Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 305 - 314: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, The Four Basic Elements

Chapter 305: Chapter 314: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, The Four Basic Elements

Gu Fan cleared his throat twice, "Don’t freak out just yet. Since the ideas are already on the table, try your best to base your design on these two concepts."

"After all, by continuously deriving from these two ideas, the gameplay will quickly emerge."

Wei Chengjie’s mouth twitched slightly. President Gu’s words were hardly comforting!

However, under the watchful eyes of both the boss and the investor, Wei Chengjie, as a professional designer, couldn’t afford to show any weakness. He had no choice but to rack his brains and press on.

First of all, the first point, that equipment can be damaged and cannot be perfectly repaired, doesn’t actually leave much room for design.

Because once it’s determined that equipment can be damaged, many of the subsequent designs are fixed and cannot change.

For example:

Players must have a very large item or weapon slot. Otherwise, if they don’t bring enough weapons, and they all break during a boss fight, what are they supposed to do? Go up and fight with their fists?

At the same time, the majority of powerful weapons in the game must be repeatedly obtainable or can be recreated through special means. Otherwise, limited-edition weapons would just sit at the bottom of a player’s inventory, never to be used.

Besides, there likely won’t be any more systems for combining or enhancing equipment in the game, as it contradicts the original design philosophy.

If combining and enhancing could restore or even increase an equipment’s durability, then it would essentially be a repair system in disguise, which goes against President Li’s initial design and is bound to be rejected.

And if combining or enhancing doesn’t restore the durability of equipment, then players certainly won’t enhance it. Why bother powering up something that’s destined to break sooner or later?

So, after briefly considering it, Wei Chengjie had a rough idea—the equipment system seemed to only have one approach.

That is to give players a large weapon inventory, allowing them to switch between different weapons freely, while these weapons are randomly spawned on the map or on monsters, and the vast majority of weapons can neither be combined nor enhanced.

With the equipment system pretty much fixed in that state, the only thing left to play with is the "special skills".

And President Li made it clear that these skills would not become stronger over time; instead, they would become increasingly difficult to use.

Wei Chengjie temporarily couldn’t figure out how to make these skills progressively harder to use.

Take a simple example, if the player has a superpower to rub a fireball with their hands causing an explosion. How exactly does this ability become harder to use? Could it be that leveling up only increases the casting time and actually decreases the damage?

Wouldn’t that get the designer beaten up by angry players waiting outside the door?

Seeing Wei Chengjie in a dilemma, Gu Fan calmly advised, "Don’t worry, just come up with a few abilities for now, as imaginative as you can, the stronger and more exaggerated the better."

"Then with President Li, determine the upgrade effects for these skills."

"As for the elements, you can take inspiration from anywhere. Whether it’s myths and legends from ancient or modern times, from Huaxia or abroad, or even successful experiences from other games can be referenced."

Since President Gu had said so, Wei Chengjie had no choice but to buckle down and let his imagination run wild.

"President Gu, is it okay to use the more traditional elements as a theme? Like Earth Wind Water Fire?"

Gu Fan nodded, "Of course."

In the era before ancient people had mastered sufficient scientific knowledge, theories about the composition of the entire world were often reduced to certain "basic elements".

For example, in Huaxia’s traditional culture, it is often represented by Yin Yang and the Five Elements, which are Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Paired with this, there is a whole set of theories of generation and restraint, and they can even be linked to the rise and fall of dynasties.

However, games themed around the Five Elements are quite common, and in Wei Chengjie’s vision, this game is not a traditional Huaxia-themed game. So, he preferred to use Earth Wind Water Fire as the four basic elements.

These four elements are more common in the material composition theories of other civilizations.

Of course, their names differ, such as in Buddhism, where Earth Water Fire Wind are considered the four great elements that compose material things, and in ancient Greece, the four elements are Earth, Air, Water, Fire.

Interestingly, traditional literary works in Huaxia have also been somewhat influenced by foreign cultures. For instance, in "The Investiture of the Gods", in places pertaining to the "basic elements of the world", the concept of "Earth Water Fire Wind" is also used.

Describing Laozi’s Taiji diagram, it says that this object can separate the pure from the impure, establish Earth Water Fire Wind, as a treasure containing all things. And when Leader Tongtian becomes desperate enough to flip the table, it talks about re-establishing Earth Water Fire Wind to change the world.

Therefore, using Earth Wind Water Fire as the packaging for the game’s special abilities forms a rather comprehensive system.

Of course, what packaging is used in the game isn’t actually important. What matters is the gameplay itself.

Since Gu Fan said that these abilities should be as powerful and imaginative as possible, Wei Chengjie could then design freely and speak his mind.

"President Gu, my preliminary design goes like this.

"’Earth’, or the Earth Element is simple, the most common uses are burrowing and passing through walls.

"The Water Element, there’s a concept called ’Highest Good is Like Water’, as water benefits all things without contention, it is formless, yet it can also take on any shape. Hence in the game, the Power of Water could be infused into certain specific items, to enlarge these items, or it could be used as an Adhesive, combining different items to produce a variety of effects. Furthermore, it could also include the power to control water or cross rivers.

"The Fire Element is a purely damage-oriented skill, capable of igniting flames, creating Flame Bombs, and so on."

"For the Wind Element, I don’t have a great idea yet; simply creating a breeze for propulsion seems a bit too weak, perhaps it could be used to grasp objects? Or control them?

"Of course, apart from these four basic elements, time could also be considered a basic Element. As for the special abilities related to time, there are many, such as the power to stop time or speed up its passage, both of which can have a certain impact on the game’s content.

"President Gu, President Li, what do you think of this design... is it okay?"

Wei Chengjie roughly outlined a proposal based on the principles of the four basic elements, but after finishing, he was uncertain if it met the requirements, so he looked at both individuals in front of him for their opinions.

Lilith turned to look at Gu Fan.

Clearly, she wasn’t concerned about the specific designs of these functions as she found them more or less the same.

Lilith was more interested in whether these designs could achieve her goal of becoming "increasingly difficult to use as the game progresses."

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