Pei Qian looked around at everyone else, their expressions quite varied.
Old Song and Cai Jiadong had barely interacted with Mr. Pei before, so their faces currently showed hints of pride.
They were respectively responsible for the VR headset and the “Animal Island” game. Now that the finished products were ready, they felt extremely proud and could hardly wait to show off in front of Mr. Pei.
Even Mr. Pei would be very satisfied when seeing products of this quality, right?
As for Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and the others who had collaborated with Mr. Pei many times before, their expressions remained relatively calm.
They knew perfectly well that no matter how excellent a product or game was, Mr. Pei would definitely find issues with it—nothing could ever be absolutely perfect.
Mr. Pei would inevitably evaluate from a higher dimension, seeing flaws that others couldn’t!
Even if a product or game truly reached perfection, that wouldn’t be particularly surprising to Mr. Pei, as everything would certainly be within his expectations.
Seeing everyone’s expressions, Pei Qian fell silent.
He was somewhat anxious now, but couldn’t show it at all.
His persona and image couldn’t crumble!
Especially with Meng Chang watching him with that look in his eyes—he absolutely couldn’t show weakness in front of him!
Pei Qian nodded slightly: “Hmm, it’s done reasonably well.”
“However, I have two small modification suggestions. Whether you implement them or not is up to you.”
Lin Wan’s eyes immediately lit up.
Sure enough, Mr. Pei had spotted issues and was offering guidance!
She nodded right away: “Please tell us, Mr. Pei.”
After considering for a moment, Pei Qian said: “The first suggestion concerns the logo on the forehead area of the VR headset.”
“My idea is to draw a horizontal line through the middle of the logo on the forehead, running across the entire logo.”
Everyone was stunned.
Especially Old Song and Cai Jiadong, who looked extremely confused.
What did this mean?
Telling the manufacturer to slightly modify the design wouldn’t be difficult, since the VR headset hadn’t entered mass production yet.
Even if it had already entered mass production, it wouldn’t be a major problem. The hexagonal part could be detached—Old Song had considered that future models might be released or collaborations with other IPs might require different logos, so he had designed this component to be detachable.
But the question was… what was the point?
Pei Qian didn’t explain further, because he couldn’t reveal his original intention.
Besides, he knew that even without an explanation, these people would naturally find a suitable interpretation.
His actual purpose was quite simple: superstition.
When Pei Qian saw the forehead area of the VR headset, especially that flattened hexagon, it reminded him of ninja headbands from a certain anime.
In that anime, drawing a horizontal line across the headband symbolized that the ninja had serious issues and had betrayed their original village.
So, Pei Qian hoped that all VR headsets would have this line, implying that the product was destined for major problems, failure, and betrayal of the Zhixing Studio.
However, since similar anime didn’t exist in this world, no one would get the reference.
Old Song took a piece of paper, sketched a rough design, and studied it for a long while.
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something: “Oh, with this line added, it actually looks better!”
“I understand now! This line somewhat alters the structure and layout of the forehead design. The Zhixing Studio logo shows in the center of the hexagon, but the sides of the logo appear too empty, not creating a good interaction with the hexagonal forehead piece.”
“But after adding this line, the entire hexagon and the Zhixing Studio logo become unified, making it more visually appealing!”
Lin Wan pondered for a moment and said: “Yes, I think this can achieve a distinctively innovative effect.”
“Other companies simply print their logos on their products, which is too common. In reality, except for certain companies with inherent prestige, most companies’ logos don’t look particularly impressive no matter how well-designed they are.”
“Adding this horizontal line completely differentiates us from other companies’ approaches, showcasing a unique personality!”
“Moreover, this line represents breaking away from tradition and overturning conventions. VR headsets are already products ahead of their time, and our VR headset has made many revolutionary designs—the spiritual core perfectly aligns with this!”
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin also exclaimed: “Brilliant!”
“Before adding the line, it was just an ordinary company logo printed on there, nothing special.”
“But after adding the line, it conveys this spiritual connotation that matches our studio and this VR headset product, while also leaving a deep impression on players!”
“This must be what they call the finishing touch that brings the work to life? A true design master can transform something ordinary into something extraordinary with just one horizontal line?”
Everyone expressed their amazement.
Even Meng Chang seemed somewhat convinced.
Initially, he didn’t think adding a line meant anything, but after hearing everyone’s analysis, it actually made a lot of sense!
After adding this line, it not only enhanced the aesthetics but also added cultural significance—it was truly a brilliant stroke!
Lin Wan quickly asked: “What’s your other suggestion, Mr. Pei?”
Pei Qian cleared his throat and continued, afraid that these people would keep over-interpreting and come up with even more outlandish ideas.
“My second suggestion is to slightly reduce the tutorial guidance in these mini-games.”
This was even more straightforward and purposeful.
“Animal Island VR” offered a completely new game interaction mode, which would certainly have a high learning curve for players.
It wasn’t like those PC games where, in an FPS, players already know that left-click fires, right-click aims, and pressing R reloads. After all, these settings are the same across all FPS games.
But currently, there wasn’t a widely known VR game with a large player base that established operation standards for VR games. So when coming to “Animal Island VR,” players would have to learn from scratch how to draw a bow and arrow or cast a fishing rod.
Pei Qian didn’t expect to completely eliminate tutorials and drive away all players—that would be impossible.
Because if a game was unplayable, the system might determine it was only a half-finished product, and then what if it didn’t pay out?
But slightly reducing some tutorials was feasible.
If they could discourage some players, then so be it—discourage one, discourage a hundred thousand, it didn’t matter.
As long as players were being discouraged, it was good design.
This time, everyone was even more confused.
This behavior was even more counter-intuitive, because all game designers learned a fundamental design principle when first entering the industry: the more detailed and comprehensive the tutorials, the better.
Because you could never imagine what might happen when players experience a new game.
People’s “gaming intelligence” varies—some are naturally clever and immediately grasp how to play, while others are confused at the beginning stages and can’t even perform very simple operations.
Sometimes players aren’t stupid—their thought processes simply don’t align with the designer’s, so they get stuck.
With a large enough player base, there would inevitably be players with unusual ways of thinking. Without sufficient tutorials to guide them when they get stuck, they might abandon the game.
So tutorials sometimes appeared ridiculously simple, as if designed for three-year-olds, but this was unavoidable.
Lin Wan frowned in deep thought again.
Suddenly, she had a flash of insight: “I understand now!”
Pei Qian quickly raised his hand to interrupt her: “If you understand, that’s good—you don’t need to explain it every time!”
Good grief, now they were misinterpreting his words right to his face, instantly misinterpreting, without even waiting overnight. Was this acceptable?
How you choose to interpret things is your business, but don’t say it in front of me and add to my troubles!
Lin Wan immediately got the message: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”
“Um… there’s one more question.”
“Would you mind naming this headset?”
Pei Qian was a bit speechless.
Why was he now responsible for naming everything?
He couldn’t even remember how many names he had already created.
But on second thought, it was fine—after all, he was a genius at naming things. Besides, naming it himself might bring some good luck.
“Alright then.”
Pei Qian considered that most VR headsets were named with single English words that carried certain meanings, which gave them more prestige.
Individual Chinese characters would also work well, but Pei Qian didn’t want to overemphasize the domestic identity of this headset, lest it inspire patriotic support for domestic products. Using an English name would help it blend in better.
Others used names like “Quest,” “Index,” and “Rift.”
“Then… let’s call it ‘Doubt’.”
Pei Qian’s intention was that the success of this headset was full of doubt and impossible to achieve.
For the concept of “doubt,” using “question” or “problem” would have neutral connotations, while “doubt” might be more negative.
It expressed complete uncertainty and unreliability.
Lin Wan nodded slightly.
Although she couldn’t fully grasp the deeper meaning of this name right now, she would surely understand it later.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Pei!”
“It’s like the clouds have parted to reveal the sun!”
Pei Qian waved his hand, indicating it was a small matter not worth mentioning.
“Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.”
After maintaining his composure throughout the meeting, Pei Qian gestured and left with Meng Chang.
Pei Qian’s final actions completely impressed Old Song and Cai Jiadong.
They had thought the headset and game were already perfect, but unexpectedly, Mr. Pei effortlessly identified issues.
And these weren’t just minor, inconsequential problems—they were critical issues that would greatly improve the products when fixed!
They couldn’t help but marvel: truly worthy of being Mr. Pei!
They had always heard everyone praising Mr. Pei to mythical proportions and had been somewhat skeptical, but now they realized the praise wasn’t exaggerated at all!
Besides these two, Meng Chang was also impressed.
Initially, Meng Chang had viewed Mr. Pei with an attitude of watching a doomed spectacle, but now he didn’t dare be presumptuous at all.
The first suggestion needed no explanation, as those present had already provided the reasoning.
Although the second suggestion lacked a clear explanation, judging from Lin Wan’s expression, it would obviously have a tremendous improvement effect on the game.
After they left, ensuring no one was around, Meng Chang curiously asked: “Mr. Pei, are you really this confident?”
“Do you believe the reverse marketing strategy will definitely succeed, so even casually offering suggestions and improving the product won’t affect the marketing plan at all?”
Pei Qian inwardly scoffed.
Which eye of yours saw that I was offering suggestions and improving the product?
Both of my suggestions were earnest efforts to reduce the difficulty of next month’s marketing plan!
It’s just that they understood it with slight deviations…
But this wasn’t something he could explain—he could only remain silent and refuse to answer.
Seeing Mr. Pei’s profound and mysterious expression, Meng Chang became more certain of his guess.
Indeed, Mr. Pei wanted both to prove reverse marketing to me and to ensure the VR headset and game would normally go viral and make money!
If the game sales were poor due to proving that reverse marketing works, that would obviously be a loss for Mr. Pei as well.
Only by both accomplishing the purpose of reverse marketing and having the VR headset and game earn substantial money would Mr. Pei achieve his ultimate goal!
But… was this really possible?
Forget about lasting a month—Meng Chang thought even two weeks would be impossible.
Yet seeing Mr. Pei’s confident demeanor, he clearly didn’t consider this a challenge at all.
Indeed, his previous perception that Mr. Pei was in a difficult position was completely an illusion.
Better to quietly observe Mr. Pei’s operations from the sidelines!
…
After Mr. Pei left, Cai Jiadong asked: “Why did Mr. Pei want us to reduce the tutorials? That seems… a bit contrary to common sense.”
Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin looked at each other, then turned to Lin Wan: “We have some ideas, but they might not be comprehensive.”
Lin Wan nodded: “Then let me explain.”
“Considering that many players will be experiencing VR games for the first time and won’t know how to operate them, providing more tutorials is something most designers would think of.”
“But how could Mr. Pei be like most designers?”
“He must have been thinking on a higher level!”
“Mr. Pei didn’t mean for us to abandon tutorials and drive players away.”
“Mr. Pei meant for us to complete tutorials while cutting away those complicated steps, making the entire process more fluid, concise, and natural!”
“The best tutorials don’t use lengthy text or voice to tell players what to do—they should let players see something and immediately use common sense to understand how to use it!”
“For example, place some raw apples away from a fire, and some cooked apples next to the fire. There’s no need to tell players ‘fires can cook apples’—players will immediately understand this game mechanic when they see the scene.”
“It’s the same with ‘Animal Island VR.’ If we use interrupting voice or text to teach players, it’s not only cumbersome but also disrupts their immersion.”
“If we guide players in a more natural way, it’s both concise and allows players to naturally learn these operations while experiencing the game’s enjoyment. Most importantly, this teaching method better showcases the superiority of VR games!”
“Take archery for example—in computer games, which key draws the bow depends entirely on the designer’s idea, and players can hardly guess. Unless many archery games establish that right-clicking shoots arrows, players won’t form that memory.”
“But in VR games, there’s no need to teach—players will naturally figure out to draw the bow with their left hand, nock the arrow with their right, and release to shoot.”
“So we should abandon those complicated instructions and guide players in cleverer ways.”
“For instance, try to make players notice the arrow feathers protruding from their right shoulder, suggesting they can draw arrows directly from there; or have a hunting animal demonstrate hunting actions to guide players to perform similar operations.”
“Cleverly integrate guidance into the game content, letting players naturally explore and figure out what to do—wouldn’t this also give players a great sense of achievement?”
Cai Jiadong had a sudden realization: “I see now!”
“With a different game mode, the tutorial method naturally needs to change as well.”
“Mr. Pei’s idea considers the special form of VR games and thinks about the problem from a higher level!”
Old Song couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
Although he didn’t understand game design, after hearing Lin Wan’s explanation, he immediately felt that Mr. Pei was incredibly impressive.
“However…”
“I don’t really like the name ‘Doubt.’ It’s not a particularly positive word.”
As the project manager for the VR headset and the person who actually designed and developed it, Old Song was slightly dissatisfied with the name.
Lin Wan said: “When Mr. Pei names something, there’s definitely a special meaning behind it.”
“Currently, people think this name doesn’t sound good mainly because its meaning hasn’t been revealed, and the name hasn’t been given a special cultural aura.”
“Once Mr. Pei’s true meaning is revealed, this name will definitely leave a deep impression!”