They’re all reborn, what’s wrong with being a little more almighty?

Chapter 226 Drawing Cards
In the early days of online games, there was no such thing as making quick money.

Because at that time, all online games were paid, and most of them were charged by point cards. The characteristics of paid games meant that they were destined to not make quick money.

The revenue of paid point-based games mainly depends on the number of players and the length of time they are online. The more players there are and the more time they are online, the more game revenue will be.

So the idea behind making the game at that time was, first, to attract as many players as possible into the game, and second, to keep players logged in to the game for as long as possible, so that we could make money.

For example, in the early versions of "Legend", the upgrade speed was very slow. Above level 30, I don’t know how many all-nighters I had to stay up to reach the next level.

This is because "Legend" charges point cards, and Shanda hopes to extend players' gaming time, so it modified the experience required for upgrades, allowing players to spend a lot of time in scenes to gain experience.

The upgrade speed of the original Korean version of "Legend" is much faster than that of the national version, because Korean online games at that time mainly charged monthly cards. The Korean version of "Legend" hoped that players could use PK as the main gameplay rather than going to scenes to gain experience.

However, the PK gameplay of "Legend" is too simple, there is no tactical system, and the operability is not high, so this game did not become popular in South Korea.

Games of the same era as "Legend" almost all have this kind of system. In the middle and late stages, upgrades are very slow, and a lot of time is required to kill monsters in order to keep players online.

But it is boring to just spawn monsters as soon as you log in. With so many games of the same type, players find it boring. At this time, game developers work hard from the perspective of gameplay, setting up some new gameplay to increase players' online time.

The earliest one was "Westward Journey Online", which offered ghost-catching missions, heavenly missions, etc., giving players other gaming options besides the boring monster-hunting in the wild.

Then there is Fantasy Westward Journey, which continued to develop a master system, offering relatively high rewards. Players have to complete master tasks every day, so they naturally have to go online every day. In addition, there are weekend activities, which allow players to spend the entire afternoon in the game on Sunday.

Another example is the dungeon system of "World of Warcraft". Various kinds of equipment can be found in the dungeons. In order to get good equipment, players must spend time in dungeons.

Moreover, the dungeon requires the collaboration of multiple professions to complete, which means that multiple players will consume a large number of point cards at the same time for one dungeon.

For this kind of game that charges for playing games, players can only stay online for 24 hours at most, and the game company can only make money from the 24-hour game cards, which is definitely quick money.

As for those so-called "free games", although the games are free, the props and equipment in the games are all charged. In addition, there is some probabilistic gameplay, so there is no upper limit to the recharge.

If you are lucky enough to meet a wealthy boss, you can recharge hundreds of thousands of dollars. Isn’t this quick money coming?

Before the emergence of "Zhengtu" in 2006, game developers did not have the mindset of making quick money. Everyone was thinking about how to make the game better and how to design interesting gameplay to attract players to stay online longer, rather than trying to get players to spend money.

The idea of ​​developing online games at that time was to make a steady income. If you spent several million to develop a game client and could earn hundreds of thousands of points per month, and recover the cost in two years, it would be considered a successful game.

So when Yao Xiaoguang heard the words "game to make quick money", he was immediately confused.

When Zhang Wei asked about web games, Yao Xiaoguang became even more confused.

"I've played online games before. What does it have to do with making quick money?" Yao Xiaoguang asked.

"The web games you play are the ones with lines of text, right?" Zhang Wei laughed and continued, "The web games I'm talking about are not that kind. You'll know when I get back!"

In fact, web games have existed as early as the early days of the development of the Internet, but at that time, web games were presented in text form.

A game consists of a simple game interface, a bunch of text, and a few pictures. The way to play is to refresh the page continuously.

But in the early days of the Internet, this type of game attracted a large number of novice netizens and became their only entertainment when surfing the Internet.

Japan is a leader in the field of web games. From the mid-1990s to the early 21st century, which was the era of the Internet, many Internet companies specializing in the development of web games were born in Japan, and even many classic PS games were moved to the web.

Clicking on the wrong technology tree is also what Japan is best at. When Japan was vigorously developing web games, other countries were all making client games.

The emergence of various client-based online games directly beat web games, and Japanese online game companies instantly went out of business. Coupled with the bursting of the first Internet bubble, Japan was unable to transform to client-based games and could only stay at home and guard its one-third acre of console game territory.

Many people have this question: Japan is a major gaming country with excellent network conditions, but why do Japanese people play console games instead of computer games?

One of the most important reasons was that I clicked on the wrong technology tree back then.

Look at Japan now, mobile games are also very popular. The streets of Akihabara are full of advertisements for "Genshin Impact". Japanese companies have also developed many interesting mobile games, which are selling very well in Japan.

This shows that as long as they click on the right technology tree, Japanese players can be normal people.

After the Internet bubble burst, client games dominated the market. Before 2006, there was no market for web games at all.

After 2006, some simple flash games gradually emerged, but these flash games did not have a profit point.

Web games during this period were also developing in the direction of leisure and entertainment. Many small game websites, such as 4399, also emerged in this era.

It was not until 2009 that pay-to-win web games began to gain popularity. The first were management simulation games, followed by strategy games, and then role-playing games. Later, "Legend" was directly moved to the web, and thus the saying "Brothers, come and eat me" came into being.

……

That afternoon, Zhang Wei flew back to Beijing. After getting off the plane, Zhang Wei didn't even bother to rest, but dragged his luggage to Yao Xiaoguang's residence.

Seeing Zhang Wei's dusty appearance, Yao Xiaoguang felt warm in his heart. He asked Zhang Wei to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and said, "You look so tired and still have luggage with you. Did you just get off the plane?"

"After leaving the airport, I took a taxi to come to your place. You finally agreed to register the company, and I was afraid you would go back on your word!" Zhang Wei said, drinking the water in the glass.

"It's too late to go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau at this time. If you want to register a company, you have to wait until tomorrow!" Yao Xiaoguang looked at the sky outside and asked, "Have you had lunch? If not, I'll make you a bowl of noodles?"

"I ate on the plane. Although I wasn't full, I wasn't hungry either."

"Then let's wait until dinner time before going out to eat! How about we go eat shabu-shabu? You can't get that in Japan."

"Anything is fine, as long as it's Chinese food, it's better than Japanese food." Zhang Wei said, taking out a plan from his schoolbag and handing it to Yao Xiaoguang.

"Take a look, this is the web game I mentioned for making quick money. I made a plan."

Yao Xiaoguang took the plan and first glanced at the cover, which had the words "Three Kingdoms Generals" written in large letters.

"I have played Heroes of the Three Kingdoms before, but what is this Legend of Generals of the Three Kingdoms? Is the gameplay the same as Heroes of the Three Kingdoms?"

"Of course it's different. This is an online game, which is different from a stand-alone game. It can be considered a strategy game." Zhang Wei replied with a smile.

Yao Xiaoguang opened the plan and read it carefully. The general outline of the game was that the player would play the role of a lord in the Three Kingdoms and could recruit generals from the Three Kingdoms to capture cities and territories. This setting was nothing special.

"The core gameplay of your game is that the two sides send their respective generals to PK, right? Isn't this a bit too monotonous?" Yao Xiaoguang asked. "Why make it too complicated for a game that makes quick money? Just do it!" Zhang Wei replied.

"How can such a simple gameplay attract players? Nowadays, online games have more and more ways to play. If the gameplay is too monotonous, no one will play it."

"Free games will definitely attract players! I think most people don't want to spend money to play games."

"Free?" Yao Xiaoguang's eyes widened with an expression of disbelief, and then he asked, "Didn't you say you wanted to make money with this game?"

"Only free games can make big money!" Zhang Wei smiled and continued, "You will understand if you keep reading."

In the early 21st century, playing online games was still quite expensive.

For example, "Legend" starts charging after reaching level 7. In 2001, a game card cost 35 yuan and could provide 120 hours of play. Given how low the salary was at that time, for an ordinary college student, 35 yuan was enough for a week's food expenses, and that included enough to eat meat.

For example, in the games "Westward Journey Online" and "Fantasy Westward Journey", a point card cost 15 yuan and contained 150 points. Four points were deducted for one hour in the game, which means it cost 4 cents to play for one hour.

This does not include the cost of Internet access. At that time, most people went to Internet cafes to play games. Ordinary Internet cafes charged one dollar per hour, while some better-equipped Internet cafes charged one dollar and a half to two dollars.

That means playing Fantasy Westward Journey for one hour costs at least 1.4 yuan. Even if you don't play PK online every day, you can't finish the daily tasks in two or three hours.

If there is an event on the weekend, how can I be online for five hours? If I fight a gang battle at night, it will take another three hours, which adds up to eight hours, and the 11 yuan will be gone!

In 2005, 11 yuan was enough for a day's living expenses unless you lived in a big city. For many students, they had to go without food or drink for a day in order to play a game on Sunday.

If the game were free, the game card money saved from playing for a day would at least be enough to buy a bowl of beef noodles.

So at that time, the fact that it was free was enough to attract players.

Yao Xiaoguang also knew that free things could attract players, but he could never understand what Zhang Wei meant by free things could make a lot of money.

He did not comment but continued to read the plan. When he saw the words "draw card", his expression suddenly froze.

"Draw a card? What does this mean?" Yao Xiaoguang asked.

"It's written at the back. The generals in the Three Kingdoms are divided into different levels. The lowest is the white card, followed by the green card, blue card, red card and gold card. The white card generals are the weakest, and the gold card generals are the most powerful."

Yao Xiaoguang nodded suddenly: "According to this, Lu Bu must be a gold card!"

"Wrong, ordinary Lu Bu only has a red card, while Wushuang Lu Bu has a gold card!" Zhang Wei said with a smile.

"Unparalleled Lu Bu? What is this?"

"It's just that it's more powerful than the ordinary Lu Bu. In addition, there are also Wushuang Zhao Yun, Wushuang Guan Yu, and Wushuang Zhang Fei! In short, all the top generals in the Three Kingdoms have Wushuang gold cards."

"In other words, if you want to get powerful generals, you have to get them through this card drawing? It feels like opening the Little Raccoon instant noodles in the past!" Yao Xiaoguang understood immediately.

"Yes, and the odds are set. The gold card has the lowest odds, and the white card has the highest odds."

"In that case, wouldn't that mean there are too many white cards?"

"So we add a synthesis system. Ten white cards are randomly synthesized into a green card, ten green cards are randomly synthesized into a blue card, and so on."

"So, ten thousand white cards can be combined into one gold card?"

"Of course it can't be that simple. There has to be a chance of synthesis failure. The higher the level, the higher the chance of failure. If it fails, a card will be lost."

"Hmm, it sounds like an online game." Yao Xiaoguang paused, then asked, "Where do these cards come from? Do you want to complete a mission?"

“Set up a few tasks, and you will be given a chance to draw a card after completing them every day, but the quantity is limited. In addition, you can draw a card directly by recharging, and the minimum is a green card. You can also get a VIP card, and the minimum is a blue card.”

"Wait a minute, I don't quite understand. You mean the game is free, but the card drawing is charged, so our profit point is the card drawing?"

"That's right, it's called free game, paid props!" Zhang Wei replied with a smile.

"Will this work? Although the game is free to play, it can indeed attract a lot of players. But what if the players are unwilling to spend money to buy props?" Yao Xiaoguang had an expression of noncommittal.

“Of course it’s impossible to get every player to spend money. Even most players don’t want to spend money and just want to get it for free. But as long as a small number of people spend money, there will always be people who will follow suit.” Zhang Wei said with certainty.

Yao Xiaoguang had never experienced the era of free games, and he had no idea how terrifyingly destructive the card drawing thing was!
The gameplay in the game mall where you can directly spend real money to buy equipment and props is actually quite low-level. It is only at the initial stage of paying for free props in the game.

The truly advanced way to play is to play with probability!

If the bosses spend money directly to buy props, they will only feel happy for a while and will soon lose interest. After all, what money can buy is not exciting at all and will become boring after a long time.

But playing with odds is different. You never know what the next second will be like, so you will be full of anticipation, and there is also a chance to win a big prize with a small investment. How exciting!

This is the same principle as playing scratch tickets. If you don’t win the jackpot, you always feel that the next one might be the jackpot, and you can’t help but want to scratch another one. If you win the prize, you always feel that you can win again, and you can’t help but want to scratch ten more tickets.

It's so easy to get addicted when it comes to playing with chance!
Zhang Wei planned to make quick money by playing online games, so naturally he had to use this kind of probability-based gameplay.

The cost of developing a web game is definitely much lower than developing a client game. Simple web games don’t even require a game engine.

For more complex web games, if they do not require combat operations, there is no need for physical simulation and collision detection. You only need to do a good job of the animation system and audio processing.

In other words, just play pictures during normal times, play animations during battles, and add music, and you can create a so-called large-scale web game!

This is also the reason why Zhang Wei chose to make web games. After typing the code, he can find a few good artists, and the job is done. It may be easier than developing an APP now.

The development cost of a web game like this can be as little as 100,000 or 200,000 yuan, plus the cost of renting a server, and the game can be launched online within 500,000 yuan. If it were a PC game, it would cost at least 3 million yuan to make it.

The first reason for choosing the Three Kingdoms theme is because it is a well-known IP, and the second reason is for card drawing.

When it comes to card drawing, of course you have to choose characters that everyone is familiar with. For example, the Little Raccoon instant noodles back then were paired with the 108 heroes from the Water Margin. Many elementary school students would buy the instant noodles just to get a Water Margin card.

If it was replaced by the 28 generals of Yuntai, would the instant noodles still be so popular? How many of the 28 generals of Yuntai can ordinary people name? Who would buy instant noodles if they can't even name them?
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is obviously a bigger IP than Water Margin. It contains too many well-known stories, and the characters in it have also given birth to too many allusions.

There are enough characters, and ordinary people know them, so it’s perfect for drawing cards!
(End of this chapter)