Chapter 2: The World is Changing

So, the next question is which industry to choose.

After careful consideration, Pei Qian decides to first understand the general environment of this world.

He opens his laptop, accesses the QianDu search engine, and starts browsing recent news, especially technology news.

"There are some changes, but not too big," Pei Qian thinks to himself.

...

This world, compared to Pei Qian's previous life, hasn't changed much. The pace of technological development is just faster.

Communication and information technology have developed rapidly, and digital hardware such as computer chips and graphics cards have made great progress.

Many technologies that Pei Qian remembers appearing in 2015 or even later have already begun to emerge here.

For example, the smartphone boom should have happened around 2012, but in this world, it was widespread by 2008, and now there are already some high-quality games on mobile phones.

Moreover, this world has a stronger awareness of copyright protection. Pirated resources in various fields have been completely banned and severely cracked down on, and the threshold for piracy-related crimes has been lowered.

As for other aspects, there are not many changes.

The main opportunities are still in the internet, technology, gaming, and culture industries, similar to his previous life.

Pei Qian can choose to enter any industry, as the system imposes no restrictions.

However, while starting a company, Pei Qian must also recruit relevant professionals to create value and avoid violating the system's rules.

For industries he doesn't understand, it's hard for Pei Qian to control the direction. What if the professionals he recruits are very capable and succeed?

So, after thinking it through, Pei Qian decides to choose the gaming industry.

Although Pei Qian has never worked in the gaming industry, having played so many games, he has gained some understanding of the industry.

Compared to other industries, Pei Qian believes he has a stronger grasp of the gaming industry.

Slightly altering gameplay could potentially lead to the failure of a game, which is a significant advantage!

Moreover, the gaming industry burns money fast.

In a physical business, if you lose money, you can still sell off fixed assets; losses are not as thorough. But in the gaming industry, if you lose money, it's a pure loss; a bunch of code is worthless.

Pei Qian has memories from ten years later. If he deliberately avoids games that could potentially make money, isn't that success?

First step, make games!

Second step, lose money, and turn all the system funds into personal assets!

Third step, spend like crazy!

Yes, it's just perfect.

Pei Qian feels like he's a genius!

...

After determining the direction, Pei Qian searches the official website of the Business Bureau, downloads the personal company management software, and logs in successfully with his ID number and initial password.

A company is already under his name, "Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.", with 50,000 in company funds.

This must be the system's advanced technology that registered it for him.

In terms of the startup environment, the parallel world of simple difficulty is quite different from Pei Qian's previous life.

In this world, to encourage entrepreneurship, the threshold for individuals to start a company is low, and most of the company processes have become intelligent, which can be completed online or through a client.

This aspect is even more advanced than ten years later in the original world, and it's very friendly to individual entrepreneurs.

Similar changes exist in other areas.

For example, thanks to the rapid development of communication and cloud technology, many industries' network resources have been integrated, greatly improving the efficiency of online work.

In the gaming industry, for example, there is a unified official organization called the "Entertainment Software Rating Organization" or ESRO for short. This organization is responsible for the supervision and review of various types of games.

At the same time, ESRO has also launched an official resource platform for entrepreneurs to use. The ESRO official resource platform can be seen as a comprehensive collection of gaming resources in the domestic market. Here, entrepreneurs can purchase general art resources, programming templates, and design drafts, as well as hire professional experts to provide customization services for their games.

These art resources and programming templates are voluntarily shared by other companies or individuals within the industry and are available for paid use. Of course, these are generally low-end and common resources. On the resource platform, entrepreneurs can also connect with industry veterans, such as top-notch artists, and directly communicate and negotiate business deals with them.

In addition, ESRO has introduced an official game editor, which integrates popular game editors on the market and simplifies their usage. With some training, most people without a programming background can master it.

These changes have all occurred within the rapid technological breakthroughs in the past two or three years, roughly between 2007 and 2009. It is precisely because of the strong support of a powerful official organization like ESRO that such changes can take place in the gaming industry.

Of course, other industries, such as film and animation in the cultural sector, have also undergone similar changes, but Pei Qian does not need to delve into those for now.

...

"I'll check the system requirements for the resource platform client and the editor..."

"Well, not bad, my laptop can barely handle it. But there are still limitations due to the computer's configuration; I can't make large-scale games."

"That's fine, I never intended to make large-scale games anyway."

Pei Qian's laptop, purchased a few months ago, can still handle the resource platform client and the ESRO editor. However, since he only bought a mid-to-low-end laptop, the configuration isn't great, and he can only make smaller games. But that's okay because Pei Qian never intended to make large-scale games, and he lacks both the manpower and funding to do so. Besides, he isn't planning to make a profit.

Working alone, creating a decent independent game that passes review would be quite an achievement.

Pei Qian first opens the editor and diligently studies the tutorials.

An hour later, Pei Qian feels drowsy.

"What happened to the promise that even people without programming experience could learn this? Ugh!"

Pei Qian is exasperated.

Although the learning curve of this editor is significantly lower than that of programming languages or traditional game editors, it is still challenging for someone like Pei Qian, who has no programming background. However, he manages to learn simple operations like applying existing game templates and changing art resources.

"I'll browse the resource platform first and analyze the games on the market."

Pei Qian enters the resource platform and checks the available resources.

There are various game genres, such as simulation driving, fighting, shooting, RPG, etc., all with some general templates. These templates are relatively basic and not too expensive.

For example, a shooting game template can be applied to the editor to implement walking, shooting, reloading, and other basic functions, with default trajectories for some firearms. After purchasing and applying some art resources, a very simple and single-player shooting game can be created.

To make the game more complex, one must learn advanced uses of the editor. Some particularly challenging features may even require hiring professionals through the resource platform.