Otherworldly Architect

A week passed quickly, and the fur kids all returned to their homes one after another.

Although the Blue Star Studio was still as lively, everyone couldn't help but feel a little bit reluctant.

The furry kid who finally won the "Most Popular Award" was a golden retriever named "Sissy" from a tester's family.

It has very soft and bright golden fur, and a pure smile that melts people's hearts at first glance, it is simply a little angel!

Everyone loves it, even plain words can't resist its charm.

In the end, Boss Ming personally issued a dog tag to Xixi, with the work certificate of Blue Star Studio on it, allowing him to enter and leave the office freely.

In the future, the cafeteria will also prepare dog meals and various snacks for him every day.

And it will also receive a small salary every month.

Well, its position in Blue Star is: mascot, and programmer encouragement teacher!

Soon it will be Monday, and it will be time to address the second matter clearly.

Xixi led a team into the gate of Blue Star——

The nine fresh graduates recruited by the school are here!

After registering in the company server in the morning, they received their work certificates respectively, and they were finally able to come in and out freely.

The secretary took them to visit the two floors belonging to Blue Star, and conducted a simple training in the afternoon.

Then Mingyan came out.

As the general manager of Blue Star, he made it clear that he would give a brief speech to a few newcomers.

He is also not good at talking in scenes, so he only spoke for a few minutes, and then told the newcomers: "The first six months are the probationary period, and we will try our best to teach you what you need for work. During the two months, you are required to As a team, make a small game to get familiar with the workflow as quickly as possible."

I heard that there are game projects that can be done as soon as I come here, and these fresh graduates are very excited.

Mingyan quickly sent out the proposal for this project to everyone.

The project is called "League of Cards", which is a mini-game based on the mobile terminal, and uses the IP background of "League of Legends".

Even for this group of fresh graduates who have just entered the society, it is clearly estimated that they will be able to complete it in a maximum of two months.

Because this game is really simple, it's a mobile game that draws cards, krypton gold, and explodes the liver.

It's a long story, but it is actually stated that there is a plan to kill three birds with one stone.

As mentioned before, it is stated that we want to make "League of Legends" into an alien game.

But after rejecting the cruise ship capital, he had to pay for the purchase of a small different world by himself.

At present, Blue Star's accounts, despite the support of Dragon Slaying Sword, are still lacking, especially at present, the business capacity of "League of Legends" has not yet reached its peak.

Therefore, Mingyan plans to make another card draw mobile game to make a lot of hot money.

And after the development of this mobile game is completed, it is clearly stated that a show operation of "left hand to right hand" will be carried out.

From Blue Star Studio, Tulong Baodao Studio purchased the copyright of "Card Alliance" at full price.

In this way, Blue Star won the money without worrying about the decline in its reputation.

And Tulong Baodao got the hen that lays golden eggs.

Moreover, Mingyan also successfully arranged for these fresh graduates to get exercise in this small project...

It's perfect!

Nine schools recruited students, and the number slightly exceeded the stated expectations.

The main reason is that these few people are really excellent, and they have a very strong desire for Blue Star Studio.

More than half of them are from Mingyan's alma mater, and it has been clearly stated that as long as they can get an offer from Blue Star, they will basically not consider going to other places.

This is not only the trust in the recruitment reputation of Blue Star Studio, but also a manifestation of Mingyan's personality cult.

Among the nine people, there are three designers, two programs, two artists, one tester, and one project manager.

The personnel structure is quite reasonable, enough to complete a card game.

Of course, except for the two mentors who are in charge of guiding them, Mingyan himself will also randomly check their progress.

At the beginning, middle and end of the project, this group of fresh graduates will be asked to report.

Bonus points for one of the designers.

Because he loves "League of Legends" very much, and his rank is also very high.

After discussing with the current person in charge of the League of Legends, he clearly transferred the newcomer to the League of Legends team.

This group will always be in need because League of Legends is always being updated.

Newcomers can obviously get enough exercise in an old project full of vitality.

The new game "Card Alliance" is nothing special.

Its core gameplay is one: draw cards.

…and then cultivate stronger cards, combine them into a reasonable lineup, and hit the next game level.

In Bluestar, there are tens of thousands of such mobile games, but the ones that successfully occupy the market in the end mainly rely on better production and better channel promotion.

A mature game category is the most in line with the bucket principle.

——How much water can be contained in the bucket is determined by the shortest plank.

Card-drawing games may not have strong advantages, but all the necessary features must be good enough to survive the brutal competition.

If on this basis, a certain piece of wood can appear a little better, then there is a capital for a sudden explosion.

Of course, there are still many, many games with this kind of capital.

So the one that was the most successful in the end...was actually luck.

Good luck!

In the Blue Star 4000 years ago, there were many imitators in Mingyan's country.

Whichever game category is popular, just do that category.

Whichever core gameplay becomes popular, immediately work overtime to make a copycat version.

Then, according to the productivity at that time, in fact, the finished products from major factories are exactly the same, with little difference in quality.

Even within a large factory, it can produce three identical finished products for internal competition.

Which one can seize the market in the end depends on luck.

At that time, doing game planning was the same as a worker moving bricks.

No understanding is required, no design is required.

Play other people's good games, then copy the various systems in it, and then follow the copied notes to inform the art and program how to do it.

At most, add an additional "responsibility": being scolded by players.

Gone.

There was a well-known joke at the time that described a fairly successful game product.

Creators say:

【In my country,

Some people know how to make games, but they can't make popular games;

Some people make hit games and don't know why.

And our project team is a combination of both——

We didn't know how to make a game, nor did we know how our game became popular. 】

This joke is not only self-deprecating, but also the helplessness and despair of the players in the market at that time.

Before the end of the world, Mingyan was one of them.

In such a big environment, he has nothing to do, and he is just an "IT brick mover".

But at least, he is still doing his best to fight against the cruel reality.

"The League of Cards" actually explicitly revised one of its own plans at the time.

Although this card game has a krypton gold card draw system, and the cards are divided into four levels according to their rarity: N, R, SR, and SSR, the basic data of cards of all levels are almost equal.

In other words, "rarity" really only represents how difficult a card is, not how strong it is.

Even if the luck is extremely bad, the player known as the "African Chief" holds a set of N cards, as long as he can match the lineup and dispatch, he still has a chance to get the first place in the server.

The advantage of krypton gold card drawers is basically that the rare cards they get are better looking...

And more side stories that can unlock these beautiful cards.

It is equivalent to spending money to buy some DLC that does not affect the balance of the game.

It is an effort to make this design clear.

It is necessary to ensure that the game itself can be profitable, and I will not be driven out to drink the northwest wind;

It is also necessary to ensure that players can experience the fun of the game normally, instead of being forced to pay for the right not to be fed shit.

This job is as difficult as a sandwich biscuit, but Mingyan still followed his heart.

Perhaps, after all, it is his inner dream of being a game player, which is still blooming with the last flame.

This project has not been finished yet, the end of the world is coming.

Mingyan 4000 years later, after it was engraved, it has been modified for a period of time.

The previous IP is definitely not available anymore, so he had a sudden idea——

Now that "League of Legends" has already established its own brand name, why not use the IP of "League of Legends" directly for this mobile game!

The next day, the official start of the small project of "Card League".

On the first day, Mingyan attended to guide the newcomers.

In terms of his current reputation, directing himself is a very important performance in itself.

Newcomers basically brought voice recorders and notebooks, not wanting to miss every word.

Because what is about to be done is a card-drawing game, and it is also a type of game that the Chaoyang Alliance has never seen.

Mingyan first explained the principle.

"Does anyone know about the Skinner Box Gambling Experiment?" he asked.

A newcomer raised his hand, and quickly got up and replied: "Skinner box is a psychological experimental device. Mice fasted for more than 24 hours are put in it, and a lever is provided in the box. In a set of experiments , every time the mice pulled the lever, they could get the food; while in the other group, the mice rolled the food randomly after pulling the lever, not necessarily every time.

"Experiments have shown that after the former mice have been given food, they will fall into a period of rest for a certain period of time and no longer pull the lever.

"But the latter mice continued to pull the lever unnecessarily hundreds or thousands of times even after they got the food."

"Very good. This is the 'gambler behavior' of mice." Mingyan nodded, "And the card drawing game you are about to make uses the similar side of human nature."

He projected the card's rarity table.

Newcomers looked up at the chart.

Mingyan said: "Human gambling behavior is basically a principle. According to the initial experiment I did, the same rare card can be obtained in two ways: one is to give away 600 yuan of krypton gold; the other is to krypton Gold gives away lottery tickets, and this rare card can be drawn for every 600 yuan of lottery tickets on average.

"The result is surprising, the former is far inferior to the latter in terms of enthusiasm and level of krypton gold.

"For now, I'll call it the gambler's bad nature."

Mingyan projected a comparison table for the experiment.

The obvious difference between krypton and gold made the newcomers exclaim "wow".

Mingyan said: "During these two months, your task is to design a reasonable game card drawing mode based on the weakness of gamblers, and use reasonable mathematical methods to determine the corresponding value."

After this day's meeting, the newcomers can finally sit at their workstations and start developing new projects.

Before that, though, there was an all-together meal—commonly known as "team building."

Blue Star's canteen is provided by a restaurant on the second floor of this office building, and the quality is excellent.

Blue Star provided all their team building funds for the past two months, which was enough for them to eat several hot pot meals.

At the dinner table, a newcomer designer said with emotion: "Blue Star is so majestic! Not long after we arrived, Master Ming personally taught the newcomers such important design principles, and even handed over brand new game categories to us to practice... "

"This shows that the boss is really nice and values ​​us!"

"Did you all sign a two-year agreement?"

"That's right, two years is too short for me, I don't think it's enough to stay in Blue Star for five years..."

"I also signed a non-compete agreement. Even if I leave Blue Star early, I can't announce the project status."

Everyone exchanged information with each other, and they couldn't help feeling a little bit emotional.

Although Blue Star is a small-scale studio, in terms of performance, business, and system, it is already very mature and has its own system.

It is not inferior to some of the local listed companies.

The most important thing is that the level stated by the chief designer basically represents the ceiling of local game design.

It can be seen from his speech on the first day and the design draft of the projection.

The most "promising" point of Blue Star is that it has the real wisdom of game design.

At this time, Mingyan on the other side is not as leisurely as the newcomers.

After the secretary helped him with the meal, he made it clear that he had finished his meal in a hurry and dealt with it.

The next step is to go through various formalities to pave the way for the small game "Card League".

Blue Star Studio and Tulong Baodao Studio are bound to be separated.

This is the helplessness of reality: money, word-of-mouth and cost cannot be obtained at the same time.

As for the preparation funds for "Blue Star Doomsday" and a small alien world, Tulong Baodao had already privately invested in Blue Star, and obtained a certain amount of original shares of the latter.

To dilute the impact of this matter, "The League of Cards" is the key to the transaction.

And blindly concealing it is obviously not a long-term solution.

On Blue Star's official website, a notice appeared openly.

Mingyan took the initiative to release the teaser news of the production of "Card Alliance", and at the same time explained that the investment funds of the Dragon Sword basically accounted for 80% of the cost.

In doing so, on the one hand, it raises the player's expectations for the new game;

Secondly, it is also a preventive shot to prevent players from having any wild thoughts about the relationship between the two studios.

Mingyan said that he first expressed it openly: Yes!It's just a simple py transaction!Don't make a fuss, it's no big deal!

Not many players noticed this transaction.

After all, most people call their mothers as soon as they have milk.

As long as there are games to play, they are very happy, but they are basically not interested in business matters.

Of course, there were also fans of Blue Star Studio who suddenly realized the existence of this transaction.

[Woc, where is the studio from!Why let our goddess commit herself to marry! 】

[Wooooow, Blue Star is really short of money.In order to save investment, I don't hesitate to make small games for other studios... I feel so sad. 】

[The dragon-slaying sword?I've heard of it, it's the one who did the Heaven-Defying Art!Spicy chicken cheated money company, ruined my youth, cheated me of money!I've quit, and I'm here to ruin Blue Star! 】

Here you can see the gap in player reputation.

From the name and game style of the studio, Tulong Baodao, it looks like a rough guy with no knowledge and skills, the kind of dirt.

And what about Blue Star?

Each game has outstanding settings and exquisite production. It is a "goddess" in the minds of players, noble and pure.

Now, Blue Star tailors a mobile game for the Dragon Sword...

This news made some people beat their chests and feet, as if they had seen some great regret that they had never seen in their lives.

——It's like watching a wild boar arch an iceberg snowdrop with your own eyes!

——I really want to snatch a marriage!

Mingyan read the comments of these players, and felt a little ashamed.

Fortunately, I chose to play a trumpet very wisely.

No one could have imagined that the two studios belonged to him and were used for some show operations...

There is such a big difference in style, even the best players can't figure it out.

……

Time quickly came to November of this year.

The first-level professional league has started auditions, and this year's options include additional professional content from "League of Legends".

Veteran professional players must take this game seriously and learn new competitive knowledge.

As for the newly registered players, many of them play in the League of Legends!

At the end of the first season of "League of Legends", many of the king-level players chose the path of professional players.

This game gave them new options in life, but also new hope.

After the audition, these professional players will become the cornerstone and milestone of "League of Legends" in League One.

Not only the circle of high-end players, but "League of Legends" is completely popular in the entire game market.

In addition to the grand event of the League One audition, Blue Star is also in full swing preparing for its second season.

This year is very different from last year.

At this time last year, Mingyan was still struggling with where to rent servers, where to raise funds, and forced to hold competitions by himself.

This year, before October, some sponsors came to the door with their own investment!

The holding of the second season is expected to require nearly 5000 million funds, of which [-] million is the bonus for the semi-finals.

The cost has increased several times compared to last year, a large part of which is because the game is so popular!

The fire went out of the sixth star province, and the fire reached half of the Chaoyang League game circle.

There are too many players in the team to participate, and the server must be divided.

The virtual venue chose a super stadium that can accommodate 20 people.

The tickets, priced from 1000 to [-] yuan, were sold out in less than a month, and there were even faint signs of scalpers on the periphery.

Mingyan was extremely busy, but it was Xia Cheng who personally helped him solve the sponsor's matter.

Blue Star Studio paid for none of the league funds this year.

Xia Cheng knew if there was one as soon as he got out.

More than a dozen sponsors made bids, and three of them won in the end, injecting 9000 million, 6000 million and 6000 million funds into Blue Star respectively.

Among these three companies, there are high-end sports cars, hotel chains, and Internet marketing.

While ensuring strong funds, it will not appear too cheap.

What Blue Star Studio needs to pay is to hold this league well and insert some sponsor advertisements at the same time.

Regarding the advertisement, Mingyan was prepared - Xia Cheng also provided him with his own experience.

It is definitely not allowed to directly cut into the advertising video during the live broadcast of the game.

As a result of the negotiation between the two parties, the commentator and the host mainly read the advertisement words, and at the same time inserted some banner advertisement words in the relevant shots.

This will not affect viewing, but also can play a good publicity effect.

In this matter, Xia Cheng obviously helped a lot.

The proposal he gave was carefully planned, and even the candidates for the ten commentary seats were carefully investigated!

After Mingyan read it, he couldn't help but want to pay him a salary.

For such a powerful employee, the annual salary must start at one million!

And Xia Cheng said cheekily: "If you take the time to do it, the bonus will be waived. But I really want to eat your spicy chicken recently..."

He seems to like spicy food recently, but he is really not good at eating spicy food.

Thinking of how he was so hot, Mingyan couldn't help laughing, and said, "Okay, then I'll prepare milk for you first."

While Blue Star is actively preparing, the major clubs and teams have also made sufficient preparations.

During this year, many teams have discovered players with high potential, and some outstanding players from the first season have transferred to new teams.

The most well-known of them is the jungler who made a 50 health comeback in the base.

He was exposed to a sky-high transfer fee: a full 1000 million!

Almost comparable to the well-known players who played in the Inter-Provincial Championship, you must know that this is just a player in the "League of Legends" game.

In addition to his own strength, it is obviously also because of his popularity and influence in the player circle.

And who knows?

The game competitions that he participated in purely for bonuses turned out to be successful in the end.

The annual salary of a professional player is more than one million, not to mention the extra income from the fan economy.

Even if he changes careers to become an anchor or open an online store in the future, he will never worry about money.

This is the power of a phenomenal game.

It can make countless people cry and laugh, it can change the fate of many people, and it can make the invisible torrent of money driven by virtual data...

Finally, an extremely important industrial chain in the Sixth Star Province was formed.

Mingyan, as a producer at the top of this industrial chain, has only one problem to worry about recently.

Ok……

I still remember that in the past few days, players donated several 10 yuan to him in various names.

But he really doesn't lack this money, how should he send it back to them now?

headache.