According to the unwritten rules of DLC development, a game’s basic gameplay and combat system certainly couldn’t undergo major changes. At most, developers would add new maps, new bosses, new weapons, and new skills based on the existing content.
But this obviously couldn’t satisfy Pei Qian’s needs.
Because if the DLC was developed this way, players would definitely buy it without hesitation!
It would completely fail to achieve the effect of reducing game sales.
Pei Qian’s primary goal was to make fewer players buy the main game of “Turn Back Ashore,” so that once the income decreased, he could naturally make the main game free without being warned by the system.
Therefore, he needed to place the DLC before the main content, forcing players to experience the DLC before the main game, with the DLC being more difficult than the main game.
This way, those players who hadn’t bought the main game of “Turn Back Ashore” yet wouldn’t be able to complete the DLC, wouldn’t get the 30% discount, and wouldn’t want to pay full price for the main game. Wouldn’t the sales drop then?
Coincidentally, the plot of “Eternal Damnation” happened to be a story taking place before the main plot, with the DLC protagonist set as the first Jailer.
This provided theoretical support for Pei Qian’s bold strategy.
*System, take note! Placing the DLC content before the main content isn’t me deliberately causing trouble—the author’s plot setting is actually like this. I’m following the timeline!*
Next came the second issue: how to make the DLC more difficult than the main game.
Pure numerical difficulty had already been maxed out, after all, Pei Qian had to ensure he could complete the game.
To further increase the difficulty, he could only work on the gameplay.
This meant that the basic combat system of “Turn Back Ashore” also needed to be modified.
Fortunately, the story of “Eternal Damnation” also had some minor details in this regard that could be utilized.
Of course, so-called utilization was nothing more than far-fetched, forced connections.
On the surface, it utilized the protagonist’s identity as a “Martial God,” but in reality, it was purely to increase difficulty and deter players.
Pei Qian quickly had a rough concept. He cleared his throat and said, “Your original idea isn’t fundamentally wrong. But the problem is that it’s too conservative—it doesn’t feel like a completely new story at all.”
“A DLC must give players a different experience. If it’s just minor adjustments to the original combat system, how can it live up to players’ expectations? It also doesn’t do justice to the author’s hard work in creating the plot!”
This statement made Yu Fei, the author of “Eternal Damnation,” feel a bit embarrassed.
Actually, when he wrote this story, he didn’t think too much about it. He just felt that the Jailer’s identity was quite special and could be explored further, so he came up with this somewhat clichéd story.
Boss Pei was the producer of “Turn Back Ashore,” so he obviously had the highest authority to interpret the relevant plot of “Turn Back Ashore.”
Having his casually written plot recognized by Boss Pei was already quite good—he didn’t expect the production team to follow his plot completely.
But Boss Pei’s statement made him feel strongly respected.
Pei Qian continued, “In my view, we should make changes like this.”
“First of all, the DLC content takes place before the main plot. That being the case, we should obviously let players experience the DLC content first, then experience the main content.”
“So, set it up so that the DLC can be purchased and experienced separately from the main game. Players who have already purchased the main game of ‘Turn Back Ashore’ before the DLC’s release won’t be affected.”
“Players must complete the first few chapters before they can pay to purchase the DLC; and after completing the DLC, they’ll get a 30% discount when purchasing the main game of ‘Turn Back Ashore.'”
“This guides new players to play the DLC first, then the main game.”
“This order must be clear so that the player’s gaming experience aligns with the story’s timeline!”
“Although this is a relatively minor detail, the more minor it is, the more it cannot be ignored!”
Hu Xianbin and others hurriedly took notes.
This regulation sounded a bit strange—since when could a DLC be purchased separately from the main game, encouraging players to play the DLC first?
No one had heard of doing it this way before.
But those present were all veteran employees. After witnessing Boss Pei’s bold strategies with other games, especially “BE QUIET,” this kind of operation was no longer surprising.
Since Boss Pei arranged it this way, there must be a reason!
Seeing no one raising objections, Pei Qian was very satisfied.
He thought for a moment and continued, “Secondly, the gameplay of the ‘Eternal Damnation’ DLC must be distinguished from the previous work!”
“‘Turn Back Ashore’ is already a two-year-old game, and its combat system is somewhat outdated. Moreover, over these two years, players’ tolerance threshold has been continuously increasing. Old players have become more and more proficient, able to pass levels with their eyes closed, while new players can find a large number of tutorial videos online. The difficulty of this game can no longer compare to when it was first seen.”
“So, we need to innovate the combat system of ‘Turn Back Ashore’ and bring some new challenges to players!”
“And this can be approached from the details in the ‘Eternal Damnation’ novel.”
“According to the setting in the ‘Eternal Damnation’ novel, the protagonist is a martial god in the human world, a super expert on the level of Gu Qibai, who can even slaughter entities like the Black and White Impermanence.”
“This clearly doesn’t match the setting in the main plot of ‘Turn Back Ashore’ where the protagonist is an ordinary person.”
“We should allow the martial god protagonist in the ‘Eternal Damnation’ DLC to master more martial skills, perform more flashy operations, and have a unique combat mechanism!”
“In the novel, when describing battles, it often describes the protagonist’s breathing rhythm. When two experts confront each other, the one with disordered breathing often quickly falls into a disadvantageous position, while the one with smooth breathing gradually gains the upper hand.”
“So, on top of the original stamina value, add a ‘breathing rhythm value.'”
“The breathing rhythm value icon looks somewhat like a lung shape, divided into green, white, yellow, and red states. At the same time, this icon will have a breathing effect, constantly expanding and contracting like human breathing, with the fullness inside representing the amount of gas in the lungs.”
“When the breathing rhythm value icon expands and the lung gas volume increases, it represents inhalation; when the icon shrinks and the lung gas volume decreases, it represents exhalation.”
“And the four colors of the icon—green, white, yellow, and red—represent the protagonist’s breathing state. Green represents smooth breathing, white represents normal, yellow represents rapid, and red represents disorder.”
“Along with the exhalation and inhalation of the breathing rhythm value icon, the system will also play exhalation and inhalation sound effects, making players more aware of the protagonist’s current breathing state.”
“Whether attacking or parrying, it’s best to exert force during exhalation. Of course, if the situation is urgent, exerting force during inhalation is also fine, but the protagonist will automatically accelerate to adjust his breathing, quickly changing from inhalation to exhalation.”
“But this situation shouldn’t happen too often. If you frequently exert force against your breathing rhythm, your breathing will gradually become disordered, requiring time to calm down and adjust slowly.”
“Conversely, if you can exert force at the right time every time, your breathing will become very smooth, and your attack power and damage value will increase.”
“Enemies will also have breathing rhythm value settings. When an enemy’s breathing rhythm value falls into a disordered state, the protagonist can find flaws in the enemy’s moves and deliver a fatal blow regardless of how much health they have left, triggering an execution move!”
“In addition, the stamina value setting is also different from before.”
“Previously, stamina value depleted quickly but also recovered quickly, which doesn’t align with our understanding of ‘stamina value’ in the traditional sense.”
“After introducing the ‘breathing rhythm value,’ the stamina value setting also needs to change. The total amount of stamina is very large, and actions such as attacking, parrying, and dodging consume stamina, but the consumption is slow, and recovery is also slow.”
“Breathing rhythm value affects stamina consumption. Smooth breathing means slow stamina consumption and quick recovery; disordered breathing significantly increases stamina consumption.”
“After the stamina value is reduced to a certain threshold, it represents a disparity in stamina between the two sides. The side with weaker stamina will face more stringent conditions when parrying the opponent’s attacks. Once stamina is nearly exhausted, it becomes easy for the opponent to expose weaknesses, disrupt breathing, and deliver execution moves.”
“In addition, adjustments must also be made to specific combat techniques.”
“The original combat was too monotonous, nothing more than roll-dodging, not being greedy for hits, and slowly grinding down bosses through memorization. This model might work for ordinary people, but since the DLC protagonist’s identity is a martial god, it’s absolutely impossible to fight like this—the dissonance would be too strong!”
“In the new combat system, apart from the original attack moves, the main modification lies in the ‘counter’ move.”
“Enemy attacks will be divided into high attacks, mid attacks, and low attacks, with left and right distinctions.”
“High attacks are avoided by ducking with a sidestep, mid attacks are defended by parrying, and low attacks are avoided by jumping.”
“These are the basic operations, but since the protagonist’s identity is a martial god, he can also handle these with the martial god’s ‘see move, break move’ technique on top of these conventional handling methods.”
“‘See move, break move’ is also a parry, but its requirements are more stringent. It not only requires extremely precise timing but also directional judgment with the right analog stick.”
“After the player locks onto a target, if the opponent’s attack comes from the player’s upper left, then the player needs to first push the right analog stick towards the upper left, then press the parry button at the moment the attack arrives. In this way, a perfect parry of ‘see move, break move’ can be formed, preventing any damage to oneself while disrupting the opponent’s breathing rhythm and causing them to be stunned for a short time.”
“The same applies to attacks coming from directly above, lower right, right side, and other directions. Pushing the right analog stick or mouse in the corresponding direction can trigger the perfect operation of ‘see move, break move.’ If you don’t push the analog stick or push in the wrong direction, you can only trigger a normal parry. Although it can still defend, you might get hurt or cause your own breathing to become disordered.”
“Some bosses have super-charged attacks, which are best avoided. But there’s also the possibility of breaking them with ‘see move, break move,’ though the conditions are extremely stringent.”
Hu Xianbin recorded while expressing a shocked expression.
The changes to this combat system were too significant and quite bold!
Not only did it subdivide the original enemy attacks into six directional attacks (high, mid, low + left, right), making it more complex for players to handle, but it also added the breathing rhythm value setting.
For expert players, if they want to execute a perfect boss battle, they would need to continuously see move and break move, accurately observing the direction of incoming attacks for parrying. Additionally, they would need to constantly pay attention to their breathing rhythm value, preferably maintaining it in a “smooth breathing” state.
This way, the combat experience would become somewhat like a fighting game, requiring control of directional buttons to adjust the blocking direction. When actually played, it would certainly become extremely flashy.
If expert players could master this set of combat techniques, quickly making the boss’s breathing disordered, they might be able to kill much faster than before.
But for ordinary players with poor reflexes, the gaming experience might be something else entirely. They might end up making their own breathing disordered while playing, then get easily executed by the boss.
It could be said that this was a very bold modification, but also quite risky!
Hu Xianbin said, “Boss Pei, with such significant changes to the combat system, doesn’t this mean the entire game’s difficulty needs to be readjusted?”
Pei Qian nodded, “Of course.”
It wasn’t for the players’ sake that he was adjusting the difficulty; it was mainly so he could complete the game himself.
After all, Pei Qian was very self-aware. With his poor reflexes, he absolutely wouldn’t be able to handle such a perverted combat system he designed, where he’d have to adjust the breathing rhythm value and push the right analog stick to parry like in a fighting game.
So, he needed to find a way to create a backdoor for himself to complete the game smoothly.