Chapter 273 Snack Consumption

Lin Wan was taken aback. "Huh?"

Pei Qian explained, "At Tengda, each employee consumes an average of 3.2 packets of snacks per day, with coffee and drinks extra. Basically, it's non-stop from the time they get to work until they leave. And that's only with many employees deciding to lose weight and exercising some self-control."

"But Chixing Studio clearly still has a long way to go to reach that number. We still need to work harder."

"The amount of snacks consumed reflects the level of employee engagement. The more snacks they eat, the more focused and diligent they are at work, thinking hard and expending a lot of energy, so they need to eat a lot of snacks to replenish it."

"So, we need to work harder in this regard!"

Lin Wan's expression was slightly surprised.

Eating too few snacks?

Was this also considered a problem that needed improvement?

Or... was there actually a deeper layer of information to be gleaned from this?

Lin Wan frowned slightly. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "I understand, President Pei!"

"Are you saying that these employees have only recently joined the company, and not eating snacks actually reflects that their attitude towards work is still a bit rigid and not relaxed enough?"

"And game creation is an industry that requires inspiration. Only when you are fully relaxed can you create good designs; only in a relaxed atmosphere can communication between colleagues be more harmonious and smooth?"

"So, eating fewer snacks reflects that the team is not working together well enough, and the atmosphere is not lively enough, which will actually affect the daily work state and the quality of the finished game!"

"Judging the whole from the appearance of a part, only when everyone can eat a lot of snacks steadily and with peace of mind can the entire team get on the right track faster?"

"Then I'll issue a notice to everyone later, encouraging them to eat more snacks in the future! We'll assign them a quota of two packets per person per day!"

Pei Qian was shocked.

He was just saying it casually, hoping that the employees of Chixing Studio would eat more snacks and do less work, but he didn't expect Lin Wan to come up with so much in less than a second...

As expected, this was what it was like to be a veteran Tengda employee?

Pei Qian couldn't help but want to cover his forehead, wondering what exactly was going on, how he had managed to cultivate so many strangely shaped employees...

But now there was no way to explain it. Pei Qian could only acquiesce to Lin Wan's statement and immediately changed the subject. "Let's talk about the VR glasses."

Lin Wan nodded. "Let's go to the conference room. My brother happens to be there too."

As soon as they entered the conference room, Pei Qian saw Lin Chang, who was looking down and playing with his phone.

Lin Chang looked up, saw Pei Qian, and immediately smiled. "Oh, President Pei, you're here? Has the matter of Tengda's cash flow been resolved?"

The corners of Pei Qian's mouth twitched slightly.

Wasn't this a rhetorical question?

Don't think I don't know that you were the one pulling the strings behind the scenes!

Although Pei Qian hadn't thought so much about it at first, the more he thought about it these past few days, the more wrong it felt.

Logically speaking, the building of Sloth Apartments should be very popular, so why didn't anyone want it?

To say that all companies didn't want to "take advantage of the situation" was actually a bit far-fetched, because it was impossible for all potential companies to respect Tengda to the point of giving up such a large piece of meat.

So, it was likely that someone had tipped them off behind the scenes!

As for who this person was, it was actually easy to guess, it was either Li Shi or Lin Chang.

And Li Shi didn't have that much power. His influence was limited to Jingzhou. He couldn't really talk to some of the major real estate companies in the country.

Once that was eliminated, the answer was obvious.

In this incident of obstructing the sale of the building, Lin Chang had definitely exerted a huge amount of energy!

Pei Qian smiled. "I have to thank President Lin for his 'help'."

Although Pei Qian had tried his best to say it in a sarcastic tone, Lin Chang still didn't notice it at all. Instead, he waved his hand a little embarrassed. "Hey, President Pei, you're too polite. We're practically family, no need to thank me!"

"Actually, this was just a small favor, just a matter of making a few phone calls."

"President Pei has put so much effort into Chixing Studio, even willing to sell the building to come up with this funding. This kind of friendship cannot be measured by money! This small favor isn't even worth mentioning, President Pei, don't take it to heart!"

Pei Qian: "..."

Couldn't you tell what was good or bad? Was I thanking you?

If the system wasn't controlling my mouth, I would have already cursed you out!

Pei Qian was very speechless. He casually found a chair at the conference table and sat down. "Let's get down to business. I heard that the research and development funding for the VR glasses is not enough?"

Lin Wan nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Previously, the research and development funds we originally allocated were 20 million for both the game and the VR glasses. The game is definitely no problem, it's definitely enough, but the VR glasses... have encountered a bit of a problem."

"Actually, according to our original design, this money was about enough, but after the specific design and communication with the factory, several versions of the plan were changed, and Lao Song wanted to adopt some new technologies, so the cost went up..."

Lao Song was the product manager from Shenhua Group in charge of the VR glasses project.

For hardware research and development, the investment could be as much or as little as you wanted, and the fluctuations were actually very large, depending on what level you wanted to achieve.

Not to mention an entire device, even the research and development of a small controller, Microsoft had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into it.

But those were all overly focused on details, such as the ergonomic design, durability, feel, and unique appearance of the controller, which had to be repeatedly modified, adjusted, and tested.

But many domestic manufacturers also made controllers, and the research and development funding for these controllers was much, much lower.

Of course, there would be a difference in the feel and actual user experience between a good controller and a bad controller, but the difference wouldn't be that big.

In other words, a cheap controller "couldn't not be used."

After all, you get what you pay for. On these kinds of somatosensory devices, the cost of improving the feel by one point was extremely high.

As for VR devices, the very sensational first-generation Oculus Rift was made with only $2.5 million raised through crowdfunding, which included some of the production and inventory costs.

Many domestic companies also developed VR glasses using crowdfunding, such as a domestic VR glasses with 8k as a gimmick that raised $3 million through crowdfunding and developed the VR glasses with the highest resolution in the world. Although the base stations and controllers used existing technology, it was enough to show that the research and development of VR glasses didn't actually cost that much money.

The current VR glasses didn't actually have much high-tech content. The only difference from traditional displays was the display method.

The two lenses of the VR glasses were based on different visual fields and created different depths of perception of the screen in a local space, forming a virtual reality visual field in the user's brain, creating a display effect that was different from traditional screens.

In other words, the information was still the same information, it was just presented to the players in a different form.

And Chixing Studio invested 20 million, which could be converted into 3 million dollars, which was already considered a relatively large investment. Ordinary companies simply didn't dare to spend this money to make VR themselves, for fear of losing everything.

What's more, VR glasses and mobile phones had things in common, such as the need for chips and a basic Android operating system, which were undoubtedly Shenhua Group's strengths, and a lot of money could be saved in this regard.

Originally, this money was enough, but Lao Song, as the product manager, had a more geeky personality. He had some new ideas during the design process, and the development of the controller was indeed more difficult than originally expected. After several versions of the design plan, he realized that the funding was a bit tight, so he reported to Lin Wan for instructions.

Lao Song even came up with a whimsical idea of a somatosensory glove, but he quickly rejected it himself.

Because there would be several problems with making gloves that were difficult to solve with the current technology, such as:

Players' hand sizes varied greatly, and making gloves meant making many sizes, and even if many sizes were made, they might not be perfectly compatible with the player's hands. And gloves like that would be uncomfortable if they were too big or too small. If it was a controller, it could be made in a universal size that all players could use comfortably.

Moreover, in order to complete the corresponding functions, the controller must have configurations such as batteries, sensors, joysticks, and buttons. Adding these things to the gloves would definitely make them too bulky and heavy, and they would be very inconvenient to operate.

So the glove scheme was not feasible with the current technical level, and even if it was forced to be made, the user experience would not be good, so it honestly returned to the controller scheme.

But even with the controller scheme, because it was different from existing VR controllers, the money required for research and development was more than previously expected.

As soon as he heard this, Pei Qian became energetic and his eyes lit up instantly. "I said at the time that the money would definitely not be enough!"

"You said at the time that 15 million would be enough to make it. I was worried that the money wouldn't be enough and added it to 20 million. Now it seems that 20 million is not enough!"

"We have to add more!"

Hearing this, Lin Chang quickly said, "No problem! However much President Pei adds, we at Shenhua will add the same amount!"

Pei Qian glanced at him, a little speechless.

Why were you getting involved?

Pei Qian didn't want to bring Lin Chang along, because Pei Qian was aiming for a blood loss. If Lin Chang also put in the same amount of money, wouldn't that be the same as losing money?

These kinds of things, it was better for President Pei to bear it alone.

But when he thought of the good things Lin Chang had done a few days ago, Pei Qian instantly had no sympathy for him.

It was his own fault for losing money!

Pei Qian smiled. "Okay, Tengda will invest another 10 million."

Lin Chang was stunned for a moment. "Ah? Is that much really needed?"

Pei Qian coughed lightly and said, "If it's inconvenient for President Lin, it's no problem for Tengda to pay for it all..."

Lin Chang quickly waved his hand. "No problem! How could there be a problem?"

"Shenhua will also invest another 10 million, no problem!"

"40 million, which is almost equal to nearly 6 million dollars. This is already twice as much as the funding for that sensational foreign VR glasses before..."

"Now there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Although he was supporting his sister, Lin Chang still instinctively felt a little虚(xū - uncertain).

Ten million was not a large sum for Shenhua Group. He was worried that after investing this money, if the project failed, it would have a huge impact on Lin Wan.

But since President Pei had made the decision to add money, then add it!

Lin Wan nodded. "That's definitely enough! But, President Pei, is Tengda's funding really okay? Why don't you keep the money, and let my brother pay for all 20 million..."

Pei Qian's face instantly darkened. "Tengda's funding is fine, very good! You don't have to worry about this!"

"Instead of worrying about this, you might as well put all your energy into the development of the device and the design of the game, and strive to get the product out as soon as possible!"

Anyway, the day this product was released was not far from a blood loss.

Lin Wan nodded. "Okay, I'll tell Lao Song later. In this way, those designs he had before can be implemented, and he will definitely be very happy!"

"By the way, President Pei, since you've come all this way, would you like to see the concept art for *Animal Island*?"

Pei Qian thought for a moment. "Sure, why not."

After all, there was still a long time before the game demo was released. Looking at the concept art could also give him a rough idea of the game's style and imagine the game screen.

Lin Wan took a laptop from the side, found a few game concept art images, and showed them to Pei Qian and Lin Chang.

Pei Qian glanced at them and couldn't help but be a little surprised.

This Q version of the concept art was painted... very perfectly!

The background of the concept art was a small island at sea, with lush vegetation and picturesque scenery. And the main part of the picture was various anthropomorphic small animals, such as cats, dogs, lions, bears, rabbits, etc. Some were holding fishing rods and fishing, some were holding axes and chopping trees, and some were holding hoes and farming.

There was also a strange robot with a bit of a steampunk style, assisting these small animals in managing the farmland, using a steampunk-style farmland irrigation system, of course, also in Q version.

For artists, compared to realistic painting styles, the Q version was relatively easy to get started with, because unless you were particularly gifted, the Q version wouldn't be too ugly.

But it was difficult to master the Q version, because the key to the Q version was to extract the prominent characteristics of the original image and recreate it. How to make the Q version characters cute and recognizable enough while retaining the core essence was a very difficult thing to do.

And these pictures were obviously masterpieces.

Pei Qian was very happy.

Masterpieces meant they were expensive!

Spending more money was definitely a good thing.

"This picture looks like it was painted by a master. It must have cost a lot of money, right?" Pei Qian asked casually.

Lin Wan smiled. "Why talk about money with Master Ruan? We have a long-term cooperation price."

Pei Qian was stunned for a moment, and a question mark instantly floated above his head.

?

"This was painted by Ruan Guangjian?"

Pei Qian felt a little dazed, because he remembered that Ruan Guangjian mainly painted realistic styles.

Lin Wan nodded. "Yes, that's right. I can only say that a master is a master. The Q version is also painted so well!"

Pei Qian was silent.

He suddenly remembered that Ruan Guangjian painted realistic styles a lot, but that didn't mean he couldn't paint Q version.

When Pei Qian was looking for an artist online for *Ghost General*, it was because he saw that Ruan Guangjian's representative works were all Q version, and he suspected that he didn't know realistic styles at all, so he looked for him...

*Mission and Choice* had only been released for a short time, and Ruan Guangjian had come to work on *Animal Island*?

The corners of Pei Qian's mouth twitched slightly. He said, "You guys have a good connection..."