This is not a BUG, this is a game feature - #248 - Chapter 248 Metaphysics is necessary!

Sandong Village.

A remote and poor village, located deep in the mountains, with almost no young people, only old people.

The name of the village comes from three natural caves that are connected to each other, hence the name Sandong Village.

Hu Xi’s parents are not from this village, but he grew up in Sandong Village. The reason is that more than 20 years ago, Lao Hu, a barefoot doctor in the village, was returning from the county town to get medicine while carrying a kerosene lamp. He was found abandoned on the roadside.

Since he had no name, Lao Hu named him Hu Xi, and with the help of the villagers, he reluctantly raised him…

“But Old Hu is dead!”

Chen Ba’s story-telling skills are not high and he can only give everyone a brief understanding of the synopsis of the story: “Old Hu’s death is the main reason that prompted Hu Xi to return home, and it is also the main task of the game.”

To put it simply, “Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village” is a standard Chinese horror game.

What is Chinese horror?

Ghost bride? Red wedding dress? Crooked Bodhisattva statue? Colorful paper figures?

That’s right!

Different from the visual shock horror created by blood and real objects in the West, Chinese horror is more about creating a sense of psychological discomfort and shock.

“Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village” tells the story of the protagonist Hu Xi, who learned that his adoptive father died unexpectedly and returned to his hometown to bury his adoptive father. In the process, he discovered that the real cause of his adoptive father’s death may not be that simple, and Sandong Village is not as simple as imagined, so he secretly investigated the truth.

“Then what is the truth?”

Although Xiao Lu was afraid of those mysterious things, he was fascinated by it now and couldn’t wait to know the answer.

Monsters and ghosts, which kind are they?

“The truth?”

“The truth is that Lao Hu actually had cancer and should have died a long time ago. It’s just that Hu Xi was still young and didn’t want to die like this, so he used a taboo method to extend his life.”

Chen Ba curled his lips and said: “This is the superficial truth, and there is a deeper truth, that is, everyone in Sandong Village is doing this except Hu Xi’s adoptive father, Lao Hu.”

“ah?!”

Suddenly hearing this, Xiao Lu was stunned and said: “Everyone is doing this? Then aren’t the people in this village immortal per capita?”

“It’s making trouble!”

Before Chen Ba could speak, Luo Ji couldn’t help but complain: “If it were really that simple, it wouldn’t be called a taboo method, and Lao Hu wouldn’t die.”

“That’s right!”

“Remember what I said at the beginning? There are basically no young people in Sandong Village. Even except for Hu Xi, they are all old people!”

Chen Ba repeated the background setting. Now not only Luo Ji understood it, but even Xiao Lu shuddered after hearing it.

How could a normal village be full of old people, without any young people or children?

Don’t they all have descendants?

This is obviously impossible!

The possibility of infertility in the whole village is obviously lower than that of people in this village. Anyone who is not stupid knows that there are no young people or children in this village because someone is up to something.

So who is it?

Taking into account the context, Brother Ba introduced the truth of the story before, and Xiao Lu made inferences: “So this is the price of extending life?”

“Yes!”

Chen Ba nodded: “Not only that, but the reason why Sandong Village turned into a gloomy village with no trace of life was because of the backlash.”

At this point, the outline and context of the story are already very clear.

There is a problem in Samdong Village!

The problem lies with the old people in the village and the three natural caves with strange smells. Hu Xi has been kept in the dark by Lao Hu, and he didn’t want him to be involved when he was sent to school.

In fact, Lao Hu is already the last “living person” in the village!

Therefore, his death and Hu Xi’s return also marked the complete disappearance of Sandong Village from the world. There is no living person in this village.

“its not right!”

“Since Lao Hu was the last to die, how did the news of his death spread? How did the protagonist Hu Xi learn about it?” Xiao Lu asked with a frown.

This must be a plot bug, right?

Is Brother Ba out of his mind? The last second he said that Hu Xi returned to his hometown to hold a funeral for his adoptive father and let him bury him in peace, why did he then turn around and say that Lao Hu was the last living person?

“etc……”

“I think I figured it out!”

Luo Ji said thoughtfully: “Brother Ba means a living person from the perspective of the audience, that is, from the perspective of God. There are no living people in Sandong Village.”

“But from the perspective of ordinary people in the plot, Sandong Village is still the same, lively and lively, and the old people are healthy, and there is no difference at all.”

“That’s right!”

Chen Ba confirmed Lao Luo’s guess.

This is the fact. The main reason why Hu Xi received the news of his adoptive father’s death and returned to his hometown to repay his kindness to his fellow villagers was actually: everything was normal in Sandong Village during the day!

Please note that this is during the day.

Once night falls, Sandong Village will reveal its true face. It is actually a “dark village” that is deserted and full of evil spirits!

“Zhuo, spoilers are really boring.”

Xiao Lu scratched his head and said, “Listening to what you said, I feel like I don’t even need to play the game anymore. I’ve figured out all the puzzles.”

“So, it’s best not to search for guides or watch videos when playing this kind of horror game, otherwise you won’t be interested in playing after being spoiled.”

Chen Ba smiled.

Knowing the origin, course, and ending of the game’s plot before even playing the game is commonly known as a spoiler, which is indeed a fatal blow to a horror game.

Don’t talk about “Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village”.

Any horror game that is spoiled by others before playing it will not arouse much interest. After all, the most important “sense of suspense” in a horror game has been destroyed.

“OK OK!”

After clapping his hands and indicating that everyone was looking at him, Chen Ba assigned the task and said: “We who make games should not want any sense of suspense and tension.”

“What we have to do now is to design puzzle exploration and parkour chasing scenes in sequence according to the plot…”

As for solving puzzles, this is not what Chen Ba is good at.

He has never even played “Escape Room”, which is the favorite among young people. He is a pure novice in this area, so he needs to ask for everyone’s opinions and ideas.

“Solving puzzles is nothing more than a process of collecting clues to find the truth and solving puzzles. Leave this to me, I’m quite good at this!”

Luo Ji took the initiative to take away a hard nut to crack and solved a difficult problem for Chen Ba.

As for the rest of the work, it’s not that difficult compared to the puzzle-solving part.

“Music is outsourced, so we tone-deaf idiots shouldn’t cause trouble.”

At this point, Xiao Lu seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly asked: “By the way, does this kind of horror game only have one exploration and puzzle-solving method?”

“Roughly the same!”

“To create a scary atmosphere in a horror game, it must be based on this exploration and puzzle-solving gameplay.”

Chen Ba asked curiously: “Do you have other ideas? Tell me, what other gameplay methods can be added to the horror game?”

“Brother Ba, you have already mentioned the gameplay of parkour. In addition, I think since it is Chinese horror, can we add some unique Chinese elements to it?”

“For example?”

“For example, divination, this should be very unique, right?”

Xiao Lu said freely: “In addition to divination and fortune telling, you can also incorporate some of our unique folk customs and traditions into the game.”

“Divination?”

When Chen Ba heard this, his expression was thoughtful.

These things that we usually don’t pay much attention to, if added to a Chinese horror game, seem to have some miraculous effects?

I can’t say it’s a miraculous effect!

It can only be said that the atmosphere will be relatively sufficient, and it can also continuously exert psychological impact on players from the side.

for example!

The player is about to go to a new location and look for new clues to solve the puzzle. Before leaving, he made a divination for himself. Very good, very bad luck!

The copper coins were cracked, which is enough to show the danger and terror of this trip.

As soon as this hexagram comes out, even if the player has not encountered anything abnormal, he will feel inexplicably depressed and heavy, his nerves will be tense all the time, and he will feel like he can’t breathe.

“This is fun…”

Luo Ji chuckled and said, “When you play this kind of horror game, you’ll be frightened before you even start when you encounter the hexagrams of great evil and so on.”

Is this thing reliable?

A reliable hammer! A smart person can see at a glance that this is a deception. The game designer deliberately manipulates the player’s mentality!

But it is a bit bluffing to be unable to stand up to this. In reality, few people will believe this. After all, they are all highly educated, and they are not so sure that hexagrams can represent everything.

But this is a game!

And it’s a horror game full of metaphysical mystery!

So in a game like this, where the hexagrams show great misfortune, would you feel heavy in your heart? If this shows good luck, the player’s confidence will instantly double, and all monsters and monsters will have to move aside.

“Is such that……”

Chen Ba agreed: “In reality, if you ask me to tell fortunes and say that there is a bad omen for me, then I will probably give that guy a backhand kick.”

But in the game “Once Upon a Time in a Mountain Village”, it’s different.

It is normal for a horror game to have a bit of metaphysical mystery. Since you have played this game, you must have guessed that the game has a bit of “reality” content.

Now that we are out of touch with reality, the hexagram shows great evil, and we will be chased to death by terrifying monsters when we turn back. This should be quite reasonable, right?

“Then let’s sew it up!”

Xiao Lu suddenly thought: “This divination can be combined with game content to expand the application scenarios and scope of this divination.”

For example, there is a strange and scary creature chasing me behind me, and there is a three-way intersection in front of me.

Don’t panic, believe in the power of metaphysics and make a divination for yourself first!

OK!

The hexagram shows that going to the left is the “road to life” and going to the right is the “road to death”.

Xuan doesn’t save Fei, but Krypton doesn’t change his fate?

joke! It’s okay to say this for other games. Don’t you believe in metaphysics when you play “Once Upon a Time in the Village”? If you don’t believe it, then what is chasing you? Urgent syrup?

“That’s okay…”

Xiao Lu’s metaphor expanded everyone’s thinking, so Liu Jinfu also gave an example of a practical application scenario.

This type of horror game usually faces many “timing” choices.

Therefore, in addition to providing early warnings of good and bad luck, divination calculations can also add some of the “day selection” functions that divination already has.

“What’s the meaning?”

Xiao Lu didn’t quite understand. What did Lao Luo mean by choosing a date?

“The hexagram shows that today is not a good time to explore! That’s gone. As a result, there are more strange things than usual today, and the monsters are sharper and more difficult to deal with than usual…”

Lao Luo explained: “Maybe you have no idea, so let me put it another way. When it is auspicious, it is normal or easy difficulty, and when it is not auspicious, it is difficult or hell difficulty.”

“I see.”

Xiao Lu understood. The application of divination in the game actually gives players an opportunity to freely choose the difficulty.

If you don’t want Mo Ji to wait for the so-called auspicious time or day, then just ignore the hexagrams and just follow the difficult method and be done with it. If you are scared to tears or pee, you can’t blame anyone.

If you feel that it is too dangerous and want to play the game more safely and are not in a hurry to explore the unknown or search for clues, then wait for auspicious times, the difficulty will be slightly reduced, and the level of horror and scares will be okay.

“Is this a big difference?”

Chen Ba is more concerned about this issue. If the difficulty of the game caused by auspicious days and times changes greatly, then “Once Upon a Time in the Mountain Village” may form two extremes.

A group of people said that this game is so scary and scary, it scared me out of my mind!

Another group of people said that this game is not scary at all, not scary enough, and feels not as good as XX…

“No!”

Luo Ji shook his head: “If we really want to do it, the difficulty gap will definitely not be that big. Even if it is auspicious days and auspicious times, it will be very thrilling.”

“That’s good!”

Chen Ba thought for a while, and finally looked at Xiao Lu who made the suggestion, and asked him: “Since you proposed it, how about you do the divination?”

“I can not……”

Xiao Lu shook his head to express his refusal.

Although he made the suggestion, he really couldn’t write the program. After all, this thing sounds simple, but it is actually quite complicated to implement.

After all, this “hexagram” will link many aspects such as game difficulty and game content.

And the randomness is relatively large.

Everything in the game is a controllable factor, but the player is an exception. This is the only uncontrollable factor in the game.

After all, no one can imagine where, when, and under what circumstances players will use this function, so the hexagrams are naturally not static.

Once the hexagram changes, other content in the game must also change…

Hold the grass!

Just thinking about it gave Xiao Lu a headache. The amount of this project was huge. To do this divination function, we still had to ask Brother Ba to help.

After all, Brother Ba’s technical strength and code volume are recognized by the studio as number one, and no one dares to question that.

The code written by Brother Ba is even more amazing. What Lu Jing can’t do doesn’t mean Brother Ba can’t do it either. All the people who looked down on Brother Ba were slapped with swollen faces by his actual actions.

It’s just a divination function. Although the randomness is a bit stronger and the workload is a bit larger, can it be difficult to defeat Brother Ba?

“Well said, please praise me some more!”

Chen Ba felt comfortable after being praised, as if he had just come out of a massage parlor, and he accepted the task without hesitation.

Although he guessed that this was probably Xiao Lu’s flattery offensive, it was not a big problem. What Xiao Lu said was also true.

Only he can do this job, no one else is good at it!