Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

Pei Qian looked at Xiao Lu, “You… did this? It doesn’t sound like you at all!”

  Lu Mingliang nodded. “Yes, I strained my voice to record this; I tried to mimic the voice of a perverted fiend…

  “Boss Pei, don’t misunderstand. I have indeed watched a few western crime-related movies; however, my character is still the same! My mental state of mind is also very sound!

  “Boss Pei, please choose another one…”

  Pei Qian looked at Xiao Lu as his eyes lit up.

  Alright! This was a hidden treasure!

  “No, I want you! I need this kind of perverse and hoarse voice. Besides you, I don’t think anyone else can do this!”

  Pei Qian was very adamant. “I will give you however much the dubbing rate is; I’ll leave this matter in your hands.”

  “However, Boss Pei, we don’t have the special equipment for recording…” Xiao Lu was getting more anxious.

  Pei Qian gestured, “This is a concern? Just go and rent an audio recording studio; wouldn’t that solve your problem? How much is it an hour? At most two to three hundred, right?

  “Let’s fix a limit at three hundred per hour; find a more posh studio and rent for three days. Three days would be seventy-two hours; that would be twenty thousand yuan. When this starts, the dubbing teacher won’t need to assist in the dubbing; he will be responsible to stand next to you and give you professional advice!”

  “If three days is insufficient, extend the rental! Dub at your own pace and take a break when you are tired. You can continue whenever you are rested. In any case, I want the quality to be assured while you should also take care of yourself.

  “Alright, let’s do it this way. Ask Assistant Xin to have this settled.”

  Pei Qian gave a ‘this discussion is at an end’ face.

  Lu Mingliang tugged on his hair as he didn’t know what to say. Should he thank Boss Pei for his trust, or should he say that Boss Pei was not taking this matter seriously??

  However, seeing Boss Pei’s determined gaze, Lu Mingliang didn’t dare to say anything as he could only nod and do as he was told.

  Settled!

  Just like this, there wasn’t much else to be worried about this game.

  Initially, the matter with the short videos had made Pei Qian feel as if things were going to go sideways; now, he suddenly felt as if things were still within his control!

  Game Designer and the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe were proceeding very smoothly as loss-making projects.

  As for Boss Pei’s Daily Life—although it had gained initial popularity, Pei Qian had stopped Director Zhu from going down the ‘sponsored partnerships’ pathway.

  Perfect!

  Of course, Pei Qian couldn’t let his guard down now.

  He couldn’t help it but sigh. Why was it that all his employees made him worry so much? Why were they so talented? When he was hiring them, he didn’t see all these gifts and talents in them at all.

  Fortunately, he had his brothers.

  Ma Yang was still rather reliable and definitely did not have any special abilities! Speaking of Ma Yang, the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had started to undergo furnishing.

  As the original owner of the place had done a good job renovating, changing it into an internet cafe had only required a change in concept and structure; this would not take too long and could be done in around half a month.

  The estimated date of completion was March 7th or 8th.

  With Ma Yang keeping an eye on things, Pei Qian was rather relaxed.

  He intended to go and take a look once the refurbishing had been done. As long as Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan did not pull any stunts, this internet cafe was going to smoothly incur losses—without a doubt!

  Chapter 97 - Meeting to Figure out Boss Pei’s Motives

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  On the 24th, Wednesday…

  The design team had a meeting.

  Pei Qian did not attend the meeting as the design manuscripts were already decided and were being manufactured. As the boss, there was no need for him to continue paying attention to these minute details, and there was no way he could do that.

  Lu Mingliang had almost shouldered all the work during this time.

  Although Huang Sibo’s death—no—absence caused everyone to be a little lost, everyone originally had their respective roles; and there were not many changes made to the structure of the design team. Therefore, they got back on track very soon.

  Meanwhile, Lu Mingliang was gradually accustomed to his job scope as Chief Planner after working on the job for some time. Other than the fact that he was still used to doing things on his own and sometimes clung to the tasks instead of assigning them to others, he did not face any other problems.

  After being the Chief Planner for some time, Lu Mingliang found the job to be less challenging than what he had originally expected.

  The experience with Ocean Stronghold made this an extremely mature team. As long as Lu Mingliang ensured that the nodes of the job functioned properly, other members on the team would handle their parts proactively.

  Lu Mingliang was suddenly a little sentimental.

  Didn’t that mean that a lot of people were actually capable of doing the job? The only difference was that they were not given the opportunity to become the Chief Planner.

  When he used to handle all the odds and ends in his previous job, he was completely drained of energy every day and worked overtime like a dog. However, his abilities did not improve at all. That was because he did all the repetitive manual work.

  That made him apprehensive if he would be able to take on the role of a Chief Planner when he landed the job.

  However, after some time, he realized that it was not as challenging as he had expected! To think of it now, the chief planner position in his previous company demanded employees to compete using their seniority and experience. However, those were not essential qualities. It might only be a means to shortlist suitable employees.

  Maybe it was because of the way Boss Pei chose and assigned people their jobs? Lu Mingliang could not help but think about how talents were everywhere, but they were seldom recognized!

  A good leader should try his best to allow his employees to showcase their potential and creativity. Meanwhile, leaders who only knew how to take advantage of their employees would transform them into machines that were unable to think. That would cause their efficiency to decrease with time!

  As he thought about that, Lu Mingliang had a newfound respect for Boss Pei.

  Lu Mingliang cleared his throat and said, “There are two main agendas for today’s meeting. The first thing is that I will be leaving the office for two to three days to be the voice actor for Game Designer. Don’t ask me why. I want to know the reason, too…”

  Up until now, Lu Mingliang still had no idea why Pei Qian chose him to be the voice actor. No matter what considerations he might have, his decision could be in the hall of fame for the most eccentric human behaviors yet.

  However, since Boss Pei was the one who made the decision, it must be undoubtedly correct!

  The others were dumbfounded, too.

  What was that?

  In the middle stages of planning a game, the Chief Planner left to be the voice actor of the game?

  The air in the entire room turned still.

  Lu Mingliang continued saying, “The second thing is that I hope that all of you can spend some time reading the voice-overs and complete your respective tasks. You must ensure that you communicate with the expert Ruan Guangjian in a timely manner. If you face problems that you could not solve, feel free to give me a call.”

  Lu Mingliang gave some simple instructions for the upcoming tasks.

  There were not many lines for the voice-overs within the game. If everything went smoothly, three days would be ample for him to finish the work.

  Although he was only leaving for three days, time was precious; and Lu Mingliang was afraid that they would slack off or that the
y might face problems that they could not handle. Therefore, he reminded them multiple times.

  After he finished giving his instructions, the team started talking freely to discuss the details of the work. Because the design manuscript was very detailed, the few problems left hanging were quickly resolved.

  Lu Mingliang noticed that Lin Wan was holding a hardcopy script the entire time and was looking at the voice-overs of Game Designer.

  He was a little curious.

  Looking at the voice-overs… shouldn’t that be my job as the voice-actor?

  Lin Wan had been in Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd. for about a month.

  In this month, she was in charge of some small functions just like the other employees. She had a good work attitude and was a responsible employee. However, because the work assigned to her was not very challenging, she did not have much presence within the team.

  Lin Wan was flipping through the voice-overs scripts for Game Designer again and again. Some pages were even a little tattered because of her continuous flipping.

  “I think… I think I might understand Boss Pei’s motive.” Lin Wan looked at Lu Mingliang.

  “Huh?” Lu Mingliang was stunned. “Are you referring to the motive for assigning me to do the voice-overs?”

  Lin Wan nodded her head and answered confidently, “That’s right.”

  “Quick, say it.” Lu Mingliang displayed high interests.

  He did not understand why Boss Pei wanted him to do the voice-overs and was worried that he might drag the game down because of his inability to complete the task.

  Therefore, he was ultimately very apprehensive.

  Now that he heard what Lin Wan said, could it be that Boss Pei had some deeper motives?

  Lin Wan flipped through the script and switched on her analytical mode. “I must say that Boss Pei’s motives were buried very deeply. That was why we could not see it in the beginning. I can only vaguely figure out his motive after going through the voice-overs that Boss Pei had personally edited multiple times and combining it with the recent short video Boss Pei’s Daily Life.

  “I believe that Game Designer is similar to Boss Pei’s Daily Life. They both used dark humor to achieve an ironic effect! Look at these lines in the voice-overs. The voice-overs will influence players’ decisions from the very start. Each decision that it recommends seems to be the most suitable presently and is more profitable.

  “For example, when deciding between the value-added services and buy-to-play revenue models, the voice-over will mislead players’ into choosing value-added services. When deciding between low paywalls and high paywalls, the voice-over will mislead players’ into choosing high paywalls.

  “When choosing among numerous graphics styles, the voice-over will mislead players’ into choosing the cartoonish style that is currently the most popular…

  “Each time, the recommendation seems reasonable. After all, games companies must ensure their profits. Most of the time, these recommended choices will be the more profitable option.

  “But what happens in the end?

  “If players followed exactly what the voice-overs said, their reputation will be tarnished; and they would be severely criticized by the players. Ultimately, they will lose everything that they had! At that time, the voice-overs will ridicule you for having a nose of wax and being indecisive as a boss. It will mock you for listening to everything that it said.

  “Do you think that the voice-overs are responsible for this outcome? No. They merely recommended the wrong suggestion. You, who are unable to distinguish the choices, are the first person who should be held responsible for the failure!

  “The addition of voice-overs magnified this failure by multiple times! That makes players feel uncomfortable and realistic.

  “That is because it is the naked truth. It is also an irony!

  “Why are there so many confusing and disliked games in the world? The reason is very simple. Those bosses went down the same psychological route!

  “The voice-overs were like the demon in their hearts that was called ‘greed’. A step at a time, it misleads them into the wrong path. In the end, they would fall into the abyss!”

  Lu Mingliang nodded his head violently as he heard what Lin Wan said.

  It made a lot of sense!

  “But… why will players still fail even if they do not follow what the voice-overs said? Is that also trying to showcase irony?” A designer raised his hand and asked.

  Chapter 98 - Bao Xu is Back!

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Lin Wan showed a confident smile. “You have asked the critical question. In my opinion, this is the highlight of the game! That is… knowing that something is wrong doesn’t mean that you can succeed.

  “If you resisted your inner greed and insisted on your initial resolutions—if you propelled yourself using your dream… does that mean that you can produce a good game? No.

  “One of the endings goes like this. The producers followed their conscience throughout. They spared no thoughts about the profit models of the game. In the end, many players enjoyed the game without paying anything. Although the game had good ratings, the producers were unable to recover their start-up costs. Even with the support of some players, they found it hard to keep up with their expenses and had to leave the game industry ultimately!

  “This is hinting that the game industry is not one where you succeed solely with your passion. Even if you were passionate and followed your conscience, you might still not succeed! This is harsh… but it may be the reality in the game industry.”

  Lin Wan was a little sentimental. “To think of it, I was too immature in the past. Achieving both reputation and profit is not a simple task. Our constant success… was because of what Boss Pei did to drive us forward.”

  Lin Wan’s words made everyone solemn.

  Yes.

  The time spent working in Tengda made many of them develop an illusion. It seemed as though everything that they achieved was meant to be. However, look at the state of other games companies. Recall their previous work experiences.

  The reason they did not feel the pressure was because there was someone to shoulder all those pressures for them!

  That person was Boss Pei!

  If they recalled the entire process, this entire game—from its creativity to design and even the exact voice-overs—were all carefully edited by Boss Pei.

  The other people were only in charge of some administrative work.

  If the game failed, Boss Pei would obviously be the main person to be held responsible for its failure.

  Meanwhile, if the game succeeded, the credit belonged to everyone!

  If one looked at other bosses…

  They would normally not be concerned about the work and explained their actions as delegating powers to their employees. When the project failed, the first thing that they would do was to find fault and throw the blame at others. Anyways, the boss would never be in the wrong.

  The difference was very apparent in this comparison!

  Lin Wan continued, “Therefore, it is clear why Boss Pei assigned you to do the voice-overs. Firstly, your voice is suitable for voice-overs. Secondly, your biggest advantage is your knowledge of games!

  “You must not belittle this point. This is very important for voice actors! The voice-overs could be viewed as the greed and desires of the game designers. It misleads them into the wrong path. For the voice-overs to fulfill such purposes, merely having a suitable voice was not enough.

  “You need to be clear of all the traps in the game industry. You need to have a deep understanding of this industry. You must have an accurate understanding of such inner greed and desires!

  “Ordinary voice actors would never be able to grasp that feeling!”

  Those words struck Lu Mingliang like a bolt of lightning and jolted him awake.

  So that was why! So that was the motive behind Boss Pei’s arrangements!

  He grabbed
the voice-over script hurriedly and scanned it.

  Yes. That was it!

  No wonder Boss Pei edited the lines personally many times. The reason was to achieve that feeling! That’s why they needed a more passionate voice!

  Lu Mingliang nodded his head.

  “I understand. I will definitely not let Boss Pei down!”

  …

  After the meeting ended, Lu Mingliang left the company and arrived at the best recording studio in Jingzhou City for the voice recording. Meanwhile, Lin Wan returned to her desk. She continued reading the voice-over lines after she had completed her work.

  She realized that she gained new insights every time she read it!

  Game Designer was a game that involved many subsections and endings. Going through each of the subsections and their respective endings felt as though she was experiencing the life and death of a game company each time.

  Some achieved immeasurable fame. Some left the industry in distress.

  After she had immersed herself into the emotions of the game designers, Lin Wan finally realized that her understanding of the game industry previously was too superficial. She had originally thought that games should bring people happiness and games companies should do so, too.

  However, after her internship at Sun Strike Studios, she realized that domestic games companies were not like what she had imagined. Just when she was feeling disappointed, Tengda appeared!

  Therefore, she followed Tengda’s footsteps without any hesitation.

  Of course, Lin Wan did not trust the company blindly. As an ordinary employee, she slowly integrated into the working environment and attempted to produce her own designs.

  Before she had entered Tengda, she saw mountains as mountains. When she gained a deeper understanding of the industry, she came to the point where she saw that mountains were not mountains. Now that she had understood its very core, she saw mountains once again as mountains…