Chapter 216: Starry Sky Game Engine
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As compared to the inefficient drag that the project of the Milky Way Rendering Engine had become, there was another software product that was being completed at a much faster rate. Its development started at the same time as the Milky Way Rendering Engine.
It was the Game Rendering Engine! Similarly, it was also based on a piece that had been brought over from the Base of Operations. The technical team also consisted of around 200 staff. The leader of the project, Cao Gang, had outstanding capabilities. Within a year’s time, 87% of the Game Rendering Engine had been completed. After the group of experts from the X team joined this project, Xing Hai Technologies’ Game Rendering Engine had rapidly progressed to the final testing stage. It could soon be introduced into the market.
This game engine had been designated as “Starry Sky.” It was officially called the Starry Sky Game Engine. The speedy development of the game engine was not due to its simplicity. In fact, the game engine had a wider range of applications and more functions. Its development process was much more challenging than the special effects engine.
There were two main reasons for the rapid development of this project. One was pa.s.sion. The second was the stronger abilities of the team. That was why Chen Jin had fired the previous leader of the team in charge of the development of the special effects engine. He was receiving such a high salary, yet his work progressed so slowly and his work efficiency was less than half of others. Which boss in their right mind would tolerate this?
When he saw that the boss had come for an inspection, Cao Gang introduced the software as he did a demo. “President Chen, the trending game engine in the current market is the Unreal 4, developed by Epic Corporation. The software holds more than 70% of the game development market. Many famous game masterpieces of 3A grade were created using the Unreal 4. This list includes ‘Heaven,”Fortress Night,”Jedi Survival,’ and ‘The Lost Ark.’ These famous games were all produced using Unreal 4. The Unreal 4 can even be used for special effects rendering. The demon legion from HBO’s TV program, ‘Song of Ice and Fire,’ was rendered using the Unreal 4. The Unreal Engine fully deserves the t.i.tle of the best game engine in today’s world. However, our Starry Sky game engine is just as good as the Unreal engine! In fact, our game engine performs much better in some areas than the Unreal 4. Firstly, the Unreal 4 is very large and bloated. The complete installation package is more than 10 G. Our Starry Sky engine is only 2.8 G, much less than the Unreal 4. It’s easier to download and install. It belongs to the category of game development engines that are lighter. But, this does not mean that the performance of our engine is weaker. On the contrary, the graphics rendered by the Starry Sky engine are more refined; the colors are more gorgeous with stronger hues. It produces better results in terms of texture, grain, details, shadow processing, etc. Take a look at these two comparison images, President Chen. The difference can almost be detected by the naked eye.” Cao Gang produced two screenshots. One was rendered by Unreal 4 and the other was rendered by Starry Sky.
Chen Jin examined both images. The first image was exquisite but the initial impression he had was “fake.” He felt that it was patched together using a variety of source materials and stickers. But with the second image, looking at the sky, rocks, trees, and even the miniscule gaps between the gra.s.s, he felt that it was extremely realistic. The image immediately grabbed his attention. Without a doubt, the more realistic image was rendered by Starry Sky.
Cao Gang continued his introduction. “President Chen, the differences in the images that I’ve shown you are very obvious. But the Starry Sky actually uses less time in its rendering process. It uses 15 seconds whereas the Unreal 4 uses 25 seconds. However, their rendering effects are not as good as ours. I believe that everyone knows which game engine is more powerful. In addition, the Unreal 4 has a fatal weakness. The games produced using this engine are filled with bugs in the production process which leads to terrible user experience. Optimization has to be constantly carried out in post-production, but the effects are frequently poor. Thus, rumors such as ‘negative optimization’ have even appeared. They could only resolve the problem via hardware upgrades. This is an inherent problem in Unreal 4. It is an inevitable result in the pursuit of exquisite graphics and grand sceneries. It’s an obstacle that the conventional game developers must face. But, through the use of many intelligent algorithms and by utilizing a totally different mode of rendering, Starry Sky is able to create equally beautiful and detailed graphics in a way that places less stress on the server and hardware… If developers were to use Starry Sky to create a similar sole survival game like ‘Jedi Survival,’ they could use a lower level hardware setup. Even with a cheap graphics card, the software could still run smoothly. Moreover, the server load and the number of bugs woule be reduced. More importantly, the ‘Work a.s.sistant’ is integrated inside the Starry Sky. It can greatly speed up the efficiency of the game development process. The ‘Work a.s.sistant’ in this engine is specially geared for use in game development. This can dramatically reduce the development costs of the game companies. President Chen, I can firmly conclude that our ‘Starry Sky Engine’ will not face any compet.i.tion after its launch, at least in the domestic market. We should be able to take hold of the entire market for game development software!”
As for the revenue that it could bring Xing Hai Technologies, that would depend on the pricing strategy for this software. However, Chen Jin frowned as he thought of something. “According to my knowledge, Unreal 4 seems to have become totally free. Everyone likes freebies. If we charge a fee, I’m afraid that many game development companies would flinch at the price.”
Cao Gang shook his head. “The Unreal 4 was never free. It was only free for use by the game development companies. However, Epic Corporation takes a 10% cut of the total revenue earned by the games developed using the Unreal 4. This is part of a business strategy called ‘fattening the sheep before collecting its wool.’ This strategy allows the Epic Corporation to earn more profits than simply selling the game development engine.”
“A gimmick?” His mouth had subconsciously formed a word.
Cao Gang nodded. “That’s right, it’s a gimmick.”
“We have to do the same thing!”
“We need to learn how to execute this gimmick too. Companies can use the Starry Sky for free and Xing Hai Technologies will take a 15% cut of the profits generated from the sale of the games!”
Another staff said, “But, I think that the bigger game development companies would rather pay to purchase the software. Sudden huge profits are a common phenomenon in the game development industry. Some viral games could earn tens of billions every year. Even a low-quality game can billions in a year… The companies who are earning a healthy profit probably would not agree to share their profits with us. Then, we’ll sell it at a one-off price of $500,000 per software package. Clients will pay an additional monthly usage fee of $10,000 for the Work a.s.sistant.”
This was much more expensive than the one-off price for Unreal 4, and could hardly be described as “reasonable.” But keeping in mind the sudden profits of the game development industry, the nouveau riche who were willing to spend large amounts of money on in-app purchases, and games that could easily earn tens of billions from elementary school children by simply selling game power-ups… Why not give a metaphorical beating to those game development companies?
…
On the 22nd of April, Xing Hai Technologies officially launched the first generation of its “Starry Sky Game Engine.” At the launch event, Starry Sky Engine trounced the Unreal Engine. This display caused many netizens to make exclamations like, “Cheers” or “Too awesome!”
But once they saw the price, the domestic game development companies complained loudly. This was too f**king expensive. Did they not agree that Z country would break the overseas monopolies and dramatically cut prices? But this price was not any cheaper than its foreign compet.i.tors. In fact, this was way more expensive.
Even so, within three days of launching Starry Sky, domestic sales exceeded 10,000 software packages and game development companies (or studios) that had applied for free usage were close to a thousand.
Hence, the game development field in the country had entered the “Era of The Starry Sky.”