Chapter 216 So what is the answer?

After the Arbor Day team building, Tianba Studio returned to normal work.

Chen Ba also convened the development team to discuss and formally establish the development plan for the new game "Ancestral Tree".

The new game is tentatively scheduled to be an adventure game.

Because this game is the studio's first stand-alone game with a buyout model since the beginning of the year, Chen Ba attached great importance to it. He not only wrote the game plan himself, but also drew a prototype picture of the protagonist Shubao.

Shubao is a code name! He is a primitive man wearing animal skins and with his face painted with various mineral pigments.

That’s right!

The protagonist of the game "Ancestor Tree" is set to be a primitive man.

But this is just an early image...

When Shubao dies more than 100 times and plants 100 ancestral trees in the game, his clothing and attire will evolve to the tribal era.

300 times is the feudal age, 500 times is the steam age, 700 times is no different from modern people, and 1000 times directly evolves to the interstellar age.

This is actually using the changes in the protagonist Shubao's image to reveal the changes in time in the game, and by the way, remind the player how long it has been since the first adventure...

Shubao lived in a forest with dense vegetation. One day, he had a sudden idea and climbed up the tallest tree in the forest. He saw a touch of blue in the distance.

From that moment on, walking out of the forest to see what the outside world looks like and what is at the end of the world became the thing that Shubao wanted to do most.

So he set out on his journey.

This is the beginning of the story and the starting point of the journey...

Chen Ba adopted Xiao Lu's suggestion and made "Ancestral Tree" into a complete Roguelike game.

In other words, except for the first and last levels, where the maps are fixed, the maps of all the levels in between are completely random.

Why do the maps of the first and last levels remain the same? "Because this is the answer!"

"Shubao died on the journey. He was unable to reach the end of the world and see the scenery he wanted to see. But his son and grandson continued his journey..."

Chen Ba explained: "It was not until countless generations of Shubao's descendants finally reached the end and returned to the familiar forest that they understood the answer their ancestors had spent their entire lives searching for."

"So what's the answer?"

Xiao Lu asked, "Starting from the forest and finally returning to the forest, did Shubao and his family use their lives to prove that the earth is round?"

Chen Ba: “…”

Holy shit the world is round.

It turns out that this is not Shubao, but Columbus? The answer they are looking for obviously has nothing to do with whether the earth is round! "Can the riddle man die?"

Seeing that Brother Ba didn't say anything and insisted on letting him guess, Xiao Lu was speechless and said, "I hate solving puzzles the most. Let's just say, can't we just talk about this kind of thing openly?"

"Hahaha!"

Luo Ji laughed out loud. Seeing Xiao Lu looking at him unkindly, Lao Luo quickly put away his smile and explained, "Isn't the answer obvious? Look at this picture..."

Xiao Lu came over.

In the picture, a primitive man named Shubao and a Shubao wearing sci-fi armor are drawn in the same forest.

The only difference is that one is leaving the forest, and the other is returning to the forest.

"The questions that Shubao wants to explore are the three classic philosophical questions: Who am I, where do I come from, and where am I going."

Lao Luo explained: "In the game, there is no clear answer, but it just tells you that you will eventually return to the forest."

"Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?"

These three questions almost made Xiao Lu's brain burn. He was used to single-core thinking, and this was his first time trying multi-core computing, and he was thinking about such a serious problem right away.

The answer is definitely unimaginable.

"Now you know why Mr. Chen wants to be a riddle teller, right?"

Lao Luo joked: "Of course, there is no clear answer to this kind of question. Players must think and understand it themselves during the game."

Whatever you realize, that is it.

As for whether the answer you figured out is right or not, and whether it is the answer that Shubao desires, if you think it is right, then it is right, and if you think it is, then it is!

"Actually, you are wrong..."

Chen Ba, who was drinking water nearby, couldn't help but shook his head when he heard what Lao Luo said, "I do let the players think and understand for themselves during the game, but the answer that Shubao is looking for is different from the answer that the players are looking for."

In the last level of the game, there are no traps or monsters, only neatly arranged ancestral trees on both sides of the road, and the end of the road leads to the forest.

I don’t know whether the players who have come here have found the answer, but the protagonist Shubao in the game must have found the answer.

"So what's the answer?"

Xiao Lu asked again: "Oh, I'm so annoyed. Brother Ba, can't you just say it directly? Do you have to hide it so deeply?"

"You want to know the answer?"

"Uh-huh!"

Seeing Xiao Lu nodding his head, Chen Ba laughed and said, "Then go ask Shu Bao, why are you asking me?"

Xiao Lu: “…”

I'm asking you a big head ghost! Shubao can't speak, where can I ask him? The riddle man really deserves to die! This kind of person should be sent to Caishikou and beheaded immediately like a dog who breaks the chapter!

"Hahaha……"

After teasing Xiao Lu, Chen Ba put away his smile and said, "Okay, your brain is not suitable for too much philosophical knowledge, otherwise it will be overloaded."

"You don't have to worry about the plot this time. You just need to design the game levels and the monster traps on the map."

"What about you?"

Xiao Lu asked with a gloomy face: "The level design is given to me, the map design is also given to me, the monster traps are also given to me, all the dirty and tiring work is done by me?"

"Let me ask you, what is the name of this game?"

"Ancestor tree?"

"Then don't you know what I am responsible for?" Chen Ba asked back.

It was true that all the dirty work was left to Xiao Lu, but Chen Ba was not completely idle. On the contrary, his work was the key to the success or failure of this game.

The ancestor tree! The game is called this, which shows the importance and keyness of this mechanism.

If the ancestral tree system mechanism is well done, then the game will be a success. If the ancestral tree system is not well done, then no matter how good the level map is, the overall game will be a failure.

This is also a relatively difficult challenge for Chen Ba.

Luckily he has a cheat!

As the saying goes, when in doubt, add points to Deep Blue! Although this system cannot add points to the host and turn him into a muscle brother, it can add points to the game!

"let me see……"

After sending Xiao Lu away, Chen Ba leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to look at the estimated rating page of the game "Ancestor Tree".

The estimated score for planning was very high, 97 points. But the estimated score for art was average, only about 75 points...

“AI drawings are still not good enough.”

Chen Baben thought that with the advancement of AI painting, even if it didn’t completely replace human painters, it would at least solve many problems in game art.

It turns out.

AI can indeed solve problems, but this is just like “being able to eat enough” and “being able to eat well”, they are not the same concepts.

AI is the type that can eat its fill.

If you don't care too much, a score of 75 in art is not useless. But if you want to make a masterpiece, you have to raise the art score to at least 85 points.

There is no way! If the planning score is so high, and the art score lags behind, and the score gap is relatively large, the game will appear top-heavy and unbalanced.

Based on this premise, Chen Ba gave up on continuing to train the AI ​​and instead contacted a game art master whom he had met at the TGA game conference and exchanged contact information with.

This is a Gallic artist.

Although he is relatively young, he is indeed very capable. He has even served as an outsourced chief artist for many skins and hero original paintings of "League of Legends", and has also participated in the production of many 3A blockbuster games.

Of course, that's not the point.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

The more powerful the art design, the better. The more suitable the art design, the better! The reason why Chen Ba contacted this great artist was that he felt that his art style was really suitable for the game "Ancestor Tree".

"Okay, I'll take it."

After Chen Ba briefly introduced the game project "Ancestor Tree" via email, the young artist named Morris quickly arrived in Jiangning.

"Chen, why didn't you tell me there were no direct flights to Jiangning?"

"I thought you knew!"

"What do I know? Didn't you tell me that Jiangning has an airport?"

"When did I say that?" Chen Ba was shocked. When did he say that Jiangning had an airport?

"I'm sure you did."

Morris emphasized: "Jiangning Meiyou Airport, you said it yourself."

Chen Ba: “…”

It seems that although this foreigner can speak a few words in Chinese, he still can't quite understand the puns, which really makes it difficult for him.

Apart from the embarrassing incident where Morris mistakenly thought there was an airport in Jiangning and wanted to go directly to Jiangning but ended up transferring to Jiangcheng, more than a thousand kilometers away, and ended up being unfamiliar with the place and having to call Chen Ba for help, the trip was generally pleasant.

Morris is an interesting guy.

While he was still on the way, he told Chen Ba that if he called him two days later, he might not be able to take on the job of "The Ancestor Tree".

"Why?"

"Because my friend is also making a game, he wants to invite me to help him..."

"Get him out!"

Chen Ba angrily scolded: "I am also your friend, and it was clearly me who invited you first. Doesn't he understand that first come first served?"

“So here I am!”

Morris, sitting in the passenger seat, said with a little excitement: "A family that grows trees after death is so cool! What kind of tree do you think will grow from my grave when I die?"

“Maybe it’s prickly pear!”

“What is a prickly pear?”

As Chen Ba drove, he explained, "The fruit is yellow and has a few thorns. The juice is delicious and rich in vitamin C."

"I like!"

I like chicken feathers! It’s obvious that the foreigner has never been stung by a sea buckthorn, and I thought this was some kind of good compliment!

Chen Ba pulled Morris downstairs to the studio, then took him upstairs and made an office for him next to his own office.

"During this period of time, you can work here! Don't worry about accommodation, our dormitory is upstairs, and meals are downstairs. You can eat Chinese or Western food..."

After Chen Ba settled Morris, he asked, "Let me tell you my requirements first, and you can just draw as you see fit."

First, let’s talk about the protagonist Shubao! Although Shubao in the game is the same person in the eyes of the players, in the game world, he is replaced every time he dies.

In this case, we have to draw Shubao from different periods with slight differences, so that not only the clothes but also the faces can be seen as different Shubao.

Then there is the ancestral tree!

As the core of the game, the appearance of the ancestral trees is mostly fruit trees, which requires Morris to find the prototype fruit trees himself and then refer to them.

The most important thing is that the ancestral tree does not bear fruit. What is hung on it are either various weapons, various props, or various abilities...

How to integrate these strange icons into these fruit trees naturally and harmoniously is a test of Morris's creativity.

To put it bluntly.

It’s easy to hang these things up, and you can use PS to easily create a similar meme picture.

But that thing can't be made into the game, and it's also very uncoordinated and looks very abrupt, with a strong sense of photoshop.

What Morris has to do is not only to draw beautiful ancestral trees, but also to hang game prop icons on them as inconspicuously as possible.

This is the hardest part.

If you can't imagine it, then imagine that the persimmon tree in front of your house has produced a large number of... Iron Potion, Blood-Coughing Battle Axe, Kraken Killer...

That’s about it!

Anyway, this scene feels awkward just by thinking about it, and this awkwardness must be eliminated through art design, otherwise your salary will be deducted.

"Don't worry, I think it's fine."

Morris is full of confidence. Although this job is challenging, he has seen all kinds of storms.

It's just a prop growing on a tree, how can it stump him? What a joke! If you really want to stump him, it would probably be a child growing on a tree...

"If there was a child growing on a tree, I wouldn't have called you. I can handle it myself!" Chen Ba rolled his eyes.

I have watched the TV series "Journey to the West" so many times. Although I may not be good at other things, I should have no problem drawing a ginseng fruit tree.

"Huh? Are there really babies growing on trees?"

Morris was shocked. He just said that casually, but he didn't expect that there really was such a magical tree. Out of curiosity, he watched the episodes of Journey to the West about the appearance of the ginseng fruit tree on his computer, and he became more and more interested.

Not only did he watch it over and over again, he even watched the entire TV series "Journey to the West" from the beginning.

"You are here to work, not to watch TV series..."

“This is my job!”

Facing Chen Ba's question, Morris said seriously: "I am trying to find inspiration from myths and legends. The trees here are very beautiful. I like them very much."

Watching "Journey to the West" to get inspiration? Chen Ba was very upset, but he didn't say anything. After all, no one knew what this silly foreigner was thinking.

Although this method sounds unreliable, what if he is really looking for inspiration? (End of this chapter)