Also, He An noticed that in *Mission and Choice*, the sizes of the buildings and unit types were drastically different. A ground base was several times larger than a space warship, which in turn was dozens of times larger than an ordinary spacecraft, which was dozens of times larger than the smallest single-soldier combat unit, "Yun Que."

Therefore, the entire map of *Mission and Choice* appeared very large. The scale changed dramatically between the highest and lowest perspectives. At the lowest zoom, you could see the details of the Yun Que warrior's armor, while at the highest, you could see the entire layout of a large ground base.

When zoomed out to a high-altitude view, the Yun Que warriors moving on the ground looked like ants.

The different units were distributed across different height levels. Space warships were at the highest level, followed by ordinary spacecraft, and then the Yun Que squads that were dropped from the spacecraft to the ground.

Therefore, players had to constantly adjust the view to better observe the overall battlefield.

The problem with this was obvious: it required high machine configurations and was inconvenient to operate.

In classic RTS games like *Fantasy War* and *StarCraft 2*, the proportions of various units were distorted. Many unit types were supposed to be dozens of times larger than others, but in the game, they were at most less than twice as large.

This was because RTS games required a lot of micromanagement and a high degree of balance.

If they were made according to their real sizes, how fast would a large mothership and a scout plane move, respectively? Would they overlap each other, causing players to ignore them? Would it be too much effort for too little gain to control small units? Would small units inflict very limited damage when attacking large units? Would it be unscientific for a squad of soldiers to blow up a main base with machine guns?

RTS games are, after all, just games, not war simulators. It's too much effort to solve these problems, and they're almost unsolvable. Therefore, traditional RTS games greatly sacrifice realism for balance and operability.

*Mission and Choice* goes in the opposite direction, maximizing realism, which simultaneously means that the balance and operability of the game are completely gone.

In traditional RTS games, 30 grunts can easily blow up a tank, but in *Mission and Choice*, no matter how many machine gunners there are, they will be crushed by large ground heavy equipment.

In He An's view, this undoubtedly greatly increased the probability of the game failing.

However, the game's difficulty of operation was indeed very low.

He An was old, and his reaction speed and hand speed were far from those of young people, but he didn't have much difficulty completing the operations in the game.

This was because the units in the game basically moved in formations. For example, the most basic combat unit, the "Yun Que Squad," consisted of five Yun Que warriors, and the higher levels were a certain combat ship, then a small combat ship formation, and then a battle group belonging to the mothership…

Players could issue instructions to formations at any level, and the default selection of enemies was also in units of formations.

For example, giving the command to the entire interstellar mothership's battle group to attack the enemy's main force was actually similar to the "F2 A" operation.

But the difference was that all the units in *Mission and Choice* had a certain amount of intelligence. They wouldn't rush forward stupidly, but would maintain specific formations and wouldn't fight too badly.

Of course, players could also order a single formation or a single combat ship to perform other tasks.

But this kind of high degree of freedom of operation was not very common. Most of the time, it was enough to issue instructions to the combat formation level. Even if you operated these spacecraft or soldiers one by one, the final effect might not be better than directly A-moving.

Therefore, even for an elderly person like He An, it was easy to operate and he didn't feel any difficulty in terms of operation.

But this didn't mean that the game's combat experience would be very good, because all the units inside would run around randomly!

Some spacecraft would even suddenly flee the battlefield while fighting. Even if the player issued instructions to it individually and operated it repeatedly, they couldn't pull it back, highlighting its willfulness.

Some spacecraft would even inexplicably crash into cliffs or crash when flying in extreme panic, leaving He An dumbfounded.

Because there was no story, this demo started fighting right away.

The main thing He An had to do was to give commands to the formations to attack the Zerg and continuously process the alarm information sent by Aeeis and respond to it.

There was a lot of alarm information, but it wasn't a big problem to ignore it. If you ignored it for a while, Aeeis would handle it herself.

About twenty minutes later, the battle ended.

Although it was a bit stumbling the first time, and many things were learned and played on the spot, and the score at the final settlement was not high, He An still successfully completed this demo.

Pei Qian asked expectantly, "Teacher He, what do you think?"

He An was silent for a moment and decided to tell the truth.

"There's definitely no problem with the game's graphics. It's well-made, and the scenes during the war are also very gorgeous, giving people a feeling that the battle is very fierce."

"But..."

"These soldiers are often out of control, which is too uncomfortable! In many situations where they could obviously win, they were wiped out because the soldiers had their own ideas, which is too infuriating!"

"This is an RTS game, and this kind of game experience is difficult for me to accept."

Hu Xianbin quickly said, "Oh, Director He, the AI of the soldiers is still under development, so it's relatively simple and mindless. When the AI is done, the soldiers' choices will be more diverse and intelligent, and the experience should be better."

He An was silent for a moment. "In other words, there will be more ways for them to not listen to me?"

Hu Xianbin: "Uh... you can understand it that way."

He An: "..."

He was silent for a moment and looked at Pei Qian: "President Pei, don't blame me for being blunt. I'm mainly worried about wasting money. After all, 500 million is not a small amount. Even if you spend money to enjoy it, buying luxury cars and houses is better than throwing it all down the drain."

"Although the game's AI may affect some of the game experience, I think that even if the game's AI is completed with the current AI technology, it won't greatly improve the game's combat experience."

"This current demo, I can only say, is all flash and no substance. The graphics are absolutely perfect, but the gameplay is completely unable to attract me."

"And good graphics also mean high computer configuration requirements, which will further reduce the game's player base. This is very unfavorable for a game with such a huge investment."

"How much of the 500 million is left? There's still time to stop the losses. Change the gameplay, reuse the current art resources, and make a new game. It won't be that all 500 million is lost."

Pei Qian couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Lost everything?

That's great!

When the game was first established, Pei Qian had already told He An about the game's basic design ideas and received a "definitely lose money" answer, but after all, the game hadn't been made yet, and Pei Qian was still uneasy.

Now that He An had played the game's demo, he still believed that the game would definitely lose money, and that it would lose everything. This was undoubtedly a boost to Pei Qian!

But Hu Xianbin, who was on the side, was not happy.

He frowned slightly and didn't agree with He An's judgment that *Mission and Choice* was dead.

Because this was just a demo, the plot hadn't been added yet, and the content was also missing. Was it too early to conclude that it would definitely fail?

Most importantly, this was President Pei's idea!

Could President Pei's idea be wrong?

Therefore, Hu Xianbin subconsciously wanted to say a few words to refute it.

Although He An was a senior, different designers would have different views on games. Differences of opinion occurred from time to time, and they would even argue fiercely.

As a designer, it's normal to confidently express your own ideas and improve your game understanding and design level in the process of debating with other designers.

But Pei Qian, who was on the side, saw Hu Xianbin's unwillingness and immediately patted him on the shoulder without leaving a trace, causing him to hold back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Pei Qian didn't want Hu Xianbin and He An to have a battle here, it wouldn't make sense.

He An had just said that the game would definitely lose money, and Pei Qian was too happy to do anything else.

He said with a smile, "Teacher He, you're absolutely right! I completely agree!"

"Okay, now that we've seen the game, let's go back to Moyu Internet Cafe for a while and have a cup of coffee. It's on me."

Seeing that President Pei had this attitude, Hu Xianbin's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and his mood instantly became relieved.

I was too impulsive. President Pei's attitude is one of confidence and tolerance!

As a relatively young designer, it's easy to get into arguments with others. After all, to become a designer, you must have extremely strong confidence and defend your own views.

When two designers both think they are right, arguments are inevitable.

But President Pei has obviously reached another level. Not arguing with others is not because he is not confident in himself, but because he is too confident in himself, so he just smiles it off and doesn't bother to have this kind of argument.

He An is a senior after all, and it's normal for him to not keep up with the latest game design trends and not see the shining points of *Mission and Choice*. President Pei didn't explain much, but followed the old gentleman's wishes, which was the right thing to do.

So Hu Xianbin also said with a smile: "Okay, President Pei, I'll continue working."

Pei Qian left Tenda Games with a smile, preparing to return to Moyu Internet Cafe for a while.

He An took two steps with Pei Qian, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

"President Pei, you say you completely agree with me, but you actually have no intention of changing it at all."

"Even if you're trying to fool an old man, you're being too perfunctory, right?"

"Do you think I'm old and can't keep up with game comprehension? Even if you explain it, I may not understand, so you simply don't explain it and just agree with what I said?"

Pei Qian immediately and very sincerely denied this statement: "How is that possible!"

"Teacher He, what I said is absolutely sincere. I really completely agree with your statement."

"But... this game has already been made to this extent, and it's not appropriate to change it anymore, so let's just finish it."

"It's okay if we lose a little money."

He An was shocked, but looking at President Pei's expression, he really couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

It's okay if we lose a little money? It doesn't matter?

That's 500 million!

He An was silent for a moment: "Heh, I see it, President Pei, you are confident. You agree with the problems I raised, but you don't change them, which means you have a better solution."

"Okay, then I'll wait and see!"

Pei Qian: "?"

Looking at the old gentleman's determined eyes, Pei Qian felt very helpless.

There's really no way to explain!

Since that's the case, then I won't explain it. When *Mission and Choice* is released and loses everything, I'll invite He An to dinner and thank him properly.