Otherworldly Architect

A week passed quickly, and the furry children returned to their homes one after another.

Although the Blue Star Studio is still lively, everyone is inevitably a little reluctant.

The furry boy who finally won the "Most Popular Award" was a golden retriever from a tester's family named "Cissy".

It has a very soft and bright golden fur, and a pure smile that makes people's hearts melt at first glance, it is simply a little angel!

Everyone loves it, and even Mingyan can't resist its charm.

In the end, Boss Ming personally issued a dog tag to Xixi, with the bluestar studio's work certificate on it, allowing him to enter and leave the office freely.

In the future, the canteen will also prepare dog meals and various small snacks for it every day.

And it will also receive a small salary every month.

Well, its position in Blue Star is: mascot, and programmer encourager!

Soon it will be Monday, and it will be time for Ming Yan to deal with the second thing.

Xixi led a team into the gate of Blue Star—

The nine freshmen recruited by the school are here!

After registering in the company's server in the morning, they received their respective work certificates, and they were finally able to come and go freely.

The secretary took them to visit the two floors belonging to Blue Star, and conducted a simple training in the afternoon.

Then Ming Yan appeared.

As the general manager of Blue Star, Ming Yan still had to give a simple speech to a few newcomers.

He is not good at face-to-face conversation, so he only talked for a few minutes, and then told the new people: "The first six months is a trial period, and we will try our best to teach you what the job requires. During the two months, you are required to As a team, make a small game to get acquainted with the workflow as quickly as possible.”

These fresh graduates were very excited when they heard that there were game projects to do.

Mingyan quickly sent the plan for the project to everyone.

The project is called "Card Alliance", which is a mini-game based on the mobile phone, and uses the IP background of "League of Legends".

Even this batch of fresh graduates who have just entered the society, Ming Yan expects them to be able to complete it in at most two months.

Because this game is really simple, it is a mobile game of the type of card draw and gold explosion.

It's a long story, but Ming Yan has a plan to kill three birds with one stone.

As mentioned before, Ming Yan wants to make "League of Legends" into an alien game.

But after rejecting the cruise capital, he had to pay for the purchase of the small alien world.

At present, Blue Star's book, despite the support of the Dragon Slayer Sword, is still lacking some, especially the current business capacity of "League of Legends" has not reached its peak.

Therefore, Ming Yan planned to make another card-drawing mobile game to make a lot of money.

After the development of this mobile game is completed, it is stated that a "left hand over right hand" operation will be performed.

From Blue Star Studio, Tulong Baodao Studio acquired the copyright of "Card Alliance" at full price.

In this way, Blue Star gets the money, and doesn't have to worry about the decline of its reputation.

And Tulong Baodao got the hen that lays golden eggs.

Moreover, Mingyan also successfully arranged for these fresh graduates to train them in this small project...

It's perfect!

Nine schools enrolled, slightly more than Ming Yan expected.

The main reason is that these people are really excellent, and they have a very strong desire for Blue Star Studio.

More than half of them were from Mingyan's alma mater, and they also made it clear that as long as they could get an offer from Blue Star, they would basically not consider going anywhere else.

This is not only the trust in the recruitment reputation of Bluestar Studio, but also the embodiment of Mingyan's personal cult.

Of the nine, there are three designers, two programmers, two artists, a tester, and a project manager.

The personnel structure is quite reasonable, enough to complete a card game.

Of course, in addition to the two mentors who are in charge of guiding them, Ming Yan will also spot check their progress.

At the beginning, middle and end of the project, the group of fresh students will be asked to report.

One of the designers has extra points.

Because he loves "League of Legends" very much, and his rank is also very high.

After discussing with the current leader of the League of Legends, Ming Yan directly transferred the newcomer to the League of Legends team.

This group will always need people because League of Legends is always updated.

Newcomers can obviously get enough exercise in an old project full of vitality.

The new game "Card League" is nothing special.

Its core gameplay is one: draw cards.

...then cultivate into stronger cards, combine them into a reasonable lineup, and hit the next game level.

In Bluestar, there are tens of millions of such mobile games, but the ones that succeed in occupying the market in the end mainly rely on more sophisticated production and better channel promotion.

A mature game category is most in line with the bucket principle.

- How much water can be filled in the bucket is determined by the shortest board.

Card-drawing games may not have strong advantages, but they must be good enough to survive the brutal competition.

If on this basis, a certain piece of wood can appear a little better, then there will be a sudden explosion of capital.

Of course, there are still many, many games with this kind of capital.

So the last one that was the most successful... actually depended on luck.

Good luck!

In the Blue Star four thousand years ago, there were many imitators in the country where Ming Yan was located.

Which game category is really popular, do which category.

Which core gameplay is popular, immediately work overtime to make a copycat version.

Then according to the productivity at that time, in fact, the finished products from the big factories are exactly the same, and there is almost no difference in quality.

Even within a large factory, it can produce three identical finished products for internal competition.

Which one can seize the market in the end depends on luck.

At that time, doing game planning was the same as the workers who moved bricks.

No understanding is required, no design is required.

Play someone else's good game, then copy the various systems in it, and then follow the copied notes to inform the art and program how to do it.

At most one additional "duty": being scolded by the player.

Gone.

There was a well-known joke at the time about a fairly successful game product.

The creator said:

【In my country,

Some people know how to make games, but they can't make popular games;

Some people make hit games and don't know why.

And our project team is the culmination of both—

We neither know how to make games, nor how our games are popular. 】

This joke is not only self-deprecating, but also the helplessness and despair of gamers for the market at that time.

Before the end of the world, Mingyan was one of them.

In such a big environment, he has nothing to do, and he is just an "IT bricklayer".

But at least, he still tried his best to confront the cruel reality.

"Card Alliance" is actually a plan to modify one of his own at that time.

Although this card game has a krypton gold drawing system, and the cards are also divided into four levels of N, R, SR, and SSR according to their rarity, the basic data of all levels of cards are almost equal.

In other words, "rarity" really only represents how difficult a card is to play, not how strong it is.

Even if his luck is extremely bad, the player known as the "African Chief" holds a set of N cards, as long as he can match the lineup and play, he will still have the opportunity to get the first place in the whole server.

The advantage of krypton gold card drawers is basically that the rare cards they get are better looking...

And more side stories that unlock these good-looking cards.

It is equivalent to buying some DLC with money that does not affect the balance of the game.

To make the clear statement of this design, it has already done its best.

It is necessary to ensure that the game itself can be profitable, and that I will not be driven out to drink the northwest wind;

It is also necessary to ensure that players can experience the fun of the game normally, rather than being forced to pay for the right to not be fed shit.

This job is as tough as a sandwich cookie, but Ming Yan still follows his heart.

Perhaps, it was his inner dream as a gamer, and the last fire was still blooming.

This project has not yet been finished, and the end of the world has come.

After four thousand years of Mingyan, after it was re-engraved, it has been revised for a period of time.

The old IP was definitely no longer usable, so he had a whim—

Now that "League of Legends" has launched its own golden brand, it is better to use the IP of "League of Legends" directly for this mobile game!

The next day, the official start site of the "Card Alliance" small project.

On the first day, Ming Yan attended and guided the newcomers.

With his current reputation, directing himself is a very important performance.

The newcomers basically brought recorders and notebooks, and did not want to miss every word.

Because what is about to be done is a card drawing game, and it is also a game type that Chaoyang Alliance has never seen before.

Ming Yan first talked about the principle.

He asked, "Does anyone know about the Skinner box gambling experiment?"

A newcomer raised his hand and quickly got up to reply: "Skinner box is a psychological experimental device. Mice fasted for more than 24 hours are placed in it, and a lever is provided in the box. In one set of experiments , the mice got food every time they pulled the lever; in the other group, the mice randomly rolled the food after pulling the lever, not every time.

"Experiments have shown that the former mice will fall into a certain period of rest after receiving food and no longer pull the lever.

"But the latter mice continued to pull the lever, hundreds or thousands of times unnecessarily, even when they got food."

"Very good. This is the 'gambler's behavior' of mice." Ming Yan nodded, "And the card game you are about to make uses the similarities in human nature."

He projected the card's rarity table.

Newcomers are looking up at the chart.

Ming Yan said: "Human gambling behavior is basically a principle. According to the initial experiments I did, the same rare card can be obtained in two ways: one is a gift of krypton gold reaching 600 yuan; the other is krypton Gold gives a lottery ticket, and on average, every 600 yuan of lottery tickets can get this rare card.

"The results are surprising, the former is far inferior to the latter in terms of enthusiasm and level of gold.

"For the time being, I'll call it the gambler's inferiority."

Mingyan projected the comparison table of the experiment.

The obvious difference between krypton and gold made the newcomers exclaim "wow".

Ming Yan said: "In the past two months, your task is to design a reasonable game card drawing mode based on this weakness of gamblers, and use reasonable mathematical means to finalize the corresponding value."

After the day's meeting, the new people can finally sit at their workstations and enter the development of new projects.

Before that, though, there was an event for everyone to eat together—commonly known as "team building."

Blue Star's canteen is provided by a restaurant on the second floor of this office building, and the quality is excellent.

Blue Star provided them with all the team building funds for the past two months, enough for them to eat several hot pot meals.

At the dining table, a rookie designer sighed: "Blue Star is so atmospheric! Not long after I arrived, Master Ming personally taught the rookie such an important design principle, and also gave us a brand-new game category to practice..."

"This shows that the boss is really good, and he values ​​us very much!"

"By the way, did you both sign a two-year agreement?"

"That's right, two years is too short for me. I don't think it's enough to stay in Bluestar for five years..."

"I also signed a non-compete agreement. Even if I leave Blue Star early, I can't announce the project situation."

Everyone exchanged information with each other and could not help but feel a little emotional.

Although Blue Star is a small-scale studio, it is already very mature and self-contained in terms of achievements, business, and systems.

Not inferior to some local listed companies at all.

The most important thing is that the level of the chief designer's statement, he basically represents the ceiling of local game design.

It can be seen from his speech on the first day, as well as the design draft of the projection.

The most "promising" point of Blue Star is that it has the wisdom of real game design.

At this time, Ming Yan on the other side was not as leisurely as the newcomers.

After the secretary helped him make a meal, he clearly scribbled the meal and dealt with it.

Next, he went through various procedures to make some preparations for the small game "Card Alliance".

Blue Star Studio and Tulong Baodao Studio are bound to be separated.

This is the helplessness of reality: money, reputation and cost cannot be combined.

In the past, for the preparation of "Blue Star Doomsday" and the small alien world, Tulong Baodao had privately invested in Blue Star, and obtained a certain amount of the latter's original shares.

To dilute the impact of this matter, "Card League" is the key to the transaction.

And blindly concealing is obviously not a long-term solution.

On the official website of Blue Star, a notice appeared generously.

Ming Yan took the initiative to release the preview message in the production of "Card Alliance", and at the same time explained that the investment funds of Tulong Baodao basically accounted for 80% of the cost.

Doing so, as a result, raised players' expectations for the new game;

Second, it is also a precaution to prevent players from thinking about the relationship between the two studios.

Ming Yan said first and foremost: Yes! It's just a simple py transaction! Don't make a fuss, it's no big deal!

Not many players actually noticed this deal.

After all, most people call mother when they have milk.

As long as there are games to play, they are very happy, but they are basically not interested in business matters.

Of course, there are also fans of Bluestar Studios who suddenly realized the existence of this transaction.

[Woc, where is the studio! Why should our goddess commit to marrying! 】

[Woo woo woo, Blue Star is really short of money. In order to save investment, I don't hesitate to make small games for other studios... I'm so sad. 】

[Dragon Slayer Sword? I've heard of it, it's the one who does the Heaven Defying Art! Spicy chicken pits money company, ruins my youth, cheats me of money! I quit the pit, and even came to ruin Blue Star! 】

Here you can see the difference in player reputation.

From the name and game style of Tulongbaodao studio, it looks like an ignorant rough man, the kind of scumbag.

And what about Blue Star?

Each game has outstanding settings and exquisite production. It is the "goddess" in the minds of players, noble and pure.

Now, Blue Star has tailor-made a mobile game for Dragon Slayer...

This news made some people beat their chests and feet, as if they had seen a big regret that they had only seen in their lives.

- It's like watching the wild boar arch the iceberg and snow lotus with your own eyes!

- I really want to get married!

Ming Yan was a little embarrassed to read the messages of these players.

Fortunately, I chose to open the trumpet very wisely.

No one could have imagined that both studios belonged to him and were used for some sleazy operations...

The difference in style is so great that even the best players can't guess it.

…

Time flies to November this year.

The first-tier professional league has begun auditions, and this year's options include additional professional content from "League of Legends".

Veteran professional players must take this game seriously and learn new competitive knowledge.

And the newly registered players, many of them are the main league of legends!

At the end of the first season of "League of Legends", many of the king segment players chose the path of professional players.

This game gave them new options in life, but also new hope.

After the audition, these professional players will become the cornerstone and milestone of the League of Legends in the League One.

Not only the high-end player circle, but also the League of Legends is completely popular in the entire game market.

In addition to the event of the League A audition, Blue Star is also in full swing preparing for its second season.

This year and last year are worlds apart.

At this time last year, Ming Yan was still struggling with where to rent servers, where to raise funds, and force the competition.

When this year, before October, some sponsors came to the door with their own investment!

The holding of the second season is expected to require nearly 200 million funds, of which 50 million is the bonus for the top four.

The cost has increased several times compared to last year, and a large part of the reason is that the game is too popular!

The fire broke out of the sixth star province, and the fire reached half of the Chaoyang Alliance game circle.

There are too many players in the team, and server shunting is necessary.

The virtual competition venue chose a super stadium that can accommodate 200,000 people.

Tickets priced from 300 to 1,000 yuan were sold out in less than a month, and there were even faint signs of scalpers outside.

Ming Yan was very busy, but Xia Cheng personally helped him with the sponsorship.

This year's league funds are not a penny from Blue Star Studios themselves.

Xia Cheng knew as soon as he came out.

More than a dozen sponsors made bids, and in the end, three of them won, injecting 90 million, 60 million, and 60 million into Blue Star respectively.

Among these three companies, there are high-end sports cars, chain hotels, and Internet marketing.

It ensures that the funds are strong without appearing too cheap.

And what Blue Star Studio needs to pay is to hold this league well, and at the same time to insert some sponsor advertisements.

Regarding advertising, Ming Yan was prepared - Xia Cheng also provided him with his own experience.

During the live broadcast of the game, it is definitely not allowed to directly cut into the advertising video.

As a result of the negotiation between the two parties, the commentator and the host read the advertisement words, and at the same time insert some banner advertisement words in the relevant shots.

This will not affect the viewing, but also can play a good publicity effect.

In this matter, Xia Cheng obviously helped a lot.

The plan he gave was carefully planned, and the candidates for the ten commentary seats were carefully investigated!

After Ming Yan read it, he couldn't help but want to pay him a salary.

The annual salary of such a powerful employee must start in one million!

And Xia Cheng said cheekily: "If you take the time to do it, the bonus will be waived. But I really want to eat your spicy chicken recently..."

He seems to have fallen in love with spicy food recently, but he is really not good at eating spicy food.

Thinking of how spicy he was, Ming Yan couldn't help laughing, and said, "Okay, then I'll prepare you the spicy milk first."

While Blue Star is actively preparing, major clubs and teams have also made adequate preparations.

During this year, many teams have tapped players with high potential, and some outstanding players from the first season have transferred to new teams.

The most well-known among them is the jungler who made a comeback with 50 health at the base.

He was exposed to the sky-high transfer fee: a full 10 million!

It is almost comparable to the well-known players who play in the League A provincial competition. You must know that this is only a player in a game of "League of Legends".

In addition to his own strength, it is obviously also because of his popularity and influence in the player circle.

Who knows?

The game competition that was purely for the bonus back then turned out to be successful in the end.

As a professional player, the salary for one year exceeds one million, not to mention the additional income from the fan economy.

Even if he changes careers to become an anchor and open an online store in the future, he will never worry about money.

That's the power of a phenomenal game.

It can make countless people cry and laugh, it can change the fate of many people, and the invisible torrent of money can be driven by virtual data...

In the end, an extremely important industrial chain in the sixth star province will be formed.

As a producer at the top of this industry chain, Mingyan has only one problem to worry about recently.

Um…

I still remember that a few days ago, players donated hundreds of thousands of yuan to him in various names.

But he really does not lack the money, how should he send it back to them now?

Headache.