I'll sneak a sip of soup.
Zhi Xing Games.
Nanlinqing finally "had the opportunity" to come to Zhixing Games, and the main task was to discuss the specific details of the game's launch.
My first impression upon arriving at Zhixing Games was, "No wonder those employees were talking about a five-star hotel; this working environment must be five-star too."
Incidentally, I also remember what Yu Yue said at the annual New Outstanding Works selection event: "It's fate that we meet." I really wanted to see the legendary President Jiang.
It turns out there was no real connection; Jiang Chuan just happened to be out today.
"It's okay, we'll see each other again eventually," Fang Qixiang comforted him as usual.
"Why do you all seem to accept this so well? Not seeing the boss, is this some kind of new way of working?" Nan Linqing didn't quite understand.
Fang Qixiang thought for a moment and said, "It'll be fine once we get used to it. Although everyone is quite curious about President Jiang, they won't bother him."
"It's fine as it is now."
Nan Linqing had the illusion that she was going to the meeting alone. She shifted her sour feeling about the material treatment from Zhixing Games and returned her attention to the important matter.
Logically, the DLC for "The Way of the Corporate Slave" was put into development before the VR game, but because the DLC was so large, the VR game was completed first.
The name was also chosen by President Jiang as usual, and it was very literal, simply called "Out-of-Body Simulator".
As for the rest, President Jiang didn't care anymore.
Nanlinqing claims to be developing the game in collaboration with Zhixing Games, but in reality, its contribution to the entire game development process was only about 30%, mainly responsible for the music design.
"Alright, let's discuss the launch, promotion, and stuff like that." Nan Linqing didn't press further; she had serious business to attend to.
This is a much more serious matter.
First, in the official GDR gaming platform's categorization, under which category are VR games listed?
Simulator? Music game? Visual game?
It is difficult to determine the ambiguous boundaries between them.
Here's a brief explanation of visual games, which are a type of game in the VR field that primarily sells itself on its outstanding visual effects. In Jiang Chuan's previous life, VR games had actually reached a bottleneck.
The root cause is the lack of technology, the grid effect, coupled with various practical constraints.
Secondly, there are tags.
A game's tags are very important on the platform, and many players use tags they like to find the games they want to play.
Different tags have different levels of popularity, and therefore different levels of exposure.
The "Out-of-Body Simulator" label itself is a bit hard to define; perhaps... it's related to stress relief?
But I always feel that players will have high blood pressure when they first get their hands on it.
At the same time, there is another urgent matter: a competing VR game has recently been launched, and there have been rumors in the industry for some time.
Jiang Chuan didn't care, so Yu Yue pretended not to see it either.
But when the other party's "The Town Mayor" was actually about to be released, the publicity was overwhelming, as if they were afraid that no one would know about it.
In terms of sheer scale, it completely overshadowed all other games released at the same time.
VR is a casual game with a warm and cozy feel, and the main gameplay is merging and simulation management.
There's nothing particularly innovative about it, but the game quality is undeniably excellent.
From Nan Linqing's perspective, she definitely didn't want to have a car accident, even if it wasn't her money that was wasted, it still hurt to see it go down the drain.
Furthermore, they from the South also contributed their efforts here.
With this one hit, the entire market share belongs to "The Town Mayor".
How badly will "Out-of-Body Simulator" flop?
"VR games are different from regular games; they require high-end equipment. The player base is relatively fixed, so this time they're just riding the wave of popularity from 'The Town Mayor'."
"Think about it, they work hard to promote the game and expand the player base, so wouldn't it be great if we could just reap the rewards?"
Fang Qixiang was initially puzzled as to why President Jiang chose to face the challenge head-on. After some thought, he figured out a few reasons.
The silence from Nanjing Forestry University seems a bit too optimistic.
However, logically speaking, the inference is plausible. After all, it's very difficult for a game of this size, like "Out-of-Body Simulator," to achieve significant success with a small budget and expand its player base.
But "The Town Mayor" is different.
There is another prerequisite here: Zhixing Games is the developer of "The Way of the Corporate Slave" and has a certain degree of public goodwill.
We can definitely capitalize on the popularity of this VR game.
“That’s true, and it’s not wrong to ride the wave of popularity. So, what price do you plan to set?” Seeing that Zhixing was determined to leave, Nan Linqing stopped pursuing the topic of “what if you get hit by a car while trying to ride the wave of popularity?”
If it were Jiang Chuan, he would probably have a backup plan in mind.
She doesn't need to be here where the emperor isn't worried but the eunuchs are.
Fang Qixiang thought for a moment: "President Jiang instructed that setting it at 14 is about right."
14?
Nan Linqing's surprise was all too obvious.
Fang Qixiang smiled and said, "It is indeed 14, because the investment is not actually that high, only two or three million. President Jiang thinks that it might be enough to break even."
"Maybe after someone buys 'The Town Mayor,' they'll also buy our 'Out-of-Body Simulator'."
"Oh, right, there's one more thing..."
"Regarding the refund time for 'Out-of-Body Simulator,' Mr. Jiang requested it be extended to three hours. Mr. Nan, what about your situation?"
"I have no objection." Nan Linqing waved her hand, even holding back her words: If you sell it for 14, how many do you have to sell to break even?
That works too. If the game flops, players can get their money back, so she won't lose money and can at least preserve some of her reputation.
Nanjing Forestry University's expectations are extremely low.
She initially agreed to the collaboration mainly to get to know Jiang Chuan and expand her network. The two also shared similar philosophies on game design.
At the same time, I'm also very curious about how a group of 20-odd people managed to create such a large-scale game as "The Way of the Corporate Slave".
So I got lured over.
Who could have imagined things would turn out this way?
The mysteries surrounding Zhixing Games that other game developers rave about: "How did they manage to develop such a short cycle?" and "What kind of mind could come up with this kind of gameplay design?"
Everyone at Nanjing Forestry University knows about this.
But... this case might not be the most accurate. "The Way of the Corporate Slave" was a success, but "Out-of-Body Simulator" might not be.
The relevant matters have been discussed and settled, and Nan Linqing casually mentioned it.
"Well then, since the tutorial for our game isn't very detailed, we can't just let players wander around aimlessly for these three hours."
"you mean?"
"Find a blogger in the gaming section to help us do a live stream to try out the game, preferably while also playing 'The Town Mayor'."
"Then players who are interested in VR games will understand how to play 'Out-of-Body Simulator' with zero learning cost."
Fang Qixiang clapped his hands together: "What a great idea! No wonder you're Teacher Nan!"
So the lucky one chosen was the pigeon.
She was preparing live-streaming content for the online version of "The Way of the Corporate Slave," but then the client came along, so she promptly put the original plan on hold.
Perfect, let the bullets fly for a while.
When there's nothing good to stream anymore, I'll release the online version to play again.
"Hello everyone, as I announced in advance, I'm going to do a VR game demo live stream today."
"This counts as one update. The live stream might last another five or six hours at a time."
The pigeon meticulously calculated: "At least for the next week, you can't urge me to update anymore. I really can't update anymore."
A barrage of sarcastic comments flooded the screen: "Next time for sure."
"Wait, wait, wait! Why aren't you showing the multiplayer version of 'The Way of the Corporate Slave'?! It's so fun and you're not showing it? Where's your craftsmanship when it comes to games?!"
"It will be broadcast, it's already in the plan, everyone don't worry." Pigeon knew there was no point in talking to this group of people who only knew how to urge for updates, so she simply got straight to the point.
"There's a newly launched VR game that's quite good, and its advertising and marketing are everywhere. I'm sure everyone already knows about it."
"It's 'The Town Mayor'."
"Then today's live stream content is, first we will try out 'The Town Mayor', and after we have experienced most of the content, we will play Zhixing Games, the new game 'Out-of-Body Simulator' from the game company that made 'The Way of the Corporate Slave'."
"This isn't a side-by-side comparison. I'm not comparing the two games. I just happened to want to try out a new game in the VR section today."
While I was stacking armor for myself, the pigeon had already entered the game.
The live stream then switched to the in-game screen.
A fluffy kitten led the camera all the way to a high place, overlooking the entire town under construction—a fairly standard plot introduction.
The art style of "The Town Mayor" is very unique, cute and refreshing, and it really makes you want to keep clicking and interacting with it.
As a casual game, the gameplay is quite simple: combine items. Three items are combined to create a new item of a higher level, and five items are combined to create two new items of a higher level.
There's not much to say about operating the VR controllers; it's mainly designed for home-building enthusiasts.
You can build your own town here, invite different animals to live in your animal town, and then arrange for industries such as agriculture and textiles to be established.
At the same time, you can also decorate and design your own town and your own home.
This is a stress-relieving game that provides timely positive feedback as long as you participate.
As a player who had previously played a truly stress-relieving game, "The Road to Depression," Pigeon highly affirmed the heartwarming and healing qualities of "The Town Mayor."
The gameplay isn't particularly innovative, but the art style is absolutely adorable.
It made many viewers in the live stream quite interested.
"Damn it, why can't we just open a clothing store so all these little animals can wear cute clothes?"
"Can this game be played online? I really want to build a town with my friends."
"To be honest, if the game developers were to create a two-player version, it would probably be very popular with couples. I'm begging for it!"
From the perspective of a player who actually plays the game, the truly innovative aspect of this game is that its character models are incredibly soft and cuddly. Once you're hooked, it's hard to stop playing.
No one can resist that "duang", "duang", "duang" feeling.
Just like no one can resist a fluffy kitten.
Among VR games, "The Town Mayor" has very good visual effects.
Pigeon played for more than two hours straight before stopping, and then started chatting with the viewers in the live stream.
She truly understands games and is a genuine hardcore gamer; many of the points she made encapsulate the essence of "Town Mayor".
Within two hours, she had figured out the game's mechanics and built a pigeon town for her pigeon species.
There were walking cooers everywhere.
Because the entire food supply chain has not yet been established, whenever food needs to be distributed to the villagers, pigeons stand on high places and scatter rice down, just like feeding chickens.
It even made the onomatopoeic sounds that almost everyone in ancient Eastern countries makes when they see puppies or chicks.
"We just wish your food production could be this good when you update it."
"For a moment, I couldn't tell whether this was Pigeon Town or Free-Range Chicken Town. It's too ridiculous."
Pigeon coughed lightly, interrupting everyone's complaints about her slow update speed, and concluded: "Town Mayor is a game that is very suitable for two people to play together. If you are in a bad mood, you can also come to this game to heal yourself."
"The copywriting is also very healing and cute."
"Although the price is in the hundreds, it is definitely a game worth buying."
"Alright, that concludes the trial of 'The Town Mayor.' We'll take a short break before moving on to the next segment."
"Out-of-Body Simulator"
To be honest, netizens are really looking forward to it. Just by looking at the name, it feels strangely similar to the art style of Zhixing Games.
The price is 14 yuan.
Compared to the price of normal VR games, it's like dirt cheap.
However, there are still relatively few players who have purchased it so far, because this game has not really done any promotion and relies entirely on the official GDR game platform's rankings and recommendations.
I wonder what kind of game it is that has such a name?
Double update today, I'm releasing the extra chapter for the 3,000 nutrient solutions ahead of schedule.
Because this article will not be listed or featured from this Thursday to next Thursday, QAQ, this is the first time this article has been left without a ranking.
I'm a little worried the data will be dismal...
There will be another update at noon.
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