Influenced by classic works such as D&D, "The Lord of the Rings" and "World of Warcraft", players and fans must be familiar with Western-style fantasies. But if we switch to Oriental Fantasy, it may be difficult for us to have a clear concept in our minds - after all, except for the "Kyushu" fantasy world created by Jiangnan, Jin He Zai and others twenty years ago, few people in China have set foot in this field.

However, NetEase and Qiwu Studio, the Phantom Network, want to do something different on this road.

"Jiugi: Journey of Qifeng" is based on the Majiabang culture, Liangzhu culture, bronze culture and other Chinese pre-Shang eras, based on the "Jiuji IP" to create an ancient technology fantasy otherworld adventure RPG full of the style of the pre-Shang civilization. "Jiugi IP" is an original oriental fantasy IP spanning multiple fields such as novels, animation, and games.

Just a few days ago, NetEase Games 520 press conference, NetEase Games announced that "Jiuji: Qifeng Journey", which was co-developed and represented by NetEase Games, will start the "Chenji Test" in the near future. Taking this opportunity, Game Gyro also interviewed Peizhi, the IP manager of "Jiuji", and in the dialogue, he shared with us in detail the creative process of the theme concept, gameplay, world view setting, IP and other aspects of "Jiugi: Qifeng Journey".

In his view, in order to systematically construct an oriental fantasy world that can withstand scrutiny, creators need to always carry out the methodology of humanities and social sciences and encyclopedic thinking to shape the world background. The following is a transcript of the interview:

Gyro: When the project was first established, why did you use the pre-Shang era of China as the prototype for the conceptual design? In your opinion, what is the biggest charm of this genre?

Peizhi: First of all, the aesthetic preferences of the team, we have a strong interest in prehistoric Chinese civilization. In our opinion, the charm of "Chinese pre-commerce + ancient technology" comes from the fusion of the nascent civilization and the fantasy of the future - the unknown and the wilderness of the primeval world, the fusion of the mysterious technology of the prehistoric civilization, and the imagination and epic sense bloom at the same time on the scale of time and space.

Whether it's jade, bronze, oracle bones, ivory carvings, masks, civilization ruins, or lost inscriptions, the mysterious visual presentation and cultural charm of this period are also very much in line with the new generation of gamers' pursuit of imagination, national self-confidence and cultural roots. At the same time, this is also a relatively rare and scarce subject matter, and it is difficult to find in-depth excavation of this theme in all kinds of content works.

Gyro: You plan to build nine and ten countries, so how do you differentiate yourself in terms of regional characteristics?

Peizhi: In the vast radiation range of Chinese civilization in real history, from the high latitude to the earth latitude, from the Central Plains to the Western Regions, from the ancient ghost fang to the ancient Yelang, there are countless ancient cultures worthy of our pursuit and exploration. In the game, we have selected very different theme colors and theme elements according to the characteristics of each player in the area that players can explore.

The purple forest villages, the floating cities with green tiles and clear water, the snow-white extremely cold places, and the red and black underground fortresses first ensure a sufficiently differentiated experience from the visual point of view. The specific elements are further strengthened according to the myths and legends, natural endowments, and technical paths of different regions.

The special gameplay in some areas will also revolve around different regional characteristics. For example, when the narrative theme is "dream", we designed a way to crack the false dream and find the real game based on some elements of the ancient Chinese Jianmu mythology. The gameplay and narrative together constitute this ancient technology fantasy and the ancient Oriental world of Chinese ancestors.

Gyro: I've noticed that you've designed all sorts of fantasy creatures based on your existing worldview, such as Thorn Wing, Liba, Bronze Bag, and Dumb Stone, and the settings are very detailed. Curious how many creatures you've designed in total?

Peizhi: A lot. We take "ancient technology" as the core concept for visual exploration, mainly focusing on the materials, structures and patterns and totems of the Chinese ancestors, and then deconstruct them after integrating fantasy elements.

When designing the creatures, artifacts and other components of the world, we mainly select bronzes, jades, stone tools, pottery, ivory carvings, bone objects, etc. from this period as prototypes for secondary creation. A lot of adaptations have also been made to the customized NPR rendering in the later stage, so that these materials with the texture of the pre-Shang era have better physical performance both in the characters and in the scene components.

At the same time, we have selected a large number of unique three-legged or circular structures used in this civilization period, such as Cong, Ding, Jue, Ge, Erfang Continuous, Quartet Continuous, etc., as well as the patterns and totems that were frequently used during this period, such as the Divine Bird Pattern, the Rhombic Dragon Pattern, the Divine Man and the Beast Face Pattern, the Cloud Thunder Pattern, etc., and carried out the original design of characters, monsters, weapons and props, and a large number of scene components on the basis of these unique elements.

In addition to what was just mentioned, there are also more distinctive features such as Qixia Castle's Repulsion Ring Technology and Floating Mortise and Tenon Dragon, Youge's Jue and Bone Cloth, the Bronze Mechanism Creations summoned by Changle Xu, and Li's Bronze Cannon Cannon, and so on.

These creatures, artifacts, and creations will be used as the basic elements of the Jiugi world, to define the "normality" of a Chinese ancient science and technology theme. Interesting details are always the core cornerstone of the player experience.

Gyro: Based on ancient technology and oriental fantasy style, why did you choose a more two-dimensional painting style?

Peizhi: The concept of ACG has been given a very complex connotation and extension over the years, and in different scenes, the meaning expressed when people mention ACG may be completely different, it may be talking about art style, it may refer to some specific Japanese cultural context, or it may be a special cultural symbol of some vertical communities.

For our team, what we're trying to do is try to lower the barrier to understanding for our content audience in an engaging way with an all-age-oriented, stylized cartoon art style.

At the same time, I think there are traces of the evolution of human aesthetic preferences in a specific period, roughly in three directions: from specific to general, from average to varied, and from three-dimensional to flat. I think that the current two-dimensional art is in line with this trend, which also means that the market demand will continue to expand. After all, the human quest for imagination, curiosity, and exploration is endless.

Gyro: When designing art for scenes and characters, how to highlight the national style under the two-dimensional art tone? What are the design challenges?

Peizhi: First of all, in the selection of visual elements, it is difficult to refine the elements that can best represent the period of the Chinese ancestors. In this process, it is necessary to make the selected elements have a certain richness and avoid homogenization; It is also necessary to ensure that the characteristics of the times are consistent with the foundation. Especially in terms of interaction design, how to migrate the simple materials, symbols, and elements to a flatter and more trendy direction. This is a huge test of design ability.

Top: Why did you choose the gameplay of Box Garden Exploration + Placement Strategy Card RPG?

Peizhi: In terms of gameplay, we wanted to maintain a core combat experience with a low threshold and no burden, while at the same time having a certain amount of strategic fun. From this, we chose a mature combat mode with a strong pre-war strategy and a weak battle operation.

Compared with the content experience of linear push levels such as AVG, a large number of explorable areas can better carry the plot, gameplay, special interactions, activities and even hidden easter eggs associated with the Jiugi IP, which also provides space for low-burden benign socialization. Compared with the open world, the box-style exploration area alleviates the problem of a weakened sense of purpose to a certain extent. We hope to bring a light-hearted adventure experience to card RPG players who love the theme of Chinese style through the exploration of the fantasy world of ancient technology and the easy-to-use real-time strategy card gameplay.

Gyro: Oriental fantasy has never appeared in a systematic work, what is your ideal oriental fantasy world?

Peizhi: In addition to the distinctive recognition of oriental fantasy in the symbols (which most works can achieve), our ideal state is real, self-consistent, and detailable, and the core is that the scale of conflict, social contradictions, and the state of daily life match the level of productivity and technology. This requires creators to always carry out the world's contextualization with a humanistic and social science methodology and an encyclopedic mindset, rather than just focusing on storytelling. We hope that it will take a long time to contribute to the oriental fantasy world where the plot arrangement and environmental portrayal echo each other.

Gyro: In addition to games, you also have plans to launch novels and animations, what kind of IP do you hope to build Jiugi into?

Peizhi: In addition to the games, novels, and animations that are already underway, the IP co-branded products of the Jiuki series have also been launched one after another.

As we just talked about, the biggest consensus on our team is to be a long-term advocate in the content industry. Even for a game, the easiest thing to remember is the "cultural symbols" - such as a certain character, a famous scene; However, we hope that through systematic construction, from macro social evolution to micro technology application, the entire cultural representation system behind these "cultural symbols" will be built.

This system includes not only the conflicts of different population levels, but also the history of the evolution of civilizations, the structure of productive forces, the human landscape determined by climate and geography, and so on. What we want to do is not only to create a highly recognizable single cultural symbol through a single product in a short cycle, but also to shape the real and credible fantasy world behind it in a long-term way, as well as the long-term brand value carried by this world. Therefore, in the long run, the Jiuki series will become a comprehensive content ecology that includes games, animation, publishing, creative toys, offline tourism, etc.

This article is from Xinzhi self-media and does not represent the views and positions of Business Xinzhi.If there is any suspicion of infringement, please contact the administrator of the Business News Platform.Contact: system@shangyexinzhi.com