Introduction: For players, "Journey to the West 2" is more of an emotional sustenance, which not only carries the players' nostalgia for that era, but also carries our joys and sorrows. More like a witness, in the 19 years of its operation, he has personally accompanied us through the first decade in the history of China's online game development.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="250" > the beginning of a glorious era</h1>
Suppose, the history of the development of domestic online games can be compiled into a book. Then, in the front and will be highlighted, there must be NetEase's self-developed "Journey to the West 2".
Millennials have given us so many surprises, for better or worse. Its arrival has changed the direction of many things, and also allowed many players to step into a broader world from the smoke-filled arcade game hall - Internet cafes.
The domestic online game industry has developed rapidly, and many popular classics have emerged during this period. For example, the online game "Stone Age" developed by JSS in Japan; the large-scale Q version of the 2D role-playing online game "Magic Baby" developed by the Japanese multi-game company and produced by Square Enix; and the first Chinese self-developed 3D online game "King of Kings".
This is a turbulent era, and it is also known as the "first year of China's online games". In 2002, the domestic online game industry was booming, and turn-based MMO games relied on simple and easy-to-understand gameplay, excellent social systems, and fun brought by combat, cultivation, and interaction, which captured the favor of a large number of players. Foreign online games led by "Stone Age" and "Magic Baby" have risen rapidly, and the momentum is in full swing.
It was at this time that a turn-based MMO terminal game independently developed by China stood out from the adversity of strong enemies around, relying on the "national style" as a characteristic selling point, successfully occupied the domestic online game head market, and became the "new favorite" of players at that time. It's just that – Journey to the West 2.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="250" > successful, not overnight</h1>
Speaking of this 19-year-old IP, many players' first impression is "Journey to the West 2", but in fact, the story and development of this series have to start from the beginning in 2000.
On November 19, 2000, Ding Lei personally visited Tianxia Company, when the domestic online game industry was in the ascendant, and Ding Lei already had the idea of getting involved in the online game market. After communicating with the senior management of Tianxia Company, the two sides hit it off immediately, and on the same day, Ding Lei decided to invest in Tianxia Company and expounded this idea on the board of directors of NetEase.
A few days later, Ding Lei replied that NetEase would not invest in Tianxia Company but would make a wholly-owned acquisition. However, this process was very long, and it was not until March 2001 that NetEase completed the acquisition of Tianxia. However, before that, Tianxia's staff had already moved to the Tianhe Software Park in Guangzhou, and developed a new generation of online games called "Journey to the West Online" in a 1500-square-meter office.
This is also the predecessor of "Journey to the West 2" that players are familiar with, and players who have actually played this game or are familiar with this past are more willing to call it "Journey to the West 1".
As the first original online game independently developed by NetEase at that time, "Journey to the West 1" can be described as born with a "golden spoon" and was placed high expectations by the company's senior management. Its game quality is self-evident, in terms of art scenes, "Journey to the West 1" uses PS software to make the entire JPEG format map, making its picture appear softer, more excessive and more natural in visual experience.
According to the dictation of Liang Yuchong, producer of "Journey to the West 1": "Many scenes in "Journey to the West 1" have very large sizes, some of which are as high as 25 standard screens. Only one Chang'an City is equivalent to the capacity of a single-player game, although it is a 2D game, its capacity can be controlled within a CD disc through compression technology, and some stand-alone game discs at that time had a capacity of up to several CDs. ”
Advanced server-side technology, high-specification picture quality, and in line with popular elements and gameplay. Coupled with the game "National Style" and "Journey to the West" and other special selling points, it is undoubtedly more in line with the preferences of domestic players, which makes "Journey to the West 1" have a fairly good selling appearance.
Perhaps, it is precisely because of the excessive refinement that I want to make a sufficiently beautiful online game. "Journey to the West 1" had more stringent requirements for computer hardware configuration than for online games on the market at that time. This also made many domestic players at that time bitter, at that time, the domestic home computer was not yet popular, the hardware configuration was even more backward, and the development time of the game itself was less than a year. In technology, planning, marketing, art and many other aspects, there are big or small problems, game flashbacks, bugs, plug-ins and other issues emerge in an endless stream.
The first independent research and development of the folding knife did not dispel NetEase's confidence in this game, or for the "big talk westward journey" IP, the game at the beginning of the launch, although ushered in a variety of problems, but also let NetEase see the independent development of a "national style" game, can bring broad prospects.
Thus, after learning the first lesson, a game work spanning almost the entire history of China's online game development was born.
After personally taking over the baton of "Journey to the West 1", "Journey to the West 2" began a career like "opening and hanging". In that era when home computers were not yet popular, most players used Internet cafes as a "base" to try all kinds of fun and novel games.
However, since the launch of "Journey to the West 2", domestic Internet cafes have ushered in a very peculiar phenomenon: almost half of the Internet cafes, walking in and looking around, can see the types of games opened by players, and there is only one kind of "Journey to the West 2".
NetEase, which learned the lessons of its predecessors, has not only optimized a lot of game art resources and programs, but also upgraded its servers to ensure a normal playing experience for players. You know, at that time, a single domestic online game server could generally only support hundreds of people online at the same time, but "Journey to the West 2" achieved a single server that could support 3500 people online at the same time.
The benefits brought by a large number of optimizations and stable servers are extremely considerable, the number of players is rising steadily, and the game relies on excellent social and economic systems and other special gameplay, gradually consolidating the position of "one brother" in the domestic online game market. After a few years of operation, the number of players has not decreased, but has increased, and the highest number of simultaneous online users (data as of 2012) has exceeded 1.26 million at one point.
This is mainly due to the game's excellent economic system and gameplay design, and the game contains a large number of missions that need to be teamed up and coordinated with other players: catching ghosts, sealing demons, and so on. Often inadvertently, time passes so quietly, at this time the game makes a major feature of the "social" system is also quietly playing a role, whether it is chatting with members of the team, or gang channels and friends private chat, which greatly enhances the stickiness and playability of the game.
Because of a ghost catch, the acquaintances will meet the next time to do the task together, discuss the character decoration and the cultivation of "baby", etc., get the appreciation and affirmation of others in the game, and make friends with game partners who feel sorry for each other, which is the most proud thing for players in the game at that time.
Of course, a large part of the reason why the game is still popular is due to the excellent economic system setting. This is also the most important core factor that the IP of "Journey to the West" and even the two series of "Fantasy Journey to the West" can always be evergreen.
And NetEase's unique emoji "Bun Face" also added a rare cute point and memory to the chat at that time, making the empty chat extremely interesting: #99, #103, #89, this kind of shortcut key can be described as easy to come by now.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="250" > the first decade, the second decade</h1>
"The first year of China's online games" has laid a solid foundation for the subsequent take-off of China's game industry. NetEase's self-developed "Journey to the West 2" has undoubtedly become one of the most representative domestic online games at that time and even now. The gameplay and framework of combat, social, and economic construction have provided extremely valuable experience and ideas for domestic games in product design.
But for players, "Journey to the West 2" is more of an emotional sustenance, which not only carries the players' nostalgia for that era, but also carries our joys and sorrows. More like a witness, in the 19 years of its operation, he has personally accompanied us through the first decade in the history of China's online game development.
Not long ago, when I heard that "Journey to the West 2" launched a new game content "Qinling Palace", I had some feelings. On the one hand, it laments that after 19 years of changes and innovations, the game still maintains a strong vitality; on the other hand, it is lamented that the years are merciless and Shaohua is easy to pass.
Hopefully, "Journey to the West 2" can accompany players and spend another wonderful decade...