After being revised again and again, GOG was now vastly different from a lot of MOBA games that Pei Qian remembered. It would not be appropriate to move other games’ heroes over to this one.
What’s more, Pei Qian only remembered the heroes’ names, designs, and their general skills. On the other hand, the gamers were providing proposals that were outstanding in their own ways.
Some contributed beautiful concept art, which was enough to win on appearance alone. Some designed heroes based on Tengda’s employees or existing character IPs and thus made them more popular as characters in the game. There were also skills and mechanisms designs, which were comparable to the heroes that Pei Qian had moved over from other games.
After some thought, Pei Qian decided to just move one hero over.
The gamers were so enthusiastic and lively, and they must have spent a huge amount of time creating those heroes. Although 99% of those proposals would not be accepted, they were still enjoying their work.
Since GOG had already become crowd-sourced, the designs of the in-game content should be left to the gamers. It would be best if the game did not turn into a second LOL, or it would be meaningless.
If Pei Qian moved more than ten LOL heroes into GOG, there could only be two outcomes. Firstly, Pei Qian could win all the rewards and leave nothing for the gamers. Then, he would be letting the enthusiastic and supportive gamers down. Although Pei Qian found the gamers annoying for throwing their money at him constantly, he still could not bear to see their efforts go to waste.
Secondly, Pei Qian could lose to the other gamers even after moving so many heroes over. That was because they could be lacking in concept art, or their skills might not match the game’s mechanisms. That would be awkward, and Pei Qian would feel sorry for the heroes’ original designers.
After much thought, Pei Qian concluded that his life was now free of worry. What’s more, he could earn hundreds of thousands of yuan by causing the company to incur losses. That was definitely much better than most gamers. He could afford to eat; there was no reason for him to be ugly and swallow the five percent share of profits from the sale of all skins.
What’s more, the competition between GOG and IOI might be affected by that move. If he was not cautious, Lin Wan would not return home; he would be caught in an uncomfortable situation.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to stick to his original plan and move only one hero.
As for who he should move… Of course, he would move Yasuo!
The five percent share of profits from the sale of all skins was not important to Pei Qian. His only intention was to allow gamers to feel pure joy.
Pei Qian was very familiar with Yasuo’s skills. In fact, he had memorized them like the back of his hand. Still, after writing two sentences, Pei Qian pondered for a moment and then deleted everything. Yasuo’s Ronin image was too popular. What if GOG defeated IOI the moment the hero was released? Would Lin Wan still be able to go home?
After much consideration, Pei Qian decided that the five percent share of profits could not add up to much at the beginning.
That was because GOG’s skins were cheap to begin with. What’s more, the first few skins were going at a 90% and 70% discount respectively. Before GOG dominated the market, there wouldn’t be too many players either. Thus, the five percent would not add up too much.
However, a good hero would significantly improve GOG’s image in the initial period after its release. It could easily cause real damage to IOI.
Thus, after some thought, Pei Qian decided to be extremely stingy and only offer the hero’s mechanism.
If the design team wanted to accept it, they could design the hero’s outer appearance. Otherwise, Pei Qian could think about moving Yasuo’s outer appearance over to GOG as well.
At that thought, Pei Qian began to type again. He did not enter the hero’s name or characteristics. Instead, he only typed out all of Yasuo’s skill mechanisms.
“Good. I’m done!
“I wonder if the team will accept it… Well, I’ll leave it to fate.”
Pei Qian had an account in GOG that was tied to his own identity. However, unless GOG’s project team intentionally looked it up, they would not know that the account belonged to him.
May 9th, Monday…
Pei Qian woke up as usual and arrived at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe for his meal.
He switched on his phone and glanced at it. None of the posts that he had published had been accepted. Of course, none of the other heroes’ designs had been accepted as well.
Pei Qian was very satisfied because it meant that none of the members of GOG’s project team had worked overtime.
They would probably only see the posts when they officially resumed work today.
In any case, Pei Qian did not have to worry. He could wait patiently. After having his meal, Pei Qian ordered a cup of coffee. He sipped it as he basked in the comfortable afternoon sun.
Life is so satisfying.
If only my employees worked harder to incur losses for me. Then, it would be even more satisfying Just as Pei Qian was sipping his coffee, Ruan Guangjian walked in. Obviously, it was time for their routine coffee run. When Ruan Guangjian saw Boss Pei, he looked surprised. However, he soon grinned and sat opposite him.
“Boss Pei, you’re a rare guest!”
He studied Pei Qian’s expression carefully. “Boss Pei, that thing doesn’t seem to be bothering you.”
Pei Qian was befuddled. “What thing are you referring to?”
Ruan Guangjian confirmed that Boss Pei’s confusion was genuine and not an act.
“That’s right, Boss Pei. You’re extremely busy. You probably didn’t have time to keep an eye on those things. I’m referring to what happened to Tomorrow is Beautiful when it premiered overseas last weekend.”
Pei Qian’s hand trembled as he tried to maintain a firm grip on his coffee cup.
He was finished. Whatever was coming would come!
It was still early in the morning-oh no, in the afternoon—and he was already receiving such grievous news!
This had been delayed for a long time. After all, a movie had to go through a complicated process to be screened overseas.
In fact, it had been so long that Pei Qian had subconsciously forgotten about it already.
Yet, now, one sentence from Ruan Guangjian awakened all the fear Pei Qian used to have because of Tomorrow is Beautiful.
He still remembered the night that he had gone to watch the first screening of the movie. He had finished the entire bucket of popcorn and not uttered a single word.
After recovering from the initial shock, Pei Qian felt angry.
Good on you, Ruan Guangjian! Every time I see you, nothing good happens!
What’s more, what has the overseas screening got to do with you? Even if I’m to be backstabbed, it should be by Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce. Why are you snatching their jobs?!
Just draw your pictures and stop interfering in other people’s business!
Pei Qian forced himself to remain calm. “Do you like watching movies, too?”
Ruan Guangjian nodded profusely. “Of course! I’m a loyal fan of this movie! I’ve watched it a couple of times! What’s more, many of the actors in Struggle were bit-role actors in that movie, right? I needed to draw more materials, and so I ordered the movie online to watch it whenever I want.”
Pei Qian: “…”
ev
You watched the movie multiple times and even bought it online? Are you afraid that I wouldn’t die an ugly death?
Pei Qian was speechless. He did not want to speak to that fellow anymore.
Seeing Boss Pei’s dark and listless expression, Ruan Guangjian could not help but feel shocked. “Er, Boss Pei… I thought you didn’t know about what happened when Tomorrow is Beautiful premiered overseas.
“Judging from your reaction… how did you know that Tomorrow is Beautiful did not sell well when it was released?
“Could you have… guessed it
? Did you expect this to happen?”
Pei Qian’s dark eyes lit up at once.
“Eh?”
It did not sell well when it was released? The foreigners did not like the film? That was great! That was a pleasant surprise!
Pei Qian had been living in fear before, thinking about what he would do if the film made tens of millions of yuan once it was screened overseas.
However, from what Ruan Guangjian had just said, it looked like it had been a false alarm!
It looks like Ruan Guangjian has been observing how the film has been doing in overseas box offices. He found out that tickets were not selling well, and so he’s bringing it up on purpose to comfort me. I’ve wronged him!
Pei Qian was elated. He immediately waved at the waiter and said, “Give me a cocktail! No, make it two!”
He had to celebrate this good news! The two cocktails were delivered almost immediately. Pei Qian handed one to Ruan Guangjian.
Ruan Guangjian waved and said, “Er, Boss Pei… I have to work in the afternoon. I can’t drink.”
“It’s alright. I’ll drink it on my own.” Pei Qian nonchalantly placed the two glasses of cocktail in front of him.
Ruan Guangjian hesitated and then took one of them. “Forget it. I’ll make an exception today to accompany you, Boss Pei.”
Seeing Boss Pei put on a strong front made Ruan Guangjian’s heart hurt all of a sudden. He empathized very well. It was the overwhelming sadness that came with pouring one’s heart and soul into one’s work and then having it not be understood by others.
Tomorrow is Beautiful was an impressive film with deep meaning! It was even filmed in English so that foreigners would not need to read subtitles to have a smooth experience.
Yet, the film failed to become popular. That made Ruan Guangjian feel like Boss Pei was not getting proper recognition for his talents.
After they toasted each other, they sipped their cocktails and placed their cups back down.
After some thought, Ruan Guangjian comforted Boss Pei. “Boss Pei, don’t take it to heart.
“Local films get very low row piece rates overseas to begin with. Local films made over the past few years, especially, are becoming less influential in overseas markets as well. Since we can’t do extensive publicity overseas, it’s only normal that local films wouldn’t sell well.
“At least, based on what I know, Tomorrow is Beautiful has a pretty good reputation to the overseas audience. That means that the film is not the problem. Maybe there’s another subjective reason for the outcome…”
Pei Qian could not help but rejoice inwardly.
Who cares what reason it was?! Everything’s fine as long as I’m not earning more money.
Who would have thought that Ruan Guangjian would bring me a huge piece of good news today?
Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce are still in shock therapy. I wonder if they’re happy being ‘shocked’. They probably already know about this, right? Yet, neither of them had reported it to me.
Yes, that’s reasonable. After all, it’s nothing worth being proud of.
Ruan Guangjian finished his cocktail, grabbed the bags of coffee from the waiter, and stood up to leave. “Boss Pei, I’ve been very busy at work. I’ll make a move first.” Pei Qian nodded. “Ah, alright.“You just moved to Jingzhou not long ago, and you’re already so busy? It looks like the move did not affect your work that much.”
Pei Qian casually said this since he was in a pretty good mood.
Ruan Guangjian gave Boss Pei a knowing smile. “The move did affect us significantly. A few companies that we were working with in Shanghai stopped working with us due to problems with communication.
“Still, it doesn’t matter. Boss Pei, your projects have been enough to keep our workspace alive.”
Pei Qian: “?”
Still smiling, Ruan Guangjian said, “With the concept art for all the actors in Struggle, two new heroes per month for GOG, and so many new skins; our workspace has been forced to move at full speed now.
“Thanks to Boss Pei, our rent and various expenses have been cut, but our workload remains the same. What’s more, we’ve received so many high-quality orders from Tengda. Our workspace’s income has seen an obvious increase!
“It was the right decision to move the workspace to Jingzhou!”
Chapter 514 - Boss Pei and Big Boss Ruan’s Hidden Friendship
At the same time, at Tengda Games…
Min Jingchao browsed through the forums as usual, freeloading off the gamers’ creativity. He had to admit that the gamers’ wisdom was limitless.
Take the idea of the Traveler Bao Xu, for example. Just one glance convinced Min Jingchao that the hero would be excellent. It would have a wide range of skills, a warm image, and-most importantly-it fit Bao Xu’s character.
Thus, he accepted the idea on the spot.
However, not many ideas were as good as that. After all, few gamers understood the mechanics of the game and design inside and out. Most designs were problematic to a certain extent.
Now, Min Jingchao was shortlisting ideas from the vast sea of suggestions that gamers were making daily. Whenever he found suitable ideas, he would send them to the design team to be improved on. Then, the development process would be kickstarted.
Min Jingchao kept to a few unspoken rules when shortlisting ideas.
For instance, the designers of the games department were not to participate in this event.
Min Jingchao had designed a couple of heroes himself, but he had not received any compensation. That was because Boss Pei was already paying him enough for doing his job.
What’s more, he could earn rewards based on the game’s reputation and initial investment. There was no reason for him to be doubly remunerated. It would be shameful to fight with gamers for a five-percent share of profits.
On top of that, Min Jingchao tried his best to choose hero ideas from different designers. Min Jingchao would only consider accepting two hero ideas from a single designer if a certain hero was obviously much better than the others, and Min Jingchao had to make use of the ideas.
That was because the event was meant for everyone to participate in. The number of heroes GOG could have was limited, as was the amount of money to be distributed.
If one person was rewarded too much, the others would feel less motivated to participate in the event. That would not keep the community healthy.
Of course, one also had to consider if each hero’s mechanisms could fit into the overall game mechanism, whether each hero’s defining characteristics would be obvious or not and whether they would repeat or clash with the existing heroes in the game or not.
Min Jingchao kept browsing the posts and suddenly spotted a post with a good number of likes. He subconsciously clicked on it and discovered that the idea was purely for the hero’s skill mechanism.
The character’s first skill was a short-range attack. After using it three times, it could cause enemies to fly back. The second skill was…
“Eh? These game mechanisms look quite interesting.”
Min Jingchao thought hard about it. He decided that the hero’s characterization was clear, and the mechanisms would be entertaining. The design team would just have to package the skills in the right hero, and it would likely be quite popular.
Yet, the problem was what kind of packaging they should give it.
If the enthusiastic gamer had written more about the hero’s brief background story, perhaps they would have had a general direction. However, apart from the fact that he was a part-assassin and part-fighter, Min Jingchao had no other information about this hero.
Min Jingchao accessed the gamer’s information, attempting to look for some inspiration.
After all, the idea was coming from this gamer. It would be perfect if the hero’s appearance could have some sort of connection with him as well.
“Eh? He has all of Tengda’s games? He’s a veteran gamer of Tengda.
“Huh? He bought The Lonely De
sert Road that early? He’s an extremely old customer.
“Isn’t this freaking Boss Pei himself?!”
If Min Jingchao had not looked into it, he would not have known a thing. However, after conducting a brief search, he now knew that this was Boss Pei’s personal account! He checked multiple times and confirmed that it was indeed Boss Pei!
After that, Min Jingchao became deeply confused. If Boss Pei had wanted to create a new hero, he could have just told me, right?
Why did he go to so much trouble and create a post on the forum? What if the gamers didn’t appreciate his idea and like his post? Wouldn’t the idea have gone to waste?
Could it be that Boss Pei was so confident in his own design that he knew it would stand out even if he posted it among the other gamers’ ideas?
Yes, judging from the outcome, that was true. Yet, if that had been the only reason, it still seemed lacking.
Once again, Min Jingchao fell into deep thought. After all, ‘thinking more’ was a habit that every employee of Tengda needed to cultivate.
Why didn’t Boss Pei design the hero’s outer appearance? Couldn’t he do it? Of course, he could!
That means he had left it out on purpose!
After much thought, Min Jingchao finally came up with two reasons that could explain Boss Pei’s actions.
First, Boss Pei had left out the hero’s outer appearance to test the abilities of GOG’s development team. He had wanted the development team to guess his intentions and supplement his idea with the hero’s outer appearance and story background.
Second, Boss Pei was trying to remain impartial. GOG and IOI were competing intensely, and Boss Pei did not want to pick a side. That was probably why he did not offer any guidance to GOG and instead chose this subtle method.
In other words, Boss Pei did not want anyone else to know that he was helping with GOG’s design in secret, and so he had to help them sneakily. This made Min Jingchao’s heart feel warm. Indeed, GOG was Boss Pei’s own flesh and blood!
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