November 9th, Tuesday…
Last week, Pei Qian found himself busy with many things. Over at Fei Huang Workspace, Zhu Xiaoce and Huang Sibo were still preparing for filming based on Pei Qian's script.
Zhu Xiaoce had to extend the script until it reached the ideal movie duration and hire staff as soon as possible. Once the script and scenes were ready, Zhu Xiaoce would have to talk over the script, shortlist actors, browse and select locations, and the like. There was a lot to do.
Over at Shang Yang Games, everyone was still playing as many horror games as they could, trying to find material and inspiration. However, Pei Qian guessed that-given Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin's productivitythe design manuscript would be out in a few more days.
Everything that needed to be one for the investment firm was more or less done. With He Desheng's help, Dream Realization Ventures would probably be open for business soon.
The HR department was also finalizing the details of the recruitment process. At the moment, the stages had already been set. However, the questions for the written examination and interview had not been decided yet. The HR department also had to think about admission and allocation of applicants, cooperation of various departments, and prevention of information leakage during the recruitment process. As for the cell phone business, Chang You had already contacted his brothers from Hongcheng Technologies. When they arrived in Jingzhou, they would look for a good office location. Then, they would more or less be ready to conduct research and development.
After that, it would be time for Pei Qian to swipe his card.
Pei Qian had already paid twenty million yuan to Dream Realization Ventures yesterday.
November 1st and 8th were Mondays-profit distribution days for the various games.
During settlement on the 31st of last month, the System had topped up the System Funds with ten million yuan more. However, that did not mean that Pei Qian only had ten million yuan to work with. Ghost General, Ocean Stronghold, Game Designer, Repent and be Saved (including its foreign versions), and the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song… there were so many games generating income at the same time. Take the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song for example. Each month, it earned four to five million yuan. That meant it earned about two million yuan in two weeks.
Ghost General and Game Designer were in a similar situation. At the moment, Repent and be Saved was at the peak of its sales. The domestic and foreign versions had generated about seven or eight million yuan over two weeks.
Ocean Stronghold's income was more stable than Repent and be Saved's.
Apart from these, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and ROF—which were suffering the side effects of Pei Qian's spending spree-were now generating profits as well. Not to mention Ming Yun Private Kitchen, which was ever so steady, and Zhongdian Chinese Network which was just starting to see outstanding results. Even if Pei Qian deducted the money that Upwind Logistics had been burning off for him, he would still have earned more than ten million yuan over the last two weeks altogether.
In one month, that would add up to about thirty thousand yuan.
This settlement cycle was going to last five months. Within these five months, the games' income would rise and fall. The standalone games would definitely earn less, but web-based games like Bloody Battle Song and Ocean Stronghold had very long lifespans. They would be the main driving forces of Tengda's income.
Thus, Pei Qian was not aiming to spend ten million yuan in five months; instead, he was aiming to spend 150 million yuan.
What's more, this was only considering the profits he knew he would generate for now. What if another project suddenly succeeded before the next settlement? Pei Qian would be better off spending as much as possible, as soon as possible.
Even though the System allowed him to use fifty percent of the starting sum for charitable purposes, that would only be five million yuan.
Thus, Pei Qian still had to work hard to spend money.
Pei Qian was planning to split his funds among the various businesses on his hands. He started out by giving twenty million yuan to Dream Realization Ventures, so that Old Ma could warm up.
His main consideration was the fact that Ma Yang was still considered a youth who knew no fear. That was the best time for him to waste everything away. If he gave Ma Yang too little money in the beginning, the most he would be able to lose was one or two million yuan.
Yet, Ma Yang could learn lessons from those failures and invest in more successful projects in the future. Wouldn't Pei Qian be done for, then?
Thus, Pei Qian decided to give Old Ma twenty million yuan upfront, so that he could spend as much as he wanted!
As the saying went, a fall into the pit was a gain in one's wit. As long as they lost enough money in the beginning, Pei Qian did not need to worry that Old Ma would become smarter in the future.
Boss Pei would also make the other businesses share his burdens by maximizing all of their budgets.
Shang Yang Games would have to spend at least twenty million researching and developing the next horror game.
Although Pei Qian had not decided what game Tengda would produce next, Tengda was the head of the group of companies after all. With greater power came greater responsibilities. Thus, Pei Qian thought that making them spend fifty million yuan would not be ridiculous.
Fei Huang Workspace would be filming a movie. Although there was not much content to film and the movie would have low-production value, they could spend more money on special effects. It would be reasonable to make them spend thirty million yuan. As for the cell phone business… they were not planning to mass-produce their high-end models, but Pei Qian still thought it would be necessary to make an initial investment of twenty million yuan. Once he confirmed that nobody would buy their cell phones, he would pour more money into the business and produce even more stocks.
If he still could not finish spending all of his money, he would pour the remaining into the business that had not yet borne fruit. As much as possible, he would delay production until the next cycle.
Of course, he could still spend five million yuan on charity. That would be his last resort.
No matter how much Pei Qian thought about it, his current situation did not seem optimistic. Still, he could withstand the circumstances for now.
He had already made very generous estimates. If everything went well, he would be able to push the balance in the System Funds down to ten million yuan before settlement.
Pei Qian was not being too ambitious. He was just aiming to incur a loss of four or five million in order to convert four to five hundred thousand yuan for himself. At the same time, he would receive a reward from the System. That way, he would be receiving a hundred thousand yuan per month. His hard work would not be wasted.
Of course, he would not get all the money at one shot. Instead, money would be transferred into the account weekly. Pei Qian still had to come up with a procedure for spending on the various projects and invest accordingly. He could not spend it all in one
go.
Pei Qian was still calculating when someone knocked on his door. He looked up to see Li Yada.
"Boss… Boss Pei. Er… are we planning to work on a new game?
"Or should we come up with downloadable content for Repent and be Saved?
"Everyone… everyone's a little bored."
She was actually coming to ask for more work? Pei Qian did not like this kind of proactive behavior.
However, he did not say much in response. He only acted like he was in deep thought as he said, "Don't rush. Let everyone conserve their strength for the big push. I will give all of you a very important task soon."
Pei Qian had not even thought about what task he should give to Tengda's games department.
The chances of them succeeding at conventional games were too high. Pei Qian could not bring himself to make them work on those.
He could not allow another money tree to grow from the fifty million yuan he was about to spend on the next game. That would achieve the opposite effect that Boss Pei wanted.
Li Yada nodded. "Ah, alright. Boss Pei, when you're ready to hand the task to us, feel free to look for me."
After Li Yada left, Pei Qian slumped back in his seat listlessly.
It's so difficult being the boss! I have to rack my brains every single day for work to give to my employees. If I give them two days of rest, they would come up to my office to ask for more work.
That's really intolerable!
Ding! Ding!
He received a message on his cell phone. Pei Qian picked it up and saw that it was from Chang You.
"Boss Pei, the team has more or less been formed. I'll arrange for someone to choose an office location this week. We'll be more or less officially ready for work next week.
"Also, our designer felt very moved after receiving the moving allowance and came up with possible logos for Otto Technologies overnight. Please take a look."
There was an image attached to the message.
Pei Qian clicked on it and saw quite a meaningful logo.
At first glance, one would see what looked like a rectangle on the outside. Inside the rectangle were two circles overlapping in a complicated manner. The rectangle and circles were intersecting uniquely. The rectangle's lengths twisted into the circles' sides. Faintly, one could decipher two capital T's there. In other words, the logo formed the word 'OTTO'.
From afar, one would see a rectangular pair of glasses, with clear, bright eyes in the rim. Yet, on closer inspection, one would see Mobius loops.
Apart from that, the two circles seemed to intersect in a manner that reminded Pei Qian of the infinity symbol in mathematics. The logo was quite simple, but against the simple backdrop, it looked quite classy and very postmodern.
Pei Qian could not help but feel moved. This was talent.
'OTTO' was such a tacky-sounding name, and yet the designer could make such a classy logo out of it?! If they printed this logo on the back of their cell phones, people could really be bought over.
What's more, this was not the only logo that Chang You sent over.
The second logo looked like a controller made out of two crosses and two circles. The crosses were on the top-left and bottom-right respectively while the circles were on the bottom-left and top-right. They were laid out just like a controller, with the two circles being the joysticks of the controller.
This logo did not look as simple and classy as the one before. The design was a little more complicated, and the colors were bolder. It made Pei Qian think about games and gaming elements.
The third logo was the most mainstream of all. It was 'OTTO' written in a single line, with the O's smooth and round and the T's stiff and upright as they should be. It looked passable and followed the style of most other tech companies.
The designer had come up with three different designs:
The first was abstract;
The second was game-like;
The third was purely alphabets.
The designer probably wanted to let Boss Pei decide on the final design.
Pei Qian thought all the designs were satisfactory. Thus, he replied, "They're all not bad. Leave it for now. When the cell phone designs are complete, we'll still have time to decide which logo to use."
November 12th, Friday…
Pei Qian was planning to go to Dream Realization Ventures to look for Ma Yang.
He wanted to go the day before, but it happened to be Singles Day. Pei Qian bought all sorts of stuff online and ended up being held back.
Since his packages were not due to arrive yet, he had time to spare to look for Old Ma.
He had transferred the twenty million yuan to Dream Realization Ventures on Monday. Five days had passed since then. A portion of the money should have been spent.
However, based on Ma Yang's character, Pei Qian guessed that he was still struggling. Until now, he probably had only spent a maximum of two or three million yuan.
Pei Qian had already repeatedly emphasized to Old Ma that he needed to act when he had to and that he could not hesitate.
However… this was twenty million yuan after all.
Pei Qian was afraid that Ma Yang would not dare to spend the money. That was why he wanted to come down to Dream Realization Ventures; he wanted to check out the situation and give Old Ma some things to think about while he was at it.
Dream Realization Ventures had already rented an office space, which was a fifteen-minute drive from Tengda. This office was also located in a luxurious office building.
Pei Qian referred to the address he had and traveled to Dream Realization Ventures and then walked in quietly.
A huge carpet had been laid out on the ground. Thus, Pei Qian made no sounds as he entered the office. The huge office was still empty, but he could hear shouting inside, echoing throughout the entire space. "Quick, quick! You can beat him, you can beat him!"
"Kill that loser first!"
"Hurry, rescue me!"
"Escort! Escort! Protect Boss Ma!"
Chapter 326 Quick! Boss Pei is Fainting!
There were twenty-odd workspaces in the huge space, making the office look like an internet cafe.
At the moment, Ma Yang, He Desheng, and other newly-recruited odd-job workers were deeply engrossed in their computer screens, clicking and tapping away at their mouses and keyboards. It was obvious that they were in the middle of a war.
When he saw this scene, Pei Qian was practically moved to tears.
Hear, hear! What have I been saying? My brother is the most reliable!
If everyone worked like Old Ma did, what would Pei Qian have to worry about?
Pei Qian quietly moved behind Ma Yang to observe the game.
The game was already nearing its end. At once, Pei Qian noticed that Old Ma's KDA[1] ratio was 10-0-2.
After Old Ma dealt a final, normal attack; the enemy's base exploded. The word 'victory' appeared on the screen.
It was then that Ma Yang realized Pei Qian had been standing behind him.
"Eh, Brother Qian, you're here!
"We were too engrossed in the game and didn't notice you. I had to carry my teammates after all. Come on, come on. Let me introduce you to our newly-recruited employees."
Everyone apart from Ma Yang looked at Pei Qian uncomfortably.
Although many of them had never met Pei Qian, they could tell from Boss Ma's reaction that he was the boss of Tengda Corporation. That meant he was one level higher than Boss
Ma.
They had just been caught spending working hours playing games with their big boss. Naturally, they felt uncomfortable.
However, when they saw the grin on Boss Pei's face and how he did not seem bothered, they heaved a sigh of relief.
Ma Yang immediately began introducing them to Pei Qian.
"This is Little Zhou, who has 1780 points in Gods Rising.
"This is Old Li, who has 1730 points in Gods Rising.
"This is…"
Ma Yang introduced the remaining nine people in the game. It was then that Pei Qian realized every single one of them was like He Desheng. None of them had less than 1700 points in Gods Rising, and the highest among them had 1860 points. They only had a little way to go before they could be considered professionals!
Now, Pei Qian finally understood why he had seen what he never expected to see earlier.
How did Ma Yang, who always had a KDA ratio of 0-3-0, suddenly become impressive enough to carry the team?
The nine other people he had been playing with were all his employees. It must have been so hard on the other nine people who had an average of 1800 points on the platform.
Those on Old Ma's side had to beat the enemies until they were more or less dead before letting old Ma deal the finishing blow.
On the other hand, Old Ma's opponents had to kill Old Ma's teammates one by one to keep the balance and suspense in the game. At the same time, whenever Old Ma came for them, they had to try to put up some sort of defense in order to and let Old Ma have some fun.
As for why Old Ma didn't die…
Nonsense—who would have dared to kill him?!
That would be akin to making a slam dunk over the old boss while playing company basketball.
Pei Qian had no doubt in his mind that old Ma only had two assists because his teammates had slipped up.
After Ma Yang finished introducing the new employees, Pei Qian very respectfully greeted them.
"Thank you for your hard work! We will go to Ming Yun Private Kitchen for a feast this Saturday!"
Pei Qian could not help but feel sorry for them. Life was not easy.
They had studied so hard to do well in the investment industry and make a living. Yet, they ended up playing supporting roles in someone else's game. What's more, that someone was incredibly lousy at the game.
Nine of them had to play games with Old Ma and even make sure that he enjoyed it. How could Pei Qian live with his conscience if he shortchanged them?
He had to compensate them for the mental torture they suffered!
Hearing that they were going to be treated to a feast for no reason, Old Ma's team of supporting players looked excited and puzzled.
At the same time, they looked at Boss Ma with newfound respect. They had already known Boss Ma and Boss Pei were close, but they did not think they would be this close!
After all, Boss Ma was playing games with his employees every day. Yet, Boss Pei did not even seem bothered. How much trust did Boss Pei have in him?!
Ma Yang tugged at Pei Qian's sleeve. "Brother Qian, do you want to play one game? Come, come. You have to experience fighting players with 1800 points.
"I know this now. I'm stuck at 1100 points not because I'm lousy… but because my teammates have been lousy!
"Playing with professionals is much more fun than playing with newbies!"
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
Old Ma, you really have no self-awareness whatsoever…
If you had been playing with them as someone other than the CEO of Dream Realization Ventures, you would have been tortured so badly that your computer would be smashed by now…
Still, seeing how happy Ma Yang was to live in his imaginary world, Pei Qian could not bear to expose him to the truth. He could only turn him down, saying, "It's alright. I have work to do. Next time, for sure.
"Er… Old Ma, how are you doing with the twenty million yuan I gave you? How much have you spent?
"I came to remind you once again that you must not hesitate to invest the money. Spend it when you must. The smaller your investment, the smaller your returns; the larger your investment, the larger your returns, understand?"
Ma Yang nodded excitedly. "Don't worry, Brother Qian. I've already spent all twenty million yuan!"
Pei Qian paused, evidently surprised. "Huh? You've spent it all? You've spent all twenty million yuan?"
Ma Yang nodded. "That's right. I only started playing games after finishing my work. Why else would such a professional person like me play games during office hours?"
Pei Qian blinked, feeling confused.
Although this was the outcome he had hoped for, he was still deeply shocked to find out that Old Ma had spent twenty million yuan without hesitation.
Once again, this confirmed that Old Ma was his trusty right-hand man!
Pei Qian's expression went from bewilderment to elation. Old Ma was burning money so quickly. He did not have to fear even if the company continued to generate more profits.
"Tell me, what did you invest the money in?" Pei Qian was brimming with excitement.
Ma Yang giggled and opened a report on his computer. "This is the company I invested in! It's called Finger Games.
"My first thought was to buy Gods Rising when I got the money. However, there was no way I could do that. I could not find the game's creator.
"Also, I heard that the creator is in the midst of discussions with game giants in the West. Of course, our twenty million yuan would be peanuts to him.
"That's why I instructed He Desheng and the others to look around. That's when they found Finger Games, which is currently developing a similar game called Imagine of Infinity, or IOI for short. They're lacking funds at the moment and were looking for investors. I made it just in time!
"They needed eight million US dollars in total. I did my calculations and converted the twenty million yuan into about 2.8 million US dollars. With that, I bought about twenty percent of the company's shares, as well as the right to be their exclusive agent in the country.
"Although that's useless for now, the company allowed us to be their exclusive agent for free. I thought that it would be a waste to turn it down. Even if we realize we don't need those rights in the future, we can still transfer them, right? "Eh? Brother Qian, why do you look so pale? "Quick, quick! Bring a chair over!"
He Desheng quickly swiftly moved one of the office chairs beside him over, so that Boss Pei could sit down.
Pei Qian felt slightly dizzy. He never thought that the first stab in the back in this cycle would be from his trusted brother!
Pei Qian was not prepared to be stabbed in the back like that.
Wasn't it common practice to only stab him in the back when settlement was near? This cycle had just begun!
Still feeling incredulous, Pei Qian asked, "Don't you… need to apply for relevant permission before making overseas investments?"
He Desheng explained, "Boss Pei, you do need to apply for permission. However, the review process would be especially long for investments worth more than a hundred million US dollars.
"We only invested about two million US dollars, and so it's not considered a huge project. We only needed to complete the paperwork in Jingzhou. Fu Hui Investments made overseas investments before as well. That's why we're quite familiar with the procedures. We got approval quite quickly. "Also, we were buying shares and not property. That's why the transaction was much quicker.
"Of course, we have to follow up with some more paperwork. That will still take us some time."
Finished.
Pei Qian turned to Ma Yang listlessly. "Why… why did you choose this company?" Ma Yang smiled. "Brother Qian, didn't you tell me to invest in whatever I liked? You know that there are not many things I like."
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
There was a huge problem.
[1] This stands for Kill-Death-Assist.
Chapter 327 Let's Create GOG!
Seeing Pei Qian's face drained of all colorwithout any sign of approval or satisfaction, Ma Yang suddenly felt lost.
"Brother Qian, you're not mad at me for spending too much money, are you? Do you think that it's not worth investing so much in such a small company overseas?"
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
Looking into Old Ma's sincere eyes, Pei Qian felt speechless.
How should I put this…?
Pei Qian had been the one who told Old Ma to act when he saw the chance to and not to hesitate.
Pei Qian had also been the one who told Old Ma to invest in whatever he liked.
Playing Gods Rising with friends was one of Old Ma's few hobbies. Since Old Ma failed to invest in Gods Rising, he had no choice but to back off and look for similar games companies overseas to invest in. What's more, he threw all twenty million yuan into that one company.
In more ways than one, Old Ma had just been doing what Pei Qian had told him to do.
What's more, this transaction looked quite unpromising on the surface. It fit perfectly with what Pei Qian wanted at first.
Yet, Pei Qian felt pained inside. He had a strong sense of deja vu with this company!
Was IOI in fact League of Legends (LOL) post-changes?
The main reason that Pei Qian felt so shocked by the turn of events was that he had found similar news online last year!
Based on what he remembered, Riot Games was founded in 2006. In 2008, they tried to raise eight million US dollars. Three investors provided them with funds. After that, Tencent bought it over for more than two hundred million US dollars. That happened in 2011.
According to his memory, LOL was released in 2009.
Now, they were in November 2010. In other words, the company should already have raised eight million US dollars by now.
Pei Qian tried to look online for news about this last year, but he could not find any.
At the time, he did not think much of it. He had thought that this was just another change in the world. After all, even the B-Site had become Aili Island. It would be natural if other companies underwent similar changes.
Pei Qian did not dwell on it either. The company was overseas, and he did not have a network that expanded throughout the world.
Now, Pei Qian finally understood why he could not find any news about this.
The company and game's names were different now. Riot Games was now Finger Games, and LOL was now IOI. Thus, Pei Qian could not find anything to do with the original names!
Moreover, the entire timeline had been shifted back by two years. Finger Games was probably established just last year. Naturally, there would not be much news about a newly-established company online.
In fact, Pei Qian had wondered how Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games would look like in this world.
He just never thought that he would find out the answer today and in such a ridiculous manner at that…
However, after scanning the System's screen, Pei Qian realized that everything was still the same.
The shares worth over two million US dollars should have been considered similar in nature to the villa. As special assets of the company, they should have been displayed on the System's screen.
Perhaps this was because the purchase was not complete—not all the paperwork was done. Thus, the System could not formally list the shares as the company's assets.
Many thoughts were flashing across Pei Qian's mind. He stared into Old Ma's sincere eyes, not knowing exactly how to respond at that moment.
Should he criticize Old Ma? Yet, that did not seem right. Old Ma had done exactly as Pei Qian had instructed him to, without missing anything out.
He invested all twenty million yuan into a small company overseas. This was exactly what Dream Realization Ventures was created for. Pei Qian could not possibly turn around and blame Ma Yang for that now!
Could he praise Ma Yang? Hmm, he should. This kind of investment had the potential to give Ma Yang lifetime bragging rights.
Yet… Pei Qian could not bring himself to praise Ma Yang.
Pei Qian took two deep breaths and forced himself to nod. "It's nothing. You did quite well.
"But I don't think we have any more spare cash for now. Old Ma, give everyone some work to do for now. Play some games if you want to. Wait for me to update you on the next step."
Pei Qian stood up and prepared to leave. He could not spend a minute more in this heart-breaking place.
Suddenly, Ma Yang raised his hand. "Ai, Brother Qian, are you really not going to try playing a game with the professionals? They're all gods with about 1800 points on the platform!"
IL
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
Ma Yang spoke again. "I'm going to call Branch Manager Lin directly to arrange for the dinner on Saturday. Is that alright?"
Pei Qian was speechless."…"
You still have the cheek to accept a treat from me!
Unable to speak, Pei Qian had no choice but to gesture an 'okay' with his back towards Ma Yang. Then, without turning back, he left.
When he arrived back at Tengda Games, Pei Qian sat down in his own office. He had already spent some time thinking back on his life. Now, he had to think about how to deal with what just happened.
The cycle had just begun, and yet someone had already pulled such a stunt. This came as a complete shock to Pei Qian.
They bought 20% shares and obtained the right to be IOI's exclusive local agent. The nail had already been hit into the coffin. Pei Qian could not undo this investment or transfer the newly-bought shares to someone else.
That was because he had no good reason to do so.
What if he sold the shares later on? The shares in Finger Games would surely appreciate in value. If he sold them, he would definitely earn a huge sum of money.
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the surer he was that he could not sell the shares.
He would be stupid to sell them midway through!
If Finger Games could really become what Pei Qian imagined, the exclusive agency rightsin addition to the shares-would earn Tengda a lot of money.
Earning money was indeed akin to feces in Boss Pei's eyes. Yet… Boss Pei could not ignore too many feces.
If IOI earned billions of yuan every year-no matter how the System adjusted the Profit Conversion Ratios, Pei Qian would still gain a lot of Personal Wealth. If it were merely millions of yuan, the sum would be insignificant to Pei Qian. However, billions of yuan would be a totally different story.
Moreover, if Pei Qian allowed his imagination to run wild, he might even be able to create unique skins and heroes named after himself!
All of that sounded pretty enchanting!
If this really happened, Pei Qian would just have to lie back and earn money without doing anything. That sounded like nothing short of a good plan, too. He could earn a lot of System Funds and spend it on logistics and physical industries to give back to society.
He could also earn foreigners' money to give back to his own country. He would be the epitome of a rooted, patriotic, and young man.
Of course, none of these were guaranteed as well.
The entire world was different now. What's more, the company and game were different from what Pei Qian remembered. Who could promise that IOI would achieve the same level of success as LOL?
Even if they did, that would only happen in two or three more years.
Until then, a lot of advertising and hard work still had to be down. The game could only conquer the global games market at the right time and in the right place.
Who could tell what would happen in three or four years?
While the grass grew, the horse starved. Even if Pei Qian could really lie back and generate profits in three or four years, Pei Qian's current strategy would remain unaffected.
At the end of the day-for the sake of his long-term goals, Pei Qian had to keep the shares and exclusive agency rights.
If it generated profit for him in the short-term, he could think of other ways to spend the additional money. He could spend it on logistics, warehouses, or charity. In any case, he would just have to think of different avenues to spend money in order to do his part for society.
When he thought about things from this angle, the situation did not seem so bad.
He still had hopes of incurring losses.
What's more, the more Pei Qian thought about it, the more inspired he became. Suddenly, a good idea surfaced in his mind.
"Just as well. I'll use this opportunity to take more risks! Since IOI already exists in this world, it means that the future winner has already been set.
"If I create a MOBA game as well, isn't it guaranteed to fail?
"It would become like a bottomless pit. I'll be able to pour as much money as I want into it without seeing any returns!"
All of a sudden, Pei Qian found a new opportunity to spend money. One could say that every cloud did have a silver lining!
The future IOI was destined to become popular around the globe. A good-quality game like Gods Rising could still survive, but other client-side MOBA games would probably die a horrible death or be chucked to the back of gamers' minds.
Since that was the case, Tengda Games could create a MOBA game and guarantee failure, right?
Pei Qian would invest fifty million yuan in the game first. If the situation looked negative, Pei Qian would invest another fifty million yuan into it. Ultimately, the game should not be able to compete with IOI and end up failing. That would make ducks and drakes of Tengda's investment.
It would be the perfect scenario, right?
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more reliable the plan seemed!
He had intended to give Tengda Games a budget of fifty million yuan, but he had no idea how they could spend it. Now, he no longer needed to worry. He had an aim!
At that, Pei Qian quickly called Li Yada in.
"I have an idea for a new game. Take some simple notes."
Li Yada quickly retrieved her little notebook from her pocket. "Alright, Boss Pei. Please go ahead."
Pei Qian pondered for a moment and asked, "Have you played Gods Rising before? Make something similar. The new game will be of the same genre.
"The name would be… GOG, which will stand for Glory of Gods."
Since LOL, IOI, COC, and WOW already existed; Pei Qian realized that not many English alphabets remained.
That was why he chose GOG. There was no special meaning: he just wanted the game to quickly go GG[1].
Li Yada waited.
A minute passed. Puzzled, she asked, "That's it?"
Pei Qian nodded. "That's right."
We're just creating this game to spend as much money as possible. You all would be free to do whatever you want with it.
After some thought, Li Yada said, "Would it be… inappropriate if we just follow Gods Rising? Gameplay cannot be patented, but I think we'll be cursed at for sure."
Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, that's logical."
Boss Pei's aim was only to lose money and not to destroy his or his company's reputation. There was no need to attract unnecessary criticism.
"Since that's the case, all of you can make amendments as you wish. Just make sure you amend it so that it becomes unrecognizable. Players should not think of us as copycats after playing the game.
"The first version will have about twenty-odd heroes. We'll aim to release it in four months.
"The budget would be fifty million yuan. Work as hard and spend as much money as you need. If you don't have enough, I can provide more."
Li Yada was stunned. "Huh? That much? I don't think we'll be able to spend it all."
You won't be able to spend it all?
Pei Qian was unhappy that his own employees were not taking the initiative to think of creative ideas.
As if he had expected better from her, Pei Qian asked, "Do you need me to teach you how to spend money? Buy more art resources, models, actions, story backgrounds, and other details…"
Embarrassed, Li Yada looked down at her notebook. "But… Boss Pei, if we only need one image and twenty-odd heroes, we would not need that much money for art resources…"
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
On further thought, that seemed true.
Thanks to the official website for resources, ESRO, the capital required for researching and developing games was now much lower.
It would indeed be quite difficult for them to spend fifty million yuan in just four months on one image and twenty-odd heroes.
What should he do, then?
Pei Qian fell into deep thought. Could he lend the experience of other MOBA games?
Many MOBA games had failed. Yet, did they fail because of poor gameplay, bugs in the system, or bad advertising?
Pei Qian really could not tell.
After much contemplation, Pei Qian finally thought of a decent way out.
He thought about games continually being tested after being produced and were never officially released because of the creator's fears. That happened because those creators would be pronounced bankrupt once their games were released. Pei Qian thought that there was much to learn from their experience!
Of course, he could not steal their copyrights without paying
If he did that, he would not be allowed to release the game. If he failed to settle for two cycles, the System would shut down on Boss?Pei.
However, what if he bought the copyrights? How much would that cost?!
He would not have to worry about not being able to finish spending the System Funds! As long as he kept purchasing copyrights, he could spend as much money as he wanted.
This was a good idea to Pei Qian. "We'll buy
IP!
"Be it domestically or overseas, we can buy any character IPs we find suitable. Even if they're expensive-as long as we can insert them into our game, we will do so.
"Oh, forget about the popular IPs worth more than a million US dollars. We'll just buy more cheap IPs."
Purchasing expensive character IPs would allow Pei Qian to spend more money. Some especially famous IPs could not even be bought with money.
However, such IPs also had a strong attractive force. What would Pei Qian do if they brought loads of fans with them and made the game extremely famous?
What's more, the bigger the IP, the more trivial matters the holding company would have to take care of. Pei Qian did not want to discuss details of contracts with large overseas companies all day. It would be a waste of his time and effort.
Thus, Pei Qian aimed to pick up as much trash as he could.
Be it domestically or overseas, he would find outdated or unpopular character IPs and buy them all with the aim of collecting rubbish. He would then insert them into the game and design special functions based on these characters.
If the ones he found were different in style from the game, he would engage in discussions with the creators first. Then, he would spend another sum of money hiring a professional artist to recreate the characters.
This way, he could spend money very quickly.
Moreover, rubbish IPs would prove utterly useless. They would not bring much traffic to their game, and their price-quality ratio would be through the roof.
Li Yada had many questions. After all, this was her first real project as the chief planner.
However, Pei Qian waved his hand. "Alright, that's all for now. Go and have a think about it. Don't ask me everything. I don't want to influence your thought process."
Li Yada pressed her fingers together and said, "Alright… alright, Boss Pei."
She turned around and walked out of Boss Li's office. Li Yada felt that this mission was too heavy, particularly because games like Gods Rising were not her forte.
The more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed to improve a game like Gods Rising in such a short amount of time.
It looked like she had to consult Bao Xu in secret.
[1] This is an acronym for 'Good Game', which usually signifies the end of something.
Chapter 328 Every Idea Was Rejected
Pei Qian flipped through his little notebook. He had more or less done whatever he could for the company for now.
There were a plethora of things to tackle, but most of them had already been settled. For now, the various department heads were probably being kept busy. On the other hand, Pei Qian could afford to relax.
He leaned back on his office chair to get some rest. Then, Pei Qian surfed the web, intending to look for suitable houses.
It was now the year 2010. Property prices were already showing signs of rising. However, in Pei Qian's eyes, they were still affordable.
On average, houses in Beijing and Shanghai cost about 25 thousand yuan per square meter. Houses in the school districts in Beijing could cost up to 38 thousand yuan per square meter.
To a lot of people, this was a sky-high price. However, Pei Qian knew full well that it wasn't.
Jingzhou City was a provincial capital and was quite good compared to most other second-tier cities. The average price of houses here was about 13 thousand yuan per square meter.
In better places in the city center, prices could cost around 15 to 16 thousand yuan per square meter. However, Pei Qian was not intending to buy a house in the city center.
At the moment, high-speed rail stations were still being built across the country. Pei Qian guessed that a lot of them would be ready for use starting from the middle of next year.
The house that Pei Qian was looking for was meant for his parents. Most of their social circles were still located in the small county south of Jingzhou. Coincidentally, Jingzhou's high speed rail station-called Jingzhou South Station-was going to be located in the south as well, not far from the county.
Thus, Pei Qian thought about buying a house near Jingzhou South Station. That would be close to his parents' workplace and where their colleagues lived.
Once the high-speed rail stations opened, they could also easily take the high-speed rail to other cities.
What's more, based on Pei Qian's experience, the area around Jingzhou South Station would become more commercialized in the future. It was only a matter of time before the facilities in the area improved as well.
Also, property prices had not risen yet.
Pei Qian looked around. At the moment, the real estate around the south only cost about 11 to 12 thousand yuan per square meter. That meant he could buy a house measuring about 150 square meters for 1.8 million yuan.
It would probably be good enough for his parents. Pei Qian was mainly looking at the livability of the new house. This world was too different from the original one, and Pei Qian could not be a hundred percent sure that the property prices would move according to his memory.
It was not that Pei Qian did not want to invest 1.8 million yuan into a real estate that would appreciate in value. However, this world was too different; it was not the same as he remembered.
Who could Pei Qian blame if something went wrong down the road and lost everything? The System? No way, he would have no choice but to bear the shame.
Thus, after some thought, he decided not to try and pull any tricks. Instead, he would stick to earning money from the System legitimately. He could earn money from the System and improve his parents' standard of living at the same time. That was good enough.
Pei Qian surfed the net for a long time and saved information on many potential houses. However, he did not settle on one just yet.
He did not ask Assistant Xin or other employees for help either. After all, this was a personal matter. It had nothing to do with the company's business.
Pei Qian would have been ridiculous to make his employees help him with his personal matters.
Furthermore, Pei Qian was not that busy. He only worked three or four hours a day. Even if he was not doing this, he would be catching up on his shows.
Since he was going to purchase the house, he felt more comfortable looking for one on his own. For now, Pei Qian had no plans to buy a house for himself. He was still looking for ways to enjoy the System's benefits.
As the company expanded, the System allowed Pei Qian to distribute more and more benefits to his employees. For example, he had to increase his employees' salaries wave by wave in the past. Every forced expense or income supplement he wanted to provide had to be limited.
However, as Tengda's business improved and expanded, the limits slowly increased.
From June this year, Pei Qian could give each employee a thousand yuan worth of housing allowance. Employees only had to top up a small amount in order to rent a good house in Jingzhou.
However, Pei Qian could not stop there.
Tengda would continue to expand, and he would be allowed to give his employees more benefits. Sooner or later, he would be able to build an employees' dormitory.
That was because many big companies had employees' dormitories. This was not a ridiculous benefit to provide.
Although there was no need for Tengda to build one for now, things might change in a year or so.
Once the System's regulations relaxed, Pei Qian would get to it. Then, he would start moving his employees in. Boss Pei would then keep the biggest one for himself. How great!
At that thought, Pei Qian suddenly felt melancholic.
He had no idea if the employees were riding on his benefits or if he was riding on his employees' benefits. Or were they perpetually riding on one another's benefits?
At the end of the day, there was no rush to buy a house for himself.
mo
For now, Pei Qian was quite comfortable living in his two-bedroom apartment. What's more, it was easy for him to get to school, the office, and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. This place was purely a shelter for him; there was no need for luxury.
As Pei Qian thought about these things, he received a message on his cell phone. It was from Ye Zhizhou.
"Boss Pei, we have come up with a rough direction for the horror game. Shall we run through it when you have the time?"
Pei Qian glanced at his watch. It was 5 pm. It was already getting late, and his employees were supposed to knock off soon.
He was just about to arrange to meet the next day when he realized that it would be Saturday.
After some thought, Pei Qian replied, "We'll meet on Monday morning."
Pei Qian had a good rest over the weekend. He tried to recover from the deep emotional hurt that Old Ma had caused him.
At the same time, he continued looking for houses. He had already narrowed his options down to two or three places, but he still needed to do some research into their geographical locations, their configurations, the reliability of their developers, and other details.
On Monday morning, Pei Qian arrived at Shang Yang Games. The moment he walked in, he noticed something amiss in the atmosphere.
It was bright outside; why were the curtains closed?
The entire office looked pitch-black, and the only light came from the dim monitor screens. Everyone sat in front of their monitors with headphones on, not moving at all.
This scene looked inexplicably strange.
For a moment, Pei Qian thought that he had arrived at the wrong place. He thought he had stumbled into a large-scale, mysterious ceremony.
However, he happened to spot Hao Qiong sitting not far away from the entrance. The naive fellow also looked deeply engrossed in what was happening on his monitor. His shoulders rose and fell slightly as he carefully moved the joysticks on his controller.
Pei Qian lightly tapped his shoulder. "Er, where is Ye—?"
He wanted to ask where Ye Zhizhou was. Yet, before he could finish speaking, Hao Qiong leaped out of his seat.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Cries and howls sounded from all around the office. People around Hao Qiong started screaming one by one, causing a ripple effect outwards with Hao Qiong in the center.
Pei Qian felt light-headed. He almost thought something terrible had happened to his employees. Soon, a few people began cursing and swearing "Sh*t, who screamed again?!"
"Didn't we agree that whoever screams next would be a dog?!"
"Be calm! If you scream again, I won't be able to keep playing…"
Hao Qiong looked wronged. "Don't blame me. I was playing my game calmly when someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder. Of course, I–Huh? Boss Pei? Good morning, Boss Pei!"
The others immediately took their headphones off and looked over.
Pei Qian only had a strange feeling at first, but on seeing this, chills ran down his spine. In the pitch-black office, tens of monitors emitted a faint, blue light.
In front of every monitor was a shadow of a human head. All the heads were focused on their screens at first, but when they heard the words 'Boss Pei', they all turned towards him in unison.
It was horrifying!
Pei Qian quickly groped about beside him for the light switch and then flipped it.
As the light shone, the strange and tense atmosphere disappeared. "What are you doing…? Why are the curtains closed in broad daylight…?" Pei Qian did not know what else to say.
Hao Qiong realized that he had scared Boss Pei. Feeling embarrassed, he quickly explained himself. "I'm sorry, Boss Pei. Director Lin instructed us to switch the lights off so that we can immerse ourselves in the horror games."
Pei Qian, "…you didn't have to go to this extent, right?"
Hao Qiong scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. "We didn't have any other choice. None of us have experience working on horror games. Director Lin said that we cannot afford to fail this next task and that we have to work as hard as we can."
For some reason, Pei Qian felt sorry for these people.
They had to scare themselves half to death before working on a horror game?
Hao Qiong spoke again. "Director Lin also said that we have to learn from Boss Pei's attitude and torture ourselves before we try to torture others. Boss Pei, you worked so hard to complete Repent and be Saved. You've been an excellent role model for us!"
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
Don't talk about Repent and be Saved anymore. I don't want to recall my experience with that game!
Director Lin has gravely misunderstood me! This is all a huge misunderstanding!
However, talking about this made Pei Qian pity them all the more.
"You've worked hard, everyone. I'll distribute a thousand yuan more to each of you to compensate you for the emotional suffering…"
While everyone cheered and thanked him, Pei Qian walked into the conference room.
The projector was not in use. Instead, there was only one printed design manuscript. Two weeks had passed since Pei Qian instructed Shang Yang Games to work on a horror game. That was more than enough time for them to write a manuscript for the game.
However, one had to remember that Shang Yang Games' employees had never worked on horror games before. Everyone spent most of these two weeks playing horror games and looking for inspiration. That meant they did not actually have much time to come up with the gameplay and storyline.
The manuscript was very brief. However, after a cursory scan, Pei Qian discovered that it was generally going in the right direction.
Pei Qian did not dare to guarantee that the game would turn out a success, but if they continued in this direction, he was sure that it would generate at least some profit.
Boss Pei had come just to change this.
Ye Zhizhou was obviously confident in his manuscript. "Boss Pei, let me briefly explain our current thought process to you.
"First, we plan to create a standalone game with a fixed storyline. The game would mainly use Eastern monsters and ghosts because we have found them to be the scariest.
"Lastly, we're considering not giving players any weapons. The helplessness would induce maximum fear in them."
Pei Qian fell silent for a short while.
This idea sounded too good.
A few successful horror games surfaced in Pei Qian's mind.
Although horror games targeted a small audience, they could still generate a huge profit if they became extremely popular.
What's more, Shang Yang Games was going to be given a budget of thirty million yuan this time. If they used all thirty million yuan in the production of this game, the effects would be extremely terrifying.
The game would surely be profitable.
That wouldn't do!
After some thought, Pei Qian subtly shook his head. "That's too common."
Lin Wan, who had been listening quietly by the side the entire time, looked like she had expected this response. Boss Pei always had novel ideas. Of course, he would not accept such commonplace ones!
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin quickly took out paper and pen, prepared to take down notes.
Pei Qian looked at the few general ideas on the manuscript in front of him and then made some adjustments to them.
"What storyline does a horror game need? Don't work on a storyline. There are too many standalone horror games. Create a web-based one.
"Why are we including ghosts and monsters? We need to believe in Science. Don't include ghosts and monsters in the game. At most, we can include insane people. Avoid things like mutated beings and grievous spirits at all costs.
"As for weapons…"
At that point, Pei Qian hesitated.
That was not easy to work around.
Without a weapon system, the game could turn out like Outlast. Yet, with a weapon system, the game could turn out like Resident Evil.
The former was very frightening and immersive. The latter was easy for gamers to speed run through, but it also generated a large following.
Neither of these methods was wrong, but if either turned out well, they could generate lots of profits.
That meant Pei Qian had to choose the third option.
"Create a weapon system but have minimal variety and strength. The best weapon should be a pistol.
"Alright, go along this general direction."
Pei Qian struck a compromise to make the game feel incongruent. There would be a weapon system, but the weapon system would be rubbish.
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin finished recording these instructions down and exchanged a meaningful look.
Cr*p, not one of the things they had decided on was right. Every one of them was rejected…
Chapter 329 The Standard Process for Inferring Boss Pei's Intentions
Ye Zhizhou looked at what he had written in his notebook.
Why did it look like… everything was the exact opposite of what they had set before? It didn't seem like Pei Qian had any intention other than to give opposite directions.
"Does Boss Pei have the secret to always creating successful games?
"Does he round up all the special points of common games in the market and then purposely go in the opposite direction in order to allow gamers to experience a completely novel feeling?
"Ugh…"
Ye Zhizhou found this quite ridiculous. Not only was it insulting to Boss Pei, but it was also insulting to himself.
If it were so easy to succeed, why did he have to rack his brains every day about what kind of game to create?
However, on closer inspection, Ye Zhizhou found yet another problem. Some opposite directions that Pei Qian had given sounded extra ridiculous.
Take Boss Pei's request for them to create a web-based horror game, for example. How the h*ll were they supposed to do that?!
Two people or more would be playing the horror game at the same time… would that even be terrifying?!
There was no other game like it in the market!
Yet, when looked at from another angle, perhaps that was precisely what would make the game novel and refreshing. Perhaps that was precisely what would make the game a hot topic of discussion.
Without realizing it, Ye Zhizhou found himself caught in a whirlpool of emotions. Many thoughts were floating across his mind, causing him to feel dizzy.
Wang Xiaobin obviously felt equally dizzy. He did not think that it was possible to create a game that complied with Boss Pei's requirements.
That was because there was currently no other game like it. How were they supposed to come up with one entirely from scratch?
"Boss Pei, can you give us some more tips?" Pei Qian giggled inwardly. Some more tips? I cannot give you any more hints. Figure it out for yourself. I couldn't ask for anything better than for the game to incur losses.
Pei Qian was just about to turn down the request when Lin Wan spoke.
"That's enough. Boss Pei has already given us a general direction to follow. These instructions would contain the game's deeper meaning.
"We'll put together our gaming experience over the past few days to chew on it. We need to have independent thoughts. We cannot always be like babies, crying piteously for food and waiting for Boss Pei to spoon-feed
US."
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
Good job, Director Lin! You said exactly what I was thinking.
Wang Xiaobin lowered his head, feeling ashamed.
That's right. Boss Pei has already given us a general direction. Are we incapable of even settling the finer details and tying up loose ends? If so, we would be undeserving of our titles as designers!
"We'll go and think of a new plan, then." Wang Xiaobin and Ye Zhizhou returned to their work desks and got busy.
Pei Qian asked Lin Wan to remain behind and briefed her on Otto Technologies.
Before this, Pei Qian had already briefly told Lin Wan that he recruited Chang You. However, he had done that over the phone, and so the conversation had been quite short.
Now, Pei Qian planned to spend a bit more time discussing things in detail. After all, Lin Chang was the director of Otto Technologies. She was ranked higher than Chang You.
If Lin Wan washed her hands off Otto Technologies, even if the business failed, Lin Wan would not feel defeated in any way. That reduced the chances of her leaving Tengda and returning home to take over her family business.
Pei Qian's ultimate aim was to make Lin Wan feel like she had contributed significantly to Otto Technologies' development. When the products failed, Lin Wan would have a deep sense that she was not cut out for this work. In addition to Shang Yang Games' eventual failure, this would cause Lin Wan to be severely disheartened.
"As for Chang You… I know that society, people in the industry especially, views him negatively. However…"
Pei Qian felt slightly worried. If Lin Wan and Chang You did not get along, Lin Wan might end up shifting all responsibility for the business's failure to him. Again, she might not return home to take over her family business.
Lin Wan subtly shook her head. "Boss Pei, you don't have to worry. Since you selected him, I trust something is outstanding about him.
"We're in the Internet age, and we are constantly being bombarded with information. Yet, we are also seeing an unprecedented shortage of facts. Rumors can spread across the globe overnight. Yet, no one cares about the refutations that can also be found online.
"Similarly, details of a person's disgraceful past can spread like wildfire overnight on the Internet. Many people would think that they know a person inside out after reading such things. "Yet, the bombardment of information online hides the person's true colors.
"Although I don't agree with my father on many things, I agree with what he says about the Internet. He always emphasizes that the Internet is not omnipotent and that the bombardment of information could ironically blind someone.
"Boss Pei, I believe that you had your own considerations when you made Vice-President Chang in charge of Otto Technologies.
"Since you trust him, I will definitely trust him as well."
Pei Qian was momentarily speechless. He had not even said anything, and yet Lin Wan had stolen the words right out of his mouth.
"Yes… of course, that's a good thing. However, as the head, you are integral to Otto Technologies as well. You must not remain out of the picture."
Pei Qian was hinting at Lin Wan to get more involved with the cell phone business, so that she would feel more like a contributor.
This way-once the cell phone business failed, Lin Wan would naturally feel heavily responsible. That would make her want to go home and take over her family business all the more.
Lin Wan nodded. "Don't worry, Boss Pei. I will supervise Otto Technologies. While I avoid being overly-involved, I will also make sure to set the future direction for them. I'll make sure that they will develop a spirit similar to Tengda's and that they do what is expected of them."
Pei Qian was very satisfied. He felt like his employees were cooperating very well with him and like he had the entire situation in the palm of his hands.
…
After Boss Pei left, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin returned to their work desks and began racking their brains.
This was too difficult!
Boss Pei had given them so many restrictions. How should they design the game?
The 'web-based game' requirement was already hard to deal with. On top of that, they were not allowed to come up with a storyline, make use of ghosts and monsters, or design a powerful weapon system.
They were completely bewildered. They had received assignments from Boss Pei before, but their assignments had always been relatively simple.
For example, Boss Pei once asked them to get rid of all purchase options but a basic one in Bloody Battle Song. After much thought, Ye Zhizhou finally came up with the 'Chosen One' system.
That was because the game already had a complete framework. Ye Zhizhou only had to make minor alterations to it.
It was the same when they worked on the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song as well. Basically, there had been no change to the game's framework. They had still been working with familiar material; that was why everything went smoothly and easily.
However, this time was completely different.
Horror games and standalone games were uncharted territories for the company. Boss Pei had also given very hazy directions. They felt like they were groping around in the dark.
Not knowing how to proceed, they both turned to face Lin Wan. Everyone at Shang Yang Games was considered inexperienced at guessing Boss Pei's true intentions.
"Director Lin, come and brainstorm with us. What kind of game does Boss Pei want us to create?"
Lin Wan casually pulled a chair over and sat down. She remained silent for a while before saying, "Actually, I'm a beginner at guessing Boss Pei's intentions, too. I'm still a far cry from a lot of other seniors.
"However, I have learned a lot from Bao Xu. I can share these lessons with you."
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin quickly retrieved their notebooks again and listened closely to Lin Wan.
It's coming! The important learning point is coming!
What was the core competitive strength among employees in Tengda?
It was the ability to guess Boss Pei's intentions!
As the main leader of Tengda Corporation, Boss Pei was ambitious and far-sighted. At the same time, he had a unique, deep, and accurate understanding of the market and gamers' psyche. Often, when Boss Pei gave them a game to work on, he would already have an idea of what the game would look like and how the market would react in the end.
Thus, whether each project could succeed or not depended on how well the employees understood Boss Pei's intentions.
Now, Director Lin was going to share with everyone how to guess Boss Pei's intentions. Without a doubt, this was as valuable as treasure!
Lin Wan recalled her days working in Tengda Games and thought about how Bao Xu explained a lot of Boss Pei's actions. She had wanted to summarize these lessons a long time ago, and now, she had found an opportune moment to do so.
"First, we can be confident that Boss Pei's directions are always right. We must ignore all costs and follow them. You may think that this sounds superficial, but this would be the foundation of all your inferences.
"You should take Boss Pei's points as self-evident and absolutely axiomatic. On that basis, you can start making inferences."
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin felt slightly light-headed. It was almost as if they were students attending Philosophy classes all over again.
Yet, this was to be expected. These were important concepts. It would be strange if they found them easy to understand.
Both of them continued listening closely. Lin Wan spoke again. "When Bao Xu worked on Ocean Stronghold, he used Boss Pei's axioms as his starting point. He kept rejecting content that did not fit with the axioms and adding content that did. Finally, he completed the game's first prototype.
"Now, we can do the same.
"We'll take the first point first—the most important one. The horror game must be a web-based one. Games that allow multiple players to enter at once can only involve cooperating or fighting. "Players could fight with the computer or with other players. The former would mean multiple players have to work together to solve puzzles. The latter would be similar to war games. Since Boss Pei has emphasized that we should not come up with a storyline, we can't have two or more people working on puzzles together.
"That means we must design the game so that people have to cooperate with or fight one another."
"That means our game could take on a similar model to many other board games. There could be a time limit of ten minutes to two hours. Depending on the number of players, there could be different tasks. Between the players, we could also use both the cooperation and fighting models."
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin nodded.
That analysis clarified many things! Most importantly, they had decided to base the game on board games. Now, both of them could roughly picture what the game would look like.
Lin Wan looked at them and said, "You can try figuring out the rest."
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin exchanged a look, feeling like they had just been called on by the teacher to answer a question. The question had already been solved halfway, but the students now had to complete the answer.
Ye Zhizhou pondered for a moment and said, "We can't include ghosts and monsters, but can have insane people at most. That's another important clue.
"There aren't many examples among other games, but what if we look at movies?"