John UM
We found Zhang Hang, the master planner of Project-Dunk. For such a unique basketball game, we are very curious about the story behind it
Q: Hello, can you briefly introduce yourself?
A: I am Zhang Hang, the master planner of the Project-Dunk (Basketball Project) project. I have been in the game industry for six years. I have producers and a group of dozens of outstanding partners behind me. I am really happy to work together
Q: Why did you choose to make a game?
A: Because of love! There is always a goal in mind that is to make a game that is fun and interesting and recognized by the majority of players, and has been working hard for this dream
Q: What is your chance to make Project-Dunk? Why did you choose to make a basketball game as the theme? This seems to be less relevant to the game themes you have previously involved
A: As a game designer, I am also a player who likes to play sports games, whether it is 3on3 freestyle, NBA Playground, NBA 2K series, or “Blood Basketball” on FC. “Hot Blood Football”, I have been addicted to it, especially the “Hot Blood” series, and the little friends can play for one day, each character has its own skills and must kill, which was really impressive at that time. The style is easy and funny, and the competitive confrontation is the way I look forward to the game
Q: What is the self-positioning of Project-Dunk? In particular, there are still many similar competitive products in the market. Can you talk about the core gameplay of Project-Dunk? We are very curious about this
A: We designed a basketball game that combines fighting elements from the perspective of blood and nirvana. In short, it means that you can play or fight in the game. Players need to use the unique moves of the characters. Win the game by any means.
Q: The combination of regular fighting and traditional basketball is really unexpected, but there are also some feelings of irrelevance. Can you simply talk about the source and focus of this core gameplay?
A: In the world of games in the near future, due to the development of science and technology, young people and extreme sports enthusiasts will transform new technologies into basketball projects, making the “old” basketball project a more exciting new form and become a game. It can be both a fight and a “go to heaven” look. At the design level, as mentioned earlier, our original intention is to restore the experience of using the killing skills to win the game in childhood basketball and sports animations. Therefore, it is natural to think of integrating the fighting elements into the basketball and let the characters in the game please the complicated basketball. The rules are bound and the winner is king
Q: Have you considered the player’s acceptance of this gameplay? How to guide the player to accept it? This breakthrough in the gameplay mechanism, where is the technical difficulty in implementation?
A: From a technical point of view, sports, especially ball games, have high requirements for the authenticity of action and physics. On this basis, adding more complex combat mechanisms poses great challenges in terms of system rigor and balance. But when these problems were solved, the two big pieces of content produced a very interesting collision in the game and became a favorite “killing basketball”
Q: The basketball game has always had a focus, that is, the players. What is the tradition and breakthrough of Project-Dunk in this respect? If you can, can you introduce the player characteristics of “Project-Dunk”? What are the inspirational sources of player-specific skills, nirvana animations, and effects? Have you encountered any difficulties in making these things? Columns are like balance
A: For example, the character of the monster that can be used by the player at this exhibition is set to be a wrestler, and the whole body is full of muscles. He is a power-type character. The beast’s nirvana “Folding Chair Smash”, inspired by WWE’s ancestral folding chair, he brought this technology into the basketball game and won the game in his own way
We have designed their unique skills and nirvana from the characteristics of the characters themselves, some are outstanding basketball stunts, and some focus on how to “fall down” opponents. These skills naturally form some combination routines and restraint relationships, and hope that players can unlock more ways of playing based on their understanding of the characters
Q: Can you talk about how the game’s unique cartoon 3D rendering art style is shaped? What engine is used in the game? Where is the difficulty in making this style of picture? How is the design process determined? Is the promotion effect effective for players in the domestic environment?
A: We designed characters and scenes with strong comic style, but at the same time, how to faithfully restore in 3D is a problem. In terms of rendering, we have adopted a unique solution, which is different from the common PBR-based NPR binary game, which is better at expressing comic style lines and shadows