After all, Mingyan hasn't personally made similar small games since "Wormhole Wave" many years ago; he's only worked as the chief designer on various AAA projects.
To outsiders unaware of the truth, the game he personally crafted seemed like a couplet written by Wang Xizhi or a sketch drawn by Leonardo da Vinci, which he then casually gave away to someone nearby.
My goodness, it's priceless!!!
209. Jealousy and rivalry
Mingyan said that the "Jump Jump" game he played casually in his spare time is just like the literal meaning of the game; it's simply a game where you can jump.
There's no backstory or complicated gameplay.
A stick figure stands on a floating platform and jumps to other platforms.
When you press your hand on the screen, the little character starts to gather energy and prepare to jump; when you release your hand, the little character jumps forward a corresponding distance based on the time it took to gather energy.
You get 1 point for jumping onto the opposite platform, then face the next platform.
If you fail to jump or land properly and fall off the platform, the game ends.
When Atlas received this little game, it was 50MB in size.
In an era where even a small game can be 1 or 2 GB in size, it's unbelievably small!
It's worth noting that the vast majority of these 50MB files are art and sound effects materials, because the platform has various shapes and colors, making them look surprisingly fresh and cute.
The actual program logic is very small, perhaps only a few hundred or a thousand lines.
So, Chief Engineer Ming's programming skills are getting better and better...
After all, I still remember the original Minecraft 1.0 version, where the program framework was extremely rudimentary and game optimization was practically nonexistent.
It seems that Chief Strategist Ming is now at level 100, with all his skills maxed out.
The editors at Atlas, not daring to underestimate the importance of this, held a small meeting: everyone should first try out "Jump Jump" before making any decisions.
Pressing down with your finger and then releasing it, watching the little figure jump up, gives you a small sense of accomplishment and joy.
The little guy fell down and got annoyed. He also peeked around to see what score the others had reached.
"Ugh!! Another 40 points! I must have a grudge against 40 points!"
"The platform is getting smaller and smaller. Damn, how is it possible to jump up there?"
"Holy crap, Lao Yang, you got 80 points! How did you jump like that? Any tips?"
"Don't bother me, let me finish this dance first..."
It's a very small game, but for some reason it seems to be addictive.
Once almost everyone gets started, they simply can't stop, always thinking, "Let's jump to the next platform first."
Even if it dies, the little person automatically regenerates on the first platform as if nothing had happened, and still "jumps to the next platform first".
And each time, players can feel that their skills have improved!
This time we should be able to break the historical record—
Or perhaps it was just a slip of the hand, a mistake, and I can definitely do better next time.
So, let's move on to the next platform.
After the meeting at Atlas's house, the editors were still somewhat reluctant to leave.
Many people walked out of the meeting room and couldn't resist secretly taking out their phones to play a couple more rounds of games—it doesn't require any brainpower, so it's a perfect way to fill the boring time.
It perfectly embodies the phrase "I can't put it down".
At almost the same time, Ipp was also gathering people to evaluate another mini-game by Chief Designer Ming.
A similarly simple game called "Fly" has the same gameplay.
A little bird wants to fly through the dense foliage; hitting any obstacle will end the game.
If you tap your finger, the bird will flap its wings and fly up a little bit; if you don't tap your finger, the bird will glide and slowly descend.
Therefore, when encountering obstacles that need to be dodged, players need to estimate: how much height will I fall while sliding? How many taps of my finger will it fly that high?
Both mini-games are equally exquisite and compact, and even have the same built-in scoring system.
Mingyan was too lazy to write another set, so he just copied the code.
In "Fly Away," the bird earns 1 point for each obstacle it successfully avoids.
Even the editors at Ipp, who were new to games, felt like they were hooked.
"There's not much to do, so why is it so addictive?"
"The essence of games is actually learning. Chief Designer Ming has truly taken this to the extreme."
"Yes, it's a good puzzle game. It's repetitive yet varied, and the training is very fun."
“Every time we dodge an obstacle, it’s a positive feedback loop; every time we achieve a higher score, it’s a powerful positive feedback loop. Learning, improving our skills, and then achieving better results—that’s why humans are so easily addicted to games.”
"The leader is still the leader; you can tell he's got the skills just by looking at him."
The editors at IPP magazine gave a fierce analysis, as if they were witnessing Bodhidharma smiling serenely.
Could this seemingly simple game, no bigger than a thumb, really contain the highest truth of game design and production?