Restart the Gaming Era

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"It's strange, Zhou Sen, are you a programmer and you are so fanatical about chasing stars? Seeing how happy you are, it's like eating bee poo. If you don't know, you think you made this virtual idol." Brother Dahui teased a few words , continue to write your own code.

Zhou Sen was not in the mood to explain this to him, so he hurriedly opened the three-person chat group: "Zhong Ming, wake me up! We won the first prize, 2 million, right! Is this true!! "

He also purposely stood up a little bit and looked at Zhong Ming from the design team. He saw Zhong Ming sitting calmly in his seat, showing no sign of excitement at all.

Zhong Ming replied: "It's not true for the time being. The final award still needs to be confirmed by the jury, which can only be decided after considering many factors. But judging from the current situation, Chanel is basically the first prize this time. "

Zhou Sen was even more excited: "Let's hurry up and plan how to spend the 2 million yuan! No, it's 4 million yuan. As long as we hand over the copyright of Chanel to Xinghua Interactive Entertainment for development, the follow-up income will definitely be more!"

"It's really a lot of money! Zhong Ming, what do you think, how do we use this money? You are the main creator, you have the final say."

Jiang Wanna was in the "Mecha Era" project and was not on the same floor, so Zhou Sen and Zhong Ming couldn't see her expression, but judging from her reply, she should be very happy.

After all, the image of Chanel was created by the joint efforts of three people. Although Zhong Ming contributed the most, the work of Jiang Wanna and Zhou Sen was also indispensable.

Zhou Sen happily imagined the future: "If the copyright is handed over to Xinghua Huyu for development, it will be 4 million. In this way, Zhong Ming, you can take the big head of 2 million, or 2.5 million. I will share the rest with Wanna, and I can save it. Take some, six or seven hundred thousand is fine, with this money, I can resign and go out to play for a while."

Jiang Wanna also agreed: "I have no objection, the two of us actually didn't contribute too much, the main thing was Zhong Ming's design and creativity, and Zhong Ming also made the music."

Zhong Ming didn't express his opinion immediately, but replied after a while: "My idea is not to sell the copyright, and don't spend the 2 million bonus. Let's do something meaningful."

Zhou Sen didn't quite understand: "Ah? Something meaningful? Further study? That's fine too."

Zhong Ming: "It's not for further studies. I want to use the money to develop independent games. Indeed, the three of us can get six to seven million yuan each. Even if we spend 6,000 yuan a month, we can spend several Years, but thinking about it another way, such a large amount of money is hard to come by, and I would like to use it as start-up capital to make more money.”

Zhou Sen was startled: "Making an independent game? Zhong Ming, you have thought about it. Your behavior is basically equivalent to putting a big bag of money on the edge of a cliff. If you let go, it will be gone! You are a designer." , you know better than me the risks of making an independent game, right?"

"Of course I understand, but if you think about it carefully, are you willing to continue working for others?" Zhong Ming asked back, "You hope to be forced to work overtime every day, be scolded by the airborne leader, and earn a lot of money by working on a project , but I can only get a 23% bonus?"

"...I know the truth, uh, let me think about it again."

Zhou Sen stopped talking, probably because he was having an inner struggle.

Jiang Wanna said: "To be honest, I think it's very risky. However, if Zhong Ming insists, I won't firmly oppose it. What I worry about is whether our ability is sufficient. The 2 million funds are indeed almost enough to develop an independent game. But the premise is that the cost control of the entire project is in place enough, if it exceeds the budget, it may drag itself down."

Both Zhou Sen and Jiang Wanna hesitated.

Hesitation is normal, because everyone knows that independent games sound beautiful, but they are actually stepping on a single-plank bridge. A few successful examples are indeed glamorous, but the abyss under the single-plank bridge is full of bones.

There are quite a few studios with ambitions to make excellent independent games, but many of them are dragged down by themselves.

To put it simply, if you want to make an excellent independent game, there are three thresholds.

The first is project management and cost control.

The second is the promotion of the game.

The third is the profitability of the game and the development of the next game.

Every threshold can cause a large number of studios to be smashed.

To make an independent game, the main creative members basically have to be full-time. After all, making a game is not cooking, it is very hard. The development cycle of a game can be as short as a few weeks or as long as a few months. All of them have to be busy like dogs, and it is impossible to get high wages, after all, this can be regarded as working for themselves.

In the case of limited funds, all kinds of places have to spend money, so how to do a good job in cost control is a big problem.

For example, is the workplace renting an office building or just renting a private house? How to solve water and electricity bills, meals, etc.? If there is not enough manpower, can we recruit people? If you can't recruit people, you can increase your salary and find a headhunter, which is also money. What should I do if the art resources of the project are not up to standard? Should I spend money to hire a better artist to do the design, or go directly to an outsourcing company to buy art resources?

If the cost of any link exceeds the plan, the capital chain may be broken. At that time, the game is only half done, and it will not be profitable. difficult.

Even if there is no problem with cost control and the game is successfully produced, how to promote it is also a problem. There is no special promotion channel, only some ordinary game platforms can be put on the shelves, and you can’t afford recommended spots, let alone hot searches... Few people play, the game cannot be profitable, and the cost cannot be recovered. It is still a blood loss.

Even if the game is promoted, whether it can be profitable is also a question. The game made a profit and recovered its cost, but what about the next game? I don't expect to have such good luck again.

Therefore, there are many independent studios in this world, but very few of them really make it to the top. It can be said that none of them survive. Most of the studios are either recruited and annexed by large companies, or they go bankrupt and dissolve. When it comes to developing independent games, many People's first reaction is to be forced.

However, independent games are already the games with the lowest barriers to entry.

Zhong Ming would like to have some more secure options, such as making a bracelet game similar to "Mecha Age", but the investment of that kind of game is much larger than that of an independent game. Not to mention anything else, just the number of employees in "Mecha Age". Based on the average salary of 10,000 yuan, it would cost more than 300,000 yuan a month, not to mention the office space, other expenses and other expenses.

If you let Zhong Ming explode, and one person does the work of three people, it should be developed, but there will be no money for publicity and promotion afterwards, and once something happens midway, there are too many uncontrollable factors.

What's more, with Zhong Ming's current qualifications, even if he has the title of XX studio, he can't recruit people at all.

Therefore, Zhong Ming is not in a hurry, and there is no need to take such a big step. He first takes independent games as his first small goal.

The group was silent for more than half an hour.

Zhou Sen seemed to have made up his mind: "Okay, I've decided too, Zhong Ming, if you think you have a good idea and think it's feasible to make an independent game, then I believe you! It is true that making an independent game may lose everything, but I also It’s better to be willing to give it a try than to wander between projects and look at people’s faces!”

Zhou Sen is indeed a homeless person, and every project is embarrassing.

The earliest project was No. 52, which had been working overtime, and then it was disbanded and a large number of layoffs were laid off.

Then there was "Mecha Era", which had just started to improve and then was screwed up by Liu Yuxin.

Now it is "Learning the Sea Without Boundaries". Although it is still hot now, judging from the future trend, it is very bad...

Moreover, although Zhou Sen and Zhong Ming have not worked together for a long time, they have gotten to know each other quite well.

From the Xinghai battlefield, to the million dollars, and then to the virtual idol Chanel, Zhong Ming's personal ability is beyond doubt. He is definitely the best designer Zhou Sen has ever seen. There is no problem with answering games, even virtual idols can do it!

So although Zhou Sen was full of worries about independent games, he was finally moved by Zhong Ming's statement and agreed.