Open the interface of "A Fish", richly colored marine ecological environment, noisy and busy announcements, all kinds of fish rushing around, a lively underwater world unfolds before our eyes.
"You can go and take risks and discover adventures, or you can stay in a daze and relax for a lifetime, or you can wander among the crowded fish. Anyway, you can do whatever you want!" The free and unrestrained way of nursing in the
game introduction seems to have really healed my mental internal friction.
So I couldn't help but become interested in David, the producer behind this eclectic game.
In my conversation with David, there is a saying that impressed me, "Idealism is always ranked first."
It is difficult for you to immediately understand the meaning behind the abstract concept of "idealism", but with the revelation of his personal development experience, we may be able to get a glimpse into it.
A born in the 1980s, an unsuccessful rock musician, an art, and may still be an programmer -this is David.
When he was in his 20s, he and his friends had aspirations for the future and were determined to form an excellent rock band. Having an attitude and expressing it is his unchanging pursuit when creating content. And the unrestrained interpretation of rock music hit his mind. Unfortunately, reality will never pay for the ideal of youth. "Bow your head to life, say goodbye to your dreams, and skewers that should be skewers that should be sold when you go home, and skewers that should be sold when you should be sold when you are..." Under the pressure of life, David's rock band disbanded.
Fortunately, after the band disbanded, David came into contact with three-dimensional animation. The discovery of this new path made him find the direction in his life again. After a long journey of self-study, David started to do an animator's job. In another occasional opportunity a few years later, I came into contact with unity3d and accidentally took the "road of no return" of game development.
, holding his full love for games, David started the game production with a few energetic and imaginative students.
Without mature experience and a mature team, David took on the work of art and programmers alone and began to conceive their first game, which is now "A Fish".
David is obsessed with all kinds of games and rock music, and especially likes old games and traditional art. Naturally, he began to prefer the old game style in game design, which led to the birth of "A Fish", which did not follow the traditional model and had various ideas.
In the view of David born in the 1980s, a childlike innocence that needs to be deliberately preserved during the game development process. By constantly learning, you can clear your mind, and when you don’t have much experience in making the first game, add all the knowledge you have learned to this game and try your best to make it interesting and vivid.
allows even a small game to convey, and can give players a sense of role while allowing players to feel simple little happiness.
And he regards the fish in the game as a symbol of his game career progress, and is determined to be a game designer and developer who can satisfy himself.
regards "game" as "game" itself, expressing one's own ideas and stories through the game, so that the warm connection given by the fish group formed by players becomes the warm light on the road ahead of this idealist passerby.
The most important theme and idea of "A Fish" is marine environmental protection. David's idea is very simple. By allowing players to simulate "fish" and experience the difficulties of fish in the ocean from another angle, we can awaken everyone's awareness of the ocean's environmental protection.
In David's view, it is precisely because of the participation of players that every fish in the underwater world has a soul and can form such a cute and lively fish.
In David's original idea, he actually wanted to use the Zen and quiet mode of feeling the life of the fish in the fish tank to make players squeeze in the fish tank and survive hard, waiting for humans to feed them every day, and finally to die.
But during the production process, David's companions began to worry about whether such a setting was not very popular and could not attract players to download and play. So they changed their perspective and created a new model to enhance the experience with richer content.
In the new mode, David designed two areas: "Home" and "Adventure Map". "Adventure Map" is many challenges that lonely and cold fish have to face, and "Home" is the warmth you can feel after you go back. The game was created according to this idea.
David has also expanded these two areas in other aspects. In terms of visual performance of the game, "Home" will try to give people a warm and comfortable feeling; while the addition of characters such as grocery stores, prop sellers, turtle fairy, etc. will give "Home" a lively small town.
In terms of environmental atmosphere, transactions, square dancers, broadcasters, and fish can also communicate and chat here, and combine melodious music and lively background sounds to create a very relaxed and pleasant environment.
"Adventure Map" is a lonely and cold, polluted ocean, with a cool tone. There are water plants, rocks, and some pollutants floating in the scene. These pollutants can break small fish, and breaking these marine garbage can also make you feel good.
"Adventure Map" also has microorganisms and many NPC enemies. Fish and fish will be caught by these enemies accidentally, so be careful at any time. The color contrast between the two maps
is very obvious, which will reflect the contrast and allow players to have a better sense of substitution and experience these two different worlds.
Considering the diversity of the ocean character image design, David chose several of the most common aquatic creatures: jellyfish , conch, lobster, seahorse , octopus , and the legendary mermaid.
When designing characters, it will not be limited to the single mode of mermaids evolved into mermaids, but instead intends to add more fish to the hero range. In his philosophy, no matter how beautiful or ugly you are, as long as you work hard, you are a hero. Therefore, more heroes will join in the future.
The game will also expand many content-designed gameplay methods in the future, such as a brand new map, with different bosses set up in each area in the map, which appear randomly at different times. The fish school needs to cooperate to defeat the world boss to get rewards, and the rewards and pearls obtained can obtain new fish species and heroes. Big fish can go to the new map to collect various herbs, return to the Anemone House to set up stalls and sell them, or go to the new map to find new parcel styles, and parcels can also be set up stalls and sold to other players.
will also have more novel fish species added, such as sharks, seahorses, scavengers, , starfish, turtles, whales, crabs, , etc.
will also add entertainment items in the Anemone House, such as looking for my teeth, and randomly looking for a fish in the Anemone House triggers the loss of the front teeth. This lost tooth will be displayed on the heads of other players. Everyone needs to find her and surround her. After the time is found, you can get the reward. On the train to humans, fish and fish can go to the human world from time to time, get rewards to go to cinemas and other entertainment venues, etc....
. For these rich designs that have not yet been fully reflected, David has been promoting production and will slowly update them in the subsequent time to supplement the complete content and give players a richer experience.
has changed from the fish tank mode to the current home and adventure mode. While enhancing the player's gaming experience, David also hopes to convey some information about caring for nature.
"We should go to the vast world, listen to the teachings of nature, and feel the sound of wind, rain, and various sounds of nature seriously. We are all residents and students on this earth. Learning how to get along with nature has always been our failed subject, so let's cheer together."
Speaking of Bullfrog Game Company , David said without hesitation that he is an avid lover and admirer - "This is a place of laughter, it is located in a happy country. People in the place of laughter will only feel uncomfortable because of the soreness of the facial muscles." It is one of his most impressive lines.
Bullfrog Game Company's black humor , as well as the funny and humorous artistic expression, all had a huge impact on his game production style. Many of the designs in "A Fish" actually have the shadow of Bullfrog Games.
For example, the broadcast is a broadcast similar to the "theme hospital". David asked a young lady to do artificial interpolation and dynamically broadcast interesting stories of the fish school according to the situation of the fish school, so that the fish world can be more vivid. She will observe the fish and make corresponding reports, such as someone who is stealing poop because of discomfort, or broadcasting some temporary notices. The Instant-Spreading Human Resources will always be online, making interesting broadcasts and Q&As.
Defecation is linked to the mood of fish. This style setting has a little black humor and is in line with the real logic. There are actually many poop-related settings in the game, such as flash poop or chocolate poop, which gives people a humorous feeling. Defecation is a very interesting function because it will affect the mood of fish, so fish and fish remember to poop frequently and have a better mood.
David's admiration for Bullfrog Games is more reflected in his attitude towards the game. He always felt that the game should convey something to players and could not always be vulgar. Because it is a combination of art, it is diverse, complex, without rules, and is creative. Although I am a vulgar person, my level is limited, even so, I will try my best to make the game less follow the mainstream.
I hope players can exert their spirit of exploration and experience a deeper sense of substitution and humor in the game. However, in this regard, David still feels that it is better if he fails to meet his inner standards.
"Please don't die in the corridor." This classic game line from Bullfrog Company probably best reflects his inner understanding and interpretation of black humor in the game.
The novel gameplay design is something David has always wanted to pursue in the game. He hopes to create a solidified model that is different from the current game works, but to produce some imaginative and impressive content.
Therefore, when you make more gameplay additions to "One Fish", some brain-opening gameplay modes will be added. For example, to increase the battlefield mode, players use toys to separate 2 camps, and PK to the end the winner gets rewards. The attributes of PK are gentle, and everyone throws toys at each other, just like badminton, hoping to bring new experience and gameplay to the fish.
"A Fish" is just the starting point for David's game production. In his mind, there are many games he wants to make that have not met everyone.
He hopes to make a complete survival game, such as about me being an insect, I being a stone, I being a pig, etc. These game designs will not follow the mainstream design direction too much, but will maintain their own humorous style.
As one of the few production teams today that dares to try original innovation, David said that the production of a new game still takes time. "The game is a comprehensive examination for animation, model, rendering, numerical planning, 2D, 3D art programs, etc.It's very complex and complicated. "I hope everyone can understand the slow progress of production.
. During the development process, it is also a crucial part. Therefore, the feedback from players to the game is also what makes David most excited. For him, this feedback is a response, the most direct communication method. For him, this communication method is like a dialogue, and his expression and the player's suggestions can touch each other.
He and his companions will keep meaningful comment screenshots as a basis for future updates. Important, if you encourage, you will print it out and post it on the computer to encourage yourself to move forward: "Only after seeing the feedback, we can feel that the fish exists. "
David has always regarded player feedback and suggestions as the focus of his future adjustment of the game. Including some shortcomings, such as the updates and improvements of friendly systems, the improvement of social systems, the expansion of richer functions, etc.
For some interesting and reasonable ideas and innovative designs that players have received feedback, David is also actively collecting: online hang-up rewards, change the design appearance of the backpack, and improve hero abilities... ...Sudes like this. There are already implemented and still to be completed.
Although we have been collecting and adopting player feedback, due to the limited energy of independent developers, they can only make the imagined content first, make the game well, and then slowly adjust the player's needs. Each game has its own style, and there is no difference between good and bad.
"We should not balance idealism and player needs. Idealism is always ranked first, which is also the spiritual support of our game. "
At the end of the conversation, David also expressed his gratitude to the players who were about to explode:
"Thank you to those cute, kind, helpful fish, it's hard to imagine that your love has moved many fish. Maybe this game isn't necessarily suitable for everyone, but there are always people who are suitable to find it. I saw you in the fish, silently helping other fish, looking so vital and so real, and it felt so wonderful. Thank you very much, it is our honor to be part of this game. Making this game also allows us to experience a very rich life experience. It’s great to have you. Only with your fish can you have vitality. The name of each fish is a living soul. Let us understand that fish’s feelings are so wonderful and moving. Thank you for your existence, allowing us to experience another world, a world with warmth. Finally, everyone should remember to protect the environment and protect nature. Thank you for the fish and sincerely wish you all a better life. ”
In the future, we also look forward to seeing this team that upholds idealism can bring us a complete and rich survival game series.
Environmental protection, black humor, idealism, putting these tags together may give us a glimpse of the producer David's views and insights about the game.
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