Was this… the pride of an artist?
The netizens could not help but feel moved. Indeed, heroes were cultivated from a young
age!
Many old artists in the film industry were respectable, but many of them also tried hard to cater to judges’ tastes to win awards at international film festivals. On some level, they had given up their own self-expression.
That was not just sad for certain filmmakers, but also for the entire local film industry in general.
However, everyone in the production team at Fei Huang Workspace—from the director to the scriptwriter-was young.
It felt almost like a young knight, proudly participating in a Sword Appreciation Conference with top practitioners of martial arts, using a sword that he had painstakingly sharpened. What’s more, despite knowing how to cater to the judges, the young knight insisted on remaining true to himself and ended up defeating everyone else based on his own capabilities.
Suddenly, it did not seem to matter whether the film won first or second place. Although it had not been awarded the Palme d’Or, the production team had still brought far more meaning to the local film industry than a Palme d’Or ever would!
The post became extremely popular and triggered passionate discussions!
For some reason, someone else posted the film’s ratings from various major websites.
“A foreign website released the film’s rating yesterday—8.2. Some of you might think that that’s no big deal, but judging from other films’ ratings on that website, very few movies throughout history have gotten a rating of 9.0 and above. An 8.2 puts Tomorrow is Beautiful among the top 250 films on the database!
“If we look at the rating as a percentage, we would have no choice but to lash out at our local websites.
“Before this, Tomorrow is Beautiful had gotten a rating of 8.5 and below on multiple websites. That’s especially amusing given that a good domestic movie can easily get a score of 9.5 or more on those websites.
“Everyone can easily see that Tomorrow is Beautiful’s rating on TPDb has remained consistent at about 9.1. Although it has been fluctuating slightly, it’s still considered very stable!
“I think that low scores are not representative of how strict a rating website is. You don’t have to keep a close eye on the film’s ratings on foreign websites. After all, Tomorrow is Beautiful was produced by locals. The message that it conveys can only be fully understood by locals.
“I hope that this film represents a good beginning for domestic films. We no longer have to strive for recognition at international film festivals. Instead, we can focus on telling our local story well!
“At this point, I urge everyone to register an account at TPDb and watch Tomorrow is Beautiful one more time on Aili Island. Let us always remember this meaningful and monumental day!”
After reading the netizens’ comments, Pei Qian quietly closed the browser.
Alright, that’s all. I’ll give up fighting now. Pei Qian realized that netizens were getting increasingly ridiculous. Every now and then, they would pull off a new trick again. He would never have thought that the final comment would push everyone to TPDb and the online version of Tomorrow is Beautiful again.
He wondered how many people would purchase Tomorrow is Beautiful on Aili Island this time and how many people would add more bullet screen comments like ‘play it a billion more times’, ‘treasure of the site’, and ‘pulling the entire world together’ to the beginning of the movie. Pei Qian could almost see how things would go when he met Zhu Xiaoce next. The latter’s expression would be filled with excitement as he rushed to Pei Qian’s side, saying ‘Boss Pei! Your decision to share profits with Aili Island was wise and correct!’
Just thinking about it made Pei Qian extremely depressed.
It was… very tragic…
May 26th, Thursday…
At the cafe near Handong University, He An’s second class with ‘Ma Yang’ officially began. Pei Qian had not been sleeping well over the past two days because of how Tomorrow is Beautiful turned out.
To learn as much as he could from today’s lesson, Pei Qian still went to bed early the night before. This morning, he woke up naturally with his gravely-injured mental state fully recovered.
Before the class started, Pei Qian sneakily looked at the heading of today’s teaching material.
‘Second Lesson on Successful Designs: Use your foresight to understand how the industry will develop!’ Pei Qian could not help but feel elated. Finally, he could stop hearing about Tengda’s plans! The previous lesson had been quite good. He had learned that, for games, everything from production to publicity formed one inseparable whole. The right publicity strategy had to be used for different game genres to achieve the best results. The only downside had been that many of Tengda’s games and publicity strategies had been covered as positive examples, so that Pei Qian felt like He An had been rubbing salt in his wounds. Still, he had learned something. Pei Qian planned to apply what he had learned once Struggle was released. He could not resort to false marketing because the System would not allow it, but he could employ differentiated marketing
Sometimes, telling half-truths could have a better effect than telling outright lies.
All in all, the previous lesson had been helpful to Pei Qian. It showed him a clear direction, so that his tuition fees were not paid in vain.
This lesson looked even more reliable.
Understand how the industry will develop? It sounded full of useful ideas!
He An sipped his coffee and slowly said, “What we talked about in the previous session was the most basic of all basic knowledge: Establish the basic concepts of the game’s design, decide clearly on its genre, and strictly follow the relevant rules for each subsequent step.
“Today, we’re still going to talk about basic knowledge, but it’ll be one level higher than before. Simply put, which genre should you choose among the many genres available in the market?
“Choosing the right genre is half the battle won.
“Here, I want to give you an example…” Pei Qian immediately tensed up. He wasn’t going to make an example out of Tengda again, was he?
Let me off, I beg you!
He An paused for a moment and then said, “MMORPG.”
Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. Tengda had never produced an MMORPG. That was great! He was not going to be kicked while he was down today!
At once, Pei Qian sat up straighter.
He An did not notice the internal struggle going on inside ‘Ma Yang’. Instead, he continued speaking. “For a long time, MMORPG has been regarded as the ultimate genre of games. There was enough support for this in theory because MMORPGs could construct a virtual world for players and provide enough rich content to them. What’s more, it was highly expandable.
“Many people in the game industry had thought about this before. What game could challenge Fantasy World? At the time, everyone concluded that, to compete with Fantasy World, one had to create an even better MMORPG.
“However…
“The newest development in the game industry has proven that this was wrong. No better MMORPG than Fantasy World has appeared, but another game genre that could challenge MMORPGs has.
“That’s right, I’m talking about the most popular battle games in the country or even the world: GOG and IOI!”
Pei Qian: “…”
He was now suicidal. MMORPG had only been the introduction. They still landed back on this topic in the end.
Noticing that ‘Ma Yang’ looked strange, He An suspiciously asked, “Boss Ma, is there a problem?”
Pei Qian tried to force a smile. “No, no problem at all. Is that related to today’s class?”
He An nodded. “Of course! I emphasized before that choosing the right genre is half the battle won. Top game designers cannot come up with a better MMORPG than Fantasy World, but they can come up with a better game genre than MMORPG!
“Obviously, that shows a ke
en sense of smell!
“Just think about it. If you could sense the limitless potential of IOI while other first-tier game designers fought within the boundaries of MMORPG, you would be one step ahead of them. That gives you the advantage and allows you to dominate the market… think about a butterfly flapping its wings. It looks like a minor move, but it could cause a world of change in the end!
“Tengda Games is way ahead of other game developers. It first invested in IOI and then developed GOG. Obviously, it’s the butterfly that’s working hard to flap its wings. Boss Ma, as a manager in Tengda’s investment company, you should understand more about this than me, right?”
He An smiled as if thinking that ‘Boss Ma’s’ own experience could give him more enlightenment and understanding of today’s class.
Pei Qian was speechless. At the same time, he was extremely conflicted.
How should I tell Teacher He that Ma Yang was the one who invested in IOI, but I’m not the real Ma Yang? What’s more, even the real Ma Yang had not invested in IOI because of his keen sense of smell but out of pure interest…
Forget it, trying to smooth that out would be extremely troublesome, and He An would probably not understand anyway.
Pei Qian nodded quietly, expressing his agreement with whatever He An had said. Then, he asked a question to change the topic. “Teacher He, according to that theory, does that mean that choosing a sunset game genre would guarantee failure?”
He An pondered for a moment and then said, “There are no guarantees in this world.
“Gamers may still like retro games-even mosaic-style games-as long as the content is rich enough and the gameplay is novel enough. After all, there are many gamers in the world. One just has to find the right target audience; even a small group of gamers can sustain a game well.“However… there’s nothing wrong with your theory.
“The older a genre is, the smaller the group of gamers who enjoy it. If you invest a huge amount of money in such a game, you would greatly increase your risk of failure
“You might even end up losing everything.”
At that point, Pei Qian’s eyes lit up. That’s great! There are more ways to incur losses now!
Pei Qian asked, “Teacher He, if I invest a huge amount of money in a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game now… what would happen?”
He An smiled. “You would do better to give the money to me. At least I would thank you. You could also make ducks and drakes of the money so that no one would know about it.” Pei Qian grinned.
Who said that this course was useless? I know what kind of game to develop during the next cycle now!
Teacher He, you really are my guiding light!
Chapter 530 - We were on a Good Note, Why Curse Me?
Pei Qian was even more excited upon hearing it.
“Teacher He, tell me. I really want to hear about it!”
He An was a little surprised. “Why, is Boss Ma an experienced RTS game enthusiast?”
Pei Qian thought about it. “Hmm… I guess?”
He could probably be considered experienced if he liked that from now, right?
Why do I like RTS games? Maybe because it could help me lose money?
He An thought about it. “It’s okay, an RTS game is not a deviation from today’s topic. I’ll talk about it briefly then.
“An RTS game is a real-time strategy game. It was glorious in the past. We were once the mainstay game type in the esports industry. However, when we talk about RTS, there is no avoiding talk about Fantasy Battle and Starcraft
2.
“Last year, Starcraft 2 was released and was a great success.
“However, that hasn’t changed the industry’s dislike of RTS games since it is more like a flashback. The success of one game will hardly change the decline of the entire game type.
“It is true as well. Except for a few established, well-known manufacturers; almost no one wants to touch this game type anymore.
“Even the big manufacturers do not seem to plan to invest too much money and energy into this game type. The decline of this type of game is directly related to the rise of new game types.
“RTS games have too high of a requirement for the players. Most players failed to reach the minimum operating threshold and naturally could not enjoy the game.
“At the same time, the single-player mode is also difficult to throw the blame to their teammates. The frustrations after losing are too strong, making RTS a very high-end and highly watchable esports event. However, it is very difficult to continue as a popular mass game because of the threshold.
“The mainstream popular games of the future would be games like GOG, especially the client-side game and mobile games with their unique advantages…
Pei Qian’s mouth twitched again. Why was the topic back to GOG? He had to think of ways to change the subject.
“In short, making an RTS game without many IPs at this point in time would mean a dead end?”
He An nodded lightly. “Yes, you can think of it this way.”
Pei Qian nearly danced with joy.
I thought so, too! I was finally on the same frequency with Teacher He for once. Pei Qian had indeed considered the RTS game type before, but he decided against it by then because it did not seem dead yet.
It might not have any future, but many old players liked such game types. Moreover, they had a huge purchasing power. He was afraid that it might backfire. However, more than one year had passed, and the situation had changed!
The release of Starcraft 2 revived RTS, sucking away almost all the remaining RTS players.
Moreover, the competition between GOG and IOI was so intense that even Gods Rising could only tremble. What more could be said about a new RTS game?
Yes, let’s do this! It seemed to be foolproof!
What a pity though… that it was no longer possible for this cycle. He could only think of using it for the next cycle.
He An sighed. “Sigh, actually part of the reason why I decided to retire is that my vision can no longer keep up with the pace of game development in this era.
“Previously I felt that Gods Rising would only be a beautiful niche and that mobile games would never have a strong impact on client-side games. Now, it seems like my thinking is outdated.
“Boss Ma, that is also the reason why I put this class on the second topic. I hope that you will always have long term vision and find the right type of game to develop. You’ll be able to win lying down if you make a game that was on par with the era!”
Pei Qian: “…”
Teacher He, you were speaking so well. Why are you suddenly cursing me?
Ten at night…
DGE E-Sports Club… It was already time for lights out. All the cell phones of the team members had been kept away. That was to ensure that they had enough rest.
Ming Yun Villas was, by default, a villa that was far away from the noisy city. There was very little light pollution. They could only see the faint twinkling of the moonlight and the starlight even if they did not pull the curtains.
That was the team’s dormitory. Two people would share a room.
In the darkness, the human sprawled on the bed spoke.
“Old Zhou, can I trouble you to give me a cup of water? I’m thirsty.”
Old Zhou on the other bed was obviously not asleep yet. “F*ck, what the hell did you do before bed? Also, why don’t you take it yourself?”
The human figure was lying lifelessly. “I can’t move.”
Old Zhou: “Huang Wang, you speak as though I’m any better.”
Huang Wang: “Old Zhou, don’t pretend, you can definitely move. Please, if I really die of thirst tomorrow, the mock competition will be over; we’ll have to practice more at night!”
Old Zhou: “Call me Daddy.”
Huang Wang: “Daddy!”
Old Zhou:”…what the sh*t, you really have no bottom line as the leader of the team. I give
up.”
Old Zhou had no other choice
. He could only flip over on the bed and walk strangely to the table by the side. He brought Huang Wang’s cup to his bedside.
Huang Wang: “Ah…”
Old Zhou’s face turned black. “Do you want to die?! Drink yourself, or I’ll pour it all onto the floor!”
Huang Wang painstakingly sat up on his bed. “I’ll drink… I’ll drink alright. Give it to me.”
Old Zhou stormed back to his bed.
Huang Wang took two sips of water, pursed his lips, and continued. “Old Zhou, we cannot continue on like this. We have to think of a way. That Jiang from the opposing team is definitely a hard nut to crack!
“We’ve been practicing for one whole week; we’re gonna die if we continue losing like this!”
Old Zhou was speechless. “Isn’t that because of your commands as the leader?! Jiang Huan can always think of some dirty old tricks to round us up and kill us. Our team is simply a mess when compared to the other team! Especially you. You play as a mid-lander, but your support is always slower than others. How can we play?!” Huang Wang expressed his dissatisfaction. “F*ck, isn’t that because of those Nakano twins? Anyway, that is all the problem with our strategy. We have to think of new strategies as well. Otherwise, who can take it if we continue to do extra training because we lost?!” “Any more, and we can really become personal trainers instead!”
Old Zhou laughed. “No problem, I feel we can find someone from the opposite team to PK in real life before we become personal trainers. I can feel my muscles getting bigger.” “What about this? We’ll think of some new tactics tomorrow. If the opponents play outside common sense, then we can only play dirty. I finally understand… this game really depends on strategy…” Suddenly, the light outside the door lit up. Light shone into the room through the gap of the door. Both of them shut up hurriedly.
Zhang Yuan stood outside for two whole minutes before leaving.
DGE club’s daily training these days were difficult to describe. Zhang Yuan was a little concerned after Boss Pei formulated the training schedule. However, he still strictly followed it.
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