Chapter 63: The hardest thing about making games is to keep your original intention!
"Mr. Lu, please come this way. I'll show you around our company first."
Zhou Yizhou forced himself to be energetic and led Lu Ming to the office area, his tone humble but a little reserved:
"Honestly, there's nothing fancy about our company. It's just a bunch of people making a few things... To be honest, it's not as good as your company, so please don't be disgusted."
"I think it's quite good."
Lu Ming followed behind him, chuckling softly, acting very openly.
How could he dislike it?
“This place is great, I love it! It has a very historical feel!”
He doesn't want to miss out on any of these talented companies and talents!
Zhou Yizhou was standing beside her, feeling so embarrassed that he had to pick at his trouser seams.
"We've...moved twice, and the rent is cheaper here."
He explained a little unsurely.
"I understand, I understand." Lu Ming nodded, as if he saw his former self.
This kind of place is obviously short of budget and resources, and projects are often aborted.
The employees were all in a state of half lying down and half feeling moved by themselves.
But it is precisely in this "fringe area" that truly good games can be born!
Zhou Yizhou was very restrained in his introduction and did not mention how well we were doing.
They even deliberately skipped some project drawings and presentation files that might be misunderstood as showing off.
He doesn't have the courage.
If I say too much, I'm afraid Lu Ming will laugh at me; if I say too little, I'm afraid he will look down on me.
Then, Zhou Yizhou led his team into the programming group. A dozen programmers were busy working in front of their computers, while carefully glancing at the door.
There is a thick stack of A4 paper and office documents on each person's desk.
When Lu Ming walked over, they all pretended to be debugging the framework.
A few of them even opened browser pages and pretended to be looking up information.
After all, they are here to acquire the company, so they should act more seriously.
"This is our programming team, about a dozen people. We don't have any new projects right now, so we're just doing some outsourced work to make a living."
Zhou Yizhou was very frank in his introduction. He couldn't hide it anyway, as it was all reported online.
"Some of these people are my former college classmates. They're smart and have decent skills, but they just followed me and didn't have the opportunity to use their skills in the right place..."
When Lu Ming walked in, the programmers stood up one after another, as if they were welcoming relatives during the New Year, with each expression more nervous than the other.
"Hello, Mr. Lu!"
"Would you like some water?"
"Is the air conditioner in the office cold? Can I adjust it?"
Lu Ming smiled and waved his hand.
"Don't be nervous, everyone, just do what you need to do. Just treat me as a late-night snack today!"
"Mr. Lu, you'll be disappointed. Our Qiantang night snack is really not good!"
The programmers immediately laughed in agreement, and the atmosphere eased a lot.
Lu Ming smiled, said nothing, and turned to look aside.
"Does the project you're working on have a high launch rate?" Lu Ming suddenly asked.
"Uh, not high..."
Zhou Yizhou answered truthfully, his voice getting lower and lower.
"Go online and pounce on one..."
“Are there any internal tests?”
“Yes, but I also pounce.”
“How about outsourcing?”
"We've taken on several projects, but we're not satisfied with any of them... The systems we designed were always cut by the client."
Lu Ming nodded thoughtfully.
Although Zhou Yizhou's words were getting worse and worse, he was becoming more and more excited.
"You are doing outsourcing now, what about your previous self-developed projects?" Lu Ming suddenly asked.
Zhou Yizhou was stunned.
"Ah? We developed a few of them ourselves, but they've all been... taken off the shelves."
"Is there a demo? I'd like to see your previous projects."
Lu Ming asked casually, but his eyes became serious.
Now that you are here, let’s study!
"Uh..." Zhou Yizhou hesitated for a moment and gritted his teeth.
"Then let me show you one. It's an FPS game we made a while ago called Bullet Time. It was a flop shortly after it launched, and the reviews were pretty harsh."
"Okay, okay, this is it!" Lu Ming immediately became interested.
"This is a work that has been tested by the market. I have to take a closer look."
Zhou Yizhou was confused, not knowing why Lu Ming suddenly seemed so excited.
He took Lu Ming into the small conference room and instructed a programmer to transfer the game from the old server and run it.
In less than ten seconds, a blurry opening animation appeared on the projector.
It's a gloomy wasteland world, with harsh background music, small and dense subtitles, and every time a character opens his mouth, it's a three-minute inner monologue.
Lu Ming leaned back in his chair and watched with a calm expression.
In fact, he didn't understand the plot at all, he was talking in a long-winded way and looked very literary!
The game's plot is dragged out, with the first few minutes devoted entirely to the protagonist's life story in a post-apocalyptic environment, without a single official battle.
After finally getting the weapon and entering the battle scene,
As a result, the enemy textures are repetitive, the AI is stupid, and the battle rhythm is extremely chaotic.
There's no sense of impact when killing, the gun feels light, and even if the bullet hits the target, it takes a few tenths of a second before the damage is lost.
Most importantly, this is an online game!
The mall system is extremely crudely designed. When you open it, three gift packages pop up, and the "double first charge" and "activate monthly card" options are automatically checked.
You can't even close the pop-up window and have to choose a gift pack to continue the game.
The more Lu Ming looked, the brighter his eyes became.
Other games induce players to spend money, but this game forces players to spend money selectively!
He had never thought of this trick at the beginning!
It turns out that going out for a walk does have its benefits!
Otherwise, how could I learn so much useful knowledge!
This place is really great!
I wonder if it’s some kind of Feng Shui treasure land!
Lu Ming slowly sat up straight.
"Did you get any negative reviews when you launched the test online?" Lu Ming suddenly asked.
"……have."
"How many?"
"There are about 100 reviews, and 95 of them are negative."
Lu Ming slammed the table, his eyebrows almost flying up.
"I knew I was in the right place!"
Seeing Lu Ming's expression, Zhou Yizhou's heart skipped a beat. He pretended to be calm.
"Mr. Lu, we actually... know where the problem lies. We rushed the project too much, the plot fell apart, and we couldn't adjust the pacing. As a result, all the players left..."
“You don’t understand!”
Lu Ming looked sincere.
"Please keep your style from now on!"
"The hardest part about making games is staying true to your original aspirations! If you weren't so persistent and talented, why do you think I would acquire you?"
"ah?"
Lu Ming pointed at the projection and muttered,
"I should have learned the whale leap from you guys a long time ago!"
"Do you know how many games claim to be high-quality, but are criticized for being soulless? You are different!"
"Your game may have a low rating, but it's low in a way that... has character!"
"You must firmly maintain this style!"
"You are different from other game companies!"
“There aren’t many game companies with personality left in the gaming world!”
As they were talking, Zhou Yizhou's face next to him became more and more ugly. He lowered his head and dared not speak.
He was increasingly unable to understand Lu Ming's words.
"This... does this mean you despise us, or... do you really like us?"
He couldn't tell for a moment whether Lu Ming was serious or just trying to lower the price in a strange way.
"Mr. Lu, if you think our skills are not up to par and our budget is tight..."
Zhou Yizhou hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and finally spoke:
"The price...can be lower."
"Our company's current situation is indeed not very good. To be honest, we are really grateful to be noticed by Jingyue."
"As long as someone is willing to take over, I...I can even work for you for free."
The more he spoke, the sadder he became. He was even mentally prepared for Lu Ming to slash the price to the rock bottom.
As a result, Lu Ming's expression didn't even change.
"The price? I said seven million, that's seven million."
Lu Ming's tone was firm and decisive, leaving no room for doubt.
"You think I'm negotiating?"
"Negotiating the price, do I need to fly over here specifically to confirm?"
"Your team, your style, your game's tone..."
“I’m very satisfied!”
Lu Ming turned his head and looked at the "Bullet Time" demonstration that was still playing in a loop.
Eyes burning!
…
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