Chapter 207: The First Trial Demonstration
As time passed, Alex held several meetings with Eric and others to better explain the core gameplay and concepts of Minecraft. There were plans to launch a mobile version and a VR version later. However, for now, the PC version was the main focus.
After finalizing all aspects of Minecraft, the entire R&D department inevitably had to work overtime. After all, time was running out.
However, compared to Minecraft itself, the first two DLCs to be completed, in just two weeks, were the two Don't Starve DLCs. Reign of Giants and Shipwrecked introduced new creatures and gameplay. While the content in these two versions was not overwhelming, it was actually quite substantial.
With the game's framework already established and the detailed conceptual designs provided by Alex, it would not require much effort.
The new maps, monsters, and other new content reignited players' enthusiasm for Don't Starve.
And in the video game industry, it wasn't just Don't Starve players who celebrated the DLC. Several companies and teams have announced new developments in the sandbox genre. Among them, Aether Games and NetDragon, with the participation of their affiliated studios.
While not much has been revealed, the scarce information available reveals a wide variety of themes.
Alex took the time to take a look and was stunned by the approach taken by many developers and game designers.
For example, some simply copied the Don't Starve model, sharing the same survival theme, but adjusted the style and camera, going from a top-down view to a third-person and first-person perspective, without ceasing to promote themselves as sandbox.
This also left Alex speechless. It's not that they sounded bad, but that the marketing suggested a trend towards pure survival with a touch of open-world elements. However, due to the current popularity of sandbox games, they simply called themselves as such.
There are quite a few games in this category, some of which do not follow the Don't Starve formula, but incorporate subtle innovations. For example, some are set in the sea, allowing players to take on the role of a pirate, build their own ship, and then sail the seas in search of legendary creatures, fighting pirates and searching for legendary islands full of treasures.
Others are set in apocalyptic scenarios, still fighting for survival, but with zombies and mutants as objectives. And others are RPGs, allowing players to take on the role of a demigod, killing legendary monsters with the aim of defeating the gods of Olympus.
Clearly, the Don't Starve vision of sandbox games has inspired many designers in the video game industry.
However, in Alex's opinion, many of these games, although completely unrelated to sandbox, are marketed as such.
This is reminiscent of the time before Rockstar Games established Grand Theft Auto as the benchmark for open-world games, when a plethora of games, whether they were action and adventure, FPS, or RPG, began to call themselves open-world games, apparently struggling to equate themselves with the genre.
Numerous discussions are underway in the main community forums.
"What the hell! I'm dying of laughter! How many games have been promoted this month? Another sandbox game?".
"My goodness, Don't Starve really boosted the sandbox genre! How many companies are creating it?".
"But, honestly, for someone like me, obsessed with graphics, these are a little easier to accept than Don't Starve."
"The graphics are good, yes, but I just don't understand the gameplay."
The players were complaining in the community forums.
But leaving the complaints aside, except for some sandbox games that looked of poor quality according to the project documentation, many of the announced games have attracted a lot of attention and are generating a great buzz. Undoubtedly, this new genre is incredibly refreshing for many players. They may say things like "I don't want it anymore, I can't stand it anymore," but their bodies react, they even try to actively adapt.
But one thing is for sure: with this wave of sandbox game releases, some projects will inevitably fail.
Alex briefly noticed the sandbox craze in the gaming community, but then ignored it.
His current priority was to complete Minecraft. While the progress on the full version of Minecraft was clearly slow, a PC demo had already been created, used for phased testing. Many features had not yet been implemented. Not to mention the technological advances of the game, the corresponding creation functions had not even been added. In short, the current version was essentially a castrated and restructured version of Creative Mode.
The game itself was extremely rudimentary. The artistic resources had not yet been produced and, naturally, the user interface had not been developed, which resulted in a complete disaster. It looked as much like Don't Starve as it did Dark Souls, which made it seem quite disjointed.
However, Alex didn't care much, as he believed that it could be fixed later. After all, all game demos basically looked the same at the beginning.
After entering the game, Alex began to experiment. Soon after, he discovered that Steve was not yet Steve; he was just a block.
'Hmm, a simple white block, without pixelated facial features, gives a rather unsettling look.'.
Controlling the game character, Alex soared through the skies and took a tour. The basic generation of the terrain (rivers, mountains, forests, and meadows) is random. Although it is called random, there is actually a coherent logic behind the generation process. It cannot be completely random; there are formulas to calculate various resources.
If it were completely random, a world without water could be generated, or only ocean and no land. Although the probability is extremely low, it is still possible.
Exit and re-enter. After repeating this several times and carefully observing the game, Alex nodded gently. So far, no major problems have been identified. Of course, more sample tests are needed.
As for the artistic resources, the average configuration for players in this parallel world is significantly higher than in previous lives. Don't worry about the configuration; it can be significantly improved. After all, good graphics are an integral part of the gaming experience.
Although the gameplay and other features are maintained, it is impossible for players to say that they do not need that bad 4K. They simply like the excellent 360P resolution and jagged edges.
"As for the art, we need to give the blocks more texture and improve the textures of the different materials."
"In addition, some special materials, such as lava and seawater, should be consistent with the materials of common blocks. Lighting is also key. The effects of fire, sun, and other lights will allow some game materials to react more realistically, such as glass and seawater," Alex told Jane.
Jane nodded without responding and wrote down the key points.
"Well, you guys go ahead with your work. Eric, stay for a while. I will tell you in detail about the game's synthesis and subsequent technology systems, and then we will create a DEMO prototype," Alex told Eric.
- - - - - -
Hello everyone!
Great news! Starting today, Thursday, October 23rd, and running through Friday, October 31st, all subscription tiers on my Patreon will be 50% off.
Use the code 26DEA at checkout to activate the promotion and get access to hundreds of advanced chapters!
@Patreon/iLikeeMikee