Chapter 190 Repent and be Saved

Apart from these, there was the problem with the environment. Souls-like games were not successful from the beginning. They had gone through a period of having very low sales.

From the earliest-released Demon's Souls to Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls 3… all the way to Sekiro; the difficulty level decreased progressively. While maintaining Souls-like games' essence, the game creators lowered their difficulty to cause an increase in sales volume.

This proved that the more difficult games were, the lower their sales volume would be.

What's more, the success of Souls-like games depended on the region.

Demon's Souls went in a direction completely opposite from what was set by the publisher. While researching and developing the game, Miyazaki Hidetaka played some tricks and created the game against the requirements set out to him. Instead, he created a game that fully reflected his own style.

By the time the management realized this problem, Demon's Souls was already more or less complete. They were furious, but they could not do anything about it except to make a Hail Mary effort with it.

In the beginning, even the publishers did not think the game would succeed. If the leader of the project-Takeshi Kajii—had not persisted, the game might not have been published at all.

In the early period when the game was published, the renowned video game magazine -Famitsu-gave the game a low 29 points out of 40.

The game was more or less a failure locally. Miyazaki Hidetaka tried his best to make use of his network and contacted publishers in the United States and in Europe. In the end, the game unexpectedly became popular!

The key reason for this was that Souls-like games perfectly suited the taste of hardcore Western gamers who loved standalone games. Within China, Souls-like games only really became popular fifteen years later.

At that moment, the environment in the game industry matched what Pei Qian remembered. Difficult games were only enjoyed by the minority and were thus not very popular. Since that was the case, Pei Qian could solve the problem by creating an extremely difficult Souls-like game to be released only in China.

What's more, in order to prevent this game from being discovered by people in the West, he had to create Chinese-style backgrounds. He also had to widen the cultural gap to ensure that people in the West would not be able to understand the game even if they tried!

Pei Qian could not help but feel overjoyed. Indeed, there was no limit to one's creativity. If he had not been trying so hard to incur losses, he would not have realized that he was such a creative person!

Pei Qian succinctly explained the direction of the game to everyone. In sum, he had five requirements.

First, the game had to have Chinese scenery as its background theme. It had to contain huge amounts of riddles, puzzles, and Chinese content. It also had to be written in the ancient Chinese language. This was mainly to ensure that the game would not be discovered by Westerners and become famous as a result. In order to solve the riddles, one would need an excellent understanding of ancient Chinese. This would make the Westerners completely uninterested in playing the game!

What's more, the game would primarily be sold domestically. Not translating the game into other languages would not constitute a violation of the system's rules.

Second, the game had to be extremely difficult. Pei Qian requested for Bao Xu and Lu Mingliang to use all of their brain juice to think of ways to make players fail at the game. Their top priority should be to persuade players to admit defeat.

Third, this had to be a grand action game. There had to be huge amounts of models, movements, and scenery. They had to use up all the budget allocated for art resources!

They had to think of as many ways to spend money as possible!

Of course, 'spending more money' was relative to the investment Tengda Games made earlier. In fact, the limit Pei Qian set in his heart was twenty million yuan. He would want to spend more than that, but the System would not allow for it.

That amount was nothing compared to overseas research and development budgets for massive projects, which could easily go up to tens of millions or even a hundred billion yuan. However, compared to the investments that domestic producers made, it could still be referred to as a big project.

Fourth, this game had to maximize the period that players would be allowed to ask for a refund. According to the requirements of official games platforms, games bought on the official games platform could be refunded up to three hours after purchase. This limit could only be adjusted upwards, not downwards.

In fact, most games merchants wished that the limit could be adjusted downwards or gotten rid of altogether. None of them would voluntarily adjust the limit upwards.

However, Pei Qian decided to use the maximum limit that the official games platform would allow-five hours! For many small games, the total game duration was about three or four hours. To allow refunds up to five hours after purchase of the game would be insane. It would be as good as free.

To Pei Qian, three hours was not long at all. Some players of Dark Souls 3 would kill three hours fighting Champion Gundyr without even realizing it. The refund allowance period would be over by then.

Pei Qian decided to allow refunds up to five hours after purchase of the game and even offer a reminder to players ten minutes before the end of this five-hour-period. This reminder will appear in the upper-right hand corner of the game.

This would ensure that every player did not let the allowance period expire without realizing

it.

Fifth, the game's name…

To avoid influencing the players with its name and accidentally misleading people, Pei Qian decided to make the name absolutely clear. The game would be called Repent and be Saved. This would serve as an honest warning from Pei Qian to the players.

After hearing Pei Qian's five requests, Bao Xu was confused.

As Pei Qian remembered, Demon's Souls was released in 2009. The world that he was in did not have Demon's Souls yet. Thus, even an experienced and well-exposed gamer like Bao Xu had not heard of such a sadistic game.

Of course, there were a few hardcore games that became famous for their high difficulty. However, he had never seen a game that made defeating players its aim like Pei Qian was suggesting.

The other requirements were understandable. The difficulty level itself was what really stumped Lu Mingliang and Bao Xu.

"Boss Pei, can you tell us more about this difficulty level? For example, what percentage of players do you want to be defeated by the boss in the final level?" Bao Xu asked.

Pei Qian instinctively wanted to say, "99.9999% of them!"

Yet, in his vision, a line of words appeared.

(Warning! It is a violation to create a game that most players cannot win. The maximum difficulty allowed for the game must be determined by the owner's ability to win it.]

Pei Qian's smile disappeared from his face.

System, I f*cking almost blurted it out!

I must be able to win at the game? My hand is f*cking disabled!

I can be tortured even in Ocean Stronghold. You need me to be able to win at this game. You might as well tell me that I'm not allowed to create a game like that altogether!

However, Pei Qian did not panic. After all, he was well-exposed and knowledgeable. A small problem like that would not stump him.

I have to be able to win the game?

That would be easy. I would secretly hide something in the game…

I'll hide an especially strong weapon in the game. Players would only be able to obtain such a weapon after unlocking a highly-complex, hidden plot. They would have to progress in the game in a completely illogical manner in order to get it.

After that, with this strong weapon, his understanding of Souls-like games, as well as a prior understanding of the various levels and maps; Pei Qian would spend two or three weeks trying to win at the game. That would resolve the problem.

For the sake of incurring losses, I will work hard!

Once this thought appeared, the System stopped showing warnings. This meant that it was allowed.

Pei Qian smiled slightly and answered Bao Xu, "We will not cut off any players based on design. However, theoretically, most players should be able to win at the game. They would just need a bit of technique."

The subtext of his response was that if they decided to give up on the game, they could not blame Pei Qian.

"Design the game to be as difficult as you can possibly imagine. I will personally make the final edits."

When the time came, he would add the special weapon into the game. He would make the game as difficult as it could be with the special, powerful weapon on hand. Then, he would not get another warning from the System.

If players could not find this weapon, it would be like they were in hell. If they were allowed to return the game unconditionally within five hours of making the purchase, most people would refund it for sure!

Lu Mingliang asked, "Boss Pei, the game would be called Repent and be Saved, and it would have mostly Chinese backgrounds. What theme would its world take on then?"

Pei Qian smiled and said, "You can decide on minor things like that."

Chapter 191 Terminal Chinese Language Network

It was not that Pei Qian was acting humble. The main problem was that he could not come up with things like themes for worlds. He could not even lay down hard and fast requirements for the design details for the game. He would wait for the design manuscript to be handed to him. Then, he would make some edits to ensure that there would be no problem.

Ma Yiqun listened very closely. After being put in charge of rewriting plot designs for the games, this was his first time being involved in the research and development process of a game from scratch. What's more, it sounded like Pei Qian had high standards for the game this time. Everything sounded extremely challenging

He could not let Boss Pei down!

The general direction had been laid down, and Boss Pei had clarified his requests. Everyone began to leave the meeting room. Suddenly, Pei Qian asked Ma Yiqun to remain behind. Ma Yiqun could not help but feel excited.

Boss Pei is asking me to remain behind. Clearly, he wants to explain to me more about the plot!

That's great! Ever since I joined Tengda, I have been working hard at inferring and understanding Boss Pei's hidden intentions. To be able to discuss these things face-to-face with Boss Pei would guarantee deep learning points.

How would Boss Pei design Repent and be Saved's world theme? Any hint would be greatly appreciated…

Ma Yiqun could not help but overthink.

Looking at Ma Yiqun, Pei Qian smiled and said, "From tomorrow onward, you will no longer be a member of Tengda Games."

Ma Yiqun was stunned.

What's this? Have I not been doing my job well? Am I being asked to leave?

That can't be. Lu Mingliang and the other colleagues have given me very good feedback. Where have I gone wrong? Why is Boss Pei upset with me? Did I do a bad job of writing the plots? Is Boss Pei disappointed? Impossible -weren't the players' reactions pretty good?

Pei Qian smiled and continued speaking. "I want to give you a more important task. Tengda is going to start a website for webnovels. I know that writing webnovels has always been your dream and hobby. That's why I want you to be in charge of this website."

Ma Yiqun was even more shocked. His eyes widened as he became even more confused.

Bliss had come too suddenly! Ma Yiqun had no idea how to react! He had initially thought that he was being fired. Beads of cold sweat had formed on his forehead. Now, everything was clarified. He was not being fired. He was being transferred somewhere else.

From working with games, he was going to be working with online literature!

A realization dawned on Ma Yiqun. He never expected that… he would be able to work with online literature once again.

All along, he had thought that he was naturally gifted in writing. He had come from a family of scholars. As a result, he was well-nurtured and had a good, strong foundation in language. In university, he began to try his hand at writing. He also gained a significant following of fans who loved reading his work.

Ma Yiqun loved interacting with his readers. He also deeply enjoyed the feeling of others liking and validating his work.

However, the experience he had after graduating from university left a deep impact on him. It had not been easy for him to gain a following from scratch. In the end, less than a hundred people purchased his chapters. He nearly starved to death.

As a result, he had no choice but to give up his account on Limitless Chinese Language Network and go to Shang Yang Games to work instead. There, he began to plan plots for games.

Until now, it had been a year since he last touched online literature. Although he had still been reading popular writings, he had put his pen down a long time ago.

Ma Yiqun's voice trembled as he asked, "You're putting me in charge? What's… the status of this company now?"

Pei Qian smiled as he answered, "It's still in construction, but don't worry. Assistant Xin will take care of the finance and administration staff. You will only be in charge of the daily operations of this website.

"The office will be located upstairs. As for your staff… We have recruited a batch of newbies with majors in humanities from Handong University. In the online literature industry, it's not meaningful to talk about whether people are suitable for the job. You can assign them tasks as you deem fit. Give them any job that you find suitable."

Pei Qian was speaking the truth. These people were indeed newbies. Pei Qian did not even know if they read online literature.

However, Ma Yiqun thought differently.

Why was Boss Pei setting up a website for online literature all of a sudden? He is definitely not just following a trend. He must have a more important purpose in doing so!

Until now, Tengda had been developing in multiple different directions. Fei Huang Workspace and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe looked completely unrelated on the surface. However, they were all pieces of a much bigger puzzle!

If one saw Fei Huang Workspace as a venture in the filming industry and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe as a venture in the physical industry and then a website for online literature…

That would most likely be an important step towards the copyrights plan!

If they could produce good IP, Fei Huang Workspace would be able to make a film out of it. Tengda Games would also be able to create a game that revolved around this IP. In the future, this far-sighted set-up would prove to be extremely meaningful!

Although the website was just starting out, given Boss Pei's vicious strategies and Tengda's immense financial strength…

If Ma Yiqun messed this up, he could be thoroughly ashamed of himself!

The fact that Boss Pei had put Ma Yiqun in charge of such an important step in the plan without any hesitation greatly touched him. However, apart from feeling touched, he also felt a great deal of self-doubt.

"Boss Pei, you know my situation. I'm afraid I'm not cut out for this.

"I can't even write good novels on my own. If you put me in charge of others, I might lead them down the wrong path. Then, the consequences would be too huge for me to bear. I'm a bit…"

Pei Qian's smile widened.

Lead them down the wrong path? That's the way. Why do you think I put you in charge of this website?

Pei Qian knew that he could not stand by and do nothing once the website was ready. When that time came, he would have to buy a random batch of failed manuscripts and hire a group of full-time writers. These were things he had to do.

This was what worried Pei Qian. Given his own mysterious good luck, he would probably end up hiring a god of online literature. If he published a book that went through the roof in terms of subscriptions and made the website popular along the way, Pei Qian would be in deep trouble.

Given his experiences, he had to guard against something like that.

To Pei Qian, Ma Yiqun was premium insurance for this.

His consecutive failures showed that there was a big problem with his objective understanding of the way online literature worked. He had given the mainstream readers of online literature the exact opposite of what they wanted. He could not even satisfy a minority of the readers.

As for Pei Qian's seniors—even if they had read online literature before, they knew nothing about the internal creative process.

If they were all that good, they would have started writing online literature on their own a long time ago. Why would they still be unemployed now?

Ma Yiqun's own judgment and understanding were off, and yet he had to guide editors, examine manuscripts, give recommendations, and the like. That would make him all the more unreliable!

Then, the wrong manuscripts would be accepted, the resident authors would be full-time failures, and the readers would not be able to find good reads on the website. These would form a vicious cycle…

En, that sounded right.

To be honest, Pei Qian's considerations did seem overly ridiculous. Would it be that easy to succeed?

If he wanted to seriously create a website for online literature, Pei Qian could diligently look for experienced editors in the industry and pour huge sums of money into looking for incredible writers. Even then, there would be a huge chance that he would fail.

It was not easy to be profitable in this industry.

Since he could not change the ending, he might as well make some arrangements to allow Ma Yiqun to fulfill his dream.

What was money? Fulfilling his employees' dreams was Boss Pei's lifelong mission!

Chapter 192 Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version

Pei Qian gently patted Ma Yiqun on the shoulder.

"I think you weren't well-received on Limitless Chinese Language Network because the editor was jealous of your talent. Your writing skills are way ahead of our times. It's not your fault that the readers cannot relate to what you write."

A realization dawned on Ma Yiqun. "Boss Pei, have you read the novels I wrote?"

"No," replied Pei Qian, shaking his head. "However, I can see your talent in your eyes.

"If we want our website to succeed, we cannot follow the exact path that Limitless Chinese Language Network traveled. Otherwise, no matter how well we do, we will always only be an imitation of Limitless Chinese Language Network. How can we talk about making tight corners and making swift progress then?"

Ma Yiqun seemed to understand.

What Boss Pei was saying seemed to make sense. Ma Yiqun did not think that his talents had been buried. After all, this was an extremely competitive industry. If the editor could not relate to him, perhaps he could say that his talents had been buried temporarily. However, if the readers could not relate to him, it was unacceptable.

Ma Yiqun always felt that his novels had failed because of the latter reason. That was why he did not have confidence in his own abilities.

Yet, something Boss Pei said was absolutely right.

For their website to succeed, they could not follow Limitless Chinese Language Network's exact path. Otherwise, the readers would always choose Limitless Chinese Language Network over them. Why would they want to visit a website that merely followed trends and imitated others?

Thus, if they wanted to make swift progress, they had to come up with new and different ideas. It was clear that Boss Pei was a far-sighted man. He had high hopes and expectations for himself!

Boss Pei wanted a website that would surpass Limitless Chinese Language Network. He would not settle for mere initial success!

Ma Yiqun nodded profusely. "Alright, Boss Pei, I will do my best to run the website well!

"Er, Boss Pei, what will the website be called?"

Pei Qian smiled and answered, "Terminal Chinese Language Network."

It meant that the website would be a graveyard for literature.

However, Ma Yiqun immediately felt deep veneration for him.

Does Boss Pei want to work hard to make this website the terminus for all online literature?

Does he want all authors to publish their works on this website?

Look at Boss Pei; he could always think of names that sounded impressive and fitting.

"Go ahead. If you run into any problems, report them to me at once."

Once he got rid of Ma Yiqun, Pei Qian turned to focus on Shang Yang Games.

First, he looked at the data for Bloody Battle Song that Ye Zhizhou sent to him. It was still almost too painful to look at. It was stable. One could say the game was stable. After all, they had already been very kind to the game. The old players were all engrossed now. Pei Qian guessed that the game would be in the status quo for at least the next few months.

However, the income was small indeed.

They had gotten rid of so many purchase options that the whales no longer knew where they could spend their money. The game's graphics were extremely out-of-date as well. Shang Yang Games did not spend a cent on marketing, and no new players were joining the game. Even if this group of old players remained loyal, the amount of money they spent on top-ups was almost negligible.

Now, the changes that had to be made to Bloody Battle Song were complete. The new version had stabilized as well. Pei Qian had to give them new tasks. If he allowed them to continue slacking, he might receive a warning from the System soon.

However, Pei Qian already had a plan for all of this.

Before this, he had laid down a two-step battle strategy for Shang Yang Games. The first step was to get rid of all purchase options but one in the various games. The second step was to create a new game.

Everyone was to come up with a plan for a new game and write a design manuscript. Pei Qian would look through the design manuscripts and pick one to become Shang Yang Games' new project. Then, research and development could begin.

During the settlement period, the employees of Shang Yang Games had been working on this design manuscript. By now, they were all done.

It was time for Pei Qian to pick one for Shang Yang Games to start researching and developing

This meant that Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games would be going down completely different paths.

For Tengda Games, Pei Qian maintained full control. He wanted to set directions that he was sure would guarantee failure. As much as he could, he wanted to steer things according to the plan he had in his head.

However, for Shang Yang Games, Pei Qian wanted to maintain its original state as much as possible. He did not want to interfere unnecessarily.

From the way Pei Qian looked at things, the path that Shang Yang Games was on looked slightly more 'successful'. Of course, he wanted to persist in the same manner.

Pei Qian found a random number generator online and allocated a number to each of the twenty-odd design manuscripts. Then, he generated a random number.

"Six."

Pei Qian opened the folder labeled number six and scanned the documents inside.

There were a total of four pages to the document. This was supposed to be a strategy game, but the rules were obviously incomplete.

Of all the design work that the game required in reality, this document only covered about 20%.

It only briefly explained the gameplay in one or two lines, without offering any details about the practical design of the game.

"…En, this person's attitude is not bad, but I cannot make use of this document."

On the surface, the document fully matched Pei Qian's requirements for a 'lousy game'. However, the problem was that it was lacking in too many details.

Pei Qian could not possibly fill in the gaps in the plan by himself.

Once Pei Qian decided on a game, he would distribute the design manuscript to everyone in the office. Then, everyone would see the crazy content in this document and elaborate on the rules. By the time they were done, the game would surely become unrecognizable.

That was why he could not choose this manuscript.

Pei Qian could not imagine what the final version of the game would look like. That posed too much of a risk to him.

It would be best if he could find a design manuscript that had a clear picture of the game's rules but was clearly mediocre. Only then would he be relieved.

Pei Qian canceled out the number six and generated another.

"Thirteen."

Pei Qian opened the folder labeled 'thirteen' and found a relatively good idea for a standalone game. What's more, the manuscript contained pretty good concepts for the various levels. On closer inspection, he discovered that Wang Xiaobin had been the one who wrote it.

"…I didn't expect that you-a systems designer-would dream about revitalizing the domestically-produced games industry. En… it's not impossible for me to spend some money to help you realize your dreams.

"However, the problem is that your design manuscript looks quite conservative. If I follow your proposal, we might not be able to incur losses."

Pei Qian flipped through the manuscript and decided to temporarily shelve it.

Although it would not be a bad decision to make Shang Yang Games pursue standalone games, Pei Qian had two main worries.

First, standalone games had quite low bottom lines. Since the required investment would be relatively fixed-even if the game did not become popular, they would be able to make minimal sales. It was most likely that they would incur a little loss. If they did slightly better, they would be able to cover their expenses.

Second, Wang Xiaobin's plan was almost complete. There was not much risk involved. One could say that it was a plan that had mostly been proven by foreign publishers of standalone games.

Pei Qian's judgment was ahead of his times. With one look, he could tell that although the plan was not considered reliable, it could not be considered ridiculous either.

To Pei Qian, it was merely slightly below average.

"I'll pick one more. If there is a better one, I'll use it. Otherwise, I will make Wang Xiaobin's dreams come true."

He had initially said that he would draw lots only once, but Pei Qian changed his mind. At the last moment, he decided to make minor adjustments.

After all, the last time that he folded his arms and decided not to do anything, Bao Xu and Huang Sibo created Ocean Stronghold. Until now, he had not finished spending the income that the game made.

"It's a 'two' this time. Oh? A sequel to Bloody Battle Song? Written by Ye Zhizhou?"

Pei Qian opened the design manuscript and took a good look.

"There's not much of a difference in the gameplay, but he added a few more details to advance the storyline. He will keep the same purchase options as the prequel, too.

"En? That's not bad."

Pei Qian felt that Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin's plans were both not bad, but they each had their shortcomings.

Design Manuscript Six was sufficiently unreliable. However, it was so unreliable and had too few details that Pei Qian could not pursue it with peace of mind.

He was afraid that Shang Yang Games' employees would add so many details to it that the game would improve significantly.

On the flip side, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin's plans were quite complete. At the same time, this meant that there was a low chance that Shang Yang Games would deviate from them later.

"I'll choose Ye Zhizhou's plan.

"Wang Xiaobin's plan is also worthy of praise, but it's a bit too stable for my liking. There are no risks involved. If your dreams were more bold and imaginative, perhaps I would be won over."

Finally, Pei Qian saved Ye Zhizhou's design manuscript. However, Ye Zhizhou himself had not thought about what he would call this sequel.

Pei Qian quickly typed on his keyboard to add the name of the game.

Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version!

En, since it was going to be a tacky game, he needed to make it tacky through and through.

Pei Qian had even thought about the marketing strategy for this game, which was most likely going to fail. He had to burn as much money and garner as much criticism as possible!

Once he made the edits, Pei Qian sent the design manuscript back to Ye Zhizhou.

"We'll go with this."

After pondering for a moment, he added, "Tell Wang Xiaobin that his plan was quite good, but it was too conservative. While researching and developing the game, ask him to make appropriate edits to his design manuscript. There's a chance we might use it in the future."

Chapter 193 Choosing Between Two Plans

At Shang Yang Games…

Ye Zhizhou's heart had been filled with discomfort as he waited for a long time. Finally, he received Boss Pei's response. After reading the contents of Boss Pei's reply, he became confused.

"Brother Wang, come here quickly! Look!"

Wang Xiaobin had nothing to do at the moment. When he heard Ye Zhizhou calling for him, he immediately stopped whatever he was doing and walked over to Ye Zhizhou's desk.

"Brother Wang, Boss Pei has given us the plan for our new game. He… chose my plan." Ye Zhizhou pointed at the folder on his screen: 'Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version'.

Wang Xiaobin's mouth opened slightly. He was shocked. "You came up with that name?"

Ye Zhizhou replied, "No… Boss Pei edited it. I named it Bloody Battle Song 2 at first."

Tss…!

Wang Xiaobin sucked in a deep breath. This name was overflowing with extremely intense, cheap vibes! Why would Boss Pei give the game a name like that? This was…

Hard to understand!

"Did Boss Pei make edits to anything else in your proposal?" Wang Xiaobin asked.

Ye Zhizhou looked awkward. "I studied the document closely once through. He did not change a single word of it. He only changed the name…"

Wang Xiaobin was speechless. He could not help but feel emotional. Wang Xiaobin knew very well that Ye Zhizhou wanted to create a sequel to Bloody Battle Song primarily because he was still indignant.

Ye Zhizhou had created a 'Chosen One' system for Bloody Battle Song and edited the game's paywalls and profit model per Boss Pei's instructions. He felt quite proud of his achievements in this area.

Now, a good number of active players on Bloody Battle Song was being maintained. Many old players had returned, and its reputation had made a 180-degree turn.

There was only one problem: the game was not making any money!

Ye Zhizhou cared a lot about this detail. To him, a game that was not making any money was considered a failure, no matter how good its reputation was. He had to think hard about why the game was not making money.

It was mainly because Bloody Battle Song's graphics were lousy. It was completely outdated. What's more, Shang Yang Games did not have enough money to run marketing campaigns for the game. That was why no new gamers were trying it out.

After getting rid of all but one purchase option, they realized they could not generate a steady income from the pathetic group of old players alone.

That was why Ye Zhizhou felt indignant. He hoped that more players would be able to try out the new 'Chosen One' system. Researching and developing a sequel to the game would turn loss into profit.

However, Wang Xiaobin did not agree with this direction.

In the past, they created games with paywalls for the sake of survival. Now, they had already been bought over by Tengda. With Boss Pei as their backing, they would have food on the table. Why would they still choose to eat sh*t?

Bloody Battle Song was not an impressive IP. It was a third-rate game with paywalls. Why did Ye Zhizhou insist on clinging onto it instead of letting go?

Thus, Wang Xiaobin wrote a design manuscript for a standalone game and submitted it in the hopes that Boss Pei would choose it. The dream he had had for years would then finally be realized-he would finally be able to develop a true, premium, standalone game.

Wang Xiaobin was very confident about the design manuscript he submitted.

USO

This was because he had the most experience out of everyone in Shang Yang Games. The design of his standalone game should also have catered to Boss Pei's taste.

In Wang Xiaobin's mind, Boss Pei was a talented designer who made saving the game industry his personal, lifelong mission. Wang Xiaobin saw Boss Pei as a highly-skilled businessman who had freed himself from low-class taste and the greed of money.

Why else would he have gotten rid of most of the purchase options in Bloody Battle Song?

Yet, now, Boss Pei's decision had been revealed.

He had chosen Ye Zhizhou's plan over his. Not only that, Boss Pei had not changed a single word in Ye Zhizhou's proposal. All he did was change the name.

This confused, puzzled, and disappointed Wang Xiaobin.

"Oh, that's right, Brother Wang.

"Boss Pei said that your plan was quite good, but it was too conservative. He told you to make edits to your proposal during the research and development period because there's a chance we might use it in the future."

Ye Zhizhou repeated Pei Qian's message, word for word.

Wang Xiaobin immediately perked up.

Oh! So that was why!

Boss Pei still validated my proposal. He just thought that I was being too conservative. The game was not outstanding enough as a standalone!

Wang Xiaobin was filled with motivation.

Now, he roughly understood why Boss Pei had chosen Ye Zhizhou's proposal over his. Ye Zhizhou's proposal was considered relatively novel among games with paywalls. However, Wang Xiaobin's proposal was considered quite average and boring among standalone games.

Boss Pei had different criteria for each type of game, and Ye Zhizhou's plan contained more novel ideas. Naturally, Boss Pei would think more highly of it.

Boss Pei said that my proposal was too conservative. That's right, that's the way it is. I prioritized stability and used very mature designs. Now that I look at it, it is pretty outdated.

The industry is always changing at a rapid pace. The game might barely be trendy now. However, after a few months, when research and development is complete; it would be outdated.

Boss Pei is right. I was being too conservative. Indeed, Boss Pei is worthy of his reputation. With a single look, he could point out the root of the problem!

It looks like I have to keep working hard.

Wang Xiaobin's temper tantrum dissipated at once.

Since this was the case, he had to do his best to cooperate with Ye Zhizhou. They needed to produce Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. Then, the next game they would produce would be the standalone game that he liked.

These three or four months would be the perfect time for him to keep brainstorming. He could revamp his entire plan and try to satisfy Boss Pei by the end of this period!

Ye Zhizhou scanned his design manuscript once again.

Indeed, Boss Pei had not changed a single word!

"Brother Wang, what should we do? Should we work according to this proposal?" Ye Zhizhou felt slightly guilty.

At that moment, the blind faith that Wang Xiaobin had in Boss Pei was at its peak. He immediately nodded and said, "Of course! Since Boss Pei has made his decision, what is there holding us back? Let's work according to this!

"There's another advantage to working according to your plan. The research and development period can be shortened significantly.

"We're going to produce Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. Wow, this name is really awkward. However, we can look at it as a high-definition replacement of the old version. We don't have to change much of the game's functions and gameplay. At the very most, we could spend a bit of time improving the various functions.

"This way, we can focus our time and energy on producing better art resources.

"Didn't you always say before this that the current Bloody Battle Song has already been made over, and that all it's lacking is a nice packaging? That's just right! We'll take this opportunity to change its packaging!

"I think that was what Boss Pei intended, too."

Ye Zhizhou nodded. "Yes, that's right. I'll tidy up the design manuscript and prepare a list of art resources that we would need!"

Once he finished tidying up the design plan, the first thing Ye Zhizhou did was prepare the list of art resources.

Until now, Shang Yang Games had been incurring losses consistently. All of its money had been handed over to Tengda Games. What's more, it could not even sustain its daily operations, rent, salaries, expenses, and the like. It had no choice but to ask Tengda Games for money.

This time, they needed a huge sum of money to produce the new game. They had no choice but to write a report, requesting for this sum of money from Boss Pei.

"I'm slightly worried. I want two million yuan, but I don't know if Boss Pei would allow it." Ye Zhizhou felt extremely apprehensive.

Wang Xiaobin hesitated for a second. Then, he said, "Give it a shot. Boss Pei will surely be willing to splurge to ensure the quality of the game. If he really refuses, we can think of ways to reduce the budget."

Chapter 194 The Plan in the Notebook

At Tengda Games…

Pei Qian flipped through his little notebook. There were two more people he had to make arrangements for.

Actually, the first name on Boss Pei's little notebook was not Lin Wan. After all, Lin Wan had only helped him save hundreds of thousands of yuan in rent. He could easily spend all of that money now.

What's more, considering the two hundred thousand yuan Lin Chang gave to him, Boss Pei had to be lenient in dealing with Lin Wan.

The first name on the little notebook was Qiao Liang!

The week before last, when The Lonely Desert Road was updated, Teacher Qiao praised Tengda once again. As a result, Pei Qian nearly hired someone to murder Teacher Qiao.

Ever since Tengda Games released The Lonely Desert Road until it released Game Designer and the new downloadable content, Teacher Qiao had been like a relentless ghost.

Ever since he began looking into Teacher Qiao earlier, Pei Qian had not figured out a good way to deal with him.

Qiao Liang lived in Beijing, but he was not a local of Beijing. This made him a mere migrant worker there.

He should have been living a difficult life in the beginning. After joining Aili Island, his living standards improved significantly because he was able to depend on the incentive plan and everyday sponsored partnerships. He could even afford to decline low-end sponsored partnerships.

Basically, ever since he recommended Game Designer under the Products of the Gods series, Teacher Qiao freeloaded off 'performance-art-style of marketing'. After that, he unknowingly managed to rake in sponsored partnerships without doing much else.

It was all very strange. Other UP Masters were scolded as they accepted sponsored partnerships. However, when Teacher Qiao did the same, the bullet screen comments were filled with praise for his 'good performance' or 'good artwork'!

When other UP Masters saw this, they became overwhelmingly envious.

Yet, someone as special as Teacher Qiao was unique. There would be no second Teacher Qiao.

For this exact reason, Teacher Qiao was immensely grateful towards Tengda Games. After all, he had only been a slightly popular UP Master before this. Now, he was one of the most popular UP Masters on Aili Island's games channel. This was all because he stood on Tengda Games' shoulders.