Author: Zen
Reference article for this article: 5 things to learn from AAA studios
Nearly a month after its launch, Black Myth: Wukong continues to be a legendary domestic AAA game. According to VG Insights, as of September 12, the game has sold over 19 million copies on Steam. Its first investor, Wu Dan, once predicted that the game could sell 30 million copies during its life cycle, and judging by the current trend, this goal is indeed very likely to be achieved.
The reason why Black Myth: Wukong has such a strong market appeal is mainly due to the fact that its development team, Game Science, strictly follows the high-standard production process of AAA games - from superb image quality, narrative-driven design, to deep community interaction, all of which show outstanding professionalism. The successful experience of AAA studios such as Game Science provides important inspiration for developers, including Web3 games.
In fact, many independent game developers with limited budgets and resources have created many interesting and well-received high-quality games by learning and borrowing the standards of AAA game developers. For Web3 creators, they can also refer to these experiences and practices, focus on quality and user experience when building games, so as to stand out in the fiercely competitive market and win wider user support and market share.
1. Game production quality is crucial
High production quality is a standard feature of AAA games and one of their most core characteristics. This involves the coordinated work of three main elements: exquisite graphics and cinematic effects, strong art direction, and high-quality sound design. These elements together constitute the overall presentation effect, thus creating a stunning experience for players.
Exquisite graphics
AAA games are known for their visually striking graphics, and independent developers can achieve similar effects by focusing on details. "Hollow Knight" developed by Team Cherry is a good example. The developer is a small team of three people from Australia. They use high-quality art and sound design to make a difference in the limited resources of independent development. Despite the circumstances, it still creates stunning visual effects. This shows that by leveraging easy-to-develop tools like Unity and Unreal Engine, as well as high-quality assets and a unique style, independent teams can maintain a high level of quality without huge resources.
Art Direction
Instead of pursuing resource-intensive, hyper-realistic graphics, independent developers can focus on a unique and consistent visual style. UNDERTALE, developed by American game developer and composer Toby Fox, is a good example, as he has taken on almost all the development work from game concept to graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack. This "humble origin" game has greatly enhanced the appeal and charm of the game through exquisite pixel art and memorable character design. Obviously, this consistent and unique visual style helps independent games stand out in the market.
Sound Design
Spending the money to pair your game with solid sound design and a great soundtrack can significantly enhance the player experience. For example, "Black Myth: Wukong" has a large number of impressive and different styles of game soundtracks. They combine the orchestration concepts of modern performance and are supplemented by a large number of Chinese characteristic elements to add a lot of color to the game's battles and storyline. These soundtracks were immediately popular among players after the game was released. For this reason, "Black Myth: Wukong" also launched an offline theme concert tour. For independent developers, consider working with emerging musicians and creative musical talents to enhance the sound and atmosphere of your game.
By carefully polishing the above elements, independent developers can achieve a production quality comparable to that of AAA games, or in other words, they can be as good as AAA games in terms of the overall impact of the game, providing players with a refined and immersive experience.
2. Active community participation is key
AAA studios invest significant resources in marketing and community building before their games are released, which helps them attract a large player base on release day. Even though indie developers have smaller marketing budgets, they can still learn from this practice. Early marketing is crucial. For example, when American game designer Eric Barone (who goes by the stage name ConcernedApe) was developing Stardew Valley, he used developer blogs and forums to build the game community years before the official release. By sharing development updates, screenshots, and progress reports, he was able to generate widespread interest and anticipation among players.
marketing
Regular updates on social platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram can keep the community informed and excited, especially when combined with Steam to release developer updates, which usually achieves better results. Based on this, some Web3 games will also release their own "castrated versions" on the Steam platform. Discord and Reddit are also helpful for direct interaction with fans to understand their preferences and feedback. For example, the werewolf killing game "Among Us" developed by InnerSloth has maintained long-term popularity after the game was released through social media and an active community.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo not only help raise funds for projects, but also help build a loyal fan base. Successful crowdfunding projects often include detailed project descriptions, development timelines, and frequent updates, creating a loyal community among backers. Shovel Knight, developed by Yacht Club Games, successfully used Kickstarter to raise funds and build a passionate fan base that closely follows the progress of the game's development.
Regular updates and feedback
Keeping players engaged through regular updates and feedback sessions is a vital element in building an active community. Early access programs, beta phases, and trial versions can provide valuable insights and help improve the game based on player feedback. Supergiant Games, an American game developer, successfully used this approach when developing the Rogue-like game Hades, continuously adjusting and optimizing the game based on community feedback through Steam's Early Access phase.
3. The rewards of iterative development and playtesting
AAA studios typically rely on an iterative development process, where games are refined through cycles of planning, execution, and evaluation, allowing for continuous improvement based on playtesting and player feedback. Independent developers can benefit greatly from adopting a similar approach, helping them identify and resolve issues early, ultimately resulting in a more polished and interesting product.
For example, the independent platform game Celeste, designed and developed by Canadian game designers Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry, had an initial prototype with only 30 levels designed for speedrunning. In order to achieve the goal of making the game system extremely simple but rich in depth, the development team constantly invited people to play and adjusted the game content, going through multiple iterations. This helped them optimize the game's mechanics, difficulty balance, and overall design. By processing feedback in a timely manner, after Celeste was officially released, it immediately received a lot of praise for its design, plot, and soundtrack, and received full marks from many media, and was eventually nominated for the Game of the Year at the 2018 Game Awards.
In general, the iterative development process includes:
Early prototype release
Independent developers can release early prototypes or alpha versions to a small group of testers first. Platforms such as itch.io, a digital store for independent game content, provide channels for this goal, allowing developers to share early versions or hold game development competitions and get feedback from passionate game communities. For example, the action-adventure game Rogue Legacy developed by Cellar Door Games benefited from early access and player feedback to help developers optimize the game's procedural generation and difficulty settings.
Game testing session
Developers can organize game testing at different stages of development to collect diverse feedback, either internal friend-and-family testing or through online communities. Game testing not only helps to discover bugs and game problems, but also provides valuable insights into player behavior and preferences. Canadian game developer Polytron Corporation spent five years to complete the action-adventure game "Fez", which underwent extensive game testing during the development process, which played a key role in perfecting its unique puzzle mechanism and ensuring players have a smooth gaming experience. The game received extremely high praise after its release and won the highest award at the 2012 Independent Games Festival.
Beta Testing Platform
Beta testing platforms can also provide more extensive feedback before the official release. Independent developers can open their games to more players through beta testing to collect data on how the game performs on different systems and under various conditions. Motion Twin successfully adopted this approach when developing the Metroidvania game "Dead Cells" (later translated as "Dead Cells" in mainland China). It released the game through Steam's early access to obtain timely community feedback on game mechanics and balance and understand player preferences. According to the production team, 40% to 50% of the changes in the early access period were based on player feedback.
4. Strong narrative and world-building are crucial
AAA games are often good at creating deep narratives and detailed worlds that keep players immersed in them for a long time. In "Black Myth: Wukong", the character illustration system "Shadow God Picture" alone records the background stories of hundreds of monsters, big and small, that players defeat in the game, which fascinates Chinese and foreign players. Game developers can learn valuable lessons from this and, despite possible limitations in budget and team size, can still significantly impact a game's popularity and player-rememberedness by focusing on strong narrative elements and world-building. degree:
Game Narrative
Compelling narratives often involve stories that resonate with players, with memorable characters, emotional arcs, and meaningful choices. Creating a coherent world, with a consistent setting and visual style, can enhance immersion and deepen the connection between players and the game. Small indie titles like Heart Machine’s action-adventure game Hyper Light Drifter demonstrate the power of effective worldbuilding. Despite minimal dialogue, the game relies on detailed pixel art, atmospheric sound design, and environmental storytelling to convey a rich post-apocalyptic world.
Environmental Characterization
This method uses the game environment to convey narrative elements, rather than relying solely on dialogue or cutscenes. For example, the adventure puzzle game "Inside" developed by the Danish independent game development team Playdead Studios has achieved much of its success in storytelling from its visual design. The game reveals its dark, dystopian world through carefully designed levels and uses environmental clues to convey the narrative. IGN commented that it only takes ten minutes to experience "Inside" for players to intuitively feel its beautiful, deep and terrifying atmosphere. Game developers can use this technology to add depth to the game without a lot of dialogue or narration.
cooperate
Developers should not hesitate to invite external writers and artists to join if the game's narrative needs to be enhanced. For example, Ember Lab's story-driven action-adventure game Kena: Bridge of Spirits received help from external teams such as Singaporean game developer Virtuos in asset production, level design, and visual effects. This collaboration allows the lead developer to focus on the core vision of the game while benefiting from the support of external expertise. By prioritizing strong narrative elements, independent games can achieve depth and player engagement comparable to the most polished AAA works.
5. Subsequent support ensures the longevity of the game
AAA studios keep players engaged and extend the life of their games through ongoing support and continuous updates. Providing ongoing support means:
Subsequent updates
Subsequent patch updates help keep the game healthy. Through these updates, you can fix bugs, adjust the game balance, and solve performance or compatibility issues that may occur after release. Take the AAA masterpiece such as the ARPG game "Cyberpunk 2077" ("Cyberpunk 2077") as an example. Although it received high praise from the review media for its artistry and playability before its release, the game's graphics and smoothness on the host platform after its official release were disappointing, and the game had a large number of bugs, which was widely criticized by players. Its developer CD Projekt focused on fixing bugs in the next few years and released patches many times to improve the game's graphics and smoothness. Finally, after the launch of the new DLC "Cyberpunk 2077: Shadows of the Past" in 2023, its reputation was reversed and received "rave reviews" on Steam.
Community Feedback
Independent developers can interact with players through forums, social media, and in-game surveys to collect feedback on what players would like to see improved or added. The aforementioned Dead Cells developed by Motion Twin is a typical example. The development team broadcasts the game live on Twitch, and viewers can vote and have a direct impact on the game process, such as deciding what kind of weapons will be opened in the treasure chest, the strength of the monsters, and restoring the character's health. Its continuous optimization has been well received by many players, and the final official version was also widely praised by the media after it was released.
Downloadable Content (DLC)
Independent developers can create meaningful and reasonably priced DLCs that enhance the fun and playability of the game by providing new and important content. As mentioned above, Hollow Knight has released multiple free DLC packs that introduced new areas, new bosses, and new abilities, greatly expanding the game content and keeping the player community engaged without additional charges. This not only increases the value of the game for existing players, but also attracts new players, who believe that continued support is a strong proof of the quality of the game.
Regular updates
Planning for future content for a game should start early in the development process. Developers can think ahead to future content scenarios, including additional levels, new features, or story expansions. For example, MegaCrit’s card roguelike game Slay the Spire releases updates and new content regularly, which keeps the player community engaged and enthusiastic about the game. These updates include new characters, new cards, and balance adjustments, which greatly enrich the overall experience of the game.
