Chinese entertainment: What's wrong with actresses wanting to improve?

Chapter 375 Various Projects of Xingmeng Digital Entertainment

Star Dream Digital Entertainment occupies the fifteenth and sixteenth floors. The elevator doors opened, and the corridor was filled with game posters.

Guan Yu from the game "Three Kingdoms Kill" and Garen from "League of Legends" each occupy a wall, with several character posters from other games sandwiched in between.

The receptionist was taken aback when she saw Fu Yibai come out of the elevator.

"Mr. Fu!"

"Where is your General Manager Liu?"

"General Manager Liu is having a project meeting in the conference room. I'll go and call him."

"No need, I'll go straight there."

Pushing open the door to the office area, a wave of heat hits you.

Several young programmers were arguing about something in front of a whiteboard covered with flowcharts and numerical formulas.

A large screen directly in front of the office area displays the online player count curves for various games in real time.

The meeting room was at the end of the corridor, with blurry figures visible through the frosted glass.

When Fu Yibai pushed the door open, Liu Yongqiang was standing in front of the projection screen, holding a laser pointer.

There were seven or eight people sitting in the conference room, with laptops and printed test data spread out in front of them.

Liu Yongqiang turned his head and saw Fu Yibai standing at the door, his laser pointer hovering in mid-air.

"Mr. Fu? What brings you here?"

Everyone in the conference room stood up at the same time, their chair legs dragging on the floor with a jagged sound.

"Sit down, please sit down. I just came to take a look."

Fu Yibai sat down in the empty chair closest to the door and gestured for Liu Yongqiang to continue.

Liu Yongqiang didn't continue speaking. He put the laser pointer on the table, walked to Fu Yibai's side, and whispered.

"Mr. Fu, would you like me to show you around?"

Today's meeting was just a routine progress report; it won't make a difference if we take a little longer.

"That's fine too."

Liu Yongqiang spoke a few words to the people in the conference room, and then led Fu Yibai out of the conference room.

The two first went to the League of Legends project team.

The project team occupied an entire area on the east side of the fifteenth floor, with dozens of computers arranged in rows.

The shelves against the wall were filled with figurines: Garen, Annie, Ashe...

The details are exquisitely done.

"The number of people online simultaneously worldwide exceeded 12 million last month."

Liu Yongqiang pointed to the real-time data on the large screen on the wall, his tone filled with barely suppressed pride.

"Domestic servers account for 60%, while South Korea and Southeast Asia have the fastest growth."

Riot Games signed a distribution agreement with us last year, and the servers just launched last month. In the first week alone, 800,000 new users flooded in.

"What about the competition?"

"The Spring Split is underway, with eight teams participating, and the Grand Finals are scheduled for May."

This year, there are three times more sponsors than last year, including Nongfu Spring, Mercedes-Benz, and Intel.

Fu Yibai nodded.

The tournament system is the lifeline of League of Legends. The more steadily the esports development progresses, the longer the game's lifespan will be.

"How's it going with the 'Three Kingdoms Kill' game?"

Liu Yongqiang led him toward the Three Kingdoms Kill project team, talking as they walked.

"Online daily active users have remained stable at over three million, and offline physical card sales exceeded eighty million in the first quarter of this year."

Last month, we collaborated with Kagame to release a collector's edition with gold foil stamping, limited to 50,000 sets, which sold out in three days.

The atmosphere in the Three Kingdoms Kill project team is completely different from that in League of Legends. It's quieter here, with several planners gathered together discussing the skill balance of new generals, and physical test cards scattered on the table.

After leaving the "Three Kingdoms Kill" project team, Fu Yibai saw a familiar poster displayed by a project team next door.

"This is..."

"Roco Kingdom"

Liu Yongqiang then spoke.

"This project was initiated the year before last, and went into public beta last June. Now it has more than 50 million registered users and about 8 million daily active users."

Fu Yibai stood in front of a poster depicting a castle floating in the clouds, surrounded by winged elves and little magicians riding brooms.

The art style is fresh and bright, with high color saturation, clearly targeting younger users.

"This project wasn't what I requested, was it?"

Liu Yongqiang paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"no.

This was a proposal put forward by the project team themselves. When they submitted it, I wasn't very optimistic about it, thinking that the market for browser games aimed at young children was too small.

But the project team used Pokémon as an example, which convinced me.

Moreover, the research and development costs were not high, so the project was approved.

Unexpectedly, the market response was very positive after it was made.

Who is the project leader?

Chen Siyuan is a post-90s generation.

I just graduated from Tsinghua University's Computer Science Department two years ago, and submitted this project proposal after only one year with the company.

Where are they?

Liu Yongqiang called out towards the workstation area.

"Chen Siyuan!"

A young man wearing black-rimmed glasses stood up from behind his workstation. His hair was messy, and his T-shirt had a pixelated dinosaur printed on it.

He saw Fu Yibai next to Liu Yongqiang and his whole body stiffened visibly.

"Hello, Mr. Fu!"

He strode over and stood in front of the two of them, his back ramrod straight, like a primary school student being called on by the teacher.

Fu Yibai looked him up and down.

"Did you suggest 'Roco Kingdom'?"

"It's...it's me."

"That was a good job. Did the company give you a reward?"

"It's given, it's given."

"This game has the potential to be made into an animated film."

"Let Star Dream Animation evaluate it next year."

Chen Siyuan's eyes lit up, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something but didn't know what to say, and in the end he just nodded vigorously.

"How's the development of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds going?"

"The PUBG team is on the sixteenth floor."

Liu Yongqiang pointed to the top of his head.

Fu Yibai followed Liu Yongqiang up to the sixteenth floor.

Upon arriving at the PUBG project team, dozens of high-spec computers were arranged in four rows.

The walls were covered with reference diagrams of various firearms and map topologies, while the whiteboard displayed weapon balance adjustment schemes and vehicle physical parameters.

Dozens of testers were running around the game with their headphones on, the sound of gunfire leaking out from the gaps in their headphones, making it exceptionally clear in the quiet office.

"What's the current completion status?"

"Ninety percent."

Liu Yongqiang walked to an empty test machine, clicked the mouse twice, and the game screen switched to the main interface.

"The island, desert, and rainforest maps have all been completed, and the weapon models and ballistic systems have been adjusted three times."

Currently, the main focus is on running server stress tests and anti-cheating modules.

Fu Yibai pulled up a chair and sat down, operating the testing machine for a few minutes.

On an 8x8 map, I jumped from the airport to Pochinki, picked up an M416 and a 98K, and experienced both the shrinking circle and the poison circle damage.

The graphics are smooth, the controls feel solid, and the recoil feedback and reloading animations are all very well done.

"Closed beta testing in July shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Technically speaking, we can start internal testing in May.

Liu Yongqiang stood behind him, his hands resting on the back of the chair.

"But we plan to run tests for another month."

Battle royale, a 100-player battle royale mode, puts much more strain on the servers than traditional shooting games.

"If we don't solve these three problems—frame skipping, packet loss, and cheating—launching the game is suicide."

"The fight against cheating is a long-term battle."

Fu Yibai stood up.

Don't try to solve it all at once.

After launch, a dedicated anti-cheating team will be formed to continuously update and ban cheaters.

Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

"clear."

After leaving the PUBG development area, Liu Yongqiang led Fu Yibai to see several projects independently developed by Xingmeng Digital Entertainment.

These projects were not on Fu Yibai's requested list; they were all initiated and developed by Liu Yongqiang's team themselves.

Some are already online, while others are still in the testing phase.

A turn-based fantasy game with an ink-wash style graphics, a surprisingly solid combat system, and a very restrained monetization model.

It's a casual music rhythm game with a music library mainly featuring original Chinese-style songs, and it has a good reputation among young users.

There is also a simulation management game where players take on the role of an ancient county magistrate, responsible for judging cases, collecting taxes, and developing infrastructure.

"These were all proposals put forward by the producers themselves."

Liu Yongqiang explained from the side.

"I didn't interfere much."

The company allocated an innovation fund to them, which is reviewed every quarter. If they pass the review, they can receive resources.

"Well done, creativity is the foundation of Star Dream Digital Entertainment."

A company that only does the tasks assigned by the boss will eventually lose its creativity.

The innovation fund will double its amount every quarter.

The evaluation criteria should not be too utilitarian.

Fun, innovative, and sincere—approval is key.

Liu Yongqiang tucked the notebook under his arm and bowed slightly to Fu Yibai.

"I thank you on behalf of those producers."

Fu Yibai glanced at the time; it was almost six o'clock.

That's all for today.

Let's have dinner together tonight, and invite all the employees.

Liu Yongqiang grinned, turned around and shouted towards the office area, "Attention all group leaders, General Manager Fu is treating us to dinner tonight! Think of what you want to eat now!"

A cheer erupted in the office area as several young programmers poked their heads out from behind their workstations and started making noise.

"Mr. Fu, can we have some barbecue?"

"Hot pot! Hot pot!"

"I want to eat Japanese food!"

"Either is fine, let Mr. Liu decide, pick the most expensive one."

Fu Yibai said it casually.

Liu Yongqiang chuckled, his laughter standing out clearly amidst the noise of the office area.

"Anyway, Mr. Fu is treating, so nobody's leaving the restaurant standing tonight."

Liu Yongqiang had his assistant book a barbecue restaurant nearby.

At 7 p.m., Xingmeng Digital Entertainment had filled the barbecue restaurant to capacity with more than 100 people.

The charcoal glowed red-hot under the iron mesh, the pork belly sizzled on the hot plate, and beer glasses clinked together with a crisp sound.

Fu Yibai was pulled by Liu Yongqiang to sit at the table in the middle, and several project team leaders took turns coming over to toast him.

He didn't refuse any drinks offered, accepting them all and drinking one cup after another.

Fu Yibai asked Liu Yongqiang to give the employees a day off, so the group of programmers drank freely.

The drinking session lasted until after 10 p.m., and everyone left satisfied.