Chapter 1558 How to Develop a Companion Game?

After leaving the Tenda Group headquarters, Lao Song immediately called Qiu Hong, the head of the independent game incubation base.

Qiu Hong has now opened independent game incubation bases in first-tier cities with developed cultural industries such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The scale is getting larger and larger, and the number of independent game developers accommodated by the incubation base is also increasing.

However, he didn't stop there, and he was still working very hard to promote the independent game incubation base.

After all, there are still many independent game developers in China who need support, and Qiu Hong's work is actually a long way to go.

Fortunately, this "grassroots" activity is limited to various departments within Tenda, otherwise Qiu Hong would have to deliver express deliveries at Ni Feng Logistics.

Lao Song quickly dialed the phone and briefly told Qiu Hong about President Pei's arrangement.

Qiu Hong was a little surprised: "Let the independent game incubation base produce a flagship title for the game router?"

"Are you sure this is President Pei's request?"

Lao Song said helplessly: "I also think this thing is a bit outrageous, but this is indeed President Pei's original words."

Qiu Hong considered it and asked: "Then what else did President Pei say? Did he say what kind of game to make? At least there should be a general direction, right?"

Lao Song shook his head: "President Pei just said that we definitely can't fool players with a remastered old game. *You Choose the Future* will be launched two months later than the game router, so the timing isn't right."

"It's best to develop a game that matches the characteristics of the game router, or at least has some connection in its connotation, so that the software and hardware can be well integrated."

"Besides that, President Pei didn't say anything else. He told me to pass this information on to you, and said that you will definitely be able to come up with a good solution."

Although Qiu Hong was still a little doubtful, he nodded: "Okay, I will discuss it with Xi Hao and try to figure out President Pei's intentions."

"By the way, President Pei said that software and hardware should be combined. Is there a design draft for this new console?"

Lao Song said: "There is a relatively rough design draft, but President Pei's idea is relatively clear, and the form of this machine should not change much in the future. I will send you the design draft now."

…

After hanging up the phone, Qiu Hong waited patiently for a while and soon received the design plan for the new console.

Although this plan is still relatively rough, it can already be seen that President Pei's design intention.

"Combining the game console and the router together, and doing a good job of streaming games, so as to achieve the effect of cloud gaming in the player's home first?"

"As expected of President Pei, the design ideas are still so unconstrained and difficult to figure out!"

"But President Pei said that software and hardware should be combined, and the first game must be related to the characteristics of the console…"

"How is this related?"

"Moreover, President Pei thinks too highly of these independent game developers in the incubation base, and thinks too highly of me."

"I never thought that I would have a day to be a game producer again, and also a game producer who develops the flagship title for Tenda's first game console. The pressure is really great…"

"Let's have a meeting with Xi Hao and Wu Zhicheng and other excellent independent game developers first to figure out President Pei's design intentions."

Qiu Hong called Xi Hao, Wu Zhicheng and others to the lounge, ready to hold a small meeting immediately.

After all, this is Tenda's first console flagship title, it is not a trivial matter and must not be neglected.

After Wu Zhicheng finished developing *Shui Mo Yun Yan* (Ink Cloud and Mist), he hasn't had any particularly good inspiration, so he didn't develop a new game project.

Recently, he has been developing various subsequent patches and DLCs for *Shui Mo Yun Yan*, but the completion of this game is already very high, and it is almost time to consider a new project.

Qiu Hong quickly introduced President Pei's requirements to everyone.

Wu Zhicheng was a little dazed: "Ah? President Pei actually wants us to develop a companion game? And all of our independent game designers together?"

Qiu Hong said helplessly: "That's right."

Obviously, President Pei's request is a bit too outrageous, and every time it is conveyed, it will bring some new questions.

Xi Hao was silent for a moment and asked: "Can we refuse this request? Just say that the current R&D strength of the incubation base is not enough to support the development of such a large project."

Qiu Hong shook his head: "Of course not! Since President Pei has entrusted this task to us, it means that he believes that the current R&D capabilities of the independent game incubation base are sufficient to complete this task."

"President Pei thinks we can do it, but we question ourselves in turn, is that appropriate?"

"Everyone, don't think about those unnecessary things, seize the time and follow the standard process to start analyzing President Pei's design intentions."

Although Qiu Hong does not work in the Tenda game department, he has also heard about the method of designing games within Tenda: first carefully analyze the unreasonable content in President Pei's requirements, and then extend and deduce it, and finally you can get a unique design plan.

The others were also dejected. Since this task could not be refused, let's try to design it first.

Qiu Hong said: "Let me start by throwing out a brick to attract jade (offering my humble opinion)."

"President Pei actually roughly limited the development time of this game. He wants it to be released at the same time as the new game console, which means that this game will be much smaller in size compared to a 3A masterpiece like *You Choose the Future*."

"I think about a dozen hours of game time and a price of just over 100 yuan is more appropriate."

"But President Pei has special requirements for this, that is, it must be in line with the characteristics of the game router, and try to achieve the effect of combining software and hardware. Do you have any ideas about this?"

Xi Hao considered it and said: "Wait a minute, I think there is a problem that needs to be solved first."

"The independent game incubation base is full of independent game developers, not a complete game development team. These independent game developers have their own ideas and have not been screws on the assembly line. It may be very difficult to manage the joint development of a project."

"When President Pei arranged the task, didn't he think about this?"

This question stumped everyone, because this is indeed a suspicious point.

As an excellent game design master, President Pei must know better than everyone else. Is it because President Pei has no other R&D power under his hand, so he forcibly handed this task to the independent game incubation base?

This does not match President Pei's image of strategizing.

Wu Zhicheng was silent for a while, and then said: "I think President Pei must have considered this problem. Maybe, it is most appropriate for us to make this game?"

"Compared with ordinary game R&D teams, the biggest advantage of the independent game incubation base is that there are many independent game developers, many ideas, and many styles."

"If each of our independent game developers makes one part of this game, and then connects them together, bringing players many different game experiences in one game, is it equivalent to fully utilizing our advantages?"

"President Pei should be very happy to see this situation."

Qiu Hong nodded: "Um? That makes sense! Since President Pei arranged this task for us, he must have seen our unique advantages. We should think carefully about how to give play to this advantage, instead of denying ourselves as the first reaction."

"Then what are your thoughts on how the gameplay can be combined with the hardware of the game router?"

Wu Zhicheng continued: "According to the current plan, the biggest advantage of the game router is its very convenient wireless streaming."

"That is to say, after using the game router to build a whole-house network, connecting all the display devices in the room to the router, you can use the router to realize wireless streaming and screen projection from the host to all display devices."

"Players can also play games in front of any screen."

"What is the use of this function? Is it just that players can seamlessly connect to the bedroom after being tired of playing games in the living room?"

"Of course, this is one of its functions, but the practicality is too poor."

"I think this function is actually more suitable for multiplayer games!"

Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up: "Multiplayer games?"

Wu Zhicheng nodded: "That's right. The characteristic of multiplayer games on the host is multiple people on the same screen, which inevitably requires dividing a display screen into two or four parts."

"But after the division, each player's screen is too small. Unless the player is using a very large TV, the game experience will definitely be affected."

"If the same game can be split-screened on TVs and computers, TVs and mobile phones, and mobile phones and tablets, then this will definitely be a big improvement for players' gaming experience!"

"Moreover, the number of players that can be added to multiplayer games will also be greatly increased, no longer limited to two to four people as before."

"As for the problem of the controller, it is also easy to solve, just provide players with a virtual controller App on their mobile phones."

Qiu Hong couldn't help but give a thumbs up and praised: "Great! I think this is the effect President Pei wants to achieve!"

"Moreover, following this idea, party-style multiplayer games are actually very close to the style of independent games, which is the strength of independent game designers!"

"In this way, the prototype of this game is very clear."

"It is a party-style game that can be played by multiple people on the same screen. We can develop about a dozen hours of main story line for it, and within the main story line, there can be several or even a dozen different ways to play. Outside the main story line, we can also make some multiplayer screen confrontation mini-games to increase the fun and replayability."

"Compared with other party-style multiplayer games on the same screen, the biggest advantage of this game is that it can project the game screen to different monitors through the streaming function of the game router, breaking through the limitations of the monitor size!"

"In this way, we only need to finalize the main line and art style of this game, and the internal structure and small gameplay can be independently completed by an independent game developer!"

"Isn't this what President Pei is looking forward to?"