this man is not calm

Chapter 220 Inspiration and Paradigms

After completing the project inspection task of Beichuan Electromechanical, Jin Shang, Liu Yanqing, Qi Zhaoyun and others embarked on the road back to the company.

Halfway through, Liu Yanqing asked Jin Shang curiously:

"Mr. Jin, are you really optimistic about that 'video game' project?"

"No, right now, there is still some room for survival, and it can easily cause a series of problems. If you persist for three to five years at most, you will be eliminated..."

"Then...why do you want them to continue developing it?"

"The operating model has no future, but that doesn't mean it won't make money. Big radio and television stations look down on it, but they don't dislike small units that live in tight local areas. Have you seen those advertisements on district and county TV stations in third- and fourth-tier towns? "

Liu Yanqing nodded to express understanding, and Jin Shang continued to explain:
"Generally speaking, as long as the time slot is not bad, the ratings of game and entertainment programs will not be low. After all, young people like them. In this kind of cooperation, the operator earns the phone bill, the local channel earns the popularity, and by the way... Earn a wave of sponsorship fees and advertising fees. As for home game consoles and key IP games, it is a good exposure opportunity. The audience has invested time, energy and money, and gained fun. Everyone gets what they need."

Only parents who pay for phone bills may have their blood pressure raised by the numbers on the bill.

As for whether the cooperation can be negotiated, Jin Shang is not worried at all.

Big channels with wide coverage, I dare not think about those small TV stations that broadcast expert clinics, this medicinal wine, that health products all day long, basically they will accept anyone who comes, as long as they have enough money, complete certificates, and good qualifications, they will not refuse. Picked.

If there are local cooperators in the capital, contact them more. The surrounding counties and cities should also take the initiative. Talk as much as you can. The strength of Jinxi Culture and Beichuan Electrical and Mechanical is not too strong. If you can take a big bite of the cake in your mouth, eat it first. Let’s talk about it further, and don’t care about the further one.

"How about making a quick buck and doing some marketing? That's fine, too. But with Mr. Jin's status, he probably won't care much about these 'little things', right?"

Liu Yanqing asked a little strangely.

It is true that Jin Shang is the chairman of Beichuan Mechanical and Electrical, but he is usually only responsible for strategic decisions and not directly responsible for operations. If he intervenes in specific business this time, if it does not really play a boosting role in the strategy of Jinxi Culture, there is no need to be solemn. Dispose of it accordingly.

Smiling reservedly, Jin Shang responded slowly:

"Team Leader Liu, you still need to have more contact with the outside world. Through this accident, I discovered that the technical strength of our Jinxi Culture is concentrated in software development, but we are still too unfamiliar with the hardware field, especially the combination of software and hardware. In terms of product design, there is a lack of experience. Although the hardware department of Beichuan Electromechanical only sells game consoles and assembles copycat mobile phones, its actual operation and creative inspiration are more energetic than ours."

"They do have some knowledge about the products they actually bring to the market, but...it feels like they have a lot of ideas, and most of them are dispensable gimmicks..."

"Innovation is inevitable, and trial and error costs money."

Jin Shang also fully understands this.

If it were not for the memories of past lives, Jinxi Culture would not know how many detours it would take. The field of the Internet is still in the "opening up" period and is about to usher in a period of rapid development of barbaric growth. If you choose the wrong path, you will become someone else. stepping stone.

"Let's not mention these for now. What I want to remind is that the company's technicians should have more exposure to real electronic product development, just like the 'video game' itself, which is very valuable."

Liu Yanqing was stunned when he heard this, thought for a long time, and then said with enlightenment:

"Online game data transmission mode, reduce network speed requirements, simplify processes, and share server pressure?"

"It seems that Team Leader Liu also understands."

Jin Shang smiled happily.

"Set-top boxes", "Internet TV" and the like are too far away. There is no need to elaborate. The idea of ​​​​this "TV game" bypasses the most difficult level - the Internet speed is too slow, and enables ultra-long-distance online battles. , it is worth learning from the technicians of Jinxi Culture.

It is too narrow-minded to only focus on software development and rely on writing code to solve actual problems.

For online games, the first impression that netizens may have is of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). "Legend of Blood" is one of these. This online game was launched in China in 20 and quickly became popular all over the country. He became the richest man in his generation. Over the next [-] years, various board games, browser games, reskinned games, private servers, etc. have been active in the eyes of gamers.

There is also an earlier originating online game "Stone Age", which was launched in [-]. It was also very popular. In some areas, it was once sold out. Unfortunately, due to copyright disputes, it could not continue its popularity and finally had to Sadly stopped taking it.

So, do you think this type of online games have high requirements for configuration and network speed?

Intuitively speaking, I am afraid that most people feel that it is not much higher, but it is not low. With the conditions in [-], it was definitely impossible to play.

But the actual situation is that except for the hard disk and memory, other conditions are basically met.

Most of the current mainstream computers in the world cannot be carried, but a very small number of high-end computers can.

As for the Internet speed requirements, "Legend of Blood" can be played as long as the speed of the modem or dedicated line is above 33.6Kbps.Some time ago, Professor Jin Shanghe from the School of Computer Science mentioned that the standard network speed of the customized modem we cooperated with is 56Kbps.

Isn’t it strange that such a low Internet speed can actually drive early 2D online games?
After the millennium, broadband has generally reached IM or above. Playing games in Internet cafes is often laggy, which is far from the intuitive understanding of the general public.The result is not that the broadband is not good, but that the network is congested.Either the local network card or the remote server card.A server with thousands of people online at the same time not only tests the hardware, but also tests the stability of the software.

Just like Jin Shang's new home, it is equipped with a 56Kbps dedicated line. If he buys a top-end computer currently priced at [-] to [-] yuan, he can definitely play "Legend of Blood". However, someone is sharing the network speed on the LAN, or there are too many people online at the same time on the server. If there are too many, it’s hard to say if the software and hardware are unstable.

As for why the real-time network speed requirement is so low, Jin Shang has always been puzzled. It was not until he saw the idea of ​​"video game" today that he solved the mystery in his heart.

"We all thought wrong before. Because we had no experience, we took it for granted to use other software application models to develop online games. In fact, it is not that troublesome at all. Standalone game consoles and PCs cannot afford it, so we need to increase the use of network servers. The weight will lead to frequent data exchange and increase the pressure on network speed..."

Liu Yanqing talked eloquently,

"But if you save some data of online games locally and exchange data only when logging in and switching servers, then things will become simpler."

This is the thinking mode of people who have actually been exposed to multi-person online network products and hardware design. Programmers who pile code in front of the computer all day long will have difficulty having such a strategic vision.

Of course, if we really want to develop a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that can be popularized, it will definitely not be that simple. In theory, it can be played. How effective it is in practice, without describing it in detail, everyone can guess.

Although the network speed is up to standard, the stability is far from good, especially when thousands of people are online at the same time. Data exchange puts great pressure on the server. Moreover, there is an unavoidable flaw in doing this, that is, plug-ins modify client data. , eroding the interests of game operators.

Take the familiar "Legend of Blood" as an example. I won't mention the powerful BUG function that destroys the balance. Let's take the more typical methods of brushing gold bars and gold bricks and copying weapons. Use plug-ins or various methods to copy the same thing and sell it. Drop it and exchange it for game coins or even real money.Because these weapons and gold bars are just a piece of code and are saved locally without interacting with the server, they are actually equivalent to "black accounts".

Some gamers, after logging in again after the lower limit, or changing to a larger map, or switching servers, found that the weapons and equipment in their accounts disappeared out of thin air. This was because the local data "black account" conflicted with the server data and was directly erased.

It is certainly possible to use technical means to block plug-ins and crack down on illegal programs. However, it is easier to destroy than to build and protect. This is the flaw of PC games.

At present, it is definitely difficult for Jinxi Culture to develop and operate any massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The so-called online games make money, but it is not yet time. We have to wait until the configuration of mainstream home computers reaches a higher level. Internet cafes are blooming all over the country, asymmetrically. Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is popular and can provide home broadband services of more than 1M, which is almost enough.

Jin Shang estimates that the date when this time will arrive is around the millennium. If development goes well, it may be two to three years earlier.

Right now, I can only play simple online battle games like "Tank Battle" and "King of Fighters".

For example, "The King of Fighters 1995" has become popular. Don't look at the various fancy actions of the characters. In fact, the amount of data exchanged in online battles is very small. If you want to perform a special move, you can use the local controller joystick to operate the Venus host. While displaying, send a digital code to the remote service center, and then forward it to another home console that is playing against you, and the corresponding character will take action.

Because they are all customized operations, there is no need to transmit specific commands at all.

The local client decomposes complex actions such as heavy punches, light punches, heavy kicks, light kicks, crouching, jumping, ultimate moves, special moves, etc. into corresponding digital codes and sends them through the network, and then sends the received numbers Just restore the code to the tricks to control the character.

This...how much data exchange is required?
Much less than voice calls, almost the same as a digital pager, except that the corresponding built-in program encoding on the client and server is a little more complicated.

The Internet speed does not need to be very fast, as long as it is stable and uninterrupted.

Jin Shang can guess that without actually trying it, actually using the Venus 2 home game console to play fighting games will definitely not be stuck. On the contrary, it may be more troublesome and expensive to optimize for battle matching, front-loading and elimination of network delays. time.

Why didn’t Jin Shang, Liu Yanqing and others focus on this issue in the past?

Domestic Internet services have only been launched for less than ten months, and even its international applications are still being explored. There is no serious online game in the world, and naturally there are no stand-alone or client games. Concepts such as web games and board games.

Really think about the cooperation of client and server functions to achieve smooth online battles. You will not realize its importance unless you actually see it.

Today, Jin Shang actually saw a "game client". It is not a shortcut and program actually lying on the PC desktop, but a real Venus game console. In essence, they are the same nature.

Now that we have the "client", we now need a "server" as an exchange center. The Venus game console developers envisioned using live TV programs as the "server". Jin Shang certainly knows that this is unreliable, but it does not represent them. Their thinking is wrong. Limited by their horizons and the constraints of current bandwidth, they cannot see the broad prospects of online game servers, but Jin Shang, the boss, sees it.

"After returning, while ensuring the smooth completion of other development tasks, we will speed up the development of online fighting games such as "The King of Fighters 1996", "Resident Evil", and "Dynasty Warriors", and strive to catch up with the simultaneous release of Venus 2. As for "Jiuding War", "Counter-Strike" and other more troublesome ones, we will do our best and adjust the plan according to the progress of staff recruitment."

Online games, even limited online battles, as long as they transcend the constraints of time and space, have the foundation of e-sports.

"It seems that the Internet cafe strategy cannot be abandoned halfway. We will not build a messy and affordable Internet cafe like Jingcheng Technology. We will focus on high-end elite business Internet cafes and e-sports Internet cafes. We do not seek to be large and comprehensive, but only small and refined. In Just set up spots in popular areas and build awareness.”

Always imitated, never surpassed, it cannot be just an empty talk. Jinxi Culture will always be at the forefront of technology, culture and fashion.
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Originally it was just a routine matter, but Jin Shang didn't expect an unexpected gain. After returning to the office, he fine-tuned his plan for the next few months and arranged things for the next three days. After completing the more urgent matters in advance, I felt relieved.

Tomorrow, Jin Shang will set off to the north with Wei Shuangping and Qi Zhaoyun to inspect the strategic partner Glacier Trading to see on the spot how powerful it is, whether its local influence is worthy of its name, and whether it can guarantee a long-term and stable supply of high-quality and low-priced rice, flour, grains and oils. .

Jin Shang still had expectations for his first visit to his second aunt's house. As a man of two generations, it was his first time to go to the northern prairie to experience the charm of the vast black land. He didn't know if it would be like the "blue sky, vast fields, windy... The sight of cows and sheep visible when the grass blows.

After arriving, Jin Shang took Li Xuan off work on time. After returning, he had to make preparations for a long trip and had to pack up in advance.

(End of this chapter)