildfire Lumen" will always give people a particularly retro taste, in addition to the traditional design directions of characters, architectural styles and color control directions, the most striking thing is the game's mask, or a layer of filters to make the retro feeling stronger, such as the following legend:
This is part of a background image of a persona's dialogue.
From the picture, we can zoom in on the details of the scene and see that the picture uses a layer of noise + sharpening filter effect to treat most of the background, especially the potted plants framed by the red circle and the pillars of the exterior, the effect is very obvious.
The noise + sharpening effect is also very noticeable on vertical paintings
Using this layer of masking, first of all, can match the old color matching style of the game, give more mottled effects, so that the picture has a texture of old photos, giving people a sense of reminiscence. At the same time, the sharpening effect also strengthens the contrast of the edges, so that the outline of the details can be pulled apart in a relatively light color scheme, so that it will not be pasted into a piece.
(2): Pave the floor with colorless colors such as black and white to better set off the color matching of the game theme.
In addition to this layer of noise + sharpening filter, what supports the overall light color scheme is the black and white colorless color used a lot in the game. The scope of practicality is also particularly broad, from UI and interface to the color matching of the costume, and finally including some special effects, the use of black and white is particularly significant, as shown in the figure below:
The picture above is the battle screen of the game, from which we can see that from the UI interface to the 3D modeling scene are a large number of combinations close to black and white color matching, such as many UI and interface are black base, white as the outline line label. Black and white paving can first pull the layering and contrast of the picture from the look and feel, so that many details are set off more obviously, such as the pattern of skill icons, because the picture contrast is pulled quickly, and the pattern can be seen clearly with a very small circle and only 2 color matchings; In addition, the bricks of the scene, the signboard of the teahouse, and the corners of various buildings, no matter how large the difference in the size of the landscape, the details are very clear.
At the same time, the foil of the character is also more direct, whether it is the standing painting stage or the Q version 3D modeling stage of the game, the image of the character becomes clear, and will not be overwhelmed by the light color matching and the unity of tone. And more importantly, the reuse of black also reflects the atmosphere of the national style ink color, which is just in line with the national style that the game wants.
Black and white paving the floor, which can better set off the overall color matching of the character in one color system, so that she can look full of details
(3): Clever use of color block + gradient effect to enrich the picture
Elegant colors are not without a way to enhance the details, highlighting the highlights of the picture to attract the eye.
The game is very good at using gradient effects to enhance the shaping level of color matching, and the game often uses clear clothing design to make color areas, so that different costumes can simply cut different parts with one color, highlight the layering of color, and make people look bright, for example:
For example, in the gradient color, some gradient colors are very bold, and some eye-catching color embellishments are used at the highlights of the gradient to achieve unexpected effects. For example, in the picture below, the green leaves and the high-gloss surface of the ink-colored typewriter are marked with a little red mixed to enhance the effect, which is the finishing touch, which suddenly makes the picture no longer monotonous, and makes the effect of the grease of the typewriter's old-fashioned machinery.
In addition to the rich and shiny tones of gradient red, the reflective surface of the reflection on the keyboard is also drawn, and enough details are also the reason why the game uses light colors but not monotonous
For example: the characters in the figure below use color blocks to distinguish, different areas with a color, some cut or even very fine, but also with a little geometric structure, such as triangle, circular outline, such as the small seven top in Figure 2 can use color with the design of clothing to make quite eye-catching details, and still maintain the elegant style of color matching.
Although the details of the character Dusty Yangzi are very complex and the strokes are relatively soft, we can still see that her color matching is clearly divided into four very clear color fields: robe white + metallic yellow + spirit gray + light blue curls
The whole dress uses the three main colors of red, white and black with circle + triangle to make a very beautiful clothing design, which is very eye-catching
Secondly, while the color is blocked, the edge line of the vertical painting and the scene is also relatively weak, some are very thin, and some can't even see the edge contour line, which also makes the edge of the picture less divided, and makes the look and feel of the vertical painting and the 3D modeling villain more unified.
In the game, whether it is a standing painting or a scene, the presence of edge contours is not very strong
(4): In terms of lighting, most of the game is backlit and backlit to embellish characters
Let's take the following picture as an example to see the characteristics of lighting after the vertical painting is arranged:
First of all, we can see a very obvious feature, that is, "no light on the face". There are few frontal lighting characters, and most of the face is both shadowed areas; Secondly, the back lighting is mainly divided into two types, 1 type is from the back down, this type of character is bathed in light, the top light effect obviously strengthens the sense of sacredness and mystery of the character, combined with the game Republic of China strange talk, retro, Taoist fantasy style setting style, for warlocks and Taoists and other characters have a good bonus effect, such as dust Yangzi and Shentu Lina.
The second category, that is, most characters choose the backlight from the rear, this scheme is to let the positive direction of the character is covered by shadows, providing some characters with some cold, melancholy and eerie atmosphere, which is also in line with the style temperament of the game setting.
Coupled with the fact that many characters' standing paintings are not very smiling, it looks even more gloomy
If our current 4-point summary will find that the game in terms of mask effect, color design, lighting, is as much as possible to ensure that the picture can be close to the theme of the Republic of China style and do some personalized exploration, this is also the visual presentation of "Wildfire Lumen" can not only personalize, let players at a glance not forget, but also very integrated, no unnecessary design and slots.
Of course, this set of treatment is not completely without problems, the biggest regret is still lacking in the sense of material, because the backlight blurs the details + the shaping of gradient blocks can easily lead to the lack of rich brushstrokes of the picture, which in turn affects the embodiment of different materials, such as hair and metal objects do not have their unique texture effect, especially the hair wants a whole piece of paper floating in a special play.
The character's hair holding Maru's hair is particularly papery when it moves
(5): Supplement and use of details of the Republic of China
With the stable control of the general direction, the output of details is a matter of course.
In terms of the costume structure of the characters, the game explores the costumes of the Republic of China, including cheongsam, new clothes of the Republic of China's civilization, long robes, suits, horse coats and road uniforms, etc., and has made a complete absorption of the costumes, not only that, but also made more designs and differences in more detailed classification.
This kind of "civilized new clothing" that often appears in Republican girls' schools should be a very classic Republican-style clothing
As far as the well-known cheongsam is concerned, a simple cheongsam will have a variety of styles and matching styles even in the trend of the Republic of China. For example, if you make a fuss about the cuffs and hem of the cheongsam, the opening of the sleeves and skirt becomes an inverted large-sleeved cheongsam. The character Shentu Lina in the game uses the inverted large-sleeved cheongsam as the basic template for the design, and is accompanied by some waist and slip skirt designs, so that the character becomes both Republican style and can also ensure a little youthful temperament.
These meticulous thoughts are also expressed in more sparse patterns, jewelry, and ornaments, such as Chinese knots, tassels, Chinese prints, and embellishments of Taoist symbols.
On top of this, the underlying UI is also as much as possible to maintain this national style, as far as possible in the details are not wrong. For example, the large interface often uses the layer of rice paper color matching and texture as the base, such as the large-scale use of plum blossoms and lotus flowers and other styles with obvious stamen shapes marked by the national style as icons, all of which make the temperament of the game always tense and quite complete.
Analysis of the wargame play of "Wildfire Lumen"
Warchess is born from board games, which require players to move units to engage enemies in a specified spatial range, or design class restraint to make a gameplay similar to wargaming; Or design multiple scene terrain to make a scene play with geographical interactivity; Or set the attack/defense range, advocate the offensive and defensive battle of the area, and different emphasis designs have completely different experiences.
Good wargame can often do all three, such as the former "Fire Emblem"
The core expression of "Wildfire Lumen" is more about the regionalized garrison of warchess as the main axis design.
The game has an object called a unicorn lantern as the core, and in the early stage, there will be 3 to 4 different places on the map.
Whether the purpose of this round is to kill all enemies, or special settlement missions such as escape missions and surviving all rounds, enemies will attack the unicorn first, and the player must also protect the unicorn lantern from enemy attacks.
The survival result of the unicorn lamp not only affects the evaluation of the settlement, but even more, can not save all the unicorn lantern or even directly judge the loss, end the game, it can be said that from the mechanism to the reward and punishment and the judgment of victory and defeat, protecting the unicorn lantern is the first meaning of the game warchess part.
If the unicorn lamp is not protected, the evaluation will be dropped, and the unicorn lamp will be directly gameover
Therefore, in terms of strategy and skill design, most of the design foundation of the game is also based on the idea of integrating protection + attack. So how exactly does the game do the defensive warchess game? It has the following two characteristics:
(1): Direct attack determination and response strategy design
Since the center of the game is no longer the characters themselves but third-party units, the strategic purpose changes from fighting each other to stopping attacks. Therefore, some traditional thinking needs to be changed appropriately.
The first thing to change is the game's attack judgment, "Wildfire Lumen" presets the enemy unit's attack judgment to a turn, and the player has to give various commands to the opponent's attack route knowing it.
Each turn, enemy units are targeted with yellow lines
The second thing to change is the behavior itself. Destroying enemy units becomes one but not all of the unit's behavioral commands, as long as the instructions to stop enemy units from attacking the unicorn lantern are correct and feasible. So the game makes several designs in the attack, for example:
1 is that the attacks of different character units have different knockback distances, and reasonable use of the knockback distance can protect the unicorn lantern from damage without killing the opponent's unit.
Knock out enemy units by one position to stop them, and you can also block enemy attack routes to stop them
2 is the supporting position design, with occupational characteristics to preserve the unicorn lamp. For example, the shield guard can protect the unicorn lamp at close range, and when it attacks, it can also directly change the direction of the enemy's attack, so that the enemy's attack is misaligned; For example, some warlocks have various auxiliary skills, such as some shield skills are human-lamp integration, which can be added.
For example, you can use shield guards to change the direction of enemy attacks, so that an enemy unit is facing their own people, allowing them to attack each other
In addition, the scene also has some trap elements, such as lightning, such as falling holes; There are also some obstacles such as rock bunkers that also have scene interactions that block and injure enemy units, and the combination of these aspects makes this unicorn lantern defense battle change a lot. And what makes this set of plays richer is the design of the second major point.
(2): Turn-based design of points and phased formations
Wildfire Lumen's wargames are a real-time strategy.
The game limits the number of characters that can appear in each round by a fixed number of points. And the number of points required for characters of different strengths is also very different, which forces players to reasonably match the appearance of characters of different classes and styles to achieve the optimal solution, rather than piling up single-strength characters.
Arrange the troops according to the number of points in the upper left corner
Secondly, after dropping units in the first turn, enemy units will continue to storm in different directions each turn until the maximum number of units in this game is reached; Our units, on the other hand, can accumulate points based on kills and summon new characters to participate in the battle each turn according to the situation. And can be dropped anywhere on the battlefield.
The result of such alternate recruitment makes the game's battle situation not clear from the beginning, but the result of each round of alternating development, which greatly deepens the playability, and players must make correct judgments every turn to ensure that the unicorn lantern will not be attacked by sudden situations.
Also because of the greater uncertainty of round rotation, the game also intimately gives a retrospective mechanism, so that players have the opportunity to regret each game, and appropriately lower the threshold.
It can be said that this set of warchess gameplay is very mature in the concept of defensive battle. The only problem is that there is a relative lack of some richness, for example, in order to make a street wind map that seamlessly connects with the vertical painting and scene, the game reduces the variables of the map, lacks highly interactive scenes, and most of the scenes are flat ground; For example, the individualization of enemy units is not obvious enough, lack of restraint of enemy and our own troops, and so on.
But in terms of current completeness, the playability and depth are pretty good.
summary
Wildfire Lumen is the kind of "good game" that brings out the most of its features. When it comes to its advantages, its own setting and art style, as well as its garrison gameplay, can make players who have experienced it very impressive.
However, the lack of width is its problem, and the relatively concentrated content is also prone to the problem of welding the upper limit in advance, and the inherent system cannot dig out more content, which has a great impact on long-term operation of the game. However, this time is only a test, and the official operation in the future will depend on the change of multiple versions after that, whether the personality can be completely bloomed and a richer system can be made, which is expected. (Text/Maruko)