How to build good relationships with employees?
After playing the game for a week, ostensibly to gather inspiration, the development team finally reached the point of game project approval amidst much anticipation.
Just as Yu Yue had planned.
During this long game and exchange, everyone came up with a lot of ideas.
His task as the chief planner was to summarize and organize these ideas, select the usable ones, and then expand them into feasible solutions.
This was the second meeting of Zhixing Games, and the main topic was to determine the project's establishment.
The employees who are still considered newcomers at Zhixing Games are still hoping for an unrealistic future, thinking that maybe they will meet President Jiang today?
Well, people are always curious about the unknown, and they all have a bit of a gossipy streak.
After all, everyone knows that the interviewer on the day of the interview was President Jiang. Someone with such a beautiful voice couldn't possibly not have a good-looking face!
This is a consensus reached by the entire Zhixing Games team.
"Brother Yu, you look very nervous."
"How can I not be nervous? Although I've been a lead planner before, but..."
But these two are completely different, okay?
Yu Yue was quite helpless.
President Jiang once said that a failed game project wouldn't affect the company's normal operations. But if something goes wrong, he'll be the culprit for the entire Zhixing Games.
I would feel so guilty.
What's that saying again? A scholar will die for one who understands him.
Yu Yue is in this state right now.
Despite having two years of experience as a lead planner, he's actually still a newbie in this role. At his previous company, he was temporarily pulled in to fill in for two years.
The company later declared bankruptcy because its revenue became increasingly unsustainable.
In Yu Yue's eyes, this was almost an inevitable outcome.
As the lead planner, he was constantly suppressed by his superiors. Although he was called the lead planner, he was actually just an executor.
The boss saw that some people were selling special effects items for 888 each on the market, and immediately demanded that Yu Yue add them to the game. He saw what type of game was currently popular, and regardless of the team's background, he just had Yu Yue develop it.
Yu Yue... working in that lousy class was not enjoyable at all.
If it weren't for the decent salary, I really...
Where is it like now?
So after joining Zhixing Games, even though he spent a lot of time playing games in the early stages of preparation, Yu Yue really worked hard to do the work he could.
For example, market and competitor analysis of similar games, and what types of games are popular this year.
It was almost time when Song Zhiming walked in, still holding that familiar PAD in his hand.
This time, the position was placed opposite the main seat, which still allowed for a panoramic view of the entire field; the only difference was that the home field was handed over to Yu Yue.
"The meeting can begin," Song Zhiming reminded them, glancing at the time.
"OK,"
Yu Yue stood up and opened his carefully prepared PowerPoint presentation.
He produced two initial design drafts.
They were all from different directions, some conventional and some innovative ideas. I wonder if they could match President Jiang's brainwaves.
"Well, what I'm showing you now is a fairly conventional text adventure game with some added horror elements; it's a traditional gameplay design."
"For this kind of game, as long as the quality is decent, there will be a fixed group of players as a safety net."
Yu Yue began his explanation in a rapid-fire manner.
"The second option is something new. It's a rhythm game with text elements. The investment cost won't be too high, so it can be used as a trial and a way for the team to get to know each other."
"If it has some novelty, with a little operation, there will still be players with unique tastes who will come into this game."
"Similarly, the risks are much greater than with the first game."
Yu Yue was gradually relaxing, but he suddenly became nervous again as he spoke, because he couldn't see President Jiang's feedback and didn't know the specifics of the plan.
Jiang Chuan listened from the other end, and he was indeed not very satisfied with either of the two plans.
The previous ones were all too conventional, especially the first option.
Visibly dull.
With funds and confidence, Jiang Chuan did not want to follow the old paths that had already been proven by the market.
It's clear that he emphasized not to pursue market information too much, but Yu Yue and others still find it difficult to break free from the fixed mindset that they must make money.
You can't blame them for that; Jiang Chuan is a rather unconventional boss who doesn't care at all whether his investment will go down the drain.
How could anyone treat money like it's nothing?
Jiang Chuan truly possessed nothing external and was indifferent to fame and fortune.
“I think these solutions are all very good, and other companies could implement them. Everyone, including Yu Yue, is working diligently.”
Upon hearing Jiang Chuan's words, Yu Yue's heart leaped into his throat. Generally speaking, if praise comes first, then a scolding is sure to follow.
"However, there are still some points, well, I think you can try to think about them."
"First, let's look at the game's framework."
"Whether it's the first plan or the second plan, we're telling someone else's story, or rather, the story itself is designed by us."
“But for a game, players are very important, aren’t they?” Jiang Chuan countered.
"What exactly is the importance of players in this game? This is a question I want everyone to think about."
"During the early stages of preparation, we asked everyone to play all sorts of games. The reason I did this was to help everyone break free from the mindset they had when making games and look at the game from a player's perspective."
"Because if you're approaching it from the perspective of a designer or a maker, it's hard not to be swayed by the word 'profit'."
"Then your own thinking will be limited, and you will unconsciously imitate others, since there are already successful cases on the market."
The people in the conference room listened in a daze, seemingly understanding but not quite comprehending.
The main reason is still the issue of status. If this statement were made from the perspective of a high-quality game production studio, it would be entirely believable.
However, Zhixing Games is just an obscure little company that doesn't even have a single game project.
That would be rather presumptuous.
Seeing that his employees were still confused, Jiang Chuan thought for a moment and thoughtfully provided them with some starting points before they could diverge further, while he himself built a large framework.
"I hope this game can be played online or offline. Players can be rivals or allies. And both of these should ideally be limited."
"The game needs to have a sense of horror, but at the same time it should be relaxing and stress-relieving."
With a few key words provided, the subsequent progress will be much easier.
Jiang Chuan restrained himself and didn't say anything more, changing the subject: "Yu Yue, next time you hold a meeting, you need to pay attention to controlling the meeting time."
"The PPT can be sent to each participant in advance, so as to compress the meeting into less than half an hour."
The meeting lasted for almost 30 minutes.
“Okay, Mr. Jiang.” Yu Yue nodded, while quickly jotting down the key words Jiang Chuan had just mentioned.
The second meeting of Zhixing Games concluded successfully, much to Jiang Chuan's delight.
However, instead of leaving the meeting room immediately, everyone remained seated, lost in thought.
If we follow President Jiang's established path, what kind of game will we end up with? It sounds innovative, but gameplay is also a factor to consider…
"Ah! I know, could it be that President Jiang is referring to... the semantic saturation phenomenon in text?" Zhuang Xu suddenly had a flash of inspiration and tentatively asked.
Semantic saturation, also known as glyph saturation or gestalt collapse, refers to a temporary loss of recognition of a character after staring at it repeatedly for an extended period.
"I don't think it'll work. How should I put it? It might be scary, but it's not necessarily stress-relieving, and it's also a kind of visual torture for players..." someone retorted.
Zhuang Xu vaguely grasped some inspiration from the other party's words, but it vanished in an instant, and he couldn't figure it out.
We're all professionals in the gaming industry, and this is the first time we've seen Jiang Chuan make games like this.
Why do I have this feeling...?
Does President Jiang actually not understand games at all?
Otherwise, how could it be like this... Hmm... Hold on, hold on! This feeling shouldn't be thought about too deeply. Everyone has a natural filter for Jiang Chuan. Who has ever seen such a good boss?
It may be more common abroad, but I estimate that there is only one like this in all of China.
As the saying goes, the most direct and effective way for a boss to build a good relationship with employees is to pay them well, and pay them generously. Jiangchuan doesn't just pay them well; they also offer top-notch employee benefits.
Then take a look at this work environment and the team atmosphere.
So, as the boss, Mr. Jiang has specifically devoted himself to the game industry, how could he not know how to design games?
This might just be the mark of a master after transcending base desires.
It's perfectly normal for newbies like them, whose minds are only focused on ripping off players, to not understand this at first.
But not understanding it immediately is not an excuse.
No matter how comfortable this place may seem, it's still a workplace or a business environment.
"There's no rush to go back to our workstations today. Let's sit in the meeting room and think about President Jiang's requirements. Everyone, please relax and don't treat this like a meeting; it's just a brainstorming session."
"Let's see if we can come up with any good ideas by pooling our wisdom."
And so, Yu Yue, the chief planner, led everyone in their first essay-writing challenge at Zhixing Games.
...
Jiang Chuan was organizing his meeting minutes on his computer.
This is the second meeting.
The document also contains the first one; he has a habit of reviewing things after they are finished, and then filling in any gaps or omissions.
Severe social anxiety cannot be used as an excuse to avoid life forever.
Jiang Chuan was reincarnated into this world, essentially reborn. In fact, before leaving the ivory tower of university, his social anxiety was within the realm of normal life.
But the thought of entering society and facing a completely different group of adults makes it hard for him to convince himself to follow the conventional path of finding a job or starting a business.
Jiang Chuan could have continued to escape by taking the postgraduate entrance exam, but he wasn't very interested in theoretical research, and the ivory tower after graduating from undergraduate studies wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface.
The more you force yourself to try to integrate into the crowd like a normal person, the harder it becomes to face it.
Just as his severe social anxiety has a tendency to discriminate against certain groups, he behaves normally with people under 20, but finds it difficult to socialize normally with people over 20.
It wasn't until twenty-two years later in this world that Jiang Chuan finally began to think about what he really wanted.
He thought about it for five or six years.
Only after the final decision was made did Zhixing Games come into being.
Jiang Chuan's first project with Zhixing Games was actually an attempt to create a new game style, which is what I just mentioned as those seemingly contradictory gameplay methods.
These unique ways of playing were things he had wanted to try for a long time. Jiang Chuan simply wanted to do what he couldn't do in his previous life.
Since it's an attempt, we're already prepared for the possibility of failure.
So it doesn't matter.
However, this cannot be said to be an intentional attempt to create new, unsuccessful projects that no one would want to play.
Jiang Chuan had no idea that his innovative abilities were so outrageous.
He used to be a numerical designer in game development, which was a very painful and long professional experience. It was there that he first felt utterly hopeless about the game environment in China.
To put it bluntly, during the project's development phase, I was treated like a dog by the lead planner.
Even cattle and horses weren't as disheveled as him.
I don't know what he did wrong, or if the main planner just wanted to oppress him, but he was given all the dirty, tiring, and miscellaneous work.
The workload is so heavy that you get paid for one person but do the work of three.
The chief planner claimed it was to train him, but Jiang Chuan only felt tormented.
At that time, he wasn't some college graduate from an ivory tower who couldn't handle hardship. On the contrary, he dropped out of high school and had already experienced a lot of hardship in his life, but he was indeed tormented to the point of almost having an emotional breakdown at that game company.
The chief planner at that time was 36 years old.
When Jiang Chuan first joined the company, he pretended to be friendly.
Later on, he was constantly rejected and his various proposals were questioned. There was even psychological control, suppression, coercion, and hidden workplace violence. Jiang Chuan experienced for the first time what it meant to be "hell is other people" when he was with this chief planner.
Besides the terrible work environment, it's more about the dreams and the things we've always pursued that have been shattered, shattered by many, many people together.
It was after this work experience that Jiang Chuan became increasingly afraid of socializing with people.
He entered the industry full of hope and enthusiasm because he felt that games were the simplest way to bring people joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Because amidst all the unbearable and painful realities, games were the only way for Jiang Chuan to achieve a sense of self-realization at that time.
Jiang Chuan entered the workforce early and knew from a very young age that dreams were nonsense, but he still retained his yearning for games—until he actually entered the industry, joined a terrible game company, and then the next terrible game company…
"These are the kinds of games that are most popular on the market. If you think you can make money with your ideas, then what's the point of having us?"
"Have you considered what would happen if using your idea caused us losses, or even if we lost everything?"
"Young people, don't always think of things as so simple."
Because there was no money, nothing could be accomplished.
In the harsh reality of Zhongxia, few ordinary people's whimsical ideas can take flight.
Jiang Chuan thought of many things, but finally returned to reality—those were all things of the past. He looked at the notes from the second meeting he had just reviewed.
This time, he didn't need to think about so much.
In the conference room, a brilliant idea finally struck: "I understand! What President Jiang means is!"
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