Today, "Infinite Warmth" finally opened its first online test. Previously, the enthusiasm of the players was already very intuitive. As early as last week's live broadcast of the actual machine, it had a number of topics on Weibo's hot search.
同时海外社区也掀起了一轮热潮，其中不乏「I can’t wait」「The best game」等讨论。
As the fifth-generation work of Nuan Nuan's IP, "Infinite Nuan Nuan" has great ambitions. As early as the end of 2022, the product was exposed with the 10th anniversary of Paperstack, with the company's founder Yao Runhao personally serving as the producer, and Kentaro Tominaga, the director of the "The Legend of Zelda" series, as the executive producer.
It first put forward the concept of dress-up + open world, light combat, heavy exploration, 3D platform jumping, and classic dress-up matching as the core gameplay. Obviously, for Stacked Paper, this is another crab that no one dares to gnaw yet.
If you know Papergames, you should know that the experimental temperament of "Infinite Warmth" is extremely suitable for the development path of Papergames - for a long time, Papergames has been good at using new technologies and designs to break through the category ceiling, such as "Shining Warmth" and "Love and Deep Space", which have achieved phenomenal results. So much so that some industry insiders once said that if you look back at the best-selling results of Stacked Paper products, you will find that they have never lost.
However, no matter how many jewels are in front of you, it is still difficult for everyone to imagine what kind of product "Infinite Warmth" is? More counterintuitively, why does the costume change have to be rolled up to the level of an open world, is it really worth the risk of folding paper?
In the context of this test, I would like to try to answer these questions.
01 The core is still a change of clothes
When "Infinite Warmth" was first exposed, everyone was attracted by the label of open world. But after actually experiencing it, I found that the costume change is still the core element of "Infinite Warmth", and almost all the design of the game is extended around this.
First of all, the gameplay loop revolves around changing clothes. Players need to collect materials and make costumes in the large world, and then explore the next area with the ability to bind the suit.
There are three types of suits that I have experienced so far. The first is the ability set that is more exploratory, such as the floating set "Light Bubble" that can extend the time in the air;
Another example is the Purification Set "Pure Wind", which is the player's main attack method, which can purify demonic monsters and tainted plants.
Together, these sets support the player's ability to explore, and at the same time, they can be seamlessly switched between sets to form a combo-like gameplay.
For example, while floating in the air, Nuan Nuan can switch to the Purification Cover to launch a falling attack, purifying enemies in the area, or use it to break through the floor and go to the underground dark room.
The second type can be understood as a production ability set, such as a cleaning set for bathing small animals, as well as a fishing set, an insect trap, and so on. With these suits, Nuan Nuan can collect all kinds of materials, unlock the Pokédex, and craft new clothes.
The third type is more like a service to trigger a specific plot, such as the "reunion covenant" that is depicted at the beginning of the game.
Among them, the unlocking method of the ability set is somewhat similar to the skill talent tree, which requires players to collect "Fantasy Stars" in the big world to light up.
Judging from the current interface and game flow, "Infinite Warmth" should be the same as mainstream open-world multi-platform games, with multiple world regions, and gradually released with the version, each region will have a different talent suit, corresponding to a new theme ability and gameplay.
In other words, the set of "Infinite Warmth" is like a character, or a class, or a skill in an open-world game of the past. This time, the change of clothes in the Nuan Nuan series was raised to a higher position. The added value of clothes has been greatly improved, and it is no longer just a matching bonus, but a real game-changer for players. Both new and old players should have a stronger desire for clothes.
Moreover, judging from the sets obtained in the early stage, they also maintain the high design standard of the Nuan Nuan series.
For example, "Pure Wind" uses elements such as grass green laurel wreaths and Roman shoes, and the overall style is simple and elegant, creating a healing and divine inspiration;
The inspiration of "Light Bubbles" should be taken from jellyfish, in line with the theme of floating, with a high-waisted small puffy skirt design, when the skirt floats, with the bubble special effect that bubbles, the overall light and flexible.
According to the official statement, "Infinite Warmth" is made using the UE5 engine, which has overcome many problems in the industry, and the texture and material details of the clothes are very close to the real texture, and can also present special effects that are not in reality. For example, on the skirt of the "Reunion Covenant", we can clearly see the dynamic effect of the stars shifting, and in the big world, this complex effect can still maintain the visual expression.
Stitches, creases, textures are clearly visible
At the same time, "Infinite Warmth" also retains the matching characteristics of the series, and players can freely match clothes according to their needs and aesthetics. Considering that in the big world, taking into account the presentation of the quality of clothes, and designing the corresponding gameplay space, the challenge faced by the production team should not be small.
Specific to the gameplay of the big world, "Infinite Warmth" is also designed around costume change.
In the past, the open world mostly emphasized high-pressure, high-intensity combat, after all, this is a way to verify the strength of the player. But "Infinite Warmth" is different, clothes are in the exploration of the big world, and it thinks more about how to let players play the ability of clothes.
Among them, platform jumping and level solving have become the main gameplay content in the early stage of the game.
From the start, the game features a variety of small levels that test the platforming ability. Once you're in the first town, you'll find Poofs, Fantasy Stars, and Chests that you'll be able to hunt up and down in the buildings of the setting to collect them.
Some tricky whimsical stars still need your imagination to use. For example, to collect the Fantasy Stars above the rooftop, you can take a hot air balloon ride and jump from a high altitude, or you can jump to an air cushion on the roof and jump higher with the help of bouncing.
In a way, you might think of the whole world as a big level where platforming and puzzle solving.
At the same time, there are many separate levels scattered throughout the world, during which you will use a variety of sets with different abilities.
In addition, the game has a more lenient decision on jumps, as long as the warm knee reaches the edge of the platform, you can climb the platform. Even if it is a story boss battle, Nuan Nuan's combat operation is relatively light, and you can still overcome the enemy by jumping.
Taken together, the lower barrier to entry, the emphasis on exploring and collecting large world gameplay, and the platforming and puzzle-solving levels...... the focus of Infinite Warmth has been relatively clear - it tries to use a lighter and more casual way to allow dress-up players to experience the fun of open-world adventure.
02 So, why open world?
Although it seems that the structure of "Infinite Warmth" is self-consistent, I guess many people still have questions: has the costume change really reached this level, is the open world a necessary option, and how much improvement can it bring?
Let's start with the conclusion, Grape Jun thinks that the open world may just be the design result of "Infinite Warmth", rather than its design intent.
First of all, if Nuan Nuan IP wants to reach a new level, it must find richer forms of content expression, of which the open world may be the most suitable.
In previous generations, Nuan Nuan was not a product driven purely by dress-up gameplay. It has a solid world view, specific to the story of saving the Miracle Continent, and the character qualities of Nuan Nuan have been repeatedly discussed by series players.
It is only in the open world that these contents can be interpreted more concretely. For example, the first few high-quality cutscenes intuitively show the fatalism often mentioned in Nuan Nuan's IP.
The game is also introducing more advanced narrative techniques, such as incorporating fragmented narratives into the scenes. The murals at the beginning of the game should imply a lot of background clues about the Wonder Continent.
Content like this has already begun to be studied by many warmers just because it was mentioned in the preview live broadcast. It can be seen that IP players are enthusiastic about the plot and world view.
Players are already looking at the game with a magnifying glass
The production team is well aware of this, and as such, they are trying to build a truly believable continent of wonders. For example, the ecological operation of the entire open world is based on real rules and simulations. When it rains, newsstand owners quickly put away their newspapers, and when clothing stores are renewed, the windows are filled with enthusiastic customers......
Furthermore, all the clothing materials in the game are based on evidence. If you want to make clothes made of glittering fabrics, you need to collect pollen, and if you want to make crystalline decorations, you need beaded butterflies. Moreover, in the early stage of the game, you will not be able to accurately track the collection points of materials, but you will be asked to go to the river or grass in a certain area according to the prompts, in a specific weather and time, and find them by yourself.
All kinds of materials are packaged in a way that fits the worldview
You'll find that the details of the world view of "Infinite Warmth" are everywhere, and the more you play, the deeper your understanding of the world will be.
Don't think that these contents are dispensable, the reason why Nuan Nuan can become an IP symbol is indispensable to the core of the story behind it. Yao Runhao once said, "When buying clothes, in addition to the material and design of the clothing, people will also want to understand the designer, the story behind the clothing or humanistic feelings. The value of clothes itself is closely linked to the world, and without the world, the value of clothes cannot be reflected. 」
And with the gradual unlocking of the game's progress, I guess that "Infinite Nuan Nuan" will most likely appear on the classic story stage of the series - in the Miracle Continent, snow, desert, city and other scenes, if these can be done well, it should be able to respond to the expectations of all Nuan Nuan series fans.
Secondly, when the costume changes into the big world, the vision of traveling around the world finally shines into reality. At the same time, the game's photo function will usher in an epic enhancement.
You may think that taking pictures has long been the standard configuration of big world games, and it is not worth mentioning. But Nuan Nuan is a dress-up game that is good at art, and a good photo function is a dimensionality reduction blow in its hands.
After all, dressing up itself is a very aesthetic and sharing way of playing. The most common game behavior that Nuan Nuan players do is to match Nuan Nuan with a few beautiful clothes and take a few beautiful photos.
However, in the past series of works, Nuan Nuan can only be regarded as posing in a fixed background, and the richness of the photos is limited. And when Nuan Nuan walked out of the studio, the value of taking pictures was multiplied.
Warm clothes, movements, camera focus, exposure, filters, with the weather, lighting, and scenes of the big world, players can produce films almost anytime and anywhere. Even, the same place, the same set of clothes, under different camera angles and configurations, will show a different texture.
Previously, Kentaro Tominaga said in an interview that in the vision, these unique photos shared by players should arouse the interest and willingness of other players to explore the big world and explore check-in points, thus forming an interesting cycle.
Thinking of today's popular check-in culture, taking photos is likely to set off a UGC boom of "Infinite Warmth", and even boost the game out of the circle. This is not impossible, it not only satisfies the pursuit of beauty that Nuan Nuan players have always had, but also has the opportunity to radiate to those players who like to dress up their characters in various games and shoot videos of their characters.
Players are already looking forward to the "Cyber Check-in".
Finally, Infinite Warmth should also be designed to meet the needs of the game, which is gradually leveled up by dress-changing players.
In the past, when we reviewed Shine Warm, we mentioned that it met the aesthetic needs of dress-up players for high-quality clothing. With the popularity of today's game culture and the awakening of the public's player consciousness, dress-up players are also growing, and everyone should want to experience more diverse game fun in addition to the main gameplay.
Judging from the current community feedback, some players will want to explore the Miracle Continent and experience an adventure with Big Meow, some will want to fish and catch insects in the big world and enjoy a carefree life, or some will just want to try some more complex game forms, and even be interested in combat.
In other words, "Infinite Warmth" is not blindly following the trend and betting on the open world, its core is still costume change, but on top of this, its dreamy world and supporting gameplay may be an insight into the potential demands of costume players. The introduction of a variety of mainstream gameplay and big world content is also likely to help Nuan Nuan IP and dress up gameplay to expand the market.
03 Steady improvement of paper-stacking creative ability
In fact, on the whole, this time "Infinite Warmth" still has imperfections. But after all, this is just a test, as long as the general direction is determined, it is not difficult to solve the grinding details. In fact, I experienced the early demo of Infinite Warmth last year, and the quality and detail of this test have improved somewhat.
And the most critical point is that "Infinite Warmth" reveals that the creative ability of Paperfold is steadily improving.
On the one hand, this is reflected in the technical power. When "Shine Warm" was launched, everyone thought that the dress-up game had rolled up from 2D to 3D, but "Infinite Warmth" made a more difficult open world, and the clothing material has been further improved.
And in the big world, the details of the game are multiplied. For example, when she switches suits, she will make a sound of matching shoes when she walks, and when she wears a dress with a long skirt, she will lift her skirt before moving forward.
On the other hand, the challenge of Papergames this time is different from the past, and there is no benchmarking case for reference in the gameplay structure of the open world, or even the commercial selection. For them, it's an all-encompassing challenge in the field of originality. Judging from the structural cycle and content gameplay design of the current game, they have at least found the right direction.
A lot of the time, Papergames is like an underrated manufacturer. If you look at the historical product achievements of Paperstack, you will find that it has never lost, "Warm Around the World", "Miracle Nuan Nuan", "Love and the Producer", "Shining Nuan Nuan", "Love and Deep Space", each work can squeeze into the top three best-selling lists.
Therefore, now let's look at Paperfold, not to mention the various categories of products it has rolled out in recent years, just the above-mentioned women-oriented track proves that its creative ability is steadily improving with each generation of products.
Of course, it's too early to discuss whether "Infinite Warmth" will be a success. But Yao Runhao has previously said that they believe that really good creators can theoretically succeed continuously. And their dream is to be a company that continues to create great work.
Therefore, we might as well regard "Infinite Warmth" as another test of paperfolding, if they can win this battle, they can once again eat a track without opponents, with the content and gameplay attributes of the open world, the product will also break through the original circle. At the same time, this will also mean that the creative path and ability of Papergames have once again been fully verified. Now, folding paper is just one step away.