Chapter 13: Spend Money!

Determined, Pei Qian entered ESRO's official resource site and searched for a generic card game template.

Quickly, Pei Qian found one.

This was not the template used in "Q Meng Three Kingdoms."

Because "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" is the originator of card game mechanics and is currently the hottest card game on the market, it's like a money tree, and the company would not be so foolish as to sell its own game as a template.

However, just because they don't sell it doesn't mean others don't.

Many game companies follow the trend and create card games with their own code, only taking inspiration from "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" in terms of gameplay.

These companies, unable to make money from their games, have no choice but to modify their games and sell them as templates on resource sites to recoup some costs.

The template Pei Qian found was from a failed card game imitation.

"A failed work? I like it!"

Pei Qian saw this as a good sign.

He clicked in to check the gameplay systems inside.

From the card game boom in 2008 to the present, "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" has also gone through many version updates and added more gameplay features.

But this template was a bit outdated, containing only the most basic elements.

For example, levels, sweepstakes, arenas, etc.

New gameplay features were completely absent!

The entire game seemed quite shabby.

Pei Qian was extremely satisfied with this!

This was exactly the kind of card game template he had been dreaming of, with no fun features and absolutely no advantage in gameplay!

He looked at the price: 100,000!

"…Why is it only 100,000?"

Pei Qian was quite dissatisfied with the price; it was too cheap!

You could set the price at 150,000, and I would still buy it without hesitation!

However, on second thought, the driving simulation template he bought earlier was only 20,000. Although card game templates are more complex and include many more refined gameplay systems, 100,000 is not considered cheap.

From the download volume, it was clear that this template was far less popular than the simulation driving game template Pei Qian had bought before.

This showed that the price was already inflated and not very practical.

Without hesitation, Pei Qian placed an order!

He loved these overpriced products that could burn more money without triggering system warnings.

After purchasing this template, the basic gameplay was all set. Next was to fill it with art resources.

Art resources include UI, battle effects, card illustrations, and a series of other content.

Other expenses include purchasing music and sound effects, renting cloud servers, etc., but these don't cost much.

The bulk of the cost is in the art resources.

Pei Qian decided to allocate two to three thousand for music and sound effects, leaving more than ten thousand for other expenses, with the remaining 160-170,000 all going into art resources.

160-170,000 is not a small amount, but it's not huge either.

However, Pei Qian hadn't quite figured out what kind of art resources to create.

Card games are the easiest to reskin.

In other words, for card games, the "skin" is the most important aspect.

It's precisely because the skin is so important that Pei Qian must ensure it's done poorly!

Of course, deliberately making it look bad is not an option.

According to the system rules, obviously low-quality products or services cannot be purchased.

After spending 160-170,000 , if Pei Qian only acquires art resources worth 50-60,000 yuan, he won't be able to pass the system check. He must purchase services that are roughly equivalent in value, with some room for variation, but not too much.

At this point, Pei Qian needs to use his brain to figure out how to buy good quality art resources while ensuring that players won't like them.

The solution is simple: have the artist use their exquisite painting skills to create a style that players won't accept.

The key is to develop a comprehensive art requirement plan.

Pei Qian isn't very confident in his ability in this area, especially since he had a failed experience with "Desert Bus." This experience has caused him to question his own ability to execute successfully.

At this point, Ma Yang's role came into play!

Pei Qian downloaded a generic art resource requirement form from the resource site.

This form detailed the sizes required for various resources, and then some simple descriptions of these resources were needed.

Resources were roughly divided into two categories. One was original artwork, which was more expensive and required more detailed work from artists, and thus the requirements needed to be very clear.

The other category was other resources, such as UI interface and special effects.

These resources were widely available online and could be easily modified for use.

However, Pei Qian was not satisfied with just making simple modifications – how could he spend money that way?

So, he decided to customize all art resources!

Pei Qian first listed all the system UI and special effects, which were relatively less important, and then added some very simple requirements himself.

For example, they had to be cool!

They had to be in the style of the Three Kingdoms!

These were all vague statements.

As for the final product...

Pei Qian didn't care how it would turn out – whatever happens, happens!

Then, Pei Qian sent the form to Ma Yang.

Ma Yang had already woken up by this time.

However, after holding the thick book and reading for two minutes, he was already showing signs of dozing off again.

Seeing the form Pei Qian sent him, Ma Yang instantly became more alert. He threw the book on the bed, peeked down from the top bunk, and whispered, "Is it time to start working?"

Pei Qian nodded, "Fill out the form. Use your imagination and don't be afraid to be bold!"

Ma Yang nodded vigorously, "No problem!"

His enthusiasm for work was extremely high!

Ma Yang looked at the art resource requirement form, and he had quite a few parts to fill in, mainly the character original artwork requirement descriptions.

Pei Qian had already determined the game's theme: the Three Kingdoms.

There were only so many characters from the Three Kingdoms, and Pei Qian selected 50 characters in total, including 15 rare cards, 25 high-quality cards, and 10 ordinary cards.

As for the price, the cost of an original piece of artwork varied greatly, with lower prices ranging from seven to eight hundred and higher prices reaching four to five thousand.

If they went to a second or third-tier city art college to recruit a student, they could get one for a hundred bucks.

However, if they sought a well-known artist for customization, it wouldn't be surprising to spend seven or eight thousand on a single card.

In any case, you get what you pay for.

Pei Qian definitely wouldn't seek a well-known artist for customization, even though it would allow him to spend more money.

This was because a well-known artist's reputation could potentially create promotional effects for the game!

Similarly, buying artwork for four to five thousand per piece could indeed allow him to spend more money, but what if players ended up loving the beautiful artwork?!

As mentioned earlier, the most important aspect of a card game is its "skin." If the skin looks too good, even if the gameplay is terrible, it's still possible to make money!

So Pei Qian decided to buy cheaper artwork!

If he wanted to spend more money, he would just buy more!

There were 50 characters, each with different stages and star levels.

That is, there were 50 base images, each with four variations to showcase the effects of upgrading.

At a price of 3,000 per base image and its four variations, this would amount to 150,000, which was just right for Pei Qian's budget.

After all, the first-generation card games didn't require models, saving a significant amount of expenses. Of course, the specific price still needs to be proposed by the other party, and Pei Qian's estimate is just a rough estimate.

Ma Yang was a bit confused about what his main responsibility would be since everything seemed to have been settled. However, after carefully reading Pei Qian's notes, he understood that his job was to come up with original ideas and make changes to the characters.