Chapter 124 Distressed

February 3rd, Friday, 10:00 AM.

Pei Qian arrived at the Moyu Internet Cafe, Handa University branch. After having brunch, he ordered a coffee and asked the waiter to bring his laptop so he could continue considering the work arrangements for each department.

"Huh, the revenue data for Zhongdian Chinese Network has been steadily increasing recently."

"Is this damn website really getting better and better?"

"No, I can't let this continue. I need to make some arrangements when I have time."

Pei Qian briefly flipped through the revenue data for several departments and found that although Zhongdian Chinese Network wasn't the most profitable, it was the most stable and its profits were steadily increasing.

Judging from the data, more and more authors were joining Zhongdian Chinese Network, and the entire website's library was constantly expanding.

For similar online novel websites, content was always the most important thing. As long as Zhongdian Chinese Network could maintain its appeal to authors and consistently provide competitive novel works, its future development would definitely become smoother and smoother.

Pei Qian had been worried about too many things before, and felt that Zhongdian Chinese Network didn't make much money, so there was no need to focus on it. But now, he couldn't ignore it. If it continued like this, he was afraid it would become a problem.

But... how could he curb the development of Zhongdian Chinese Network?

This was a technical task that required careful planning.

Pei Qian couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a familiar figure pushing the door open outside the Internet cafe.

"Teacher He?" Pei Qian was a little surprised.

The person who came was He An.

He An was also a little surprised to see Pei Qian. He probably didn't expect to run into him, so he went straight to the empty seat opposite Pei Qian and sat down.

"Teacher He, why are you in Jingzhou?" Pei Qian asked.

He An smiled and said, "I don't have much to do recently, so I came to Jingzhou for a walk to relax."

"By the way, President Pei, how is your game... doing?"

This "game" was, of course, *Mission and Choice*. He An had a deep connection with the creation of this game.

Ever since He An made the suggestion to President Pei, he had always felt concerned, afraid that he would really lose 500 million yuan, wouldn't that be screwing President Pei over?

Therefore, He An had always been thinking about this matter. This time, he came to Jingzhou to relax and saw President Pei, so of course he had to ask.

Pei Qian was silent for a moment. "Uh... I'm not too sure."

He An: "?"

You're not too sure?

This was a game project that burned 500 million yuan!

From the official launch to the start of production, the game had been in development for more than four months. If it were a small project, it might be almost finished by now.

*Mission and Choice* was a big production, and the development time would indeed be longer, but in more than four months, how could Tenda's development efficiency not have produced a semi-finished product?

As a result, President Pei himself wasn't too sure?

A project with an investment of 500 million yuan had been halfway completed, and the boss hadn't even bothered to ask about it?

Could it be any more ridiculous?

Or is it...

President Pei was joking before, and he felt that this project would definitely lose money, so he stopped the project after working on it for a while? And no longer continued to develop it?

He An looked at Pei Qian with suspicion. "President Pei, you don't think this project will definitely lose money, so you didn't develop it at all, did you?"

Pei Qian immediately shook his head. "How is that possible!"

"The development is definitely normal development. According to the progress, it should be more than halfway done, right? Coincidentally, why don't Teacher He come and take a look with me?"

He An was even more confused and completely couldn't figure out what was going on.

Saying that President Pei didn't pay attention to this project, so much money and manpower was invested; saying that President Pei paid attention to this project, it had been developed for four months, and he hadn't even bothered to ask about it?

He even had to guess the development progress?

No matter how he thought about it, it was very unreasonable!

He An nodded. "Okay, I'm also very curious about the current situation of this game."

Pei Qian finished his coffee, and he and He An strolled to the nearby Tenda Games headquarters.

This was He An's first time to Tenda's office area, and like everyone else, he was amazed by the spacious and luxurious office area.

He An couldn't help but sigh, "I've been working in the game industry for decades, and this is the first time I've seen such an office environment."

He noticed that not only was the office environment good, but the employees were also very enthusiastic about their work. Everyone was focused on their work, and no one even stood up to greet President Pei when he arrived.

Only Hu Xianbin saw President Pei's arrival and quickly stood up. "President Pei!"

Pei Qian said with a smile, "It's nothing, I'm just here to see how *Mission and Choice* is developing."

"This is He An from Mengguo Games, President He."

Hu Xianbin showed a suddenly enlightened expression. "President He! I've heard so much about you, you're also a senior in the game industry! Hello, hello!"

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Hu Xianbin began to introduce the development of the game *Mission and Choice*.

Currently, the Tenda Games department was basically divided into two projects. One group was responsible for the development and daily operation of GOG, and the person in charge was Min Jingchao, who had just returned from Los Angeles a few days ago and was about to pack his bags and go back to Los Angeles again. The other group was responsible for the development of *Mission and Choice*, which was headed by Hu Xianbin.

"President Pei, the current completion of the game is about 60% to 70%. The basic gameplay and framework of the game have been completed, and various game mechanics have also been completed. What remains is the design of the various levels and some of the details of the game that need to be slowly adjusted..."

Pei Qian listened carefully and nodded frequently.

He An was also listening carefully, but the expression on his face was changing and wonderful.

Because he found that President Pei didn't seem to have asked about this project before?

He could tell that the things Hu Xianbin was reporting were relatively basic, including the development progress, initial preparation, and gameplay settings. If President Pei had already understood, then Hu Xianbin wouldn't have needed to introduce it again.

It was impossible for them to be putting on a show to deceive him.

Could it be that... President Pei really didn't care after the project was launched?

So confident?

Of course, He An wouldn't think that this was a sign that President Pei wasn't paying attention, because he felt that no one would not pay attention to a project with an investment of 500 million yuan.

Then... the only explanation was that President Pei trusted his subordinates very much!

President Pei believed that after he gave a design plan, even if he didn't ask about it, his subordinates could understand the design ideas well, complete the work satisfactorily, and finally come up with a finished product that met his expectations.

But this would lead to a new problem.

President Pei was so confident, it must be because he had put forward a very detailed and perfect design idea, which solved a series of problems that existed in *Mission and Choice*.

But the game *Mission and Choice* was too strange. What kind of design idea would make it successful?

You have to know that this game was born from the "most impossible game plan" that Pei Qian and He An discussed together.

Large investment, RTS game, science fiction theme, poor balance, simple operation... these were all "fatal flaws" proposed by He An.

He An believed that as long as President Pei did what he asked, the game would never be successful.

What's more, President Pei also used the game name and story background that were previously known as "the shame of national games," and even the original bit of success was gone.

Now seeing President Pei looking so confident, He An was more interested in this game, but also had more doubts.

After a brief introduction, Hu Xianbin said, "President Pei, President He, would you like to try out the demo of this game?"

Pei Qian immediately nodded. "Of course."

Hu Xianbin immediately pulled up the demo of *Mission and Choice* on his computer, and then said, "President Pei, the current demo is quite complete, but the plot part is missing a lot. Because the plot is expressed in movies, but the movies are still being filmed, so currently, only the pure battle part can be experienced."

Pei Qian nodded. "Okay, I understand."

Then, he looked at He An. "Why don't you try it out and give some suggestions."

He An didn't refuse too much. He sat in front of the computer and began to experience the demo of *Mission and Choice*.

As a real-time strategy game, *Mission and Choice* was naturally divided into levels.

Different chapters and levels had different plots, the maps were large and small, the troop configuration of both sides also changed, and the overall difficulty was from easy to difficult.

Although the map of this level was all on the surface of the planet, without space battles, the map size was not small, and it was estimated to be a mid-term level.

*Mission and Choice* used the standard third-person perspective of real-time strategy games, but unlike games like *StarCraft*, *Mission and Choice* had a higher degree of freedom in the perspective, and much higher.

General real-time strategy games could zoom in and out of the screen, and they could also lower the perspective, but these operations were strictly limited and could not be infinitely zoomed in.

Because when players were playing this type of game, they were very busy most of the time and needed to pay attention to all the units on the battlefield. Whether it was operation or observation, they had to pull the perspective to the highest point.

Moreover, the model accuracy of the game itself was not that high. If the perspective was too close, the game screen would appear very rough.

Considering the aesthetics and practicality, it was normal for the freedom of perspective adjustment to be low.

However, *Mission and Choice* had a high degree of freedom in the perspective, and the screen could be pulled very close, because the accuracy of soldiers and other combat units in the game was higher than all RTS games on the market.

He An silently sighed in his heart that they really burned enough money, and the picture was impeccable.

The models, actions, and details of each unit were very well done, the shape design was also very unique, and the picture could be said to be very top-notch.

After all, so much money was burned, so there had to be some effect.

The concept art of the game should have been done by Ruan Guangjian's Halo Studio, and the modeling and actions of the game were all done by the industry's top outsourcing companies. In terms of art, it was absolutely impeccable.