After watching Mr. Pei leave, Yu Fei silently clenched his fist and made a “YEAH” gesture.
Bao Xu, who had been pretending to play games nearby, immediately took off his headphones and came over: “How did it go? What did Mr. Pei say?”
Yu Fei was excited: “Mr. Pei said there’s no problem and told me to continue in this direction!”
Bao Xu was genuinely happy: “That’s great! It seems our understanding wasn’t off track—this was Mr. Pei’s design concept all along.”
“Mr. Pei was right not to let me take over everything. If I had designed this game, the most exciting story parts, as well as the character skills, level design, and some special game mechanics derived from the storyline, would definitely have been much worse.”
Yu Fei quickly responded: “But Brother Bao, your control over the fighting game’s general direction, especially your clear understanding of the boundaries for core content, was crucial. If you hadn’t guided the direction, I might still be struggling with the basic combat system and wouldn’t have realized that Mr. Pei wanted me to focus on developing the storyline.”
After this mutual praise, both of them felt somewhat elated.
Bao Xu sighed with emotion: “Now we can finally confirm what kind of game ‘Ghost General 2’ is supposed to be in Mr. Pei’s mind. I have to say, every time we solve one of his puzzles, I’m amazed by Mr. Pei’s brilliant ideas.”
Yu Fei nodded: “Indeed. Even though I don’t understand fighting games at all and wasn’t particularly interested, I’ve now become interested in this game and can’t wait to play it!”
Even before Mr. Pei arrived, Bao Xu and Yu Fei had conducted a series of brainstorming sessions and roughly determined the prototype for this game.
At that time, however, neither of them was particularly confident.
But now, Mr. Pei’s approval had strengthened their conviction.
Of course, Yu Fei hadn’t explained their ideas completely and clearly, mainly because he hadn’t finished writing the design document. Many ideas were still jumbled in his mind, and he spoke about them as they occurred to him, inevitably missing many details.
But since Mr. Pei was a game design master and the source of inspiration for “Ghost General 2,” he surely already had a well-developed game prototype in his mind.
That being the case, was there any need to worry about Mr. Pei misunderstanding?
Omitting some details wouldn’t affect Mr. Pei’s understanding.
It was like a high school student asking a university professor about a math problem. If the student’s explanation was vague and skipped a few steps, would the professor not understand?
That was impossible.
As long as the problem was known, and the student briefly explained their solution approach, the professor would know whether the student was on the right track and could reach the correct answer.
Now, the entire design plan for “Ghost General 2” could finally be finalized!
Of course, they still needed to continue writing the design document and develop the game step by step.
But in Tenda’s gaming department, the design phase was the most crucial step.
Only by deducing Mr. Pei’s true intentions could they ensure the game wouldn’t go off track.
Once this first step was completed, the game was already 90% successful!
The two proudly reviewed the entire process once more, feeling extraordinarily proud of themselves.
Bao Xu’s breakthrough came from asking: Why did Mr. Pei repeatedly emphasize making a fighting game, specifically a traditional fighting game requiring combo inputs?
Fighting games were already past their prime—a fact obvious even to ordinary players.
Apart from international developers with rich fighting game experience and large IP fan bases who continued to produce fighting game sequels, other game companies basically avoided this genre entirely.
Mr. Pei specifically requesting a fighting game was clearly a thankless task that could easily lose money!
But would Mr. Pei want to lose money?
Which of Tenda’s games hadn’t been hugely profitable?
Which game hadn’t been designed with absolute confidence from the beginning?
Based on existing conditions, Bao Xu speculated that Mr. Pei’s action likely had two purposes.
First, to expand Tenda Games’ boundaries.
It was well known that Mr. Pei was a game designer who loved challenging himself. He wouldn’t spend time on game types he had already succeeded with but would instead venture into new game genres.
Finding a new path and rescuing the endangered fighting game genre was a manifestation of Mr. Pei’s self-challenge.
Second, he was considering the players.
For devoted fighting game fans, life was tough. They had been playing various old fighting games for decades, and the new fighting games they could play in the future would only decrease.
How exciting would it be if a well-produced new fighting game appeared, especially one developed by a domestic company?
For those players who had previously dabbled in fighting games but given up, as well as those who had never tried fighting games at all, this game could also let them experience the joy of fighting games.
Providing players with new entertainment experiences had always been the mission of Tenda’s gaming department.
Thus, the mission of “Ghost General 2” became clear:
To popularize the joy of fighting games among ordinary players!
Actually, this wasn’t the first time Mr. Pei had done something like this.
Previous games like “Struggle” and “Mission and Choice” also followed the “niche genre + high production value” model, didn’t they?
The game themes were indeed niche, but with sufficiently brilliant design, even niche games could break through their boundaries.
Evidently, “Ghost General 2” was such a game: it needed to retain the essence and core fun of fighting games to satisfy veteran fighting game players, making them willing to spend thousands of hours playing repeatedly; yet it also needed to meet the needs of non-fighting game players, making them willing to give it a try.
The former was challenging but relatively manageable.
After all, fighting games had developed for many years, and players had studied them extensively. If the game satisfied veteran players’ requirements, its combat system would be considered successful.
The most difficult part was the latter.
This was no longer the arcade era. Players had more diverse and entertaining game forms, and fighting games were far less attractive than before.
How to steal players from other game types was a significant issue.
Continuing the traditional fighting game model definitely wouldn’t work because average players found it difficult to directly, quickly, and efficiently derive pleasure from fighting games’ core gameplay and had to spend considerable time studying before mastering the basics.
Based on Mr. Pei’s hints, Yu Fei finally came up with two key solutions: excellent newcomer guidance with simplified controls, and rich, unique PVE content!
This was actually summarized from the experience of “Mission and Choice.”
As a similarly niche and declining real-time strategy game, “Mission and Choice” had succeeded through the same methods, along with excellent production and appropriate promotion.
Setting two different control modes for beginners and experts would allow newcomers to avoid immediately encountering hardcore content, lower the learning curve, and gradually appreciate the game’s fun.
Once players’ initial interest was cultivated, they would naturally explore more challenging game content and progress toward becoming hardcore players.
Rich, unique PVE content was also necessary for the game to break through boundaries.
While PVP gameplay had extremely high potential, its biggest problem was the blurry distinction in skill levels, making it difficult for new players to gradually increase difficulty.
MOBA games could largely avoid this problem through large player populations and sophisticated matchmaking mechanisms. Less skilled players could choose certain heroes or let teammates carry them.
But fighting games had fewer players and excessively fair game mechanics with fewer variables, resulting in players either winning boringly or being crushed without resistance.
Many players had been discouraged because of this.
Excellent PVE content could effectively solve this issue.
By gradually increasing difficulty through levels, numerical values, and enemy AI changes, players could have a smooth learning curve without immediately being destroyed by experts and questioning their life choices.
This principle was similar to players suffering to gain improvements in “Turn Back to the Shore.”
After completing the story mode, players could continue challenging higher difficulty story modes.
When they eventually fought against other players matched with similar progress, they wouldn’t be completely dominated due to lack of skill.
Moreover, such PVE content could serve as the game’s main content.
Many players had no interest in honing their fighting game skills and could simply treat “Ghost General 2” as a single-player game for experiencing the story.
They could control their favorite generals, unleash some special moves, mow down hordes of minions, and briefly experience the combat joy of fighting games. This would make the game worth its basic price.
This storyline system clearly needed Yu Fei’s design to be outstanding—Bao Xu couldn’t do it.
And this was evidently the deeper meaning behind Mr. Pei assigning Yu Fei to lead the design!
Yu Fei rapidly recorded notes in the document while saying: “This resolves the two previously unresolved issues.”
“First, how to handle minions.”
“Mr. Pei approved our approach to horizontal movement, which means our thinking is correct. Minions should be very fragile entities. Generals’ normal attacks have fan-shaped cleaving effects, and horizontal movements also generate waves or charges that cut down minions.”
“In other words, facing minions should feel like mowing grass.”
“After all, if minions come from the side and are too strong, players would find them difficult to handle.”
“According to the current design, players’ full attention remains on enemy generals, and both sides’ generals will always stay on a single plane.”
“The minions will cause minimal damage to players, but players can easily mow them down with their generals, sweeping through thousands of troops.”
“After all, the game is called ‘Ghost General,’ so it’s normal and reasonable for generals to overwhelmingly outpower minions.”
“This better conveys the epic feeling of the battlefield, distinguishing it from other fighting games’ monotonous one-on-one scenarios.”
“Generals’ fighting styles won’t all involve fists anymore. Only a few generals will engage in hand-to-hand combat; others will use weapons, like Guan Yu with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade. Additionally, each general’s attack range and movements will have subtle differences.”
“Second, the simplified combat system.”
“Mr. Pei rejected my AI combo proposal and insisted on retaining minimal manual combo inputs.”
“However, the principle should be similar—lowering the threshold to attract ordinary players.”
Bao Xu nodded: “This seems inevitable to me. Mr. Pei’s approach is clearly more reasonable.”
“Although your proposal might provide more visual stimulation, it would likely cause players to lose interest.”
“If pressing the A button automatically executed moves, players might initially enjoy watching their generals gloriously unleash various techniques to mow down enemies, but they would soon find it monotonous and dull.”
“Because they’re just pressing AAAA repeatedly, without improvement or progress.”
“So their gaming experience wouldn’t change significantly.”
“If they tried to execute combos themselves, they might perform much worse than the AI, making the visuals less appealing and the story harder to progress through.”
“In summary, most players in this situation would just complete the story without appreciating the fun of fighting games.”
“But the simplified combo mode is different. Although it reduces operational difficulty, players still need to execute combos and consider their sequence, giving them a sense of growth and achievement when defeating enemies of varying difficulties.”
“This continued guidance lets them experience the joy of executing fighting game combos, encouraging them to pursue greater challenges after completing the story mode and try the more complex but more powerful standard combo mode.”
“Moreover, according to your previous design, generals’ skills are unlocked through levels. What’s the point of unlocking in an AI combo mode? It would merely add another animation when mindlessly pressing A, without significant difference or stimulation for players.”
“In the simplified combo mode, players can still experience the joy of acquiring new skills, maximizing game enjoyment.”
Yu Fei nodded seriously: “Hmm… that’s right. Mr. Pei really is more thorough in his thinking!”
After this analysis, Yu Fei and Bao Xu had only one feeling: complete admiration!
Mr. Pei was truly still Mr. Pei, an inexhaustible treasury of brilliant ideas!
Yu Fei suddenly felt energized and found himself writing the design document with the same passion he had for writing novels!
Of course, he was only passionate about “Ghost General 2” specifically, not planning to remain in the lead designer position permanently.
This game happened to align with his interests, but what about the next game?
That was uncertain.
He would likely continue to suffer then.
Fortunately, Hu Xianbin should return next month.
All he needed to do was complete his final duty this month, finish the design for “Ghost General 2” properly, and then confidently hand these design plans to Hu Xianbin when he returned.
Then he could go back to writing novels without regrets!
When “Ghost General 2” was officially released, Yu Fei could even boast in his reader group: “Enjoying ‘Ghost General 2’? I designed it!”
Of course, under Mr. Pei’s guidance.
But what of it? As a web novelist, being able to participate in Tenda’s game design and contribute decisive plans and ideas was something he could brag about for a lifetime.
Yu Fei felt delighted and very satisfied with his brief stint as acting lead designer.