Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883
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However, this type of project was easy to generate talking points and obtain a lot of attention because it was too outrageous.
What was more, all industries connected with Tengda were not lacking in attention.
Coupled with Pei Qian’s confidence, there would always be purchasers once it garnered attention.
Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he should choose some normal, not-so-outrageous projects to minimize the possibility of making huge profits.
These projects would only make small profits even if they were successful. The other failed projects could offset the profits if he cast his net wide enough, so that the profits would not be too ridiculous.
Pei Qian had to find a new way after combining so much experience at failing:
He had to cast the net widely. The more companies he invests in, the less would the influence of luck be able to affect him. The chances of losing money were greater under the premise that domestically-produced standalone games would fail.
He must not interfere with the operating model of these companies or even know what projects they were doing to minimize his ‘observer effect’.
It was best to choose a project that was normal without many unique characteristics. This way, there would be no chemical reaction with Tengda’s fame and make huge profits from nowhere.
Pei Qian considered for a long time and felt that the guidelines this time were very reliable.
He should be able to make losses successfully this time after accumulating so many failure experiences, right?
So, the next question was… who should be in charge of it this time?
He looked around and found that there was no one he could use.
There were many people in Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games who understood games, but Pei Qian did not feel safe with them.
They were far too poisoned in their minds!
The common feature of Tengda’s employees was that they would misinterpret Boss Pei’s intentions and find the most profitable methods. At the same time, their understanding of the game led to the successful experience with Tengda Games.
Pei Qian felt that it might lead to failure even if he were to grab a random person from the other departments to become in charge.
Pei Qian had been failing at trying to ‘make his employees cross industries’ after all.
It seemed like every employee managed to transit successfully.
Get Ma Yang?
No, he could not trust Old Ma in this area with IOI as the precedent.
Lu Mingliang?
That would be worse. Lu Mingliang himself was a chief planner and had a good understanding of the game industry. Besides, he was doing well in Upwind Logistics; what if Upwind Logistics suddenly became profitable if he transferred him?
That would be a total loss.
After thinking about it, Pei Qian felt that he had to find someone with nothing to do with Tengda Corporation to carry this out.
It would be best if he knew a little about standalone games but not too much.
People who did not understand at all would get a professional consultant. That would become a hidden danger. People who knew too well would be too accurate.
Suddenly, Pei Qian thought of a good candidate.
Qiu Hong!
Pei Qian had a general understanding of Qiu Hong previously during class. He had just failed in a mobile game with paywalls himself, which was why he came to Jingzhou to give lectures and relax.
It was not easy for a successful producer to find investment, let alone a producer who had just failed.
Moreover, Qiu Hong had already started his own business. He would definitely not lower his head to apply for a job in a general company in the short term since he had no financial pressure.
That meant that Qiu Hong probably did not manage to find anything to do during the past six months.
Qiu Hong might have successful experiences, but it was limited to games with paywalls. He originally made standalone games, but that was when he first joined the industry. That standalone game failed.
Pei Qian felt that while Qiu Hong might be very accurate when it came to Krypton Gold Online Games, it might not be the case with standalone games.
As for Qiu Hong saying that he would never touch standalone games…
First, Qiu Hong actually did not reject standalone games. It was just that he was burned by it when he first entered the industry. That was why he was against it now.
Secondly, Pei Qian did not plan to talk about dreams or reason. It was just a very realistic issue of interest.
The reason why Qiu Hong gave up standalone games was to make more money and lead a better life.
Therefore, the key was not in the mode of games, but how much benefit Qiu Hong would get from this job.
Producers of Krypton Gold Online Games were very realistic people. They do it because the market told them that this was the most profitable.
In that case, Pei Qian would definitely be able to poach Qiu Hong over with more money.
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more he felt that Qiu Hong was the best candidate.
Here came the problem… how was he to talk to him about it…?
Qiu Hong still thought that he was Ma Yang even until now.
Continue to engage him as Ma Yang? Give Qiu Hong the mission as the person-in-charge of Dream Realization Ventures?
That would work, but it was never good to cheat others.
What was more, Qiu Hong would come into contact with Tengda’s employees in the future. This matter would be revealed sooner or later so it was impossible to keep it a secret forever.
Therefore, he had to show his hand.
How then… could he do it so that Qiu Hong could better accept it?
It was certainly impossible to announce honestly. Pei Qian wanted to tell him the truth, but Qiu Hong would not believe it even if he risked being warned by the system.
Qiu Hong might even think he was being arrogant and leave on the spot.
Therefore, Pei Qian could only use another white lie.
Tell Qiu Hong that he used Ma Yang’s identity to ask him about his failure experience was, in fact, for friendly exchanges between designers and to get to know each other better. They could now cooperate since they had a better understanding. It was now logical to throw an olive branch[1].
Pei Qian dialed Qiu Hong’s number after thinking about his reasons. He invited him to make a trip to Jingzhou these few days for important matters to be discussed.
…
…
October 12th, Wednesday…
Wang Xiaobin was racking his brains out planning for the update of these downloadable contents of the old games.
There were too many old games. It was obviously unrealistic to update all the downloadable contents in four months which meant he could only choose which to do.
Moreover, he must also consider the price-quality ratio of the update content.
Some producers regard the downloadable contents as an independent game with large capacity and high prices. They also had a long development time.
Boss Pei gave them four months; it was impossible to achieve this effect.
Boss Pei might not be stingy with money, but money could not buy time.
Therefore, the difficulty was still very high. Wang Xiaobin did not have much experience in such jobs so he felt a huge pressure.
“Make ‘The Lonely Desert Road’ into an interactive mode? Drive with other players so that the desert road becomes no more lonely?
“Add a ‘do it if you can’ mode in Game Designer? Get the voice-over to choose his own route and get the players to mock the voice-overs?
“Add something to the plot of ‘Ocean Stronghold’? It doesn’t seem necessary… what if I were to add an epic weapon? Boss Pei will probably prefer the former.
“In the case of ‘Repent and be Saved’, it seemed like many players find it a bit boring to take so many weeks to clear one level. There might be new players
entering, but the stickiness with the old players was basically gone. Should we make a challenge mode from scratch for the old players to find something to do?
“Hm…
“The content seems too simple; will the players buy it?”
Wang Xiaobin had some ideas but had no confidence in himself.
There were some regular updates such as giving a few new generals to ‘Ghost General’ and continuing producing some epic weapons for ‘Ocean Stronghold’ that seemed boring. However, these ideas were too small. He was afraid that the downloadable content prices would not be high. They might even make losses.
“The former is safe but not interesting; the latter is interesting but a bit risky…
“What would Boss Pei choose?
“Boss Pei will definitely choose the latter.
“I have to think of something creative since Boss Pei gave this important mission to me. I will be fully responsible for it!”
Wang Xiaobin continued to think about the plan.
…
…
October 13th, Thursday…
Zhu Xiaoce came to the hotel where Lu Zhiyao was putting up.
Three days had passed since Lu Zhiyao had arrived in Jingzhou. He had ‘experienced the script’ with the gaming laptop.
Zhu Xiaoce felt that it was time for him to take a look.
It was not for any other reason but mainly because the script had to be published within two days so it could not be delayed any longer.
Zhu Xiaoce had no clue so he could only find a way to see if Lu Zhiyao had any good ideas.
Zhu Xiaoce nodded gently at the door of Lu Zhiyao’s room.
The door opened after two minutes.
Zhu Xiaoce could not help but be shocked at Lu Zhiyao’s appearance.
The radiant, handsome movie king that arrived three days ago had become disheveled. He had short stubble growing on his chin, with eyes lacking focus.
Zhu Xiaoce was a little baffled. “What happened? Why did you become depressed over playing a game?”
“Director Zhu, your idea doesn’t work at all!” Lu Zhiyao exploded helplessly.
“I have been gaming like a madman these few days and did my best, but I feel nothing.
“I’ve given up.”
[1] This means showing the intention of ending a disagreement.
Chapter 680 - Linked with the Downloadable Contents of Ocean Stronghold
“Have you realized nothing?
“Don’t rush, take it slow; tell me everything that you felt in detail without missing out any bit.”
Zhu Xiaoce sat on the sofa with Lu Zhiyao in the living room of the suite.
Lu Zhiyao took a sip from the half-drunk cola and started spitting out his complaints towards Zhu Xiaoce.
“Director Zhu, I don’t know if it’s because your method isn’t good or because I have not grasped the essence. In short, I have not realized anything.
“You want me to treat every single unit as a living person.
“I have been reminding myself about that. It was all alright at the start. I deliberately got the soldiers with residual blood to hide behind, and no one died.
“However, towards the end, they would die one after the other if I wasn’t careful…
“I realized later that the more I want to treat these people as real people, the more I can’t do it!
“Because if I were to keep stressing to myself that they were living people, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on thinking rationally and deal with the current battle situation.
“The more I struggled, the more deaths.
“Therefore, the battle got harder and harder towards the end. I couldn’t save these people’s lives in the end.
“Even if I were to repeatedly lie to myself that these are living people, my subconscious mind resists it and constantly denies it. Therefore, I cannot think like what you said…
“In the end, I was confused and lost. I felt indifferent even when a lot of people died. Everything went back to the original point.
“In short, I gained nothing.”
Lu Zhiyao looked at Zhu Xiaoce after he was done with his complaints.
He originally thought he would see a disappointed or comforting expression on Zhu Xiaoce’s face. However, he did not expect Zhu Xiaoce to raise his hand to signal him not to speak while he lowered his head in serious thoughts.
Lu Zhiyao was shocked.
What did that mean? Could Director Zhu actually find some inspiration in what I said?
Were directors so good at filling the gaps?
Zhu Xiaoce frowned, feeling as if he had grasped something but felt a little surreal.
Boss Pei’s requirement was for the soldiers in the game to have their own ideas—combined with the approach of ‘breaking the dimensional wall’, people would naturally think of the idea that ‘the soldiers in the games are real’.
However, this idea had been used previously. If he wanted to come up with something new, he would have to dig deep into it and come up with something new.
Lu Zhiyao’s mental journey might not be able to be used directly in the plot, but it would also provide some ideas that were not thought of before.
For example:
It seemed ironic that their rational judgment would be impaired if they cared too much about whether these units were real people or not and that not treating them as real human beings would be able to reduce sacrifices.
Because of the special medium which was the game, the subconscious would deny and resist the idea that the ‘characters in the game were real-life people’.
When too many people died, life would become a number, and the highest commander would only fall into numbness and despair.
However, was it right to treat people completely as numbers? It seemed like it would give rise to more problems…
Moreover, Lu Zhiyao played ‘Starcraft 2’, not ‘Destiny and Choice’.
Imagine, if it was ‘Destiny and Choice’, every soldier had their own mind and the gap between humans and the Zergs would be even greater…
Many thoughts quickly collided; Zhu Xiaoce suddenly had a wave of inspiration!
“I’ll use your computer!” he quickly said.
Lu Zhiyao stood up quickly. “Alright.”
Zhu Xiaoce exit ‘Starcraft 2’ immediately and created a new document, quickly tapping on the keyboard.
Lu Zhiyao stood behind curiosity and watched for half a minute before saying with some doubts. “Director Zhu, are you… writing a summary of the story from the beginning?”
“Of course not! I have a script with hundreds of thousands of words on my office computer. This is just to note down my inspiration from just now,” Zhu Xiaoce replied hurriedly.
“Don’t interrupt my thoughts and don’t look. I can’t write with you looking on. You sit aside first.”
Zhu Xiaoce continued typing frantically away at the keyboard after he got Lu Zhiyao to shun away, recording all the inspiration in his mind.
Lu Zhiyao had serious doubts in his mind but did not want to look again, and so he could only wait with claws scratching his heart.
Zhu Xiaoce wrote at a good speed, adding and deleting continuously.
“Boss Pei said that there should only be one protagonist that is Lu Zhiyao.
“If there is no one acting against him and all of them are going to be a one-man show, it would mean that the protagonist must undergo many mental changes to hold up the entire length of the movie.
“For now… even five times would not be enough.”
“Hmm… perhaps he could have someone acting against him, but not an actor.
“Artificial Intelligence?
“Well, if you want to break the dimensional wall, the protagonist must control the fleet through the help of artificial intelligence. At the same time, the game itself has to be simplified which also needs a certain amount of help from the AI.
“Since Artificial intelligence is to be present in the movie, it must be opp
osing the protagonist. Moreover, with the intervention of Artificial intelligence, the protagonist’s mentality will be able to change many times.
“Nine times.
“The protagonist’s mentality changes nine times. Every time, the story would advance a little and closer to the eventual truth.
“Moreover, don’t forget… the protagonist is a determined space fighter who doesn’t have too many expressions so try to present a contradiction:
“The plot is completely unexpected to the audience and brings a strong plot tension, but the protagonist is always strong, calm, and sensible. It is not until the end that there is a little emotional fluctuation, and every emotional change required shows a very subtle expression…
“There is only one protagonist; therefore, this protagonist must impress the audience.
“Tell a story and create a good protagonist. That should be enough to Boss Pei.”
Zhu Xiaoce wrote about 500 words, checked it, and nodded satisfactorily.
That was the essence of the story, but he would have to adjust and refine it repeatedly if he wanted it to turn into a script.
Zhu Xiaoce put the laptop away, thinking about it and putting it into his backpack. “Alright, Movie King, your work is complete. I’m very inspired! I’ll go back and finish up the script, and we’ll then get ready to shoot immediately!”
“Director Zhu, are you sure you are finishing up the script?” Lu Zhiyao asked uncertainly.
Zhu Xiaoce smiled. “It was very far away but not anymore! Take a good rest, shave your beard. I’ll send the first part of the script to you very soon.”
“You’re going to give me the script in parts?” Lu Zhiyao was a little shocked.
Zhu Xiaoce nodded. “Of course, to allow you to better adapt to the character. I’ll get going first!”
Zhu Xiaoce turned to leave after he was done speaking.
Lu Zhiyao scratched his head in confusion.
He felt that what he said really inspired Director Zhu Xiaoce.
However, he still could not imagine how the script would be like…
…
Zhu Xiaoce returned to Fei Huang Workspace and called Huang Sibo and the scriptwriter directly for a short meeting.