Seeing that everyone had arrived, Pei Qian cleared his throat and got straight to the point: “The development cycle this time is five months. Since we don’t have much time, we won’t be making any particularly large-scale games.”
“I’ve been looking around, and it seems Tenda hasn’t made a fighting game yet, so let’s settle on a fighting game for this project.”
“Yu Fei, you’re the chief designer. Why don’t you share your thoughts first?”
The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.
Yu Fei looked around in disbelief, then pointed at himself: “Me?”
Pei Qian nodded: “What’s wrong? Is there a second person named Yu Fei here?”
Yu Fei was speechless on the spot, nearly performing a triple denial.
“Mr. Pei, I’m just filling in temporarily!”
“For ‘Eternal Reincarnation,’ Hu Xianbin had already prepared the design document before I took over!”
“Besides, I’ve never really played fighting games. What thoughts could I possibly have?”
Pei Qian frowned slightly: “Now you’re being excessively modest. What do you mean you’ve never played fighting games? I don’t believe you didn’t play a round or two of King of Fighters with your classmates when you were younger.”
Yu Fei was momentarily at a loss for words.
Indeed, for people of their age, claiming never to have played a single fighting game would be somewhat far-fetched. After all, in their childhood, fighting games were popular across the country, whether in street arcades or on home gaming consoles—everyone had played at least a little.
Moreover, in high school and college, there were many similar arcade emulators on computers, and playing a couple of rounds with classmates, both being equally terrible, was quite common.
But for fighting games as a genre, what difference did playing a few rounds make? It was no different from being a complete novice!
Yu Fei continued to shake his head: “Mr. Pei, if we’re being technical, yes, I’ve played a few rounds. But my understanding of fighting games is limited to knowing that these games have move lists and that I can barely pull off a fireball. As for other concepts like neutral game, option selects, or combos, I’m completely clueless!”
Hearing this, Pei Qian’s eyes lit up.
“Oh? You actually know these concepts? Not bad, you know quite a lot already—more than enough to make this fighting game!”
For Pei Qian, he hadn’t heard of any of the terms Yu Fei had just mentioned.
Pei Qian had been concerned that if Yu Fei knew absolutely nothing about fighting games, had no concept of them at all, it might make it impossible to complete the project.
Now it seemed there wouldn’t be much of a problem.
As long as Yu Fei understood these basic concepts, knowing just a little was enough. Having the game completed without delays—that would be the best outcome.
Knowing absolutely nothing wouldn’t work; knowing too much wouldn’t work either.
Yu Fei’s very superficial understanding was just right.
Yu Fei’s mouth twitched slightly: “Mr. Pei, please don’t joke around with me! Even if you’re trying to boost my confidence, there’s no need to say I know enough!”
“Besides, I only heard these concepts mentioned by people in videos I happened to watch online. I don’t actually understand what they mean!”
“I wrote the story for ‘Eternal Reincarnation’ and prepared the design document, so I could reluctantly accept filling in for that. But a fighting game? This…”
Yu Fei found the situation so ridiculous that he didn’t know what to say.
Who would do things this way!
“Eternal Reincarnation” was one thing—after all, Yu Fei was the original author of the story, and he was a fan of action games himself, very familiar with the content of “Return to Shore.” Plus, Hu Xianbin had already completed the design document, so Yu Fei just needed to fill in and handle some minor details, which was manageable and somewhat reasonable.
But this was a fighting game!
He knew absolutely nothing about it!
Besides, Yu Fei felt he was about to leave, and Hu Xianbin was about to return and take over.
Asking him to share his thoughts on fighting games at this time? What could he possibly say?
Yu Fei felt he was bearing a pressure inappropriate for his age.
Pei Qian chuckled.
The more Yu Fei resisted, the more it proved he didn’t understand the subject and lacked confidence.
That being the case, it was absolutely necessary to squeeze some guaranteed money-losing ideas out of him!
In the meeting room, the other designers, seeing Yu Fei’s predicament, felt a bit sympathetic.
They thought this was pushing someone unprepared into the spotlight.
Although Mr. Pei’s intention was good—hoping Yu Fei would gain some growth through his time as acting chief designer, since Mr. Pei demanded the same from all chief designers—Yu Fei was just an ordinary person with no industry experience. It was quite normal for him to have nothing to say about a game genre he didn’t understand.
So someone was about to raise their hand to share their thoughts, partly to answer Mr. Pei’s question and partly to give Yu Fei some inspiration.
Of course, none of the designers present could claim to be particularly knowledgeable about fighting games.
Although many players had played fighting games, true experts were extremely rare. The staff at Tenda’s game department were generally young and didn’t have such talent.
Seeing the other designers getting restless, Pei Qian raised his hand: “Don’t interrupt. I just want to hear Yu Fei’s thoughts.”
He looked back at Yu Fei: “Don’t underestimate yourself or fear losing face. Actually, every idea has its merits. Because you don’t understand, many of your ideas might be more constructive and valuable.”
“Rest assured, Tenda’s tradition is to speak freely. No one will laugh at you even if you’re wrong.”
Yu Fei was speechless.
Mr. Pei had said so much; it would be pointless to keep refusing.
With this in mind, Yu Fei reluctantly nodded: “Fine, I’ll just share some random thoughts.”
“I think if we must make a fighting game, Tenda has a pretty unique advantage, which is the IPs we control.”
“Fighting games really emphasize IP, and Tenda could include classic characters from many successful games, like Skylark, Jailer, and deeply popular heroes from GOG, like Modister, into the fighting game to create a ‘Smash’-style game.”
“This way, we could maximize the player base and avoid the situation where we can’t recoup costs because fighting games are too niche.”
After tentatively sharing his idea, Yu Fei carefully looked at Mr. Pei.
However, his heart quickly sank as he noticed that although Mr. Pei’s expression hadn’t changed much, there seemed to be a hint of unmistakable disappointment!
“So my suggestion was too unprofessional after all…” Yu Fei felt dejected.
Pei Qian was indeed disappointed; he hadn’t expected Yu Fei to come up with such a seemingly feasible plan.
If they followed Yu Fei’s approach, wouldn’t they end up making something like “Tenda All-Stars Smash”?
That absolutely wouldn’t do!
If they actually did this, most die-hard fans would definitely approve. It might not be hugely profitable, but it certainly wouldn’t lose money.
Moreover, all the games would naturally cross-promote each other, and GOG wouldn’t stand idly by either.
Pei Qian really didn’t want to use the existing IPs he had on hand, but what was a good reason not to use them?
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said, “Ah, sorry, I forgot to mention something earlier.”
“Actually, we’ve always had a very important player base—the veteran players of ‘Ghostly General.'”
“These players can be called true fans. They became our players when there were only two people in all of Tenda. They’re truly the original veterans.”
“After all these years, although ‘Ghostly General’ has updated some general cards and slightly improved the card game mechanics, it’s still basically the same old stuff that players are sick of.”
“Under these circumstances, the fact that players still remain loyal is truly touching.”
“I think developing a ‘Ghostly General 2’ for them might be a good way to reward these loyal players for their long-standing support and expectations.”
“So for this game, let’s use ‘Ghostly General’ as the background!”
Pei Qian had specifically checked the data for “Ghostly General” and was surprised to find that there was still a small group of die-hard fans playing it. He truly couldn’t understand what was driving them to persist.
After all, the gameplay of “Ghostly General” was nothing more than grinding for data and drawing cards, and the cards weren’t even that hard to get. With almost nothing to desire, these people still logged in daily to do activities, which was truly baffling.
So Pei Qian thought, since they’re so dedicated, why not reward them with a fighting game!
After all, “Ghostly General 2” would absolutely not be made as a card mobile game. With Tenda’s current development capabilities, they would definitely create a money-making monster that would sweep the mobile game circle.
Even without a pay-to-win card-drawing system, continuing “Ghostly General’s” original one-time purchase + lifetime card fee model, as long as the player base was large enough, it would still generate terrifying revenue.
But asking card game players to play a fighting game?
That would be like fitting a square peg in a round hole.
This approach achieved three goals at once.
First, they would be making a sequel to “Ghostly General” in name, giving loyal players some closure.
Second, changing from a card game to a fighting game would effectively wash away all of “Ghostly General’s” old players.
Finally, using this background setting would naturally eliminate Yu Fei’s and others’ ideas of making a “Tenda All-Stars Smash.”
Then he could say to the old “Ghostly General” players: You’ve been asking for “Ghostly General 2,” and now we’ve made it for you!
What? You wanted a card mobile game?
Well, aren’t all games the same to play? Look at this fighting game—the graphics are so exquisite, the attack animations so smooth, the special effects so beautiful. Isn’t this much more fun than a card game?
What? You’re not good with your hands? Can’t play it? Can’t enjoy it?
You’re not good with your hands, and that’s my fault?
I made it for you, but you don’t want to play it. What does that have to do with me?
The thought of this scene was quite beautiful.