To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 257: Chapter 170: Not Many Masters (Three More Updates)_1

Knowing that Fang Cheng agreed, Zhang Ping breathed a sigh of relief.

He had already made plans to seek help from Mr. Shen or Huang Ping for mediation, but Fang Cheng’s vision was even larger than he had imagined, and he had actually agreed.

However, Fang Cheng had another idea.

Just now, on a whim, he had cast a fortune for himself and discovered a high probability that he would meet someone fated to him if he participated in this competition.

He didn’t know who that talent might be, but having more Protectors was good for him.

Although occasionally they would stab him in the back, they could still teach him a lot and help him learn many things.

Although occasionally they would stab him in the back.

With a sigh, Fang Cheng decided to join.

It was not uncommon for a company to hold a gaming competition and then invite others to participate.

Game companies abroad even now like to use this method, where those interested in the game industry can prepare a demo version of their game in advance and submit it to major companies for evaluation.

Outstanding games might receive angel investment on the spot, and the more excellent ones might be acquired and become a subsidiary studio of the big company.

Many well-known games were born through this manner, such as “Defense of the Empire” and others.

The reason Tianyi was doing this was also related to the recent changes in the gaming environment.

Some manufacturers had realized that games that once thrived on purchasing users were finding it increasingly difficult to survive in the current gaming landscape, with the cost of user acquisition growing higher and platforms that used to sell traffic even starting to develop their own games, which made it harder for reskinned and rotated-service games to survive.

Games that forced players to spend money, were boring, and lacked innovation were increasingly lacking vitality, while small but beautiful games full of gameplay were on the rise and hit titles were emerging one after another.

Tianyi’s previous mobile game department had already proven that innovative minigames also had room to survive and that it was still an untapped market; it was time to further exert effort, preemptively seize the market, and secure more resources for survival.

On the chosen day, Zhang Ping, the president of Tianyi’s Rong City branch, made a special point to come out to greet Fang Cheng and the others.

Although he had seen Fang Cheng on television before, he was still stunned when he saw him in person.

This youngster… was quite fearsome indeed.

After introducing each other, he first apologized for many past issues and thanked Fang Cheng for gracing them with his presence to participate in their competition as a judge, insisting that while the invitation fee was not substantial, he should still accept it.

Afterward, he saw Huang Ping among Fang Cheng’s entourage.

Compared to last year, Huang Ping looked much more spirited and composed.

Although he was returning to his old employer, Huang Ping did not seem to feel awkward, which indicated that he had moved on from the past.

But Zhang Ping had not moved on.

He felt that he owed Huang Ping an apology for last year’s events.

If he had been more cautious at the time and paid more attention to the mental state of his studio personnel, perhaps the incident where the lead planner assaulted the producer wouldn’t have happened.

If that incident had not occurred, perhaps Huang Ping would not have left, “King’s Dungeon” might have had room for improvement, and it would not have met a sudden end.

The subsequent games that imitated “Dark Builder” also wouldn’t have crashed and burned, and the branch office wouldn’t have been reduced to collaborating with foreign companies.

In the end, Tianyi’s Rong City branch suffered greatly, KongKong left the company, and the situation plummeted rapidly, though it was not beyond recovery.

But who could have imagined that the departure of an employee could trigger so many chain reactions?

Ultimately, it was still his previous management approach that was too rough; he definitely needed to apologize when the opportunity arose.

Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Ping looked at the two people beside Fang Cheng and asked, “Mr. Fang, who are these two?”

“Xiao Du, our number planner. Chen Liang, our executive planner.”

Xiao Du looked alright; although he was tall and thin, at first glance, he seemed dependable.

But Chen Liang…

Isn’t he the seeded player from “Who is the Champion”?

Being both a referee and a competitor, is this really okay for you guys to do?

Wait, “Who is the Champion” is an entertainment competition; wouldn’t such news make the competition more popular? Could it be that Fang Cheng and his team had calculated this all along?

Looking at Fang Cheng, Zhang Ping felt the latter’s plotting was profound, and he grew increasingly reflective.

He personally led Fang Cheng into the company, guiding him and the others into the conference room.

In the spacious conference room, various producers from Tianyi were ready to go and took turns praising Fang Cheng for his achievements at a young age.

Although some of them might not even have played Fang Cheng Studio’s games, they understood sales figures and knew that Fang Cheng Studio’s games sold well—this was success, this was a young talent.

The selection process for this competition was simple: Tianyi would compile the games that had been sent in during this period, and each person would be assigned a random selection of games.

These games were all anonymous to avoid being identified as works by insiders.

After playing a game that they thought had potential, they could mark the highlights and submit them to a dedicated website for other players to download for free and vote on.

Having listened to what the judges needed to pay attention to, Fang Cheng felt that this suited him well.

Finding highlights required being able to recognize them; this would be a good opportunity for him to better summarize game highlights, so he had really come to the right place.

After hearing the rules, Fang Cheng and the three planners were assigned to separate offices.

Inside the office were four computers, each installed with games from the contestants; the four could play the games together and discuss afterwards to decide whether to recommend them.

After booting up his computer, Fang Cheng started playing the first game and fell into deep thought ten minutes later.

“Is this game too boring?” Fang Cheng asked first.

“Really boring,” Xiao Douzi said helplessly, “like goldfish poop that’s been swallowed and excreted by a goldfish over and over again, leaving one completely uncertain about its purpose.”

“I think the character artwork is pretty good,” Monkey remarked.

“Those graphics were bought online, fifty yuan each, and so was the UI,” Huang Ping added.

“Oh, then there’s nothing noteworthy.”

The first game was thus swept into the trash.

Fang Cheng had thought the first game was an outlier, but the second one was even more ridiculous.

Characters yelled incomprehensible lines, then hacked away at each other, screamed some more baffling lines after hacking, and looked for someone new to hack at.

The whole game was just hack, hack, hack; after the hacking was over, there was nothing left to do — the game ended, leaving them completely clueless about what they had been playing.

“Fun at all?” Fang Cheng became puzzled again.

“Feels worse than the first one.”

“Agreed, let’s check out the next one.”

After finishing the third game, Fang Cheng switched back to the first one resignedly and said, “I don’t know why, but I feel like the first game actually has something salvageable. Although I can’t tell what it is, the other two games are much worse in comparison.”

“Agreed.”

They had arrived at Tianyi at nine, collectively played games for three hours with resignation and then headed to the cafeteria.

The morning was just wasted like that.

They played thirty games. Some were discarded just from the opening, some were reskinned, and others were garbage games lacking any playability.

While eating, Fang Cheng lamented, “I didn’t expect that you all couldn’t see where the fun is either.”

“Definitely,” Xiao Douzi said, munching on cafeteria beans, “there aren’t many experts. Actually, some games do have their highlights, but they’re not bright enough.”

“Indeed. But boss, you can’t compare our games with theirs,” Huang Ping pointed out.

“Is that so?”

They hastily finished lunch and returned to the office to continue reviewing.

Although they expected to encounter further heaps of bad games, they surprisingly discovered a decent one among them.

This was a music game with quite remarkable sound design. Several tracks seemed original and fittingly matched the game’s setting.

In the game, the character wielded a Flying Sword to battle enemies, needing to use the sword in time with the music’s rhythm when enemies appeared, while the adversaries could resist and counter, which added a sense of combat to the game.

Although it was a music game, the creator had incorporated some dove-like elements, with some items even having side effects that could speed up or slow down the background music, disrupting the rhythm, but also providing additional effects.

Each BGM represented a scene, with different scenes having their sub-scenes. In the end, the game offered different endings based on the player’s choices, showing a high degree of completeness.

After carefully enjoying it for a while, Fang Cheng said, “This game seems kind of interesting.”

Xiao Douzi nodded in agreement: “Right, it has the essence of ‘Rhythm Dungeon,’ but it has paved its own way. Although there aren’t many items, you can see the rival’s ingenuity. If nothing unexpected happens, this game should be able to make it into the top three.”

Huang Ping also nodded, “It’s very complete, probably made by someone in the industry, or it might even be a game produced by a planner inside Tianyi. Many areas show clear thoughtfulness. Moreover, the creator didn’t rush to add content but perfected the existing framework, which makes the game experience very enjoyable.”

Monkey couldn’t say much, but he still expressed, “It’s pretty fun. If it really gets made, I’d consider spending money to buy and play it.”

Seeing everyone in agreement, Fang Cheng decided to recommend this game and summarized its highlights, then posted them on the official website for player voting.

At that moment, Qiu Yu was also monitoring the official website.

He submitted his proud creation to the competition this time and even had Alan compose music for him, striving to make his game stand out.

Although placing in the top ten was enough to win a prize, his goal was the top three, ideally first place.

Only by winning first place could he get the chance to own his independent studio and achieve the starting point he desired.

He was confident in his demo version, but he was still slightly anxious as his game had not appeared for a long time.

Just as he frantically pressed F5, a familiar icon flashed by, and his game finally appeared, giving him a sigh of relief.

He immediately clicked open and saw the comments on his game:

“A very decent game, the music is cleverly integrated with the gameplay.”

“Quite interesting.”

“High degree of completeness, recommended.”

“Fun.”

The feedback eased Qiu Yu’s mind, and the subsequent download numbers and positive reviews from players were a relief.

However, just when he felt secure, another game appeared.

The icon looked a bit unsophisticated, it didn’t even have its own character art, and seemed to lack sophistication.

But when Qiu Yu clicked to see more, he realized this game was something special.