Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 336 Withdrawal Syndrome

Ye Gaoxiang's eyes lit up.

In fact, games like "Package Heroes" or "Package Like" games are very simple to play. The essence of the game lies in the placement and interaction of items.

Following the tutorial, I adjusted the layout, placing the iron sword and the fragments side by side.

This time, his attributes became "7 points of damage" and "1 point of block".

Facing the scarecrow's 3-point attack, he struck with his sword, nearly emptying the scarecrow's health bar. The battle became effortless.

Congratulations! You've grasped the secrets of backpacking. The road ahead is long; best of luck!

To be honest, this kind of game is a typical example.

People around you might not understand what's so fun about it, but once you start playing, it's an incredibly addictive game because this type of game essentially maximizes positive feedback.

Players obtain equipment and money by defeating monsters, and then arrange these items in combination to engage in battle. During this process, players can freely choose how to expand their inventory.

From the initial 3x3 package to 3x4, the packages have become larger and larger, capable of holding more and more items, and players' combat power has become stronger and stronger, leading to more and more ways to combine various equipment and items.

The end result, naturally, is that it becomes increasingly brain-teasing while also becoming increasingly enjoyable.

This is especially true for those who have played the "Floating Dreams" demo.

This feeling of pleasure has an additional bonus.

[Whetstone]: Occupies a 1x1 grid. [Effect: Permanently increases the damage of adjacent 'sword' or 'knife' weapons by +1. Destroys after 3 uses.]

【General Principles of Opening and Closing Sword Technique】: Occupies a 2x2 grid. Effect: For each empty space around it, all weapon damage increases by 1.

【Fairy Ling Shuang's Token】: Occupies a 1x1 grid. Effect: If adjacent to an 'Ice' attribute item, deals 3 points of frost damage to a random enemy each turn.

Because many elements in this "Bag Hero" are closely related to "Floating Dream Long Song".

The enemies are familiar bandits and wolves. The items are various martial arts manuals and divine weapons. Even some random events are scenes full of the flavor of the martial arts world, such as "encountering an injured swordsman who gives you a bottle of wound medicine".

This sense of familiarity greatly alleviated Ye Gaoxiang's anxiety about not being able to play the original game, and instead gave him the feeling of experiencing the martial arts world in another way.

I initially thought it was a "trash" game, but it turned out to be incredibly addictive.

"Clang!"

A crisp metallic clang pulled him from his reverie. On the screen, he encountered the final boss, a pixelated figure wielding a swift sword and moving with unpredictable agility.

[Li Bangui (projection)]

"Holy crap, it's you!!"

Time flies, and several hours have passed in the blink of an eye.

Although this game is very simple.

But it's really addictive. Every new item and every time you organize your backpack feels like solving a brand new puzzle. The only problem is that the smooth gameplay is too short!
It was only an afternoon, not even the end of the workday.

Ye Gaoxiang beat the game!!!
Congratulations on clearing the level!

As the four large, pixelated characters slowly appeared on the screen, Ye Gaoxiang felt as if he had just finished a thrilling marathon, and a tremendous sense of satisfaction washed over him.

The build he used to clear the game was the optimal solution he figured out after trying it more than a dozen times.

Every failure, every minor adjustment to the backpack layout, and every surprise upon receiving a new item felt like the purest dopamine being injected directly into his brain.

However, the moment you clear the level, all of this comes to an abrupt end.

He instinctively tried to click "Next Level," but found that the only option on the screen was "Return to Main Menu."

Clicking back reveals the main menu remains the simple "Entering the Martial World" and "Leaving" options, with no sign of "New Game Plus" or "Endless Mode".

The game is over, really over.

Ye Gaoxiang leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of his computer and realized that more than four hours had passed. The takeout he had ordered at noon was now completely cold, with a thin layer of condensation on the food container.

The office was quiet; most of his colleagues had already left early, leaving only a few like him who stayed behind to slack off.

If the closure of "Floating Dreams" is the end of a grand feast, what remains is the endless aftertaste of the deliciousness and the anticipation of the next grand feast.

So, completing "Bag Hero" is like being extremely hungry when someone gives you an exquisitely crafted appetizer. You've just tasted its wonderful flavor and your appetite has been completely whetted.

But the other party tells you, "Sorry, the main course isn't ready yet, and this dessert is only a small piece."

This isn't satisfying a craving; it's adding fuel to the fire.

He scratched his head in frustration and closed the game. The NGA forum page he'd been browsing for most of the day reappeared on the screen; he refreshed it.

Sure enough, the discussion about "Bag Hero" has completely exploded.

"This game is way too short! It's not enough to play at all! Star! You can't do this! You're torturing us!"

"I strongly demand new content! New jobs! New items! New bosses! I'm willing to pay! Take the money, give me the DLC!"

"I second that! This game has such a great foundation, this little content is a complete waste! Please, please, release a DLC! Even a paid one would be fine!" "I declare that I have a complication of 'Floating Dream Song PTSD'—'Bag Hero Withdrawal Syndrome'! Now I want to stuff everything into my inventory! I want to put everything together and see the reaction!"

In addition to these walkthrough content, there are also plenty of other features such as "Show off your walkthrough backpack and see who is the true master of baggage!"

It must be said that netizens have boundless wisdom.

Some of the backpack design ideas were so impressive that even he was amazed.

For example, there was a player who used the "turtle shell style" and filled his entire backpack with various items that increased blocking and damage reflection, and he managed to kill the final boss by reflecting damage back.

However, these discussions cannot fill an empty stomach.

[Repost!! New information about the game "Floating Dreams: Heroes of the Burden"!!!]

It wasn't until he saw this message that Ye Gaoxiang hurriedly clicked on the post to read it. The post was clearly a repost of information from the official Bilibili account of Xingchen.

The poster interface still features the familiar ink-wash style, with a few lines of text on it.

A Letter to All Heroes

Dear players, hello everyone!

Since the launch of "Floating Dreams: Heroes of the Burden", we have received far more enthusiasm and support than expected. In just a few hours, the game's concurrent online players and completion rate have reached an astonishing number.

We are flattered and honored by everyone's enthusiasm for this derivative piece.

We are well aware that the current version of the game is relatively short and has limited content, which cannot fully satisfy everyone's enthusiasm for exploring the martial arts world. We see your "withdrawal symptoms" and feel for you.

We are pleased to announce that the first major DLC for "Floating Dreams: Heroes of the Burden" – "Frontier Storms" – has officially entered the development stage! This new DLC will bring a brand new map, new enemies, new items and equipment, and a more challenging 'Endless Mode'!
The real drama is far from over; the best is yet to come. Stay tuned!
~~~
At the end of the letter, a concept art image was also attached. Yellow sand filled the sky, a lone sun hung in the sky, and a pixelated figure carrying a huge backpack was facing a distant city full of exotic charm.

"I bought a bag last year."

See you in the future.

See you in the future again!

Good guy.

I was like, wow.

Several hours have passed. Originally, we only had to wait for the official open beta of "Floating Dreams" to be released, but now we also have to wait for the DLC of the commemorative game derived from "Floating Dreams".

What's this called? Super-intensified withdrawal symptoms?
He feels like ants are crawling all over his body, and he feels like they're building a nest in his brain.

"Something's not right. Could StarCraft have only included this little bit of content to sell DLC?"

Because the withdrawal symptoms were so severe, Ye Gaoxiang even began to suspect that Xingchen might have done it on purpose.

However, this idea was quickly dismissed.

On the one hand, "Bag Hero" is given away for free, which is obviously a welfare game developed by Starry Sky Games to attract users.

For this type of game, having three or four hours of gameplay is already quite generous.

However, the developers probably didn't expect the player feedback to be so positive. The game is fun, players like it, and it's perfectly normal business logic for the developers to announce the development of DLC.
The only problem.

"Ah!! I really want to play Floating Dream Song!!"

"And there's the hero with a baggage..."

Back home, after dinner, Ye Gaoxiang sat down at his computer and started indulging in his gaming addiction again.
He turned off "The Hero with the Baggage".

I was aimlessly browsing the Star Platform when my gaze swept across the game library. The Terraria icon, which I had obtained from the "Seeking Heroes" quest, lay there quietly.

"This... seems to have included a martial arts DLC as well?" He recalled the quest description.

Since I'm just killing time anyway, I might as well click and take a look.

The game starts, and pixelated music begins to play.

Upon entering the game, Ye Gaoxiang was dumbfounded.

There is no tutorial, no task prompts, just a pixelated little man standing on unfamiliar land.

He tried walking a few steps, cut down a tree, and dug up some soil.

"What the hell is this?"

Ye Gaoxiang was completely bewildered.

He was used to the "go to XX place, kill XX monsters, find XX people" model of MMORPGs, and this feeling of freedom that made him feel abandoned by the world made him very uncomfortable.

He tried opening his backpack to see what the martial arts DLC was.

He found the so-called "Floating Dream Knight" outfit, and after putting it on, his pixelated character was indeed dressed in a blue robe and wore a bamboo hat.

"It's alright, at least it looks somewhat like the original. But what's so fun about this game? The graphics are terrible."

(End of this chapter)