Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

Although Wu Tian has not been a games journalist for very long, he has in fact played an absolute ton of games.

So with his experience, Wu Tian was able to get a general feel for the characteristics of ‘Undertale’ after playing it for a bit. And he started to compile his thoughts for the review.

First came the quality of the game. Not the quality of the content, but the external qualities like graphics and user interface.

So far, ‘Undertale’ can only be considered acceptable, from his point of view. It wasn’t much different from most indie games out there.

As for the actual content of the game, Wu Tian can only say that it does not feel good.

The puzzles were boring, even as an introductory lesson. Pushing rocks and pulling levers.

As for the combat, the game offers some strange dialogue options, such as mercy.

Players do not need to kill monsters.

From Wu Tian’s gaming experience, this is probably nothing more than an honor system. Maybe affecting the endings in some minor way, like a good ending for high honor and a bad ending for low honor.

The game so far has no other special qualities, and the plot feels like some sort of dungeon crawler template.

After killing off a few mobs that were in his way, Wu Tian had a glance at the post-battle rewards and continued on his way without much thought.

As a game journalist, his reviewing method is to first experience a level normally, then go through it again doing something different.

Even though the encounters could have been resolved peacefully, Wu Tian still chose the easier way out, which was to fight.

After all, isn’t it normal in an RPG to kill monsters and level up?

As he continued on, the game’s goat mother would often appear or call to chat, asking the protagonist what he liked to eat and what he was allergic to.

Wu Tian grew more and more sour, he shook his head and sighed again.

Maybe ‘Mirror’ was an accident. Maybe this is Chen Xu’s real skill level.

‘Undertale’ so far was too easy. It was playable, yes, but unimpressive so far. Did he miss some information? Was this supposed to be marketed to children?

There are no hidden places to explore in the ruined castle, no exciting mechanisms to decipher, and nothing exciting happening with the plot.

He found the gateway leading to the rest of the Underground.

After triggering this plot point, the goat mother tells the protagonist that the outside is dangerous. If you insist on leaving, you must prove that you can protect yourself.

Having agreed, the battle begins.

In the battle with Toriel, which felt like a boss fight, the option to be merciful is available as well.

Unlike the rest of the monsters he met, Wu Tian felt more attached to this goat mother.

So he didn’t attack, but he soon discovered that the mercy option was useless.

Even after several tries, the goat mother continued to attack.

So I have no choice but to fight back?

Or will there be some kind of secret that triggers when you empty her health bar?

Wu Tian made a few guesses as he began to attack.

Stab, about a tenth of her health went down.

Stab, another tenth.

At the third strike, something shocking happened.

The goat mother’s health bar was emptied in an instant.

Even while dying, Toriel was still worrying about the protagonist, begging him to find his way home quickly.

Then she turned into dust and scattered.

“What happened” Why did she die? Was this predetermined? Or did I have to use the mercy option more?”

Although there were no further prompts in the game, Wu Tian quickly thought of possible settings and outcomes.

To test things out, Wu Tian reloaded the save file.

He played it out until the battle happened again.

This time, Wu Tian did not take the initiative to attack, but kept selecting Mercy.

As the battle raged, Toriel’s attacks grew fiercer and fiercer, it became more difficult to remain unharmed.

His health was low, but the next scenes confirmed his thoughts.

Toriel’s attacks began to actively avoid the little red heart that represented the protagonist.

Even when Wu Tian tried to run into the attacks, they would avoid him.

“So it’s like this! The player has to wait for a certain number of rounds, and the goat mother will not kill the player.”

“This gives a somewhat ironic feeling, compared to the previous choice of killing the goat mother. Especially with her trying to avoid hurting the player. This reminds me a bit of ‘Mirror’, exploring themes of morality.”

As a reviewer, Wu Tian is familiar with games trying to explore deeper meanings.

After avoiding the goat mother’s attacks and clicking Mercy 14 times in a row, he noticed the background music turning upbeat.

Toriel hugged the protagonist, who still insisted on leaving. This time, she did not stop him, but gently hugged him and sent him off out of the ruins.

Still, Wu Tian shook his head, “This is still the work of an inexperienced game designer. The way to trigger the plot is too rough, having to click Mercy so many times in a row. I understand it is to make it difficult for players to discover it, but still…”

Thinking about the setting of the Sheep Mother battle session, Wu Tian also criticized this aspect.

“It’s so strange, you try to hide this from players, yet the design of making her attacks avoid the player exposes this. So obviously telling the player about something that should be hidden, it’s like taking your pants off before farting.”

In his opinion, if the developers had only chosen one of those tactics, it would have been decent, but using both is counterproductive.

But the next scene froze him in his seat and sent a shiver up his spine.

Flowey, who he had temporarily forgotten, appeared once more.

But what shocked Wu Tian was not the character, but the words coming out of its mouth.

[ Clever. Verrrryyy clever ]

[ You think you’re really smart, don’t you? ]

[ In this world, it’s kill or be killed ]

[ So you were able to play by your own rules ]

[ You spared the life of a single person ]

[ Hee hee hee ]

[ But don’t act so cocky ]

[ I know what you did ]

[ You murdered her ]

[ And then you went back, because you regretted it ]

[ Ha ha ha ha… You naive idiot. Do you think you are the only one with that power? ]

[ The power to reshape the world… ]

[ Purely by your own determination ]

[ The ability to play God! ]

[ The ability to “SAVE” ]

[ I thought I was the only one with that power. But… ]

[ I can’t SAVE anymore ]

[ Apparently YOUR desires for this world override MINE ]

[ Well well ]

[ Enjoy that power while you can ]

[ I’ll be watching ]