Chapter 106 Administration

Not long after Wu Zhicheng got his milk tea, a young man with glasses and slightly curly hair found him.

"Hello, my name is Xi Hao. I'm the head of the administration department here. I also help the designers with development plans, budgets, progress reminders, and so on. In short, you can think of me as your 'housekeeper' at work. You can come to me with anything."

"I'll take you to your workstation and familiarize you with the entire incubator base."

Wu Zhicheng quickly stood up and shook hands with Xi Hao, "Okay, nice to meet you. Please take care of me in the future."

Xi Hao smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Don't be so formal. We're all family here. I and the other administrative staff haven't been here long either, we're all new."

"Besides, the administration department of the incubator base isn't a manager, but a service provider. You're responsible for creativity, we're responsible for service. Your work is much more important than ours."

The two chatted as they walked towards the office area.

To ensure the normal operation of the entire incubator base, in addition to finding office space, Qiu Hong had another very important thing to do during this period: recruitment.

If he directly sent resumes through social recruitment, the efficiency would be too low. So, Qiu Hong used some of his connections in the Beijing game circle to screen a group of people through internal referrals.

Xi Hao had more than four years of game development experience and had served as the executive chief planner of a small company. His abilities in all aspects were not top-notch, but they were definitely more than enough to meet the needs of general projects.

Moreover, although Xi Hao lacked inspiration in game design, he had a very prominent advantage: he was serious, careful, and very responsible for his work.

Therefore, after considering it, Qiu Hong felt that Xi Hao was a good candidate, so he decided to let him be responsible for maintaining the normal operation of the entire incubator base.

The administrative department of the incubator base is not only in charge of administration, but more like a hodgepodge.

There are dedicated finance, legal, and art needs teams, as well as dedicated personnel responsible for development progress planning and supervision.

In short, Qiu Hong provided all the supporting departments that he previously thought independent game developers lacked.

Although the entire administration department of the incubator base has only a dozen people, it is small but complete, with dedicated personnel and professionals with some experience in related fields.

Xi Hao took Wu Zhicheng to a workstation by the window in the office area, "This will be your workstation from now on. Your work badge is still being made and should be delivered soon."

"This is your work card. You can swipe it directly on the first floor to enter the building in the future, so you don't have to register anymore."

"Our administration department is over there by the window. If you encounter any problems at work in the future, you can always come to us."

"In the morning, you should first import all the data and resources from your computer into this office computer, and then activate the internal communication account and project management permissions according to this sheet."

"In the afternoon, we'll have a small meeting to briefly talk about the game you're working on, so that we can estimate the construction period, formulate a development plan, and find a suitable artist."

Xi Hao quickly introduced all the precautions here at the incubator space.

It's similar to formally joining a company, but the work content and workflow are different.

After Xi Hao left, Wu Zhicheng turned on the office computer in front of him.

This batch of office computers was still provided by ROF assembly, and the whole batch was express delivered from Jingzhou to Beijing. However, it did not use ROF's customized chassis, and there was no ROF logo on the chassis.

And Wu Zhicheng had never used ROF assembly before, so he didn't think too much about it. He just thought that these were high-end assembled machines purchased by the incubator base itself.

After booting up, Wu Zhicheng copied the relevant data of *Shui Mo Yun Yan* to this office computer, logged into the official development backend, and then activated the internal communication account and project management permissions as Xi Hao had instructed.

Wu Zhicheng had no experience working in a game company before, and he didn't know that these were standard procedures for game companies. He found it very novel.

"Oh, this computer configuration is so high."

Wu Zhicheng was a little surprised. The computer he used before was also good, bought by selling everything he had, but after all, the budget was limited, and he paid more attention to cost performance.

And this computer is completely a model of pursuing the ultimate high configuration. After taking a look at the configuration, Wu Zhicheng was simply drooling with envy.

Including ergonomic office desks and chairs, as well as a bar with unlimited drinks and milk tea, and other related supporting facilities, also made him very satisfied. The working environment was simply incomparable.

In this relaxed working atmosphere, Wu Zhicheng began to sort out the various contents of *Shui Mo Yun Yan*, including the expected number of levels, boss battle design, painting style, and so on, so as not to make a fool of himself in front of everyone during the meeting in the afternoon.

…

The lunch products were all provided by Moyu Waimai nearby.

The current Moyu Waimai has already left Handong Province and opened some stores in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

An important reason why Qiu Hong chose the incubator base here is that there is a Moyu Waimai store nearby, which can easily solve the problem of eating.

Wu Zhicheng ate his fill, hiccupped, and drank milk tea, thinking, what a wonderful working environment!

He was still a little hesitant about whether to come here to work before. On the one hand, he felt that it was quite troublesome to take the subway for four stops every day, and on the other hand, he was worried that he would not be free.

But now seeing this kind of working environment, Wu Zhicheng only has one thought: is this heaven?

In the afternoon, Xi Hao, Wu Zhicheng, and three other administrative staff members had a meeting together.

Xi Hao briefly introduced the positions of these three people: one is responsible for resource quantity statistics, progress planning, and development node reminders, one is responsible for proposing and communicating art resource needs, and one is responsible for financial reimbursement, data collection, printing, and various other tasks.

This is the small-group support framework that Qiu Hong prepared for the incubator base after careful consideration.

There are three such teams in the entire incubator base, and each team can be responsible for 4-6 independent game projects.

That is to say, the entire incubator base can incubate 12-18 independent game projects at the same time in the most efficient situation, ensuring that these game projects receive the most complete support.

The three members of the team have clear divisions of labor, and basically take care of all the content of independent games except for gameplay design and specific production.

As the person in charge, Xi Hao needs to understand all the independent game projects and also plan and supervise the work tasks of all teams.

Wu Zhicheng was still a little nervous.

Because since he started making independent games, he has been staying at home, and his communication with others has become very little, especially this kind of work communication is almost non-existent.

Now, facing four people who are taking notes seriously with pen and paper, he still feels a little stage fright.

However, Wu Zhicheng quickly adjusted his mentality and began to introduce the basic situation of *Shui Mo Yun Yan*.

"*Shui Mo Yun Yan* is a horizontal action game. I currently plan to have a total of 10 levels. Each level has unique bosses and monsters..."

Wu Zhicheng roughly told the same content that he had introduced to Qiu Hong before.

The four people on the opposite side nodded and recorded silently.

Although they have mastered some basic information about *Shui Mo Yun Yan*, it is clearer to hear the designer tell it in person.

Xi Hao didn't interrupt Wu Zhicheng, but waited until he had finished speaking in one breath before raising his own questions.

"Do you have any plans for the approximate length of the game?" Xi Hao asked.

Wu Zhicheng was stunned for a moment, "Uh... I haven't considered this issue yet."

Xi Hao nodded and explained, "Although you said that there will be ten levels in the game, this is a relatively general concept. It can be considered a level if it takes 10 minutes to clear, and it can also be considered a level if it takes 2 hours to clear."

"In order to ensure the content of the game and fully take care of the player's game experience, we should first plan the game time, and then adjust the specific planning of the levels through the game time."

"Generally speaking, for this kind of independent horizontal-scrolling game, a better game length for the first playthrough is 8-12 hours, which should not be too long or too short."

"My suggestion is that the standard game flow length can be set at around 10 hours, and the levels should generally follow the principle of going from easy to difficult, so the later levels should be slightly longer."