Chapter 10 Wednesday, October 10th

Yu Fei sat at his workstation, his computer screen displaying information about "Ghost General," while he held a small notebook filled with illegible scribbles.

His face was an expression of utter despair.

What a freaking disaster!

He had absolutely no clue where to even begin!

After the meeting on Monday, Yu Fei had been pushed by President Pei to start the initial design work for "Ghost General 2."

This was Yu Fei's first time participating in a Tenda Games new game brainstorming session, and it was completely different from what he had imagined!

As a fan of "Rebirth," Yu Fei had always admired Tenda Games and was very curious about how these classic games were designed.

But now that he was actually in Tenda Games, even participating in the development as a temporary lead designer, Yu Fei suddenly realized that it was very different from what he had expected!

What were the specific differences?

Perhaps there were differences in many aspects, but the most prominent one was the style!

He felt like he must be approaching it the wrong way; he shouldn't be in the Tenda Games department, but somewhere else.

The Tenda Games department was renowned, a household name.

Within the gaming industry, the Tenda Games department was considered the elite of the elite in China, churning out successful games one after another, and never repeating game types.

Although this was mainly due to President Pei, the genius designer, the employees in the game department were also not to be underestimated. Each of them, if taken out individually, could probably crush producers from other companies.

Within Tenda, everyone also knew that the people in the game department were President Pei's most trusted subordinates, the elite of the elite. They received awards hand over fist, and once they were fully trained, they would be assigned to other industries.

Huang Sibao, Lü Mingliang, and others were all examples of this.

But even with so much glory surrounding the department, after actually joining, he realized something wasn't quite right?

Yu Fei felt that it was already absurd that he, an outsider with no game development experience, had been entrusted with such an important task by President Pei.

And now President Pei actually wanted him to be responsible for designing and developing a fighting game?

What was he thinking?

Of course, despite his doubts, Yu Fei, who had repeatedly told himself to stand his ground to the very end, finally gave up the struggle and started working step by step.

His idea was that since the task had already been assigned, he would do as much as he could. It was normal if he couldn't complete it, but he would do a little bit to justify the salary that President Pei was paying him.

The matter of making "Rebirth" free-to-play had already been agreed upon with the official platform, which was very supportive.

After all, "Rebirth" had a Chinese-style story background and was one of the few high-quality games in the action genre, fully in line with the official platform's aim of promoting traditional culture and developing the game industry.

But this news had not yet been officially announced, because the official platform said that they were going to hold a big event!

For a game of "Rebirth"'s scale to go free-to-play, they couldn't just suddenly change the price and be done with it; that would be too anticlimactic.

Moreover, Tenda had also taken the initiative to request refunds for players who had recently purchased the game, with different refund amounts for players who had purchased at different times. This also needed to be carefully considered, requiring the improvement of related functions and the reconciliation of revenue sharing for each period.

Therefore, the official platform decided to prepare for a while and officially announce the news next week, opening the official refund channels.

They also promised to package the free-to-play "Rebirth" together with "Eternal Reincarnation" and give them the best recommendation in a prominent position for a whole month!

Such a good thing naturally had to be done in a big way; they couldn't let a good company like Tenda make such a contribution without fanfare.

Yu Fei, of course, had no objections.

In his opinion, making "Rebirth" free-to-play, although it would reduce the official platform's share of the revenue a little bit, had a huge impact. Whether it was to attract traffic to the platform, expand the player base, or promote traditional culture, the intangible benefits it would bring to the official platform were considerable, far greater than that little bit of revenue sharing.

Under these circumstances, wasn't it normal for the official platform to give some good resources for promotion?

So, this matter was considered to be over, and Yu Fei handed over the coordination to other people in the department, while he began to rack his brains for a design plan for "Ghost General 2."

As for why he didn't ask others for advice...

He had tried, but to no avail.

The other people in the game department had a very consistent response: they couldn't help!

This wasn't because of a lack of kindness; they had good reasons.

First of all, the idea was Yu Fei's, and different people had different ideas, so they couldn't provide any advice.

People in the creative industry knew that different people had different ideas, so giving random advice could easily result in a Frankensteinian monster. For example, if an author created an outline and handed it over to another author to write, the final product would definitely be completely different.

Since President Pei had adopted Yu Fei's idea, the others definitely couldn't think about the problem for him.

Secondly, President Pei had specifically asked Yu Fei to be responsible for this matter, which meant that President Pei must have seen some spark of brilliance in him that was directly related to the game.

Yu Fei could only find a way to discover this spark of brilliance himself; others helping might actually do more harm than good, preventing Yu Fei from discovering this spark of brilliance.

Finally, there was another very important reason: the others didn't know much about fighting games either!

Having a slight understanding of fighting games and being proficient in fighting games were two completely different concepts.

Being able to pull off a few combos might mean that you have a slight understanding, but this level of skill was vastly different from those true expert players, perhaps even greater than the difference between a Gold player and a King player.

After all, in a MOBA game, you could sometimes slack off and wait for your teammates to carry you, but in a fighting game, it was purely based on your own skills. If you couldn't beat them, you couldn't beat them.

So, for these complex reasons, everyone was unable to provide any advice, and Yu Fei could only despairingly fill the small notebook with illegible scribbles, and some ideas sprouted in his mind, but were quickly rejected by himself.

Just as he was at his wit's end, he suddenly heard Min Jingchao's slightly surprised voice: "Oh? Lao Hu, you're back?"

Lao Hu?

Hu Xianbin?!

Yu Fei stood up abruptly and looked towards the door.

It really was Hu Xianbin!

After two months, Hu Xianbin was darker and thinner, and in good spirits, but the look of being separated from the world on his face still revealed the inhuman treatment he had suffered during this time.

Yu Fei was overjoyed; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe his current mood as being reborn from a desperate situation.

A whole two months! Hu Xianbin was finally back!

Do you know how I spent these two months?

However, it was good that he was back. Lao Hu's return at this time was no different from a savior.

Yu Fei knew that he no longer had to sacrifice his brain cells for the sake of "Ghost General 2." He could hand over this mess to Hu Xianbin, briefly explain President Pei's requirements, and then he would be free!

Thinking of this, he immediately rushed forward: "Brother Hu, your return is too timely!"

"Come quickly, let me briefly explain the design direction of 'Ghost General 2' to you, and we'll hand over the work, and then I'll go back to writing my novel!"

"Hey, to be honest, Brother Hu, I, this temporary lead designer who's been forced into the position, really can't hold on any longer. If you had come two days later, I would have been tortured to the point of collapse."

Yu Fei was overjoyed, his eyebrows dancing with joy, as if he had finally caught a taxi after standing in the cold wind for more than an hour.

Hu Xianbin looked at him with a strange expression, wanting to speak several times, but Yu Fei was too happy and kept talking to himself, so Hu Xianbin couldn't find a chance to interrupt.

When Yu Fei was about to pull Hu Xianbin to his workstation to hand over the work, Hu Xianbin finally caught a chance, sighed softly, and said, "Well, calm down first and listen to my explanation."

"Actually, my return this time is because the special training camp gave us a break to rest and reorganize, to deal with the outstanding affairs of various departments, and to prepare for our departure to Shennongjia."

"So, handing over the work is probably not going to happen. I'm afraid you'll have to hold on for another month."

Yu Fei's expression froze instantly. Although he still had a look of joy on his face, his eyes were full of doubt.

"Shennongjia?"

"What are you going to Shennongjia for?"

"Hasn't the month already passed?"

Hu Xianbin explained: "Last month was just physical training at the special training base in Jingzhou, which doesn't count as the official content. After completing the physical training, we still have to go to Shennongjia to suffer for a month."

"The previous training was all preparation. This trip to Shennongjia is the main content of this activity."

Yu Fei was dumbfounded and lost the ability to speak for a moment.

Hu Xianbin patted him on the shoulder with great sympathy: "Believe me, I'm even more upset than you..."

Yu Fei was still unwilling to give up: "Is it necessary to go? Can't you make an exception?"

Hu Xianbin smiled very reluctantly: "Do you think I wouldn't try if there was even the slightest way to make an exception?"

"It's not like I want to go to Shennongjia!"

"I'm so envious of you, you only have to think about the new game a little bit every day at work, while I'm really going to suffer!"

"Why don't we switch places? You go to Shennongjia? I definitely wouldn't mind!"

Yu Fei's face darkened: "No need for that!"

"Hey, how about this, Brother Hu? Since you have a short vacation, why don't you help me think about the game's prototype?"

"I'm mainly worried that I'm not capable enough, and if I screw up the game and ruin the Tenda Games brand, wouldn't I become a sinner?"

"I'm really not good at fighting games!"

Hu Xianbin chuckled: "Coincidentally, I'm not good at it either. I can't help."

Yu Fei: "...Then what should I do!"

Good heavens, no one in the entire project team is good at fighting games. How are we going to do this?

President Pei might be good at it, but President Pei no longer does these specific design tasks.

Learn and understand now?

It's too late for that. How can you learn this stuff in a day or two?

Hu Xianbin rubbed his chin and said after careful consideration: "Actually, there used to be a master in Tenda Games who was very good at fighting games."

Yu Fei's eyes lit up: "Oh? Who is it?"

Tenda Games really is full of hidden talents. If Hu Xianbin hadn't revealed this, I really wouldn't have known.

Hu Xianbin was silent for a moment, and then slowly said: "Brother Bao."

Yu Fei: "..."

Well, it's as if he didn't say anything at all.