Chapter 1290 Finding the Right Entry Point

Meng Chang's first feeling was that the sense of reality was stronger!

It seemed as if he was truly immersed in the experience, having traveled to another real world.

Of course, there were still shortcomings, namely the resolution.

The resolution of current VR headsets was still a concern. Even though the Doubt VR headset had achieved 4K, there was still a noticeable pixelation.

"Animal Island" used a special cartoon style, which compensated for the insufficient resolution to some extent, but "Real Estate Agency Simulator" had a realistic style, so there was no way around it.

Technical issues couldn't be solved in the short term.

That's why the VR field was actually very special. Those who liked it were particularly enthusiastic, while those who didn't would consider it a complete scam, utterly useless.

Those who suffered from motion sickness, couldn't accept the screen-door effect of VR headsets, and had very high requirements for various operations and details, were not the target audience for current VR games, and couldn't experience the fun of VR games at all.

But apart from these people, there were some players who could tolerate these shortcomings. They enjoyed the sense of immersion and engagement brought by VR games more. This group of players was the main consumer force in the VR game market.

What Meng Chang played was not the final complete version of the game, so some of the scene transitions were still a bit stiff, basically still the black screen, loading, and jumping mode.

Cai Jiadong explained: "We specially made some scene transitions, but haven't updated them to this demo yet."

"Actually, there's nothing special about it. It's just a satellite shot. After going out, the camera first rises to the city's sky, then moves to the area where the destination is located, and then quickly descends, adding a little blur effect before arriving at the destination's door."

"On the one hand, it's to make the transition more natural, and on the other hand, it can also make players more familiar with the layout of the entire city, knowing roughly which area their house is in."

Meng Chang nodded, he could roughly imagine the feeling.

This wasn't a particularly crucial part, it didn't matter much whether he experienced it or not.

Meng Chang was already inside a real estate agency.

The game's basic controls obviously followed the standard operating mode of "Animal Island". Movement included different modes such as pushing the joystick and teleporting, and the interaction logic with props and objects in the scene was all done by touching and grabbing with fingers.

Meng Chang had also heard that President Pei had previously established a complete set of operating specifications for VR games through "Animal Island". "Real Estate Agency Simulator" obviously followed this set of specifications, saving trouble.

Meng Chang looked around. The space of this store wasn't large, and the structure was quite simple. There was only an office area similar to a front desk, a consultation area with a coffee table and two single sofas, and some simple furnishings.

"So the player is actually playing the boss of this small agency?" Meng Chang asked.

Cai Jiadong nodded: "That's right. In fact, at the beginning, we also considered whether to let players start as ordinary employees of a real estate agency, and then open their own store in the middle of the game."

"But this plan was rejected after repeated discussions."

"On the one hand, because working as an ordinary employee in a store may inevitably involve a lot of interaction with other colleagues, which is all unnecessary content, and the input is not proportional to the output; on the other hand, it may also lead to player impatience."

"We should skip these unnecessary contents and directly let players experience the core fun of this gameplay."

"So the protagonist is directly set as the boss of a small real estate agency. Of course, the conditions are relatively simple, and players need to save money little by little to unlock new decorations for the store, or rent a new, more spacious store."

"The player's residence and the store are two independent systems, and players can focus on either one according to their preferences."

Meng Chang understood that "Real Estate Agency Simulator" obviously didn't completely simulate real-world real estate agencies, but made some artistic embellishments and modifications.

This was also normal. After all, gameplays had to be selective, and content that didn't need to be shown had to be discarded.

Like many other simulation games, it only picked out the most quintessential parts for simulation, and naturally omitted those unimportant contents.

And the main difference between "Real Estate Agency Simulator" and reality was that the protagonist was the boss of a small real estate agency who had the final say and could freely decide the company's development direction and development strategy.

There was a computer on the front desk with a high stool, and the angle was just right for standing and looking at the computer.

This was obviously to take care of players who were playing the game standing up.

The computer was touch-screen, and you could directly tap to open the files and programs on it.

The basic gameplay was to view listings through the computer program, accept commissions, match houses and tenants, go to the houses to conduct on-site inspections and understand the situation, and then introduce the houses to tenants who came to the store, and get a commission after success.

Online, you could only see simple information such as the age of the house, floor plans, etc. You could receive several commissions at the same time, and you could do preliminary screening on the computer, and then go to the site for inspection.

There was no limit to the number of on-site inspections, but after all, the player's goal was to complete advanced commissions as soon as possible to increase their level, so it didn't make much sense to get tangled up in these low-level houses. You still needed to carefully screen and identify them.

After the on-site inspection, it was the normal process of meeting with tenants and answering their questions.

Meng Chang simply experienced it for about an hour or so, and then took off the VR headset.

"To be honest, I don't really understand where the fun of this game is."

Meng Chang's words were also relatively subtle, and he didn't directly say that the game was boring.

Cai Jiadong smiled: "It's normal. Similar simulation management games are quite picky about players. For some players, it may be particularly fun, while other players may not feel the fun."

"You're not a simulation management game player, so your feelings in this regard may be a little weaker."

"And simulation management games themselves are a type that takes a while to warm up. It's more difficult to get started in the early stage, but once you feel the fun, you can play for a long time."

"The fun of the game varies from person to person, and you can't force it in many cases."

Meng Chang was a little melancholy: "But if I can't feel the fun, how can I make a promotion plan..."

Cai Jiadong: "Oh, that's right. It's okay, you can experience it more and feel it, maybe you'll suddenly get inspired."

"If it really doesn't work, you can also ask some hardcore simulation management game enthusiasts and learn from them."

As a designer, Cai Jiadong certainly understood, but after all, his perspective was that of a designer, and there was still some distance from the player's perspective. He was afraid that even if he explained it, Meng Chang would still not be able to understand.

So it was best to find a player to discuss it and experience the fun from the player's perspective, which would be relatively easier to understand.

Meng Chang nodded: "Okay, I understand."

He didn't know any players who liked simulation management games, but he knew Qiao Laoshi.

If it really didn't work, he would ask Qiao Laoshi. Anyway, as a professional player, he could get the fun of most games.

And he didn't need to really feel this kind of fun, he just needed to understand it.

…

In the afternoon, Meng Chang returned to his workstation and began to consider the promotion plan.

He didn't go to Qiao Laoshi right away, mainly because he wanted to come up with a prototype on his own, and couldn't be too influenced by Qiao Laoshi's ideas, which would cause the plan to go astray.

In other words, Qiao Laoshi would either not be used, or would be used directly as the finishing touch, and Meng Chang's original plan couldn't be affected by Qiao Laoshi's words.

"Before, I only summarized the basic process of President Pei's promotion method 'raise-suppress-raise', but I'm not particularly proficient in mastering this process."

"If you analyze it carefully, the key is actually in the middle step."

"The last step of raising is easy to do, because Tengda's products are inherently excellent. You just need to let the product get the evaluation it deserves. The first step of raising is also relatively easy to do. You just need to give a relatively good promotion start with some reservations."

"The key lies in the middle 'suppress'. How to cause controversy without causing real trouble to consumers or causing actual harm to the product, and leaving room for reversal afterwards, this is the key of the key."

"So, you might as well start with this step."

"What you can know is that when President Pei uses the Pei's promotion method, the 'suppress' step is very restrained and just right. There must be a very long period of thinking and careful preparation behind this."

"How to suppress it?"

"Continue to use my bad reputation?"

"It's not going to work, my bad reputation is a bit useless..."

Meng Chang found that his bad reputation was really only more effective when President Pei used it for the first time, and it got worse every time after that.

Mainly because after several successful promotion plans, many people's impression of Meng Chang had changed to a certain extent.

Although he was still hated, this kind of hatred was not enough to have any fatal impact on the product itself.

So his bad reputation was not completely unusable, but its effect was no longer great, which was very sad.

"Why not use someone else's bad reputation?"

"Is there any bad reputation in the real estate agency field? Zhujia Group?"

"It's not going to work, President Pei seems to dislike this company very much."

Meng Chang originally thought that he could take advantage of Zhujia Group's bad reputation, but after thinking about it, he felt it was inappropriate. Zhujia Group's concept had a fundamental conflict with President Pei's. Even if he wanted to "suppress" it, he didn't need to splash dirty water on himself.

Besides, the ultimate goal of Pei's promotion method was to achieve the best promotion effect through this kind of controversy and misunderstanding. Cooperating with Zhujia Group could easily lead to being unable to clear your name, wouldn't that be a big problem?

Meng Chang just had the idea and gave up, turning to think of other ways.

"Actually, there's no need to use Zhujia Group's bad reputation, you just need to use everyone's prejudice against the real estate agency industry."

"Well...this is a good entry point, but how to cleverly combine it with the game itself still needs to be carefully considered."

Meng Chang tried his best to put himself in President Pei's shoes, considering how President Pei would design a promotion plan, while experiencing the details of the game and carefully savoring it.