Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

They both laughed.

Despite saying that, Lin Li still accompanied Su Shanshan to ride the giant swing, drop tower, U-shaped ramp, haunted house... basically choosing the most thrilling rides.

While in the haunted house, the two unconsciously held hands, feeling their own and each other's heartbeats through their fingers. They didn't know if it was the ghosts that scared them or what, but holding hands in this kind of scene felt quite natural, didn't it?

Even after leaving the haunted house and seeing the light of day again, the two did not separate, holding hands without saying a word.

After playing in the afternoon.

Lin Li then took Su Shanshan to a noodle shop.

The noodle shop was very popular. Su Shanshan thought she would have to wait in line for a long time, but Lin Li went in and said something, and then took her directly to a private room.

Then Su Shanshan ate what was probably the most sumptuous bowl of noodles she had ever eaten in her life.

After serving two bowls of noodles, each weighing about 50 grams.

The shop owner brought out many more Chongqing snacks one after another.

There were even some side dishes.

After a hearty meal, Su Shanshan let out a burp, patted her stomach, and followed Lin Li out the door.

"Hey, Lin Li, didn't you pay me?"

"Give money? Give what money?"

Lin Li's question stumped Su Shanshan.

"The boss and the boss's wife were so nice! How could you dine and dash?! No way, how much is it? I'll pay when I get back."

Lin Li smiled and stopped Su Shanshan, pointing to the entrance of the noodle shop.

"Take a look at what this shop is called first."

"Old Lin's Noodle Shop..."

Su Shanshan repeated it once, then suddenly thought of something.

"This!! This is your family's noodle shop."

"Yes, Luo."

"Then...then that shop owner, the shop owner's wife..."

Don't you think I look a lot like you?

Lin Li's smile remained as bright as ever, leaving Su Shanshan completely stunned.

"ah!!?"

~~~

The Chongqing Animation and Game Development Conference lasted for two days and was divided into an indoor exhibition and an outdoor exhibition.

The indoor exhibition consists of several large conference rooms, depending on the type of game.

Every day, domestic producers share their experiences on stage.

Lin Li's speech was scheduled for the morning, so after signing in and receiving his work badge, he and Su Shanshan went to the mobile game exhibition hall, found a seat, and planned to listen to other people's speeches.

Those present are all leaders of major mobile game projects, due to industry reasons.

Everyone was relatively young, so the meeting wasn't too formal.

The speaker on stage right now is Cheng Feng, the project manager of Tencent's anime-style game "Azure Wars". His topic today is "How to tap into players' spending power in anime-style games".

The presentation certainly didn't touch on the project's most core secrets, but in fact, there was nothing to hide regarding the elements visible in the game.

"Understanding the players' psychological weaknesses is the part we've honed the most when developing Azure Wars," Cheng Feng said loudly from the podium.

"A game designer needs to understand not only the game, but also the players. Once you understand your users well enough, you will discover their inner weaknesses."

“Every player has inner weaknesses. What are these weaknesses? Let me give you a few simple examples: hatred, gambler's mentality, and greed. These are common human emotions and are unavoidable.”

"I believe that current mobile games are essentially still being made using a single-player game mindset."

"But in my opinion, to tap into players' willingness to spend money, we need to start with their emotions. For example, you work hard to complete a level, and then you are told that your friend got a higher score."

"Or perhaps a player thinks they're very strong, but gets completely crushed in PvP. Wouldn't you be angry? Wouldn't you want revenge? But what if you can't beat them?"

“When players lose their minds, they are prone to overreacting and making many out-of-control behaviors, including impulsively making payments. So of course we should encourage or even create such scenarios.”

I certainly wouldn't say that to the players, but since everyone here is an industry professional, there's no need to beat around the bush.

The speech on stage made Lin Li frown.

Games naturally need to make money, and charging for content isn't a crooked way, but it needs to be done in a respectable manner.

However, if we only focus on this point, or even exploit human weaknesses to achieve profit, we relatively ignore the essential question of whether a game is fun.

All I can say is that Tencent is indeed Tencent.

At that moment, someone suddenly sat down next to him.

"Don't listen to Lao Cheng's nonsense. He jumped ship from NetEase to Tencent. He doesn't know anything about mobile games."

After saying that, the man extended a hand and began to introduce himself.

"I am Dawei from miHoYo."

"Spark Games, standing tall."

Chapter 44 Beginner's Guide

Dawei came specifically to see Lin Li.

As a game producer, Dawei also plays other games regularly.

Of course, he plays games not for entertainment, but more to understand industry trends and learn about other competing products.

Last month, "Girls on the Frontline" became an instant hit.

This is a shock to the entire ACG mobile game industry, and Dawei certainly wouldn't let this kind of game go to waste.

He downloaded the game before "Girls' Frontline" became so popular.

Then, surprisingly, he got really into it.

This game gave him a very strange feeling; it was unlike any other game on the market.

This difference is mainly reflected in the pacing. From the moment a player gets started, to each subsequent stage of the game, the experience is very smooth.

One system after another, gameplay mechanics, like dominoes falling.

In terms of storyline, this game is also very engaging. Sometimes, while playing, it feels less like playing a game and more like reading a captivating novel.

The only difference is that the characters in this novel can interact and communicate.

It felt like I had truly stepped into a novel.

Of course, players know from beginning to end that this is a virtual world.

Just as readers know that novels are fictional, players know that the game is fictional, but that doesn't stop them from investing real emotions in it.

Unlike many producers from large companies.

David doesn't adhere to those notions of so-called player habits and market conventions.

When he experiences a game, he puts himself more in the player's shoes.

When he plays any game, he always plays from the player's perspective. Only when he puts down his phone will he think about why the developers did it this way, where the monetization points are, and why the plot connections are made this way.

However, he played so many mobile games.

Battlefront Girls is the only game that left him puzzled as to how the development team managed to make the entire beginner process so smooth, and he also couldn't quite understand why it could maintain its revenue despite the absence of many traditional pay-to-win elements.

So when he attended this conference, he paid special attention to Lin Li's name.

They also confirmed Lin Li's location with the organizers and waited at the scene early.

After seeing Lin Li sit down, he took the initiative to come closer, partly to satisfy his curiosity and partly to exchange development experience with Lin Li.

Lin Li wasn't very familiar with Dawei in his previous life, but he had heard of his great name.

Putting aside his game development skills, Dawei is certainly capable in project operation.

He was naturally willing to communicate with miHoYo.

After all, he had always wanted to learn about miHoYo's project management capabilities.

As the company's workforce grew and new projects were launched, Spark Games encountered many management problems. Solving these problems was precisely what he lacked.

The two exchanged some polite words at first.

Then we got to the main topic.

Lin Li asked some questions about the management issues he had encountered, and Dawei didn't hold back, giving his answers easily.

After all, miHoYo's team size has already increased.

Many of the problems Lin Li is facing now, he has also encountered.

Therefore, it is quite moving to talk about it.

Then it was David's turn to ask Lin Li.

Lin Li didn't hide anything about concepts and directions.

"When we were making this game, we were constantly thinking about what kind of pace players should play at."

"Although there aren't many anime-style mobile games on the market, there are many mobile games. In addition, many players also play PC games, so the burden on players is actually quite heavy. Therefore, in the beginning, we thought of using light content to attract players to enter this world first."

"At the same time, in the first 30 minutes after players enter the game, we guarantee that a new system or exciting feature will be introduced at least every 5 minutes to increase player engagement."

Acquiring new equipment, new dolls, unlocking new resource stages, and new deployment slots are all ways to motivate players.

The strategic placement of these stimuli demonstrates the planner's control over the pace of new player progression.

Upon hearing Lin Li's words, David knew that this man's success was no accident.

Within miHoYo, they initially encountered many problems with the new player tutorial, and it was through trial and error and continuous adjustments that they gained some experience.

Lin Li's ability to think of these things in his very first game, combined with his own experience playing the game, impressed Dawei, who, though his expression remained unchanged, secretly admired him.

I sighed. Successful people really do have something special.

To be honest, Dawei has played quite a few mobile games this year, so he has a very clear feeling about it.

That's what happens when you make a game in a small workshop. Even if the game content is pretty good, the tutorial in the first 30 minutes is usually not done well.

"Indeed, I noticed that your first boss is set at around 40 minutes, and the combat power requirement is exactly a 6-person team. If players don't have one at that point, they will end up acquiring the character... However, why did you give away a 95-level character as a free gift, and why did you give away a special construction scroll?"

David first agreed with Lin Li's point of view, and then shared some details he had observed while playing the game.

Finally, he raised his question again.

His first question about the Girls Frontline was about the allocation of game resources.

Every item in the game is actually a game resource.

How to allocate these resources is a complex matter.

While Dawei felt that giving 95, a five-star doll, as a new character was a bit excessive and would reduce players' desire to spend money, he could still understand it.

He was puzzled when he received a special construction scroll of his choice after defeating the first boss.

This is tantamount to suicide for a pay-to-win game!

"Haha, guys like you who have already made so much money investing, you naturally don't understand the struggles of small companies like ours. This problem is actually easy to explain."

“In the game Girls Frontline, players generally have relatively few resources in the early stages. In order to quickly acquire players, we gave away a lot of large-scale constructions, which led to a problem.”

"You mean, players get hyped up?"

Lin Li glanced at Dawei and felt that this man was quite quick-witted, understanding things immediately, and then nodded in agreement.

"Yes, players who get the big building item will basically use up all their resources in a short period of time. If they get a good item at this time, that's fine, but if they don't, many players may leave."

"The significance of this ticket is actually to patch the large-scale construction reward for attracting new players. Even if players don't get any good characters, they can still choose a character they want, which is a way to retain players."

Chapter 45 People's joys and sorrows are not the same

"For me, acquiring each player has a cost. The premise of low profit and high volume is to have enough people. If there are no players, where do you get the money?"