Chapter 299 What's wrong with me running a few steps?
After deciding on a low-key release and not to conduct any form of publicity and promotion strategy for the game, another problem followed.
That’s right!
"The Legend of Abba" does not seek returns. Whether players buy the game or not is secondary. Even if they really buy it, and there are many people who buy it, Chen Ba will donate this part of the income, so zero publicity and promotion is not a big problem.
But...
This game was made for the purpose of winning awards. If it fails to win awards, then what is the point of Chen Ba's busyness during this period?
In other words.
Players may not buy or play the game "Abba's Legend", but the judges must play it and must know about this game.
"There's still time..."
Yang Dong analyzed: "There is still plenty of time to apply for the award. We can send a Cdkey to those game media professionals and game producers who are eligible to nominate and vote before the game is officially launched."
This is also an industry practice.
Just like those films that aspire to win an Oscar will mail a videotape of the film to Academy members at their own expense to save them the trouble of buying tickets to watch the film themselves.
The major awards in the gaming industry are basically decided by voting among well-known gaming media people, producers, and industry veterans.
We cannot expect every one of these people to buy and play "Abba's Legend". This is definitely unrealistic.
Therefore, giving away a Cdkey or even a game cartridge disc for free becomes a very necessary thing.
Besides, it doesn't cost much.
There are only a few hundred media professionals and producers who are eligible to nominate and vote. Giving away these hundreds of games is definitely a piece of cake for Tianba Studio.
"Okay, I'll leave it to you then."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Ba said, "Since we are going to give it away, let's be generous. We can not only give away games, but also some small gifts, derivatives and souvenirs."
"Isn't this... a bribe?"
"It's a normal public relations and lobbying activity, how can it be called bribery?"
Chen Ba said unhappily, "When you ask someone to do something for you, shouldn't you treat them to a meal and wash their feet? As long as you don't give them money, it doesn't count."
It is definitely not a good idea to give money openly. The impact will be too bad and it won’t sound good if it gets out.
But giving away some "insignificant" small gifts along with game CD keys and game cartridges is another matter.
In fact, Tianba Studio has done this kind of thing many times.
Taking the media with the best relationship, Game Star, as an example, from the editor-in-chief to the ordinary editor, who has not received the small gifts occasionally sent by Tianba Studio?
Otherwise, why do you think [Game Starry Sky] publishes articles every now and then to praise Tianba Studio and their games, and is nicknamed "Tianba Starry Sky" by players?
There is no love without reason, and no hate without reason!
People always say that China is a society based on favors, and that when someone comes, they have to offer a glass of wine and a cigarette, but how much better can it be abroad? In addition to emotional factors, the interactions between people are nothing more than interests!
In this regard, Chen Ba does not dare to say that he has a lot of say, but at least he has a certain degree of judgment.
Why is it that even though Tianba Studio has the Nobug platform, the game is still released simultaneously on Ebao, Steam, Wegame and other platforms? Can't they make Nobug exclusive without these platforms? Of course not!
Chen Ba can get exclusive rights, and players who want to play games produced by Tianba Studio can only purchase them on the Nobug platform.
But he knows that eating alone often leads to bad consequences, and players don't want to see this happen. Making more friends is always helpful at critical moments.
"That makes sense..."
Yang Dong smiled and said, "We have a pretty good relationship with the Steam platform. Over the years, they have given us many high-quality recommendation slots, and our games are always on the homepage."
This is the benefit of cooperation.
The Steam platform also values its cooperative relationship with Tianba Studio and does not want to see Tianba Studio withdraw from the Steam platform, so it has been trying its best to retain it.
Little-known fact: For ordinary game developers, after the game is sold on the Steam platform, Steam charges a "toll" of 30%, which is a full 30% of the revenue.
However, developers like Tianba Studio, which have a certain degree of "initiative", only get a 10% commission rate after negotiations, which is lower than the commission rate announced by Ebao.
Of course, the benefit that Ebao promised Tianba Games privately was that it would be free of charge.
After all, Ebao is the best!
It’s a pity that Ebao is not living up to its expectations. The community atmosphere created is still far behind Steam, and it is even now almost lagging behind the Nobug platform.
Yes, the community atmosphere of Ebao is not as good as that of Nobug platform.
Although Nobug is jokingly called "a large Wegame", after all, this platform also integrates the [Tianba Community], and the activity of the Tianba Community is needless to say, right? "Ebao is in a bad situation, but it doesn't matter, at least they still have the Dream Building Engine. With this engine, they will not die for a while."
Yang Dong sighed: "On the contrary, our carefully crafted Tianba engine has been updated to version 5.0, but it is still far behind the Dream Engine..."
Chen Ba was speechless.
Is Tianba Engine easy to use? Yes! Absolutely! As an AI game engine with high technology, Tianba Engine is undoubtedly easy to develop, which is why it has won the favor of many developers.
However, most developers who use the Tianba engine are small developers or independent game developers. Real large companies or top studio teams rarely use this engine to develop and produce games.
Why? Of course, compared to the Dream Engine, the Tianba Engine is easy to use, but it is too unstable!
Do you like my Bug Maker? Many developers have encountered "unknown" bugs in their games after using Tianba Engine, and they have been unable to find the cause after troubleshooting for a long time.
An engine that lacks stability and reliability and may pose hidden dangers to your game at any time is not disliked by independent game developers, and may even love it.
Big companies won't even look at the Tianba engine, thinking it's a "Chen Ba's conspiracy". After all, what engine would create so many game bugs? "Alas!"
With a light sigh, Chen Ba said, "I'll try updating the engine later. Let's not talk about this for now. You should arrange the matter of Abba's Story first."
"Do it now?"
Yang Dong was a little surprised. If he remembered correctly, the original release date of "Abba's Story" was next month, right? If we give CD keys to those game media people and producers now, can they play the game if the game is expected to be released next month? "Yes!"
Chen Ba said without hesitation: "The server has already been set up. As for the client, we can just create a special download link."
The reason why the gifts are given to these media people and producers one month in advance instead of waiting until the game is officially released is actually due to a certain "time" factor.
Next year's The Game Awards, or TGA, will soon enter the nomination and selection stage.
If we don't hurry up and send the game out, it will definitely miss next year's TGA selection and will have to be postponed for one year to compete for the grand prize next year.
It wasn't a big deal.
Just postpone it for one year. Is there any difference between nomination next year and the year after?
As it turns out, there really is! Chen Ba learned through inquiries that next year's TGA is unlikely to have strong 3A blockbusters such as "Baldur's Gate" and "Elden Ring" appear, which is a typical "weak award year".
But the following year, it will be much more difficult.
If nothing unexpected happens, there will be sequels to many well-known 3A games released next year, including top IPs such as Tamaki, Assassin's Creed, Sekiro and God of War.
The most important thing is that there will most likely be a sequel to "that game" next year, which is "GTA7" that Rockstar vowed to have built a folder...
Because of this reason, Chen Ba does not want to participate in the TGA next year just because of the release date, but would like to participate in next year's as much as possible.
The difference in this year is huge.
Selected for next year's TGA, Chen Ba is confident of winning the "Game of the Year" award. After all, other games are no match for "Abba's Story".
But if it is selected for the TGA next year by mistake, then even if "Abba's True Story" has the advantage of subject matter, it is probably in trouble. After all, the several games nominated in the same category are not easy to deal with! ...
Los Santos, Game Detective editorial office.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Game Detective was founded in 1997 as a game community. The founder, Roy Clift, collected a lot of game information and strategy tutorials and shared them with other interested players for free.
Later, the website grew bigger and bigger, and its business was no longer simply sharing game content, but gradually evolved into an extremely professional gaming media.
The website has its own news editorial department, which is responsible for collecting the latest information and reports from the gaming industry and publishing them on the website for all players to browse and review.
Peter was one of the editors.
The section and reporting content he is responsible for is "Asian Games". Due to his professional writing and commentary, he has a strong influence in the console player community.
Today, Peter was preparing to brew himself a cup of fragrant coffee as usual before starting his day's work.
But just as he was making coffee, the editor-in-chief called him.
"A new game?"
Peter put the coffee on the table, turned on the computer, received and checked the content of the email forwarded by the editor-in-chief.
Cool! Tianba Games, he is very familiar with this company, because he is a loyal "Forza Horizon" console player, and even spent thousands of dollars on the game.
"Let me see what amazing game they have come up with!"
When Peter clicked on the download link, he was filled with anticipation.
The editor just told him that even if the game is mediocre, he shouldn't criticize it too much, because it is a public welfare game and the developer is a good friend of the Game Detective website.
High emotional intelligence: Don’t find fault!
Low EQ: The other party gave us a benefit, and now he is our good brother! Peter naturally understood what the editor-in-chief meant, but even if he understood it, if the game was really bad, he probably wouldn't hold back and would definitely criticize it harshly when writing the article.
But then again…
After learning that the developer of this game was Tianba Games and that the name of this game was highly similar to a certain movie, Peter was already looking forward to what the game would look like.
"The Story of Abba"? To be honest, there is nothing particularly surprising about this name. Even after being translated into English, the meaning of the expression is slightly wrong.
But this is not important, because in addition to the name, there is also a general introduction to the plot of this game.
"The protagonist is a ..."
The internet speed in the office was very fast, and Peter downloaded the client of "Abba's Story" in no time.
After logging into the "dedicated" account sent by Tianba Studio, he was quickly confused by the game's initial page.
In other games, the initial page is either to create a nickname, or to pinch your face, or to customize your character...
But "The Story of Abba" is different.
There is only one option available for players to choose from: "gender". There is no face-shaping and no naming!
Perhaps in online mode, players can name their characters or customize their faces individually, but in normal stand-alone story mode, these are not options.
Of course, that's not the point.
Players who like to play stand-alone games don’t really care about this aspect after all. After all, only online games have so many face-shaping and personalization requirements, and personalization is actually not important in stand-alone games.
The point is, after choosing the gender, the player enters a whole new stage, which is also a key step in determining how the main line and plot of the game develop: randomly obtaining physical defects!
The player starts with three dice.
If you are not satisfied with the random physical defects, you can use dice to refresh and replace them.
Peter's randomly generated physical defect was "blindness", that is, blind Abba! He did not use the dice to refresh or reset, but entered the game with curiosity. He wanted to know how this game would simulate the feeling of being "blind" for him?
Soon, he found out.
The original 4K high-definition display screen suddenly turned into "prehistoric quality". After entering the game, except for the clear function buttons such as "Settings" and "Help", no other details can be seen on the screen. There is only a hazy light in front of you.
Peter: “???”
What the hell is the producer doing? How can he play the game if he makes the game screen like this? So...
He can't see anything now, how can he play? Isn't there a tutorial for beginners in this game?
Oh, so there is! Under the guidance of the novice tutorial, Peter got a cane and a guide dog, and roughly understood how to use the cane.
In other words, these are his eyes.
What happened next? The game gave him a cane and a guide dog, and then there were no new changes. Peter was at a loss, not knowing what to do.
Press O to stand up, press it again to sit down...
You can get up and move around. By pressing the direction keys and relying on the feedback from the cane and guide dog, you can get a general idea of the information.
But this is too much trouble! Peter thinks that these aids are useless. Although the screen is blurry and you can't see anything, there is no need for the protagonist to walk so carefully, right?
This step is too slow. Anyway, my legs are not broken, so can't I run to speed up?
Plop! "You fell into the river and drowned..."
(End of this chapter)