My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 193 Business

As Zhou Kuang slowly turned to the first page of the document, the office fell silent.

A faint sound of wind came from outside the window, along with the ticking of the clock on the wall.

Apart from that, only the sound of turning pages reached everyone's ears.

Feng Qi stood upright, looking at Zhou Kuang with a completely calm expression.

Yang Ji, standing to the side, crossed his hands slightly, his thumbs touching, and his eyes showed a hint of nervousness.

Wu Qianhe observed the time on the wall, occasionally pushing up his glasses with his index finger.

Chen Xingyu's gaze lingered, and he seemed somewhat distracted.

And what about Zhou Kuang?

The codename "Shadow" is a tentative internal codename for the game and does not represent the final game name to be used upon release.

The reason for choosing this code name is that Feng Qi believed it perfectly encapsulated their view on the project.

As the next AAA game from Megvii Games, their goal is definitely to surpass "The Lost Tomb".

It surpasses "The Lost Tomb" not only in sales, but also in quality and reputation.

You know, they're still upset that "The Lost Tomb" didn't get a nomination for Game of the Year.

Of course, they wouldn't admit it verbally, only saying that those things weren't important, which made them seem exceptionally carefree.

But ultimately, which content creator wouldn't want their work to be recognized?
Moreover, it was the first 3A project that I completed after putting in a lot of effort.

Calling it her "first love" wouldn't be an exaggeration at all.

The first time is always the most memorable.

To achieve the goal of "surpassing", they not only need to improve themselves and invest more energy and effort, but also need to plan for the future of the project.

For Feng Qi, patience, stability, and accumulating knowledge and experience are the principles he intends to uphold in this project.

Before the release of "The Netherworld Mountains and Seas", they were more or less eager.

Feng Qi was eager to prove himself, Zhou Kuang was eager to increase the company's stability, and most of the other employees who joined Kuangshi Games were the same.

A group of unsuccessful and disillusioned individuals form the Avengers. Their greatest motivation for moving forward is to prove to those who look down on them that they are not the losers they imagine!
The reason why Zhou Kuang recruited such employees was certainly not because he did it intentionally.

It's because he has high requirements for the abilities of his employees; even if an employee with average abilities wanted to join Megvii Games, they might not be able to succeed.

In addition, before the release of "The Lost Tomb", Kuangshi Games had a very thin resume and a poor reputation in the game industry.

Those who would still be willing to join Kuangshi Games are only the so-called "disappointed ones".

For this new project, the creators already had the extremely successful project "The Netherworld Mountains and Seas", so the desire to prove themselves was much less strong.

Their dissatisfaction with "The Lost Tomb" stemmed more from its artistic pursuits than from its commercial success.

In terms of commercial success alone, "Youming Shanhai" has already reached the pinnacle of China's gaming industry.

Of course, some online games, web games, or mobile games can generate higher revenue than "Youming Shanhai" through in-game microtransactions, or in-app purchases.

But it is not important.

Since the two have taken different paths, there is no point in comparing them.

Some netizens said: "The revenue that mobile games earn in half a year is more than what you, a single-player game, can earn in a lifetime."

My question is, once an online game has fixed its bugs and is going live, do you need to rent a server?

Does it require an operations team of dozens or even hundreds of people to operate?

The operation was flawed, and the players are outraged. Shouldn't the platform apologize?

answer me!
Should we give out resources, diamonds, and gacha tickets to appease the players?
Hmm? Answer me.

These are the answers from people who say mobile games are awesome.

look in my eyes!

Every day, they worry about retention rates and think day and night about how to extract money from players' pockets. They have to satisfy the show-off desires of whales while also coaxing free-to-play players not to leave.

He'd had enough of this kind of life!
Anyone who has worked in the gaming industry understands why this kind of work is so grueling.

It can even cause people to have nightmares every night without realizing it.

It's no exaggeration to say that it truly alienates game developers.

Compared to their self-perception as so-called artistic creators before entering the industry, they seem more like lowly henchmen from some oblique organization, whose daily job is to recruit people into their trap.

The pit here is a real pit.

Only by dragging ordinary people down with them can they make a living.

But ordinary people are completely unaware of what they have experienced, and may even thank the developers because the content they provide is of relatively high quality.

If too many days like this occur, conscientious gamers will feel an increasing sense of guilt.

It even felt like every bite of food I ate was soaked in the blood of the players.

Every penny he received was taken from the players.

If this continues, there will only be two outcomes.

Either they are tormented by their own conscience to the point of leaving the gaming industry altogether.

They either turn completely to the dark side and become ruthless cogs in the machine of capitalism.

This is why, over the years, many veterans of China's gaming industry have left the industry.

Whenever he mentions this experience, he advises young people: "Never enter the Chinese gaming industry."

It's not because they earn less money than other industries, or because this profession has no future or development.

Rather, it's because this profession is so torturous, it's not an exaggeration to say it's inhumane.

For Feng Qi, what he is pursuing now is more about the height of his creative work than commercial success.

Such thinking is perfectly normal.

For Zhou Kuang, he believes that, provided the direction of progress is well controlled, artistic achievement is equivalent to commercial success.

Some commercial works fail to convert these two aspects because they forget the prerequisites.

That is, for games, and even other works of art, to make money, they must first be products.

The definition of a product is that it needs to meet the needs of customers.

If the so-called artistic height is simply what the customer wants, but you insist on doing the opposite, then naturally you won't have a good ending!

Cultural workers must first and foremost be cultured.

Secondly, artistic excellence does not mean being detached from reality. Understanding and fulfilling the needs of the people does not mean there is no pursuit of artistic merit.

Zhou Kuang firmly believes that it is possible to have both.

As for why many people have subconsciously believed for a long time that these two things must be contradictory?

This is due to an inherent flaw in the Western elite narrative system, namely: elite = art = good, the lower class = grassroots = rough = uncultured.

Under this narrative logic, you must first accept this point, otherwise you will not be able to rise in the social class, but will still be regarded as the bottom class, and thus be excluded by certain groups.

This is why "The Lost Mountains and Seas" cannot be recognized by Western media.

Because he committed a grave mistake!
In that world, Chinese culture represented neither the elites nor the common people, but rather the invasion of so-called Eastern culture that terrified them!

This is even worse than grassroots art, which is considered "low culture".

They are what is meant by the indescribable, ineffable, unobservable, and untouchable.

From the very beginning, Zhou Kuang never thought he could fit into the other person's circle, so naturally he didn't expect anything.

But some people believed that as long as they knelt down, there was a glimmer of hope of joining the other side, and thus chose the opposite path. Zhou Kuang could only wish them good luck.

If they succeed, their wish will be fulfilled, and Zhou Kuang will wish them well.

If they did not succeed and paid the price for their choices, at least it was what they hoped for and put into practice.

Zhou Kuang still wished them well.

This approach is at least much better than the paranoid person who talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk.

But for him, the idea that he could be accepted by kneeling and begging was simply wishful thinking.

Code name: Shadow.

This code name was a name they all came up with after discussing it together.

They had long ago reached a consensus that this name was intended to serve as a shadow behind the game.

Aside from them turning around and being able to see, other outsiders cannot observe them for the time being and can only focus on them.

The project was so well hidden that it was enough to shock everyone.

Build walls high, accumulate grain, and slowly become king.

This has always been the case.

At this moment, Zhou Kuang was carefully reading every part of the document.

Project planning, timeline...

Story setting, world setting...

Overall art style, character sketches...

This proposal is probably the most detailed document Zhou Kuang has ever seen.

His content may not be the most extensive, but the development details it covers are the most detailed and comprehensive he has ever seen.

These past few months, the key creators at Megvii Games have been quite busy.

While completing their main task of porting "The Lost Tomb" to GS4, they were constantly working together to improve this project plan.

Clearly, the effect is very obvious.

Every detail was not a placeholder written hastily, but rather something carefully considered and even revised multiple times before being added to the data.

They had already discussed many of these topics with Zhou Kuang.

However, Zhou Kuang did not skip any of the content. Instead, he read every part of it more carefully, including every word and every sketch.

He wanted to make sure he didn't miss a single detail.

I don’t know how long it took…

Zhou Kuang sighed, closed the documents in his hand, and looked up.

His movements and voice made the hearts of the others jump.

Why are you sighing?
Is it not good enough?
What is not good enough?

Just as they were feeling uneasy because of Zhou Kuang's subconscious sigh, Zhou Kuang looked at them and smiled.

"good, very good."

Upon hearing such praise, the group immediately beamed with joy, and their bodies unconsciously relaxed.

"To be honest, I had lowered my expectations for a project of this scale."

"However, you have clearly given me a surprise!"

Feng Qi said with a smile, "Brother Kuang, you're underestimating us."

"No, absolutely not!" Zhou Kuang quickly shook his head. "I just didn't want to put pressure on you."

The group joked with each other, creating a very harmonious atmosphere.

"Brother Kuang, what do you think of this art style?"

Yang Ji asked the question.

In "The Mysterious Mountains and Seas", Yang Ji used a very dark and realistic style, which made the game very well received by overseas players.

Many foreign players even believe that the art style of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" surpasses that of any other game, making it their number one.

However, many players in China still believe that this art style is too gory.

It's not necessarily that they can't accept this art style, but rather that they feel it's somewhat incomplete.

I even subconsciously think that an artist who paints in this style might have some inner problems.

At the very least, it's unhealthy.

However, as Zhou Kuang observed, Yang Ji was perfectly normal; in fact, one could even say he was quite cheerful to some extent.

Rather than saying he has a dark personality, or that his hobbies are somewhat bizarre, coupled with his slightly repressed and eccentric nature, it's not so much that he has a dark personality, but rather that he has some unusual hobbies and is a bit of a repressed pervert.

This combination of factors resulted in his excellent adaptability to this dark art style, naturally leading to high-quality original artwork.

For this new project, "Code: Shadow," Zhou Kuang imposed some restrictions on the game's art style.

First, Yang Ji can still use his favorite dark style.

The martial arts theme does not conflict with the other party's art style; in fact, if used properly, they can complement each other.

Moreover, Zhou Kuang would never allow a lead artist of Yang Ji's caliber to do something he wasn't good at.

That's like asking a rooster to lay an egg—it's like making something impossible for someone!

Zhou Kuang's request was quite simple.

It adds a layer of artistic conception to the simple bloodshed.

While maintaining the visual impact, add more subtle charm.

The so-called beauty of subtlety is not something fabricated out of thin air, but a real artistic expression technique.

Similar techniques can be found in many art forms.

Take singing, for example, a straightforward art form. Many people think that singing is all about who has better technique and who has a higher vocal range.

That's the opinion of an outsider.

There are techniques involved in knowing when to stop and when to continue a song that is only a few minutes long.

Why is it that two singers with similar skills can have a significant difference in quality when singing the same song?
Why is it that some people's singing sounds exhausting, while others' singing makes listeners feel completely absorbed and relaxed?

This is what is known as understated beauty.

For singers, it's called "singing intelligence."

The intelligence required for singing.

Without preparation for recovering strength, the subsequent ascent to the summit will not appear powerful.

This is somewhat similar to throwing a punch in a boxing match; pulling back the fist is not to retreat, but to deliver the next punch with more power.

Many singers spend their entire lives without ever learning "how to sing," yet they think that their superior skills and high vocal volume make them the best.

Zhou Kuang's requirement for Yang Ji was actually to help him reach a higher level and not just rely on visual appeal to impress players.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with that; Yang Ji's artistic level is definitely elite within the entire gaming industry.

but!

Only by overcoming this hurdle can he break through his limitations and possess the potential to become a true master who will be remembered in history!
(End of this chapter)