Chapter 182 RTS

Hearing this, Pei Qian got even more excited.

"Teacher He, please tell me about it, I'm very eager to hear!"

He An was a bit surprised: "What, is President Ma a seasoned RTS game enthusiast?"

Pei Qian thought for a moment, "Well...more or less."

Starting now, showing enthusiasm should barely qualify as seasoned, right?

Why am I interested in RTS games? Maybe because they can help me lose money?

He An pondered: "Alright, RTS games aren't completely irrelevant to today's lesson, so I'll give a brief overview."

"RTS games, or real-time strategy games, were indeed glorious in the past, once a pillar of the esports industry. And when talking about RTS games, you can't avoid *Fantasy Battle* and *StarCraft II*."

"Last year, *StarCraft II* was released and was a great success."

"But this didn't change industry insiders' pessimism about the RTS genre because it seemed more like a final burst of glory. The success of this one game is unlikely to change the overall decline of the genre."

"In fact, that's exactly the case. Now, apart from a few old, established companies with well-known IPs, almost no one wants to touch this genre anymore."

"And even the big companies don't seem to be planning to invest too much money and energy into this genre."

"The decline of this genre is directly related to the rise of new game genres."

"RTS games have excessively high requirements for players' skill. Most players can't reach the minimum skill threshold, so they can't enjoy the game."

"At the same time, the single-player game mode makes it difficult to pass the blame onto teammates. The sense of frustration after losing is too strong, allowing RTS games to become a very high-end, highly watchable esports, but making it difficult to continue as a popular game, because the barrier to entry is too high."

"The mainstream of future popular games should be games like *GOG*, especially its cross-platform play between PC and mobile, giving it a unique advantage..."

Pei Qian's lips twitched. How did it get back to the topic of *GOG* again?

He quickly tried to change the subject.

"In short, at this point in time, companies without IP accumulation are doomed if they make RTS games, right?"

He An nodded slightly: "Yes, you can think of it that way."

Pei Qian couldn't help but rejoice.

That's what I think too!

Finally, he was on the same wavelength as Teacher He for once.

Pei Qian had indeed considered the RTS genre before, but the reason he didn't do it at that time was because this genre didn't seem to be completely dead yet.

Although it had declined, there were still many old players who liked this genre at that time, and their purchasing power was generally amazing. If they were to get their eyes on it, the consequences would be disastrous.

But more than a year has passed, and the situation has changed!

The release of *StarCraft II* last year caused a resurgence of RTS games, almost absorbing all the remaining RTS player base.

And *GOG* and *IOI* are fighting fiercely, even *God Revelation* can only tremble in fear, let alone a new RTS game?

Yes, let's do this, it feels foolproof!

Unfortunately, there's no time for this cycle. I can only consider it in the next cycle.

He An sighed: "Ah, actually, part of the reason I decided to retire is that my vision can't keep up with the pace of game development in this era."

"Before, I thought that game genres like *God Revelation* would only become a small but beautiful niche genre, and that mobile games, no matter how developed, couldn't have a significant impact on PC games."

"Now it seems that these are all outdated ideas."

"So President Ma, this is why I put this lesson as the second lesson. I hope you can always have a long-term vision, accurately grasp the development of games, and catch the trend with every game you make, so you can win effortlessly!"

Pei Qian: "..."

Teacher He, you were lecturing so well, why are you cursing me?

...

10 PM.

DGE Esports Club.

It was already lights out, and all the players' phones had been confiscated to ensure sufficient sleep.

Ming Yun Mountain Villa was a villa complex far from the city, and the light pollution was very weak. Even without drawing the curtains, only faint moonlight and starlight could be seen.

This was the players' dormitory, a two-person room.

In the darkness, a figure sprawled out on the bed in a "大" (da - big) shape spoke.

"Lao Zhou, could you please do me a favor and bring me my water cup? I'm thirsty."

Lao Zhou, who was sleeping on the other bed, was obviously not asleep yet: "Damn it, what were you doing before you got into bed? Besides, why don't you get it yourself?"

The sprawled figure said weakly: "I can't move."

Lao Zhou: "Huang Wang, you say that as if I can move."

Huang Wang: "Lao Zhou, don't pretend, you can definitely move, please, if I die of thirst tomorrow, the scrim will be judged as a loss, and we'll have to practice more at night!"

Lao Zhou: "Call me daddy."

Huang Wang: "Daddy!"

Lao Zhou: "...You damn, you're really a captain without any integrity, I'm impressed."

Lao Zhou had no choice but to roll out of bed and walk awkwardly to the table next to him, took Huang Wang's water cup, and handed it to him by the bed.

Huang Wang: "Ah..."

Lao Zhou's face darkened: "Are you trying to die! Drink it yourself, if you don't drink it, I'll pour it on the ground!"

Huang Wang quickly struggled to sit up from the bed: "I'll drink, I'll drink, give it to me."

Lao Zhou went back to bed in annoyance.

Huang Wang took two sips of water, pursed his lips, and said, "Lao Zhou, we can't continue like this, we have to think of a way. That Jiang guy on the other team is definitely a sly old fox!"

"We've been practicing extra for a week now, if we keep losing like this, we'll be ruined!"

Lao Zhou was speechless: "Isn't that because of your command as the captain! Jiang Huan can come up with tricky tactics every time, beating us to a pulp. Compared to them, our team is just a pile of sand! Especially you, you play the mid-laner, and your support is always slower than others, what's the point of playing!"

Huang Wang refused to accept: "Damn, isn't that because the enemy's mid and jungle are inseparable? In short, it's all a matter of tactics. We have to think of some new tactics, otherwise, we'll practice extra if we lose the scrim, who can withstand that!"

"If we keep practicing, we can really switch to being fitness coaches!"

Lao Zhou chuckled: "It's okay, before switching to fitness coaches, we can have a real PK with the other team. I can feel that my muscles have grown bigger."

Huang Wang: "How about this, tomorrow we'll also work on a few tactics. If the other team plays unpredictably, we can only play dirty. I see it now, this game all depends on tactics..."

Suddenly, the light outside the door turned on, and the light shone through the crack in the door. The two quickly shut up.

Zhang Yuan stood at the door for two minutes before turning and leaving.

During this period, the daily training of the DGE club was simply indescribable.

After President Pei formulated the training schedule, Zhang Yuan was a little worried, but he still strictly followed the schedule.

Sure enough, these internet-addicted teenagers were exhausted on the first day.

The original plan was to jog in the morning, but these people quickly changed from jogging to brisk walking, then from brisk walking to slow walking, and finally from slow walking to panting in place.

Strength training was arranged in the evening. They didn't feel anything after the training that day, just felt like their bodies were hollowed out. As a result, after sleeping, they almost couldn't get out of bed the next day.

Fortunately, Coach Ya Ling was professional, and she paid attention to everyone's physical condition during the training process. Moreover, nutrition supplements, pre-workout warm-ups, and post-workout stretches were all very professional, so there were no major problems.

However, even so, these people were still exhausted. During the first week of starting fitness, the quality of solo training and the effect of scrims in the game declined sharply. On average, each of the ten players dropped one rank in high-elo solo queue.

By the second week, some subtle changes began to occur.

The muscles of the players who were as thin as bamboo poles began to grow significantly, and the chubby players visibly became thinner. As they gradually adapted to the amount of fitness exercise, their game state was slowly recovering.

Then, one of the teams figured it out first.

Jiang Huan's team began to use various tricky tactics in the scrims, directly winning seven games in a row and beating Huang Wang's team to a pulp.

As for why they were so determined...

The reason was simple: the losers had to practice more!

If they lost decently, then the captain and the scapegoat in the team would practice together; if they lost badly, then the entire team would practice together.

After a few days of extra practice, Huang Wang, the captain, almost didn't have the strength to get up and get a glass of water.

Because as the players' physical fitness improved and they gradually adapted, Coach Ya Ling was already increasing their training load.

Zhang Yuan was a little sympathetic to these players, but after observing for a period of time, he found that it seemed to be really effective!

He had heard before that some clubs also had the first team and the second team practice against each other. At first, there were no punitive measures, so everyone was just using all kinds of tricky tactics, and no one took winning or losing seriously; later, the leader decided that the losing team would each pay 100 yuan for the winning team to buy cigarettes and snacks, and as a result, both sides immediately became serious.

And the punishment of extra practice seemed to be even more effective than that.

Both teams were racking their brains to study tactics and think of new tricks, and they were playing more and more seriously. New gameplay that they discovered in the ladder could be used in the scrim that day.

Moreover, the custom practice that was specially arranged after the morning run also had an effect.

At first, the players were very confused. There was no one to compete against in custom, so what was the point of practicing?

But there was nothing else to do during this time, so they could only endlessly repeat the basic skills of some heroes and study the hero mechanics in custom.

After trying to maximize the operation of familiar heroes, they could only continue to study those heroes they were not familiar with.

Then they studied the lane management, jungle monsters, and various deeper game mechanics. The more they studied, the more data they memorized in their minds.

After all, two hours of just practicing muscle memory was too boring, and more or less they would have some thoughts on the game mechanics.

Obviously, Huang Wang's team had been performing better and better in the scrims recently, and they were also desperately studying various tactics. Maybe they would win a victory soon and get their revenge.

When Jiang Huan and his team practiced extra next time, they would study new tactics again. They would chase each other and form perpetual motion.

After all, *GOG* was a new game, and those high-elo players had the deepest understanding of the game. Letting them think of tactics might not be worse than those coaches who had switched from other games.

Zhang Yuan couldn't help but sigh, could it be that President Pei's training plan was really well-thought-out?

After trying it out for a while, the effect was good!