"So, what is what the game maker is really trying to say?"

"It's actually easy to distinguish."

"The reality problems reflected in the game, that is, the content that the official is soliciting in Weibo activities, is the role of the 'mirror' of the game "Struggle", which uses the way to reproduce the elements of reality, so that everyone can see the reality through this game."

"But if it is a complete reflection of reality, it is obvious that documentaries or documentary films will be a better carrier, which can show all the content in front of everyone more objectively."

"And "Struggle" is a game, and the reason why we need to use the medium of the game is because the producer can combine what he wants to express with the game mechanism!"

"So, those parts that are combined with the game mechanics are what the makers really hint at through this 'mirror'!"

"Next, there is a series of questions and answers, which are all unreasonable things that the makers left in the game, and it is precisely because they are unreasonable that they are puzzles."

"You can think about the meaning behind them."

[1] Why should the game be divided into poor and rich versions, priced separately, and stipulated that there is no discount for buying together?

"On the one hand, because pricing itself is a kind of performance art, such as emphasizing that 'there is no second chance in life', we can choose the game, but in fact we can't choose our own life, and on the other hand, it is because the poor are encouraged to buy the rich version, and the rich are encouraged to buy the poor version, so that each other is not confined to their own world, but can truly substitute for each other's living environment."

"In the game, the living conditions of the poor and the rich are so different that they can no longer understand each other at all."

"The rich protagonist asks why the poor can't find time to spend with their children, can they be busier than the president of a large company?"

"This is because the rich protagonist never really puts himself in the situation of the poor, so it is impossible to understand why the poor at the bottom are not able to control their time;"

"The poor protagonist believes that as long as he struggles, he can get a better life, and if he learns from excellent people and changes the thinking of the poor, he can change his life."

This is because the poor only see the efforts of the rich and often ignore the blessings provided by the vast resources behind the rich man. Many rich people preach that they have 'zero wealth outside of hard work' and that they are self-made, while the poor still believe it, why? It is because the poor have no way to know how much benefit the rich have brought to the rich. ”

"Including the murderer who thinks the rich man is a liar, but also because he originally believed in the rich man, but later found out that the rich man only told part of the truth."

"Therefore, this pricing strategy itself is to encourage the poor and the rich to experience each other's lives in the game, get out of their own cognitive blind spots, and look at this issue from a more comprehensive perspective."

"This approach is to break the dimensional wall and use real-world decisions to determine your experience in the game, and this approach can only be achieved by the artistic medium of the game."

"[2] Why is the English name of the game STRUGGLE?

"That's the beauty of language. If the meaning of 'struggle' is simply expressed, then fight or strive is obviously better, these two words are more positive, positive, and more in line with the original meaning of struggle. ”

But the word struggle not only has the meaning of struggle, but also the meaning of struggle and struggle. Combined with the all-English background of the story, it is easy to see that this is actually a double entendre: the rich are struggling, and the poor are struggling. ”

"After understanding this layer of meaning, and then looking back at the Chinese translation of the name 'struggle', it will add a layer of irony, and you will know that although they are all struggles, the struggle of the rich and the struggle of the poor are not the same thing at all."

"The struggle of the rich is in the ethereal clouds, if you want to struggle, you will fly up, and if you don't want to struggle, you will lie down and roll, but no matter how you toss, you are still in the clouds;"

"And the struggle of the poor is a sinking quagmire, and hard work only keeps oneself from falling more, and once it stops, it will be swallowed up by the quagmire immediately."

"[3] Why are the characters in the game so face-painted?"

"When playing games, you will find that the rich are all handsome, handsome, and glamorous, while different poor people all conform to our stereotype of this kind of person."

"Even the game's art style exaggerates the appearance, demeanor and expression of each character, so that they no longer look like a living person, but become a face."

"This obviously doesn't fit the theme of the game, because if a realistic theme wants to highlight the sense of reality, it needs to be as realistic as possible, and the facial characters and exaggerated art expressions will weaken this sense of realism."

"On the one hand, it weakens the player's discomfort, and on the other hand, it also allows the player not to be too immersed in the perspective of the character itself, and to be able to look at these issues in a higher dimension and with a more detached mentality."

"Facial painting is a high degree of condensation of each character's image, and at the same time, it also symbolizes that the story of "Struggle" is a high degree of condensation of many stories."

"The game uses faces to represent a certain type of people, and the game also uses the life of a poor person and a rich person to refract the lives of all poor people and all rich people."

"And this is the same as propaganda, which is obviously an implicit expression of symbolism."

[4] Why does the game have only one ending, and it can't be changed?

"The rich will be killed no matter how they choose, and the poor will fall into a cycle of poverty no matter how they choose."

"At first, I thought it was a fatalistic idea, suggesting that no matter how hard you try, you can't change your fate."

"But I quickly realized that this was clearly wrong."

"The reason is very simple, because the maker of this game, Mr. Pei, he can't be a person who believes in fatalism!"

"Although I have never met Mr. Pei, as long as I know a little bit about the inside story, it is clear that Mr. Pei is different from the rich protagonist in the game, he is really self-made!"

"Starting from "Lonely Desert Highway", to successful games, and then to one industry after another, we have witnessed the rise of Tengda in the past two years, and no matter how hard we tried, we could not find any signs of capital intervention, all signs show that Pei was always born in an ordinary working-class person, completely step by step, self-made."

"Mr. Pei himself is a person who changes his life completely by himself, how can he promote a fatalistic thought?"

"It's like a student who studies diligently and scores 100 points in everything, but tells you every day that learning is useless, do you believe it?"

"If you use your brain a little, you will know that this view is completely untenable!"

"So, why does the game only have a unique ending, and it can't be changed?"

"As I said before, the game is using the life of a poor man and a rich man to refract the lives of all the poor and all the rich."

"Everyone's life is different, the poor and the poor, the rich and the rich, the differences between each other are also huge, so once you let go of the mouth of multiple endings, it will dilute the idea that the game is trying to express."

"The game imposes a single ending for the poor and the rich, and there are two considerations."

"First, like most stories and movies, a single ending guarantees the integrity of the whole story and allows the creator's thoughts to be expressed."

"If you don't have a limited ending, you can't make the beginning and end of the game echo each other."

"The good rich end in tragedy, and the good poor end in tragedy, the story will be more tense, and if a happy ending is used, the tension of the whole story will be diluted, and the ideas that the creator wants to express will go astray."

"Second, this is a higher level of 'fatalism', which is not emphasizing that people cannot change their own destiny, but that in this social environment, the choices of an individual cannot change the entire class."

"The rich can die a long life, or they can enjoy their old age, and even the vast majority of the rich will enjoy their old age. But when the hatred between classes has been established, and the hatred of the poor for the rich has become irreversible, then 'killing the rich' becomes an inevitable event, and it is only a distinction between 'who kills the rich' and 'which rich man kills'. ”

"The poor may become rich or bankrupt and become beggars, but the relationship between the poor and the rich remains the same, as in the game, if the poor are always being exploited by the rich in various ways, then the poor will always be poor is an inevitable event, even if there are individual exceptions, but from the perspective of the whole group, it will become more and more unsolvable."

"So, the game deliberately locks the ending, and let's go through various side quests in the game over and over again, make different choices, and find two versions of the hidden plot...... In the end, nothing changed. ”

"Why can't we change the ending? Because the game mechanics are restricting us. ”

"And by extension, the poor in the game can't change their lives through struggle because the game mechanism of the whole society restricts them."

"Here, once again, the dimensional wall of the game is broken: in a certain game rule, no matter how hard you try, you will not be a real winner."

[5] What does it mean that only one clothing brand appears repeatedly in the game?

"A lot of people should have seen the brand luxury, which is the golden logo of 'LL'. This is the only brand that appears in the game, and it is a luxury brand that is in the hands of the rich protagonist's father and inherited by the rich protagonist, and has also appeared on many characters. ”

"From a game point of view, the player's memory is very limited, and if you make two brands, it is likely to be confused, so the best way is to only make a brand to represent luxury goods, and what is not labeled is ordinary products. This is the basic idea of game design: Occam's razor's law, to express something in the most concise way possible. ”

"But it's a very magical expression that is integrated into every aspect of the game, and it's more than just an ornament."

"Have you noticed one of the biggest differences between the rich and the poor version? The rich version, no matter how you choose, will only change from one kind of success to another. In the poor version, as long as you choose the wrong one, you will immediately slide down, ushering in the end of the poverty cycle ahead of schedule. ”

What's the difference? In fact, the hint has been given in the game, and it lies in the numbers. ”

"For the poor, life is a long list of numbers, because you have to be careful to keep the chain of life running. Once a number is wrong, it will set off a chain reaction that will collapse the entire chain in an instant, and all previous efforts will be wiped out in an instant. ”

"On the other hand, the rich, no matter how they choose, no matter how much money they spend, they will immediately have more money to make up for it."

"Therefore, the game mechanics have been controlling the number of money in the game, constantly 'putting the struggling poor on the right track', trying to clear the money number to zero, and finally usher in the only ending."

"Why is it that as the income of the poor grows, so do his expenses? Some people think that it is because many poor people lack financial awareness and are brainwashed by consumerism. But we have to note that a lot of the payouts in the game, we simply don't have a choice. ”

"For example, why would a poor person spend a month's salary on a luxury suit, a belt and a briefcase? Does he really need these things? Can't you use cheap things? ”

"Yes, he really needs to."

"Because in that environment of the game, if he wears cheap clothes, he will be ostracized and isolated by his colleagues and the people around him, and he will never be able to fit into that circle."

"That's why a lot of people want to maintain 'decency', because decency is not just a matter of face, but also a matter of real practical interests."

"That's right, that's what we know as consumerism."

"And the brand of luxury is the condensation of consumerism, a concrete symbol."

"In the game, both poor and rich people wear this brand, and the only ones who don't wear it at all are those homeless and homeless."

"Once the poor protagonist gets a better job, he has to change into luxury, live in a better house, and drive a better car. Because if you don't, the people around you will keep reminding you in a malicious or kind way. ”

"Malicious people will avoid you, will reject you, and will not let you enter certain circles; Well-meaning people, who will remind you, will tell you why you need these things. ”

"So, whether it's a poor protagonist or a player, there's no choice, and this is another design that breaks the dimensional wall."

"You're angry because you made the right choice, but you still can't save money, yes, the poor protagonist in the game is in the same mood as you."

And even more ironically, the rich protagonist never wears luxury. Is it because he is more disciplined? No. ”

"Because he's the son of the president of luxury, and he has a private horse farm, what if he doesn't wear luxury? No one doubted that he could afford it. It is normal for him to wear it, and it is to support his own brand; He does not wear it, but he has the virtue of simplicity. ”

"Rules and regulations for the poor do not exist for the rich at all, because no matter how the rich choose, with the blessing of a certain aura, it will become a virtue."

"Even think about it further, the rich don't wear luxury, but they are using the high profits of this brand to harvest all the poor infinitely, the rich are desperately advocating consumerism and luxury, making you feel as if you can have the same life as the rich with luxury, and even let the whole group form a consensus that will spontaneously exclude the poor who can't afford to wear luxury, which in itself is to compile a cage for the poor and determine the rules of the game that the poor can't break, No matter how you choose, the rich will win. ”

"It's like rolling the dice, where the poor are playing for luck, and the rich are six points on each side, no matter how they roll."

[6] Are there really only two tiers in the game?

"Apparently not."

"I believe that many people are trying their best to find the connection between the rich protagonist and the poor protagonist, and even feel that the rich protagonist was killed by the poor protagonist, or the son of the poor man."

"But the game is desperately denying that, and you can't find any connection between the poor and the rich."

"Why? Because it's not a complete closed loop. ”

"There's actually a third tier in the game, which is the 'homeless'. You'll find that it's the link that connects the entire closed loop, and it's actually ubiquitous throughout the game. ”

"The beginning and ending of the rich man's version, the kidnapping of the protagonist's mother and the killing of the protagonist are all homeless."

"At the beginning and end of the poor man's version, the protagonist's father struggles to keep the protagonist from becoming a homeless person, so the protagonist is grateful to his father; And the protagonist struggles all his life, and his son who deceived himself continues to struggle, all in order to keep himself and his children from becoming homeless. ”

"Like my previous analogy, in this game, it's not just the rich in the clouds and the poor struggling in the mire, but also the homeless who are completely engulfed at the bottom of the quagmire."

"The poor told us at the beginning that these people at the bottom of the quagmire were dropouts of cesspool middle schools, prisoners in prisons, beggars and mentally ill people on the subway, homeless people who died socially after receiving handouts, and who had to live on the streets for the rest of their lives with healthy hands and feet."

"When the poor give up, they become homeless, so they have to struggle in the quagmire. If you struggle, you may not be able to climb up, but if you don't struggle, you will definitely sink. ”

"The faster you give up, the faster you sink."

So, why does the poor protagonist say that to the child? Didn't he know that he had been deceived by his father's lies all his life? ”

"Perhaps, he had a fluke mentality and thought that his children would be different, and maybe, he just had to tell this lie."

"Because if he tells his children that it is useless to struggle, then his children will sink and become one of those homeless, and the protagonist knows very well what a miserable life it will be."

Therefore, the poor protagonist has no choice but to tell his children to struggle. If you look at the results, this struggle is pointless, because it can't get you to the clouds; But if you look at the bottom of the quagmire, you know that this struggle is meaningful, and it at least keeps you from sinking. ”

"As for the rich?"

"The rich protagonist was almost killed when he was born, but he never believed what his father said, he met poor friends, and he worked hard to write books to help those poor people change their fate."

But he didn't realize that it was not the poor who kidnapped his mother, but the homeless; It was not the poor who killed him, but the homeless; He could be friends with the poor in college, but he couldn't take a second look at the beggars in the subway. ”

So, he thinks that the rich can be friends with the poor, and that's right; But he didn't realize that it was the rich and the homeless who really couldn't understand and became two species, and the poor were just the part that came out of the mire and could see it, and there were many more people who slowly rotted under the mire, and he couldn't see it in the clouds. ”

"The most ironic thing is that it is the rules of the game that make the poor homeless."

"So, the homeless man said that the rich protagonist was a liar, because in the eyes of the homeless, this person preached struggle while taking everything from himself."

"And this, the rich protagonist will never understand."

[7] In the game, there is only one kind of relationship between the poor and the rich, so how many kinds of relationship between the poor and the rich that Mr. Pei wants to express?

"This is the last question, and the last thing the game makers want to express after all the details above."

"In fact, Mr. Pei has already expressed this aspect of the content."

"Do you still remember the movie "Beautiful Tomorrow"? It was an even more tragic scene than "Struggle". ”

"It is conceivable that the society in "Struggle" will develop for a few more decades, and it will become "Beautiful Tomorrow".

"In "A Better Tomorrow", there is an easter egg at the end, and someone throws a gun into the main character's room. The implication is obvious, that is, when social contradictions reach the level of "A Better Tomorrow", the poor have only one choice. ”

"In Struggle, however, there is no similar choice, because the environment they describe is different, and the focus to be expressed is different."

"Violent protest is not a cure for all diseases, and it is not the best choice in all cases. In the environment of "A Better Tomorrow", this may be an option, but in "Struggle", there is no soil for such a possibility. We can imagine that even if this poor man chooses to fight, he will only become the next murderer who is locked up as a 'liar' and is condemned and criticized by tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, and will only make his situation worse. ”

"So, is there a third case?"

"Actually, there is, it's the real world we live in."

"In the game, there is no way up for the poor, but in reality, we do."

"In the game, the poor can't fight consumerism, but in reality, we can."

"In reality, most people don't really define a person by what they wear, how they wear and what they wear – except for a few who are too affected by consumerism."

"So, solutions that don't exist in the game exist in reality."

"In the game, the poor have no choice but to constantly increase their consumption level, and eventually because of an unexpected factor, the numbers in a certain link are wrong, and everything collapses and returns to zero."

"But in reality, we have a choice, we can reject consumerism, we can keep saving, complete the initial accumulation of wealth, and change our destiny through struggle."

"If you have hands and feet, hard work and prosperity, you can get out of the quagmire."

"In the game, no one tells the rich and the poor what they should do."

"But in reality, someone is telling us what to do. The game "Struggle" is to break the dimensional wall and tell us what to do. ”

"It's actually telling us that we should work hard in the real world, because what we're struggling now is meaningful."

"A lot of people complain that we live in hell just because we haven't seen the real hell."

"And after seeing the world in 'Struggle', we realize that we are already living in heaven."

"Although this paradise is not so perfect, at least, we are still full of hope."

"Many players don't have a good understanding of the plots in the game, because these plots don't match our real life, so there will be a sense of estrangement, and they will feel that the choices of the characters in them are very weird."

"And this actually proves that what we feel we are accustomed to is actually a great happiness."

"Using the game "Struggle" to make us realize the happiness of real life, and encourage us to cherish the present and work hard, this is the deep meaning of the game makers to make this game."

"Endeavor is a textbook work for all game makers, because it repeatedly breaks down dimensional walls in various ways to truly express the greatest strength of games as a ninth art: in other art forms, you are just a spectator, while in games, you are a participant."

"And a lot of things can only be seen clearly from the perspective of the participants."

"This practice of repeatedly breaking the dimensional wall represents that the producer's ability to control the artistry of the game has reached the peak and perfection, and every detail has its meaning."

"So, back to the original question."

"How does Endeavor surpass the four basic theories of the game on the premise that they seem to go against them?"

"The choice of misplaced publicity is to break the dimensional wall and make the publicity part of the game's content;"

"The choice of interactive movie games with realistic themes, which seems unpopular, actually provides convenience for breaking the dimensional wall and builds a bridge between the game and reality;"

"At first glance, the more you dig into the game, the more inspired you become, and you can get a sense of happiness in reality while suffering in the game;"

"It exists, not to tap demand, but to create demand. In fact, most people don't realize that we need to understand these truths in order to live our lives well, so after understanding all this, we will suddenly realize that we need this game. ”

"So I think that "Struggle" is the highest peak of the artistry of domestic stand-alone games so far, and even for players, it is a valuable spiritual wealth."

……

After the last full stop, He An still felt a little unfinished.

He seems to have a lot more to say.

In fact, there are many details in the game "Struggle", and each detail can be expanded to write hundreds or thousands of words in detail.

But He An still decided to stop here, because the attitude of Tengda's official Weibo has been very clear.

The reason why the game is all-encompassing and has countless details is that it has the function of a "mirror", and to analyze these details is to analyze reality, and reality is inexhaustible.

These should be done by all the players on Weibo.

He An believes that his mission is to analyze the top design concepts in the game from the perspective of game designers, drive the progress of the entire domestic game industry, and at the same time, analyze the deep meanings that game makers want to express in games.

At this point, it's just right.

Therefore, He An checked the content of the entire long Weibo and pressed the send button.

The content is a bit long and a bit boring.

People who have never played a game may think that this is a meaningless preaching, but those who have played a game should have some resonance.

He An feels that this is precisely the charm of the art of games.

The sugar coating on the outside of the pill may seem ineffective and does not really cure the disease, but it can make the patient less painful when taking the medicine.

It's just candy, it can't cure diseases.

It's just a pill that will not be accepted by many people.

And the pills are sugar-coated and really help some people, which is precisely the ultimate goal that He An pursues all his life as a game producer.

Just like the "Landlord Game" he once made, it was also to achieve this goal.

Although he experienced the catastrophe of domestic stand-alone games during this period, he had to turn to online games for the survival of the company, but in his heart, he always regarded this matter as his mission and pursuit.

Even if his own concept is outdated, even if he can no longer make a work like "Landlord Game", He An has never given up this pursuit, and when teaching, he will try his best to pass on this pursuit.

And now "Struggle" has surpassed "Landlord Game" in all aspects.

This shows that domestic stand-alone games really have a leader, and He An is very pleased.

Although he has never met Mr. Pei, through this kind of in-game communication, it is enough to become a confidant.

"Tell Mr. Ma about these contents, and my teaching content will be all complete."

"The previous four basic theories have been overturned and all reshaped, and they fit perfectly at a higher level."

"Struggle" is another comprehensive transcendence and in-depth interpretation of "Landlord Game", which can explain what a truly responsible and ambitious game producer should do."

"After listening to these contents, Mr. Ma will definitely be inspired, right?"