Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

January 7th, Friday…

At Shang Yang Games…

“Big Boss, we welcome your guidance!”

Ruan Guangjian saw the staff of Shang Yang Games greeting him with warm applause once he entered the office. Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and Wang Xiaobin stood at the very front with ‘thirsty after talents’ written all over their faces.

Ruan Guangjian was flattered and hurriedly replied, “No, no, please don’t need to stand at the ceremony. I’m dropping by since I just finished my work nearby. You don’t have to worry about me; don’t delay your work.” Lin Wan smiled. “No, no, no, Big Boss Ruan, you’re too humble.

“Your art has given Tengda Games its soul as the original artist that Boss Pei relies the most on. A large part of the high sales volume of Tengda Games is your credit!

“Boss Pei and you are the best partners. It would definitely be very beneficial for us even if you were just to give Shang Yang Games some pointers!

“Come, please have a seat. This is a workstation reserved just for you. You’re always welcome at Shang Yang Games!”

The crowd led Ruan Guangjian to a separate workstation which was just vacated right next to Ye Zhizhou and diagonally opposite Wang Xiaobin.

Ruan Guangjian sat at the workstation and took out the drawing tablet he carried around with him. “Your workstation… is the same standard as Tengda?”

Coming to Shang Yang Games felt as though he had returned to Tengda. The office environment was too similar! Whether it was a spacious office space, wide desk, comfortable ergonomic chair, or a high-end computer coupled with dual monitors; the standard was exactly the same as in Tengda.

Lin Wan nodded. “Yes, Shang Yang Games might be a subsidiary of Tengda Games, but we do not distinguish between each other. Boss Pei always treats all employees equally.

“The office was rearranged according to Tengda Games’ standard just a few months after we moved. Such a setting seemed to be able to ignite the staff’s passion for work more easily.”

Ignite the staff’s passion for work?

Um, working in such a comfortable place did indeed feel very different from working in those cramped workstations.

Ruan Guangjian turned on his office computer while listening to Lin Wan introduce Shang Yang Games. It seemed pretty good. There was a seamless transition between Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games. The office environment was very familiar so he did not need any extra time to adapt at all.

“This is the game we are developing, ‘Be Quiet’. It has a horror theme. Big Boss, you can play it casually and give us some comments.” Lin Wan pointed to the game icon on the desktop.

The second version of Be Quiet had been developed. Its progress was more than half. There was just a certain distance away from the actual launch.

The development of simple functions was fast, but for a game to be officially released, various gameplay and details had to be repeatedly fine-tuned. A large number of bugs had to be fixed. Such follow-up work on these subtleties could not be ignored.

Ruan Guangjian’s expression changed upon hearing the horror theme. “Horror games? No, no, I’m most afraid of horror! I won’t have come here if I knew that the project you are developing on is a horror game!”

“I was nearly scared to death watching ‘Midnight Call’, ‘Zerg’, ‘Chain Saw Madman’, ‘Ghost Shadow’, ‘Resurrection Night’, ‘Bright Flash’, ‘Ghost Record’… ‘The Curse!!”

Lin Wan was stunned. A question mark floated over her head.

What? You are most afraid of horror, and yet you watched all the classics of horror movies?

Lin Wan did not know how to continue the conversation suddenly. She gave it some thought before replying. “No problem, our game is still in the development stage. It is not scary at all.”

“Not scary at all?” Ruan Guangjian reluctantly clicked opened the Be Quiet icon. “I’ll try to play for a bit then.”

Lin Wan nodded. “Alright, take your time experiencing it. Let me or Ye Zhizhou know if you have any comments.”

Ruan Guangjian out on his headphones and quickly entered the game.

Lin Wan secretly pulled Ye Zhizhou and whispered, “Observe Big Boss. He said he is timid; don’t scare him too much. Pay attention to him, understand?”

Ye Zhizhou nodded. “Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

The two of them heard a not-so-silent ‘Ahh’ before the two of them finished their conversation.

There was a dynamic scene when entering the game.

Night shrouded the lunatic village. A weird blue flame was burning, reflecting a lunatic villager with bloodshot teeth and eyes. He was slashing something with his machete by the blue weird flame.

The light was very dim. One could vaguely see the dark red blood spattering from the thing he was chopping up. The entire scene would suddenly become darker when the loading was complete. The lunatic villager, who had been chopping something by the light blue flame, would suddenly get up and walk out of the screen.

The lunatic villager’s face would suddenly stick out from the right side of the screen before the player could react. He would appear at an ultra-close distance in the player’s field of vision and emit a sickly mad grin. He would then slash at the camera with his machete.

The screen would be covered with blood in no time, accompanied by the screams. The title of the game would then appear before entering the game officially.

Ruan Guangjian was shocked by that scene just now. He almost jumped up from his seat.

Ye Zhizhou asked hurriedly. “Are you alright?”

Ruan Guangjian nodded. “Fine, fine… Ah!”

He was shocked by a small mouse that suddenly rushed past the scene not long after entering the game proper. Ye Zhizhou was speechless.

He suddenly doubted that Big Boss Ruan could successfully experience the entire game and put forward opinions for corresponding art modification.

He thought for a while before suggesting. ‘Big Boss, maybe you can just look at the art resources including the original concept art, models, and the like. The level of horror should not be too bad.”

Ruan Guangjian shook his head. “That definitely will not do!”

“From the concept to the original art, then to modeling and the setting; every step would experience changes. For example, the original artist’s thoughts would be distorted when it went from the original concept art to the model since the model master would add some of his own ideas.

“Such a situation is almost unavoidable no matter how hard you try.

“Therefore, I can only feel the disharmony in the entire setting and make targeted changes if I see the actual settings in the game.

“Don’t worry, I’m alright. I can do it.” Ye Zhizhou could not help but feel a little moved seeing how the big boss was persisting even though he was scared twice in succession.

Look, this is professionalism!

Big Boss was obviously very sensitive to horror games, but he was trying to overcome his inner fear to make the game better. That spirit was really touching!

It did not take long for Ruan Guangjian’s shrieks to fill the Shang Yang Games office. Even Lin Wan could vaguely hear it from the director’s office.

No one had any thoughts of snickering. They now admired Ruan Guangjian even more.

He insisted even though he was so afraid; that was true love!

They could only say that Big boss’s success was not accidental but inevitable. This perseverance was not something ordinary people could have!

Moreover, Ye Zhizhou, who was sitting next to Ruan Guangjian, felt pride.

The horror effects of our game are so good!

Ye Zhizhou actually had no idea how good the horror effect was previously.

It was the first horror game made by Shang Yang Games. The design team had been playing horror games for quite some time now. Lin Wan and the rest also went to haunted houses for research, but they were still lacking in experience.

Moreover, the main gameplay of this game was within a network where it relied on people frightening other people instead of scaring people with set procedures and mechanisms.

However, the game had not reached the testing phase at all. There were no players yet; all of them were AI so the scariness must be discounted.

Coupled with the art resources that had yet to be fully put in place. The gameplay was not perfect so there were small bugs. Ye Zhizhou felt that the game was far from complete.

However, it managed to scare Ruan Guangjian to this level. Did that mean that this game had a good horror effect on ordinary people?

Ruan Guangjian quit the game and took off his earphones.

Ye Zhizhou was about to comfort him only to realize that Ruan Guangjian’s face was ruddy; he even seemed a little excited.

Ye Zhizhou, “?”

He did not expect this situation. Was this still the same person who was screaming when a little mouse passed by just now? Ruan Guangjian said sincerely, “Director Lin didn’t lie to me. This game isn’t scary at all.” Ye Zhizhou, “?”

What’s this? Wasn’t the person screaming like mad just now you, Big Boss? Ye Zhizhou vaguely felt something wrong. Big Boss Ruan’s definition and his performance did not seem to be the same.

Before playing: No, I’m very afraid of horror themes.

During gameplay: Screamed in fright

After playing: Hm, it isn’t that scary.

Moreover, it gave people the feeling that he was speaking from the bottom of his heart.

Ye Zhizhou took out his little notebook hurriedly. “Big Boss, please tell me your thoughts.”

Ruan Guangjian was in a good state. He did not look like he had just been frightened. Instead, he even seemed a little excited.

“I think the gameplay is roughly there, but it lacks the detail and atmosphere.”

“It is through these minor details that increase the atmosphere of horror to make it easier for players to gain a sense of substitution. How to make a successful horror team? The key is in the details!

“For example, I really liked the scene at the beginning of the game! “I usually used the decibel and frequency of my screams to judge whether a horror theme is good or not. Obviously, the scene at the beginning was really good.

“However, there is still too little content. These minor aspects are not taken care of.

“For example, you can add a setting. The player will be able to hear the sound of his own heartbeat when something scary approaches. The closer that was, the faster the heart would beat!

“This seemingly simple sound effect would be very useful for the enhancement of the atmosphere!

“Another example is that it isn’t true that the darker the art, the better it is. Low visibility could definitely add to the tension of the players, but if this was done for an extended period, it would make the player very depressed and would want to quit before long.

“So, limit the player’s field of vision to a certain degree. Neither too bright nor too dark… I may not explain it well. Let me find a picture for you to see its effect.”

“Another example would be the minor details. There might be some scary mechanisms in the game now, but they are all relatively large. What is a small mechanism? They are things like the sound of weird wind and grass, the slow movement of objects on the table… a bloody handprint that suddenly appeared on a piece of glass…” “Such small mechanisms might not be seen by some people, but when under high tension, the effect might be even scarier than monsters that suddenly pop out…

“They are not difficult to make. The key is to have patience…”

Ruan Guangjian did not stop. Ye Zhizhou quickly recorded them in his little notebook.

There was only one thought in Ye Zhizhou’s mind while he recorded the points

This is ‘more afraid of horror theme’?

Is there something wrong with Big Boss Ruan’s perception of himself? He just screamed more often during the horror game, but in fact, his tolerance for horror games seems to be much higher than ordinary people…