At this point, Yu Fei felt confused.
“Ghost General 2” had a grand vision? It was a more challenging puzzle than “Real Estate Agent Simulator” and “Safe and Civilized Driving”?
He didn’t think so.
Yu Fei himself was the lead designer and had been involved in the entire design process of “Ghost General 2” from beginning to end. He was fully aware of the game’s current statistics.
How could it possibly compare to games like “Real Estate Agent Simulator” and “Safe and Civilized Driving”?
Those two games had made a tremendous impact on reality—one had disrupted the traditional real estate agency industry, while the other had triggered reforms in the driving school system.
What qualifications did “Ghost General 2” have? Not to mention anything else, its sales couldn’t even compare with those two games.
With confusion, Yu Fei continued watching.
…
“‘Ghost General 2’ is a fighting game.”
“And fighting games have long been in decline, a game genre that’s nearly obsolete. Calling it niche isn’t unfair.”
“Since it’s a niche game with a small player base to begin with, investing huge resources into its development seems like a guaranteed loss.”
“This is a fact that all players know—how could the game designers not know it? That’s impossible.”
“So the only explanation is that the designers knew it was a niche game but still invested heavily for some reason, willingly risking a complete loss.”
“Everything that appears irrational on the surface must have deeper motives behind it.”
“If this were a major fighting game company with many classic IPs, this move could be explained by ‘inertia’ and ‘persistence.'”
“The problem is that Tenda Games has never developed fighting games before, yet they went all-in with their very first fighting game: deploying the most elite development team from among their three game studios; using the renowned ‘Ghost General’ IP that had made Tenda famous in its early days; and investing huge resources in development.”
“Considering that the lead designer Yu Fei isn’t a designer with particularly strong influence, all of this must have been directly pushed by Mr. Pei, overriding any opposition!”
“Given this, the deeper motives behind Mr. Pei’s actions are worth discussing.”
“Many people say that the sales of ‘Ghost General 2’ seem mediocre.”
“If you think so, I can only say: that’s small thinking, narrow vision.”
“Who gave you the mistaken impression that Mr. Pei views sales as the only dimension to measure a game’s success?”
“In terms of profitability, how many games can compare with GOG and ‘Sea Fortress’ today? Other major companies might not make pay-to-win games because they don’t know how, but does Tenda not know? Tenda can make anything, yet they still insist on creating games like ‘Game Producer,’ ‘Struggle,’ and ‘Mission and Choice.'”
“Therefore, the emergence of ‘Ghost General 2’ must also have a deeper meaning! That is the grand vision of the entire Tenda gaming empire!”
“Namely: maintaining game diversity, exploring the boundaries of gaming, and influencing the broader gaming environment!”
“Mr. Pei definitely understands these principles, but the designers might not. Now, let me analyze them one by one for everyone!”
…
Yu Fei blinked, his expression bewildered.
He had to admit, Qiao Laoshi was right.
He, as the designer, really didn’t know about this so-called grand vision!
Of course, whether the other veteran designers in Tenda’s gaming department knew about it was hard to say.
Perhaps this was an unspoken understanding within Tenda’s gaming department? After all, the entire Tenda organization valued practical work over boasting. “Grand vision” certainly didn’t seem like a topic that would be discussed in any department meeting at Tenda.
But not talking about something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
A company without vision cannot go far, and a company that only talks about vision without taking practical action also cannot go far.
Tenda, under Mr. Pei’s leadership, had formed a unique culture: having a grand vision but never boasting about it.
Yu Fei continued reading.
…
“Vision One: Maintaining Game Diversity.”
“This is actually easy to understand. Everyone knows that as humans, we should protect endangered animals and maintain the diversity of the natural environment.”
“Many people might wonder, what’s the point? Many rare animals will never intersect with normal people’s lives, so what if they go extinct? So many animals have already gone extinct without seemingly affecting human life at all.”
“We humans protect endangered species to maintain biodiversity.”
“Perhaps we can’t see how monumentally significant this is right now, but at least protecting biodiversity preserves more possibilities for our future. Otherwise, when large numbers of species become extinct and only remain in museums, what if we need them in the future? Will our regret come too late?”
“Keeping them now might not be immediately useful, but if they’re gone now and we need them in the future, what then?”
“The gaming field is the same.”
“Have you noticed that games are becoming increasingly homogenized? This phenomenon might not be as obvious on other platforms, but on mobile gaming platforms, basically three or four types of games have consumed the entire player base.”
“This is like species invasion in nature. When a certain species becomes overly dominant and has no natural predators, the survival environment of other animals suffers devastating damage until the entire forest is occupied by the dominant species.”
“In the gaming world, certain games are naturally quick, short, and easy, readily stimulating sensory pleasure, creating stronger stickiness through anxiety, hatred, and greed. Such games expand rapidly, have huge advantages in competition, and can bring more substantial profits to game companies.”
“Of course, I’m not criticizing any specific game type—players love what they love, and that’s their choice.”
“But the problem is, if all game manufacturers rush to make these kinds of games, what happens to other types of games? What about players who prefer other game types? Perhaps in the past, you had more than a dozen different game types to choose from, but as you kept playing, you’d find only three or four game types left.”
“Eventually, you might have no choice at all, because even those three or four game types only differ in gameplay mechanics, while their internal payment systems and retention-focused liver-damaging systems have become severely homogenized.”
“If a game genre dies out, it can no longer develop or evolve—its spark is completely extinguished.”
“In the short term, this might seem like a species extinction that doesn’t significantly impact our lives. But in the long run, it’s an irreversible loss. What if, had it survived, it could have played a major role in the future? No one can predict that.”
“That’s why Tenda Games continually invests heavily, using the industry’s best teams to develop these relatively niche games—to awaken general players’ attention to these game categories, preventing them from completely dying out in specific environments, preserving a spark for gaming diversity.”
“This is a thankless task that most companies are unwilling to undertake. And since there are no major fighting game developers in the domestic market, if Tenda doesn’t do it, the domestic gaming circle might forever lose this category of games.”
“So that’s the first point: maintaining game diversity.”
“Vision Two: Exploring the Boundaries of Gaming.”
“Tenda not only wants to pass down a niche game category but also wants to dig deeper into this declining game category based on predecessors’ work, seeking design answers for the new era!”
“This was demonstrated in ‘Mission and Choice’: Tenda, through clever design, enabled players who didn’t like real-time strategy games to enjoy it, allowing the game to break through its original boundaries.”
“‘Ghost General 2’ is the same. On one hand, it perfectly replicates the feel and combat mechanics of fighting games, preserving the most essential elements, making experts feel that this is an authentic fighting game without serious deviation. On the other hand, it somewhat changes the niche nature of fighting games, allowing the general public to pick it up more easily, giving it the potential to break through boundaries!”
“How does ‘Ghost General 2’ achieve this? Mainly in three ways.”
“First, a carefully designed PVE combat system and levels.”
“Traditionally, fighting games discourage players because of their high entry barriers and relatively weak enjoyment. Although traditional fighting games are divided into PVE and PVP sections, the conservative numerical design of the PVE part makes it difficult to provide players with an excellent experience.”
“Because of conservative numerical values and similar attributes between players and monsters, difficulty is hard to adjust: if the monster AI is too weak, players can easily pass levels without challenge; but if the monster AI is too strong, it brings immense difficulty and strong feelings of frustration to players.”
“For traditional fighting games, PVP is where the true core fun lies, but the problem is that PVP is even harder to balance and more discouraging to newcomers. Without thousands of hours of practice, it’s impossible to appreciate the true joy of fighting games.”
“Therefore, ‘Ghost General 2’ made bold improvements in this regard. The most obvious example is that the PVE aspect incorporates design ideas from ‘Turn Back to Shore’—strengthening enemy attributes while weakening enemy AI, focusing on testing players’ basic operations.”
“This way, the difficulty level can be maintained at a relatively reasonable level. Players can experience challenges and face some hardships, but not to the point of excessive frustration, always seeing their growth and progress.”
“Combined with mob clearing, horizontal movement, and exquisite level design, this makes the PVE part of ‘Ghost General 2’ full of fun, allowing a player who has never touched fighting games before to quickly get started.”
“In other words, the PVE section serves as a tutorial for newcomers, guiding them toward the core fun of the PVP section. Other fighting games haven’t done this well, but ‘Ghost General 2’ has!”