diskusbooks #291 - Why is the game so popular again? ! (2-in-1 order required)
#291 - Why is the game so popular again? ! (2-in-1 order required)
Firstly, in the live streams of various game streamers, everyone was hotly discussing the game:
"This new device from Peach Blossom Village is amazing! Although it looks rudimentary right now, I have a feeling that, given time, it will definitely break through the dimensional barrier!"
"Wow, this is simply a breakthrough for the VR game industry, a new era for gaming!"
"The feeling of being a ruler and experiencing it firsthand is fantastic! Streamer, don't get too cocky. Once I buy the VR device, I'll come and break your record!"
"I have a feeling that this VR device will not only change the game industry but also the application ecosystem of the entire software industry."
"Seeing the magician command the battlefield from the VR perspective, I was directly floored! It's too awesome! I can't even imagine how shocking it will be when I put on the glasses myself."
At this time, on various game forums, the reputation of "Bizarre Country Simulator" began to reverse. Many self-media outlets and independent critics who had previously given negative reviews began to give positive reviews.
"Hahahaha, coming back to change my score. I admit, building a country from scratch on ruins is quite addictive."
"I take back my previous negative review.
Although the game's art style is still strange, different from the beautiful girl style of Peach Blossom Village in the past.
However, being able to personally experience the Tongliao universe, after only being able to watch Xiao John Khan's videos to satisfy my cravings in the past, is still very enjoyable."
"I previously said this game was a zoo simulation hunt, but I was superficial. The depth of the development system is amazing."
"Being able to pioneer a new theme track instead of relying on old themes, Peach Blossom Village is still awesome."
On Tieba and many strategy forums, a large number of strategy authors and UP masters began to share strategy collections:
"The Ultimate Rich Route: Build an African Billionaire, from Rags to Riches!"
"Global Shock: This African Country Actually Rises to Become a Global Tech Giant, See How I Did It!"
"Hell Difficulty: How to Survive Under Bokassa and Make a Gorgeous Comeback?"
"The Road to a Military Power: Starting with Gambia, How to Rise to Become a Military Power, Revealing the Best Military Strategy!"
"The Daddy-Recognizing Theory and Practice: The Diplomatic Masterpiece of a Bizarre Country, How to Break the International Dilemma and Achieve a Diplomatic Reversal!"
At the same time, major game media outlets at home and abroad gave the game positive reviews:
GameSpot:
"Bizarre Country Simulator" successfully integrates VR technology with national simulation, allowing players to immerse themselves in the miracle of national construction. The graphics are detailed, the plot is touching, and it is a unique game adventure!
At the same time, we also see that the evolution speed of the "Peach Blossom Creation" game engine has further increased, and it is expected that more game developers will choose Peach Blossom Village's game engine.
Game Base Camp:
The game's holographic display and realistic simulation of tactical command bring a new level of imagination to strategy games. The system design is tight and reasonable, allowing you to not only feel the cruelty of war but also control the taste of victory.
IGN:
As a simulation management game, this game not only provides a real city construction and trade system but also discusses issues such as international alliances and diplomatic mediation in the game, making the game more in-depth.
With the legendary history of small countries as the main line, it successfully integrates real history and virtual games perfectly. This is an extraordinary journey.
……
Various positive reviews have accelerated the game's breakthrough, and many players who like historical simulation games have flocked to it. The number of orders on major e-commerce platforms has broken records, once causing the system to crash.
Soon, major online stores experienced out-of-stock phenomena, and offline physical stores selling game consoles also announced that they were sold out.
Many players rushed to the comment area of Peach Blossom Village's official Weibo, urging the official to replenish the stock.
On second-hand platforms such as Xianyu, the VR device with a pre-order price of 500 yuan has been炒 (chǎo - speculated) up to a high price of 5,000 yuan!
Bilibili UP master Xiao John Khan personally released a dynamic:
"The "Bizarre Country Simulator" has been quite popular recently, but I didn't get the purchase qualification. Is there any subject who can transfer one to me to play?"
……
At this time, in the headquarters building of the Liu Group.
Liu Lan was incredibly surprised to see the evaluations of Peach Blossom Village's new game by various technology media and game media.
She initially thought that Peach Blossom Village's VR device would not be able to last even one round under the siege of industry giants.
Unexpectedly, Peach Blossom Village didn't play by the rules at all!
While everyone was constantly increasing investment, recruiting talents, and expanding production bases, Peach Blossom Village directly came out and sold a trial version?!
Such a high-risk commercial behavior with a return on investment that is completely disproportionate doesn't seem like something a mature company boss would do.
But……
Wait!
A jolt went through Liu Lan's mind!
Is there a possibility that this is a risky move deliberately taken by that kid Lu Yu?!
He is well aware that his company has no chance of winning if it confronts the Longteng Group and the Liu Group head-on.
That's why he deliberately took a gamble and quickly launched a trial version to seize the opportunity?!
From the results, this move was very successful.
After all, he is the only VR game console on the market now. No one knows what a VR game console should look like. It's good to have something to play now.
Thinking of the various tricks Peach Blossom Village used when starting its business in the past year, Liu Lan became more and more convinced of her idea.
At the same time, a trace of admiration for Lu Yu flashed in her eyes.
Just then, Shi Yi, the general manager of Youyi Company, knocked on the office door.
After entering, Shi Yi began to report to Liu Lan on the recent progress of the company's VR device development.
"Our factory site selection is very smooth, and the hardware expert we dug from the United States is about to officially start our product design…"
Liu Lan lit a cigarette:
"Our products are still on the drawing board, and Peach Blossom Village's trial version has already been launched…"
Cold sweat broke out on Shi Yi's forehead. He couldn't help but wonder if Lu Yu had a cheat code when running the company.
He said cautiously:
"Chairman, you don't need to worry too much. Our experts have carefully studied Peach Blossom Village's products and concluded that they are very rough.
We found that Peach Blossom Village's game console uses all public version architectures, relying entirely on mindless stacking of materials. It should be a project launched under time constraints.
This kind of project has a disadvantage, that is, the cost cannot be controlled. After all, Peach Blossom Village does not have its own production base, and the quality control of the foundries is uneven. In the end, their finished products must be expensive and of low quality…"
Although Liu Lan listened to Shi Yi's words, she still felt a little uneasy.
She ordered:
"Our VR products should continue to be made according to the established goals,
However… you need to make Youyi's game software compatible with Peach Blossom Village's VR devices."
Shi Yi was stunned.
Youyi's games should be exclusively for the game consoles produced by the Liu Group. Why should it be adapted to Peach Blossom Village, a competitor?
But he knew Liu Lan's temper, and he just nodded silently and left the office.
Liu Lan exhaled a puff of smoke, looking out the window.
The reason why she made this decision was also out of a steady business sense.
For some reason, she had a faint intuition that Peach Blossom Village's VR devices, although they were a ragtag bunch, would not be so easily eliminated by the market.
Therefore, she did this as a pre-emptive move, not putting all her eggs in one basket.
VR devices are related to the key competition in the next generation, and she must ensure that everything is foolproof and maximize profits!
……
Jianghai City, Longteng Group branch building.
At this time, Pei Shengnan, who was staring at the computer screen to check industry news, had a more exaggerated expression than Liu Lan.
In addition to shock, he even forgot to breathe for a while, and the entire office fell into a strange silence.
Liu Lan had been psychologically prepared for the existence of Peach Blossom Village, but before, Pei Shengnan had not taken Peach Blossom Village to heart at all.
In his opinion, all companies with annual sales of less than 10 billion were small fries. He was busy fighting with the Liu Group in terms of building factories and grabbing people. In his eyes, Peach Blossom Village was something that could be crushed easily when he cleaned up the Liu Group.
But how did they suddenly become the first manufacturer to release VR products?
Is this reasonable?
At this time, his secretary was reporting to him on the progress of factory construction and VR device development.
Pei Shengnan simply asked him:
"Secretary Wang, you used to work in the game industry. Tell me about the various ways a game goes from project initiation to release…"
For the next hour, Secretary Wang explained to him in detail.
After listening, Pei Shengnan thought of Lu Yu's behavior again, and a jolt went through his mind!
Good fellow, he really underestimated this kid!
He naturally thought of what Liu Lan had guessed before, but on the basis of Liu Lan, he thought of another layer.
Isn't this just agile development with small steps and fast runs?!
By issuing a test version while iterating based on user feedback, problems can be corrected at any time.
This is much more stable than direct factory production.
Moreover, Pei Shengnan believes that Lu Yu's ambition is definitely more than that!
In a sense, launching products and pricing them first is also a behavior of competing for standard-setting rights, pricing rights, and the right to speak.
"No wonder he can get the Liu family's daughter. He does have some skills."
In addition to admiration, Pei Shengnan also began to issue new instructions to Secretary Wang.
He has to continue to increase investment in the competition for the VR market!
He said to Secretary Wang:
"First of all, our current software lineup is far from enough. You need to actively contact game development companies, software development teams, etc., to seek partners and strive for more excellent game content and software support.
Secondly, we must cooperate deeply with university research institutions. I need Longteng's new VR products to be high-end enough!
Finally, we must also build a VR device ecosystem. Doesn't his Peach Blossom Village have VR gloves? We will also make them, and by the way, find ways to make more tricks…"
……
At this time, in the Peach Blossom Village villa.
Lu Yu was stunned when he saw the various opinions on the Internet and the news that the first batch of 30,000 trial devices were all sold out within a week.
He was even more confused when he saw the rave reviews on major platforms.
What's going on with this project? Why has it become a small hit again?
First of all, why did he agree to launch "Bizarre Country Simulator" in the first place?
That's because he felt that Peach Blossom Village's main selling point was beautiful girl lewdness.
Now, making a game where a bunch of black uncles fight in the desert, the market will definitely not buy it.
Unexpectedly, the finished product of the game actually made the players unexpectedly feel very interesting. Who would dare to believe this?
The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ is ⊥ at ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!
Secondly, why did he hastily order Mao Wuyong to launch the trial version of the VR device on the market?
He just hoped that this trial version could add some gimmicks. Unexpectedly, the effect of the trial version was unexpectedly good. I'm afraid this will make the company's group of little卷王 (juǎn wáng - involution kings) even happier, right?
Although he has implemented the Leisurely Daily Life King and Werewolf Killing Plan, the successful test of Bizarre Country in VR obviously made everyone feel like they had been injected with chicken blood. The recent trend of leisure points is a bit pessimistic…
He opened the system light curtain to check the progress of the amazing task in this cycle. Currently, only 130 employees have earned enough 100 leisure points, and many others have earned less than 30 points.
And more than a month has passed since the time of this cycle.
Lu Yu himself is very distressed. The time to complete the task is in danger…
As he was thinking, Mao Wuyong, the CEO of Meisha Technology, suddenly ran to the Peach Blossom Village villa.
Mao Wuyong: "President Lu, I'm here today to tell you that the recent VR device development has encountered difficulties again."
"What's the matter?"
"Originally, we only asked the foundry to prepare 30,000 sets of equipment. At first, we were still wondering if it would cause inventory backlog, but we didn't expect that it was completely in short supply.
However, if we continue to mass-produce according to the current design ideas, I'm afraid the VR project will eventually fail and become mediocre."
"Oh?" Lu Yu's eyes lit up. "Tell me in detail."
"In order to achieve the audio-visual effects in "Bizarre Country Simulator", we directly selected the most expensive chip solution on the market. The pre-sale price of 500 yuan was originally a loss-making gimmick, and it may not be possible to recover the cost even at 5,000 yuan.
Therefore, after the official version is launched, we will definitely increase the price several times.
However, players are destined to be very sensitive to prices. It would be fine if we sold it so expensive from the beginning, but now that the price is increased, players may be disgusted. In the end, this VR device will only become a niche product with highbrow appeal."
After listening to Lu Yu, his spirits were lifted!
Highbrow appeal? Niche product?
That's exactly what I want.
This is really like a pillow coming when you want to sleep!
In this cycle, I must not let the company cause large-scale involution because of frequent hits.
Mao Wuyong didn't notice Lu Yu's expression and continued: "So, I'm thinking, should we streamline the chip solution and some unimportant stacking details…"
Lu Yu immediately refused:
"No, no, no, on the contrary, I need you to stack materials vigorously, regardless of cost!
Give me the top-level chips, use the most cutting-edge solutions, and open the biggest brainstorm.
Even if we give back some money to the players, we can afford to lose!
All in, all in!"
Hearing Lu Yu's instructions, Mao Wuyong was completely dumbfounded.
Although his heart was pounding, he recalled that Liu Mengyuan had said before that President Lu was a master strategist.
Perhaps President Lu had considered some details that they hadn't?
……
After sending Mao Wuyong away, Hua Wu came over again:
"President Lu, the development of 'My Wife is a Savior' is facing difficulties again.
First of all, there's the difficulty of simulating scents. To pursue realism, we plan to have the system release corresponding fragrances when players reach specific scenes, such as... a beautiful girl's body scent.
But currently, we can't achieve highly accurate scent release with the current technology, so we need to find more advanced alternative technologies.
Also, the touch simulation in the game requires players to truly feel the character's touch, whether it's an object or a person, but the current glove effect is obviously not good enough, so we need to find more delicate silicone materials."
Lu Yu was secretly delighted to hear this.
Good, finally some good news. It seems that the main project of this cycle isn't progressing smoothly.
He was about to casually comfort Hua Wu, telling her not to be so serious,
when Wan Xiaotong and her personal translator, Xu Qin, walked over from a distance.
Xu Qin translated Wan Xiaotong's words:
"I heard your conversation. Actually, if you want to debug the tactile and olfactory functions of VR devices, then Peach Blossom Village should make another VR game that focuses on daily life, because the various gameplay elements that emphasize details in daily games are the best way to test these two functions."
Lu Yu thought that since the people at Moe Girl Studio would be thinking wildly and finding work for themselves when they were idle, he might as well approve the project and have them make this game.
So he smiled and said, "Sounds good. Xiaotong, write a proposal first and give it to me later."
……
Three days later, Xiaotong, who had been scratching her head constantly, finally submitted a game proposal.
The proposal was titled 'A Security Guard's Night'.
He flipped through the content. This game mainly tells the story of a young man working as a security guard in an IT company building, and how he carries out his day's work in a VR life simulation game.
Players need to control this security guard to perform his duties. The main tasks are: patrolling, checking surveillance, cleaning up trash, turning off lights...
Apart from that, the entire proposal had no unique game features whatsoever.
Lu Yu complained:
"Why choose a security guard? If it's a game about daily life, there are many other occupations to choose from, right?"
Xu Qin translated:
"Miss Wan occasionally passed by our park's security booth a few times and saw the security guard dozing off inside, but still trying to stay awake and work,
So, she became very interested in the life of a security guard, and she's been observing for the past few days.
Now, she feels that she has completely understood it, so she wants to turn what she has seen and heard into a game."
Hearing this, Lu Yu finally understood that Wan Xiaotong's project logic was—no logic at all, just based on her own preferences and mood.
The other employees of Moe Girl Studio were also sitting in the meeting room at this time.
Everyone complained: "Even if the project is approved, isn't the gameplay too ordinary? Won't players fall asleep while playing?"
The speaker didn't mean it, but the listener did.
Hearing this, Lu Yu suddenly had a flash of inspiration: Ordinary? That's exactly what he wanted! He wanted it to be ordinary!
This test project was originally just a guise to test functions and occupy the time of Moe Girl Studio.
The more boring the game is, the better!
It would be even better if it could hinder VR development and have the opposite effect!
He immediately said, "Miss Wan Xiaotong, no need to say anything more. Let's follow your idea for the project."
Wan Xiaotong nodded blankly.
Lu Yu looked at Wan Xiaotong's departing figure, feeling quite satisfied.
At critical moments, he still had to rely on Xiaotong.
She was indeed an excellent talent he had recruited!
In this way, during this settlement cycle, he had added two layers of insurance to prevent the project from becoming too popular and out of control due to internal competition:
The first was expensive and under-productive VR equipment, and the second was an extremely boring game mode.
With Mao Wuyong and Wan Xiaotong, these two crouching dragons and phoenix chicks, how could he not succeed!
……
On the other side, the company's technical director, Chu Xiong, turned on his work computer.
Melissa's matter had always been a knot in his heart, so he wanted to ask her clearly.
Melissa's room was displayed on the screen.
At this time, Melissa was lying in the bathtub, squinting her eyes and comfortably taking a bubble bath.
Suddenly, Chu Xiong's big eyeballs appeared in the south window, peeking into the room, scaring her to scream.
She quickly wrapped her snow-white and full delicate body in a bath towel and said angrily, "Master, what are you doing?"
"I want to ask you something."
Chu Xiong smiled slyly: "Recently, did you cause those bugs and weird functions in the company's new games?"