"Have you realized nothing?
"Don't rush, take it slow; tell me everything that you felt in detail without missing out any bit."
Zhu Xiaoce sat on the sofa with Lu Zhiyao in the living room of the suite.
Lu Zhiyao took a sip from the half-drunk cola and started spitting out his complaints towards Zhu Xiaoce.
"Director Zhu, I don't know if it's because your method isn't good or because I have not grasped the essence. In short, I have not realized anything.
"You want me to treat every single unit as a living person.
"I have been reminding myself about that. It was all alright at the start. I deliberately got the soldiers with residual blood to hide behind, and no one died.
"However, towards the end, they would die one after the other if I wasn't careful...
"I realized later that the more I want to treat these people as real people, the more I can't do it!
"Because if I were to keep stressing to myself that they were living people, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on thinking rationally and deal with the current battle situation.
"The more I struggled, the more deaths.
"Therefore, the battle got harder and harder towards the end. I couldn't save these people's lives in the end.
"Even if I were to repeatedly lie to myself that these are living people, my subconscious mind resists it and constantly denies it. Therefore, I cannot think like what you said...
"In the end, I was confused and lost. I felt indifferent even when a lot of people died. Everything went back to the original point.
"In short, I gained nothing."
Lu Zhiyao looked at Zhu Xiaoce after he was done with his complaints.
He originally thought he would see a disappointed or comforting expression on Zhu Xiaoce's face. However, he did not expect Zhu Xiaoce to raise his hand to signal him not to speak while he lowered his head in serious thoughts.
Lu Zhiyao was shocked.
What did that mean? Could Director Zhu actually find some inspiration in what I said?
Were directors so good at filling the gaps?
Zhu Xiaoce frowned, feeling as if he had grasped something but felt a little surreal.
Boss Pei's requirement was for the soldiers in the game to have their own ideas—combined with the approach of 'breaking the dimensional wall', people would naturally think of the idea that 'the soldiers in the games are real'.
However, this idea had been used previously. If he wanted to come up with something new, he would have to dig deep into it and come up with something new.
Lu Zhiyao's mental journey might not be able to be used directly in the plot, but it would also provide some ideas that were not thought of before.
For example:
It seemed ironic that their rational judgment would be impaired if they cared too much about whether these units were real people or not and that not treating them as real human beings would be able to reduce sacrifices.
Because of the special medium which was the game, the subconscious would deny and resist the idea that the 'characters in the game were real-life people'.
When too many people died, life would become a number, and the highest commander would only fall into numbness and despair.
However, was it right to treat people completely as numbers? It seemed like it would give rise to more problems...
Moreover, Lu Zhiyao played 'Starcraft 2', not 'Destiny and Choice'.
Imagine, if it was 'Destiny and Choice', every soldier had their own mind and the gap between humans and the Zergs would be even greater...
Many thoughts quickly collided; Zhu Xiaoce suddenly had a wave of inspiration!
"I'll use your computer!" he quickly said.
Lu Zhiyao stood up quickly. "Alright."
Zhu Xiaoce exit 'Starcraft 2' immediately and created a new document, quickly tapping on the keyboard.
Lu Zhiyao stood behind curiosity and watched for half a minute before saying with some doubts. "Director Zhu, are you... writing a summary of the story from the beginning?"
"Of course not! I have a script with hundreds of thousands of words on my office computer. This is just to note down my inspiration from just now," Zhu Xiaoce replied hurriedly.
"Don't interrupt my thoughts and don't look. I can't write with you looking on. You sit aside first."
Zhu Xiaoce continued typing frantically away at the keyboard after he got Lu Zhiyao to shun away, recording all the inspiration in his mind.
Lu Zhiyao had serious doubts in his mind but did not want to look again, and so he could only wait with claws scratching his heart.
Zhu Xiaoce wrote at a good speed, adding and deleting continuously.
"Boss Pei said that there should only be one protagonist that is Lu Zhiyao.
"If there is no one acting against him and all of them are going to be a one-man show, it would mean that the protagonist must undergo many mental changes to hold up the entire length of the movie.
"For now... even five times would not be enough."
"Hmm... perhaps he could have someone acting against him, but not an actor.
"Artificial Intelligence?
"Well, if you want to break the dimensional wall, the protagonist must control the fleet through the help of artificial intelligence. At the same time, the game itself has to be simplified which also needs a certain amount of help from the AI.
"Since Artificial intelligence is to be present in the movie, it must be opposing the protagonist. Moreover, with the intervention of Artificial intelligence, the protagonist's mentality will be able to change many times.
"Nine times.
"The protagonist's mentality changes nine times. Every time, the story would advance a little and closer to the eventual truth.
"Moreover, don't forget... the protagonist is a determined space fighter who doesn't have too many expressions so try to present a contradiction:
"The plot is completely unexpected to the audience and brings a strong plot tension, but the protagonist is always strong, calm, and sensible. It is not until the end that there is a little emotional fluctuation, and every emotional change required shows a very subtle expression...
"There is only one protagonist; therefore, this protagonist must impress the audience.
"Tell a story and create a good protagonist. That should be enough to Boss Pei."
Zhu Xiaoce wrote about 500 words, checked it, and nodded satisfactorily.
That was the essence of the story, but he would have to adjust and refine it repeatedly if he wanted it to turn into a script.
Zhu Xiaoce put the laptop away, thinking about it and putting it into his backpack. "Alright, Movie King, your work is complete. I'm very inspired! I'll go back and finish up the script, and we'll then get ready to shoot immediately!"
"Director Zhu, are you sure you are finishing up the script?" Lu Zhiyao asked uncertainly.
Zhu Xiaoce smiled. "It was very far away but not anymore! Take a good rest, shave your beard. I'll send the first part of the script to you very soon."
"You're going to give me the script in parts?" Lu Zhiyao was a little shocked.
Zhu Xiaoce nodded. "Of course, to allow you to better adapt to the character. I'll get going first!"
Zhu Xiaoce turned to leave after he was done speaking.
Lu Zhiyao scratched his head in confusion.
He felt that what he said really inspired Director Zhu Xiaoce.
However, he still could not imagine how the script would be like...
...
Zhu Xiaoce returned to Fei Huang Workspace and called Huang Sibo and the scriptwriter directly for a short meeting.
"What do you think of my idea? If it's possible, we will start work immediately and seize the time to finish the script.
"The preparatory work can also be done while we write the script."
The scriptwriters showed surprise in their expressions. "Awesome, Director Zhu! This story is not only well-integrated with the contents of the game, but the character is also very prominent and the development of the story is also surprising..."
Huang Sibo nodded frequently. "Very good! The content of the movie really fits well with the game. I already have an idea of how to make the game!"
Only one scriptwriter frowned slightly. "But Director Zhu, I think this twist in the ending is a little forced, not natural enough.
"Of course, there will be nothing wrong with this, but a part of the audience might not be able to accept it.
"Is it possible to have some foreshadowing in the front and give them a hint?"
Zhu Xiaoce considered for a moment and thought carefully. "Hm, there might be feelings like this. But... the content in front is already very complicated. I don't think we can squeeze this in.
"Moreover, if the hint is too obvious, the audiences might guess it directly, which may cause all the buried puzzles to collapse.
"Or..."
"We can lay a little foreshadowing outside the movie to deliberately cause everyone to misunderstand but reveal the final mystery in the movie. It would make everyone feel unexpected yet reasonable."
Huang Sibo thought for a while. "Yes, we can do it this way! Shang Yang Games is doing the downloadable contents for the original games of Tengda. I'll ask them to help make related downloadable content. Not only can it have foreshadowing, but it can also warm up the game in advance!"
Zhu Xiaoce nodded. "Alright, everyone will follow the outline of the story I just gave to improve the script. Finish it within these two days efficiently!"
The scriptwriters nodded, filled with motivation for their work.
Zhu Xiaoce, on the other hand, gave Wang Xiaobin of Shang Yang Games a call to explain his intentions.
Wang Xiaobin was silent for a while over the phone. "There really aren't many suitable games for a sci-fi theme... or should we just do it in 'Ocean Stronghold'?
"We can make a separate plot for Ocean Stronghold—remake everything from the protagonist to the monsters."
Zhu Xiaoce was very happy. "Sure, FPS games are more suitable because FPS games use first-person perspectives so it would have a stronger sense of substitution. It would be easier for the players to experience what I want to express.
"Moreover, the publicity effect would be better since Ocean Stronghold has so many players.
"I just don't know if it would affect your original development plan?"
Wang Xiaobin: "No, I haven't decided what to do actually. I will certainly use your plan since it is so good. Moreover, Tengda Games is developing 'Destiny and Choice'. I can use many art resources from it so the workload isn't that big."
Zhu Xiaoce was very happy. "Alright, I will send you a summary of the story soon. Let's release it in the downloadable content of Ocean Stronghold!"
Chapter 681: The Plan to Become Poor
October 13th, Thursday...
Tengda Headquarters...
Assistant Xin led Qiu Hong to the guest room and poured him his drink.
"Please have some tea; Boss Pei will be here soon."
Qiu Hong nodded hurriedly. "Sure, sure."
Qiu Hong drank his tea while yearning for the Tengda Games after Assistant Xin left the guest room.
Qiu Hong had been preparing to contact his friends in the circle, wanting to regroup and start another company to develop new projects after he gave his lectures to 'Boss Ma'.
However, he had yet to decide what project it should be, which naturally could not convince any investors to invest in the projects.
Qiu Hong did accumulate a lot of wealth through Krypton Gold Online Games, but he had basically exhausted everything when he failed in his own business previously.
The cultural industry was highly subjective, especially more so in the game industry.
When one succeeded, one would be smug, and they would feel right in everything. However, when one failed, one would fall into deep self-doubt and feel worthless.
Qiu Hong was now struggling with that. He would like to re-open a company and develop a successful game, but he felt like he wasn't prepared enough so he felt lost.
'Boss Ma' called again at this time exactly to invite him to Jingzhou, saying that there was cooperation with Tengda, which needed face-to-face discussion.
They did not say what was wrong over the phone.
If it was another company, Qiu Hong may not think much about it since there was a feeling of relying on someone else's charity after his entrepreneurial pursuit.
It was the Tengda Corporation after all, and Qiu Hong had a relationship with Boss Ma—which was why he decided to come.
He had always gone straight to the cafe near Handong University when he came to Jingzhou previously. This time, Qiu Hong finally entered the Tengda Corporation.
Spacious workstations, enviable benefits, the employees' great mental state...
All of which made Qiu Hong envy from the bottom of his heart.
He started a company himself and knew the hardships and difficulties it must have been to build Tengda to the state it was today.
It was incredible to be able to guarantee the enthusiasm and combat effectiveness of all employees of the company on the premises of providing such a favorable working environment and relaxing working atmosphere.
In short, Qiu Hong felt that he did not come in vain after seeing the environment in Tengda.
As to what sort of cooperation to be discussed...
Qiu Hong really could not tell.
Qiu Hong was very clear about his position. He might have some reputation in the domestic game industry, but it was only limited to the field of Krypton Gold Online Games. He might have made some money, but it was incomparable to Tengda.
Tengda did not need him.
Light footsteps were coming from outside the guest room while he was thinking about it. He could vaguely hear Assistant Xin saying 'Boss Pei, Boss Qiu is already waiting in the guest room.'
Qiu Hong sat upright subconsciously.
Boss Pei was here!
Qiu Hong had only heard news about such a legendary character and had never seen him. For some reason, he felt a little expectant.
Qiu Hong hurriedly said 'please come in' after hearing a knock from the reception room.
Assistant Xin opened the door, and 'Boss Ma' walked in.
"Boss Pei, do call for me if you have any problem." Assistant Xin closed the door and left.
Qiu Hong was on his feet, ready to shake hands with Boss Pei; however, he was stunned when he saw Pei Qian.
Question marks filled his head.
???
Boss Pei smiled at the stunned Qiu Hong. "Boss Qiu, long time no see."
Qiu Hong had yet to react.
Wasn't that Boss Ma?
Then, why did the assistant who seemed to have a very high status in the company address him as 'Boss Pei'?
Qiu Hong vaguely realized something, but he found it unbelievable because he could not figure out the reason and logic behind it.
Pei Qian sat down on the sofa. There was no need to let Qiu Hong continue guessing now. He prepared the remarks and got right down to the topic.
"Boss Qiu, I have to apologize to you first. My true identity is not Boss Ma of Dream Realization Ventures, but Pei Qian himself.
"As to why I called myself Boss Ma... the main reason is to contact you with a different identity, exchange and discuss, understand each other, and decide whether there is any possibility of cooperation between us or not."
The confusion on Qiu Hong's face obviously lessened considerably, with some form of realization.
In other words, Boss Pei was not actually listening to my lecture previously but conducting an anonymous inspection and interview?
Just like how the principal would sit in and listen when the teacher was teaching to understand the teacher's level?
That actually explained why Boss Pei wore the 'Boss Ma' persona to contact him.
However, Qiu Hong still had questions.
He was a very ordinary game designer—though with a little fame, but there was a huge bunch of them in the domestic game circle that had similar backgrounds.
What virtues and ability did he have to make Boss Pei go to such great lengths to test the possibility of cooperation? Boss Pei even paid tuition by then!
What sort of cooperation was he looking for?
Pei Qian did not want to keep mum on it so he quickly proceeded.
"Boss Qiu, I'll talk a bit about our cooperation proposal, please consider it.
"The project that I want to embark on is called 'Destitution Plan'.
"This is a support plan for domestically-produced standalone games and independent game developers. It is committed to finding them and supporting them with the necessary support funds.
"I would like to invite you to be the person-in-charge of this 'Destitution Plan' and become an executive of Tengda Corporation. Your salary and benefits will be on the same level as the other departments, but there is one point to be emphasized: Your bonus will not be linked to the profits of the 'Destitution Plan'.
"Your bonus will be dependent on the ratio of profitable projects to the total number of projects. The lower the ratio, the more your bonus will be.
"I cannot disclose how much that will be, but I can guarantee that it will not be lower than your previous bonus income when you acted as the chief planner of a successful project. Of course, I must also say frankly that it will not reach the income of a successful entrepreneur.
"Of course, we can discuss in the future if you feel dissatisfied and want to leave or want a salary adjustment.
"That's roughly all. Please fire away if you have any questions, Boss Qiu."
Pei Qian took a sip of water and smiled at Qiu Hong.
As for why it's called 'Destitution Plan', not 'Angel Plan' or 'Savior Plan', was obviously because Pei Qian hoped that this plan would end in despair so he named it for good luck.
Qiu Hong was silent.
It wasn't like he didn't have any question, but more of... he had so many questions he did not know where to start!
There were many companies doing something like this locally.
There were two types of companies that did this the most. One was investment firms or so-called 'incubators' specifically targeting the game industry while the other was the gaming channel and platforms.
The official ESRO platform might be the largest and most authoritative platform, but it did not mean the other games platform did not exist. For example, the application store of Shenhua cell phone could also be regarded as a kind of games channel and platform.
These two types of companies carry out similar support programs, obviously, because it was profitable.
Many startups in the game industry exploded in their popularity overnight especially in the past two years when mobile internet became widely popular. The myth of game companies becoming rich overnight repeated. If one really invested in a successful mobile game company, then the return on investment would have been something that stung the eyes of other investors.
There might be many investment firms, but there were also many thresholds they had to overcome. They generally did not understand the game industry and naturally did not dare to invest in these small game companies.
Therefore, specific investment firms targeting game companies were born.
The platforms would support some start-up game companies basically for the same purpose. A nice front for it would be to say that it was to get better and more games for their platforms, but in the end, it was all for profits.
Therefore, these companies had one characteristic. They had indeed invested in and supported many companies, but most of them were online companies and mobile game companies.
The reason was simple: that made money!
Investing in these companies was high-risk, high-return.
Investing in standalone and independent games was high-risk, no-return.
Investment firms had the instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. It was a normal phenomenon to invest in online games rather than standalone games and to invest in cell phone games instead of independent games.
Yet Boss Pei's 'Destitution Plan' was actually targeted at standalone and independent games?
Moreover, as the person-in-charge, the bonus and performances were not to be measured by the income of the project?
It was instead... inversely proportional to the ratio of profitable projects?
Didn't that mean the greater the investment and the lesser the profits, the more the bonuses would be?
Could reverse incentives work?
Wasn't that encouraging himself to choose more rubbish projects?
That made Qiu Hong very confused.
Sincerity for the income was already shown.
Qiu Hong served as a chief planner to make a project with a monthly turnover of 100 million yuan before his entrepreneurial pursuits. That was the highest income he drew in his life, even so, his bonus was just over 100,000 yuan.
The bonus rule of the company was that the entire development team could only get 3% of the project income, and this so-called monthly 'turnover of 100 million yuan' was—in fact—bragging in most parts. It did not mean a net income of 100 million yuan.
They had to deduct the share with the platform and channel where the channel took the bulk of the money and deduct marketing expenses—a huge part of which was fudged by his company. Moreover, it was a rather big development team by then. The bonuses were divided by the entire project team. Everyone had a share. As the main planner, the proportion was higher even though it was also limited.
Counting in all the miscellaneous stuff, the money that they got eventually was just a drop in the ocean.
That was why Qiu Hong was so keen on pursuing entrepreneurship.
Chapter 682: Destiny and Choice's Set
He had developed such a successful game for the company, but the company had given him less than one percent of its income. Anyone else would have felt unhappy.
Of course, Qiu Hong's situation was considered quite good. Many companies did not give a single cent to the research and development team despite their game's success. Companies like that existed, and they were not the minority.
It was because Qiu Hong noticed this that he concluded that working for others would not bring him much success. Thus, he decided to start his own business.
Then, it didn't matter whether the game could earn over a hundred million yuan each month or not. As long as it could rake in a few million yuan or more than ten million yuan, his income would be much more than before.
Still, the problem was that managing his own business was much more difficult than he had imagined.
If his business failed, it was no longer a question of how rich he could be—but whether he would starve or not.
Thus, the price that Boss Pei was offering to him showed the former's sincerity and sounded extremely tempting.
However, this 'Destitution Plan' did not sound like an investment project but a charitable one. Moreover, the bonus structure that Boss Pei was proposing caused Qiu Hong to be undecided.
After a moment's consideration, Qiu Hong asked, "Boss Pei, may I be so bold as to ask what the aim of this 'Destitution Plan' is?"
Pei Qian fell silent.
Honestly, Boss Pei was stumped.
Of course, his primary aim was to incur losses, but Pei Qian could not say that out loud.
A couple of seconds passed, and Boss Pei finally said, "There isn't a specific aim."
Qiu Hong looked confused. "How can that be?"
Pei Qian retorted. "Why must there be an aim?"
That stunned Qiu Hong. He blinked a couple of times and processed Boss Pei's words.
Everyone must have their own reasons for doing things. A man like Boss Pei, who has achieved so much success, could not have been doing things in the spur of the moment.
Why did Boss Pei say that, then?
Obviously, Boss Pei did not really mean that he didn't have any aims but that he did not have any utilitarian or secular aim.
Actually, Qiu Hong had been very subtle in his questioning. What he really wanted to ask was why Boss Pei was after by investing in domestically-produced standalone games and independent games despite how unprofitable they were.
Boss Pei had also answered Qiu Hong's question based on the logic hidden within. Why can't I invest in domestically-produced standalone and independent games just because they aren't profitable? Why must I profit? Why can't I do something purely because it's meaningful for the industry?
Looking at Boss Pei's determined gaze reminded Qiu Hong of something.
He had indeed spoken to Boss Pei about domestically-produced games before. Boss Pei seemed to be sorry about the catastrophe of standalone games ten years ago as well.
Could Boss Pei have come up with this 'Destitution Plan' purely to support the domestic standalone games industry? Could he really not care about earning money?
If that was the case, Qiu Hong had to consider the title of the plan more closely.
Destitution Plan...
Why had the plan been given that name?
On one hand, it could be said that the entire domestically-produced standalone games industry had been on the path to destitution. On the other hand, it could be said that the plan is meant to help those who were on the path to destitution and on the verge of collapse such as independent games companies and standalone game developers.
If Qiu Hong had come up with a similar plan when he first started his own business, would he have ended up in a different place?
After figuring this out, Qiu Hong looked at Boss Pei with a renewed gaze. All of a sudden, he could see the glow of an idealist around the latter.
There was no empty talk or tricks. The name of the plan alone had moved Qiu Hong deeply!
Yet, how was he to explain his performance bonus?
He was not complaining that there was too little; he just found it hard to understand.
At that thought, Qiu Hong nodded. "Boss Pei, I think I understand now.
"However, I still don't understand a couple of details. There are so many other companies. How exactly do you plan to screen them all? Are you sure that my performance bonus is not based on investment income?"
When he heard the words 'I understand', Pei Qian instinctively sighed.
After drinking a mouthful of tea, he explained, "We'll screen them in a very simple way.
"Search the entire country for teams that produce standalone games and independent games, but don't announce the relationship between the 'Destitution Plan' and Tengda Games.
"Of course, we will reimburse you for all your travel expenses.
"There is a very simple standard to hold the teams so you can decide which ones meet the criteria: don't invest in projects that you find very reliable or very ridiculous. As for what constitutes 'reliable', you can decide.
"There is something that you have to take note of. All the games must be buy-to-play and must not have any in-game purchases.
"Their games must be up for sale and generate profits first before we can calculate our share based on our investment.
"As for your performance bonus... what I said before is the final plan. We will not distribute your bonus based on the income generated by the investments."
Once he finished speaking, Pei Qian felt slightly guilty.
He was afraid that Qiu Hong would turn him down.
Distributing one's performance bonus based on income generated by investments sounded more attractive. Although the quantity and stability of the bonus would fall far below the plan that Pei Qian had provided, humans were bound to conjure up best-case scenarios in their heads.
Yet, Pei Qian could not distribute Qiu Hong's performance bonus based on income generated by investments. Wouldn't that cause the latter to rack his brains for ways to profit from investing?
Distributing the performance bonus based on Pei Qian's current plan would be encouraging Qiu Hong to diversify his investment. The more the projects he invested in and the fewer the projects that generated profit, the higher Qiu Hong's bonus would be.
As for not revealing the link between the 'Destitution Plan' and Tengda Games... that was mainly because the plan would probably not be able to remain low profile once Tengda's name was used. People would start paying attention to the sponsored companies, thus indirectly increasing the chances of their games becoming popular.
Pei Qian had to spend his money quietly and keep the project as far away from Tengda as possible. That would minimize chances of cooperation between various departments to stab Pei Qian in the back.
However, Pei Qian could not say all of those things openly. He could only hope that Qiu Hong would realize it on his own.
Qiu Hong fell into deep thought.
He didn't think that Boss Pei was being stingy by distributing bonuses in this manner. On the contrary, he felt that Boss Pei was being too generous.
That was because they would be investing in small teams that produced standalone games and independent games. If the chances of those projects succeeding hit a couple of digits in percent, it would be good enough. The chances of failing far exceeded the chances of success.
Logically, since there was a high chance that they would lose money, the current method of distributing bonuses would be advantageous for Qiu Hong.
As for why Boss Pei was especially emphasizing that they could not invest in projects that were too reliable or too ridiculous...
It went without saying that ridiculous projects should not be invested in. Too many companies and developers were out to cheat. No matter how much one invested in them, they would only produce trash. Companies like that deserved to collapse!
Companies that were too reliable were not considered to be on the path to becoming poor. Even if they failed to obtain funds from the Destitution Plan, they would probably be able to find other investors that could get them out of their difficulties.
The companies that needed the most help were those that fell between the two extremes. They wanted to produce good games, but they could not win the favor of ordinary investors.
It was also understandable why Boss Pei wanted to cast his net widely.
On one hand, it was because they could not put all of their eggs in one basket. On the other hand, it would increase the scope of the Destitution Plan.
It would be just like helping the poor. Giving one person a hundred thousand yuan would not be as good as giving a hundred people a thousand yuan each.
Many small companies and teams would not know how to spend five million yuan or ten million yuan even if they received that sum of money from out of nowhere. That could result in wastage. On the other hand, giving them five hundred thousand yuan or one million yuan would be sufficient to help them tide through difficulties and make the most use of the funds.
Keeping everything low profile would be forsaking a boost in reputation, but it would also be preventing rubbish developers with intentions to cheat investors' money from knocking on their door.
No matter how Qiu Hong thought about it, he could not help but marvel at how well-thought-out Boss Pei's plan was!
Indeed, only people with careful planning like Boss Pei could achieve success in all fields!
Qiu Hong could not help but think about how he had lectured Boss Pei previously. He felt like an amateur trying to teach a professional how to do things.
Still, perhaps it was because of their previous interactions that Boss Pei had specially picked him.
Boss Pei had once said not to let the sorrow of the times become one's personal sorrows. Obviously, he had seen Qiu Hong's deep and persistent passion for standalone games, right?
Now, Qiu Hong could see a more brilliant glow of an idealist around Boss Pei. Within that smile, he could find warmth and trust!
At that thought, Qiu Hong nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei! I am willing to be in charge of the 'Destitution Plan'. I hope that we will work happily together!"
...
In the afternoon, at Shang Yang Games...
Wang Xiaobin continued to rack his brains, thinking of downloadable content to develop.
Over this period, he had gone onto forums to read players' suggestions and selected several well-supported plans to consider.
"Eh? Director Zhu has sent his plot overview over!"
Wang Xiaobin quickly downloaded the document.
The plot overview was the framework for Ocean Stronghold's downloadable content and not the story outline for Destiny and Choice.
In fact, the story outline for Destiny and Choice was not yet complete or clear.
Still, Wang Xiaobin couldn't care less about it at this point. For now, he had enough work on his hands.
After opening the document, Wang Xiaobin realized that it was not merely a plot overview—it also contained simple sketches including the Zergs that one would come across in the game, the looks of characters in the games, weapons and equipment, and so on.
Although the game would be played from a first-person perspective and one would not be able to see the protagonist's face, they would be able to see how other players looked.
Just like in other movies or games, these characters would be dressed in special combat uniforms which were high-tech armors.
It was just that they were different from heavy combat uniforms, which were three meters long and weighed half a ton. These combat uniforms were slim and light.
According to the description of the sketches, such combat uniforms were to be called 'Skylark III Combat Uniforms'. They would be powered by miniature fusion reactors on the chests, which could charge the combat rifles in their hands. There would also be jet ports on the back to dissipate heat and support ultra-short-distance flights within a short time.
At the same time, human soldiers had undergone physical, chemical, genetic, and other means to strengthen their bodies, speed up their reaction time, increase their strength, and improve their vision. Although only a few human soldiers would persist, they would gain the ability to control their Skylark combat uniforms in this manner.
On top of the fact that they were light and capable of short-distance flight, the combat uniforms would be named 'Skylark' for another important reason: finches were the natural enemies of Zergs.
The combat uniforms would have recoil counteracting devices on the arms and gravity devices on the legs. The weapon would be a special rifle that individual soldiers could carry, which had dual propulsion of gunpowder and magnetic tracks.
The helmet would have an integrated system with functions such as instant communication, infrared detection, terrain navigation, ballistic calculation, condition monitoring, artificial intelligence, and so on.
Although the rifles would be extremely powerful and have an extremely high fire rate, the 'anti-recoil' effect could be achieved quickly once soldiers turned the recoil counteracting devices on the hand. The gravity devices on the legs would also enable soldiers to stand firm on any flat surface.
In other words, every soldier wearing the Skylark combat uniform would be able to climb walls, see over a certain range, avoid recoil effects, aim, and fly short-distance.
The soldiers' battlefield data would be uploaded in real-time, and the massive amounts of data would be processed and analyzed by the artificial intelligence, which could then command the soldiers' actions.
That meant that the artificial intelligence would be able to answer most combat-related questions raised by soldiers at any time and guide their actions.
Of course, communications within small teams could be retained, and team members would be allowed to react according to the situation in front of them.
The appearance of all team members would be hidden inside the helmet of the Skylark combat uniforms, but Wang Xiaobin could faintly see the scene inside the helmets: A huge monocle eyepiece covered the soldier's left eye and extended towards the left side of the chin. There weren't many expressions, but one would be able to identify the unique characteristics of guys and girls.
In addition, every combat uniform would come with a huge serial number and a bit of personalized paint. Thus, even if everyone put on the standard combat uniform, one would be able to distinguish between different people if they looked closely enough. Of course, that was if they weren't already engaged in serious combat.
Lastly, the storyline briefly explained the team's mission.
On the main battlefield, armored vehicles and heavy tanks would be the main fighters against the Zergs. Human soldiers would not have to fight with the Zerg army in their combat uniforms.
Still, armored vehicles and tanks would not be able to fend against the acidic and thorny claws of the Zergs. At the same time, most Zerg units' shells would not be able to fend against the gunpowder and magnetic tracks from the human soldiers' rifles.
To the individual units, protective armor and stronger gunfire would not be meaningful. Thus, the main effect of the Skylark combat uniform would be to provide high mobility and concealment.
On that premise, the mission of the team wearing the Skylark combat uniform would be to avoid the Zergs' main army, sneak into the depths of their nest, and behead the Zerg Queen.
There would be many other teams with the same mission, and the protagonist would play the team leader of one of such teams.
All team members would firmly believe that, as long as they behead the Zerg Queen, they would be able to turn the tides of the battle and possibly even eliminate the entire Zerg army.
However, the story outline said that beheading the Zerg Queen would not be that simple.
What's more, the team in the story would have no idea of this.
Chapter 683: Story Summary: An Action Doomed To Fail
Wang Xiaobin continued to look at the drafts of these main characters.
The protagonist to be played by the players was Qin Yi, the Captain of Team AS-371-45.
His Skylark combat uniform had special patterns as well, but it was different from the others' fancy style. He painted 'Justice' on the right shoulder of his combat uniform.
The archaic character of the word was made up of a 'goat' on top and an 'I' below.
The serial number of the team meant that he belonged to the Asian Fleet (abbreviated AS), Starship 371, Squad 45.
There were four other members in the squad other than Qin Yi; their characters were all different.
Xu Kaile, optimistic and positive; he was a young man with delicate emotions. He had 2D, animated girls all over his battle uniform.
Meng Yu was short and quiet but very reliable at critical moments. He had camouflage patterns all over his battle uniform.
Zhao Yongxiu, who sometimes made people feel that he was very childish, was frivolous, a little prideful, and very good at adjusting the team's atmosphere. The painting on his battle uniform looked like mecha, which was rather handsome.
Wu Shaojun, tall and big, straightforward, and the eldest. He was the most trustworthy teammate. There were no special patterns on his combat uniform, but many tears which were not mended.
The outline of the story was clearly written in the general plot flow, but some details were not perfect enough. That included lines, etc. which were not given.
It was only the first edition after all. Further improvements were needed. Wang Xiaobin's opinions were also important.
The structure of the plot was very simple. It was divided into five parts. Each part was composed of real-time cutscene CG and in-game battles.
This was the only downloadable content attached to Ocean Stronghold. Time was very tight so there was no need to do that kind of particularly detailed cutscenes CG, just use real-time calculations.
The first part:
Team AS-371-45 successfully infiltrated the Zerg's nest to clean up the larvae and workers.
There was not a lot of Zergs because it was located in the periphery of the worm nest and the number of Zergs was not a lot. It would not matter to kill all of them directly if it was found by larvae or worker bees so the battle was relatively simple.
During the mission, all team members could communicate in real time through voice chat. They would discuss their actions and look forward to killing the Zerg queen to end the war.
Artificial intelligence would continuously give orders to the protagonist, analyze the battlefield situation, and guide the protagonist to make correct decisions.
The second part:
After entering deep into the nest, they began to encounter more and more powerful Zergs, including hatching spring worms and self-exploding worms. The difficulty of the battle in this stage was gradually increasing. Most of the time, correct strategies must be adopted. For example, the handling of self-explosive insects carefully; otherwise, the splashing of acid on a large scale after the insect were to explode would cause serious damage to the players.
At this point, the players began to encounter some troubles and needed to help each other out. However, their overall mentality was still relatively positive.
Artificial intelligence would still be guiding the protagonist to make the best decisions and follow the suggestions of artificial intelligence, which would significantly reduce the difficulty of combat.
The third part:
The Zergs continued to populate, gradually exceeding the squad's ultimate combat capability. They found the limbs or pieces of other teams' combat uniforms while going deeper into the nest. The breathing time after the battle would become precious.
Some team members began to lose their state of mind. They did not find any traces of the queen after wandering at the bottom of the worm's nest for a long time. On the other hand, they saw many dead teams. They began to question the rate of success calculated by artificial intelligence without logistics. They felt that they would be buried here.
However, the players pushed forward after cheering each other up.
The artificial intelligence was still analyzing data as usual, directing battles, and adhering to its original calculations in the face of doubts from the players.
The fourth part:
The actions of the squad had alarmed the Zergs. The main force of the Zergs might not be in the nest, but as long as there were enough worker bees, spring worms, and self-exploding worms; it would be enough to pose a huge threat to the squad.
Countless Zergs were coming in from all directions. Their escape route had been completely cut off and could only continue advancing. A severely injured member broke off and detonated the miniature reactor in his chest to block the swarm of insects behind them.
Qin Yi found out that there were very few teams who had survived the mission after gaining a breather.
What was even more frightening was that the team accidentally found fragments of combat uniforms in the depths of the worm's nest. Those were fragments of the Skylark II combat uniform. It showed that humans had already tried decapitation operations previously without success. The information was withheld by artificial intelligence.
The members were in complete despair.
The protagonist questioned the artificial intelligence but could not obtain an answer. The team members found that there was no retreat and could only move forward. They decided to complete their mission at all costs.
The fifth part:
The squad followed the analysis of the artificial intelligence in desperation. Team members died one after another while trying to cover the other team members.
The protagonist wanted to fulfill the wishes of his teammates even if it cost him his life. However, in the end, he and his remaining teammate were still overwhelmed by the endless sea of insects.
The strange thing was that these insects did not kill them but brought them deeper into the worm nest.
The protagonist finally met the Zerg Queen. It's bloated, large body was revolting.
The two of them wanted to detonate their reactors, but for some reason, the artificial intelligence seemed to be disconnected or was affected by a strange interference, making them unable to control the detonation.
The surviving team members were brought to the side of the Zerg Queen. He did not know what the Zerg Queen did to him, but he immediately let out a sharp scream and died two minutes later.
The protagonist was also brought in front of the Zerg Queen. He screamed as if his brain was being pierced by countless needles. However, he persevered stubbornly, unlike his other team members.
He insisted on removing the pistol from his Skylark combat uniform and wanted to shoot a bullet from the crack in his breastplate from battles earlier to cause an explosion and completely destroy the reactor.
However, that was also unsuccessful. The Zerg's thorny claws penetrated his right hand, and the pistol fell to the ground.
The protagonist felt as though everything was white in front of him while he was dying. The sharp pain in his brain that made him scream in a high pitch slowly became a low moan.
At the last moment, he felt a sudden and violent vibration around him, the roof of the underground cave suddenly collapsed. It seemed like he saw many soldiers wearing Skylark combat uniforms breaking in, as well as large-scale ground drilling machinery.
The story ended here, with an open ending.
In addition, the outline of the story also emphasized that there must be a lot of lines in battle or in the state of rest and everyone's lines had to conform to their personality.
The characters' lines would change as they experience the five stages of emotional changes. At first, everyone thought that they could complete the task, but over time, they began to become pessimistic or even desperate.
In addition, the outline of the story also specifically emphasized a key message:
In the beginning, the information that all the team members had was... this was the first time that humans had executed a decapitation plan on the Zergs. At the same time, there were hundreds of teams performing this task. The main force was in a decisive battle with the main force of the Zergs on the planet, ready to support.
Therefore, the team members believe that the success rate of this mission was very high. Once the Zerg Queen was successfully beheaded, dawn would be ushered in from the war between humans and Zergs.
However, the faith of the team members was shaken as the battle continued.
They had encountered members of the other squads during their battle. Some only had pieces of armor remaining while some died together with the Zergs in desperation.
They found some fragments of Skylark combat uniform in the nest. Many of which were obviously not left from this operation. That showed that it was definitely not the first time humans had tried to perform the decapitation operation.
The players gradually felt that they might not be able to continue on anymore and fell into deeper despair. However, there was no route back and could only move forward.
The team members chatted about this creature's life form in brief periods of rest while killing the Zergs:
There was almost no singular consciousness in the Zergs. They did not care about the life or death of an individual Zerg and might be sharing information through large-scale telepathy. The Zerg Queen had a high level of intelligence so the Zerg's combat level did not lose out to humans.
In addition, the weapons of the Zergs were their organs. Their logistical requirements were extremely simple, and their reproduction was very rapid so it was meaningless to go on a siege.
They could only obtain an advantage in the current unfavorable situation by beheading the Zerg Queen.
Therefore, even though most team members were in despair in the latter stages and felt that it was impossible for them to return alive, they still performed their tasks with firm conviction. The only purpose of their lives was to kill the Zerg Queen.
The war could end as long as the mission was successful. Their deaths would not be in vain then.
However, obviously, this mission was doomed to fail. Otherwise, it would not be called 'Destiny and Choice'.
...
Wang Xiaobin roughly knew what he had to do after reading the complete story outline.
The summary clarified the entire game flow, character settings, and even some dialogues. They only need to refine the entire process and fill in the dialogues.
However, there were still a lot of mysteries surrounding the story. It even had an open ending.
Did the Zerg Queen die in the end?
Did the protagonist survive?
It was obviously not the first decapitation mission; why did artificial intelligence hide this fact?
What was the relationship between the protagonist in this downloadable content and the protagonist in 'Destiny and Choice'?
Obviously, these contents were related to the future plot of 'Destiny and Choice', but Zhu Xiaoce did not want to disclose it at this point in time.
The downloadable content of 'Ocean Stronghold' was to warm up the new game. It was an introduction, and these questions would make players continue discussing and maintaining its popularity.
They could only wait for the plot of 'Destiny and Choice' to be revealed if they wanted to know the answers to these questions.
Wang Xiaobin suppressed his curiosity and immediately began preparations for the development.
Chapter 684: Make Old Ma an Internet Celebrity!
October 14th, Friday...
At Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Handong University branch...
Qiu Hong wanted to return to tidy up his own business before returning to officially join Tengda Corporation as the person-in-charge of the Destitution Plan.
After taking a photograph with two passionate fans, Pei Qian sipped his coffee and thought about his plan for the future.
This cycle was going to be relatively shorter. That meant incurring losses would be slightly easier than before.
It was not because Pei Qian had become an expert at it but because he had very shrewdly plugged the gaps in the System.
The System allowed for him to leave one project incomplete every cycle. Pei Qian very cleverly split Mission and Choice into two parts: the game itself and the CG movie based on its storyline. The parts were split between Tengda Games and Fei Huang Workspace respectively.
That way, the two departments that generated the most profits were dealt with at once. One would spend two hundred million yuan while the other would spend three hundred million yuan. That was enough to delay the project until the next settlement.
Thus, Pei Qian's primary source of stress was not this cycle, but the next.
Still, that meant that the pressure he would face in the next cycle would rapidly increase, and so he had to start planning for the next cycle now.
Just as Pei Qian was thinking about this, a man with a long face entered.
"Brother Qian!" Ma Yang grinned and sat across from Pei Qian.
Pei Qian switched off his laptop and handed it back to the waiter. "What's the matter?"
Ma Yang grinned. "Brother Qian, I'm here to report to you about Dream Realization Ventures!"
Pei Qian became intrigued. "Hmm? Tell me about it."
Before this, Ma Yang had won the Best Employee Award, and the Dream Fund was purely based on the five hundred million yuan that he had earned for the company.
Ma Yang had also said that he wanted to publicize this fund on Weibo to help others realize their dreams. However, Pei Qian did not hear any updates on it subsequently. Since Pei Qian had been busy incurring losses, he had not had the energy to follow up with Ma Yang either.
Now, he had the time, and so he had to listen to Ma Yang's thoughts.
At the scale that Tengda Corporation was operating at now, the Dream Fund was no longer considered a huge amount. Still, Pei Qian cared about how the Dream Fund could be used to test out loss-incurring business models.
Once the new business could successfully incur losses, Pei Qian could ramp up its scale!
Ma Yang happily said, "Brother Qian, I have already set up a verified account on Weibo.
"This is what I'm thinking:
"Dream Realization Ventures is working hard to realize others' dreams as well, but it's still limited at the end of the day. There are many more people with dreams that cannot be communicated to Dream Realization Ventures!
"Thus, I decided to log onto Weibo to search for people with dreams and use my Dream Fund to help them realize their dreams."
Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, it's good that you're thinking like that! However, how exactly do you plan to operate?"
Ma Yang answered, "It's very simple. I'll post on Weibo.
"I'll post the fact that I'm helping others to realize their dreams and then start gathering dreams. If any dreams move me, I'll invest varying sums from the Dream Fund to realize them!"
Pei Qian paused. "What exactly do you mean by varying sums?"
Ma Yang answered, "From ten thousand yuan to a hundred thousand yuan. Exactly how much I invest would depend on the contents of the dream."
Pei Qian fell silent for a short while.
He faintly sensed that there was a huge problem with Ma Yang's current business model.
There didn't seem to be any possibility of profit.
When Dream Realization Ventures invested in a project, there was a possibility of incurring losses or generating profit because the System would not prohibit anything that could possibly make money.
However, Old Ma's current business model coupled with his IQ... it was no different from sending money to random online friends.
Yet, the System was not prohibiting it?
Of course, the System controlled the spending of money to varying degrees. For example, at the very beginning, Pei Qian had been in charge of the System Funds, and so the System had been stricter. Since the Dream Fund had already been handed over to someone else, the System would be laxer.
Even then, they could not misuse the funds.
If Old Ma decided to use all the Dream Funds as his own pocket money, the System would not allow it.
Why would the System allow Ma Yang to distribute money in this manner, then?
After some consideration and after drawing from his experience with Upwind Logistics, Pei Qian drew a reasonable conclusion: Old Ma's actions will bring himself, Tengda Corporation, and Dream Realization Ventures a certain amount of publicity.
In other words, Ma Yang would be spending money on reputation.
Since Ma Yang would be giving each person varying amounts from ten thousand yuan to a hundred thousand yuan, the System deemed it reasonable. Thus, it did not prohibit such spending.
Pei Qian glanced at Ma Yang and fell into deep thought.
Ma Yang's long face looked confused. He had no idea why Brother Qian was thinking for such a long time, but he didn't ask any questions either. Instead, he remained quiet and sipped his coffee.
Once again, Pei Qian considered if it would be worth it to spend money on buying fame.
If it had been someone else, he would have concluded in the negative.
Fame seemed intangible and illusory, but Pei Qian had already lost out because of it many times.
The phrase 'attention economy' had become popular in the Internet age. So many people had become interested in being Internet celebrities because there was always a way to cash-out attention.
Tengda's businesses had had low chances of succeeding, but the high amount of attention had turned its losses into profits.
However...
Would the attention be of any use on Old Ma?
With an image, EQ, and intelligence like Old Ma's... could he really become an Internet celebrity?
Pei Qian highly doubted it.
Even if Ma Yang could trade cash for fame, people would only like him for his money and not his personality. Once he stopped distributing cash, people would stop paying attention to him at once.
After chewing on the problem for such a long time, Pei Qian decided that he could give it a try. No matter how he looked at it, the transaction seemed worthwhile.
At that point, Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, go for it!
"Old Ma, that's a very ambitious idea. I support you!"
Ma Yang, who had been anxiously waiting the entire time, suddenly grinned. "I knew you would support me, Brother Qian! I will make some preparations and upload the first Weibo post, then!"
Pei Qian quickly stopped him. "Hold on. Don't be anxious. I think you should look further into the details of your business model.
"How about this? Let me give you a couple of tips."
Ma Yang nodded profusely. "Please, go ahead, Brother Qian!"
After a moment's thought, Pei Qian said, "First, you can do anything you want on Weibo as long as you do not link yourself with Dream Realization Ventures.
"I'm mainly worried that people harboring improper motives would come and cheat you of your investment money. We have to keep the two projects very separate.
"Second, we'll reserve the cash for unsuccessful people. Anyone with more than a thousand followers would not be allowed to claim the sum.
"Last, don't keep giving out money. Spend some time with your followers as well, by playing games with them, livestreaming with them, and so on.
"That would help you close up the gap between your fans and yourself."
Ma Yang nodded once again and said, "That makes sense! Brother Qian, I'll get to work, then!"
Pei Qian could not help but smile.
Alright, everything looks good now!
Pei Qian's three requests minimized any chances that Ma Yang had of becoming popular and generating profits.
Actually, doing this was plainly trading cash for popularity. Many others had done the same before.
However, most people would choose to give money to those with many followers since they would be more influential. With the same amount of money, one could earn far more popularity.
How much influence could one generate by distributing money to those with less than a thousand followers? Most people wouldn't do this.
What's more, once Ma Yang became famous, Dream Realization Ventures might end up in the spotlight as well. What if people with profitable projects came knocking then?
Thus, Ma Yang had to do his best not to share the attention with Dream Realization Ventures.
Doing a livestream would squash Ma Yang's chances of success all the more.
Those who understood gaming knew that Ma Yang's standard was horrible. Even DGE athletes suffered trying to carry him.
Once fans saw his gaming standards, they would probably rush to go to his home and slaughter him. People would stop following him as soon as they could.
The most amazing thing about it all was that Ma Yang would not even notice a thing. Instead, he would continue to feel extremely good about himself.
In short, Pei Qian had done everything he could to minimize the chances of generating profits!
If Ma Yang failed to become popular no matter what he did, Pei Qian would be overjoyed. He would have yet another money-burning tree!
Although it would be a small one, it would still help Pei Qian with getting rid of money.
He was disappointed in Ma Yang when it came to investing.
However, Old Ma was still Pei Qian's most trusted right-hand man when compared to the other people around him. Thus, Pei Qian decided to give Ma Yang another chance in the Internet celebrity industry.
...
...
October 15th, Saturday...
Pei Qian woke up naturally in the morning. At once, he grabbed his cell phone and accessed Weibo.
Ma Yang should have uploaded his post on Weibo in the morning. Pei Qian wanted to see how the feedback was.
Ma Yang's account was easy to find. Pei Qian just had to search Ma Yang's name, and the one with the verified symbol was him.
Once Pei Qian clicked his profile, he was dumbfounded.
He only had three followers?
This must have been Old Ma's original Weibo, and most of his followers must have been bots.
Pei Qian quickly found the post that Ma Yang had uploaded at 7 AM.
"I'll fulfill all of your dreams. Please describe your dreams and leave your account number or QR code. I'll send a Dream Fund over randomly."
Pei Qian checked again and confirmed that it was already past 10 AM. Yet, after three hours, the post only had ten-odd shares and twenty-odd comments.
What's more, most comments were short and did not provide any information whatsoever.
"???"
"What's the meaning of this, scammer?"
"Isn't there a verified symbol? He's an employee of Tengda Corporation."
"Pui, couldn't an employee of Tengda Corporation buy a few more followers? This must be a new account."
"He must be a manual laborer."
"I have dreams. Pick me! Pick me!"
"This feels suspicious. Don't leave your account details. Be careful not to be scammed!"
Pei Qian almost scoffed.
Ma Yang's own verification said 'Employee of Tengda Corporation'. That did not seem very legitimate.
The verification did not seem impressive at all!
Moreover, Ma Yang's Weibo account had few followers to begin with, and he chose to upload the post in the morning when traffic was the lowest. He didn't even arrange for anyone to share his post. Of course, it would not be influential at all.
The most ridiculous thing was that Ma Yang's post looked extremely simple. It was not enough to ignite any desire in readers.
It was no wonder that everyone thought he was a scammer. He had done an even worse job than scammers!
Pei Qian was glad. Old Ma had not disappointed him indeed!