Generally speaking, the work progress of a game company’s development team is always one or even two versions ahead of the game content that players experience.
For example, if players are playing version 1.01, then the test server should already be testing version 1.02 content, the development team should be developing version 1.03 content, and the development plan for version 1.04 should already be on the agenda.
Of course, this applies to games with frequent version updates.
But even for games with less frequent updates, the development team’s plan should still be at least one version ahead of what players are currently experiencing.
After a game’s development is completed, it’s natural to quickly enter the next development phase; otherwise, what would the project team do during that time?
So, based on his previous work experience, Huang Sibo felt that they should now establish the next stage of the development plan. This was part of his responsibilities as the executive producer.
It wouldn’t be right to wait until Mr. Pei urged them to develop the next version before Huang Sibo started making arrangements—that would be a serious work error.
Bao Xu had no objections to this and fully supported it.
“But the problem now is… I don’t know what plan to make. I don’t even know how to modify the game; there’s no direction,” Huang Sibo expressed his concerns.
A new version generally consists of two parts: fixes and improvements.
On one hand, fixing bugs, loopholes, and unreasonable aspects that existed in the game; on the other hand, developing new gameplay, new maps, new content, and making improvements and expansions to the game itself.
But the problem Huang Sibo faced now was that “Sea Fortress” was already in what he and Bao Xu considered a perfect state, with seemingly no bugs or design flaws that needed fixing!
As for developing new content…
Honestly, there was already enough content.
There was a story mode, a competitive mode, and within the competitive mode, there were multiple sub-modes like bio-hazard mode, ghost mode, demolition mode, and more.
There wasn’t much new content to add for now!
Before players got tired of the current game content, why bother with the trouble of making new gameplay and new maps? Wouldn’t that be a waste of effort?
Bao Xu was also a bit stumped; this matter was beyond his area of expertise.
Playing games was Bao Xu’s forte.
But when it came to planning for the game itself, Bao Xu was completely out of his depth.
“I don’t understand this either. Huang, you handle it as you see fit. What do you think should be done?” Bao Xu asked.
Huang Sibo considered for a moment: “I think we should find some core players to experience the game and provide us with opinions and suggestions.”
“Don’t misunderstand, Bao. It’s not that your suggestions aren’t enough, but being in the thick of things can cloud judgment. We should try to find as many other players as possible. The larger the sample, the more accurate the data.”
Bao Xu didn’t mind; instead, he nodded, thinking Huang Sibo’s reasoning was sound.
Previously, the game’s balance and feel had relied entirely on Bao Xu.
If Bao Xu felt that a gun’s trajectory needed adjustment or if some action didn’t feel right, Huang Sibo would immediately instruct the design team to make changes.
But Bao Xu was just one person. No matter how skilled he was, he could only represent himself.
The game was targeting tens of thousands of players, but could one guarantee that one’s taste would represent the taste of most players?
So, Huang Sibo felt that they needed to find a batch of players to experience the game.
Once they identified the flaws, they could include them in the next phase of the version plan for continuous optimization of the game.
This way, Huang Sibo would have a direction when formulating the next work plan.
“I agree, but which players do you plan to find? Would they be willing to help us test the game without any reason? Should we provide some compensation?” Bao Xu asked.
“Hmm… that’s a problem,” Huang Sibo frowned slightly. “Let me think about where to find a few guinea pigs.”
……
Back at his workstation, Huang Sibo was also troubled.
Indeed, they should now get a few guinea pigs—no, a large batch of guinea pigs—to test the game.
Normal games should have a player beta test phase before going online.
Many times, even the strongest testing team can’t match those bug-attracting silly players.
But on one hand, with the popularization of game editors and faster ESRO reviews, the development process of many games has become increasingly compressed, making the public testing phase optional; on the other hand, Mr. Pei never mentioned arranging a public test and directly instructed Huang Sibo to submit the game for review.
So, “Sea Fortress” was directly posted online without any player beta testing.
Now, Huang Sibo felt it necessary to grab a few guinea pigs to provide feedback on the game, but exactly where to grab these guinea pigs became a major problem.
No connections, no channels!
Maybe… ask Mr. Pei?
Not appropriate.
Going to Mr. Pei for such a simple matter would be embarrassing!
Huang Sibo repeatedly reminded himself: You are now the executive producer!
Mr. Pei has entrusted you with an important task, not hoping that you would go to him for every little detail like a primary school student, but hoping that you can handle matters independently and properly complete your work!
Small matters should be handled well by oneself without always bothering Mr. Pei.
Besides, even for something like finding guinea pigs, Mr. Pei might not have a solution. Despite Mr. Pei’s wide range of abilities, he couldn’t personally roll up his sleeves and find players to test the game, could he?
So, Huang Sibo suppressed the thought of consulting Pei Qian and decided that it was better to handle such dirty work himself.
After unsuccessfully trying to seek help from the Thousand Degrees search engine, Huang Sibo sent a message within the design team.
“I want to find a batch of players to test the game… does anyone have channels? It would be best if we could find some FPS game fan groups, get friendly with the group admins, and have them help bring in a group of guinea pigs.”
“Of course, we should offer something in return. Paying them is out of the question, but we can provide some limited-edition weapons in the game.”
Finding people by paying them would certainly be possible.
But if they were to pay, Mr. Pei would need to know.
Huang Sibo felt there was no need to trouble Mr. Pei with this, and he couldn’t possibly pay out of his pocket, so the only option was to provide some in-game benefits.
Although the attraction to players wasn’t great, it was… better than nothing.
Soon, everyone responded.
Most people, like Huang Sibo, had no channels, didn’t know similar people, and didn’t have access to such player groups.
Xiao Lü suggested that he could search for some “Counter-Strike” player groups and see if he could successfully infiltrate them and get friendly with the group admins.
But the success rate of this plan wasn’t high.
Entering someone else’s player group to advertise, asking them to play another FPS game without offering sufficient benefits, would likely get them kicked out by the group admin on the spot.
At this moment, Lin Wan spoke up.
“Uh… I have contact information for several FPS game enthusiast group admins. They all have one or two player groups, probably with several hundred to a thousand players each.”
Huang Sibo quickly asked: “Can you get friendly with them?… Oh, sorry, I mean, can you ask them to help us out a bit?”
Huang Sibo realized he shouldn’t speak so thoughtlessly in front of a cute girl and hastily corrected his wording.
Lin Wan didn’t mind: “No problem, I’m familiar with them. It’s just a matter of asking.”
Huang Sibo was curious: “How do you know so many FPS game enthusiast group admins?”
This seemed a bit unusual.
Lin Wan wasn’t an FPS game enthusiast, and even if she were, there would be no reason for her to know so many FPS game group admins at the same time.
Lin Wan explained: “Oh, it’s because when I was interning at Tianhua Studio before, the project team developing ‘Bullet Hole’ specifically found a batch of core FPS players as testers, and I was responsible for interfacing and communicating with them.”