November 10, Thursday.

Capital city.

Qiu Hong checked the address on his phone, then looked up at the old residential complex in front of him.

The people coming and going in the complex were mostly elderly. Since the old residential area had been around for many years, the living conditions were quite worrisome, and the apartment layouts were all very narrow. For young people, they probably wouldn’t even want to live here, let alone work here.

But according to the address on his phone, there was an independent game developer here.

Qiu Hong had identified the correct building and unit. Following the stairwell plastered with all kinds of tacky small advertisements, he climbed all the way to the sixth floor.

After repeatedly distinguishing which was 601 and which was 602, Qiu Hong finally knocked gently on the door.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A moment later, footsteps sounded from inside, and the old-fashioned security door opened.

A young man with messy hair and large dark circles under his eyes asked hesitantly, “Are you… Mr. Qiu?”

Qiu Hong nodded: “Yes, are you Wu Zhicheng?”

Wu Zhicheng nodded: “Yes, Mr. Qiu, you can call me Xiao Wu. Please come in.”

Wu Zhicheng stepped aside.

Qiu Hong entered and closed the security door.

The capital city usually started providing heating around mid-November, and now there was still nearly a week to go, so it was the coldest time.

After entering, Qiu Hong didn’t feel much warmer; rather, he felt as if wind was constantly seeping in through cracks in the windows.

Wu Zhicheng seemed already accustomed to it. He pulled over a chair: “Sorry, Mr. Qiu, it’s too messy here. Please make do.”

Qiu Hong didn’t mind and sat down after pulling the chair over.

Originally, Wu Zhicheng had hoped that the two would find a coffee shop to chat, but Qiu Hong insisted on coming to Wu Zhicheng’s workplace to talk, because he wanted to see the most authentic working environment and working state.

Qiu Hong looked around.

This appeared to be a small one-bedroom apartment. The living room part had been transformed into Wu Zhicheng’s studio, with a computer desk, computer, messily piled books, game consoles, a small TV, a small dining table… There was hardly any space to step.

The other room was Wu Zhicheng’s bedroom, which couldn’t fit much besides a bed and a wardrobe. The bed was also piled with books, and the situation was equally concerning.

Wu Zhicheng felt a bit embarrassed. After searching for a while in the small refrigerator, all he found was soda. He wasn’t sure if Mr. Qiu was accustomed to drinking this.

Qiu Hong hurriedly said, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get straight to the point.”

Wu Zhicheng nodded: “Good, then I’ll briefly explain my situation.”

Compared to Jiang Fan of Cherry Studio, Wu Zhicheng’s experience was much simpler.

Jiang Fan had originally worked at a law firm. Only after successfully creating a game in his spare time did he make up his mind to use that money to establish Cherry Studio and start a business.

Wu Zhicheng, on the other hand, had worked for a period after graduating from university, accumulated some savings, and then resolutely resigned to eat dirt and start making games because he was dissatisfied with his job.

As for what if the game couldn’t be completed or if it didn’t make money after completion, Wu Zhicheng hadn’t really considered these questions.

Anyway, if he couldn’t support himself, he would just find another job.

Qiu Hong asked: “What stage is the game development at? Can I play a simple trial?”

Wu Zhicheng nodded: “Yes, but… the completion level is very low. Mr. Qiu, you may need to use your imagination to play.”

Saying this, Wu Zhicheng turned on his computer and opened the game project he created in the official editor.

Qiu Hong sat down at Wu Zhicheng’s computer, looking at the dust-covered keyboard and mouse, as well as the ashtray full of cigarette butts and empty cola bottles on the computer desk, momentarily speechless.

Wu Zhicheng hurriedly pulled out two tissues from the tissue box beside him, carefully wiped the keyboard and mouse, and then tidied up the computer desk a bit.

“Mr. Qiu, this is a mobile game, but currently it can only be played on a computer. You need to use the mouse to complete the hand-dragging operations, which isn’t very convenient. Please bear with it.”

Qiu Hong nodded and started to enter the game.

The name of the game was “Ink Mist,” a 2D side-scrolling platform game with a relatively high difficulty. The biggest difference between this game and general side-scrolling platform games was that it had a rather special gameplay feature, which was interacting with the game scenes through painting.

Players could create or erase objects in the game scene through painting. This interactive experience would bring players a very novel experience in some special levels and boss battles.

But… this was the ideal situation.

For many games, the gameplay is full in theory but lacking in reality.

To achieve the effect Wu Zhicheng expected, there were two prerequisites: first, each level and each battle must be meticulously crafted; second, there needed to be very impressive artistic effects.

The biggest difference between “Ink Mist” and the other 2D side-scrolling games was this painting-style interactive experience. But if it were just simply drawing a bit and erasing a bit, continuing like this, the player’s experience would be very boring, and the gameplay innovation would be meaningless.

So-called gameplay innovation must not be a simple concept, but rather a whole set of rich gameplay and content.

The approach for each level and each boss must be conceived and planned, developing more varieties based on this gameplay. Only then could the game be considered successful.

Moreover, since this game featured scene interaction as its characteristic, the visuals needed to be outstanding. Otherwise, the pleasure of playing would be reduced by a large part.

Judging from the current completion level of the game, it was far too lacking.

This was also normal. Wu Zhicheng was just a student who had graduated not long ago. Making this game was purely driven by passion. Given his conditions, whether he could make the gameplay and levels well aside, at least the art resources part was unsolvable.

Wu Zhicheng wasn’t good at art and couldn’t afford to hire top artists from the official platform. So the resources in the game were all pieced together from various sources, looking very unstylish.

Moreover, all operations were completed using the mouse, which wasn’t as smooth as playing on a mobile phone.

In short, Qiu Hong’s enjoyment of this game was entirely based on imagination.

Qiu Hong sighed lightly with some melancholy.

Previously, he thought that studios like Cherry Studio, which were almost breaking their capital chain and could barely pay wages, perfectly met the rescue conditions of the “End of Road Plan.”

But after seeing Wu Zhicheng today, he realized that when it came to being “at the end of the road,” there was always someone poorer, never the poorest.

So the question was, did this project meet the criteria?

Mr. Pei had said that projects that were too reliable or too unreliable couldn’t be invested in.

By general standards, this would be considered extremely unreliable. An ordinary person with absolutely no game development experience, purely driven by passion, with neither level design ability nor artistic level guaranteed in any way.

But Qiu Hong instinctively hoped that Wu Zhicheng could receive help, because Wu Zhicheng had a kind of belief, and it was precisely this belief that made this project reliable.

“Mr. Pei said, if it’s uncertain whether it’s reliable, then I can decide for myself.”

“In that case…”

After considering for a long time, Qiu Hong asked: “For this game, how much money do you think you need to complete it?”

Wu Zhicheng was stumped: “Uh… this…”

“To be honest, I can’t say clearly.”

“If I could have 200,000 yuan, I could use it to hire a good artist to help draw the game scenes.”

“With another 50,000 yuan, I could pay the rent first, which would support me for a long time…”

Qiu Hong also fell into deep thought.

For Cherry Studio, the project completion level, employee salaries, and daily expenses all had very clear plans.

But for Wu Zhicheng, he had no very clear concept of project planning, schedule, or resource control, so naturally, he couldn’t give a specific number.

No matter how much money was given, it could only solve the urgent need, with everything else to be discussed later.

Qiu Hong wasn’t worried that Wu Zhicheng would spend too much money. Given his conditions, he couldn’t spend much anyway.

The key was that without a clear plan, project management would fall into chaos. Qiu Hong knew very well that this was a fatal factor that could lead to the complete failure of the project.

For these independent game developers, what they lacked wasn’t just money, but also various other supports.

For example, how to plan the project development cycle, how to control costs, how to solve financial issues, etc. These were all difficult problems to solve.

But for a game of this scale, having a full set of support would be especially wasteful.

They couldn’t have three or four people, including finance and administration, revolving around just Wu Zhicheng. That wouldn’t make sense either.

Qiu Hong thought for a moment and said, “Wait a moment, let me make a call.”

Wu Zhicheng nodded, waiting patiently.

He also knew very well that, given his conditions, asking for investment was indeed a bit of a stretch.

Hopefully, the big leader that Mr. Qiu was consulting would show some kindness.