Zhang Shule is a columnist for People's Daily Online and People's Post and Telegraph

Past Events of the Magic Change:

30 years ago, it surpassed God's work.

In many peer exchanges, I found that as a post-1980s generation, it is a humble dream to buy a computer:

Learn to code and make games.

This is despite the fact that the computer pandemic was around 2000 and extremely expensive.

Moreover, very few people actually end up learning to code, and most of them become PC game obsessives.

However, the author's dream came true earlier than many of his peers.

In the mid-1990s, when learning machines were popular, the learning machines in my home happened to have game production functions.

By entering a large list of numbers and English that you don't even know what you mean in the simple Basic language provided in the manual, you can get a Mario and walk in all directions on the screen.

It's really an impressive program and a self-made gaming experience.

Later, I learned that this is actually the design of the Nintendo red and white machine.

In the second year after the release of the red and white console, Nintendo introduced a peripheral called Family Basic, which allowed users to practice simple programming on game consoles through peripheral keyboards and programming cards.

The learning machine refers to this setting, following the basic language of the red and white machine, and uses code to call the materials stored in the cartridge, such as Mario, Little Bee, and music, to achieve simple game production.

It is said that many of the programming enlightenment of technology bosses really started from the production function of the learning machine.

Of course, the level of this kind of game production is just self-entertainment.

In addition, the game console does not have a data storage function, and everything disappears after the shutdown.

But almost at the same time that learning machines were booming in China, the Japan game industry also began an early exploration of all-made games: non-professional game editors.

Such as RPGmaker produced by Kadokawa Company in Japan.

In the 1990s, Japan also held game creation contests based on these editors.

At that time, more than 3,000 people participated in and submitted works, and more famous works such as "The Witch's House" and "Blue Ghost" emerged.

However, this kind of non-professional game editor is essentially the same as the production of mini games on the learning machine, that is, by calling richer materials, according to the user's intention to build a "building block" closer to their own imagination.

On the other hand, the other path is more popular because it has more mature game characteristics, i.e., increasingly powerful games that come with map editors.

One of the most famous is Warcraft 3's custom map tool (War3Editor).

It uses visual triggers for game creation, greatly simplifying the creative process while retaining a high degree of creative freedom.

As a result, RPG maps such as "Guardian Athena" and "The Legend of Fantasy Cao Cao" were really produced, and various platforms were very successful.

According to the available information, the editor has more than 8,000 creators and has produced millions of works.

In fact, the success doesn't stop there.

This map setting of Blizzard's StarCraft and Warcraft series gave birth to DOTA, a popular competitive MOBA game in the esports era.

According to the standard definition, the original "DOTA" is a multiplayer real-time battle and custom map of the real-time strategy game "Warcraft 3" produced by Blizzard, which can support 10 people to play at the same time.

It is also an RPG map officially recognized by Blizzard.

However, what Blizzard didn't expect was that this spin-off eventually led to a category: multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBAs), namely:

Unlike real-time strategy games such as Interstellar and Warcraft, which have to gradually expand by building and upgrading architectural complexes, resources, training classes and other organizational units, players only control their chosen character and slash along the way.

And one of the classics in this is "Glory of Kings".

After the magic reform, surpassing the former classics, perhaps it is another kind of cycle that makes the game industry brain-opening after players make their own games.

Published in the People's Post and Telegraph on March 28, 2024, Issue 397 of the column of "Le Youji".

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