Pei Qian had named his game ‘Ocean Stronghold’ to give it a good omen, but the people in this world did not understand it!
Only Pei Qian himself knew the butt of the joke; therefore, it did not trigger any resistance.
Similarly, people would have no idea if it was named the ‘Blood Lion’.
However, naming it ‘Mission and Choice’ would ignite the anger of all domestic players in an instant!
Therefore, Pei Qian decided immediately to name it that way!
Come, players, swallow me with your anger!
Of course, there would be some copyright issues, but it was okay since the company that made this game had been bankrupt for several years. The copyrights of ‘Mission and Choice’ should belong with the creditors, but no one would want this stuff that was losing money. They might even be able to come directly when they found ESRO official games platform.
The background of the story should be used since the name was used.
At the same time, Pei Qian thought of a few other ways to greatly increase the probability of failure to ensure that nothing would go wrong. He was preparing to explain to Hu Xianbin for a while.
Pei Qian called for a meeting in the conference room with Hu Xianbin, Huang Sibo, and Zhu Xiaoce after he considered everything.
As to why he called for Huang Sibo…
Of course, it was because of the CG. It had to be done by Fei Huang Workspace.
Pei Qian was afraid that it would not be completed within the settlement period if it was left to others. That would be troublesome.
…
Everyone came to the conference room in no time.
Hu Xianbin was very clear that Boss Pei should be developing the next game soon after the huge success of Struggle.
Hu Xianbin and Huang Sibo were a little puzzled after seeing each other in the conference room.
Why did Boss Pei get us to come together?
Were they going to make a game or movie?
Time was precious so Pei Qian went straight to the point to distribute the tasks.
“I will need the two of you to cooperate for the next game.
“The development cycle is set to be about nine months. We will spend 200 million yuan making a sci-fi RTS game and then spend another 300 million yuan for its CG. I’m giving this mission to both of your departments.”
The other three were stunned.
Spending 200 million yuan for the game and 300 million yuan for the CG?
The money for CG was even more than the money for the game?
Huang Sibo’s expression became excited instantly. “Boss Pei is determined to make a boutique RTS game at the same level of Starcraft 2? If you use 300 million yuan to burn through more than 10 minutes of CG for the game, it would definitely not lose to the giant foreign companies!”
Hu Xianbin was a little hesitant. “Burning 300 million yuan for CG, can we really recoup it?”
Huang Sibo smiled. “Why not? Starcraft 2’s development cost was not even 100 million US dollars. If you calculate the price of every game as 50 US dollars, you will be able to recoup it if you sold more than two million copies. 1.5 million copies were sold on the first day it hit the shelves. The entire life cycle sold four to five million copies easily. Wasn’t it very profitable?
“Our game would not even reach this number. We are investing 60 million US dollars; it will still be profitable even if we sell more than Starcraft 2.
“The game CG is the business card of the game. It would definitely be spread like crazy across the internet if it was done well. Moreover, it would be better to open up overseas markets. Investing 300 million yuan in game CG for the brand value, to expand overseas, and to establish the makings of a brand factory!”
Pei Qian fell silent.
There was still such a huge chance of making profits on theory?
It was really possible, thinking about it. Put the entire 300 million yuan to make 10 minutes of CG. How good would that be?
Any part of it could make it popular.
Teacher He felt that it could not make any profits because he did not understand just how good Pei Qian was.
Pei Qian knew that what Huang Sibo said was very possible to happen!
My good brother Huang Sibo…
Pei Qian coughed lightly. “Not 10 minutes, we’re going to make an hour long.”
The quality of this CG would definitely not be so high if he were to extend it to an hour and would not be too outstanding, right?
Moreover, everyone should watch until they feel irked with such a long plot and would just press ESC to skip it, right?
Huang Sibo was shocked; he hesitated for a short while before saying: “Boss Pei, we can’t do that!
“Quality is secondary when it comes to a half-hour CG, but there is no way to guarantee the development period can be within nine months.
“Our first choice is definitely to find a foreign company to do it, but that also means that we have to communicate across countries, languages, and time differences. It is okay for something around 10 minutes, but the cost of communication would be very unbearable for something about an hour long.
“If you are looking for domestic companies, then most of the reliable special effects teams are all in the movie sector. There are very few special effect companies that purely make game CGs, and their levels are not very promising.”
“Could real-time calculation in time count towards it?” Hu Xianbin asked after some thought.
Huang Sibo nodded. “Yes, but the effect would not be good and would not be able to spend so much money.”
The cinematic game of Struggle was equivalent to real-time calculation. It really did not cost 300 million yuan,
Huang Sibo continued. “If it had to be completed within the development period, then I feel… we can do it like a movie with real people.
“This way, we will not need to spend time on character movements, expressions, pores, hair, etc. Some props and scenery could also be shot in real life, which could save a lot of time and ensure quality and duration.
“The only problem is… it seemed like I have never heard of game companies doing this.”
Pei Qian fell silent.
He did not think so much but realized that there were really huge problems listening to Huang Sibo!
He had three choices now:
The first was like ‘Fantasy World’, burn money to make a very short CG, make all the characters’ movements, expressions, hairs, etc. highly realistic. However, the effect of it would definitely be very sensational. Starcraft 2 had proven there was room for profit.
Making this an extremely detailed long CG meant that the development period could not be guaranteed.
The second would be to make CG with real-time calculations in games, but that would not even cost 10 million yuan, let alone 300 million yuan.
There would be no difference between the first one if it was a mixture of real-time calculation and CG. It would still be a relatively safe approach.
The third was to use the method of filming so that there would be no need to do fine-tuning. Many special effects could be replaced with props and scenery so the development period could basically be guaranteed.
Pei Qian thought for a while. What should I do if I make a short CG and replicate the success of Starcraft 2? That was not without possibility.
Delayed settlement would be unacceptable if they were to take the risk to make a pure lengthy game CG.
Then, the third option—real shooting + movie CG—seemed to be a good way. Not only could it spend more money, but it could also guarantee the development period while lengthening the CG period.
Here’s the problem:
What if it became a blockbuster again if Fei Huang Workspace were to bring this movie to the cinema?
Wouldn’t Boss Pei have a heart attack if the game made a profit and the movie made another profit?
However, Pei Qian changed his mind since he had never heard of game companies doing it.
It indicated that there must be big problems with this model.
Movies and game CGs were not the same things in essence after all.
Chapter 674 - Make all the Mistakes You can Make
“Erm… I would like to express my opinion.” Zhu Xiaoce, who had been silent until now, raised his hand to say.
“Brother Huang, your idea is too ideal.
“Make a game CG and screen it in the movies by-the-way to make profits on both sides seemed to be pretty perfect, but no game companies had ever done it.
“There is basically no precedent in the world, be it the games company releasing a game CG as a movie or to take the movie to make it into game CG.
“Why? Because it doesn’t work!
“A movie wants us to tell a whole story within that time frame. There must be a coherent plot and rich elements. The same is true for sci-fi.
“The CG of a game must be divided into several sections. One chapter of the story will be shown after another. It shows the best essence of the game through fragments.
“And the battle part of the story is portrayed through its gameplay.
“That meant to say if we are to make a very good game CG and link it to a movie, it will miss a lot of information and make the viewers of the movie confused.
“If we are to disassemble a movie into CG, it would be too lengthy. A clear stage and a short plot would be played so that the original smooth plot becomes fragmented. It would make most players feel baffled. Most players were waiting to play the game; they would want to skip it instead of patiently watching the plot.
“So, we cannot do both sides; we have to choose one. If you are doing the CG type with the essence of the fragmented plot, then don’t expect it to be released as a movie. If you make it into a movie, then it would be divided into many segments. It would not have a good reputation with the players.”
Huang Sibo thought carefully about it. It seemed like it was indeed the case.
The idea that came to him did not work.
Everyone discussed it for a long time, but this question still seemed unsolvable so he had to look at Boss Pei, wanting to get more tips from Boss Pei.
Pei Qian was trying to suppress his joy at this time.
Very good, you all know how to answer for yourselves now!
Why should I not copy your standard answers?
Pei Qian had a plan in his heart. He thought about it and said. “Plan each chapter in the way of game CG and shoot in the way of sci-fi movies. It had to be completed within the development period and has to be more than an hour and a half.”
Zhu Xiaoce nearly fainted.
Did Boss Pei not hear a single word they were saying?
Or could Boss Pei have another plan?
The three of them looked at each other, wanting to ask more; but Boss Pei’s resolute attitude stopped them. They noted it down silently to figure it out slowly when they got back.
Pei Qian continued saying. “The name of our game is ‘Mission and Choice’ with a sci-fi theme.”
Hu Xianbin almost thought that he heard something wrong. “Huh? Mission and Choice? Isn’t that…?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yes, think of a way to get the copyrights of this game. We’ll make a high-definition version of it!”
Hu Xianbin was dumbfounded.
‘Mission and Choice’ was the shame of domestically-produced games! It was the nightmare of countless old players, the worst and most failed RTS game!
On top of having its own worldview as a copy of Starcraft, there was no plot while the art was a mess and had no merit at all!
People who engaged in IP were reproducing classics…
Why were we picking trash while engaging in IP?
Moreover, wasn’t it poisonous, harmful, and worthless garbage?
Why bother? Tengda had so many good IPs. Couldn’t we just use some of them? Or simply rewrite an entire world; wouldn’t it be much better?!
Pei Qian saw Hu Xianbin’s exaggerated expression and was secretly delighted. He did not intend to explain further.
Huang Sibo frowned.
However, he suddenly realized something, and his eyebrows smoothened out instantly.
“Boss Pei, I understand now!
“‘Mission and Choice’ is the pain in the hearts of all domestically-produced games. It represented the downturn of standalone games. It is also the shame of domestically-produced games.
“Boss Pei, you chose to remake this game to wash away the shame of this game and declare that the domestically-produced games are heading for glory!
“If it was successful, it would definitely reverse the players’ impression of domestically-produced games and give the domestically-produced game producers a boost!”
Hu Xianbin suddenly realized it as well.
That’s why Boss Pei made these games. It was not out of utilitarian considerations but a strong symbolic meaning!
He could not help but show his admiration on his face.
Sure enough, only heroes like Boss Pei could do it!
Pei Qian: “…”
Say whatever you want; I’m used to it.
Pei Qian sorted out his mood and continued, “This game must be innovative as compared to the traditional RTS game.”
Everyone nodded. Obviously, Boss Pei could not stick to the rules.
Boss Pei was not the type to go for safe choices based on successful cases like Starcraft 2 and Fantasy Battle.
Pei Qian thought about it for a while before saying, “There should only be two races in the game, the humans and Zergs. You can do whatever you want for balance. It doesn’t matter if you don’t do it well.
“The operation of the game must be as simple as possible. It was best to not be able to play without APM.
“Hmm… the greatest difficulty should not come from the enemy but from his own people. Every soldier must have his own mind and often not listen to the commands and orders of the players.
“You need to hire actors for the real shots, but you can only hire one protagonist; the others would all be bit-role actors. It doesn’t matter if you were to hire big stars for the protagonist, but you have to remember that he or she cannot show any emotions or acting.
“Another point is that it has to be completed within schedule, and the money has to be fully used up. I have no other requests.”
Pei Qian was very confident.
I don’t believe I can still make profits like that!
These requirements basically eliminated all the advantages of traditional RTS games.
Just like what He An said, if the current RTS game was done like Starcraft 2, it could still make money since there were still many die-hard RTS players around. They would still pay as long as they were good games.
The RTS game was simple, and there was no way to cater to these old players. Moreover, there was no way to compete for new players with games like GOG. The probability of failure was greatly increased!
Other than that, balance was very important to an RTS game.
‘Command and Conquer’ was ranked lower than Starcraft and Fantasy Battle in the hearts of many players because their balance was not done well. It was difficult for it to be pushed out as esports.
Therefore, Pei Qian would make an RTS game with a very lousy balance!
There would only be these two races: humans and Zergs. It would not be balanced, and veteran gamers of RTS games would definitely not be able to accept it; neither would it be possible to be made into esports.
As for ‘little soldiers must have their own thoughts’, Pei Qian based this on his personal experience. It was time for the players to feel their own pain!
Imagine that in an RTS, you command a small soldier to attack an enemy army, and then the small soldier saw a lot of enemies and ran away.
How sour! The players would definitely be pissed off.
The actors were just in case.
What if this thing could really be released to the big screens, become popular, and earned hund
reds of millions of US dollars?
The possibility was small, but it was still something he should guard against.
Therefore, Pei Qian had to ensure that it would fail even if it were made into a movie.
There was only one protagonist who could absolutely not show any acting skills and not too many expressions.
That way, the possibility of Lu Zhiyao’s rise to popularity in Tomorrow is Beautiful because of his acting would not happen again.
The three of them froze after listening to Boss Pei’s words.
They were baffled by Boss Pei’s requirements!
However, everyone had experience. They were not too shocked and did not ask too much.
They knew very well that Boss Pei must have given them a new quiz.
However, the problem was Boss Pei’s quiz this time was too ridiculous!
How were they going to solve this?
The name of the game itself was outrageous, and the mechanics of the game were completely inconsistent with the basic concepts of RTS games. Even the CG was so different.
Those who did not know him would think that Boss Pei was stacking the deck against them and making things difficult for them on purpose!
Pei Qian could not help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, seeing the expressions of the three.
Very good, he knew that this game was almost finished when he saw everyone’s expression!
He felt so happy thinking he would lose 500 million yuan at a time!
Pei Qian stood up. “Alright, do your best!”
…
Pei Qian returned to his residence while humming a song after arranging his work.
He arranged the work for Tengda Games and Fei Huang Workspace all at once; he was in a great mood.
However, Pei Qian calmed down and felt that he could not take it lightly.
He sent the plan to Teacher He to let his guiding lantern reconfirm to see if it could be compensated and how likely it was to make a loss.
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 438