Crossover: 2014

Chapter 421 Anti-Routine Game

For the game Plague inc. Lin Hui is still quite impressed.

This game is an anti-routine game, which is different from the general game protagonist's value concept of saving the world.

In PLAGUE INC, the player is not the savior who saves the world.

Not only is he not a savior, but he is acting as a destroyer who deliberately destroys everything...

Plague Inc. is a strategy game about infectious diseases.

This game wants to use the virus/virus to infect all people/humans to achieve the dark purpose of exterminating all people/humans.

And the player is to act as the mastermind behind the destruction of the world.

Regardless of how you look at this from the player's point of view.

From the perspective of game developers, the game Plague Inc. in the previous life was quite successful.

Although the revenue of Plague Inc. is comparable to SUPERCELL's ability to attract money from several games.

But the total income of Plague Inc. in the previous life also exceeded [-] million US dollars.

For a work made at a cost of 1 US dollars, the game's revenue has exceeded [-] million US dollars.

This return on investment is simply overwhelming all kinds of movies.

The achievements of this game of Plague Inc. in the previous life.

Even the revenue achieved by some of the previous games carried by Lin Hui, a reborn person, is not far behind.

In the last time and space, Plague Inc.'s "unremarkable" small game was not unsuccessful.

Lin Hui remembered that in his previous life, in 2017, the number of global players of Plague Inc. exceeded 1 million.

Even according to some media in previous lives, 1.3% of the world's population are players of this game.

That being said, if Plague Inc. players were counted as a country, it would be the 14th most populous country in the world."

As for Plague Inc., why did the game achieve such results in its previous life?
Lin Hui remembered that some media analysts in his previous life believed that most of the success of the game was due to the spread of the game community.

During the game testing period, the word-of-mouth of the players has brought very good results.

In addition, there were few mobile games with the same theme as Plague Inc. at that time.

From a certain point of view, the success of Plague Inc.'s previous life is also a victory of swordsmanship.

However, Lin Hui felt that the popularity of games like Plague Inc. was relatively new.

The key is because this game has no combat mechanism, it is easier for players to operate.

At the same time, some special immersive designs are adopted in the game to give players a stronger sense of substitution.

Perhaps, Lin Hui didn't sum it up very well.

However, as the saying goes, if one law is universal, all laws are universal, although many things vary widely.

But in the final analysis, it is often the same.

In Lin Hui's view, there may be different incentives for games that hit the street with a cold market after launch, or games that were tepid but failed to catch on.

But successful games basically have a similar core:

- Can attract players.

Players are the root cause of a game's success.

Only games that can make players unconsciously addicted to it have the possibility of success.

However, although Plague Inc. was relatively successful in the previous life, and its revenue exceeded [-] million US dollars.

But Lin Hui remembered that this was all in the next few years.

But now, although the game Plague Inc. has certain fans in a small range.

But these players contributed millions of dollars at best.

That is to say, from the perspective of the previous life.

Plague Inc. This game still has considerable market potential.

From an investment point of view, it is indeed a good investment choice if you can start with the studio Ndemic Creations or the game Plague Inc. now.

Having said that, if Lin Hui really wants to acquire an overseas studio, it will not be without trouble.

Lin Hui is not too worried about matters related to the operation level.

Even if the steps of foreign-related operations are cumbersome, as long as the money is not bad, the actual operation will not be too troublesome in many cases, after all, money can make ghosts go round.

Moreover, Huang Jing mentioned overseas studios when making suggestions.

It must have fully considered the feasibility of implementing this proposal.

Compared with worrying about operational troubles, Lin Hui is more concerned about some troubles that may arise in the follow-up impact of the acquisition of an overseas studio.

There are many kinds of overseas mergers and expansions involved.

The troubles that Lin Hui is worried about focus on two aspects:
On the one hand, Lin Hui, a domestic game studio, was worried that such a studio would be in the shape of a major domestic company.

So wouldn't overseas game studios be in the shape of major overseas companies?

If there is a legitimate and open cooperation with a large overseas factory, Lin Hui will not refuse.

But Lin Hui didn't want to get involved with big overseas factories somehow because of some undercurrents.

Inexplicably getting involved with a big factory has a small probability and will bring certain opportunities.

But there is a high probability that it is easy to step on pits (including but not limited to legal traps, debt traps, and personnel crises, etc.).

On the other hand, Lin Hui's concerns have something to do with the game Plague Inc.

This Plague Inc. game is nothing in terms of genre.

It's just a 2D stand-alone strategy mobile game.

But the specific game content is a bit...

Well, according to Huang Jing, the content of the game is relatively "anti/human/kind".

Will Lin Hui still want to start such a game?
This is a problem.

However, from a market perspective, this trivial matter does not seem to be a problem.

The big deal is to only go online overseas, but not domestically?

As long as it doesn't poison the country, even cultural "dross" doesn't seem to be a big problem.

Having said that, it seems a bit early to think about this now.

Why is Ndemic Creations willing to make a move?

Don't the people at this studio have any idea of ​​the potential of this game?

Lin Hui decided to listen to what Huang Jing had to say first.

Huang Jing said to Lin Hui: "You don't know, the current Ndemic Creations studio is very small.

At its heart is developer James Vaughan.

Although the development has such a passable game.

But James Vaughan is not a practitioner in the computer field. "

Lin Hui was thoughtful when he heard this, isn't the core creator of this game a practitioner in the computer field?
That's good news.

In this way, it is unlikely that the Ndemic Creations studio will have too close a relationship with major overseas manufacturers.

Lin Hui doesn't have to worry about accidentally acquiring dark or illegitimate children from some big overseas factories.

While thinking grayly, Huang Jing continued: "According to some information I collected, James Vaughan graduated from Nottingham University with a major in economics.

Before I came into contact with game development, I was just a strategic consultant for a financial company in China, doing regular and boring work every day.

A game made by a financial consultant, its inherent thinking will often have some subtle influence.

Isn't it reasonable to desire cash? "

After saying this, Huang Jing immediately felt that it was not good to say that.

After all, strictly speaking, Lin Hui doesn't seem to specialize in game development as his main business.

It seems that even if he became a monk halfway, it would not affect the performance of the game that Lin Hui made.

Although Lin Hui still has a lot of room for growth.

But no matter what, now Lin Hui has been able to make many workers who specialize in game development feel ashamed.

With the precedent of Lin Hui, it is not surprising even if there is a cross-border game player who makes a name for himself.

And there are many similar examples in other industries.

It is often said that in many fields:

——The one who defeats you may not be your old opponent all the time, but the "novice" who came across the border inexplicably.

Probably the same as the saying "Mengxin is a monster".

Anyway, what Huang Jing felt was that Lin Hui did it quite rashly in game development.

At least until now, Huang Jing is unaware of Lin Hui's clear and definite plan in terms of games.

Huang Jing felt that Lin Hui's interest in game development was only occasional.

As for Lin Hui to indulge in this way, it seems unlikely.

Huang Jing felt that compared to game development, Lin Hui seemed to be better at algorithms.

But no matter what, even if he becomes a monk halfway through the game, it will not affect the performance of the game made by Lin Hui in the slightest.

Although Lin Hui still has a lot of room for growth, in any case, now Lin Hui has been able to make many workers who specialize in game development feel ashamed.

With the precedent of Lin Hui, it is not surprising even if there is a cross-border game player who makes a name for himself.

With this in mind, Huang Jing hurriedly continued: "As far as I know, the reason why the core developer James Vaughan makes games.

Because in 2011 he came into contact with a strategy game (released in 2008) by accident
After putting in a long time, Vaughan wanted a deeper strategy gaming experience.

At that time, there was no similar and better strategy mobile game of the same kind.

So he decided to use his spare time to make an iOS game with in-depth gameplay...

This James Vaughan finally made a decision out of his love for strategy games and chose to become a "halfway monk" to engage in game development.

After making such a choice, his path will naturally not be easy, and the layman often needs to pay a lot of learning costs to cross the border.

James Vaughan spent several months learning development knowledge online, hoping to make the game more realistic.

With no experience in game development, Vaughan had to borrow game elements from it at first.

The original full-time developer of the game was James Vaughan alone..."

With the precedent of Lin Hui, it is not surprising even if there is a cross-border game player who makes a name for himself.

And there are many similar examples in other industries.

It is often said that in many fields:

——The one who defeats you may not be your old opponent all the time, but the "novice" who came across the border inexplicably.

Probably the same as the saying "Mengxin is a monster".

With this in mind, Huang Jing hurriedly continued: "As far as I know, the reason why the core developer James Vaughan makes games.

Because in 2011 he came into contact with a strategy game (released in 2008) by accident
After putting in a long time, Vaughan wanted a deeper strategy gaming experience.

At that time, there was no similar and better strategy mobile game of the same kind.

So he decided to use his spare time to make an iOS game with in-depth gameplay...

This James Vaughan finally made a decision out of his love for strategy games and chose to become a "halfway monk" to engage in game development.

After making such a choice, his path will naturally not be easy, and the layman often needs to pay a lot of learning costs to cross the border.

James Vaughan spent several months learning development knowledge online, hoping to make the game more realistic.

With no experience in game development, Vaughan had to borrow game elements from it at first.

At the beginning of the game's full development cycle, the only full-time developer was James Vaughan himself..."

According to Huang Jing, this James Vaughan chose to become a monk and engage in game development out of his love for strategy games.

James Vaughan spent several months learning development knowledge online, hoping to make the game more realistic.

With no experience in game development, Vaughan had to borrow game elements from it at first.

The original full-time developer of the game was James Vaughan alone.

Due to the need to go to work, James Vaughan can only study and develop on weekends and evenings.

Although it is passionate, it is undoubtedly very difficult for a beginner with no foundation to make an iOS game.

So the development process of James Vaughan is actually very bad. A person's ability is limited and he can only ask others for help.

In the process of developing this game, James Vaughan had to cooperate with three freelancers, namely programmer Mario, artist Sofia and audio engineer Johshua.

Although there are collaborators, the problems of remote collaboration and time difference make the development of this game not smooth.

Since everyone has daily work, the project was stopped for 2 months at the busiest time.

It can be said that the birth of this game is ill-fated.

Now the game has finally become more formalized.

Everyone in the Ndemic Creations game studio has the intention to either "deposit" to a game company with deep pockets or sell the game directly...

What Huang Jing said is theoretically possible.

In this way, it is feasible to go to the road of merger and expansion by merging studios.

But Lin Hui still asked: "You said about selling the studio/game, is this the idea of ​​James Vaughan's partner or James Vaughan's own idea? And you also said just now that Vaughan hopes to obtain a deeper strategy game At that time, there was no good strategy mobile game, so he decided to use his spare time to make an iOS game with in-depth gameplay.

As a layman, James Vaughan must have paid a lot to make this game, and even what he paid is hard to imagine for us senior practitioners. Are you sure he is willing to give up in this case? "

Was the quest to monetize the idea of ​​James Vaughan's partners or James Vaughan's own?

Does it matter who thinks?
Of course it matters.

Huang Jing also knew why Lin Hui asked such a question.

Many times when start-up companies/studios report that they want to seek cash, in many cases, unnecessary troubles will be caused by the project sponsors and partners arguing.

Huang Jing said: "Both James Vaughan himself and his partners have the idea of ​​selling, and according to my feeling, James Vaughan himself may have a stronger idea in this regard."

(End of this chapter)