You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 364 No One Knows Online Games Better Than Me
Xiong Xiaoge sat on the sofa, quietly watching the image projected onto the screen by the projector.

On the exquisite login interface, Liu Kun randomly entered a string of symbols and password and directly entered the character creation interface.

Six exquisite characters display graceful and smooth movements, gorgeous costumes and weapons with special effects, one by one.

Liu Kun selected a warrior and entered the game, and then a cutscene with text description and PPT began, introducing the world view and background.

After the character enters the game, he runs around in the novice village and starts to complete tasks. After completing a few upgrade tasks, he turns on the GM authority to upgrade the character to the maximum level.

The next step is to showcase the various gameplay and character combat systems.

Liu Kun seemed particularly excited and focused on demonstrating the complex skill designs of the six major professions to everyone.

"The six major professions are Warrior, Mage, Warlock, Archer, Beast Tamer, and Assassin."

“Each profession has three different branches, and players can freely choose which direction of talent to pursue by adding points.”

“The entire game is equivalent to 18 small professions, which allows players to explore in a variety of ways.”

Liu Kun was talking excitedly and even asked another planner to open an account so that the two of them could show how to PK.

Qin Shaoyan frowned when he saw this combat system, but then he felt relieved.

In Qin Shaoyan's opinion, a complex combat system increases the difficulty for players to get started and the cost of understanding for players.

At the same time, the complex combat system has caused development costs to rise sharply and increased the chance of bugs.

The most difficult thing is that combat numerical planning requires a lot of time and energy to balance the professional numerical values, which is a thankless job.

However, Qin Shaoyan did not directly criticize the design of this combat system. Times have changed, and even elites and geniuses are subject to the limitations of the times.

What's more, things that are suitable for future generations may not necessarily be suitable for the present.

Today's players don't have much access to online games and are curious about everything. A little new and creative gameplay can keep them playing for a long time.

When Legend almost dominated the world, online game players' knowledge of online game professions and PK basically came from this Korean kimchi game.

In their opinion, all they have to do is chop, chop, and use their skills continuously.

This year, Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" was launched in China, opening a new door for online game players.

The complex and varied combat system and the highly strategic skill system design opened everyone's eyes. It turns out that online game combat can be played in this way.

A variety of professions, skills, and cool and gorgeous special effects are important means to attract players. Just putting a battle demonstration in an advertisement can lure tens of thousands of players in.

Before they enter the aesthetic fatigue period, how to acquire skills and how to study skill effects and combinations are a great pleasure for them to play the game.

In ignorance and confusion, I am curious about all new things.

While Qin Shaoyan was thinking about how to improve the combat system, he was listening to Liu Kun and others introducing the gameplay.

Xiong Xiaoge was watching with great interest, and then began to ask questions with great interest: "How much of this online game have you completed?"

"We have all the basics. We are sorting out and integrating PVE gameplay, and then developing more PVP modes." Liu Kun introduced enthusiastically, "Next, we will test the original economic system to see if the existing numerical system is suitable for players."

Xiong Xiaoge didn't understand the various terms Liu Kun was saying, so he asked directly, "Please keep it simple. Just tell me if this online game is finished?"

"Uh, not yet." Liu Kun replied somewhat embarrassedly.

"How much have you completed?" Xiong Xiaoge asked, "80%? Or 90%?"

"We estimate that it's about 60% to 70%." Liu Kun glanced at Qin Shaoyan with some guilt.

"So when do you think it will be online?" Xiong Xiaoge asked again, "Next year?"

Qin Shaoyan suddenly said, "We can start testing at the end of this year, and we can officially launch the public beta in the first quarter of next year. We can start charging after one month of the public beta."

Xiong Xiaoge frowned and looked at Qin Shaoyan suspiciously, "You are not just making empty promises again, are you? You can complete the remaining 40% in the next few months?"

Qin Shaoyan laughed and said, "Boss Xiong, you don't understand online game development. In fact, you can go online directly after completing 30% of the game."

“……”Xiong Xiaoge was shocked and stared at Qin Shaoyan with his eyes wide open.

He found it hard to believe. Was Qin Shaoyan joking with him?
Not to mention Xiong Xiaoge, even Liu Kun next to him was stunned, thinking that President Qin must be joking. How could the game be put online if it was not completed?

"Qin Shaoyan, do you think your game users are as easy to fool as us venture capitalists?" Xiong Xiaoge laughed angrily, "How dare you take out 30% of the stuff?"

"Do you think you can make money by making a shoddy online game?"

"30% refers to the game content, not the game quality." Qin Shaoyan explained patiently, "Exquisite game graphics, gorgeous battle effects, basically stable servers, and similar early plots, plus a few maps and monsters, are enough for players to play for several months."

"Do you think there's any way to play Legend? Isn't it just hacking and slashing? Just relying on killing monsters and getting weapons can keep people playing for a whole year."

"Our game also adds a lot of rich PVE and PK gameplay, which is much better than the legendary game."

"So don't think that this online game can't be launched online because it's not finished yet. The things we have now are enough to launch online. I even think there are too many things."

Qin Shaoyan looked at Liu Kun and said, "Block some of the PVE and PVP modes later. There are too many of them. Don't release them all to the players at once."

Then he turned to Xiong Xiaoge and said, "The development team can continue to operate the game while updating the game content."

"In fact, developing online games is very simple. As long as you have a clear idea of ​​what you want to do, you can finish it in half a year to a year, and you will make a lot of money after operating it for a few years."

Xiong Xiaoge was shocked and looked Qin Shaoyan up and down, wondering if this guy was used to talking nonsense and was trying to fool him again.

"Qin Shaoyan, although I don't understand games, I have also learned that other people's online game development is calculated in years, why do you calculate it in months?"

Qin Shaoyan suddenly laughed, pointed at himself, and said calmly: "Because the person sitting in front of you is the winner of the Golden Keyboard Best Game Design Award, and is known as the number one game designer in China."

“No one knows how to design online games better than me!”

Xiong Xiaoge was shocked by Qin Shaoyan's shameless confidence and couldn't help but say, "Qin Shaoyan, be serious!"

"Whether Campus Network can be successfully listed on NASDAQ is not just your business!"

"We, the venture capitalists, invest real money in you, not for you to brag about yourself."

"Give me a definite answer. Are you sure about this thing?"

Qin Shaoyan replied in an unusually serious tone: "Boss Xiong, you should trust my professionalism, just like I trust your venture capital professionalism."

"Right now, there is no one in China who knows how to make free online games better than me. I am not bragging."

"You insist on saying that I'm just making empty promises. That's because you don't understand online games. I haven't even explained to you what ARPU and LTV are. How can that be considered empty promises?"

"I am explaining this to you from the perspective of a professional designer in the most popular way possible. Online games may seem mysterious, but they are actually not that complicated."

"Whether a game can make money, whether it is fun to play, and how much it costs to develop may have nothing to do with each other." "In the current hot online game market in China, what is lacking on the market is products. As long as the game has no bugs and is operated reliably, it will definitely make money."

"Not to mention our game, you've seen it. In terms of quality, it's hard to say in the world, but in East Asia and Southeast Asia, our online games are all SS-level."

“It uses the same engine as Counter-Strike: Modern Warfare, and its graphics alone are superior.”

"Tell me, how can such a high-quality online game lose money?!"

Xiong Xiaoge was speechless after hearing what Qin Shaoyan said, because there was nothing wrong with what Qin Shaoyan said.

Although Xiong Xiaoge didn't know much about online games, he had actually consulted a few people in the so-called industry before.

He doesn't know the level of these people in the industry, but he agrees with some of the points they made.

The first thing to look at when buying an online game is the graphics, that is, the level of art modeling and the game engine.

As long as the pictures are exquisite and surpass the standards of peers in the market, you have won half the battle.

Another thing to look at is the level of technical research and development, which depends on the ability of the programmer.

There are countless examples of games dying suddenly due to lack of technical capabilities. As long as the online game can be maintained without major bugs, the developers can already celebrate with champagne.

Of course, another important thing to consider when it comes to online games is the design level of the producer.

There is no point in talking about this. Judging from the level of domestic industry development, it is still mainly imitation.

Even on a global scale, online games have only been developed for a few years, and producers with strong design capabilities are still concentrated in a few large companies in Europe, the United States, and Japan, and these large companies still mainly focus on stand-alone games.

Since everyone's level is not very good, there is no need to expect anything groundbreaking. As long as the game can keep players playing, it is already a good game.

Judging from these three points of view, Qin Shaoyan Game Company can be regarded as the top game development company in China.

Qin Shaoyan previously released "Counter-Terrorism: Modern Warfare" at an American exhibition, and its engine effects and graphics shocked foreign manufacturers.

With the engine as the foundation and the design by Hong Fei, the art director of "Counter-Terrorism: Modern Warfare", there is no rival in China in terms of graphics.

It is hard to tell what his program development level is, but Qin Shaoyan's game design ability is recognized as the strongest in the industry.

With this kind of R&D lineup, you can't say that what they produce is not good until it has been tested in the market.

Xiong Xiaoge thought about this and asked, "But you'd better give me a time point."

Qin Shaoyan counted the dates and held up three fingers. "Three months!"

"Three months later, in late November, our game will conduct the first round of technical testing to the public, followed by an invitation-only closed beta test in January, and an activation code internal test after the Chinese New Year."

“We will conduct public testing in mid-April, and we will start collecting money one month after the test.”

"Okay!" Xiong Xiaoge said in a deep voice, "Then I'm looking forward to the performance of your secret weapon."

"In two months, when we start pre-promotion online, you'll be able to see everyone's expectations," Qin Shaoyan said confidently, "It will definitely be among the top three most anticipated online games in 2006."

Xiong Xiaoge didn't comment, and suddenly asked, "What do you mean by the Apo value and LTV you just mentioned?"

"Well." Qin Shaoyan laughed. "ARPU is the average revenue per user, which is the total revenue divided by the number of users. This is a statistical method."

"Current paid online games charge users based on their online time. The value created by all users increases based on their online time."

"Free online games use a time-based free item charging method, and only some players pay, so we need to calculate the ARPU value to count how much value each user creates for the game on average."

Xiong Xiaoge was puzzled. "Why should those non-paying players also be counted? Don't they create any value?"

"No, Mr. Xiong, you misunderstood." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "The existence of free players is valuable in itself. They are part of the game ecosystem."

“Although free players don’t pay, they are part of the services we provide to paying players.”

"Without the free players, who are the paying players going to show off to? They also need living targets to chop down. It's not as fun to chop down monsters as it is to chop down people."

“Paying players will continue to spend money only if they find it’s worthwhile. Otherwise, if they still can’t beat others after spending money, what’s the point of spending money?”

"Everyone pays to be a father, not to be a grandson."

"Sooner or later, this kind of company will fail while charging players money and playing tricks on them."

Xiong Xiaoge gave a thumbs up and said, "Boss Qin, I take back what I just said. You have figured out the players' psychology thoroughly."

"It's just a trifle, not worth mentioning." Qin Shaoyan smiled.

Xiong Xiaoge looked back at the game development members who were working diligently in the hall and sighed, "I hope we can make a lot of money this time."

"Of course." Qin Shaoyan said solemnly.

Qin Shaoyan asked Zhang Pingyi to drive Xiong Xiaoge back first, while he stayed in the secret R&D base to prepare for a meeting with several senior executives.

Fan Xiaoqian, who was in charge of the procedure, came over in a hurry. He had just finished washing up, and the toothpaste foam on the corners of his mouth had not been wiped clean. He said in a daze, "The sponsor is here, where is he?"

"He's already left." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile.

"Why did you leave?" Fan Xiaoqian said with some regret, "I haven't had the chance to take a look around yet."

"What's so good about this?!" Qin Shaoyan was a little stunned. "Besides, he is the sponsor of the campus network, not the gaming company. Why are you so excited?"

"Hey, he's a venture capitalist, I haven't even met one yet." Fan Xiaoqian joked, "Besides, our online game is operated for the campus network, so he is our boss anyway."

Fan Xiaoqian winked and said, "How about we talk to the boss and split the operating revenue 30% to 70%?"

"Why don't you go back and get some sleep?!" Qin Shaoyan mocked, "What are you dreaming of? There is no such rule in the entire industry. 20% to 80% is already pretty good."

"Both the game company and the operating company are yours, so don't be so stingy." Fan Xiaoqian felt a little sorry, "How about 250 or 750?"

"No!" Qin Shaoyan refused firmly. "If the campus network wants to go public, we must prepare good financial statements. This time, the 80-20 split is the most favorable condition we can get."

"Although I am the boss of both sides, we should keep things separate. Even brothers should settle accounts clearly. It is good enough for the development company to get 20%."

Fan Xiaoqian sighed, "I just wanted to get more for my brothers. They've been locked up in this godforsaken place, so we should at least give them some compensation."

"Tell the brothers that as long as the campus network can be successfully listed, each of them will get a house." Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "I, Qin Shaoyan, am not a stingy person. I will not treat unfairly those who fight with me for the world."

Houses are so cheap nowadays, and if you use a loan, you can make a huge profit.

"Call Brother Kun and Teacher Hong. Let's have a meeting and discuss how to make this online game."

(End of this chapter)