2024-08-07
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Title image | "Limit-breaking Machine"
Disclaimer | This article does not contain any commercial cooperation
Author | Eel
Recently, Xishanju's mecha TPS battle game "Jiexianji" has launched a public deletion test.
From the beginning of the idea to now, "Limited Machine" has been in preparation for a long time. The project was first laid in 2015, and later the research and development was interrupted. The official production began at the end of 2021. This also shows Xishanju's persistence in the theme of mecha.
Xishanju also understands that mecha themes are not a popular category. In the next phase of testing, "Limited Machine" will be open for registration on Steam, which can accommodate a larger number of players than the previous test. The game content is likely to be more mature, and now it is trying to make a name for itself among the core audience.
Perhaps in Xishanju's product layout, the "Limit-Removing Machine", which has been in the works for so many years, is not just the "icing on the cake", but is given higher expectations.
The subject matter and style of "Limited Machine" are obviously different from other products under Xishanju. "Mecha" is of course the most attractive content.
Establishing the design direction from the visual language may be the first step for Jiexianji to find its direction. It is reported that the team has tried to develop in China, Japan and the UK, and also tried to cooperate with the Japanese team alone, but the results did not meet expectations. In the second half of 2018, the team clarified how to design mechas and began to lead the development completely by themselves.
The mechas in "Limitless Machine" are divided into light, medium, heavy and super heavy types, which correspond to different playing methods and operating feelings in the battle. In order to let players have a corresponding impression of the mecha types, "Limitless Machine" also spent a lot of thought on the appearance design.
Take the medium-sized melee robot "Black Panther" as an example. If you only look at the robot's body design, the visual design of the lower body is relatively simple and slender, so the visual center of gravity moves upward, giving people a lighter feeling. Under the design concept of a medium-sized robot, the "Black Panther" has an additional shield on the back, and the lance weapon in hand looks similar to the length of the mecha, which makes the overall robot look more solid.
If you look back at the debut of "Code BREAK" (the original name before the official exposure of "Code Break") at ChinaJoy in 2019, you can feel that the current version of the mecha lacks the roundness of human muscles and has a stronger industrial feel.
The light attack aircraft "Gyrfalcon" takes lightweighting to an extreme. The most special ability of the "Gyrfalcon" is that it can transform into a fighter-like Gyrfalcon form, and is particularly good at air combat. Therefore, the missiles and guns it carries will not be too large to ensure the lightness and flexibility of the entire mecha.
The super-heavy defense aircraft "Hurricane" is more adept at ground positional warfare. From the perspective of visual design, the leg parts of the "Hurricane" are thicker, including the turret drones are also placed in the leg position, and the overall visual center is moved down. Equipped with larger energy blasters, beam cannons and other equipment, the "Hurricane" looks relatively bulky.
Mecha design and character design are not the same. After all, mechas cannot express their personality through language interaction or story background. If you want to leave an impression on players, you can only polish the visual communication and put on labels that match the settings. The reason why "Limited Machine" divides mechas is essentially to serve the gameplay design.
If you know nothing about "Limit-breaking Machine", you will inevitably feel a little nervous when you first try this type of gameplay.
There is no shortage of mecha-themed games. When it comes to mecha battle games, it is always difficult to avoid works such as "Armored Core" or "Gundam", which have indeed influenced the development of "Limited Machine". They are benchmarks among the core player groups, but it is difficult to hit the sweet spot of mass players. Mecha modification, combined operation... These contents make the core audience shine, but they may also keep general users out.
Starting with the gameplay, "Limit-free Machine" did not choose the more hardcore ACT type, but instead designed a gameplay that can automatically search for enemies. The game is not too difficult to get started with, and the experience is not so picky about users.
According to the plan of "Limited Machine", the game will include at least three main gameplay modes: a 3v3 mode (Ace Sequence Mode) that emphasizes mecha confrontation, a 6v6 mode (Battlefield Mode) that emphasizes team strategic cooperation, and a 6*10 PVEVP mode (Mashmark Mode) that emphasizes survival competition.
After expanding the test scale, "Limited Machine" gave priority to testing the mode that tests teamwork. This test only opened the 6v6 battlefield mode, and a total of 5 maps were made, each map corresponding to a specified gameplay rule.
In the past, there were a large number of team PVP competitive games that laid the foundation for players' cognition. The gameplay mode of "Limitless Machine" will not make players feel too unfamiliar, and it also has some characteristics of its own.
For example, the "Mercury Shipyard" uses a double-track cart gameplay. Players need to push their own transport vehicle to the end first, and they can also push back the enemy's transport vehicle in the process. The general gameplay is similar to the cart gameplay that players are familiar with, except that the attack and defense conversion is cancelled.
The game also adds a point-capturing element. Players compete for and occupy the signal console to allow the transport vehicle to move quickly for a certain distance. Therefore, the game rhythm becomes faster than the regular cart-pushing gameplay. A single game of this mode is set within 12 minutes, but if the two sides do not engage in a tug-of-war, the battle can be ended in about 6 minutes.
"Kraobu Tiankeng" adopts the regional occupation gameplay. Players need to compete around the three scoring points ABC. When the scoring area belongs to their own camp, the points will continue to accumulate. The party that first accumulates 1,000 points will be deemed the winner.
After the game starts, both sides will fight for area A, and fierce confrontation will break out in the early stage. As time goes on, the BC areas on both sides of the map will be open for competition. At this time, players need to choose to concentrate firepower to recover the position or assign teammates to steal points. There are also energy mines distributed on the map, which can help players quickly restore armor and energy, allowing players to engage in longer tug-of-war battles in narrow terrain.
Compared with the last technical test, this time, "Limited Machine" has added a map for annihilation warfare in the battlefield mode. In essence, it is not much different from the Ace Sequence mode, and the two camps still engage in a head-on competition. The difference is that the team size is expanded to 5 people, and a storm will be generated at the end of each game, causing continuous damage to the armor value and structural durability of the mecha, avoiding the final hide-and-seek situation.
In addition to modifying the gameplay mode that players are familiar with, "Limited Machine" also created a mode that emphasizes mecha movement.
In "Cape Brown Observatory", players need to find landing props that randomly land on the map to occupy them. Both sides need to compete for the landing props. Victory cannot be achieved by simply defeating the enemy mecha.
In "Eye of Miss", players need to capture the flag and escort it to the designated area for submission. In addition to shooting and fighting, the process also emphasizes escape, escort, and chase and interception between the two sides. The game also adds a pulse burst setting during the game, which will reduce the visibility of the mecha and make it impossible for players to distinguish teammates and enemies by name. The chaotic scene is also fun.
It is not difficult to see that under the framework of team competition, "Jiexianji" requires players to divide the work and cooperate in the game process. Therefore, "Jiexianji" also makes a relatively detailed division of mechas.
Each mech in the game has special main and secondary weapons and three types of armed skills. The attacks caused by mechs are divided into live ammunition, energy, blasting and physical, and each mech has different resistance to various attacks. However, in the specific combat process, it is difficult for players to intuitively feel the difference.
Depending on the capabilities of the mechas, players can perform melee or ranged attacks, deploy shields, heal teammates, etc. The specific operation and gameplay of each mecha is different, which is more like the positioning division in MOBA team competition games.
The comprehensive capabilities of mechas are measured according to seven attribute dimensions, including individual combat, team combat, air combat capability, combat distance, etc. Players can have a basic understanding of the capabilities of each mecha through these seven dimensions. Mechas with different ability tendencies will perform their respective duties during the competition, thus achieving teamwork.
There is room for mutual cooperation and restraint between mechas. For example, the "Murakami" is equipped with an ultra-long-range sniper beam cannon and also has stealth capabilities, which can provide long-range firepower support behind friendly forces to avoid head-on confrontations. Correspondingly, the "Gyrfalcon" has extremely high mobility and anti-reconnaissance and anti-stealth capabilities, and is good at suppressing the opponent's sniper position.
The "Hurricane" can release decoy drones and defensive drones to lure and defend against enemy long-range attacks, creating a better long-range output environment for friendly forces. The "Black Panther"'s main attack can be a charge suppression attack, which can provide a means of rescue for friendly forces when they are suppressed by melee combat.
It can be seen that the teamwork in "Jiexian Ji" can be very close. Players need to choose the appropriate mecha according to the team configuration before entering the game. In the last technical test, some players also asked why the function of changing mechas in the middle of the game was not provided. The producer responded that if a player changed the mecha in the middle of the game, it might cause the team's tactical framework to completely fail, so the game is still not considering providing this mechanism for the time being.
This also brings a certain threshold to getting started. Before players thoroughly understand the characteristics of each mecha, they may not be able to have a clear concept of teamwork.
"Unlimited Machine" does not provide players with a suggested team match, but provides a function of preset mechas, and displays the positioning of teammates' mechas before selecting a mecha, which can quickly match a relatively suitable team lineup to a certain extent. However, it is still possible that teammates may be temporarily changed, and the support-positioned mechas will be relatively unpopular.
In order to further strengthen the positioning of the mecha, "Limited Machine" also provides certain development content. Each mecha has 5 core parts that can be installed with modifications, and each part can be installed with a maximum of 3. Players can use this to strengthen some of the mecha's attributes, but will sacrifice the attributes of another dimension. For example, some modifications can reduce the energy consumption of accelerating, while increasing the energy consumption of sprinting.
Under the premise of maintaining fair competition, "Jiexianji" allows players to create more unique mechas. Moreover, "Jiexianji" does not seem to intend to make too strong commercialization around the cultivation system, and the unboxing content is mainly around the appearance of the paint.
From the gameplay mode to the design of mecha functions, "Jie Xian Ji" is inseparable from the big framework of MOBA team competition games.However, unlike conventional role-playing games, mecha themes have their own unique design characteristics, and "Limited Machine" also tries to reflect these in the detailed design.
For example, in the action system, the flexibility of mechas may not be as good as that of human bodies, so more emphasis will be placed on the interaction between weapons and armor. In "Limited Machine", a sword fight is designed. When the melee attacks of both sides hit at the same time, both sides will become stiff and retreat a distance. If the player raises the shield at the right time, it can produce a rebound effect, making the enemy unbalanced.
Of course, there are also some designs that are only suitable for mecha-themed works. For example, mechas are equipped with a propulsion system, so fast left and right sprinting movements are more self-consistent. Sprinting operations can be used in various situations in the game, including getting rid of imbalance in close combat and canceling the backswing action after landing quickly. "Limited Machine" starts with the mecha setting and shows a unique three-dimensional action system.
Players can also engage in more advanced games by operating mechas. For example, when the "Gyrfalcon" is targeted and locked by the enemy, it can use the sprint of the transformation form to quickly break away from the lock. For sniper-type mechas like "Narakam" that need a long time to search for the enemy, it can charge up in advance and complete the firing before locking the enemy.
"Jie Xian Ji" further explores the mecha theme, which not only ensures the competitiveness of the gameplay, but also conveys the characteristics that the mecha theme should have.
In the past, it was rare for Xishanju to work so hard to build product awareness before officially launching a new product. This time, not only did they distribute test activation codes through live broadcasts to find more audiences, but the official also invited anchors, KOLs and players from major platforms to conduct the first competition after the test was launched. If "Limited Machine" fails to break the stereotype that mecha games are still a niche track, there is still room for survival if it reaches the extreme on this road.
Following the two-dimensional games, Xishanju is now preparing to explore the science fiction track with "The Limit-Removing Machine".
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