Chapter 1262: Watching And Learning
When they arrived at Guangzhou, Sun Strike Studios specially sent a commercial car to pick them up at the airport.
This was normal. Whether it was for work or for personal reasons, Zhou Muyan should have arranged it this way.
Pei Qian instructed Min Jingchao on the business car. “Sun Strike Studios’ working conditions are slightly worse than Tengda’s.”
“However, it’s not much different. Try your best to adapt and treat it as poverty alleviation.”
“Each company has its own situation. Don’t ask too much, understand?”
Min Jingchao nodded. “Don’t worry, Boss Pei. I understand.”
This was Min Jingchao’s first time visiting Sun Strike Studios.
When he was developing Ocean Stronghold, Pei Qian had organized a public holiday and arranged for his employees to come to Guangzhou to play. At the same time, he had visited Sun Strike Studios.
However, Min Jingchao had not joined at that time. He had only joined when GOG was up.
Pei Qian was not worried about anything else. He was only afraid that Min Jingchao would ask the same questions as Ma Yang: Why are you still working on Sat.u.r.day? Do you have overtime pay? Why are the work desks so cramped?
He did not want to accidentally ruin Zhou Muyan’s mentality.
Min Jingchao might not be as lacking in EQ as Old Ma but he would not go wrong by giving a few instructions in advance.
Sun Strike Studios had its own seven-storey office building with greenery surrounding it. The environment was not bad.
The commercial car stopped at the entrance. Zhou Muyan and Sun Xi were already waiting at the entrance.
Both of them welcomed Boss Pei warmly when they saw him arrive.
Pei Qian had a vague impression of Sun Xi. He was also the one in charge of receiving him the last time. His previous position seemed to be the core designer of a large MMORPG project within Sun Strike Studios and he had also partic.i.p.ated in the development of Bullet Hole.
He was a core member to begin with. After two years of training and nurturing, he was now Zhou Muyan’s right-hand man and the chief designer of the works.p.a.ce.
They pa.s.sed through the bamboo forest in the front yard, pa.s.sed through the front desk, and arrived at the fourth floor.
The last time he came, there was still a visitation segment. This time, he skipped it directly. That was because Zhou Muyan felt awkward at the thought of this…
He had actually flaunted the benefits and treatment of his employees in front of Tengda previously. What was he thinking then!
Back when Tengda was still a small company, the benefits were already better than Sun Strike Studios. Now that it was getting bigger, the benefits were way too good.
Zhou Muyan knew that he could not compare at all.
Thus, they tacitly stopped talking about what had happened previously and pretended that nothing had happened.
Once Min Jingchao settled down, he would ask Sun Xi to bring him around to familiarize him with the working environment.
“Boss Pei, should we sit down and rest first? Shall we chat casually or…?” Zhou Muyan tried asking for his opinion.
After all, Boss Pei had just taken a plane over. He should be a little tired. The more friendly schedule would be to sit in the guest room and arrange a time in advance. Then, he would ask Boss Pei and Min Jingchao to return to the hotel to rest. They would come for the meeting the next day.
Pei Qian waved his hand. “There’s no need. Let’s start directly.”
In any case, he came here in business cla.s.s. It was not tiring. What’s more, Pei Qian’s design method was based on fate. He did not need to use his brain cells or acc.u.mulate ideas. He was completely dependent on fate.
Min Jingchao might have more work to do, but not for him.
He could note down the main points today and perfect them later on.
The earlier the meeting ended, the earlier Pei Qian could return to Jingzhou to rest.
Zhou Muyan nodded. “Alright, I’ll get a few chief designers to come and listen. Then, I’ll choose the most capable ones to a.s.sist Brother Min.”
“Please have some tea, please. Give me a moment.”
Zhou Muyan stood up and instructed Sun Xi to inform the designers.
On the surface, he said that he wanted to choose the most capable designer to be Min Jingchao’s a.s.sistant. However, in fact, he hoped to take this opportunity to let the chief designers listen to Boss Pei’s lectures and improve.
This opportunity was too precious!
This was like watching a real martial arts master train. Even if you did not understand it at all, you would still improve.
At the very least, one would be able to broaden their horizons and learn how martial artists trained. They would be able to understand the general direction.
It was the same for game design. Everyone knew that Boss Pei was a genius at game design, but how did he design the game? There were many rumors in the outside world, but people who were not insiders could not come into contact with the truth.
He had to make good use of this precious opportunity and learn from it.
Of course, Zhou Muyan had only recruited a few core chief designers. They were all people he trusted very much.
The reason why he did not call for more people was partly because Zhou Muyan felt that the others were not at that level or were not core members that he could trust and were not worthy to listen. On the other hand, he could not go overboard and arouse Boss Pei’s disgust.
It would be too obvious and impolite if it was a large conference room filled with people.
All in all, this was not just a collaboration with Tengda to create a game. It was also a learning conference for game design knowledge.
There might not be a second chance like this. How could he not take it seriously?
As for Pei Qian, he sipped his tea as he considered where he should start with the design.
No matter how he thought about it, he seemed to only know one way to design it. That was to design it while incurring losses. However, in the end, he made money…
He had to admit that this made him feel sad.
Actually, Pei Qian was a little confused. Logically speaking, there were so many ways to make games to incur losses in the world. Why did he always make games that earned money?
Was it because he was so lucky that he coincidentally caught up with the way to earn money?
There seemed to be no other possibilities apart from this.
He couldn’t possibly be a genius game designer, right?
Then… should he try a few more times and he may finally be able to incur losses?
The development of his ability in Tengda was limited after all. They could only make four or five games a year. Many loss-incurring ideas could not be verified.
However, if he had the help of other companies, he could develop a few more games at the same time. Perhaps one of them would succeed?
Thus, Pei Qian’s plan this time was still to incur losses.
If they made money, it would mean that Long Yu Corporation and Sun Strike Studios were lucky and were just fulfilling their contract. It did not matter.
They would give Tengda some money but Tengda already had so many profitable games. It did not matter if there was one more or one less.
What if he incurred losses? That would be very meaningful!
Pei Qian would then have to study this loss-making model carefully and try to use it for himself.
It would be even better if he lost badly. Pei Qian could use the opportunity to continue working with Sun Strike Studios and Long Yu Corporation as compensation next time. At that time, Tengda would be able to take the bulk of the research and development and monopolize the opportunity to incur losses.
All in all, this could be regarded as an additional attempt. No matter the outcome, it was acceptable.
After a while, Sun Xi returned. “Boss Zhou, Boss Pei, the conference room has been arranged.”
Zhou Muyan looked at Pei Qian. “Boss Pei, shall we take a walk then?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yes, let’s go!”
Everyone arrived at the conference room on the same level. The designers who had come to listen had already arrived in advance. When they saw Zhou Muyan and Pei Qian arrive, they stood up and greeted them.
Zhou Muyan left the middle seat and gestured for Pei Qian to take a seat.
Pei Qian rejected politely but did not continue to reject him after seeing Zhou Muyan’s insistence.
After everyone took their seats, Zhou Muyan cleared his throat and gestured for everyone to quiet down.
“Boss Pei has traveled a long way. Our works.p.a.ce is honored by your presence.”
“I have already introduced this new project to everyone previously. It is a project jointly developed by Tengda Corporation, Sun Strike Studios, and Long Yu Corporation. The opportunity is very precious. Everyone present should know how important such a large-scale project is to designers.”
Designers were also particular about ‘gold-plating’.
A designer who had partic.i.p.ated in a successful project and a designer who had not partic.i.p.ated in a successful project would go for two completely different prices when applied outside.
Not to mention the designer who played a key role in a successful project.
After all, there was no clear measurement of ability in creative fields like this. Successful experiences were the greatest highlight under the premise that the basic abilities were similar.
There was no need to talk about Boss Pei’s status in the gaming circle. Everyone present knew it very well.
To these designers, it would definitely be a rare moment in their career if they could partic.i.p.ate in this project.
If this project succeeded as expected, just the resume would be enough to push their career plan up a huge level, not to mention the bonus and commission.
However, it was not certain how many people would enter this project and be Min Jingchao’s a.s.sistants.
In the end, he might have to rely on Zhou Muyan and Min Jingchao to shortlist and vet the applicants.
Therefore, these designers were all rubbing their hands together, hoping to listen carefully and think seriously. Then, they would propose some unique views and views to improve their chances of being selected.
Zhou Muyan looked at Pei Qian. “Boss Pei, shall we start then?”
“From now on, we will follow Tengda’s development process and cooperate fully.”
Of course, Sun Strike Studios had its own development process. However, since Boss Pei was here and there was a better process, why not?
Sun Strike Studios was determined to be both a student and a tool. They would do their best not to let their habits interfere with Boss Pei and Min Jingchao.
Otherwise… How embarra.s.sing would it be if Tengda Games’ undefeated legend failed because of them!
Boss Pei was in Tengda, making every game popular.
In the end, he failed the moment he came to Sun Strike Studios.
How could that be?
If that really happened, no one would think that Boss Pei was bad. They would only think that Sun Strike Studios was too trashy and a burden.
How lousy was this team that even Boss Pei could not manage?
Zhou Muyan could not take such a blow.
Pei Qian nodded. “Alright, let’s start.”
“Have you thought about what type of game we should create?”
That was how fateful design worked. From the game genre, it was up to fate.
This sentence sounded normal to Min Jingchao, but it sounded completely different to other designers.
They looked shocked.
Did Boss Pei mean that he had not even thought about the game genre?
They had thought that Boss Pei had already thought about the game design before coming!
Didn’t that mean that Boss Pei was confident of designing any type of game?