Chapter 1301 Ordinary Employee Li Yada

Yan Qi decided to start conceptualizing his next game.

Of course, as a mature game producer, making games couldn't be treated as child's play, or something to be decided on a whim.

After all, game producers don't make games entirely for themselves, but also for all the employees up and down the company, and for the players.

If he started a project in a fit of passion, and everyone worked themselves to the bone overtime, only for the game to flop and lose money, how could he face everyone's efforts?

If Yan Qi was rich, providing everyone with full benefits and treatment, and also full overtime pay and bonuses, then if the game failed, he wouldn't feel too guilty, because materially, he would have compensated everyone sufficiently.

But the key was that Yan Qi didn't have much money.

The money earned from *Blade of the Empire* wasn't a small amount, but if he wanted to develop a new game, especially a single-player game, all of that money would probably have to be poured in, and it still might not be enough.

Under these circumstances, full benefits, overtime pay, and various bonuses were definitely out of the question.

They could only be hoped for if the next game was a success, a big seller.

So, he had to be cautious, he had to deliberate deeply.

Yan Qi created a new document, first to accumulate inspiration, sort out his thoughts, and determine the basic form of this game.

Currently, he only had one relatively clear general direction: an action-based single-player game.

He might not be able to reach 3A quality, but it could be considered a goal to strive for.

Other than that, he was clueless.

When he made *Blade of the Empire* before, he completely catered to the tastes of mobile game players, and made a Western fantasy theme.

But single-player games were a completely different matter.

On the one hand, single-player game players' tastes were too different from mobile game players' tastes, and on the other hand, the development difficulty of the two types of games was also different.

Simply put, mobile games require lower quality art assets. The phone screen is small, so slightly worse details or slightly stiffer movements are not noticeable on the small screen, and mobile game players are not picky.

But if it's put on a computer screen, and picky players who have played many 3A action games play it, that's another matter entirely.

So, Yan Qi was a bit at a loss.

"Don't rush, sort it out slowly."

"Action games can be said to be one of the most difficult game types to develop. Any shortcomings can lead to the failure of the game."

"Currently, it seems that any place can be reduced, except for the combat system and the basic picture quality. Feel, impact, smoothness of movements, special effects... any place that is not done well will lead to a big discount in the score."

"Fortunately, the current technical level is relatively high, and it's not completely impossible to do."

"The game length and content can be slightly reduced, or filled with replayable content, as long as the game price is adjusted accordingly."

"The key is to make the players' eyes light up, and make them feel that this game is very special and irreplaceable."

"Speaking of which... aren't *Repentance* and *Eternal Reincarnation* the perfect answers?"

"As expected, President Pei is amazing. He saw through all of this as early as when he was developing *Repentance*, and researched the only standard answer for domestic single-player action games, which is still not outdated even now."

"How novel is the combat system of *Eternal Reincarnation*! I wish I could come up with such an idea."

The more Yan Qi thought about it, the more he admired President Pei.

He himself was a passionate fan of action games, and also a loyal player of *Repentance* and *Eternal Reincarnation*.

After pondering for a long time, he realized that the *Repentance* model was simply the optimal solution for domestic companies, especially small companies like them, to make action games.

Because they are small companies, they have little capital and a weak ability to withstand risks, so reducing the game length and game capacity, and filling it with replayable content, is a good way to control costs and risks.

And to stand out among a group of excellent action games, two things must be possessed: the first is that the game quality must be excellent, and the feel and graphics must meet the standards, the higher the better; the second is that it must have unique memory points and characteristics.

The high difficulty and profound "breaking the fourth wall" plot of *Repentance*, and the unique combat system of *Eternal Reincarnation*, these are all unique memory points and characteristics.

Only by doing both can one succeed.

Otherwise, if the game quality does not meet the standards, players will not buy it; and without memory points, it will not be able to cooperate with publicity to break the circle and become popular, and in the end, it will mostly fail to recover the cost.

"That's why I say President Pei is a genius game producer, I can't help but admire him."

"I still have to study hard."

Yan Qi's thoughts unconsciously turned to *Repentance*.

"It seems that President Pei doesn't plan to make action games for a long time. After all, he is a person who likes to challenge himself, likes to break through, and never indulges in past success."

"Like the combat system of *Eternal Reincarnation*, it can be completely used to make *Repentance 2*, or another new action game, but President Pei only made a DLC, obviously feeling that the degree of innovation has not yet reached the level of making a new game."

"This is good news for me, after all, this market in China is relatively vacant."

"After *Repentance* and *Eternal Reincarnation*, no particularly outstanding works have appeared."

"Although there are also foreign action 3A masterpieces, domestic games naturally have bonus points. After all, due to cultural barriers, sometimes only Chinese designers understand Chinese players best."

"Like the cultural heritage of *Repentance*, it should be difficult for foreign designers to make it."

"So, working hard in this direction should be a good choice."

"Make a game similar to *Repentance*?"

"Well, *Repentance* has already cultivated a group of die-hard action game players. The labels of high difficulty and suffering will not dissuade players, but have gradually become a popular game type."

"In action games, if the difficulty is not high enough, you're embarrassed to say hello to people."

"If I also make a relatively difficult action game, combined with a little bit of the heritage of traditional Chinese culture, and the quality is still acceptable, it should still have sales."

"Then... what should I use for the game background?"

Yan Qi recorded his thoughts in the document while sorting out his ideas.

As he sorted it out, he found that there were not many directions for him to choose. *Repentance* seemed to be the most correct standard answer, and even made him feel that everything about this game was very good, and nothing could be changed.

It seemed that the best thing to do was to keep the core of *Repentance*, and change the packaging and the levels.

Although this was a bit unambitious, he was still shouldering the livelihood of all the employees in the entire studio, so being prudent was not a bad thing.

As long as the game quality was acceptable and he could make money, that would be considered a success.

If he wanted to break through, he could do it in the next game.

For a transitional work, it was better to be as stable as possible.

But as he wrote, he always felt that it was hazy, and the ideas in his head were not thorough enough.

He didn't have the excitement of suddenly slapping his thigh and shouting "This is definitely no problem."

This made Yan Qi feel very tangled, and he stopped writing and writing, and also sighed subconsciously.

"What's wrong? Are there any problems with the game?" someone asked.

Yan Qi had been immersed in his own thoughts, and didn't realize that there was someone beside him. Only then did he turn his head and see that it was Li Yada, a staff member of Chaolu Games Platform.

The reason why she was called a staff member was because Yan Qi didn't know Li Yada's specific position in the platform.

Including Director Tang, all the positions of everyone in Chaolu Games Platform were relatively clear. Although Yan Qi didn't know their specific job titles, he could probably know what a certain department did after dealing with them.

Only Li Yada was a special case.

She was the group leader of the communication group between Chaolu Games Platform and the producers, directly responsible for communicating with these producers, and she also seemed to participate in all aspects of the internal affairs of Chaolu Games Platform.

Moreover, whether it was Director Tang or others, they all respected her very much and valued her opinions.

Her position was a bit like... a consultant?

Yan Qi felt that this was definitely not an ordinary person.

Usually in the group, Li Yada would occasionally pop up to chat with the producers. Yan Qi's cooperation with Chaolu Games Platform was relatively close, so the two of them became relatively familiar after going back and forth.

"Oh, Sister Li, I'm worried about the new game. Making games is really difficult, I have no clue at all."

Yan Qi wasn't sure who was older between him and Li Yada, but everyone at Chaolu Games Platform called Li Yada Sister Li, so he followed suit, it was just a title of respect.

"Huh? Is making games difficult? I think it's actually okay."

"What are you planning to make for your new game? An action game?" Li Yada asked.

Yan Qi nodded: "Yes, I probably want to make an action game similar to *Repentance*."

"The document contains some of my ideas, which are not particularly mature. If you're interested, you can take a look and give me some suggestions."

Li Yada nodded slightly: "I still understand a little bit about action games, especially *Repentance*."

In fact, she didn't just understand a little bit. *Repentance* was made by her, and *Eternal Reincarnation* was also taken over by her for a while after Hu Xianbin was arrested, and then handed over to Yu Fei.

It just so happened that there was nothing going on at Chaolu Games Platform, so Li Yada took a stroll and happened to hear Yan Qi sighing, so she came over to take a look and chat casually.

Pulling a chair over from the side and sitting down, Li Yada quickly scanned the content that Yan Qi had written.

"This is just *Repentance* with a different skin." Li Yada could tell at a glance.

Yan Qi was a little embarrassed: "Ahem, first draft, first draft, there's still a lot of room for modification."

"The main reason is that I think *Repentance* is already the standard answer for domestic action games, and it really can't be changed at all."

Li Yada shook her head slightly: "This won't do."

"It's not a matter of imitation. In fact, there are only so many gameplays, so it's normal to have similarities."

"The key is the lack of innovation, the lack of breakthroughs, the lack of courage to change. If you can't conquer yourself, how can you conquer the players?"