Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

November 10th, Thursday.

Imperial capital.

Qiu Hong checked the address on the phone, then looked up at the old community in front of him.

There are some elderly people who come and go in the community, because the old community is very old, the living conditions are quite worrying, and the apartment types of residential buildings are also very narrow. For young people, I am afraid that they are not willing to live here. Let alone work here.

But according to the address on the phone, there is an independent game producer here.

Qiu Hong also spotted the unit building number and climbed up the corridor full of small psoriasis advertisements to the sixth floor.

After repeatedly distinguishing which is 601 and which is 602, Qiu Hong knocked on the door lightly.

"True."

After a while, there was a sound of footsteps inside, and the old anti-theft door opened.

A young man with tangled hair wore two big dark circles under his eyes, and asked hesitantly: "Are you... Mr. Qiu?"

Qiu Hong nodded: "Yes, you are Wu Zhicheng?"

Wu Zhicheng nodded: "Yes, Mr. Qiu, you can call me Xiaowu, please come in."

Wu Zhicheng stepped aside.

Qiu Hong stepped in and closed the security door.

The imperial capital should not be heated until mid-November, and it is still nearly a week away, so it is the coldest time.

After entering, Qiu Hong didn't feel how warm, on the contrary, he felt as if the wind was constantly digging in from the gap in the window.

But Wu Zhicheng seemed to be used to it, and he pulled a chair: "Sorry, Mr. Qiu, I'm too messy. You can make do with it."

Qiu Hong didn't care, pulled the chair and sat down.

Originally, Wu Zhicheng wanted the two to find a coffee shop to have a chat, but Qiu Hong insisted on coming to Wu Zhicheng’s work place to talk because he wanted to see the most real working environment and working conditions.

Qiu Hong looked around.

It appears to be a small one-bedroom here. The living room part has become Wu Zhicheng’s studio, with computer desks, computers, messy piles of books, game consoles, small TVs, small dining tables... there is hardly any trouble local.

The other room is Wu Zhicheng's bedroom. There are not many things to fit except the bed and wardrobe. The bed is also full of books, and the situation is equally worrying.

Wu Zhicheng was a little embarrassed. After looking for it in the small refrigerator for a long time, he only found Feizhai Happy Water. He didn't know Mr. Qiu was not used to drinking this.

Qiu Hong said hurriedly: "Don't worry about it, let's go directly to the topic."

Wu Zhicheng nodded: "Okay, let me briefly talk about the situation on my side."

Compared with Jiang Fan of Cherry Studio, Wu Zhicheng's experience is much simpler.

Jiang Fan originally worked in a law firm. After he made a game in his spare time and succeeded, he made up his mind to spend the money to set up Cherry Studio to start a business.

But Wu Zhicheng worked for a period of time after graduating from university and had some savings. Then, because he was not satisfied with his job, he resigned and started playing games.

As for what to do if the game can't be finished or can't make money after making it, Wu Zhicheng hasn't considered this problem at all.

Anyway, if you can't support it anymore, you will find another job.

Qiu Hong asked: "What stage of game development is it? Can you simply try it out?"

Wu Zhicheng nodded: "Yes, but...the degree of completion is very low. You may have to play with it, President Qiu."

With that said, Wu Zhicheng turned on his computer and opened the game project he made in the official editor.

Qiu Hong sat down in front of Wu Zhicheng's computer and looked at the dust on the keyboard and mouse, as well as the ashtray and empty Coke bottles full of cigarette butts on the computer desk.

Wu Zhicheng hurriedly pulled out two tissues from the tissue box next to him, wiped the keyboard and mouse carefully, and then cleaned up the computer desk.

"Mr. Qiu, this is a mobile game, but it can only be played on the computer at present. You need to use the mouse to complete the hand-drag operation. It is not convenient. You can wait."

Qiu Hong nodded and started to enter the game.

The name of the game is "Ink and Smoke", it is a 2D horizontal version of the game, the difficulty is high.The biggest difference between this game and the general horizontal-level clearance game is that it has a special way of playing, which is to interact with the scenes in the game by drawing.

Players can create or erase objects in the game scene by painting. This interactive experience will bring players a very novel experience in some special levels and boss battles.

But... this is an ideal situation.

The gameplay of many games is full of ideals, but the reality is very skinny.

To achieve the effect that Wu Zhicheng expected, there must be two prerequisites: the first is that every level and every battle must be meticulously crafted, and the second is that it needs to have a very brilliant artistic effect.

The biggest difference between "Ink and Smoke" and other 2D horizontal games is the interactive experience of painting, but if you simply paint a little and wipe a little, the player experience will be very boring, and the gameplay innovation is also It makes no sense.

The so-called innovation in gameplay must not be a simple concept, but a set of rich gameplay and content.

Every level and every boss game must be conceived and planned, and more tricks developed on the basis of this gameplay can this game be considered a success.

Moreover, since this game is a game featuring interactive screens, the screens must be brilliant, otherwise the fun of playing will cut a large part.

Judging from the current degree of completion of the game, it is too far behind.

This is also normal. The cost of Uchi is just a student who just graduated. The game is purely for power generation. Looking at this condition, whether he has the ability to do the gameplay and levels well, let’s not mention it, at least the art There is no solution to the resource.

Wu Zhicheng is not good at art, and can't afford to hire a big cow on the official platform, so the resources in the game are all pieced together, which looks very unstyled.

Moreover, all operations are done with a mouse, which is not as smooth as playing on a mobile phone.

In short, Qiu Hong's joy in this game is completely supplemented by his brain.

Qiu Hong sighed slightly in melancholy.

Before, he felt that, like Cherry Studio, the capital chain was about to break and the salary was about to be unable to be issued, which was very in line with the rescue conditions of the "dead road plan".

As a result, when I saw Wu Zhicheng today, I discovered that the "poor road" is only poorer, not the poorest.

So the question is, does this project meet the conditions?

Mr. Pei said that if you are too reliable and too unreliable, you can't vote.

According to general standards, this must be considered particularly unreliable.An ordinary person who has no experience in game development at all uses love to generate electricity, no matter whether it is level design ability or art level, there is no guarantee.

But Qiu Hong instinctively hoped that Wu Zhicheng could get help, because Wu Zhicheng had a belief in him, and it was this belief that made this project more reliable.

"Mr Pei said, I'm not sure if it's reliable, it's up to me to decide."

"In that case..."

Qiu Hong thought for a long time and asked: "How much do you think it takes to complete this game?"

Wu Zhicheng was asked: "Uh...this..."

"To be honest, I can't tell."

"If there are two hundred thousand, I can use it to ask a good painter to help draw the game scene."

"If you have another 50,000, you can use it to pay the rent first, which can last a long time..."

Qiu Hong was also lost in thought.

For Cherry Studio, there are very clear plans for the completion of the project, the salary of the staff and the daily expenses.

But for Wu Zhicheng, he has no very clear concepts about project planning, construction period, and resource control, so he can't give a specific figure.

How much money is given can only be used to solve the urgent need first, and the rest will be discussed later.

Qiu Hong wasn't worried that Wu Zhicheng would spend too much money. He couldn't spend much on his condition.

The key is that without a clear plan, project management and control will fall into chaos. Qiu Hong knows that this is a fatal factor that may lead to a complete failure of the project.

For these independent game producers, what they lack is not only money, but also various other supporting facilities.

For example, how to plan the project development cycle, how to control costs, and how to solve financial problems, etc. These are all difficult problems to solve.

But for a game volume like a game studio, it would be particularly wasteful to have a complete set.

You can't find three or four people, including finance and administration, around Wu Zhicheng alone, right?That's not sensible.

Qiu Hong thought for a while and said, "Wait a moment, I'll make a call."

Wu Zhicheng nodded and waited patiently.

Obviously, he is also very aware of his own conditions, it is indeed too far-fetched to want people to invest.

I hope that the big leader that Mr. Qiu asked for will show kindness.

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For the game details of "Ink and Smoke", see Chapter 194 of "Restarting the Game Era". If you are interested, you can check it out. It will not affect the plot of the book.