Chapter 118 Deep Meaning

Lin Wan was a little curious, "What task did President Pei arrange for you?"

Wang Xiaobin said blankly, "President Pei asked me to take half of Shang Yang Games' staff to be responsible for making new versions of those old games..."

"I don't quite understand. Isn't this task more suitable for Ye Zhizhou? I'm a numerical planner, developing functions isn't my strength!"

"Besides, it was decided by rock-paper-scissors. This is too..."

Lin Wan frowned slightly, considering it seriously for a moment.

"I think President Pei's rock-paper-scissors should have some deeper meaning."

Wang Xiaobin was stunned for a moment, "Ah? Rock-paper-scissors also has a deeper meaning? Could this be... overthinking it?"

Lin Wan shook her head, "You are good at numerical planning, and Ye Zhizhou is good at function design. President Pei knows this very well."

"Letting you do work that you are not currently good at is obviously to further exercise your abilities."

Wang Xiaobin thought for a while, "But if President Pei wants to train me, wouldn't it be better to just arrange the work for me directly? Why bother with rock-paper-scissors?"

Lin Wan considered for a moment and said, "I think this should be expressing an attitude."

"President Pei obviously believes that everyone in the Tenda Games department, no matter who they are, must be versatile. Even if it's rock-paper-scissors or drawing lots, anyone who comes along must be able to stand alone."

"Moreover, this incident also shows President Pei's attitude towards Shang Yang Games."

"All along, the outside world's view of Shang Yang Games has been that we are just helping out, and they all think that our position within the company is not as good as Tenda Games."

"But now, President Pei has given us the task of promoting the international version of *gog*, and also given us the task of updating the DLC for Tenda Games, which shows that in President Pei's eyes, he treats us and Tenda Games equally."

"So, we must not disappoint President Pei's expectations!"

Wang Xiaobin nodded, "Well, I understand!"

President Pei's decision was obviously taking a big risk!

For ordinary bosses, letting each employee do the work they are best at is obviously the most economical and practical approach, and the risk is the most controllable.

Using the company's projects to help employees grow and practice, where can you find such a good thing?

Some bosses let employees concurrently hold certain positions, ostensibly for "learning," but in reality, they are reluctant to spend more money to hire professional talent.

But President Pei is completely different. After already giving high enough salaries and benefits, he is still constantly transferring employees to be responsible for different projects.

Obviously, doing so may very well lead to the failure of the project, but President Pei doesn't care about this at all. This is to train all employees to be versatile, and it is also a great trust in the employees!

Wang Xiaobin felt that he must not disappoint President Pei's trust, and must do a good job in this new version to prove himself!

...

...

October 11th, Tuesday.

In a taxi, Lu Zhiyao was fully armed with sunglasses, a mask, and a baseball cap, afraid of encountering enthusiastic fans and being recognized, causing some unnecessary trouble.

He had just arrived in Jingzhou and hadn't even checked into a hotel. He went straight to Fei Huang Studio.

Since *A Beautiful Tomorrow* became popular, Lu Zhiyao has completely washed away the notorious name of "box office poison" and has received many invitations from film crews, many of which offered very high prices.

But Lu Zhiyao didn't accept any of them.

Lu Zhiyao was not comfortable with scripts he didn't have. For those with scripts, Lu Zhiyao always felt something was missing after reading them.

None of them had the special feeling of *A Beautiful Tomorrow*!

There was one script that Lu Zhiyao was relatively satisfied with, but the character design was similar to *A Beautiful Tomorrow*. He was also a relatively tragic licking-dog-type male lead. (licking dog = someone who simps hard)

Obviously, this film crew also saw Lu Zhiyao's performance in *A Beautiful Tomorrow* and felt that he was very suitable for this role, so they sent an invitation.

Lu Zhiyao wasn't opposed to this. After all, as an actor, you have to act like whatever you're playing, and you have to be dedicated.

But Lu Zhiyao felt that he had already acted once in *A Beautiful Tomorrow*, so what's the point of acting it again?

There was no breakthrough.

When filming *A Beautiful Tomorrow*, Lu Zhiyao felt that his acting skills had leaped forward, and he also participated in the creation process to a high degree. This experience was never obtained in other film crews.

Therefore, Lu Zhiyao has been hesitating.

He finally washed away the nickname of "box office poison." What if he accidentally takes on another bad movie? Wouldn't that be a waste of all his previous efforts?

Lu Zhiyao asked himself, he was not a very good actor at picking scripts.

Some scripts that look good may not necessarily turn out well. For him, who is in a period of rising popularity, he must be cautious and cautious.

Director Zhu Xiaoce's phone call came just in time.

Since it was President Pei's project, it must be right. Just film it!

Of course, he had to look at the script first before filming. It's not that he didn't trust Director Zhu, but he mainly wanted to understand what kind of story it was in advance, prepare in advance, and brew up his emotions.

"Director Zhu!"

As soon as he entered the door, Lu Zhiyao saw Director Zhu Xiaoce working hard at his workstation.

Zhu Xiaoce was concentrating on thinking about the script's problems. Hearing Lu Zhiyao's voice startled him, and he quickly hid the document on the computer desktop.

Lu Zhiyao was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, Zhu Xiaoce had already greeted him with a smiling face.

"You're here so fast? I thought it would take at least another hour." Zhu Xiaoce used a smile to hide his embarrassment, and told someone to pour water.

Lu Zhiyao nodded, "Yeah, I didn't even go to the hotel. I came here first. I'm looking forward to the new movie, thinking of coming over to chat with Director Zhu and take a look at the script, so that I can ponder the role and memorize the lines after returning to the hotel."

Zhu Xiaoce coughed lightly twice, "This... I didn't say that the script is still a little bit short?"

Lu Zhiyao didn't take it seriously, "It's okay, just let me see how much you have."

Zhu Xiaoce was a little embarrassed, quickly racking his brains, "Actually... I can't let you see the script yet."

Lu Zhiyao was stunned for a moment, "Ah? Why?"

Zhu Xiaoce said, "Because this time we are going to use a new shooting method. Each part of the script is given separately, so that you can avoid the interference caused by spoilers."

Lu Zhiyao felt a little surprised, "Really? That sounds quite professional. It seems that some big movies in the United States do this."

"Not bad either."

"Then, Director Zhu, can you show me the script for the first act first?"

Zhu Xiaoce was speechless for a moment.

He felt like an elementary school student who lied and said he hadn't finished his homework, but the teacher kept saying, "It's okay if you haven't finished it, let me take a look at how much you've written first."

In reality, he hadn't written a single word!

Fortunately, Director Zhu was a person who had experienced big storms, and he could completely handle this little scene.

After Lu Zhiyao took a sip of tea, Zhu Xiaoce said solemnly, "That's right, before reading the script, I have prepared another way for you to ponder the psychology of the protagonist."

"Come, put this on."

Zhu Xiaoce brought Lu Zhiyao a high-end gaming laptop.

Lu Zhiyao was a little dazed, "?"

Zhu Xiaoce explained, "This contains *StarCraft 2*. Your next task is to stay in the hotel and not go out, order take-out for three meals a day, and then keep playing *StarCraft 2*."

"Just play the campaign, winning or losing doesn't matter, but there is a requirement: you must try to imagine every soldier in this game as a real life."

"Play for three days first, and try to figure it out. If you have any feelings, whether they are reliable or unreliable, write them all down for me to see."

Lu Zhiyao took the gaming laptop in confusion, "But, the script..."

Zhu Xiaoce said seriously, "You still can't see the script. If you see the script, this experience won't be accurate, understand? Trust me, just do as I say."

Lu Zhiyao felt that something was slightly tricky, but since Director Zhu was so sure, let's try it first.

Maybe the role he was going to play this time required a lot, and he could only understand the role better in this way?

Lu Zhiyao didn't think too much, carrying the heavy gaming laptop, planning to go back to the hotel to rest, and then try to figure out the role according to Director Zhu Xiaoce's requirements.

"By the way, Director Zhu, what is the identity of the character I'm going to play? Which direction should I work hard in?"

"I have to know this to better understand the character's psychology, right?"

Zhu Xiaoce thought for a while, and seemed to be right, "Well... you are going to play a space warrior with a strong mentality this time."

"Try not to have any emotional fluctuations or extra expressions."

"No matter what happens, your heartbeat should not fluctuate much."

Lu Zhiyao was stunned.

"Ah?"

"Don't have too many expressions?"

"Then my acting skills are useless?"

Zhu Xiaoce patted Lu Zhiyao on the shoulder, "That's where your acting skills are needed more!"

"Think hard about the character, and think about how to show superb acting skills without expressions!"

"I believe you can do it!"

Lu Zhiyao: "..."

Looking at Director Zhu, who was acting so serious, and looking at the heavy gaming laptop in his hand, Lu Zhiyao suddenly had a feeling of being cheated.

...

At the same time, Moyu Internet Cafe, Handong University Branch.

Pei Qian was drinking coffee and browsing the webpage.

The popularity of *Struggle* has declined, but the sales trend has not declined at all.

Pei Qian looked at the various rainbow farts (over the top praise) on the Internet from players about *Struggle*, and sighed silently.

He originally wanted to see which aspects of the game the players liked, so that he could avoid them in future games, but he found that the players seemed to like everything.

It was useless to look.

This was very stiff.

"Forget it, let's just follow Teacher He, the guiding light, these players can't be relied on."

Pei Qian was just about to close the webpage when he suddenly saw a player comment, and his eyes lit up.

"Hey, I don't know why, but looking at the success of *Struggle*, I feel a little sad."

"There are so many game companies in China, how many make online games, and how many make single-player games?"

"How many companies can only afford to make small single-player games, and how many dare to spend, are willing to spend, and can afford to spend big money to make single-player games?"

"How many companies can really make single-player games well and successfully?"

"Thinking about it, there are very few companies that have been steadily, correctly, and seriously making single-player games, and investing heavily in them."

"Although the success of *Struggle* is a good thing, we only have this one seedling. There are still many companies that make single-player games, and independent game producers, whose projects die silently, and no one will even know."

"Having Tenda is the luck of domestic single-player games; but only having Tenda is the sorrow of domestic single-player games."

Seeing this comment, Pei Qian inexplicably thought of what Qiu Hong had said before.

In Pei Qian's view, the development environment for domestic single-player games in this world was already good, but it was still full of problems.

For domestic manufacturers without accumulation, large-scale single-player games require more investment and have a higher probability of failure than online games. This is an objective fact.

Therefore, domestic manufacturers are unwilling to make single-player games because it is a thankless task.

But in this way, it is even more impossible to accumulate, which falls into a vicious circle.

Tenda's single-player games have indeed been successful all the time.

But other companies have a very high probability of failing when making single-player games!

Pei Qian suddenly had a good idea.

Since domestic single-player games are so easy to lose money, then I will invest in these failed projects, and then not interfere with their design, let them fail freely, wouldn't that be able to lose money?