Cramped?

Are you serious???

Zhou Muyan looked at his studio’s office workstations. They weren’t cramped! Weren’t most companies set up this way?

Everyone just had the space of a desk, and weren’t other companies all like this too? Besides, since Tianhuo Studio owned its building, it had plenty of space. Compared to other companies, the distance between workstations was quite generous.

To call this cramped, you must be blind…

Huang Sibo understood that this wasn’t about Tianhuo Studio’s workstations being cramped—it was mainly that Tenda’s workstations were too spacious!

What normal company would do things like Tenda? Even real estate companies wouldn’t be so extravagant!

But everyone at Tenda had grown accustomed to their working environment, so when they looked at Tianhuo Studio’s setup, they couldn’t muster any enthusiasm.

Everyone seemed deflated and uninterested, like a group of people used to living in oceanfront villas listening to a sales representative enthusiastically promoting a “luxury” three-bedroom apartment. They felt absolutely nothing…

Their dreams were shattered!

Originally, everyone had been full of expectations for Tianhuo Studio, but now that they had seen it, it was nothing special!

The workstations were cramped.

The office computers had average configurations, and the design team didn’t even have dual monitors.

A few snacks placed on the desk constituted their “snack area.”

The entertainment room had only one small TV—were they treating employees like beggars?

And on top of that, mandatory 996 overtime with no overtime pay!

This was a top-tier game company in China???

It was far worse than Tenda!

This feeling was like meeting your first love many years after marriage, only to discover that her figure had deteriorated and she had become plain and ordinary.

Looking back at your wife, how could she be so beautiful?!

Indeed, Mr. Pei was the best boss in the world, bar none!

Better to stop thinking about other possibilities. The best thing to do in this life was to cling to Mr. Pei’s coattails and be willing to go through fire and water for him!

…

After an awkward round of boasting, Zhou Muyan felt somewhat embarrassed, mainly because the expressions on the visitors’ faces were clearly perfunctory, which left him with little enthusiasm to continue.

“Let’s move on, then. We’ve arranged an experience exchange sharing session. This way, please.”

Everyone proceeded to a large internal conference room at Tianhuo Studio.

Today’s itinerary had been arranged by Assistant Yan and the studio’s staff, including a company tour and experience exchange.

Assistant Yan had followed the standard protocol for company exchanges. After all, coming all this way only to look at an office building from the outside would be inappropriate.

Since this was about exchange and learning, they certainly needed to share successful experiences to make the trip worthwhile.

Tenda had brought over twenty people, and Tianhuo Studio had also arranged for over twenty employees to accompany them. Both sides had designated representatives to present and share their experiences.

The first to take the stage was Sun Xi, who had welcomed them earlier. He was a core designer for a large MMORPG project at Tianhuo Studio.

Sun Xi first expressed a warm welcome to Mr. Pei and his team, who had traveled from afar. Everyone applauded enthusiastically, creating a lively atmosphere.

After that, Sun Xi began sharing the successful experiences of the MMORPG he was currently responsible for.

Pei Qian held a small notebook, listening attentively, nodding frequently, while his pen constantly doodled on the pages.

Shortly, he had drawn a turtle.

A bit later, there was also a mouse, and a duck…

He couldn’t understand a thing!

The key problem was that Pei Qian was sitting in the front row and couldn’t fall asleep.

Sun Xi’s presentation wasn’t particularly complex—Huang Sibo and the others could understand it—but his content was interspersed with many technical terms and English acronyms. Pei Qian could only roughly guess from his expressions and gestures that this game was impressive, but just how impressive it was, he had no idea.

Soon, Sun Xi finished speaking. The drowsy Pei Qian immediately perked up and took the lead in applauding.

Next, it was Tenda’s turn.

It would be impolite not to reciprocate. Since the other side had shared their successful experiences, Tenda naturally had to share as well.

Tenda sent out Huang Sibo to explain the successful experience of “Ghost General.” “Sea Fortress” was still incomplete and its success uncertain, so it wasn’t suitable for presentation.

Strictly speaking, Pei Qian should have been the one to share, since “Ghost General” was entirely his creation.

But Pei Qian firmly rejected this suggestion. First, he didn’t want to go on stage, and second, he wasn’t clear on exactly how “Ghost General” had become successful…

So when Assistant Yan informed Pei Qian of this arrangement, he immediately passed the task to Huang Sibo, telling him to just go up and say whatever.

Huang Sibo went on stage to enthusiastic applause.

“First, I want to clarify that I didn’t participate in the development of ‘Ghost General.’ This game was completed entirely by Mr. Pei from start to finish. However, during my time at Tenda, I’ve studied this game carefully and believe I have some understanding of it, having glimpsed a bit of Mr. Pei’s design artistry.”

“Mr. Pei, if I make any mistakes during my presentation, please feel free to correct me.”

“In my view, the success of ‘Ghost General’ can be attributed to three main factors.”

“First, the pursuit of excellence in game quality and a bold artistic style!”

“As I understand it, Mr. Pei invested more than half of the funds in purchasing art resources and boldly hired new artists. When ‘Ghost General’s’ epic ink-and-oil painting style was released, it was immediately welcomed enthusiastically by players. This was thanks to Mr. Pei’s visionary outlook and superior aesthetic judgment!”

“Mr. Pei made ‘Ghost General’ a success, and also established Ruan Guangjian as a distinctive new artist. It was truly a win-win situation…”

“Second, ethical in-game purchases!”

“‘Ghost General’ has a total spending cap of just 40 yuan, forming a stark contrast with card games like ‘Q Cute Three Kingdoms.’ This straightforward and fair approach won players’ love and respect, while the low-profit, high-volume strategy resulted in both sales and reputation success…”

“Third, ingenious promotion methods!”

“Having invested all the funds in development, ‘Ghost General’ faced a situation with no money for promotion! Mr. Pei ingeniously used Weibo marketing to make ‘Ghost General’ wildly popular in artist circles, which successfully spread to gaming circles, achieving an excellent marketing effect…”

“I believe this could even serve as a classic case study in marketing communications, worthy of repeated analysis!”

Huang Sibo was well-prepared and spoke eloquently.

He had never directly asked Pei Qian about the behind-the-scenes details of “Ghost General,” but by indirectly probing, finding game reviews online, browsing through Ruan Guangjian’s and others’ Weibo posts, and combining these with Mr. Pei’s personality and design philosophy…

He was able to reconstruct about seventy to eighty percent of the situation.

During his explanation, he occasionally glanced in Pei Qian’s direction.

Mr. Pei was smiling and nodding frequently.

Indeed, my guesses were correct!

Huang Sibo felt extremely proud. Although he hadn’t participated in the development of “Ghost General,” being able to accurately deduce Mr. Pei’s design intentions was quite a remarkable achievement. It meant he was gradually catching up to Mr. Pei’s pace!

Meanwhile, Pei Qian nodded while silently lamenting to himself.

That sounds great, but how come I didn’t know that’s what I was thinking at the time…

Below the stage, Sun Xi, Zhou Muyan, and other Tianhuo Studio employees were listening attentively and taking notes.

Zhou Muyan couldn’t help but marvel: Truly, heroes emerge from the young!

This Mr. Pei might be young, but he was certainly bold!

Investing all funds in development without reserving a penny for promotion, boldly hiring new artists, adopting a completely new art style, radically changing the profit model of traditional card-based mobile games…

These weren’t actions an ordinary designer could take!

This man was formidable—wasn’t he afraid of losing everything?

Indeed, he must be from a wealthy family; otherwise, he couldn’t take such huge risks while remaining so calm…

Was this… the difference in mindset? The legendary ability to treat heavy burdens as light, and life and death as normal…

Zhou Muyan couldn’t help but wildly speculate, gaining more respect for Pei Qian.

Soon, Huang Sibo finished speaking, and the audience erupted into enthusiastic applause once again!

Pei Qian sensed that many devout and admiring gazes were directed toward him.

Those were the gazes of people who revered a genius!