Zhang Wang was stunned. "Boss Pei, 400 yuan isn't necessary. What's more, it's difficult to increase the cost …"
Pei Qian frowned. "You can't increase it? How can you not increase it? "
"Make the box bigger, find a famous artist to design the shape, inlay a golden rim, and polish the texture of the material …
"Weren't you willing to spend money on the shared phone booths? Why are you becoming more and more backward? "
Zhang Wang was ashamed of Boss Pei's criticism. "Alright, Boss Pei, I'll do as you say."
He Desheng's expression became very interesting.
He had thought that Boss Pei would not be optimistic about this project, but Boss Pei not only quadrupled the investment but also raised the price from 260 yuan to 488 yuan!
No matter how he looked at it, this thing was not worth that much!
He Desheng felt that this thing was at most a small toy when he was bored. If it was sold for forty to fifty yuan, people might buy it to play.
However, selling it for 488 yuan …
Who would buy it?
Although the design of this thing was unique, it was not particularly beautiful, nor was it interesting. Other than Boss Ma, who had a strange train of thought, no one would argue with it for a few hours, right?
Even if there were some bored rich people in the world, they could not sell twenty thousand units!
Wouldn't it be a pure loss if they could not be sold after mass production and were all stored in the warehouse?
He Desheng wanted to say something, but on further thought, Boss Pei must have a way since he had spoken.
Therefore, he should not say anything and watch and learn.
Pei Qian patted Zhang Wang's shoulder, his face overflowing with admiration.
That's awesome!
It looked like the shared phone booths were just a misunderstanding. This great inventor, Zhang Wang, was still very trustworthy!
If there were ten more inventions like this that could not be sold, Boss Pei would easily lose eighty million yuan. What's more, they would take up space in the warehouse. It would be too comfortable!
…
…
May 13th, Friday …
At Tengda Games …
Hu Xianbin raised his head and finished his coffee before burying his head in his work.
Tengda Games was now divided into two teams. Hu Xianbin led a group of people to develop Struggle while Min Jingchao led another group of people to operate GOG and fight with IOI.
There was a clear difference in the style of the two sides.
On Min Jingchao's side, there were heated discussions about various heroes every day. The atmosphere was very lively. On Hu Xianbin's side, everyone was dull.
The main reason was that the research and development of Struggle itself was already very difficult. During the research and development process, there were also all kinds of scars being poked at, and their souls were seriously hurt. There was no way to liven up the mood.
Hu Xianbin was still working on the game's script. Even though it wasn't finalized, the concept art for all the game characters was basically done.
One had to admit that Big Boss Ruan was really efficient.
Hu Xianbin saved the document and opened the gallery that Ruan Guangjian had sent over a few minutes ago.
However, the more he looked at them, the more confused he became.
The characters in these games included poor protagonists, rich protagonists, poor parents, rich parents, poor bosses, rich bosses, and so on.
Since they were going to select the actors first before drawing the concept art, the original plan was to beautify and modify the appearance of the actors.
However, Hu Xianbin felt as though he had overexerted himself with this batch of concept art.
All the characters were expressed in more exaggerated and extreme ways. In fact, some of the characters were drawn very weirdly.
For example, the poor family was all obese. The most exaggerated example was the mother of the poor family, who looked like she was about 150 kilograms.
The motion-capture actors were obviously not that obese. They might have to use some special methods to simulate this obese state during the motion-capture process.
On top of that, the rich protagonist was a little too handsome. He looked like a superstar in Europe and America, bright and beautiful.
On the other hand, the poor protagonist was not only mediocre looking, but his expression was obviously flattering and seemed to be hiding a trace of resentment.
These two expressions were forcefully mixed on the poor protagonist's face. It was so clear that people would instinctively feel uncomfortable.
In other words, Ruan Guangjian had written the deep characteristics of these characters clearly on their faces.
Hu Xianbin's first feeling after receiving this batch of concept art was that something was wrong.
He was a little confused. Why would Big Boss Ruan Guangjian make such a low-level mistake?
However, Ruan Guangjian said that it was Boss Pei's request.
Thus, Hu Xianbin immediately started to figure out if there was any deeper meaning behind it.
"The disadvantage is that it would reduce the realism of the game.
"As for the advantage … a weirder style and characters would highlight the characteristics of the characters and leave a deeper impression on the players?
"Facial features can play a symbolic role, and it's easier to highlight the theme?"
"Is there anything else … I can't think of anything else."
Hu Xianbin tried his best to decipher it. Although he managed to decipher some things, they were not very convincing.
Hu Xianbin could only give up for now considering how heavy the development task of Struggle was and how he did not have that much time to decipher it in depth.
In any case, everything would be revealed when the game was released.
After checking all the concept art, he prepared to hand it over to the outsourcer to make the models. At the same time, he could arrange for the motion-capture actors to start performing.
Hu Xianbin focused all his energy on the game's script once more after sorting out his work.
In the process of writing the script, Hu Xianbin encountered a very serious problem that had been bothering him for two days.
Speaking of which, it was amazing that he actually encountered a numerical problem in this game.
Logically speaking, there should not be any numerical problems in the game. However, it had appeared just like that.
Everything went smoothly for the rich version, but the problem was with the poor version.
According to Boss Pei's requirements, there was only one ending for the poor version: let the cycle of poverty continue forever.
At first, Hu Xianbin did not think there was any problem. It was very logical. However, the problem was that the game had to account for the wealth of the rich and poor protagonists.
How much money the poor had, how much they needed to maintain their basic living, and how much they could earn after working … all these had to be given a rough figure. Otherwise, players would definitely find fault with it.
If the plot arranged that the poor did not have enough money at a juncture, which led to a vicious cycle ending, then he had to think of a way to ensure that the poor players did not have enough money.
However, no matter how Hu Xianbin thought about it, theoretically speaking, the poor protagonists had more money than he imagined. They should not end up in such a miserable state in the end.
Players also had to make many choices for the poor route. Some had high incomes, some had low incomes. However, even if they chose all the options with high incomes, they would still end up in the cycle of poverty.
But looking at the data, after making all the right choices, the poor should be much wealthier than their parents, and their lives should be much happier.
The ending could not be changed because Boss Pei had already decided on it.
Thus, there was a contradiction: the game would lose its rationality if this went on.
As a story-oriented game, everything would be over if the game lost its rationality. Its reputation and sales would both collapse.
Thus, Hu Xianbin felt like he had to solve this problem before he could feel at ease.
After thinking for a period of time, he still had no idea.
Hu Xianbin opened up the concept art of the character and flipped through it aimlessly, hoping to find some inspiration.
The rich protagonist was dressed in a suit and leather shoes. One look and one could tell that he was an upper-class person living a carefree life. The special golden logo on the wrist of the suit was very eye-catching; it was obviously a luxury brand.
Two pure gold L's were joined together in a symmetrical way. At the same time, there was an artistic exaggeration that made it look very stylish.
Hu Xianbin did not mind it and continued flipping until he found the concept art of the poor man after he went to work.
The poor man was holding a black briefcase in his arm. Upon closer inspection, one could vaguely see the logo on the briefcase. It was also two pure gold L's.
Hu Xianbin seemed to have noticed something. He flipped forward and saw the shoes that the poor man wore in university.
The shoes also had the same logo.
Hu Xianbin continued flipping and found that sixty to seventy percent of the people in the concept art had this logo on their clothes.
All the rich people had it while only the poor people with better economic conditions had this logo.
That was very reasonable. After all, even the poor people with low incomes would not be able to afford such a luxury brand.
Hu Xianbin could roughly guess what Big Boss Ruan Guangjian was thinking when he was creating it.
The motion-capture actors were wearing everyday clothes in the photo shoot. The clothes in the concept art were redesigned by Big Boss Ruan based on the wealth of the characters.
In order to highlight the characteristics of the rich, he obviously had to use luxury brands.
Thus, Ruan Guangjian made up a brand based on the existing luxury brands to decorate the characters in the concept art.
As for why there was only one brand … it was obviously because there was no point in drawing another brand.
Players had limited memories when playing the game. If there were two brands, they might not remember them and get confused.
Thus, based on the principle of simplicity and practicality, it was enough to have one brand of clothes in the game: the brands with two golden L's were luxury brands while the others without logos were cheap and inferior brands.
That was a very normal and natural design. Ruan Guangjian probably did not think that much when he was drawing.
However, Hu Xianbin suddenly caught a hint of inspiration as he looked at the concept art.
His original intention was to find a reason for the poor to spend all their money.
According to Hu Xianbin's previous calculations, if they only bought daily necessities and affordable goods and made the right choices in the game, the poor would definitely be able to save enough money to improve their lives.
However, in order to achieve the poverty cycle that Boss Pei had set, they had to force the poor to spend their money.
Now, there was a reason.
It was these luxury bags, shoes, clothes, accessories, cosmetics, and the like.
Naturally, their wages would not be enough after buying these things!
Hu Xianbin heaved a sigh of relief. He had finally patched the loopholes in the game.
Now, there should be no more players to nitpick, right?
When Hu Xianbin added the expenses of these luxury goods, he realized that the estimated wealth of the poor was immediately insufficient. Not only was there not a single cent left, but it was also enough for them to be in debt.
"Alright, perfect solution!" Hu Xianbin clapped his hands excitedly.
Although this method was a little sloppy, the logic of the game was successfully solved.
He did not think too much about it. After all, this was not the core content of the game. It was just a small detail of the lives of the poor and the rich.
In fact, most players would not even notice this.
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