The cool “Soul Chip” started a self-help

They made a decision that many people might not want to think about

“Soul Chips ”. is cool

Of course, this is not my side, but something that actually happened, so that I recall that the reason for this game is just a question that the player issued under the relevant news – “ this game Still?”

I went to see the number of online games on STEAM, no more than sixty. The number of online users is telling the truth. It may be enough to make a few rounds of Mahjong’s complete laps. For a multiplayer online game that appeared on the STEAM hot list six months ago, this online number may be true. It means it “ cool. “

A lot of people will describe 2018 as a year of domestic quality game blowouts. In this year, we witnessed the success of “Possia Time” to grasp the core users’ success, and also saw the miraculous “Taiwu Paintings” captured the countless hearts with the green skin code, and even more “China” “Parents” let many players raise their sons in the current unresolved marital problems, and the high-quality and high-yield NEXT Studio and the birth of the domestic ACT game production level of “Gu Jian Qi Tan” It also began to work in 2018

The beauty of these game works naturally doesn’t need me to repeat too much. One or the other kind of inventory and interviews must have been a lot of things, but what is amazing is that everyone seems to have forgotten a game, one is also born. In 2018, shortly after the STEAM summer promotion, it was launched in the STEAM summer promotion and set off a live broadcast of the domestic independent “asymmetric confrontation” game – “Soul Chip”

For only ten days, “Soul Chips” has reached 50,000 copies. For a domestic independent multiplayer online game that can be said to be almost zero propaganda, this data is definitely available, and with the players. The discussion and coverage of the game between the anchor and the media made it hot in the first place But I never thought that the highlight moment of “Soul Chips” will be fixed at this moment, and the long-term and dark closing time will follow

The reason for all the things happening in the world was initially unremarkable, just like no one could think of it. On that sunny Sunday, Grand Duke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia will be from The Principe of Bosnia runs through two burning bullets, and this small city in the valley of Sarajevo became the starting point of the First World War

“Soul Chips” is also the case. From the time when the first player was chased by the unbelievable speed from the back, everything began to exceed the control of the production team. The problems of flooding plug-ins, endless BUGs, matching system cardots and high configuration requirements are in front of the studio. After a period to update and deal with problems, they found that this is the “soul chip”. The game has gradually lost control

This in-house game studio in Shenyang has more than 20 people. Everyone can be said to be an old gamer who has been playing in the game circle for more than ten years. In the special online games and mobile games. After completing the accumulation of wealth and economic independence in pure commercial games, this group of people embraced the vision of independent games and the idea of falling leaves, and returned from the north to the Guangshen to the name of “the birthplace of two generations, the emperors of the two generations”. Places, and their first game is “Soul Chips.”

重明工作室’s working environment.

Although I won a full house applause when I appeared on the scene, the people who used to work in large companies according to their duties and rules did not expect future dangers. From the temple to the rivers and lakes, the bitterness and bitterness of the family is only known to them. After a few months of vain renewed, the evaluation of the game has dropped from “mostly praised” to “different”. The game’s producer, Eason, also made a decision, a more surprising decision than he gave up his job and resigned to be an independent game

“sorry” STEAM evaluation.

Since the beginning of October last year, Chongming Studio has been “ 跑路“, and this run is half a year

A multiplayer online game must be continuously and steadily updated. Only in this way can the game have enough vitality, not to mention that “Soul Chip” is also facing problems with plug-ins, bugs, network and optimization, etc. Once you stop updating, it means the loss of the player, but also the death of the game

Simple announcements and regular updates during this period.

“ The official has run the road. “, this is the mainstream speech in the community, post bar and Weibo during that time, and the studio has not even reacted to this. The only thing is that it is only The announcement that the “server version is about to go online” disappeared from the player’s face for half a year, just like the real running games on STEAM, disappearing silently into the player’s field of vision. In the deepest part of the game library, it was finally dusted and disappeared

At the time, I posted the main comments on the discussion.

No one has made any explanation for this, and the studio has no one. Because they are facing a moment that is likely to be a life-and-death for them, when producer Eason made that decision, it couldn’t go back

They have to change the engine and reproduce the Soul Chips that have been made in a year and a half in half a year

Everyone hears this decision, the first thought is always “ impossible. “. If you want to replace the “Soul Chip” made by Unreal Four Engines with Unity3D, then this “impossible” is not only based on the time limit of this almost idiotic dream, but also faces severe financial pressure. This means that they will not only face the loss of many players, but also the first bucket of gold that has been harvested before, and break into this “bottomed bottom and can not see the future.” 重制 ” version

It stands to reason that Eason, the producer who made the commercial game, should know which one is more suitable for himself. After replacing the game engine with Unity3D, you can carry your own server, and you can better track and block the opener. And fix some bugs that were difficult to fix in the past, but the underlying architecture of the game also needs to be completely rebuilt, and because of the engine replacement, the game’s screen and feel and other players can feel the changes, and how to restore these things as much as possible It is also a very difficult issue. The delays in updating, losing players and consuming funds during this period are not the responsibility of this small independent game studio

Children are right or wrong, adults only see the pros and cons Eason, who has passed the year, made this decision that was later unimaginable in his own opinion. He convinced everyone in the studio one by one, they gave up all private time, they gave up All the vested gains, they gave up all the update plans, along with the players’ doubts, ridicule and jealousy, on this muddy path covered with thorns, singularly

As for what will happen in the future, Eason admits that he has not thought about it He said that he is like a gambler in the game. He is working hard for an unknown future. He is alive or dead. I am afraid that only God knows

Producer Eason: “A gambling decision.”

I asked him if he would regret it, he hesitated for a long time. As for the answer, he did not answer me positively, but after changing the engine and launching the server version, the online number of “Soul Chips” has recovered, which is far worse than the previous highlights

I asked again, what if you fail?

He didn’t speak. After a long time, he said, start from scratch