Chapter 451: The Derivatives of Wolf Games! The Dilemma of the Golden Engine! |
Candlesticks, codexes.
Battle-scarred armor, magnificent and grand churches.
The opulent dome of St. Peter's Basilica witnessed the glory of the Middle Ages.
The dilapidated Constantinople narrated the rise and fall, honor and disgrace of the Balkan Peninsula.
Every detail in the photographs was crystal clear, every line in the sketches elegant and distinct.
And now.
These photographs and sketches lay on Golden Wind's conference table, right before Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao.
"These are the more valuable materials we've compiled over this period,"
Beside them, Sato, director of Steel Chain Fingers, reported to the "dual saints of the same court":
That's right.
Back during the development of Battlefield Winds, Gu Sheng hadn't excluded Steel Chain Fingers from the project—instead, he sent them to Europe to collect materials.
Now, the materials before him and Little Nezha were the fruits of the Steel Chain Fingers team's labor.
However.
Even to this day, the members of Steel Chain Fingers still didn't know the deeper meaning behind their boss sending them to Europe for research.
They only knew it was to accumulate material for their new project.
As for what type of project it was?
No idea.
What genre?
No idea.
What content?
Even less idea.
They only knew the boss was preparing a new project for them.
Everything else was a complete mystery, they knew nothing.
Regarding this, Shen Miaomiao was also very curious.
A new project!
She had just massively accumulated 1.8 billion dollars in her little treasury!
Anyway, there were no government meetings today, and Peng Xiaopang was overseeing the joint company, so she naturally had time to attend this project initiation meeting again.
What if there was still an opportunity?
As the saying goes, not taking advantage of an opportunity makes you a fool!
What if, against all odds, this project also had exploitable gaps that could let her wildly increase investment in some inexplicable area, turning a project that should be profitable into a loss through some additional investments?
Wouldn't that 1.8 billion dollars become the starting point of my great wealth?
Thinking this.
Shen Miaomiao looked at Old Gu beside her—
"Okay, hmm, not bad..."
She saw Gu Sheng finish flipping through the last few materials and nod:
"Pretty good, very good."
After speaking, Gu Sheng seemed to remember something and fell into deep thought.
Steel Chain Fingers: ...
And then? Big bro? That's it?
The members of Steel Chain Fingers stared fixedly at Gu Sheng, faces full of question marks.
Did we just go take some photos?
The project? The project you promised us before we went to Europe?
Where's your promise? Where's your stretcher... no... your proposal?
We didn't actually just take a paid annual vacation, did we?!
Do you know how jealous we are watching Golden Experience and Melancholy Blues people showing off their project progress and technical breakthroughs in their social media feeds every day?
Give us some work!
Otherwise, the salary CEO Ou is paying us—already far exceeding the industry average—we really feel guilty taking it!
Not to mention we got a nearly month-long free trip to Europe, with daily salaries still fully paid!
We mean, getting more salary is definitely good, but this kind of treatment really makes us a bit nervous!
Besides, that Golden Engine has been from development to release for half a year, and we haven't even touched it yet!
This thing is like new equipment in the military—if we don't get our hands on it to play with, do you know how itchy we feel?
"Ahem... President Gu?"
Shen Miaomiao saw Sato and the others' faces turning red, worried they might have a stroke on the spot.
So she waved her hand in front of Gu Sheng to remind him not to leave sentences half-finished—it's really annoying:
"So the project for this research is...?"
"Ah? Oh, oh!"
Only then did Gu Sheng snap out of it, clearing his throat:
"A new project is definite, I'm just thinking that if we use the current Golden Engine to make this work... it seems somewhat lacking."
Currently, as their self-developed engine, Golden Engine basically handles all future Golden Wind games.
However.
You need to understand that Golden Engine has just started. Although it performed excellently in Battlefield Winds, its shortcomings still exist—this cannot be ignored.
Moreover, Battlefield Winds' success only proves that Golden Engine can largely handle FPS game production.
As for its performance in other game types, that remains unknown.
And Golden Wind happens to be a game company involved in many different game categories.
Take this time for example—
"I sent you to Europe to prepare for a Wolf-type ARPG game."
Hiss—!!!
As soon as these words were spoken!
The conference room instantly filled with sharp intakes of breath!
Wolf-type! ARPG!
The sequel to Sekiro is coming!!!
Oh—
Only then did Sato have a sudden realization!
No wonder the boss specifically separated them out, sending them on a paid research trip to Europe during such a critical phase of Golden Engine and Battlefield Winds development!
So it was to release a Sekiro sequel!
In an instant!
All members of the Steel Chain Fingers studio had blazing eyes, full of anticipation!
You must understand!
The original Sekiro absolutely dominated the gaming world's attention!
Golden Wind's first 3S-level masterpiece, the originator of an entire game genre!
In the confrontation with Komera, it held an absolutely crushing advantage!
To put it bluntly, even now, looking across the global gaming scene, that original Sekiro would have few rivals—gods would be slain if they blocked it, buddhas would be killed if they stood in its way!
This is Steel Chain Fingers' pride, the miracle work they personally created!
And now!
After lying dormant for so long, this IP is being revived!
As the "godfather of Wolf-type games," the Steel Chain Fingers team is naturally extremely excited and full of confidence!
Everyone was very excited.
So much so that they overlooked the grimacing Chairman Shen Miaomiao beside them.
Good news: She has another derivative project slip to create.
Bad news: The derivative work is Sekiro with an average 9.9 rating.
Where the hell can she possibly lose money on this!
Shen Miaomiao felt terrible.
She clearly understood that for Golden Wind, this Sekiro derivative work would likely become their most terrifyingly profitable game in recent years.
Why?
First, the Sekiro IP is just too brutal. Without exaggeration, if you're a motion-sensing pod player, even if you don't own Sekiro, you've definitely heard of it.
Second, with Golden Engine officially on track, having their own self-developed engine means they no longer need to pay engine licensing fees, further reducing costs.
Finally, compared to works like It Takes Two, Call of Duty, and Battlefield Winds, influenced by its art style, no matter how much you add to Sekiro-type works, costs won't exceed 200 million dollars—a classic case of small investment for big returns.
So!
Sigh...
Shen Miaomiao sighed inwardly.
Probably this derivative project slip will be wasted again.
No need to even think about this one—twelve thousand percent impossible to lose money.
Regardless of quality.
As long as Old Gu releases it, players will definitely buy it.
However!
Right at this moment!
Just when Shen Miaomiao had already given up and started thinking about what to eat for lunch!
She heard Gu Sheng click his tongue:
"But there's a problem now..."
"Our Golden Engine's performance quality in game visual details can hardly achieve the effect I want."
Hmm?
Shen Miaomiao's thoughts, which had already drifted to fried chicken legs, were pulled back.
Let me hear what's going on?
Is there still a chance?
Golden Engine's insufficient visual detail performance is an undeniable fact.
After all, when this engine was initially developed, Gu Sheng benchmarked it against the Frostbite Engine developed by the old DICE team in his previous life.
And whether it's Frostbite from his previous life or the current Golden Engine developed under Gu Sheng's direction, both share the characteristic of being good at creating grand distant views and scenes but lacking in detail expression.
Good at distance but not proximity, good at scenery but not precision.
This is the current visual shortcoming of Golden Engine.
"...But the problem is, according to my current planning, this Wolf-type derivative work needs to be at least two parts, possibly even a trilogy like Call of Duty,"
Gu Sheng said:
"And this way, for the quality performance of the foundational first game, we need to make it as perfect as possible to pave the way for subsequent works,"
"At the very least, it needs to barely reach the quality level of the Illusion Engine."
This...
Hearing this.
Everyone couldn't help but frown, difficult expressions appearing on their faces.
To be honest.
This requirement is a bit too harsh.
Perhaps one day, through continuous polishing and upgrades, Golden Engine will eventually surpass Illusion in quality.
But now.
Impossible.
Although Illusion blocked us and is our enemy.
We can't deny that their technology is currently far superior to ours.
Just in terms of visual detail presentation quality, if we want to match Illusion, we'd need at least three to five years of accumulation and progress.
Golden Wind has the time.
But the project doesn't.
Does this mean this Wolf-type derivative work also has to wait three to five years before release?
Impossible.
Project progress waits for no one.
"...But the problem is, we can't achieve a rapid improvement in visual detail quality in a short time either?"
Yuki said with a slight frown:
"Unless we take a different path, temporarily set aside our self-developed engine, and choose Phoenix which specializes more in visual quality."
"No,"
Before Gu Sheng could speak, Okura, in charge of overall engineering, shook his head first:
"Currently Golden Engine is basically the default national engine domestically. If we announce an engine switch now, even if just temporarily, the impact on us would be huge and very unfavorable for future commercialization efforts."
"Then what should we do—"
Yuki shrugged upon hearing this, somewhat frustrated:
"We can't improve quickly, switching engines would affect the bigger picture,"
"If only we could merge Phoenix with our Golden Engine, perfectly achieving overtaking on the curve..."
As she spoke.
Yuki gave a bitter smile.
Thinking if only there were fusion magic cards like in Yu-Gi-Oh in real life—just slap a fusion, Golden Wind instantly evolves, and the project would have no problems.
But, games are just games.
How could reality let you fuse things so casually?
Thinking this, Yuki propped her chin on her hand, frowning as she pondered other solutions.
Completely unaware that across from her, her good friend Shen Miaomiao had a thoughtful glimmer in her eyes...