Listening to Lucas's words, Marcus sitting over there looked totally shocked.
The game background and rules were already all set?
Even though it was just a basic idea, hearing it made him feel really excited.
No doubt, this was a game completely different from regular shooting games.
This would surely be a much tougher kind of game.
In general, so-called counter-terror games in the industry mostly focus on guns to build around.
And the so-called tactics focus on items you throw.
Working with the map's layout, things like flash grenades, fire bombs, and smoke grenades.
But at its core, these games are still about who has better aim.
From what Lucas just described, as a game designer, Marcus could clearly sense what Lucas meant.
This game without a name yet would be one centered on tactics.
"But balance will be a key focus. After all, even though we're making it for the military, we still have to think about regular players." Marcus said to Lucas.
This was another big key point.
As a game that sells itself on the counter-terror action, and from the rules, this was clearly a multiplayer battle game.
Balance would be a core problem you couldn't avoid.
For the military, it could go all-in on real-life feel with no limits.
Like, one hit and you're out of the fight, or the person is done for.
Because that matches real situations, and the military version needs to be true to life.
But for players, you can't do it that way.
After all, players are playing a game, not real life.
Truth is, players feel mixed about this stuff.
But if you really follow what players say and make a game super close to real life, you're basically heading for one end.
Either it bombs big time, or it turns into a super small niche game.
Because in fight-based games, players want the good feeling from kills and wins.
If the game makes one hit end you, why would anyone keep playing?
"Don't worry, I've thought about this part. You'll get it later, Mr. Marcus." Lucas smiled and said.
Seeing Lucas so sure of himself, Marcus nodded over there.
"For the paperwork stuff, Boss Lucas, just have someone from your team pass it to me. I can handle the Game Division side myself." Marcus said to Lucas.
Clearly, since Lucas put it this way, he already had a solid plan for this unnamed game.
He could just handle the legwork, like applying at Game Division and setting up the VR dev tools and access.
For the game design outline, let Lucas do it himself.
After all, this game was being led by Nebula Games.
He didn't know if Nebula Games and Lucas would go along with it, but NetDragon side sure wouldn't.
He knew his own place in the industry pretty well.
Plus, Lucas had a big name in the game world. To be honest, his games in recent years were hit or miss.
If he could score an easy win this time, that would be awesome.
For Lucas, there were lots of choices for shooting games. Many top ones from his past life each had their strong points.
Like "Battlefield," "Call of Duty," even ones like "PUBG" and "Arma."
If we're talking real-life feel, "Arma" was clearly the best fit.
If we're talking fun, then "Battlefield," "Call of Duty," and "PUBG" each brought their own unique style.
Huge battlefields, straight-up thrilling gunfights, and survival shootouts.
But in the end, Lucas turned them all down.
There were three main reasons.
The first one was they just weren't right for military training.
Out of them, "Call of Duty" didn't match the heart of it the most.
Next, "Battlefield" and "PUBG": "Battlefield" checks the war zone vibe and team work.
But the big issue is, in today's world, even real fights wouldn't play out like in "Battlefield."
"PUBG" touches a bit on everything, but doesn't go deep in any.
As for "Arma," it fits well for real training feel.
But the thing is, this game has to appeal to players too. "Arma" has you traveling half an hour just to die without seeing anyone—that kind of play in VR would be way too risky.
On the flip side, "Battlefield," "Call of Duty," or "PUBG" are all sales giants.
NetDragon is just a short-term partner, not family.
So for Lucas, picking a standout game was the way to go.
The "Rainbow Six: Siege" from his past life, under Ubisoft.
You could say "Siege"'s road to success was pretty rough.
The first version of Rainbow Six: Siege didn't blow up; it got slammed with hate instead.
Main reasons, besides Ubisoft's classic laggy servers and glitches.
What ticked players off most was that the Rainbow Six series came from Tom Clancy's counter-terror book. Like "Call of Duty," it didn't skip shading the Russians.
Of course, that wasn't the point. The real deal was early Rainbow Six wasn't a multiplayer shooter; it leaned toward tactics, or more like strategy.
In "Siege," the special forces stuff was mostly hype early on. Plus, they cut the single-player missions, which set off player anger and led to awful launch sales. It nearly tanked right away.
But in the end, Ubisoft—lovingly called "always my big bro" by fans—didn't drop it. They spent three years fixing things up, tweaking every part, even going a full year without new stuff to do a total redo.
That boosted "Rainbow Six: Siege"'s quality a ton, and it was the year lots of players jumped in.
Of course, Ubisoft's later moves on it got flak too.
Like pushing too hard on esports, with every change tied to that.
They turned all the real, everyday, classic counter-terror maps into tight rooms and hallways for fair play.
But from a design view, that was actually a good shift.
It made the game way more even.
For Lucas, the core setup didn't need much fuss.
He could just tweak small details from the past life's version, since it was already solid.
What got Lucas thinking more was how to show off "Rainbow Six" better in VR, and how the military-only version would work.
(End of chapter)
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