After a year, Black Myth： Goku has handed over its progress report

(Text/Yan Wenqing) On August 20 last year, Game Science announced "Black Myth: Wukong" and released a teaser video. Once the video was released, it immediately caused a sensation on the Internet, and domestic players once again raised their hopes for the domestic 3A masterpiece. The teaser spread overseas, and many overseas players without the cultural foundation of Journey to the West were also impressed by the quality of the game displayed by the video.

A year later, players are waiting for the second long preview of Dark Myth: Goku (the new year preview is not too long). How has its development been during the year? When will we actually be able to play the game? Will our expectations for the game need to be adjusted?

With these questions in mind, players have to enter a new round of waiting. Not only players, but also game and media practitioners, everyone is paying attention to the every move of this game. For the Chinese game industry, the significance of it may have long exceeded that of an ordinary game itself.

A year later trailer

After a year, the game industry and game science have undergone many changes. The next-generation console PS5 and Xbox Series, as well as a new generation of game graphics cards, have been on the market and have been out of stock for a long time; Epic has also opened the early experience of Unreal Engine 5, which is highly expected to become a power builder for countless game companies.

At that time, Game Science released the "Black Myth: Goku" promotional video with the main purpose of recruiting, hoping to use such a video to attract talents in the game industry and enrich their development capabilities. Now, a year later, they have shown us the latest development results.

Overall, the length of the two long trailers is about 12 to 13 minutes. Last year’s first trailer took about three and a half minutes for the beginning and end of the plot and editing clips. The remaining nine minutes are a complete level flow. In this process, there are miscellaneous soldiers, battles with elite monsters, a boss battle, and some means to bypass the battle.

There was no similar process in this preview, but there were two BOSS battles in different scenarios, one against a knife-wielding ape and one against a silver dragon. The demonstration of the BOSS battle was quite restrained compared to the battle with the wolf monster a year ago. There was no monkey grandson created by grabbing hair, and there was no shape change or weapon switch.

There were a few obvious eye-catching highlights in the trailer, such as the main character using the "golden hoop" to stand in the air in the battle with the silver dragon. After the stick was constantly stretched, he defeated the boss who was still in the distance and had about 1/3 of his health left. In the last part of the trailer, the main character could also be seen waving his weapon, causing a lot of paper to flutter. Both scenes could trigger players’ infinite reverie about the actual game.

The development team’s pursuit of visual effects was clearly revealed in the trailer. The heavy snow at the beginning of the video and the bubbles after defeating the silver dragon were all obvious, and their effects were quite amazing.

After the ape boss uses the knife qi to attack, it will also leave traces of the knife qi on the snow.

It has to be said that with the blessing of Unreal Engine 5, the graphics presented in the trailer are enough to attract a considerable number of players.

The most obvious change is that the amount of plot content in this trailer has been greatly improved. In last year’s trailer, the plot shown by the character dialogue and narration was quite simple and direct, and it was easy for players to understand the information expressed in it. The narration and dialogue in this trailer leave a lot of room for players to interpret and guess.

Who said these few lines of narration? What do "Destiny Man" and "Future" refer to? What do the lines related to the commandments mean?

The images and words that appeared in the trailer gradually outlined the style of "Dark Westward Journey" that the game science wanted to show. "Black Myth: Wukong" is not just a simple westward journey to fight monsters, there must be many secrets waiting for players to explore.

Leaving players with questions about the plot in the trailer is also an effective way of publicity, allowing players to watch the trailer repeatedly for a period of time, trying to find clues and connections in the plot. The interpretation and analysis derived from it will also further achieve the retention of popularity.

What are we expecting?

From the demo, "Black Myth: Wukong" is a work with action as the main gameplay element. At present, it is impossible to judge whether it is a pure action game, or an action adventure and action role-playing. It has first-class graphics and rich details, reaching the level of an international 3A.

And most importantly, it is based on the four famous books "Journey to the West" and tells a Chinese mythical story. The TV version of "Journey to the West" has been broadcast countless times, but Chinese players have not yet had the opportunity to operate a world-class Monkey King in the game.

As of this writing, the first trailer for Dark Myth: Goku has had 36 million hits on Bilibili, 2.75 million likes, and 1.24 million favorites. This speaks volumes about the attention and anticipation the game has received this year, with plenty of players eager to play it.

Although it is impossible to predict how the new trailer will eventually spread, it should not be a problem to play it again. This game that broke the circle at the same time as the announcement has attracted the attention of many players from outside. We are amazed that the domestic game has finally reached such a level, but we forget that this game is still a long time away from the market.

A AAA game typically takes three to five years to develop, depending on factors such as the size of the game, the size and experience of the development team, and project management capabilities. Judging from the fact that Game Science released the first trailer of the game last year to attract people, the "Black Myth: Goku" project should have been in a relatively early stage at that time.

Based on this, we would need to wait as short as one year or as long as three years to play this game. Considering that the game had been transferred to Unreal Engine 5 for development, the pursuit of higher effects was basically equivalent to a longer development time.

Breaking the circle is the dream result of public relations and marketing personnel, and the expectation of players will also put huge pressure on the development team. Game producer Feng Ji once said in an interview last year that what they are doing now is much worse than the top games of six or seven years ago. This is his understanding of the gap between Chinese and foreign game production levels as a developer, and it is also a means to cool down the expectations of players.

In the comments of the first trailer last year, someone said that he was very happy to see the dropped frames and flaws in the film, because it shows that the demonstration is real, not a deliberate hoax. Similar problems also appeared in this trailer, with significant frame number reduction in some scenes. Coupled with these amazing graphics, many players have now begun to worry about optimization issues.

We hope that "Dark Myth: Wukong" will be a success, and we also hope that the finished game can really be as Feng Ji said, "telling a Chinese story at a world-class level in absolute quality, technology and graphics standards." But we must also be clear-headed that it is still a game in development, and it may not be suitable for everyone. As long as game science can complete a 15-20 hour process of games at the level of trailers, it is a huge success for the Chinese game industry.

In the development of large-scale games, we are still far from the international level of excellence.

Our distance from 3A

China’s game market is dominated by mobile games, followed by online games. The market share of PC stand-alone and console games is basically only a fraction of the former two. China has never lacked dream chasers who want to make excellent domestic stand-alone machines, but the reality of the market has made it difficult for stand-alone developers, often struggling to develop under economic difficulties.

Data source:Quarter 1 China Game Industry Report 2021China Audio and Digital Association Game Working Committee and China Game Industry Research Institute

The appearance of "Black Myth: Wukong" has given a clear signal to the market: it is not that Chinese players do not like stand-alone players or 3A players. As long as there are excellent works, even if it has not been completed, players are willing to express their enthusiasm.

Many overseas game giants have paid more and more attention to China’s stand-alone and console game market in recent years. Simplified Chinese has basically become popular in the international 3A, and there are more and more games with Chinese dubbing. If an overseas 3A like "Cyberpunk 2077" can break out of the domestic circle and enter the vision of ordinary people, then the domestic 3A should be able to do the same.

Admittedly, "Black Myth: Wukong" does not have the publicity funds and publicity offensive of the international top 3A, but its Chinese culture and Chinese-made base color allow it to take the lead in China. This is a 1.40 billion market, and there are already foreign game companies willing to make Chinese-themed 3A works in order to make money from Chinese players. The market is fair competition, and the lack of strength will naturally fall behind, but there is no reason not to give up.

The situation of "Black Myth: Wukong" also shows that even if the mobile game players are the most and make the most money in China, it will not change the meaning, value and appeal of 3A. Large-scale 3A games represent the highest development strength possessed by a game developer. It is the crown of the game industry. With the highest cost and the largest development team, it brings the best sound, light and painting effects, and the closest experience to recreating reality in virtual reality.

After the release of "Black Myth: Wukong", many developers admitted on the Internet that they wanted to quit their current jobs, join the game science team, join the production of this game, and realize their dream of a domestic 3A. In the face of 3A, countless players thought "I want to make such a game too" and became developers, but the current situation of the domestic market has long caused them to struggle and suffer.

I don’t know when the dawn will come, but "Black Myth: Wukong" can be a ray of light. No one can guarantee that "Black Myth: Wukong" will be successful, but the game can already set a technical standard for China 3A with 3 trailers, and our developers are fully capable of making such a level of game.

Even if "Black Myth: Wukong" fails, other domestic developers will still launch an attack on the next domestic 3A after learning the experience and lessons of game science.

If it succeeds, all the domestic standalone machines in the past will have a share of credit, and if it fails, it will also join all the predecessors and become the experience and nourishment of the latecomers.

Through this step-by-step effort, we will eventually have our own domestic high-quality 3A masterpiece, which can make the world’s players look forward to it.

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