Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Yu Fei was a little confused.

Ghost General 2 had a grand structure? It was a puzzle that was more difficult than the real estate intermediary simulator and Safe and Civilized Driving?

I don’t think so?

Yu Fei was the chief designer himself. He had participated in the entire design of Ghost General 2 from beginning to end and knew the current data of this game very well.

Why should it be compared to the real estate intermediary simulator and Safe and Civilized Driving?

Both of these games had a huge impact on reality. One had penetrated the traditional intermediary industry, and the other had triggered changes in the driving school system.

What virtues and capabilities did Ghost General 2 possess? Just the sales volume alone could not be compared to these two games.

Yu Fei continued watching with confusion.

…

“Ghost General 2 is a combat game.”

“On the other hand, combat games are already on the decline. They are about to become outdated. It’s not wrong to say that they are niche.”

“Since it’s a niche game, the player base is already small. Wouldn’t it be obvious that we would lose money if we invest a huge sum of money in developing it?”

“This is a fact that all players know. Could it be that the game designer doesn’t know? How is that possible?”

“The only explanation is that the designer knew that it was a niche game but for some reason, he still invested a huge sum of money and was willing to risk losing everything.”

“Everything that looks unreasonable on the surface must have a deeper motive.”

“If this is a large combat game factory with many classic IPs, then this move can be explained with ‘inertia’ and ‘perseverance’.”

“The problem is that Tengda Games has never developed a combat game. The first combat game was directly in Soha: The three game studios used the most elite development team; they used the famous IP that had become famous during Tengda’s initial stages; and they invested a lot of money in research and development.”

“Considering that the chief designer, Yu Fei, is not a designer with a particularly strong voice, Boss Pei must have directly pushed all of this behind the scenes!”

“This way, the deeper motive behind Boss Pei’s actions is worth investigating.”

“Many people say that Ghost General 2’s sales seem average.”

“If you think so, I can only say that it’s too small.”

“Who gave you the illusion that Boss Pei thinks that sales are the only dimension of the game?”

“In terms of making money, how many games can make more money than GOG and Ocean Stronghold? Other large factories might not make games with paywalls, but wouldn’t Tengda? Tengda would do anything, but they still insist on games like Game Designer, Struggle, and Mission and Choice.”

“Therefore, there must be a deeper meaning behind the appearance of Ghost General 2! That is the structure of the entire Tengda Games empire!”

“That is: Maintain the game’s diversity, explore the game’s boundaries, and influence the game’s environment!”

“Boss Pei definitely knows about these contents, but the designers might not. Let me analyze them for everyone next!”

…

Yu Fei blinked, looking confused.

He had to say that Teacher Qiao was right.

As a designer, he really did not know about this so-called big structure!

Of course, it was hard to say if the other old designers in Tengda Games knew.

Perhaps this was a tacit understanding in Tengda Games? After all, the entire Tengda was heavy-handed and bragging. A topic like ‘big structure’ was obviously not something that would be brought up at any department meeting.

However, not saying it did not mean that it did not exist.

A company without a structure would not be able to go far. A company that only bragged about its structure and did not do anything would not be able to go far.

On the other hand, Tengda had formed a unique atmosphere under Boss Pei’s lead: There was a huge structure, but it never spoke of it.

Yu Fei continued watching.

…

“One of the layouts is to maintain the diversity of the game.”

“That’s actually very easy to understand. Everyone knows that we humans have to protect rare animals and the diversity of the natural environment.”

“Many people might think that what’s the point of it? Many rare animals would not interact with normal people’s lives at all. So what if they are extinct? So many animals are already extinct, but it doesn’t affect our human lives?”

“We humans protect rare animals to maintain the diversity of creatures.”

“Perhaps we might not be able to see how important and decisive it is now, but at least it protects biodiversity and presumes one more possibility for our future. Otherwise, if a large number of species really go extinct and only remain in the museum, if it were to be useful in the future, would it be too late for us to regret?”

“We might not be able to use it if we keep it now, but it’s gone now. What if we use it in the future?”

“It’s the same in the game industry.”

“Have you all realized that games are becoming more and more homogenous now? The phenomenon is not obvious on other platforms, but on mobile game platforms, there are basically three or four limited games that have completely eaten up all the players on the entire platform.”

“This is like a species invasion in nature. When a species is too strong and has no natural enemies, the living environment of other animals will suffer a devastating blow until the entire forest is occupied by a strong species.”

“In the game industry, certain games are naturally short and fast. They can stimulate people’s senses and create stronger stickiness through anxiety, hatred, and greed. Such games expand very quickly. They have a huge advantage in competition and can also bring more generous profits to game merchants.”

“Of course, I’m not criticizing a certain type of game. What players like to play is their own choice.”

“However, the problem is, if all the game manufacturers make such games at once, what about other types of games? What about players who like other types of games? Perhaps in the past, you had more than ten different types of games to choose from. However, as you play, you will realize that there are only three or four types of games left.”

“Further down the road, you might not even have a choice. That’s because even if there are only three or four types of games, there would only be some differences in the gameplay mechanism. The internal paywall and retention injury liver systems have also become severely homogenized.”

“If a game type dies, it would be impossible to develop or evolve. It would be equivalent to the spark being completely extinguished.”

“Perhaps in the short term, it would look like a species gone extinct. It would not seem to have much impact on our lives. However, in the long term, it would be an irreversible loss. Perhaps it would play a huge role in the future if it remains? No one can predict this.”

“Therefore, the reason why Tengda Games kept investing huge sums of money and using the best teams in the industry to develop these relatively unpopular niche games is to arouse the attention of ordinary players on this game type so that it would not completely perish in a specific soil, leaving a spark for game diversification.”

“This is an arduous and thankless task. Most companies are not willing to do it. There are no large combat game manufacturers in the country. If Tengda doesn’t do it, the domestic gaming circle might lose this type of game forever.”

“Therefore, this is the first point to maintain the game diversity.”

“Second, explore the boundaries of the game.

“Not only does Tengda want to pass down a niche game genre, but it also wants to dig deeper into this genre on the basis of its predecessors to find the design answers of the new era!”

“This was reflected in Mission and Choice: Tengda made use of clever designs to allow gamers who did not like instant strategy games to continue playing, allowing this game to successfully break out of the circle.”

“It’s the same for Ghost General 2. On one hand, it perfectly replicated the hand sensitivity and combat mechanism of the combat game, retaining the essence of the content, making the experts of the combat game feel that this is an original combat game. There was no serious deviation. On the other hand, it changed the niche of the combat game to a certain extent, so that ordinary people could better play it, so that it has the possibility of breaking out of the circle!”

“How did Ghost General 2 do it? There are three main reasons.”

“First of all, the meticulously designed PVE combat system and stages.”

“In the past, combat games dissuaded players more because of the high barrier of learning and the weaker fun. Even though traditional combat games are also divided into PVE and PVP, the design of the PVE part is relatively conservative, so it is very difficult to give players outstanding experience.”

“That’s because the values are conservative, and the players’ and the monsters’ stats are similar. That makes it very difficult to adjust the difficulty level: If the monster AI is too weak, players can easily pass it without being challenged. However, if the monster AI is too strong, it would bring players huge difficulties and a strong sense of failure.”

“For traditional combat games, PVP is the true core pleasure. However, the problem is that PVP is even more difficult to balance out and dissuades newbies. Without thousands of hours of training, one would not be able to experience the true fun of combat games.”

“Therefore, Ghost General 2 made a drastic improvement on this point. The most obvious example is that PVE introduced the design concept of Repent and be Saved, strengthened the enemy’s stats, and weakened the enemy’s AI. The focus is to test the players’ basic operations.”

“That way, the difficulty level would be maintained at a more reasonable level. Players would be able to feel the challenge and would suffer a little, but they would not be too defeated. They would be able to see their own growth and improvement every time.”

“In addition to the little monsters cutting grass, horizontal movement, and exquisite stage design, Ghost General 2’s PVE is filled with fun. It allows a player who has never come into contact with combat games to get used to it quickly.”

“In other words, PVE is a newbie tutorial and the guidance of the core fun PVP. Other combat games did not do this well, but Ghost General 2 did it!”