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GameLook report/In the world of FPS, China’s voice does not seem to be loud.
When it comes to shooting games, you may think of the “Call of Duty” series with plot as the core driving force, and there are also “Apex Heroes” and “Valorant” with gameplay as the core and excellent worldview construction, but these games are huge Most are produced by overseas companies.
In fact, there have been “Made in China” figures in many FPS games, such as the 95 style that often appears in many realistic FPS games. It is not only widely loved by military and military fans, but also allows ordinary players to The heart smiled, but it was completely developed by Chinese people, and there are very few games with a red historical background, and even many players’ impressions of this kind of games are still stuck in “Blood on the Beach”.
Not long ago, GameLook reported that “red theme” not only swept the film and television industry, but also became an explosive maker of offline script killing, but it seemed to be absent in the game industry.
Of course, even so, there is no shortage of explorers in the industry. For example, the popular theme game “Invisible Guardian” a few years ago has won the love of the majority of players. And recently, GameLook discovered a very special red theme game “Fearless Journey”.
According to the official introduction, “Fearless Journey” is a strategy FPS game developed using the same engine CRYENGINE of “Crysis”. The entire development team has only 9 people, and 3 of them have just graduated from college.
Perhaps their identities are different from most developers, not veterans in the industry, but perhaps like most developers, they are full of enthusiasm for game development and production, hoping to pass this special ninth art form , To realize the ideal in the heart and interpret the heroic hymn of the Chinese People’s Volunteers to safeguard justice and oppose hegemony.
Real machine demonstration videoStick to the Chinese story and remember our own plot
“I worked as a soldier in the American landing force in Normandy, as a special unit of the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War, as a German sniper in World War I, as a Soviet Red Army, and now I can finally return to my homeland to become the Chinese People’s Volunteer.”
This is the first sentence of the “Fearless Journey” crowdfunding project page. It is believed to be the most true ideal and vision of the game development team. It is also one of the reasons why many players recognize this game.
To be honest, no matter from which point of view, the positioning of “Fearless Journey” is very special. The history and background of the game originate from the battle to resist US aggression and aid Korea that the Chinese are very familiar with. According to the official statement, they hope to use the game as a carrier to describe the great war to resist the US and aid Korea and defend the country in a panoramic manner. This means that the game is not fictitious or based on an overhead world view background, but a real one by one. Into the game like a battle.
“We want to show the contents of the War to Resist U.S. Aid and Aid Korea to defend the country from the first campaign to the fifth campaign, summer and autumn defense operations in the form of a series of stand-alone plot games. We will also do so if conditions permit. The story of the People’s Volunteer Army’s air force and logistics units is added to the plot content.”
Restoration undoubtedly requires the production team to have a sufficient understanding of the character’s experience and an in-depth study of historical details.
At the beginning of this year, the “Fearless Journey” team also received several interviews, such as Observer.com and BB Ji. In the interview process, without exception, the questioner did not sweat for the production team. On the one hand, because of the small number of team members and limited strength, on the other hand, because of the particularity of historical themes, developers need to be aware of the content, Ideology has a high degree of control and cannot be deviated at all.
Faced with a series of problems, the “Fearless Journey” team did not appear to be very worried, but showed the unique vigor of the “student team”.
In their view, the original intention of making this game is to strengthen cultural self-confidence and tell Chinese stories well. Therefore, in the process, they collected and consulted many sources, including books that are available on the market, old collections, and scanned documents. Wait. Through the study of books and documents to understand the strategies and tactics of both sides in detail, as much as possible to produce and restore battlefield scenes.
Reference books displayed by the “Fearless Journey” team on the crowdfunding page
Respect for history, respect for the ancestors, with respect, not exaggeration, not belittle is the first rule of the “Fearless Journey” team to develop the game.
Not long ago, the team conducted a live broadcast and introduced the three levels in the first battle of the game: Onjing Highway Ambush, Longgu Cave Battle, and Yunshan Battle. In the future, there will be many classic battles such as Shangganling, Jincheng Counterattack, and surprise attack on the White Tigers.
In addition to the game’s worldview plot, it is well known that the development of highly realistic and realistic games is much more difficult. This is undoubtedly a huge challenge for the R&D team with only 9 people. And such military-themed games also require careful attention to weapon models and details.
It is understood that “Intrepid Journey” is developed with CRYENGINE engine, which is more expressive. One of the main creators, Hu Shengkai, has 8 years of experience, and they are one of the few domestic production teams officially supported by CRYENGINE. At the level of details such as weapons and vehicles, the team will conduct repeated verifications to fit the history as much as possible.
Hu Shengkai once said in the live broadcast that they will build a virtual memorial to resist the US and Aid Korea in the game. Players can learn about weapons and some stories from that era in the game, so that more people can appreciate the hardships and hardships of this battle. Victory was hard-won.
Restore the real battlefield, original team command system
It can be said that the unique red theme has become a bonus item for “Fearless Journey”, but for a game, the core gameplay is still the most critical point of the product, and it is no exception for “Fearless Journey”.
From the official introduction, the core gameplay of the game will be similar to most plot-driven FPS games, using linear chapters, and players can experience the well-known battles on the battlefield to resist US aggression and aid Korea in every level. And the official also promised that the game will focus on the difficult situation and resistance of the volunteer military, and will also add some easter eggs.
Of course, in order to better reflect the characteristics of the Chinese Volunteer Army’s flexible light infantry skills and tactics in history, the team members boldly expanded and innovated the gameplay, designing a set of gameplay that is rare in other FPS game products, that is, “Fearless Journey”. The most distinctive team command system of this product.
As the name suggests, in the game, players need to do more than just “fight to kill the enemy”, but also need to have a certain leadership ability to command the team to fight.
In order to make this gameplay the finishing touch of the game, the “Fearless Journey” team has worked hard on this area. They will design AI separately according to the different military types, which not only fits the real battlefield as much as possible, but also makes the game’s gameplay more diverse. change.
For example, in the game, the classic “three-three” tactic of the Volunteer Army is restored to the game. The veteran or squad leader in the squad will take the lead, and the other two soldiers will be in the rear, forming a triangle to ensure that a grenade or artillery shell cannot be used. Kill the team at the same time.
To a certain extent, the game experience brought by this squad command system is actually the same as the squad editing system in “Mountain and Blade”. It expands the game experience from one point to other levels, allowing ” “Tututu” is no longer the only element of the game, and a reasonable use of tactics can also win.
On the other hand, this tactical system that emphasizes team combat is actually to restore the real battlefield. In the interview, one of the main creators, Hu Shengkai, once said, “There is no real protagonist in the real battlefield, or everyone is the protagonist.” In addition, the absence of a specific protagonist also means that players can experience the cruelty and hardship of this war from a different perspective.
A team of 9 people, hoping to “compose” a hymn to dreams
Team member Hu Shengkai once said that he defined “Fearless Journey” as an independent game. This is true in terms of game content and team size, but like other independent game developers, this game carries their extraordinary meaning.
According to reports, the establishment of the “Fearless Journey” production team can be traced back to 2013. At first, it only existed in ideals. With the development and changes of the team, it was officially launched offline in 2016 and gradually developed into a company. At that time, many members of the team were still college students.
As they said, the development of the game is arduous, but if there are conditions, it must be up, and if there is no condition to create the conditions, it must be up. They are full of vigor and courage to move forward in a relatively simple environment.
The fledglings are very tight on funds and resources. They have no office space or work scene. Fortunately, their university, Heilongjiang University of Science and Technology, generously donated them and provided them with venture capital and space. It can be seen that many of the team members’ daily meetings are completed in school. In order to make the characters’ movements in the game more natural, they even introduced motion capture technology, making it a little difficult to move forward.
“We have “self-knowledge” about the size and strength of the team, but we also want to make games that players want us to make.” Hu Shengkai once said in an interview.
“Born” with ideals, power generation with love has become the norm.
At the beginning, they will take on some small outsourcing projects to provide a certain income for the studio while the “Fearless Journey” is steadily advancing. However, due to the epidemic last year, the outsourcing projects could only be cancelled. In the most difficult time, members had to take Use love to generate electricity with a meager income of 500 yuan.
In desperation, they chose to launch a crowdfunding campaign on a crowdfunding website. In their words, this is the way that allows us to complete game development independently, and expressing creativity is the most important.
Today, they have reached two crowdfunding goals, and the remaining two progress has already passed halfway. In the live broadcast, he once confidently stated that the team has sufficient knowledge about the technical level and understanding of engine performance, and it can even be said that it has been opened up, but there is still a lack of funds and time. Overcome difficulties.
Furthermore, in the video released by station B, they also said that at this stage, besides the music, they basically created the game independently. In the future, they also hope to design music for the game separately, and “write” the hymn to be more vivid and exciting.
This Article is curated from Source and we only provide the English version of the Story.