social terrorists
Zhixing Games' first business trip!
Everyone went home to rest for an afternoon, and then gathered at the airport early the next morning to board the plane.
After a comfortable two-hour flight in business class, we successfully arrived in City C. Many of them were visiting City C, the gaming mecca, for the first time, and were in high spirits.
Generally speaking, game developers don't really have the concept of business trips. They stay in the studio, working like oxen, and only hear from outsiders with rich business trip experience that business trips are tiring and tough.
Looking back now, it wasn't that hard. At least right now, everyone is laughing and talking, and they're even discussing where to go after the competition.
They first went to the hotel they had booked to drop off their luggage, only to find out when they arrived at the hotel: Oh my god, the boss was reimbursing them for a single room.
To be able to sleep in a single room while on a business trip is such a luxury.
All companies are trying to save money wherever possible by booking double rooms, which is understandable.
But to be honest, no matter how high-end the hotel is... if it's a double room, you're still with your colleagues day and night, and you don't feel like you're off work at all.
This is especially true for those who need time alone to recharge.
Anyone would go crazy if they lived like this for too long.
Business class, five-star hotel, single room, comfortable team – the morale boost is off the charts. Even if the single room is a little small, the standard is by no means inferior.
This excellent start inexplicably instilled in everyone a sense of confidence that victory was already assured... The best new work of the year is definitely in the bag!
The competition for the best new work of the year will begin at 2 p.m. today and end at 6 p.m.
Basically, all the shortlisted works can be selected.
Unfortunately, Zhixing Games was placed at a later number, at a stage when both the audience and judges were experiencing aesthetic and mental fatigue.
However, everyone was quite relaxed and not nervous at all. They ate and drank to their hearts' content at the hotel buffet, determined to make sure President Jiang got his money's worth.
What's this?
Big lobster, ate it!
What's this?
Caviar, bottoms up, brothers!
Giant crabs, premium steaks—eat them all!
The main thing is, cough, Zhuang Xu is recording footage on the other side, so shouldn't he make a good impression by showcasing the company culture and the spirit of the employees?
She has an excessively strong desire to show off...
This made Yu Yue burst out laughing: "I'm telling you all, you'd better watch yourselves, don't..."
"Let's try to maintain the company's professional image, after all, this is a business trip."
How did a perfectly good game development team end up looking like a food blogger having a team-building trip, as seen through the eyes of a passerby?
Yu Yue is right.
Everyone was reminded of what happened in the previous episode of "The Survival Diary of Contemporary Working People"...
The last group to appear as the control group, who were simply conducting normal research, attracted a lot of envy, jealousy and hatred.
"Didn't you guys say you were going to do something funny? What are you going to do? Tell me about it."
Yu Yue was reminding everyone to maintain a professional image when he suddenly remembered their noisy whispers about causing trouble yesterday, and his curiosity was piqued.
"Yes, Brother Yu brought it up just in time, hahaha. Speaking of which, did everyone bring the clothes they were supposed to bring?" The numerical planner put down the big crab he was eating and glanced around at his restless colleagues.
"We brought it!" "It's safe, absolutely safe!" "Hahaha, we're going to blow up the place!"
The premium skins I've been wearing are all for this moment!
To be honest, the average age of Zhixing Games' employees is too young; they're all experts at surfing the internet. When they're with familiar people, it's like a social terrorist on the street.
As the saying goes, if one person dresses too brightly, they won't dare go out; but if two people dress brightly together, they'll cause a stir in the streets.
Then……
The group of people who arrived at the annual selection of outstanding works in the afternoon were all investment banking elites dressed in formal attire and meticulously groomed.
Her hair was all oiled, meticulously styled down to each and every single strand.
Who wouldn't say this is professional?
However, it must be admitted that these individuals have made great efforts to improve their professional appearance, and their attempts to project an image of themselves as professionals in the gaming industry are quite evident.
But is it possible that you've chosen the wrong path, that you've gone into a completely different field?
Making it all so formal and serious seems out of place in a relaxed gaming haven.
Generally speaking, those who are semi-mandatory to wear suits among office workers are usually people like insurance salespeople, while those at a higher level are investment bankers or those involved in finance, who need to project a professional and trustworthy image.
In other industries, especially the gaming industry, there are absolutely no dress requirements. In fact, most bosses wear plaid shirts, T-shirts, shorts, and slippers.
The main idea is to be approachable and comfortable.
As luck would have it, everyone was still enjoying the perks and benefits of Zhixing Games, and that youthful exuberance resurfaced.
Later, Zhuang Xu brought over professional photography equipment that the production team had specially mailed to him, hoping he could shoot even better footage. It looked impressive but was actually quite mysterious.
Too eye-catching.
The appearance of such a group of people at a game competition naturally attracted the attention of many.
Which company is this...?
Have all the official investors for GDRs made arrangements in advance this year?
Wherever the Zhixing Games group went, people whispered among themselves.
Investment banking? Isn't that a golden opportunity? Should I go over beforehand to say hello and make a good impression?
Recording...is this a TV program being recorded?
What amazing guests did the GDR organizers invite this year?
Why weren't we notified about the guests this year?
Everyone was trying to guess who this group of people really was.
Passersby followed them all the way and then noticed that they had stopped at the last row of the game producer area and sat down neatly.
Yu Yue, who was leading the group, had made quite a haul along the way, receiving numerous business cards. He had no idea when he had become so famous.
Or is it... the aura of President Jiang?
The others didn't pay much attention to these things and chattered amongst themselves: "Is this level of professionalism up to par?"
They all felt they had performed very well.
The facade of being serious only lasted for five minutes after I sat down before I completely let loose... Oh well, we're out having fun, having fun is the most important thing.
The last row in the section for game developers.
As a startup, Zhixing Games had no prior works to their name, so this was the kind of treatment they received.
As for the many people of similar status who don't even have the resources to attend the event, they would be better off using that money for publicity and promotion.
The dozen or so people at Zhixing Games were gazing eagerly at the seats in front of them, discussing with great confidence that they could also sit in those seats next year.
What they didn't know was that, from other people's perspectives, things weren't so simple.
Being in the last row already creates a sense of oppression.
Looking back, a group of people could be vaguely seen in the shadows, all dressed in suits and ties.
I don't know why, but it just feels so awesome...
Newbie Tian Rong silently shrank back and asked his mentor, who had already participated in the annual New Outstanding Works selection, "Brother Shi, what are those people doing? They look a bit scary."
Shi Tao glanced back as well, his voice hesitant: "Maybe they're here for sightseeing?"
It's not entirely certain.
As game producers who participated in the competition, they hadn't heard any rumors about any big names or big shots coming this year.
So, I'm guessing they might be audience members?
But the audience... would the audience dress like that? And bring mobile photographers with them?
Shi Tao couldn't explain it, so he could only press Tian Rong's head down: "Never mind them, the selection is about to begin. It's not easy to come here, so you should study hard and not be distracted."
"Never mind who's behind us, just focus on the game."
Tian Rong nodded blankly, "Okay, Brother Shi." But she couldn't help but be curious.
The selection competition started on time.
After the high-energy montage of game PVs finished its pre-show hype, the host and judges took to the stage one by one amidst applause from the audience.
"Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our annual selection of outstanding new works. I am the host of this event."
"First of all, please allow me to introduce the three judges present today."
The host came to the judges' table and walked to the first seat on the left.
He was a middle-aged man with graying hair.
"This is Mr. Zhang Jiazhi, who has created many successful single-player indie games, such as the martial arts novel 'Tongtianjian', which can almost be called the youth of a generation of gamers."
Then, in order, came Jing Hongxi and Zhao Qing, two relatively young and well-known game producers.
All three are renowned figures in the gaming industry, and many of you in the audience were even their mentors in gaming. They are also regular guests on the annual New Masterpiece Awards.
"Next, I will introduce the basic rules of the selection. There are two awards in this competition. The first is the New Game of the Year, which is the best new game of the year."
"Secondly, there is the award for best creative idea based on public opinion."
"The former uses the average score from the judges, which accounts for 70%, and the average score from the audience, which accounts for 30%, and the final score is used to rank the participants."
"Finally, the judges will discuss and select the best new work of the year from the top three."
"The latter places more emphasis on the audience's choices, with judges' scores accounting for 30% and audience preferences accounting for 70%. So everyone can choose their favorite game and give it a full five-star rating."
This Best Creative Award, which wasn't mentioned earlier, doesn't actually offer any real prize; it's just an honor that sounds impressive.
The prize is just a scrap of the year's best new work.
The judges' order of action was to first score the game, and then explain their understanding and comments on it.
For the audience, it's much simpler. They have gaming equipment provided by the competition organizers, and after the trial, they can simply rate the game on their personal devices by giving it a star rating.
Now that the judging rules have been explained, the competition will officially begin. The first place winner is the well-known studio that Yu Yue introduced to everyone before: Feiyue.
Their entry for this competition is an action-adventure side-scrolling platformer called "Swords and Shadows".
Indeed, when it comes to artistic considerations, everyone seems to be leaning towards traditional culture.
Like the Southern Studio mentioned earlier, they create an organic combination of the five notes of the pentatonic scale, Chinese ink painting, and Chinese musical scales.
In "Swords and Shadows," the main character is a martial arts master who is proficient in all eighteen martial arts styles.
The weapon system is extremely diverse, including bows, crossbows, guns, clubs, knives, swords, spears, shields, and more.
Besides the 18 common weapons, there are far more than 18 types of martial arts weapons in Zhongxia. There are also various strange weapons and all kinds of hidden weapons, which make up "Swords and Shadows".
The game developers can also receive demo devices.
The members of Zhixing Games all have extensive gaming experience and can pick it up quickly.
This is tough on Tang Yue. Although she has developed a love for games because of Zhixing Games, she is not yet skilled enough to directly master a challenging action-adventure game.
It was a very tragic death; I died to the very first enemy in the first level after passing the tutorial.
Undeterred, she started a second round, but the result was still no better. With a sliver of health left, she was killed by the monster in the last moment of their sword fight.
Then Tang Yue gave up.
Her fingers weren't very dexterous, and she wasn't one to challenge herself, so she looked around to watch her colleagues show off their skills.
The game experience ended quickly, and judging from the audience's reactions, it wasn't very good.
The audience rating is 4.5.
It's a bit lower in quality compared to the game itself.
This is largely because action games have a certain learning curve for players who are not very familiar with them.
Zhang Jiazhi was the first to give a score, and although it was a high score of 92, the comments were not friendly.
"The company that made this game is already very experienced, so there's not much to criticize in any aspect. It's decent, a mid-to-high tier game."
"The choice of the 'Eighteen Martial Arts' from traditional culture is innovative, but the artistic exploration of this year's theme is not very well done."
"So I give it 92 points."
The scoring was extremely strict, which made everyone at Zhixing Games a little nervous.
The next teacher is Jing Hongxi.
With a score of 88, dropping to the 8s, you're basically out of the running for the top three.
The people from Zhixing Games were sitting in the back and couldn't see the reactions of the people from Feiyue Studio in front, but they could imagine how uncomfortable it must have been.
"Besides what Teacher Zhang just said, my opinion is that... the tutorial wasn't done very well. I guess the producers in your studio can see that during the audience's demo, it was clear that some of them weren't very familiar with this aspect; they're newcomers to this field."
"The game is already quite difficult to learn, and if the tutorial isn't done well, it can easily discourage new players."
"This is a point that a good game design should consider."
"So I give it 88 points."
After the last judge, Ms. Zhao Qing, finished her comments, the final score for "Swords and Shadows" barely reached the threshold of 90 points.
It must be said that the judges' evaluations were quite professional, but the setback at the start of the competition finally brought everyone who was blindly confident in President Jiang back to reality.
"With the judges being so strict, do you really think we can win the Best New Work of the Year award?" the lead programmer couldn't help but worry.
I just imagined it: the scene of a boss with severe social anxiety and his socially anxious subordinates... hahaha!
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