Yan Qi decided to start conceptualizing his next game.

Of course, as a mature game developer, making games wasn’t something to be taken lightly; he couldn’t just act on a whim.

After all, a game developer doesn’t make games solely for himself but also for all the employees in the company and for the players.

If he impulsively started a project, and after everyone worked themselves to exhaustion, the game flopped and they lost everything, how could he face everyone’s efforts?

If Yan Qi were wealthy, providing employees with all kinds of maxed-out benefits, overtime pay, and various bonuses, then even if a game failed, he wouldn’t feel too guilty, because materially, he had compensated everyone adequately.

But the key issue was that Yan Qi didn’t have much money.

The earnings from “Empire’s Blade” weren’t insignificant, but if he wanted to develop a new game, especially a single-player game, this money would probably all be invested, and might not even be enough.

In this situation, maxed-out benefits, overtime pay, and various bonuses were definitely out of the question.

Only if the next game succeeded and sold well could he hope for better.

So, he had to be cautious and think carefully.

Yan Qi created a new document to accumulate inspiration and organize his thoughts, determining the basic form of this game.

Currently, he only had one relatively clear general direction: an action single-player game.

AAA quality might be unattainable, but it was a goal worth striving for.

Beyond this, he didn’t have many ideas.

When making “Empire’s Blade” before, he had completely catered to mobile game players’ tastes, creating a Western fantasy theme.

But single-player games were a completely different matter.

On one hand, single-player game players’ tastes were vastly different from mobile game players’ tastes; on the other hand, the development difficulties of the two types of games were also different.

Simply put, mobile games required lower quality art assets. With small phone screens, slight deficiencies in details or slightly stiff movements weren’t noticeable, and mobile game players weren’t that picky.

But if displayed on a computer screen, for those players who had experienced many AAA action games and had discerning tastes, it would be a different story.

So, Yan Qi was a bit lost.

“No rush, take it slow.”

“Action games are among the most difficult game types to develop. Any weakness could lead to the failure of the game.”

“Currently, we can cut corners anywhere except the combat system and basic visual quality. Feel, impact, fluidity of movement, special effects… any of these not being up to standard would result in a significant reduction in ratings.”

“Fortunately, current technology levels are high enough, so it’s not completely undoable.”

“Game duration and content can be slightly reduced, or filled with replayable content, as long as the game price is adjusted accordingly.”

“The key is to make players’ eyes light up, to make them feel this game is very special, irreplaceable.”

“Come to think of it… aren’t ‘Turn Back to Shore’ and ‘Eternal Cycle’ the perfect answers?”

“Mr. Pei is truly impressive; he had already seen through all this when developing ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ researching the only standard answer for domestic single-player action games, which is still relevant today.”

“How innovative is the combat system in ‘Eternal Cycle’! If only I could come up with such ideas.”

The more Yan Qi thought about it, the more he admired Mr. Pei.

He himself was a passionate enthusiast of action games and a loyal player of “Turn Back to Shore” and “Eternal Cycle.”

After pondering for a while, he realized that the “Turn Back to Shore” model was the optimal solution for domestic companies, especially small companies like his, to make action games.

Being a small company with limited funds and weak risk tolerance, reducing game duration and volume, using replayable content to fill in, was a good method to control costs and risks.

To stand out among numerous excellent action games, two points were essential: first, the game quality must be solid, with good feel and visuals, the higher the better; second, it must have unique memory points and qualities.

The high difficulty and “breaking the fourth wall” profound plot of “Turn Back to Shore,” as well as the unique combat system of “Eternal Cycle,” were all unique memory points and qualities.

Both points must be achieved to succeed.

Otherwise, if the game quality wasn’t up to standard, players wouldn’t buy it; and without memory points, it couldn’t break through with promotional efforts, and most likely couldn’t recover costs.

“No wonder Mr. Pei is considered a genius game developer, you can’t help but admire him.”

“I still need to learn a lot.”

Yan Qi’s train of thought unconsciously turned toward “Turn Back to Shore.”

“It seems Mr. Pei doesn’t plan to make another action game for a long time, after all, he’s a person who likes to challenge himself, likes to break through, never dwelling on past successes.”

“Like the combat system in ‘Eternal Cycle,’ it could have been used to make ‘Turn Back to Shore 2’ or another new action game, but Mr. Pei only made it as DLC, obviously feeling the innovation wasn’t sufficient to make a new game.”

“This is good news for me, as this market segment is relatively vacant domestically.”

“After ‘Turn Back to Shore’ and ‘Eternal Cycle,’ there haven’t been any particularly outstanding works.”

“Although there are foreign AAA action games, domestic games naturally get bonus points. Due to cultural barriers, sometimes only Chinese designers truly understand Chinese players.”

“Like the cultural depth of ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ foreign designers would probably find it difficult to create.”

“So, working in this direction should be a good choice.”

“Make a game similar to ‘Turn Back to Shore’?”

“Yes, ‘Turn Back to Shore’ has already cultivated a batch of loyal action game players. High difficulty and suffering are no longer deterrents but have gradually become a popular game type.”

“In action games, if the difficulty isn’t high enough, you’d almost be embarrassed to greet others.”

“If I also make a relatively high-difficulty action game, combined with some traditional Chinese cultural depth, and with decent quality, it should still have sales.”

“Then… what background should the game use?”

Yan Qi organized his thoughts while recording them in the document.

As he thought, he realized that he didn’t have many directions to choose from. “Turn Back to Shore” seemed to be the most correct standard answer, making him feel the game was good in all aspects and couldn’t be improved upon.

It seemed the best approach was to retain the core of “Turn Back to Shore,” just changing the packaging and levels.

Although this might seem unambitious, he was responsible for the livelihood of all employees in the studio, so being cautious wasn’t a bad thing.

As long as the game quality was acceptable and could make money, it would be considered successful.

If he wanted to break through, he could do it in the next game.

For a transitional work, stability was preferable.

But as he wrote, he felt his ideas were still vague, not thorough enough.

He didn’t have that moment of sudden excitement, slapping his thigh and shouting, “This will definitely work!”

This made Yan Qi very conflicted, writing and stopping, unconsciously sighing.

“What’s wrong? Having problems with the game?” someone asked.

Yan Qi had been immersed in his thoughts and hadn’t realized someone was nearby. He turned to look and found it was a staff member from Morning Dew Gaming Platform, Li Yada.

The reason he referred to her as a staff member was because Yan Qi didn’t know Li Yada’s specific position on the platform.

Everyone in Morning Dew Gaming Platform, including Director Tang, had relatively clear positions. Although Yan Qi didn’t know their specific job titles, after interacting with them, he had a general idea of what each department did.

Only Li Yada was special.

She was the group admin of the communication group between Morning Dew Gaming Platform and various developers, directly responsible for communication with these developers, and seemingly involved in all aspects of Morning Dew Gaming Platform’s internal affairs.

Moreover, whether it was Director Tang or others, they all showed her great respect and valued her opinions.

Her status was somewhat like… a consultant?

Yan Qi felt she was definitely not an ordinary person.

In the group chat, Li Yada occasionally popped up to chat with developers. Since Yan Qi’s cooperation with Morning Dew Gaming Platform was relatively close, they had become somewhat familiar with each other.

“Oh, Sister Li, I’m worrying about my new game. Making games is hard; I’m completely at a loss.”

Yan Qi wasn’t sure if he was older or younger than Li Yada, but everyone at Morning Dew Gaming Platform called her Sister Li, so he followed suit, just as a term of respect.

“Oh? Is making games that hard? I think it’s actually not too bad.”

“What are you planning to make for your new game? An action game?” Li Yada asked.

Yan Qi nodded: “Yes, I’m thinking of making an action game similar to ‘Turn Back to Shore.'”

“The document contains some of my organized thoughts, not very mature yet. If you’re interested, you can take a look and give me some advice.”

Li Yada nodded slightly: “Action games, especially ones like ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ I do know a little about.”

In fact, she didn’t just know “a little” — she had made “Turn Back to Shore,” and after Hu Xianbin was arrested, she had also taken over “Eternal Cycle” for a while before handing it over to Yu Fei.

Since there wasn’t much going on at Morning Dew Gaming Platform, Li Yada was taking a walk when she happened to hear Yan Qi sighing, so she came over to see what was happening and have a casual chat.

Pulling a chair from nearby, Li Yada quickly scanned through what Yan Qi had written.

“This is just ‘Turn Back to Shore’ with a different skin,” Li Yada immediately recognized.

Yan Qi was a bit embarrassed: “Ahem, it’s just a draft, draft, there’s lots of room for changes.”

“Mainly, I feel ‘Turn Back to Shore’ is already the standard answer for domestic action games, truly perfect in every way.”

Li Yada shook her head slightly: “That’s not right.”

“It’s not about imitation; game mechanics are limited, so similarities are normal.”

“The key is that there’s no innovation, no breakthrough, no courage to change. If you can’t even conquer yourself, how can you conquer players?”