After deciding on the theme, the next step is what to call the game.
Pei Qian didn’t think about it for too long and thought about it quickly.
"Mission and Choice"!
As for the specific reason why it is called this name, it actually has a past event.
Pei Qian has been learning about games some time ago, and also learned a lot about the domestic game industry from He An and Qiu Hong.
In 1995, the American Tomu Company released a series of games called "Command and Conquer". This is the best-selling real-time strategy game in history, setting a model for RTS games and taking the lead in creating the "resource strategy game". The structure of "collection + production and construction + corps operations" created and defined the concept of "fog of war".
In short, it is popular all over the world, and like games such as "Star Ocean" and "Fantasy War", it is regarded as an eternal classic of the world's RTS games.
In 1997, a game called "Mission and Choice" appeared in China.
When he first heard the name, Pei Qian thought it was "Freedom and Glory" in the parallel world. He had a good impression of it, but he soon found out that he had guessed wrong.
This game is actually "Blood Lion" in a parallel world.
As Qiu Hong once said, the domestic game industry during this period was already in violent turmoil. Online games were rapidly emerging, piracy was gradually rampant, and domestic stand-alone games were forced to compete with pirated products at higher prices. War, but no matter how much the price is reduced, it still doesn’t help.
At this juncture, "Mission and Choice" appeared.
Major game media began to publish color advertisements for "Mission and Choice" overwhelmingly. The cover showed a Chinese soldier wearing a space suit, with giant sandworms and a technological background in the background. Starship, and there are a few inflammatory slogans below.
“Your hometown, Blue Star, has just suffered a devastating attack from the Zerg. The interstellar fleet suffered heavy losses. Blood dyed the sky red, fire tore through the night, and the swarms of insects in the sky swept away the human fleet like a tide. Submerged. Facing the swarm, I know your choice. Although it will be a bleak business, we have no retreat."
"Work with your comrades to defeat the swarm and save Blue Star! ”
“It cost millions to produce, and the scene is grand, and it is a domestic model!”
“High-level music production by avant-garde rock musicians, strong software creation team, and unconstrained art creativity. The highly anticipated debut of "Mission and Choice"!"
Although these slogans seem a bit inexplicable now, they were extremely exciting at the time.
As a result, the enthusiasm of all stand-alone game players was aroused. The players automatically ignored the copycat feeling everywhere in the game "Mission and Decision" from its name to the promotional pictures, and instead It is regarded as a masterpiece that can surpass "Command and Conquer", and I look forward to it being spread forever in the hall of RTS games.
But when playersWhen they got the game, the word "disappointment" alone could no longer describe their mood.
Rudimentary and crude graphics, ubiquitous program bugs, incredible game mechanics...
In short, it is unprecedentedly bad.
It was only afterward that the players came to their senses, this game was just a crazy game!
The name is based on "Command and Conquer", the story background is based on "Star Ocean", and some fake patriotic feelings are deliberately added. In short, it is a crazy deception of the feelings of domestic players.
Many people regard "Mission and Choice" as a shame for domestic games and the last straw for domestic stand-alone games, and to this day, most players have heard of "Mission and Choice" There are still only two emotions when it comes to this name: ridicule or anger.
Pei Qian had named his game "Sea Fortress" before, just to give a good sign, but the problem is that people in this world don't understand!
Only Pei Qian himself knew the meaning of this name, so it did not arouse any resistance.
Similarly, if it is called "Blood Lion", then people in this world still have no idea about it.
But the title "Mission and Choice" can instantly arouse the anger of all domestic players!
So Pei Qian decided immediately to call it this!
Come on players, devour me with your rage!
Of course, if you have the same name, there will definitely be some copyright issues, but it doesn't matter. The company that produced this game has been bankrupt for several years. The copyright of "Mission and Decision" should belong to the creditors, but this thing is backward. No one will ask for it. If you find the official RSRO platform, you can even ask for it directly.
Since the name is used, the background of the story should also be used.
At the same time, in order to ensure nothing goes wrong, Pei Qian briefly thought of a few ways to greatly increase the chance of failure, and prepared to explain them to Hu Xianbin later.
After considering everything, Pei Qian notified Hu Xianbin, Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce to have a small meeting in the conference room.
As for why it is called Huang Sibo...
Of course it is because of the CG matters, which still have to be left to Feihuang Studio.
Leaving it to others, Pei Qian was afraid that if it could not be completed within the construction period and the settlement would be delayed, it would be troublesome.
......
Soon, everyone came to the conference room.
Hu Xianbin knew very well that after the success of "Struggle", Mr. Pei should soon develop the next game.
It’s just that Hu Xianbin and Huang Sibo were a little confused after seeing each other in the conference room.
Why did Mr. Pei call us here together?
Is this going to be a game or a movie?
Time is precious, so Pei Qian went straight to the point and started assigning tasks.
"The next game requires the cooperation of both your departments."
"Development WeekThe deadline is about 9 months. We will spend 200 million to make a science fiction-themed RTS game, and another 300 million to make a full set of CG for it. This task will be handed over to your two departments respectively. ”
The other three people were all stunned.
Two hundred million to make games and three hundred million to make CG?
The money for making CG is more than the money for making games. ?
Huang Sibo's expression instantly became excited: "Is Mr. Pei determined to make a high-quality RTS game on the same level as "Star Ocean 2"? 300 million, if used to burn more than ten minutes of game CG, the quality will definitely not be inferior to that of foreign manufacturers! ”
Hu Xianbin hesitated: “If you spend 300 million yuan to make CG, can you recover the cost?” "
Huang Sibo smiled: "Why not? The development cost of "Star Ocean 2" is less than 100 million U.S. dollars. If each game is sold for 50 U.S. dollars, the cost can be recovered by selling more than 2 million copies. It sold over 1.5 million copies within two days of its launch. It can easily sell four to five million copies in its lifetime. It’s very profitable, right? ”
“Even if our game cannot reach this figure, with an investment of more than 60 million dollars, even if it sells less than "Star Ocean 2", we will still make a profit. ”
“Game CG is the business card of the game. As long as it is done well, it will definitely go viral on the entire Internet, and it can also better open up overseas markets. Investing 300 million to make game CG is for the sake of brand value, opening up overseas markets, and establishing the characters of a major company! ”
Pei Qian fell silent.
Is there such a huge possibility of making money in theory?
It’s really true when you think about it, 300 million to do CG , spending all the money in just ten minutes, how sophisticated is the CG?
I’m afraid it can become popular all over the Internet.
< p>Teacher He thinks it’s not possible to make money because he doesn’t understand how stupid Pei Qian is.Pei Qian knows that what Huang Sibo said is entirely possible!
Good brother Huang Sibo.
Pei Qian coughed twice: "If you don't do it for ten minutes, it will take more than an hour. ”
If the duration is extended to more than an hour, the quality of the CG will definitely not be that high, and it will not be too eye-catching, right?
Besides, it is so long Most players would be annoyed by the plot, so they would just press ESC to skip it?
Huang Sibo was stunned and hesitated before saying: "Mr. Pei, no! ”
“If it takes one and a half hours to make pure game CG, the quality is secondary. The construction period cannot be guaranteed. We only have 9 months in total. ”
“Our first choice is definitely to find a foreign company to do it, but this also means that we have to communicate across countries, languages, and time differences. It’s okay to do it for ten minutes, but it’s more than an hour. The cost of communication is already very unbearable. ”
“If you look for domestic companies, most of the more reliable special effects teams are working on movies. There are very few special effects companies that do pure game CG, and the quality is not very reliable.. "
Hu Xianbin thought for a while and asked: "Can the cutscenes calculated in real time in the game be feasible? "
Huang Sibo nodded: "It can be done, but the effect will definitely not be much better, and it won't cost so much money. "
Film-based games like "Struggle" are equivalent to real-time calculations. It really can't cost 300 million no matter what you think.
Huang Sibo continued: "If it must be completed within the construction period, If so, I think... we can do it the way we make movies, with real people. ”
“In this way, you no longer have to spend energy on character movements, expressions, pores, hair, etc. Some props and scenery can also be shot in real life, which can save a lot of time. While ensuring quality, the construction period is also guaranteed. "
"The only problem is... I don't seem to have heard of any game company doing this. ”
Pei Qian fell into silence.
He didn’t think about it so much originally, but after listening to Huang Sibo’s analysis, it seems that there is indeed a big problem!
Now there are three options:
The first one is the same as "Fantasy World", which costs money to make short CG and make the characters' movements, expressions, hair, etc. highly realistic, but the effect produced by this is. It will definitely be very sensational. "Star Ocean 2" has proven that there is still room for profit.
If you want to make this kind of extremely detailed CG, the construction period cannot be guaranteed.
< p>The second option is to use real-time game calculations to do CG, but this will definitely not cost 300 million, or even 10 million.If you mix real-time calculations with CG. , which is not essentially different from the first one. It is still a relatively safe and less risky way.
The third way is to make a movie, so that you don’t have to follow the characters during the production process. The pores and hair are so tight that many of the special effects can be replaced with props and scenery, so that the construction period can be basically guaranteed.
Pei Qian thought about it and decided to do a short CG, which really replicated the success of "Star Ocean 2". What should I do? This possibility is not impossible.
Let’s make a pure game CG. The construction period cannot be guaranteed, and delayed settlement is unacceptable.
Then the third option is unacceptable. The plan, real shooting + movie CG, seems to be a good way, which can not only spend more money, but also ensure the construction period, and also extend the CG length.
Then the question is:
What if Feihuang Studio releases this film in theaters and makes another box office?
If the game makes another profit, and the movie makes another profit, then Mr. Pei will not be able to make money on the spot. Stifled?
But when Pei Qian thought about it, he seemed to have never heard of a game company doing this, indicating that there was a big problem with this model.
After all, movies and Game CG is essentially the same thing and cannot be confused.