February 3rd, Friday, 10:00 AM.
Pei Qian arrived at the Slackin’ Internet Café at Han University. After finishing his late breakfast-lunch, he ordered a coffee and had the waiter bring his laptop. He began reviewing the work arrangements for each department.
“Huh, the Terminus Chinese Network’s recent revenue data is still showing steady growth.”
“How did this broken website end up thriving and getting better and better?”
“This can’t continue. I need to address this properly when I have the time.”
Pei Qian briefly reviewed several departments’ revenue data and discovered that while Terminus Chinese Network wasn’t the highest earner, it was the most stable money-maker with steadily increasing profits.
From various data points, an increasing number of authors were joining Terminus Chinese Network, and the website’s library was continuously expanding.
For web novel sites like this, content was always paramount. As long as Terminus Chinese Network could maintain its attractiveness to authors and consistently provide competitive novel works, its future development would inevitably become smoother.
Pei Qian had been preoccupied with too many matters earlier, thinking that since Terminus Chinese Network wasn’t earning much, it didn’t warrant special attention. But now that he looked at it, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. If this continued, it might become a major problem.
But… how could he curb Terminus Chinese Network’s development?
This was a delicate matter that required long-term planning.
Pei Qian found himself lost in thought.
While he was contemplating, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure pushing open the café door.
“Teacher He?” Pei Qian was somewhat surprised.
It was He An who had entered.
He An seemed equally surprised upon seeing Pei Qian, probably not expecting this coincidental encounter. He walked directly to the empty seat opposite Pei Qian and sat down.
“Teacher He, how did you come to Jingzhou?” Pei Qian asked.
He An smiled. “I haven’t had much to do lately, so I came to Jingzhou to look around and relax.”
“By the way, Mr. Pei, how’s your game… coming along?”
The “game” he referred to was naturally “Mission and Choice,” a game whose creation was deeply connected to He An.
Ever since He An had made that suggestion to Mr. Pei, he had felt concerned about it, worried that if it truly lost five hundred million, wouldn’t he have done Mr. Pei wrong?
So, He An had been thinking about this matter constantly. During this trip to Jingzhou, when he happened to see Mr. Pei, he naturally had to ask about it.
Pei Qian remained silent for a moment: “Uh… I’m not really sure either.”
He An: “?”
“You’re not really sure?”
This was a game project that had burned through five hundred million!
From official approval to the start of production, this game had been in development for over four months. Some smaller projects might be nearly complete by now.
“Mission and Choice” was a large-scale production, so naturally its development time would be longer, but after four months with Tenda’s development efficiency, they should at least have a prototype by now, right?
Yet Mr. Pei himself wasn’t sure?
A five hundred million investment project was half-done, but the boss didn’t even check on it?
Could this get any more absurd?
Or perhaps…
Mr. Pei had been joking before. He believed this project would definitely lose money, so after working on it for a while, he stopped the project? No longer continuing development?
He An looked at Pei Qian with a gaze full of suspicion: “Mr. Pei, you couldn’t possibly think this project would definitely lose money, so you haven’t developed it at all?”
Pei Qian immediately shook his head: “How could that be!”
“Development is certainly proceeding normally. Based on the schedule, we should be more than halfway done by now, right? Perfect, why don’t you come with me to take a look, Teacher He?”
He An became even more confused, completely unable to understand what was going on.
On one hand, if Mr. Pei didn’t value this project, why invest so much money and manpower? On the other hand, if Mr. Pei valued this project, how could he not even check on it after four months of development?
He didn’t even have direct knowledge of the development progress, having to guess?
This seemed completely unreasonable no matter how you looked at it!
He An nodded: “Alright, I’m very curious about the current state of this game.”
Pei Qian finished his coffee, and the two of them strolled to the nearby Tenda Games headquarters.
This was He An’s first visit to Tenda’s office area. Like others, he was amazed by this spacious and luxurious office environment.
He An couldn’t help but sigh: “I’ve been in the gaming industry for decades, and this is the first time I’ve seen such an office environment.”
He noticed that not only was the office environment excellent, but the employees were also highly motivated. Everyone was completely focused on their work, and even when Mr. Pei arrived, no one stood up to greet him.
Only Hu Xianbin noticed Mr. Pei’s arrival and quickly stood up: “Mr. Pei!”
Pei Qian smiled: “It’s nothing important. I just came to see how ‘Mission and Choice’ is developing.”
“This is He An, CEO of League Fruit Games.”
Hu Xianbin’s expression showed recognition: “CEO He! I’ve long admired your reputation. You’re a veteran in the gaming industry! Hello, hello!”
After brief pleasantries, Hu Xianbin began introducing the development status of “Mission and Choice.”
Currently, Tenda’s game department was essentially divided into two projects. One team was responsible for GOG’s development and daily operations, led by Min Jingchao, who had just returned from Los Angeles a few days ago and would soon be heading back there. The other team was responsible for developing “Mission and Choice,” led by Hu Xianbin.
“Mr. Pei, the game is currently about 60-70% complete. The game’s basic gameplay and framework are already finished, and most of the game mechanics are nearly complete. What remains is designing the individual levels and fine-tuning various details of the game…”
Pei Qian listened attentively, nodding frequently.
He An also listened carefully, but his facial expression kept changing, quite dramatically.
Because he realized that Mr. Pei really seemed to have never inquired about this project before?
From what he could hear, the things Hu Xianbin was reporting were all quite basic, including development progress, preliminary preparations, gameplay settings, and such. If Mr. Pei had already known these things, there would be no need for Hu Xianbin to explain them again.
It was impossible for the two of them to be putting on an act to deceive him.
Could it be… Mr. Pei really hadn’t managed this project since it started?
This confident?
Of course, He An wouldn’t think this was a sign of Mr. Pei’s indifference. After all, he believed no one would be indifferent to a five hundred million project.
So… the only explanation was that Mr. Pei had tremendous trust in his employees!
Mr. Pei believed that after providing a design plan, even without further oversight, his subordinates could properly understand the design philosophy and complete the work satisfactorily, ultimately producing a finished product that met his expectations.
But this raised a new question.
For Mr. Pei to be this confident, he must have provided an extremely detailed and perfect design concept that resolved all the problems that previously existed in “Mission and Choice.”
But “Mission and Choice” was such an unusual game. What kind of design philosophy could make it successful?
After all, this game was born from a discussion between Pei Qian and He An as “the most unlikely to succeed game plan currently possible.”
Big investment, RTS gameplay, sci-fi theme, poor balance, simple controls… these were all “fatal flaws” He An had proposed.
He An believed that as long as Mr. Pei followed his requirements, this game would absolutely fail.
Moreover, Mr. Pei had used the previously infamous “national gaming disgrace” title and story background, eliminating even the slightest possibility of success.
Now seeing Mr. Pei’s confident demeanor, He An became even more interested in this game, but his confusion also grew.
After the brief introduction, Hu Xianbin said: “Mr. Pei, Mr. He, would you two like to try out the game’s demo?”
Pei Qian immediately nodded: “Of course.”
Hu Xianbin promptly brought up the “Mission and Choice” demo on his computer, then said: “Mr. Pei, this demo is quite complete, but much of the story content is missing. Since the story parts are presented through cinematics, and the movie is still in production, only the pure combat sections are available for testing now.”
Pei Qian nodded: “Okay, I understand.”
Then he looked at He An: “Why don’t you try it out and give us your feedback?”
He An didn’t decline much and sat at the computer to experience the “Mission and Choice” demo.
As a real-time strategy game, “Mission and Choice” naturally had a level-based structure.
Different chapters and levels had different storylines. Maps varied in size, troop configurations changed between sides, and the overall difficulty increased gradually.
This level featured only surface battles on a planet’s surface, no space combat, but the map size was considerable – likely a mid-game stage.
“Mission and Choice” used the standard third-person perspective of real-time strategy games, but unlike games like “StarCraft,” it offered much greater camera freedom.
Typical RTS games allow screen zooming and camera lowering, but these operations are strictly limited and cannot be infinitely adjusted.
When playing these games, players are usually very busy, needing to monitor all units on the battlefield. For both control and observation, the camera needs to be at maximum height.
Moreover, the game models aren’t that detailed, so if the camera gets too close, the graphics become rough.
Considering both aesthetics and practicality, limited camera adjustment freedom is normal design.
However, “Mission and Choice” offered high camera freedom, allowing very close views because the precision of soldiers and other combat units exceeded all current RTS games on the market.
He An silently admired that the money had been well spent – these graphics were flawless.
Every unit type’s model, animations, and details were excellently crafted, with unique design elements. The graphics were absolutely top-tier.
After all, with this much money invested, there had to be some results.
The concept art was probably all from Ruan Guangjian’s Halo Studio, and the modeling and animations were handled by industry-leading outsourcing companies. Artistically, it was beyond reproach.