April 4th, Monday …
Pei Qian sorted out his work goals for the next two days when he woke up in the morning.
He would make arrangements for Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games, the two profitable games departments!
He would let Shang Yang Games promote IOI's local server with all their might.
Pei Qian had to find some work for Tengda Games as well.
Otherwise, if Hu Xianbin and the others continued to update GOG with all their might, release new heroes, and increase publicity efforts, IOI's local server might not be able to beat them.
After all, GOG's domestic start was much smoother than IOI's. He had to think of a way for IOI to snatch all GOG's players over.
As for what to find work for Hu Xianbin and the others …
Pei Qian thought about it and decided to sum up his experience and learn from it. This time, he had to develop a standalone game that no one cared about!
The success of Tomorrow is Beautiful was a huge blow to Pei Qian. It turned his worldview upside down.
Why was it that the audience was not angry at all when he thought it was disgusting? That was not scientific at all!
After thinking hard, Pei Qian finally understood.
The main problem was the way it was expressed!
If the audience in Tomorrow is Beautiful put themselves in the male protagonist's shoes, they would definitely feel very uncomfortable and aggrieved. They would soon die from the poison.
However, this was a movie.
Zhu Xiaoce used a special method to keep the audience in God's perspective. No one would put themselves in the male or female protagonist's shoes. They would be able to look at the story with a higher level and a more compassionate attitude.
Thus, the taste changed instantly.
In Pei Qian's opinion, that was the biggest failure of Tomorrow is Beautiful. It went from a huge loss to a huge profit. It was completely a difference of a single thought.
Therefore, Pei Qian felt that feeding poison to the audience was a loss. That point of view was not wrong.
Otherwise, there would not be the saying of 'kneeling before reality'.
The key was how to feed the audience. That required a certain technique.
He had to strengthen the sense of immersion!
As long as everyone was immersed in the character and made the character miserable, the desired effect would definitely be achieved.
Pei Qian felt that he seemed to have found the crux of Tomorrow is Beautiful's profitability. Next, he needed to verify it.
However, how exactly should he verify it …
Fei Huang Workspace had been put into shock therapy by Pei Qian. What's more, he was bitten by a snake and did not want to touch movies in the short term.
In comparison, games were a more immersive form of art!
Some of the sufferings in the movie wouldn't cause too much disgust in the audience, but in the game, if the players were to be abused together with the protagonist, it would be hard to say.
Of course, some people might point out that games like Repent and be Saved did not make gamers feel disgusted. Instead, they made gamers feel good.
This is a complete misunderstanding.
Although games like Repent and be Saved made players suffer, they did not like the feeling of suffering. Instead, they liked the feeling of becoming stronger after suffering. At the end of the day, it was all about the sense of accomplishment that came from overcoming difficulties.
In other words, the players of this game weren't masochists at all. On the contrary, they were all sadists.
Almost all the games in the world had to give players enough positive feedback in order for them to have fun.
However, Pei Qian had already decided that the game would not give players any positive feedback this time. Instead, it would transmit downright negative energy!
Didn't they say "kneel before the truth"?
This time, he would make an extremely realistic game. He would definitely be able to make it so that he had no friends!
This time, Boss Pei decided to do it personally and write the game's story outline to prevent Hu Xianbin from misinterpreting his intentions. He had to make sure that the players understood what was going on!
Of course, Pei Qian also thought that doing this would not necessarily result in losses. The failure of Game Designer was a very deep lesson.
At that time, Pei Qian also thought that the voice-over of Game Designer was insulting the players. However, the players were not angry at all. Instead, the voice-over became a huge plus.
Coupled with Teacher Qiao's over-interpretation, the situation got out of hand.
Pei Qian had already thought of a countermeasure to deal with this. He would not repeat the same mistakes, much less fall into the same pit twice!
All in all, Pei Qian had learned from the two failures of Tomorrow is Beautiful and Game Designer. He decided to complete the task in one fell swoop!
…
In the guest room of Tengda Games …
Hu Xianbin was slightly nervous.
Pei Qian called Hu Xianbin to the guest room alone. He wanted to talk to him about the design of this new game.
This time, Pei Qian did not call anyone else, especially old employees like Li Yada and Bao Xu.
That was because these people had participated in the development of Game Designer and had a deep understanding of its success. Pei Qian was afraid that their participation would cause this new project to go astray.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to isolate these old employees.
He asked a few old employees who had participated in the development of Game Designer to casually maintain GOG while he transferred Hu Xianbin and other new employees who had no experience in developing standalone games to be in charge of the development of the new game.
In order to ensure that this project could completely reach the standard that he expected, Pei Qian had to explain everything clearly to Hu Xianbin this time to prevent him from having any imagination.
Pei Qian took a sip of tea and explained his thoughts.
"The name of the game this time is called 'Struggle'. It is an interactive movie game with a realistic theme. All the characters in it have to be modeled in high-definition and motion captured. The quality of the graphics should be on par with AAA masterpieces.
"Of course, since the process of the game is relatively short, we will not spend a lot of money. Probably … prepare forty million yuan first and add more if that's not enough.
"The development time is tentatively set for five months. We will try to release it around September 1st."
Hu Xianbin was confused by the explanation.
What was this?
An interactive movie game with a realistic theme?
What kind of magical combination was this?
The so-called interactive movie game could be seen as an interactive fiction game with exquisite graphics. After the story began, players could choose different routes and play different endings. However, players only needed to choose from a few options and did not really have to play.
Some interactive movie games used game graphics while others used real settings and actors. None of them were cheap.
However, as Boss Pei requested, all the characters had to be modeled in high-definition, motion captured, and the quality to be on par with AAA masterpieces. That would probably burn more money than real settings and actors.
Forty million yuan was enough to make a movie …
At that thought, Hu Xianbin felt a lot of pressure while he was confused.
It did not sound very reliable!
If Boss Pei had not said it himself, Hu Xianbin would have thought that someone was going to fake the imperial edict.
Pei Qian continued. "The so-called 'Struggle' is to let gamers experience the struggle in real life again in the game.
"This time, the game will be divided into two parts, the rich version and the poor version. They will be sold separately.
"The rich version of 'Struggle' will be sold to the poor at the original price of 29 yuan and discounted price of 19 yuan. The poor version of 'Struggle' will be sold to the rich at the original price of 99 yuan and discounted price of 79 yuan.
"If players only buy one version, they can enjoy the discounted price. If they buy both versions, they can only pay the original price, which is a total of 128 yuan."
Hu Xianbin blinked. "This … is there a deeper meaning?"
Pei Qian nodded. "Of course, there is a deeper meaning. The poor experience the life of the rich. The poor have no money, so the price is lower. The rich experience the life of the poor. The rich have money, so the price is higher. There is no second chance in life, so if you want to experience everything, you have to spend more money."
Hu Xianbin was silent and sighed. "Boss Pei's pricing is so philosophical …"
Pei Qian continued. "Whether it is the poor version or the rich version, it will be divided into several stages, from childhood to adulthood, from school to work, from work to life, from rest to entertainment … We have to show as many aspects of the lives of the poor or the rich through these scenes.
"In the rich version, players play as a rich man who has never had to worry about food and clothing since he was young. With the money and resources of his father's generation, he easily achieved success in life, career, relationships, and other aspects.
"However, in the end, he died under the knife of a homeless man.
"In the poor version, players play as a poor man who lived frugally since he was young. His path was bumpy, and he did not fight back after he grew up. Instead, he continued the cycle of poverty.
Hu Xianbin was confused. "And then?"
Pei Qian: "And then? There is no then. That is the entire content of the game. "
Hu Xianbin was even more confused. "As an interactive movie game, shouldn't there be many endings?"
Pei Qian shook his head. "No, no matter what choices you make at the beginning of the game, there will only be two endings in the end: the rich will be killed by the homeless, and the poor will continue to be poor."
Pei Qian thought to himself, I will never make the mistake of having multiple endings in Game Designer again!
Hu Xianbin was shocked. "If everything is destined, what should players play?"
Pei Qian explained, "There will be differences in the process. Every time players make a different choice, they will lead to different side quests. However, all the side quests will lead to the same ending.
"The differences in the side quests will not be reflected in the ending.
"As for the details of the game, you have to fill in all aspects of life under the big framework.
"For example, when you go to school, the poor can only go to ordinary schools with low educational quality, while the rich can go to expensive aristocratic schools. When you go to work, the poor repeatedly meet with rejection during interviews, while the rich can go directly to their father's company to work. When you fall in love, the poor can break up with his girlfriend of many years because he cannot afford a house, while the rich can bring different girls from nightclubs to his place every day. When you get married, the poor can use the entire family's resources to buy a small second-hand house, while the rich's family has long prepared a mansion. They don't have to do anything, and just the increase in the value of the house every year is more than the poor can earn from hard work …
"Do you understand?"
The corners of Hu Xianbin's mouth twitched. "I … understand."
Pei Qian thought about it and added. "Oh, right. The story should be set in Europe and America. Find a few foreigners to do motion capture and dubbing."
Hu Xianbin, "Boss Pei, does this game … have a deeper meaning?"
Pei Qian sniggered. "You don't have to care about whether there's a deeper meaning or not. Just do your job.
"I'll come up with the game's story outline. You and the rest of the production team will be in charge of perfecting the plot. Show me the plot once it's all written so that I can understand it correctly.
"Alright, you can go and prepare.
"You can do the art resources first. Anyway, you can imagine what kind of characters you want to create. Parents, teachers, classmates, superiors, and so on."
Pei Qian gave a few simple instructions and turned to leave.
Only Hu Xianbin was left pulling his hair in deep thought.
Teacher, this question is beyond the syllabus, right?
I can't figure it out at all!
…
Pei Qian had made full preparations to ensure that he would lose everything this time.
This price was very meaningful.
The poor version could also be called the ultimate suffering version. After playing this game, one would be able to experience the suffering of the poor in real life again. It was the ultimate masochism.
The rich version could also be called the gold-foil-wrapped version. At the beginning, everything would be smooth sailing. It would be like a dragon in the sky, making people feel extremely good. However, in the end, they would die under the knife of the poor.
Considering that the rich version was like a gold-foil-wrapped version, the dagger would only be revealed at the end. The beginning was very enjoyable. Thus, Pei Qian specially set a low price of 19 yuan.
On the other hand, the poor version was set at a high price of 79 yuan.
In order to prevent players from playing the two versions at the same time and creating some inexplicable interpretations, Pei Qian deliberately raised the price of buying both versions together.
If players really wanted to buy it, the best choice would be to buy the 19 yuan rich version. It would not cost much and Pei Qian would not have to risk making money.
As for the content inside, it was even worse. Forget about being tortured throughout, the key was that both endings were extremely tragic. No matter how hard players worked in the game, they would not be able to change the two endings!
Who would play such a game?
Absolutely not!
Pei Qian was determined to 'kneel before reality' this time.
He wanted to use this method to seek death. He wanted to make the 40 million yuan go down the drain without a single cent left!
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