Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  This time, the mysterious reward was an upgrade in benefits. If he could convert at least eight hundred thousand yuan at the end of a cycle, he would be able to claim a ‘highly impactful’ mysterious reward. Since he had exceeded that conversion minimum for this cycle, he could immediately claim one mysterious reward.

  Pei Qian felt a little faint.

  No repeats!

  Still, the fact that he could claim the same reward twice was worth rejoicing over.

  He mainly credited himself for refusing to give up on incurring losses during this cycle. Converting more than eight hundred thousand yuan meant having to earn more than eight hundred million yuan in profits. That would be far more difficult than incurring significant losses.

  Once again, Pei Qian claimed his reward.

 

  Pei Qian was stunned. Once again, he read the line of words.

  Almost immediately, his mind filled with question marks.

  ???

  Are you messing with me?

  When Pei Qian read the words ‘highly impactful’ and ‘mystery reward’ earlier, he subconsciously assumed that the award would be much better than the previous mystery reward. Why else would it be described as ‘highly impactful’?

  Now, he finally realized that ‘highly impactful’ did not necessarily mean that the impact would be to himself; neither did it necessarily mean that the impact would be good!

  Take this reward, for example. A random breakthrough in skills?

  Would those skills have anything to do with the projects that Pei Qian had been working on?

  What the h*ll…?

  Pei Qian had been in a good mood just before, but now, he was feeling down again.

  Indeed, the System was insistent in making a fool out of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  After all the ups and downs, Pei Qian finally calmed down again.

  The next cycle would last until January 31st. There were only four months, and it was a short cycle without any special missions.

  Although Pei Qian had no idea how the next cycle would go, he was renewed with motivation.

  He had ten million more yuan in the System Funds for the next cycle. That meant that he could buy more fixed assets now. In addition to the help that Teacher He had offered to Tengda Games…

  Pei Qian’s would set a preliminary goal: to lose twenty million yuan!

  Chapter 672 - Teacher He is the Guiding Lantern

  Tengda naturally was on holiday during the seven-day National Day Holiday.

  The last cycle just ended. Pei Qian’s personal wealth had reached 2.2 million yuan, which was very touching. He could take his opportunity to have a good rest.

  His parents had finally moved to the new house.

  Pei Qian’s plan went very well. He first got them to choose the furniture and household appliances and got them to stay there for a few days to bring some life to the house. The house was a gift to them naturally.

  However, while Pei Qian came to the new house near the high-speed rail station prepared in advance, he was still shocked by the furnishing style within.

  The full set of solid wood furniture was big and heavy; they were all dark brown, The TV wall was filled with lotus, large landscape paintings on the wall, and green plants that could be seen everywhere in the living room, bedroom, study—everywhere.

  Yes, there was no need to consider anymore. This house would be given to them. He would not live in it no matter what they said, he thought silently.

  However, Pei Qian really did not need this house anymore. The Sloth Apartments were so comfortable. There were cleaners and butlers; there was no need for him to tidy the house.

  Pei Qian did not have any plans for the current two million personal wealth yet either.

  He would save it first so that he could better resist the risk.

  …

  October 8th, Saturday, work as usual…

  Pei Qian came to the office early because he had two things to do today.

  First, arrange which department to receive shock therapy and the Tengda Cornerstone Award.

  Next, to assign a new game development task to Tengda Games.

  The departments for shock therapy and the Tengda Cornerstone Award for this cycle were really a little hard to decide.

  The shock therapy was prepared for the department that made the most money but most departments seemed to be making money during the last cycle, but none of them made Pei Qian really anxious.

  Obviously, the most profitable of all was IOI’s 500 million shares. However, should this be counted towards Dream Realization Ventures or Shang Yang Games? None of them seemed very suitable.

  It was a historical issue, strictly speaking.

  Should he give Old Ma the shock? That seemed pointless as well.

  Therefore, Pei Qian thought for a long time and decided that this cycle should be to shock Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Of course, the shock would only be for the management; the stores would continue their normal operations.

  The management arranged the location and renovation of the new store before going into shock for three months. The store employees would be paid extra wages based on salary standards. The money would be spent without backstabbing this way, which was perfect.

  Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games should also be shocked, but he was still counting on their normal operations to burn money for this cycle so he could only spare them.

  The choice for Tengda Cornerstone Award gave Pei Qian a headache as well.

  Fish-Catching Take-Out would have undoubtedly gotten the award if they had lost money up till now, but they had already betrayed him so they were not eligible for this award.

  The other departments that Pei Qian had high hopes for include the Deposit Fitness gym, Sloth Apartments, etc. They all basically had problems now and could only kiss this ‘last place reward’ goodbye.

  Upwind Logistics had gotten it once; it was impossible to give them repeatedly, right?

  Pei Qian finally decided to give this prize to Otto Technologies after some thought.

  Otto Technologies might not have done anything, but they had only spent money without production. That in itself was a merit.

  It would be a waste not to give the reward. Find the best fitting one and make do with it.

  Pei Qian handed over the commendation to Assistant Xin after he was arranged and then began to think about the new game.

  This cycle only had four months, which was totally not enough for a well-made RTS game.

  Not to mention CG, it was simply not enough.

  Therefore, Pei Qian thought about dragging this game to the next cycle and spent more money.

  However, he had no idea how to make this game.

  Pei Qian did not want to decide for himself, let alone Hu Xianbin and the others. No matter which one it was, it seemed that there would be no good results.

  Therefore, it was better to ask Teacher He for help!

  Pei Qian made a video call to He An.

  It was connected in no time.

  He An had left Jingzhou and returned to his residence. Judging from the video, it seemed like he was reading a book while drinking tea quite leisurely.

  “Boss Pei? What’s up?” He An drank his
tea leisurely.

  “Teacher He, I would like to ask for your advice for the new game,” Pei Qian asked very humbly.

  “Pfft!”

  He An nearly choked.

  For some reason, people would always feel that Boss Pei was acting arrogant whenever he was being humble.

  Fortunately, He An had gotten used to it. He coughed twice before saying: “Didn’t I say everything clearly? What else is there to ask?”

  “RTS game, spend 200 million yuan on the game itself, spend 300 million yuan on the CG, a total of 500 million yuan—it was absolutely challenging.”

  He An repeated what he said previously.

  Pei Qian nodded. “I know, Teacher He. But there is still not enough.

  “Do you want to consider the details?

  “For example, what theme? What type of story background?

  “Should the operations of the game be hardcore or simple?”

  “You’re also letting me choose this, too? The challenge is hard enough; you want to add more?” He An was slightly shocked on the other end of the video call.

  Pei Qian nodded quickly. “Yes, add it up!”

  He An became silent.

  So confident?

  The difficulty for the RTS game wasn’t enough; you want to add on to the challenge?

  Sure, I hope you don’t regret it.

  He An considered for a while before saying, “There are actually not many options for the theme. There are only science fiction, western fiction, and eastern fiction.”

  “Sci-fi theme would be ‘Starcraft’, Western fiction would be ‘Fantasy Battle’, Eastern fiction… no one has done it yet.”

  Pei Qian was delighted. “Then, should I make an Eastern fiction RTS?”

  He An smiled. “Didn’t you want it to be challenging? The Eastern fiction RTS has the lowest challenge!”

  Pei Qian was stunned.

  He An took a sip of his tea and continued. “There are almost no RTS games produced locally that could be regarded as successful. If you make an RTS game with the theme of the Three Kingdoms or Ancient mythology, it would become very popular even if the quality was average since it would be the only one!

  “The chances of it becoming successful are still rather big if overseas players purchase it because they are interested in Eastern culture.

  “If you want a challenge, you should choose western fantasy or sci-fi; how about going up directly against Fantasy Battle and Starcraft?”

  Pei Qian was hit with a realization.

  Indeed, a seasoned veteran was valuable for his experience and insights.

  If he did not ask Teacher He and made an Eastern fiction RTS game, he might even make profits!

  What He An said made sense after thinking carefully.

  Competing on the wrong footing would on the contrary increase the substantiality.

  On the contrary, RTS games already had jewels like Starcraft and Fantasy Battle previously. Wouldn’t it become a head-on battle if he were to make a similar one?

  Excellent!

  Teacher He was really scheming; he felt like he could definitely win this time!

  Pei Qian raised his eyebrows with joy and continued. “Okay, let’s do it then! Teacher He, please continue, what about the difficulty of the game?”

  He An frowned and looked carefully at Boss Pei’s expression on the cell phone screen.

  He seemed to be happy?

  So confident?

  I don’t believe you dare to do as I say!

  He An continued. “The operations of the game have to be simpler.”

  Pei Qian was stunned. “Huh?”

  He An smiled. “What’s with your “huh?” You don’t dare to do it?”

  Pei Qian scratched his head. “It’s not that I don’t dare to, Teacher He. Are you sure making something simple will give me a loss… oh, no, I mean be more challenging?”

  He An frowned slightly, a little confused whether Boss Pei was speaking the truth or was he acting. “Of course, there was no doubt about this.

  “RTS games are now on a decline, but there were so many old players so the most important thing is nostalgia!

  “If you make the operations more cumbersome like Fantasy Battle and Starcraft 2, it would naturally be welcomed by hardcore players. That is the target group of players for RTS games.”

  “Starcraft 2 was released the year before the previous year, many people must have complained about it, but its sales are not low at all. The expansion pack released last year was also well-received.

  “It might be impossible to reproduce the brilliance of Starcraft, but from a commercial standpoint, it is very successful!

  “Making RTS games more difficult is the correct way to do it. The purchasing power of these hardcore players is very scary if you can meet their requirements.

  “On the contrary, if the RTS game is simple, then it would be very embarrassing. For hardcore players, the game was too simple and boring to play; for normal players, it is an RTS game that can never be comparable to GOG no matter how simple it is. They wouldn’t touch it.”

  Pei Qian was stunned again.

  That’s right! Teacher He made a lot of sense!

  Pei Qian had learned about game design so what He An said made absolute sense to him.

  “Alright, I understand, Teacher He! You are really my guiding lantern! I will definitely treat you to a good meal at a nameless restaurant when the game is done!”

  Pei Qian thanked him profusely before hanging up.

  He An looked at the ‘video call ended’ on the cell phone, baffled.

  Boss Pei seemed to have said… guiding lantern?

  …

  Pei Qian knew in his heart that there was hope after he hung up.

  Make a low-difficulty sci-fi or western fantasy RTS game for 500 million yuan, it would definitely lose money!

  So the question was whether to make sci-fi or western fantasy?

  He decided on sci-fi in the end.

  On the one hand, Starcraft 2 was released more than a year ago but still had some popularity until now. The possibility of failure was greater if he were to go head-on with it.

  Going head-on with Fantasy Battle that was released nine years ago might not have such a high probability of failure.

  On the other hand, there were a lot of heroes in GOG that were suitable for western fantasy background, Pei Qian was afraid that—when the new game and GOG would be seen as one—all the GOG players would be attracted to that. It would be troublesome.

  It was not impossible looking at his previous experience.

  Therefore, it was better to work on a sci-fi theme. The possibility of failure was higher and would burn more money!

  Chapter 673 - The Shame of the Domestic Game Industry: ‘Mission and Choice’

  The next step would be to name the game after the theme was set.

  Pei Qian did not consider it for too long.

  “Mission and Choice”!

  That was a reason for this specific name.

  Pei Qian had been learning about games some time ago. He had also learned a lot about the past of the domestic game industry from He An and Qiu Hong.

  In 1995, the U.S. Eastwood Company released a series of games called ‘Command and Conquer’. This was the best-selling real-time strategy game in history. It established a model of RTS games and pioneered the creation of the structure of ‘resource collection + production and construction + army combat’. It also defined the concept of ‘fog of war’.

  In short, it was popular all over the world just like Starcraft and Fantasy Battle; they were all regarded as classics of RTS games.

  In 1997, the local scene had a game called ‘Mission and Choice’.

  When he first heard of this name, Pei Qian thought it was a parallel of ‘Freedom and Glory’. He had a good impression at first but found himself to be wrong in no time.

  The game was parallel to ‘Blood Lion’.

  As Qiu Hong once said, during this period, the domest
ic game industry was already in violent turmoil. Online games were rapidly emerging, piracy was gradually getting rampant, and domestic standalone games were forced to start a price war against piracy. It did not help no matter how much the price was reduced.

  At this juncture, ‘Mission and Choice’ appeared.

  The major game media began to publish colored advertisements for ‘Mission and Choice’ overwhelmingly. The cover was a Chinese soldier in a spacesuit. The background was a huge sandworm and a technologically-rich interstellar battleship. There are a few more below. The sentence contained inflammatory slogans.

  “Your hometown, Blue Star, just suffered a devastating attack from the Zerg, and the interstellar fleet suffered heavy losses. The red sky was stained with blood, the flames tore the night, and the sky full of insects flooded the human fleet like a tide. I know your choice when faced with insects. It would be bleak, but we have no retreat.

  “Destroy the swarm and save Blue Star with your comrades!”

  “Millions of investment, dedicated production, grand screen, a domestic classic!”

  “High-level avant-garde rock musicians produce music, a strong software creation group, and heavy artistic creativity. Everyone is looking forward to the ‘Mission and Choice’ debut!”

  This publicity might look somewhat inexplicable now, but they were extremely exciting by then.

  As a result, the enthusiasm of all standalone game players had been instigated. Players automatically ignored the ubiquitous copycat feeling in the game ‘Mission and Choice’ from the name to their publicity picture. They regarded it as a game that could surpass the masterpiece of Command and Conquer. They look forward to it being in the palace of RTS games forever.

  However, the word ‘disappointment’ was inadequate to describe their feelings when they got the game.

  Simple and crude graphics, program bugs everywhere, weird game mechanics…

  In short, it was lousy as f*ck.

  The players realized that this was just crazy!

  The name was ‘Command and Conquer’, the background story was Starcraft, and a little fake patriotism was deliberately added in. It was huge deceit of the feelings of domestic players.

  Many regarded the ‘Mission and Choice’ as the shame of domestically-produced games. It was the last straw that crushed the domestically-produced games. To this day, most players still only have two types of emotions when they hear the name ‘Mission and Choice’: mocking or angry.