In this video titled "Sword and Fairy 7 Tech Review: The High-End PC Exclusive Nobody's Talking About", Shumaosha analyzed the many screen performances of Fairy Sword 7 in RTX mode as usual, such as ray tracing, DLSS, and Frame rate performance at different effects levels.

On November 28, 2021, Digital Foundry, a well-known technology evaluation media, released a 20-minute technical analysis video of " Legend of Sword and Fairy 7 ".

Digital Foundry is known as "Shu Mao She", and its content mainly focuses on in-depth analysis of graphics technology and game image quality. In this video titled "Sword and Fairy 7 Tech Review: The High-End PC Exclusive Nobody's Talking About", Shumaosha analyzed the many screen performances of Fairy Sword 7 in RTX mode as usual, such as ray tracing, DLSS, and Frame rate performance at different effects levels.

The editor of Shumaosha also used the English version of the 95 version of the first generation of Fairy Sword to popularize science for foreign audiences, and was shocked that he had never heard of this multi-million-selling RPG series before.

After the video was released, Softstar people I found NVIDIA and asked, is this an advertisement you put out?

People from Nvidia also asked Softstar, is this an advertisement you placed?

results are neither.

This is indeed a video spontaneously produced by Shumaoshe. In the program, the editor of Shumaoshe described Sword and Sword Seven as "an unknown high-definition PC game." This was just an ordinary video among hundreds of videos on the channel, but it caused a shock when it reached the other side of the ocean.

The top comment below the video said,

"Wow, I never thought that I would see this day, and the games I participated in testing and translation would appear in this channel."

"Never thought that" is also the case for many Chinese players. My feelings after seeing this video. Previously, Shumaoshe was often tied to the most cutting-edge foreign masterpieces. They rarely conducted detailed technical analysis of Chinese games. The reason is well known to everyone: in the past, domestic game technology development experience was insufficient, and the game development methods used Technology is often an era behind foreign countries. A few years ago, there were even domestic games that used "particle effects" as a technical selling point. There is really nothing to analyze.

But in 2021, DF first released two consecutive videos of "Genshin Impact" in the middle of the year, and then produced a video of "Legend of Sword and Fairy VII" at the end of the year. On November 2, less than a week after releasing the video of Seven of Swords and Swords, Shumaoshe released a technical analysis video of "Shadow Torch City".

Looking back at the domestic stand-alone market in 2021, this is a very historic close-up. This year, domestic stand-alone games have stepped out of the circle of domestic sentiments and become more integrated with international standards. Players no longer support them because they are domestically produced, but because they are well done.

The stand-alone game market in 2021 started with two "Kings", " Dyson Sphere Project " and " Guigu Bahuang ", two completely different categories and themes, became popular at the same time, and even It gives people the illusion that the world has changed - it seems that millions of sales are quite common.

guigubahuang

Especially "Dyson Sphere Project", this game is an extremely rare bucket-level domestic stand-alone game, which is very mature in technology, theme, gameplay and interactive experience. A considerable proportion of Dyson Sphere players on Steam come from overseas, which also shows that the game has a relatively high degree of internationalization - the internationalization here does not mean that Chinese people make games with foreign aesthetics, but that the game can rely on its own quality to attract people from different cultural circles.

Dyson Sphere Project

html There were two hit games at the beginning of the year, one was very localized and the other was very international, allowing people to see the future of domestic stand-alone units.

However, this dreamy start was limited to the beginning of the year, and the rest was much duller.But compared with 2020, which lacked topical games throughout the year, stand-alone games in 2021 have obviously "become better". Throughout the year, there will be more than a dozen games that are familiar to everyone. Although there is capital promotion behind this (such as Xindong, Bilibili, , Tencent , etc.), in the end it still has to rely on the quality of the game itself.

In the past, when people evaluated a domestic stand-alone game, they would have a very high evaluation called "not like a domestic game". At that time, domestic games had a very large technology and experience gap compared to foreign countries, so that there was a basis for some works. If the experience is a little more mature, it won't feel like a domestic game. The most intuitive difference is the improvement in perception.

The look and feel comes from two levels, one is the technical performance, and the other is the art style.

As mentioned earlier, the domestic games reviewed by Shumaoshe, such as "Shadow Torch City" and "Legend of Sword and Fairy 7", all have outstanding technical performance among domestic stand-alone games. In addition, "Bright Memory: Infinite" was a hit at the NVIDIA and Microsoft E3 conference last year. They also have a common feature, in terms of the latest RTX special effects, they are all fully in line with international standards, and all support ray tracing and DLSS technology.

Shadow Torch City

Bright Memory: Unlimited

We have introduced before that some small and medium-sized foreign developers said that light tracing allows them to achieve complex light and shadow effects at a lower cost. In the past, only 3A masterpieces had enough resources to Do a lot of light and shadow baking and optimization work. This principle also works in China. After adding RTX, the gap that was previously limited by experience and cost will be narrowed.

If you include buyout online games, last year’s “ Eternal Calamity ” was a very representative product.

Although it was developed using Unity, the final picture quality of "Eternal Calamity" is already comparable to similar foreign games. But as a fast-paced competitive game, image quality often gives way to frame rate. In the past, due to a lack of experience in high-definition optimization, the only solution for the domestic development team was to drastically reduce the quality. Fortunately, mature DLSS technology is already available in 2021. After applying DLSS in "Everlasting", it has achieved a better balance between image quality and frame rate - this is a typical domestic problem brought about by the development of the technical environment. The game has changed. This phenomenon can actually be seen at the game engine level, which we will talk about later.

Strictly speaking, "Dyson Sphere Project" is also a product with good technical performance. The game team only has 5 people. From the beginning of the project, optimization has been placed in a high position. This can ensure that the game will not get stuck when facing massive calculations in the later stage. Explosion, for this type of simulation business game, optimization in the later stages of the process has always been a technical difficulty. It can be said to be a miracle that Dyson Ball's team of 5 can achieve this level.

In terms of art style, in 2020, there are "风来国", "Peeping Dreams in a Cage", "Fireworks", "Liao Tianding: The End of the Thief", etc. The art styles of these products are highly mature and have very strong recognition. Spend. In the past, this kind of stylized products generally had a drawback, that is, they looked good but were not fun. From a distance, you can see spring and white snow, but from close, you can see clear soup with little water. But the valuable thing about these games in 2021 is that the gameplay is also good, at least reaching the mainstream level of commercial games. Among them, the balance between art style and playability achieved by "Caged Dreams" and "The Kingdom of the Wind" is particularly worthy of encouragement.

Peeping a dream in a cage

Fireworks

Liao Tianding

When I first graduated, I worked in a magazine. At that time, domestic game magazines had an unspeakable secret, that is, when encountering domestic games, they could not give normal evaluations, and they always had to say something. "Although... but... it is not easy for domestic games to do this." At that time, domestic games were indeed not up to par.Now everyone no longer has this shackles. If something is good, give it a positive review. If something is not good, give a negative review. And this kind of relaxed mentality is so valuable.

In 2021, many domestic stand-alone machines have received more exposure, either through publisher promotion or tap water Amway, which means that you have most likely heard of them. In addition to the ones mentioned above, there are also better and popular products such as "Destiny 2" and "Little White Rabbit E-commerce". They have more than 5,000 reviews on Steam and maintain a praise rate of more than 90%. The quality of their own games is also quite solid.

"Little White Rabbit E-Commerce" looks very two-dimensional, but it is very realistic to play.

At the same time, there are also some domestic stand-alone games that are much less well-known. Some have been launched quietly, with very little exposure and few players. heard about it. However, among these products, there are also games with unique characteristics and remarkable playability, which are worthy of attention.

For example, "Road to Awakening" is a game where mothers and children survive together in the zombie apocalypse. It has survival and roguelike elements, the painting style is very warm, and it is quite unique to play.

Another example is "The World is Chess", which is a turn-based chess strategy game in the dark fantasy style. The painting style is very eye-catching. The style of Chinese dark martial arts is rare, and it has the style of "Rainblood Prequel: Mirage".

There is also "Alien Outpost", a defensive strategy game, which is equivalent to the science fiction version of " Billions of Zombies ", which simplifies resources and technology and focuses on large-scale defensive battles. This game is a bit strange. It is not even available in Simplified Chinese on Steam. If it weren’t for the Chinese information on WeGame, it would be difficult to tell that it is made in China. It may have to be exported to domestic sales.

The above-mentioned games have a common feature in that they are mainly praised on Steam, but the number of reviews is only a few hundred. The current completion level is not high, and they are all in the early access stage. If there is sufficient polishing and improvement, it is possible to gain a place in the market in the future.

Speaking of completion, there is another game in 2021 that is also very low in completion, but has received a 95% favorable rating from 10,000 reviews, called "Dead Silence". It was developed by a UP owner using "Unreal 4" for more than ten days. It is just a demo. In the game introduction, the developer also made it clear:

• This is a boring third-person zombie game with no plot. .
• Please don't have high expectations for the game. This is just a game I made for tutorials. There is no gameplay and it is purely for entertainment.

It is this frankness, plus the game is free, plus the streamer’s own traffic, plus the topicality of single-person development, plus the high ease of use of the Unreal 4 engine itself (it can achieve a good look and feel at a very low cost Pictures and scenes), making this game really popular.

From "single-player development" high-definition games such as "Dead Silence" and "Bright Memory", we can also see the changes that modern mature development tools have brought to the game industry. The graphics level of these games was something that domestic stand-alone developers would not have dared to imagine six or seven years ago. But now, for developers with a certain foundation, it is already a relatively convenient thing to use the ready-made art, models and music materials in the Unreal Mall to build a playable game. What really costs money is the filling of content, so the process of such games is generally very short.

There was a similar game last year called "Monkey King Simulator: Flower and Fruit Mountain Chapter", which was also developed by one person using Unreal Engine 4. A 3D action game with noses and eyes in both scenes and battles. The low-profile youth version of Black Myth sells for only 8 yuan.

Of course, due to the visible roughness and low completion level, this game actually has little sales, with a Steam review number of 61.The praise rate is 95%, because the combat part of the game is quite careful, and 8 yuan is not a loss at all.

Regarding how this game was made, the developers wrote clearly

In general, domestic stand-alone machines in 2021 have significantly improved compared to the previous year. There are many reasons for the progress:

From a human perspective, Domestic developers have accumulated experience rapidly in recent years. Although many console PC players look down on mobile games, it is true that many stand-alone games rely on developers’ accumulation of mobile game projects to finally flourish.

From a tool perspective, today's game engines are very easy to use, which greatly lowers the threshold for developing games - note that it is only the threshold, not the cost.

From the user's perspective, the popularity of digital distribution platforms such as Steam and the cultivation of the concept of authenticity have given China's stand-alone game a sufficient user base.

Finally, from the perspective of content production and consumption awareness, the landscape of developers has finally opened up, and they no longer limit their horizons to narrow game types - the phenomenon of homogeneous martial arts RPGs and swarms of Roguelikes has gradually become a thing of the past. Nowadays, the gameplay and story lines of domestic single-player games are more diverse, and game tastes of players who have tried all kinds of herbs have also undergone great changes. There are criticisms on the diversity of domestic games, but more are encouragement and expectations. Developers and players have formed A healthy relationship is like a mutually reinforcing relationship.

These reasons are indispensable. China’s stand-alone games have waited for many years before they finally waited for this time window.

In addition to these environmental factors, behind the development of domestic stand-alone computers, there are actually some easily overlooked third-party forces driving the development. This force was particularly obvious last year.

At the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) held by NVIDIA in April last year, NVIDIA used cutting-edge game technology to demonstrate the characteristics of their graphics cards as usual. At the press conference, " Microsoft Flight Simulator ", " Death Stranding " and other foreign products appeared masterpiece, and also has four domestic games: "Black Myth: Wukong", "Bright Memory", "Eternal Calamity" and "Border".

The lineup of domestic games on GTC has become a big news

An unprecedented signal has appeared here. The proportion of domestic games on GTC has exceeded 50% for the first time. Yes, this is a game graphics technology conference facing the world, and most of the games displayed are from China.

If you pay attention to game news, you should have noticed that NVIDIA frequently endorses domestic games. This endorsement is not limited to China. You will see NVIDIA at various large and small exhibitions around the world, including NVIDIA’s official financial reports. Domestic games are promoted to the world as important cooperation cases. These phenomena that are different from the past include many "firsts".

Some time ago, I had a chat with Mr. Zhang Chu from NVIDIA. Zhang Chu is responsible for NVIDIA's developer relations and game content management in China, and has close communication with domestic developers. I learned more interesting things from him.

Mr. Zhang Chu told me that Nvidia’s US headquarters is particularly welcoming to Chinese games and is keen on global promotion. They can clearly feel that "Chinese games are influencing the world, and the gameplay and graphics are rapidly improving. Chinese game developers can not only make Chinese cultural games, but also games that foreigners love to see."

Mr. Zhang Chu used the recent popular domestic and foreign games "The Story of Showa America" ​​gave an example, "This is just the beginning. In the future, more and more Chinese games will go global."

"The Story of Showa America" ​​has aroused heated discussions at home and abroad.

As the largest graphics chip manufacturer , Nvidia’s cooperation with domestic developers began more than ten years ago.However, due to the development of domestic game technology, for a long time, the focus of cooperation between the two parties was mainly on "ensuring stable operating efficiency" rather than "presenting amazing picture effects" - as mentioned before, domestic games at that time The picture is more than an era behind foreign countries. But starting from the RTX era, the situation began to change. Among the earliest products to support ray tracing was the domestic game " Nishuihan". By 2021, due to the epidemic, the production capacity of foreign masterpieces was insufficient and generally delayed. The technology display window of global technology gave way to domestic games, which ultimately led to the situation that "the proportion of domestic games displayed in GTC exceeded 50% for the first time."

Regarding that GTC, Mr. Zhang Chu also shared something that impressed him deeply. At that time, "Bright Memory" had some technical problems. In order to ensure that the demonstration could be displayed smoothly, they invited the developer "Feiyan Islands" to NVIDIA's Shanghai office and cooperated with a group of technical staff including testers and TA (technical art) , spent a week assisting in optimization to achieve the best demonstration effect on GTC.

Although NVIDIA is not a game company, Nvidia actually has a "producer" position. The producer's responsibility is to reduce the game's hardware compatibility issues and improve operating efficiency. I specifically asked about the "Titanfall" incident of Sword and Sword VI back then. Mr. Zhang Chu said that they and Softstar had not yet established sufficient cooperation at that time. But it is precisely because this optimization disaster is so famous that when it came to Sword and Sword VII, Nvidia began to be deeply involved in the development and optimization of the game, and wanted to "optimize Sword and Sword VII to the best at all costs."

"We are equipped with the most senior TA, who spends all day optimizing the game. Three months before the game was released, our producer stated that as long as the game is not fully optimized, he will not cut his beard for a day." Mr. Zhang Chu half-joked with me. Said, "He really did this, and ended up like a savage."

Now that Sword and Sword Seven has been on the market for 3 months, people have come to their own conclusions about the merits and demerits of this game. It is undeniable that at a technical level, it is already a mature RTX game. The "Titanfall 6" meme that was both sad and happy 7 years ago now seems like a world away.

Conclusion

Standing in 2022, when masterpieces are ready to be released, looking back, we will see the prosperity of domestic stand-alone games in 2021, which to some extent is also a development window for Chinese games due to the epidemic. The competition in the stand-alone market this year is extremely fierce. If there is no collective delay, it can be described as "a fight between gods". So where will domestic games go?

I hope that by the end of this year, domestic stand-alone games will still have some memorable ones. work. After all, a product that can emerge from such a fierce market experience is truly internationally competitive.