Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 355 Setting a Trap: The Nickname Trap (6k views, please subscribe)

By the end of 2016, the concept of "artificial intelligence" already existed, with the most well-known related science fiction works being the Terminator film series and the Matrix film series.

Of course, in the American TV series "Person of Interest," which is one of my personal favorites, the core concept of "artificial intelligence" also describes a more down-to-earth and applicable scenario for "artificial intelligence."

However, due to the lack of algorithms and computing power at the time, although institutions and companies in various countries were promoting "artificial intelligence" research, progress was not significant.

Therefore, even if Lü Yao incorporates the "concept" of AI into the game that Feng Ji and his team are about to develop, it may not attract much attention.

At this point in 2016, the more fashionable and cutting-edge technological concept was actually VR.

Back in 2012, Google released an "augmented reality" glasses product that had the same functions as a smartphone. It could be controlled by voice to take photos, make video calls, determine direction, surf the Internet, process text messages and emails, and so on.

With the added appeal of science fiction films and television shows, this technological product, which has the potential to "expand into reality," quickly became a new favorite in Silicon Valley's investment circles upon its release.

For nearly a decade afterward, "reality extension" and "virtual reality" remained hot topics in Silicon Valley's investment circles.

But Lü Yao, with his futuristic perspective, knew that realizing this thing would be extremely difficult.

The biggest and most difficult part is the constraints in materials science.

Whether it's the "tech glasses" needed for real-world expansion or the power source that powers them, for a long time to come, it will be impossible to overcome the limitations of materials, let alone achieve miniaturization, lightness, or even "semi-embedded wearing" like contact lenses.

Although there are prototypes of this product in the laboratory, it cannot be promoted and popularized, and therefore has no commercial value.

Even after Apple spared no expense, spent a lot of money, made many compromises, and used fashion to brainwash consumers, the VR headset they released in 2024 failed to win over users and became a "white elephant" in Apple's product line.

and so.

Without major breakthroughs in materials science, VR was merely a "concept" used by Silicon Valley startups to fool investors. The later-emerging "metaverse" concept was simply a way to recoup capital. After this recoupment, Silicon Valley investors began pouring money into "artificial intelligence."

Artificial intelligence does offer a certain possibility of practical application. At the very least, many mediocre artists and programmers will lose their jobs due to the emergence of AI models. Furthermore, the application of AI in the industrial field can bring about a qualitative change in industrial production.

However, most people in this era lack foresight regarding the future.

If the concept of "artificial intelligence" is not attractive enough to the enemy, Lü Yao will also use his marketing skills to link the concept of "chips" with Guang'an Network Games through "previews".

While games can be quite harmful, it is undeniable that they are an industry strongly related to high-tech industries.

Using "games" as a medium allows for the association with many "high-tech" concepts.

If this still fails to lure out the hidden enemy, then Lü Yao can use continuous, viral marketing to strongly associate "Optical Shore Networks" with "high-tech," subtly and quietly branding "chip" products with Lü Yao's "conceptual mark."

Just like many large companies associate their products with "style" or some kind of most basic emotion.

However, Lü Yao's version was a bit more complicated.

While introducing his latest research progress to Feng Ji and Yang Qi, Lü Yao also brainstormed with them to find ways to integrate these latest ideas into the game they were about to create.

Behavioral data accumulation, AI interaction, multi-branch plot design... one design after another that can greatly enhance the game's playability sparked Feng Ji's imagination, making him feel as if his soul was boiling and soaring.

Feng Ji himself is very qualified to speak on storytelling and the secondary creation of allusions.

However, in terms of gameplay design, he is far inferior to players like Lü Yao, who have a futuristic perspective and more discerning and complex tastes.

Furthermore, Lü Yao even hoped that Feng Ji and his team would set up some recreational areas within the game, where players could sit down and play a game of "Auto Chess" with online players.

Anyway, Lu Yao's Guang'an Network Games Company is also making auto chess games.

Games based on the Journey to the West theme can create a wide variety of factions and bonds.

After listening to Lü Yao's ideas, Feng Ji agreed with many of them, especially the idea of ​​embedding an "auto chess" gameplay...

Feng Ji was somewhat uncertain: "I know that The Witcher 3 last year had embedded gameplay, but if we do it this way, won't it destroy the overall story of the game too much?"

Yang Qi added, "It also has artistic merit."

Lu Yao smiled and said, "This is just my personal opinion. You can consider it carefully when you get back."

"However, I think it's actually quite boring for single-player gamers to just complete the game and then play it a few more times to challenge themselves. If our single-player game is very successful, how will we handle the subsequent surge in traffic?"

"Having such an embedded mini-game can encourage players to open the game and explore more, which is very helpful in cultivating players' attachment to the game."

seriously.

Feng Ji was somewhat persuaded.

But at this moment his brain was still boiling like a pot of porridge, so he took a deep breath: "President Lü, please allow me to think about it. I have gained too much this year, and I need to digest it properly."

Lu Yao laughed and said, "Okay, by the way, weren't you with that... what was it again? Xia something?"

Feng Ji reminded him, "Xia Siyuan."

Lu Yao slapped his thigh: "Right! I did a little research on them, and it seems their game company, 'Hurricane Zone,' isn't just doing outsourcing; they're also developing VR games?"

Feng Ji asked uncertainly, "Does Mr. Lü feel that cooperating with them is not appropriate?"

Lu Yao laughed and said, "No, VR is a popular development direction right now, and we can make some progress in it. But the single-player game you're developing shouldn't go in that direction."

Feng Ji nodded: "Okay, I understand."

Feng Ji, Yang Qi, and Lü Yao talked and ate for as long as they discussed the development of the new game, but they talked more than they ate, so there was still a lot of food left on the table.

Lu Yao lit a cigarette after his meal, and his expression gradually became hazy amidst the swirling smoke.

He said, "Once you've finalized the details of your collaboration with them, I'll help you with marketing and promotion."

After a long silence, Yang Qi suddenly said, "Mr. Lü, are you going to help 'Hurricane Zone' with their publicity?"

Lu Yao, shrouded in smoke, chuckled softly, "Is that not allowed?"

"The domestic game industry is booming, but most companies are focusing on making money, which I personally think is not good. So it's good to support other companies. At the very least, it can have a positive effect."

Yang Qi nodded after listening.

What Lü Yao said makes sense.

Due to the rapid development and booming growth of the domestic game industry, many developers of varying quality have indeed entered the game circle.

While these developers create low-end, money-grabbing games to fleece users, they also occupy a considerable amount of available resources in the gaming industry, to the point that they now face a shortage of manpower when they want to start developing new projects.

Especially for large-scale projects like AAA games, which are considered systematic engineering projects in the game industry, there are many people needed for everything, including directing, concept art, modeling, rendering, motion capture, sound effects, music, voice acting, system design, and so on.

In Lü Yao's future study abroad, Game Science had more than 100 full-time employees and more than 500 outsourced teams. It took them five or six years to produce a game called "Black Myth" that started strong but ended weakly.

If Feng Ji and Yang Qi were to develop the game according to Lü Yao's instructions, the team size would need to at least double, and the investment would need to increase several times over.

Given such a severe shortage of manpower, buying bones with a thousand pieces of gold is indeed a good solution.

At the very least, it can help Game Science quickly establish its reputation in the gaming industry and attract more "talents" to come.

After exchanging glances with Yang Qi, Feng Ji said, "I will revise the proposal as soon as possible for you to review."

Lu Yao stubbed out his nearly finished cigarette and nodded, saying, "Okay, then let's leave it at that."

After talking with Feng Ji and Yang Qi, Lü Yao got up and saw them out of his office. Then he glanced at his wrist and realized that it was almost eleven o'clock.

Lu Yao asked the cleaning staff to come into the room and tidy up his things, and then he also packed his things to go home after get off work.

……

The next day, Xia Siyuan, who was still staying at the Shangnan Hotel, was studying programming in his room when Jiang Min suddenly rushed into the room excitedly. Before he even arrived, his voice preceded his words: "Hahaha, Lao Xia, great news! Game Science wants to cooperate deeply with us. If we perform well this time, we might be recruited by Guang'an Network Games."

"From now on, we won't have to do outsourcing and earn hard-earned money anymore. Who knows, we might even be able to develop our own games in the future."

Xia Siyuan looked up at the jubilant Jiang Min with his sclera showing, and his already unpleasant sclera made him even more uncomfortable: "What's all the excitement about? In the end, we're just working for someone else."

"Could you elaborate on the specifics of the collaboration?"

Jiang Min provides pure technical support; Xia Siyuan handles the game design and programming. Because Xia Siyuan comes from a wealthy family, she has a lot of influence in their studio.

Another core member with significant influence was Guo Xinxin, the finance staff member who hadn't come with the team.

Guo Xinxin has even more connections and a stronger family background.

So overall, Jiang Min actually has the least say.

Jiang Min said, "The cooperation model between Game Science and us is quite simple. Our studio fully assists Game Science in completing their projects in the early stages, and in return, we receive a portion of the project's equity. Later, the Game Science team can also support our project development." Xia Siyuan continued to ask, "What is the specific equity stake? What is their development cycle? What type of project are they working on?"

Jiang Min truthfully stated, "The shareholding is currently set at 3%, and the development cycle is hard to say. The project type is a traditional Souls-like single-player game based on the Journey to the West theme."

Xia Siyuan couldn't help but snort: "It seems they still can't forget about 'Dou Zhan Shen'. They want to keep telling a story that's been told to death over and over again, and what the hell is this, only giving 3%?"

Jiang Min said, "Normal labor settlements are still in place."

Xia Siyuan said unhappily, "That's too little."

"Tell them that if it's less than 10%, then we shouldn't even consider it. And we can't put all our resources into it; we also need to reserve some resources to develop our own games."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Siyuan said, "Never mind, I'll go talk to them myself."

That afternoon, Feng Ji found Lü Yao again and told him about the conditions Xia Siyuan had brought.

After listening to Feng Ji's conversation with Xia Siyuan, Lü Yao was delighted.

Xia Siyuan may not be very capable, but he has quite the appetite.

It's also possible that Xia Siyuan had no concept of what Game Science could create. As the top single-player game in China and the first college student in his village, the sales figures of "Dark Horse" after its release are certainly familiar to anyone who frequently uses the internet, plays games, or does marketing.

Released at the end of August 2024, the game sold 2800 copies across all platforms by 2025, generating a total sales revenue of 9 billion. With a return on investment of 30 times, even after deducting platform revenue sharing and marketing expenses, "Dark Horse" still generated a profit of around 5 billion.

Then the hurricane zone will open its mouth and demand 10%?

So that means a profit share of 500 million? And during this period, we still have to pay them their wages as usual?
That's quite a big face.

But after thinking for a moment, Lü Yao said to Feng Ji, "Talk to them and raise their labor remuneration to the highest in the industry, and at the same time raise the profit sharing ratio to 15%, but we must require them to help with publicity and promotion. The contract should be signed after the initial cooperation and promotion."

Feng Ji was stunned: "Huh?"

Lü Yao chuckled and said, "What 'ah'? Hurry up and go."

Feng Ji left Lü Yao's office, completely bewildered. After returning to the Game Science office area, he racked his brains, trying to understand why Lü Yao would do such a thing.

Logically speaking, given Guang'an's current reputation and size, there's no reason why they would need a company from Tianfu City to help with publicity and promotion.

Completely baffled, Feng Ji immediately went to find Yang Qi.

As the lead artist, Yang Qi may seem to be in a position dominated by the game designers, but within Game Science, Yang Qi actually wields considerable influence. Many decisions made by Yang Qi are ones that even Feng Ji cannot change.

Therefore, Feng Ji often consulted Yang Qi for countermeasures.

At the time, Yang Qi was designing the overall framework of the game. He listened to Feng Ji's explanation while working. After Feng Ji finished speaking, Yang Qi raised his head from his desk.

After a moment of contemplation, Yang Qi threw down his pen: "Under what circumstances would a person so readily make grand promises and boast about their achievements?"

Feng Ji was not a fool to begin with, and after Yang Qi pointed it out, he immediately understood: "People only make promises without caring when they don't want to give these things."

Yang Qi nodded, then continued working at his desk.

Feng Ji was even more confused now!
This is unscientific.

They asked for help with publicity and promotion, and they wanted better treatment, but in the end, President Lü decided not to give them anything? Won't that ruin Guang'an's reputation?

Seeing that Feng Ji was still by his desk, Yang Qi, who was working at his desk, said without looking up, "Do you remember the story of Fengxian County in Journey to the West?"

Feng Ji suddenly realized something again.

He got it.

Because Fengxian County offended the Jade Emperor, it suffered three years of drought and crop failure, causing immense suffering to the people. It was only through the Great Sage's mediation that the local plight was relieved. This story is not complicated, but it is particularly intriguing in a book like Journey to the West.

How could a mere county magistrate become a calamity? Was it simply to humiliate the Jade Emperor? And why would someone as shrewd as the Great Sage be willing to go through all this trouble and mediate?
Therefore, later scholars of the Journey to the West developed many different interpretations of the story of Fengxian County.

One interpretation is from the perspective of the Marquis of Fengxian County...

What if both the Great Sage and the Jade Emperor were part of the magistrate of Fengxian County's scheme? His aim was to use one wolf to devour another, letting the Great Sage cause trouble for the Jade Emperor, ultimately relieving Fengxian County's suffering while also benefiting himself.

If this is the interpretation, then everything makes sense.

But if even General Lü is playing the role of a "prefectural lord" in such a story, then who is the Great Sage? Who is the Jade Emperor?
Feng Ji couldn't help but gasp: "Hiss..."

This is a very big deal.

Just as Feng Ji was about to say something, Yang Qi coldly said, "President Lü's ideas and perspectives are different from ours. Let's focus on our own work and stop overthinking."

Feng Ji scratched his slightly bald scalp under his wig and smiled, "I understand."

After that day, Feng Ji went to talk to the Hurricane Zone again. Under the generous conditions offered by Lü Yao, the core trio of the Hurricane Zone readily agreed to Game Science's conditions and agreed to cooperate.

Following that, the official Game Science account, together with Hurricane Zone, announced on multiple social media platforms that they would be collaborating to create a domestic AAA masterpiece.

Unlike what Lü Yao saw in his study abroad future, Game Science became extremely cautious because of the failure of two previous entrepreneurial projects. Even the money to make games was supported by venture capital from Wu Dan of ZhenFund.

More than 300 million was added in total.

Because of the previous two failures, Black Myth was not released until 18, when it was first conceived in 20, due to a shortage of manpower. This finally aroused the expectations of domestic players.

After Lü Yao intervened in their fate, Game Science became bolder and more composed than Lü Yao had imagined.

So money is a good thing.

It is a man's heroic courage.

It is a woman's elixir of youth.

It is also a company's greatest source of confidence and support.

So after the Game Science team's official account released the news, players across the internet began to look forward to it to varying degrees, especially those who had previously played "Dou Zhan Shen," who posted comments online:
"Damn, are they planning to revisit Journey to the West and follow the same path again?"

"Actually, I also think that the Game Science team is more suited to single-player game development. Their meticulous work style is completely different from the style of domestic online games."

“Look at the overseas single-player game market in recent years. The prospects of this market are still very good. If Game Science really makes a domestic 3A game, then it will be the first truly domestic 3A game in China, which will make us very proud.”

"Now that Game Science has money, and with the support of Guang'an, a conscientious domestic game developer, wow! We can really look forward to this."

While the online discussion was escalating, Game Science also began releasing information about new technologies that might be used in the single-player game, as well as experiences that would be completely different from other games.

Game Science also emphasized its collaboration with "Hurricane Zone".

It also highlighted two key figures from the hurricane zone.

For example, Jiang Min had experience doing outsourcing for Ubisoft and Sony, which proved that they had the technical capability to create domestic AAA games.

after that.

It was the rapid follow-up from various media outlets.

Many new and traditional media outlets from the gaming, tech, and even finance sectors have begun rushing to the "hurricane zone" to conduct interviews, focusing on their technological prowess.

In the interview, the three core members of the Hurricane Zone stated earnestly and affirmatively:

"In fact, many of the AAA games in China today are actually contracted out and produced by companies from Dongda University. So, in terms of technical capabilities alone, Dongda University has long had the ability to create its own AAA games. However, the industry ecosystem has always been somewhat distorted, and few people are willing to spend a lot of money to polish such a work."

"And they have the determination and technology to achieve this, coupled with Game Science's design and philosophy, they believe that the day when domestically produced AAA masterpieces arrive is not far off."

Amidst a barrage of interviews, the Hurricane Zone trio not only began promoting their collaboration with Game Science, but also started showcasing their VR interactive game under development in various media outlets and on different occasions.

With increasing exposure, Hurricane Zone is poised to become a top representative of "technological strength" in the domestic game industry.

The overwhelming publicity not only garnered a large amount of support from netizens online, but also generated tremendous buzz for Hurricane Zone and their ongoing projects.

But this wave of publicity brought more than just a change in reputation and support.

In the investment world, gaming has always been a hot commodity.

With such high popularity right now, investors in the investment community, various institutions, and even the local economic development department in Tianfu have all started to pay attention to Hurricane Zone.

For a while.

Countless coins seemed to be swept away by a strong wind and converged on the hurricane zone...

(End of this chapter)