I finally understand why Boss Pei sent me here! Apart from learning about the design and knowledge relevant to this type of game, my more important responsibility is to influence them with the Tengda spirit!
The way Ye Zhizhou acted so cautiously with the budget estimate reminds me of what Lu Mingliang was like before.
Boss Pei is extremely busy. He has many things to take care of. He cannot possibly correct these bad habits himself. That was why he sent me here. On one hand, he’s giving me the opportunity to hone my skills. On the other hand, he’s using me to correct these people’s bad habits!
That’s why I should focus on correcting their mentality. I need to help them emulate Tengda. Boss Pei did not lie to me. This really is an important job!
Ye Zhizhou quickly edited the budget estimate and frowned.
“But… if we increase the budget estimate to five million yuan, we will run into a new problem.
“We’re only creating a web-based game. Even if we make all our resources high definition, and hire top artists to handle the concept design, we might not be able to finish spending all the money…
“What’s more, we’re using the official platform’s 2D game engine at the moment. It doesn’t support these high-definition graphics very well. The effect might not be as obvious as we hope.
“Simply put… the quality-price ratio is going to be bad.”
Lin Wan pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s change the engine then. We’ll use the 3D one instead.”
Ye Zhizhou was speechless. “If we use the 3D game engine… We won’t be able to let it remain as a web-based game. We have to transmit a huge amount of art resources. The current internet speed causes these to load too slowly.”
Web-based games were meant to be played once they opened. All the art resources were supposed to be downloadable on the spot.
They were limited by internet speed. That was why they could not allow the art files to grow too big. Otherwise, the transmission would slow down. If players could not see the background even after walking around in a certain place, wouldn’t it be extremely awkward?
This was the reason why Lin Wan saw the words ‘downloading content’ every time she went to a new place in Bloody Battle Song.
After so much discussion, the problem did not seem like it could be solved.
Lin Wan knew very well that a mere two-million-yuan budget would not satisfy Boss Pei. However, they were limited by the demands of a web-based game. Even if they wanted to increase the budget to five million yuan, there was nowhere they could spend the money.
That was unless they decided not to make the new game a web-based one but a client-side one instead. Players would then be required to download all the content into their own computers.
However, doing this… Would change the entire mode of the game. Wouldn’t that be akin to changing it fundamentally beyond recognition?
Wang Xiaobin cleared his throat twice. “Heh, I think that we can try to make the game a mini-client if we want to use high-definition resources and create a 3D version. This is a mini-client.
“Compared to client-side games, players would need to download far fewer resources. What’s more, there would not be too many requirements on the hardware. On the other hand, compared to web-based games, the graphics would be obviously better.
“Of course, we could fail on both ends. We would be taking a huge risk.”
Chapter 199 - Director Lin is Made of Something Indeed!
Although Lin Wan could not accurately describe the difference between web-based games and client-side games, she could roughly understand the risks associated with doing something like that.
Client-side games and web-based games were completely different.
That meant that their traditional gameplay, core, and target audience were very different.
Only complete idiots would think that the transition from playing web-based games to client-side games was easy.
Transitions from a higher level to a lower level might be easier such as the transitions from client-side games to web-based games or web-based games to mobile games.
However, even so, special support from the game was required.
If one tried to do it in reverse such as the transition from web-based games to client-side games, they would have to change too many things. It would be as difficult as learning everything from scratch.
Yet, Shang Yang Games had already confirmed the research and development of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. Even the design manuscript was complete. What’s more, this was Boss Pei’s decision-nobody could change it at will.
This meant that in order for them to spend that much money, making the game a mini-client would be the only way.
Just like Wang Xiaobin said, there were huge risks associated with making the game a mini-client.
Players would have to download fewer resources for mini-client games compared to client-side games. However, the graphics would look better than web-based games. On the surface, this looked like a perfect solution that could satisfy both sides.
However, from another angle, it could be seen as a way to fail both sides.
For client-side gamers, the graphics for the new game would look worse than ordinary client-side games.
For web-based gamers, it might be troublesome to ask them to download content. The fact that they could not access the game as and when they liked might be a turn-off.
There was a chance that both types of players would not like the game. Then, it would completely fail.
Everyone turned to look at Lin Wan. As the director, she had to make the call.
Lin Wan began to panic inside.
When she was at Tengda, she was put in charge of certain tasks. However, she never had to make such important decisions.
One had to understand that a decision like that could affect everyone’s work for the next few months. It also concerned millions of yuan.
If they succeeded, of course, there would be nothing more to say.
However, if they failed, everyone would have worked in vain. What’s more, they would have made ducks and drakes of the money.
Lin Wan felt immense pressure bearing a burden like that. Instinctively, she thought about walking away and consulting Boss Pei on this.
However, on second thought, she decided not to. Boss Pei had made her in charge of Shang Yang Games because he had high hopes for her! If she consulted Boss Pei on every little thing, wouldn’t she be akin to a telephone? She would be letting Boss Pei down.
Lin Wan fell into deep thought.
If I were Boss Pei, what would I do now?
Phew… calm down. Boss Pei is always making unexpected decisions. However, on closer inspection, his decisions were reasonable.
Would Boss Pei reduce the budget estimate? He would not. Would Boss Pei care about whether players liked the mini-client or not? I don’t think he would.
Boss Pei would probably make the decision for the players. He wouldn’t care whether they accepted it in the beginning or not.
Thus… it’s quite clear what Boss Pei would do.
After pondering for a while, Lin Wan decisively said, “We’ll make a mini-client. We will not make any changes to the design. We will just improve all the art resources and turn them from 2D to 3D.”
Lin Wan looked quite confident.
The source of this confidence was not from inside herself but from her accurate prediction of what Boss Pei would do.
This was the self-cultivation of an employee of Tengda!
After the meeting…
Ye Zhizhou went back to his own work desk and started editing his budget estimate and requirement form. It was a good thing that their budget estimate was more than double of the original. However, to Ye Zhizhou, editing the various requirement forms was a pain.
Fortunately, this was a good kind of pain.
While he was busy, his cell phone’s screen suddenly lit up. He glanced at it and saw that it was a message from Boss
Pei.
“How’s the progress?”
Ye Zhizhou perked up at once. Great! Boss Pei is taking the initiative to ask me!
Ye Zhizhou still felt worried about Lin Wan’s decision.
Doubling the budget estimate and turning the game from a web-based one to a mini-client were quite risky moves. Without Boss Pei’s confirmation, Ye Zhizhou could not relax. Yet, he could not possibly have reported the matter to Boss Pei. That would have made him a snitch.
Of course, it was great that Boss Pei had now taken the initiative to check in on him.
Ye Zhizhou quickly explained to him the outcome of the meeting. He mainly talked about the budget estimate and converting the game to a mini-client. His intention was to clarify any doubts Boss Pei might have had about this arrangement.
Two minutes later, he received Boss Pei’s response.
“Very good, go with this. If there is any problem you cannot solve in the future, just listen to Director Lin.”
Boss Pei had no issue with it. In fact, he completely agreed with Director Lin’s decisions!
Ye Zhizhou could not help but feel emotional. After all, Lin Wan was a director parachuted in from Tengda. Of course, she would live up to her reputation.
Initially, during the meeting, Ye Zhizhou was suspicious of Lin Wan. This was because Lin Wan had suggested such a huge change to the game without asking a single question about the design manuscript. This made Ye Zhizhou feel like she was being rash.
Now that Boss Pei had validated her move, his suspicions dissipated like smoke.
Could Boss Pei possibly make a wrong decision?
What’s more, just as Director Lin had said, Boss Pei approved the budget estimate of five million yuan without any hesitation. He did not even have a single doubt about doing something as risky as changing the game into a mini-client.
It looked like Director Lin understood Boss Pei many times more than any of them did!
Would this mean that the burden of carrying Shang Yang Games could finally be lifted off the ever-busy Boss Pei’s shoulders?
Pei Qian put down his phone, feeling quite
good.
Lin Wan was doing even better than he had expected!
Pei Qian had mainly been worried that Lin Wan would fold her arms at Shang Yang Games and not dare to do anything. That would have made her a commander with a polished rod.
If that had been the case, Lin Wan would not experience strong disappointment in the face of setbacks. She might blame others for it instead of willingly going back to carry on her family business.
However, from the looks of the current situation, Lin Wan was playing her role well!
She was fully cooperating with Pei Qian without even having to discuss things with him!
Not only had she spent so much money, but she also suggested changing a stable web-based game into a mini-client.
Pei Qian knew about mini-clients, but he also knew that this model would never become the main model for web-based games.
It was not so now, and it would not be so in the future as well.
Indeed, some web-based games created mini-clients. However, these were just meant to be the icing on the cake. What’s more, most mini-clients were limited to 50 MB. They did not get bigger than that.
At the rate Shang Yang Games was going, not only would they raise the hardware requirements of the game, but they would also increase the size of the downloadable client. It would add up to at least 200 to 300 MB.
Many players who used their office computers or old computers to play the game would be scared off!
To put it bluntly, the game would not be able to please client-side gamers or web-based gamers. Not only that, but it would also cost much more to produce it. It was perfect!
A web-based game like that would cost about five million yuan to produce. Subsequently, based on the way things developed, he could probably pour another two or three million yuan into marketing. Its research and development would probably be completed much sooner than Repent and be Saved.
Then, he could publish it a month in advance and ensure losses sooner. Pei Qian loved the sound of that!
Chapter 200 - Satisfy the Full – Timers!
As he was thinking about this, a knock on his door rang out. Pei Qian looked up and saw that it was Ma Yiqun.
Ever since they began preparing to create Zhongdian Chinese Network, Ma Yiqun had been very busy. Although arrangements for the administrative, finance, and legal staff had been made and the company’s framework was complete; Ma Yiqun still had to decide how the website would be run.
Ma Yiqun had already bought a website template and authors’ platform on the website for resources according to Pei Qian’s requirements. They bought the domain name ‘www.zhongdian.com’ for three hundred thousand yuan as well.
Since Qidian had not yet been created in this world, the person who created the domain name ‘zhongdian’ could not sell the domain for too high of a price. What’s more, it was 2010. Domain names had not become expensive. One could say they got quite a good deal.
Apart from this, they had hired staff to maintain the website and bought a cloud server. They had also applied for authorization from the relevant authorities.
After doing all these things and spending hundreds of thousands of yuan, the initial preparations were more or less complete.
After that, it was time for Ma Yiqun to get busy.
First, he had to gather all his employees, in order to assign tasks to each of them. All of these people were seniors whom Zhang Wei recommended to Pei Qian. All of them graduated with majors in humanities. That meant they had a passable grasp on language.
Ma Yiqun’s first impression of them was that they all seemed a bit autistic. Most of them also looked like nerds. This was expected; none of them could find jobs until now. If all of them had the gift of the gab, they would not remain unemployed after graduation until
now.
Fortunately, they had good attitudes. Ma Yiqun was not that fussy.
He knew very well that it was not meaningful to discuss whether someone was suited to be in the online literature industry. It also did not matter whether one did well in school or not. Anyone who entered this industry had to start from scratch.
This was a good thing and a bad thing.
At least, to Ma Yiqun, these people met the fundamental requirements.
After this, Ma Yiqun assigned tasks to each of them. Once the website was set up, the first thing to do was to fill the library up. A website for web novels had to have content. Otherwise, it would be an empty shell. Thus, they had to hire a batch of authors as soon as possible.
Especially wealthy web novel sites would surely hire famous authors. They might even hire them by the batch. Doing this could cost them millions of yuan.
However, this was not the path Pei Qian chose.
Although this would allow him to spend more money, the chances of the website failing would decrease greatly. These authors were novel gods after all. If Pei Qian hired them, the website would draw people’s attention very quickly.
He could either spend money to buy novel gods over or attract failures. After some consideration, Pei Qian decided that the latter would allow him to lose more money.
After all, most novel gods who had become famous were genuine talents. To make gods out of failures, on the other hand, would be extremely difficult
Any author with aspirations would choose to chase their dreams on an established website like Infinite Chinese Network even if they were failing currently. All of them hope for their novels to rise to fame one day.
They would not write for a small website with a dim future for the sake of earning a few hundred yuan more.
Thus, after pondering over this for a while, Pei Qian decided not to pull novel gods over but work on attracting failing authors instead. This would probably be the more reliable way to incur losses.
Ma Yiqun’s job in these early stages was to train his staff and filter manusc
ripts. These people knew little about online literature. Even those who had read online literature had never read in depth about it.
Ma Yiqun still had to teach them the basic principles such as writing satisfying plots, finding rhythm, and developing the theme. These people could only become editors after Ma Yiqun was more or less done. Then, they could help Ma Yiqun with choosing manuscripts, guiding authors, and the like.
Now, Ma Yiqun was probably here to report their progress to Boss Pei.
“Boss Pei, this is the current situation…”
He briefly explained what they had achieved so far before changing the topic. “We have two main problems at the moment.
“First, our current editors are below standard. Their understanding of online literature is not quite there. They choose manuscripts based on authors’ writing styles. Most manuscripts they chose are not suited to be online literature. I think it’ll be quite difficult to change this habit of theirs in the short-term. I need more time to teach them.
“Second, most manuscripts we receive are low-quality. I’m not even talking about premium work. Infinite Chinese Network might not so much as try these manuscripts out, much less put them up on its shelves.
“A few of the manuscripts are very good, but even if you submitted them to Infinite Chinese Network, they would get five hundred subscriptions at the most. Of course, I’m not looking down on that number of subscriptions. I’m objectively assessing the facts…”
Ma Yiqun was beginning to feel guilty. After all, he had written web novels before. As an author with only thirty subscriptions, he did not feel like he had the right to look down on others if they could get five hundred.
Yet, he had to be logical. If the best author on a web novel site could only get five hundred subscriptions, the entire website was basically a failure.
After all, authors like that would be able to get five hundred subscriptions on Infinite Chinese Network because many readers visited that site. That number would probably shrink by ten times if the book were published on Zhongdian Chinese Network.
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