Yan Qi couldn’t help but frown slightly: “Patterns and tricks?”

He was quite puzzled. I’ve been in the gaming industry for so many years, how come I’ve never heard of such things?

The gaming industry, like the novel and film industries, is strictly speaking a creative industry where creativity is essential.

And when it comes to creativity, what patterns and tricks can there be? Doesn’t it all depend on that flash of inspiration?

If creativity could be mass-produced, then cultural industry creation would be simple, merely revolving around piling up labor around various creative ideas.

The fact is, labor is never in short supply, while creativity is always scarce and irreplicable.

That’s why in the gaming industry, those true game design masters are so respected.

This is precisely due to their scarcity and irreplaceability.

So, regarding Li Yada’s words, Yan Qi instinctively felt skeptical.

Li Yada noticed Yan Qi’s doubt and knew that such skepticism was actually normal.

Most designers outside, before collaborating with Mr. Pei, would think creativity comes from a sudden inspiration, a flash of insight, completely relying on luck.

But any designer trained by Mr. Pei would come to see things differently.

Indeed, creativity cannot be mass-produced, but that doesn’t mean there are no patterns or tricks.

Mr. Pei’s design method is actually about viewing problems from a different angle, while following the laws of game design.

Coupled with rich experience, powerful game design ability, and precise control of player psychology, miracles happen.

Li Yada knew that if she told Yan Qi directly, he wouldn’t believe her.

After all, Li Yada’s current persona was just an ordinary employee of Morning Dew Gaming Platform, and her words wouldn’t carry much weight.

She could only continue to rely on that “friend working at Tenda” for help.

Li Yada pushed her glasses: “Actually, this is also what I heard from that friend who works at Tenda. She attended Tenda’s new game discussion meetings and participated in the design process of several successful games.”

“These patterns and tricks are what she summarized from Mr. Pei’s design process.”

“Of course, this isn’t really a secret within Tenda; basically all the designers in the gaming department understand it.”

Yan Qi’s expression changed instantly, from previous skepticism to high expectation.

This is Mr. Pei’s design method?

Then there’s no doubt!

If someone else claimed to have mastered the patterns and tricks of game design, Yan Qi certainly wouldn’t believe it.

Because these people themselves couldn’t consistently produce excellent games, so what persuasiveness would such claims have?

It’s like someone telling you they know the stock market inside out, but upon careful inquiry, their earnings in the stock market are less than bank deposit interest rates. What is that if not a scammer?

In the entire domestic gaming circle, Yan Qi only respected one person, and that was Mr. Pei.

Because Mr. Pei wasn’t just specialized in one type of game, but was all-around.

He made all kinds of games, and they all became hits.

If Mr. Pei claimed to have mastered the patterns and tricks of game design, Yan Qi would believe it.

Because Mr. Pei’s achievements and contributions in this industry had already sufficiently proven this point.

“Sister Li, please tell me quickly, what are these patterns and tricks?” Yan Qi showed intense curiosity.

Seeing Yan Qi’s expression, Li Yada knew the groundwork had been laid.

Even if Yan Qi still didn’t believe after hearing everything, at least he would think about it carefully.

This way, Li Yada’s purpose would be achieved, at least she wouldn’t be playing the lute to a cow.

“At Tenda, whenever Mr. Pei decides to make a new game, he gives several particularly unreasonable requirements, asking designers to recreate the full picture of this game based on these points.”

“The designers determine the final form of the game in Mr. Pei’s mind through repeated thinking and scrutiny of these requirements, and then design accordingly.”

Yan Qi was stunned: “Particularly unreasonable requirements?”

Li Yada nodded: “Take ‘Turn Back to Shore’ as an example. Mr. Pei proposed five requirements: First, a Chinese background with numerous ancient text puzzles and textual content; Second, extremely high difficulty; Third, a grand-scale action game; Fourth, the longest refund time limit; Fifth, the game would be titled ‘Turn Back to Shore.'”

“After giving these requirements, Mr. Pei didn’t inquire further about the specific design of the game, but let the designers express themselves freely.”

“Only after the game demo was completed did Mr. Pei adjust the difficulty values and add the weapon ‘Salvation.'”

Speaking of this segment, Li Yada remembered it vividly.

When “Turn Back to Shore” was first initiated, Lü Mingliang was still there, and Li Yada participated in this meeting as an ordinary designer.

At that time, after hearing Mr. Pei’s requirements, she was completely bewildered, unable to imagine how this game could become popular.

Little did she expect that not long after, she would become the lead designer, personally taking over this game.

Even more unexpected was that now she was at Morning Dew Gaming Platform, using “Turn Back to Shore” as an example to explain Mr. Pei’s design methods to Yan Qi.

Yan Qi frowned slightly, listening attentively, his expression very serious, seeming unwilling to miss a single word.

His brain was working rapidly, pondering the implications behind these five requirements.

At that time, both Lü Mingliang and Li Yada had listened with confused expressions, completely not understanding Mr. Pei’s design intentions, and even continued development in this foggy state until the game demo was completed, only then analyzing Mr. Pei’s design intentions clearly.

Although Yan Qi didn’t possess the “standard analysis method for Mr. Pei’s intentions,” he had played “Turn Back to Shore” and analyzed it deeply. He was thoroughly familiar with the details of the game, and even the series of events right after its release.

Using the finished product to cross-reference these requirements was like seeing the standard answer before looking at the question content, making interpretation naturally much easier than it had been for Li Yada at that time.

“The Chinese background and storyline written in ancient text are meant to highlight cultural connotations, establishing the ‘domestic action game’ tag; the extremely high difficulty, on one hand, challenges players, making the game more distinctive, and on the other hand, breaks the fourth wall…”

Yan Qi went through it from beginning to end and found that Mr. Pei’s five requirements were indeed indispensable, all connected from game design to initial promotion.

And the difficulty adjustment and the addition of the “Salvation” weapon after the demo came out had a finishing touch effect, transforming “Turn Back to Shore” from an excellent work to a masterpiece.

But after analysis, Yan Qi was even more confused.

“Sister Li, I can roughly guess the reasons for these requirements.”

“But… this clearly shows that Mr. Pei had already planned the final form of the game from the beginning, right?”

“I can only say Mr. Pei is a natural genius, too powerful, and other designers at Tenda made these games only with Mr. Pei’s ideas.”

“The ‘patterns and tricks’ you mentioned earlier, where are they?”

Li Yada smiled slightly: “At the beginning, I had thoughts similar to yours.”

“But after thinking carefully later, I felt it wasn’t so.”

“Let me ask you two questions.”

“First, Mr. Pei only provided these few requirements but never inquired about the details of game design. So, how did Mr. Pei ensure that the game, once made, would match what he envisioned?”

“Second, how did Mr. Pei come up with these requirements?”

Yan Qi’s expression was blank as he fell into deep thought.

Yes, how did Mr. Pei ensure that the game, once made, would match what he envisioned?

Previously, Yan Qi had indeed deduced Mr. Pei’s intentions from these few conditions based on the finished product of “Turn Back to Shore,” but that was like hindsight.

In fact, starting just from these conditions, the general direction was set, but there could be many approaches to the details.

After giving these conditions, Mr. Pei didn’t supervise anymore. How did he know the game wouldn’t deviate?

There were only two explanations: First, he believed the designers were in tune with his mind and would necessarily create the game he envisioned through these conditions; Second, he might have felt that the details didn’t matter, as long as these main points didn’t deviate, then regardless of what details changed, “Turn Back to Shore” would still be “Turn Back to Shore.”

It might also be a combination of both.

What concerned Yan Qi more was Li Yada’s second question.

How did Mr. Pei come up with these key points?

It certainly wasn’t generated out of thin air with a snap of the fingers; there must have been a source.

Suddenly, Yan Qi had a flash of insight: “Are you saying that these requirements are not only Mr. Pei’s control over the general direction of this game, but also the cornerstone of Mr. Pei’s design for this game, from which we can analyze the source of Mr. Pei’s inspiration?”

Li Yada nodded with a smile, quite satisfied with Yan Qi’s understanding: “Exactly.”

The expression on Yan Qi’s face became even more shocked.

So this is how Tenda games are made?

Mr. Pei only gives a few requirements, and then the person in charge, based on these requirements, develops the entire game.

And these few requirements are both Mr. Pei’s control over the general direction of the game and the cornerstone of the game derived from his source of inspiration.

Why does Mr. Pei do this?

Obviously, on one hand, it’s to cultivate and train the designers under him, preventing them from becoming mere tools, but rather each becoming a master of game design; on the other hand, it’s because Mr. Pei is busy with work, has too many things to consider, and personally designing games in detail is simply unrealistic.

No wonder Tenda games are so productive, no wonder Mr. Pei can so frequently produce various high-quality games while handling various industries.

It’s all due to this development model that differs drastically from other gaming companies!

Yan Qi had always been puzzled. He was a producer, Mr. Pei was also a producer, but why could Mr. Pei produce good games almost every few months, endlessly pouring out, while he could only make one, and was exhausted and worn out?

Obviously, the two not only had differences in design ability and management ability but also had enormous differences in their most fundamental concepts!

Having confirmed this point, the next thing became even more crucial.

By reverse-analyzing these requirements, which are the cornerstone of game design, one could analyze the source of Mr. Pei’s inspiration.

And this was precisely the “patterns” and “tricks” that Li Yada had emphasized earlier!