My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 215 Speed?
A new game from Kuangshi Games is in development; according to sources, it will be set in the Ming Dynasty.

……

Recently, many rumors and reports about Megvii Games' latest work have suddenly circulated online.

Aside from revealing that the game is a larger project than "Youming Shanhai" and that it is a role-playing game set in the Ming Dynasty, the report did not provide any further details.

Nevertheless, players were thrilled by the news.

After all, "The Lost Tomb" has been released for almost a year, and players who love the game have already completed it at least once.

Some more persistent players have even completed their third or fourth playthrough.

Even if "The Lost Tomb" is fun, it's still just a single-player game with little replay value, and players have long been tired of it.

As the development team's first single-player game, the design of the new game plus/game plus content is relatively simple.

In a second playthrough, players can unlock items, accessories, equipment, and so on that are not available in the first playthrough, but the core gameplay content remains largely unchanged.

Fans of "The Lost Tomb" initially thought that Kuangshi Games was developing DLC ​​for the main game, but they only realized that they were working on a port after the GS4 version was released.

It's understandable that the development team made this choice to maximize profits, but for players, it's still a disappointment to play the new game later.

Now, we finally have news about what the Kuangshi Games project team will be developing next. Although it's not the "Youming Shan Hai" DLC that players were expecting, the content revealed is even more exciting!

A role-playing game with a Ming Dynasty setting and two to three times the number of developers as "Youming Shanhai"!
Such news is bound to excite players.

Although the Classic of Mountains and Seas is set in a Chinese context, it is more like an ancient myth in people's minds than actual history.

The Ming Dynasty is less than 700 years old, and if we look at the late Ming Dynasty, it is less than 500 years old!
As a period that history enthusiasts love to study, the number of people familiar with it far exceeds that of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

If Kuangshi Games can maintain, or even surpass, the quality of "Youming Shan Hai," players are already prepared to empty their wallets to support the game.

A video that reposted this report easily garnered over a million views in a single day, thanks to its title "New work from the production team of 'Youming Shanhai'".

It even topped the trending search list on Bilibili.

The video content was just a repetition of the report, but when he mentioned the "Ming Dynasty background," the comments section exploded.

"Holy crap, it's Ming!"

"Our Great Ming Dynasty is invincible!"

"seriously"

"I must join."

"Hurry, hurry, I can't wait!"

"I'll buy a copy as soon as it's released and give it to my dad; he likes Ming Dynasty history."

……

……

……

On the other hand, Kuangshi Games seemed somewhat caught off guard by this sudden surge in popularity.

After all, the game has only just begun development, so it's impossible to launch a promotional campaign at this time.

Zhou Kuang read the report and found that there was almost no highly confidential information in it, which relieved him.

This suggests that the "sources" who leaked information to the media either didn't reveal everything they knew, or they didn't know much.

Regardless of the circumstances, although the incident did not have a significant impact, Zhou Kuang did not tolerate it and ordered an investigation.

The final result put Zhou Kuang's mind at ease.

It wasn't that there was a mole within the company, but rather that an employee of an outsourcing company that collaborated with Megvii Games leaked the information while boasting to someone.

The "Code: Shadow" project requires outsourcing a lot of work, which allows the core team at Megvii Games to focus their energy on more important content creation.

Compared to Rockstar's flagship projects, which often have project teams of two or three thousand people, or the teams of over five hundred people in European and American AAA games, Megvii Games' headquarters still follows a "lean" approach.

Therefore, outsourcing non-core content is imperative.

Although "Code: Shadow" has not yet started formal production, based on the experience of "The Lost Seas", the work of finding an outsourcing team has already begun.

Therefore, it's normal that this outsourcing company knew some information about "Code: Shadow" but not any details.

After all, when Kuangshi Games negotiates with others, it's essential to disclose information about its own projects.

After thinking it over, Zhou Kuang decided not to pursue the matter further, because this outsourcing company had already collaborated with them on "Youming Shan Hai" and was quite capable and of high quality in all aspects.

Furthermore, since the other party's boss personally came to apologize and dismissed the employee involved, Zhou Kuang felt that it was best to leave it at that.

Recently, Zhou Kuang saw an item in the system shop that he really wanted, but unfortunately he didn't have enough points.

So in order to earn points, he kept doing various tasks issued by the system.

Of course, most of them are relatively easy to complete. As for those that require completing an entire project or take much longer to finish, Zhou Kuang certainly couldn't wait.

After all, the improvement from this item was immediate, so he couldn't wait a moment longer.

Project Management Amplifier (Permanent Version)

[Description: This item can only be used on the host, and its effects are permanent. After use, the development progress of each single-player game project under the host's control will be randomly accelerated by 30%-70% during the game development phase.]

[Exchange price: 244599 points]

Need I say more about the effects of this item? Zhou Kuang can only say it's incredibly powerful. He even wondered if there was something wrong with the system, since it put such an item on the shelves.

Imagine if you were Rockstar Games and had this item; with a bit of luck, you could finish Morals and the Law 6 in less than six years instead of the ten years it would have taken.

What kind of enhancement is this?
It's simply a money-making machine!
Most importantly, the effects of the items are permanent and apply to every single-player game.

This means that Zhou Kuang can produce games at the speed of producing garbage games. Even if his games are mediocre, with such a development speed, he has no chance of losing money.

Of course, the premise is that you don't do anything reckless, like playing with ten or twelve accounts simultaneously.

Moreover, although the price is not low, compared to the project proposals he had seen before that cost hundreds of thousands of points per project, this price-performance ratio is much higher.

Zhou Kuang initially thought it was a system bug, but later found that it didn't seem to be the case.

When he first saw the price of the item, it was over 260,000 points.

However, as time went on, the price gradually decreased.

Almost every time Zhou Kuang checked the shop, he would see that the price of this item had changed.

Sometimes it's just a few points, sometimes it's several hundred.

Prices are ultimately continuing to decline.

Although he didn't know the underlying principle, Zhou Kuang was pleasantly surprised.

If the price can maintain this trend, even if he doesn't earn any more points, he will still be able to get the item more than a year later.

If we also consider that Zhou Kuang is still persisting in doing tasks, the speed can be even faster.

……

…… ……

That day, Zhou Kuang brought Ma Tu to the Antarctic Pioneer Games.

He had promised Niu Tieming a long time ago that he would bring people to guide the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) project managed by Cao Qingli under Niu's company.

But he was always delayed by various things, and this time he finally made time.

Of course, this is also related to one of Zhou Kuang's tasks; he can take care of a small task while he's here.

"Oh, Mr. Zhou, it's such a pleasure to have you here! I'm so sorry I didn't greet you properly!"

Seeing Niu Tieming's feigned flattery and sarcastic tone, Zhou Kuang said irritably, "No, no, no, Mr. Niu, I can't accept that."

"You deserve it, you deserve it. Everyone knows you, Mr. Zhou, are a very busy person. You must have been extremely busy these days."

Niu Tieming continued speaking, and Zhou Kuang sighed, knowing that he was indeed in the wrong and had stood the other party up for a long time.

"Oh my god, here I am!"

"So you finally decided to come..." Niu Tieming finally stopped his sarcasm and instead looked resentful. "Tell me, you said you were coming a month ago, and Xiao Cao had already started making the products here, and you only just came now."

"And I did specifically remind you to bring Ma Tu over, but you only brought him!"

"Where's Feng Qi? Where's Yang Ji? Where are the others?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kuang recalled the tight development schedule of "Project: Shadow" and replied.

“They were too busy, so I didn’t mention it.” Then he immediately patted his chest and said, “I’m all you need to do. Don’t worry, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

"No one understands it better than me."

"Then I have to call you the Emperor of Knowledge, right..." Niu Tieming muttered under his breath.

After their casual conversation, the two finally started talking about their serious work.

"Does the game have a name yet?"

Zhou Kuang asked.

Niu Tieming knew, of course, that he was asking about Cao Qingli's anime project, so he nodded.

"Tentatively titled 'Narukami'."

Upon hearing this name, Zhou Kuang nearly dropped the teacup he was holding.

He quickly swallowed the tea he almost spat out and asked instinctively, "W-why did you choose this name?"

"Oh, it was Xiao Cao who came up with it based on the settings. I didn't interfere. You can ask him later."

Niu Tieming didn't find anything strange about it; he thought the name was quite good, classy and sophisticated.

However, Zhou Kuang couldn't suppress the urge to complain.

Goodness, you've essentially merged and married off the games that two opposing groups each love!
Does this imply a kind of official appointment?
"Well, let's not talk about that." Zhou Kuang quickly shook off the unnecessary thoughts in his head. "Why did you specifically call Ma Tu over?"

He was indeed quite curious. Logically speaking, Feng Qi had management experience of a successful AAA game, so shouldn't he be given more attention?

Although "Joker" achieved outstanding sales and received excellent reviews from critics, it doesn't offer much reference value for Antarctic Vanguard Games!
It's not a AAA game. Doesn't Antarctic Group define Niu Tieming's company as a "AAA game studio incubator"?

Niu Tieming raised his eyebrows smugly and revealed a smile.

"Hehe, I'm going to find someone to apply."

"As long as the number of our 'mini-games' projects does not exceed the number of AAA projects, they will turn a blind eye."

"So, we can make indie games now."

Zhou Kuang was taken aback.

Most companies limit the number of large projects like AAA games to a fraction of the number of smaller projects, sometimes even a tenth.

I've hardly ever heard of it being the other way around.

After all, the larger the project and the greater the ambition, the higher the financial costs will be.

In other words, the greater the risk.

For a large corporation like Antarctic Group, where investments of billions in failure may not be a major blow, it might be insignificant and can be considered a cost of strategic investment.

However, for most ordinary game companies, the survival of a AAA game could very well determine the company's very survival.

This is still related to the Antarctic Group's positioning of Antarctica as a pioneer.

The term "pioneer" naturally refers to those who are pioneers in exploring the field of domestically produced AAA games.

Independent games are something that Antarctic Group's Antarctic Interactive Entertainment, and even other small companies invested in by Antarctic, have long been involved in, so there's no need for Antarctic Pioneer to get involved.

Therefore, the fact that such a "non-core" project was approved is already the greatest care and leniency shown by the Antarctic leadership towards Niu Tieming.

After thinking it through, Zhou Kuang nodded and asked, "Do you want to start a new project team to make indie games?"

"Yes, it would be best to make some money."

Seeing the smile on Niu Tieming's face, Zhou Kuang hesitated to speak.

Indie games may have low production costs, but that doesn't mean they have a low probability of failure.

The reason why Light Swallow Studio of Kuangshi Games is able to produce one hit game after another is because of the direct intervention of Zhou Kuang's "clairvoyant vision".

This does not mean that any large company can achieve the same commercial success by making indie games.

Don't you see how many indie games struggle to even sell tens of thousands of copies?

Although Antarctic Pioneers, backed by various Antarctic-related promotional systems, certainly wouldn't have ended up like this, it's probably not what Niu Tieming thinks if it were just a small-scale operation.

This results in increased costs, but the risks remain the same.

"So, let's see if we can get Ma Tu to share some experience."

"Have you found the right people for your project team yet?"

“Of course,” Niu Tieming replied calmly. “I found a studio that I had previously worked with at Antarctic Interactive Entertainment and acquired them.”

"Two years ago, they released a pixel-style action game called 'Alien Battlegrounds,' which sold over 600,000 copies that year."

"By now, the total should be close to a million copies."

"One of their later games was never completed, so I saw the price was good and acquired them."

Zhou Kuang nodded. This number is quite impressive for an indie game; hopefully, it's not just empty boasting.

"Then have someone take Ma Tu over there. I'll go check on Xiao Cao's place."

"no problem!"

Niu Tieming was jolted awake; finally, they could begin!

(End of this chapter)