Chapter 245: Go to Germany to make a fortune
After entering May, the revenue of "Three Kingdoms Generals" showed a significant decline, and the number of online players also decreased significantly.
This is originally a shoddy web game with no game content. It relies entirely on free and large-scale beautiful illustrations to attract players. Once the player's passion wears off, it becomes boring.
And there are several imitators on the market. They are obviously aware of the fat free web games, and they are playing games one after another. The gameplay mode is similar to "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms", and they also have many beauties. Illustrations to attract players.
The Chinese make games. I dare not say how good they are in other aspects, but they are definitely the best in the world in terms of following trends. Especially for games with relatively simple designs, it is easy to follow suit, and many game companies that make quick money are happy to copy them directly.
It is foreseeable that as time goes by, more and more followers will follow.
In addition to a large number of followers, a strong competitor has also emerged in the PC game, and that is Giant Network’s “Journey”.
Although "Zhengtu" is advertised as free, everyone who has played it knows that this game really costs money. Spending tens of thousands of dollars is nothing, and spending millions can only be regarded as an ordinary rich person. . In "Journey", there is no more money spent, only more money spent. In the next few years, "Zhengtu" will be recognized as the most expensive game.
Even in 2006, Zhengtu's games lacked new ideas, the graphics were simple and rough, and they used very backward 2D technology. The gameplay or graphics of many games at that time were beyond Zhengtu's.
But the key point is that "Zhengtu" does not charge any card fees, which attracts many players to enter. In the game, free players are often bullied by RMB players. Those free players who can't bear it will recharge to improve their attributes. Slowly, small recharges turn into large recharges, and the more money they spend, the more they spend.
In this regard, the player base of "Zhengtu" is highly overlapped with the player base of web games such as "Three Kingdoms". Everyone comes here for free, they can accept the relatively stretched graphics, and they don’t have high requirements for the playability of the game. Simple operations and mindless PK can meet the needs of this type of player.
On the contrary, a large part of the players of paid games cannot accept games like "Zhengtu".
For example, how can players who are used to "World of Warcraft" accept the horrific scenes of "Journey"!
For another example, if players of "Fantasy Westward Journey" play "Zhengtu", they don't even know what to do when they go online.
The rapid popularity of "Zhengtu" has also snatched a large number of players from "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms". Everyone is free to play, and PC games are still more attractive than web games.
Faced with Wang Xiaoer's New Year-like daily income, Yao Xiaoguang didn't take it seriously. Anyway, Zhang Wei had already been vaccinated before the Spring Festival, telling him that "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms" would not last half a year, and Yao Xiaoguang had already had it. Mental preparation.
And in the past three months, "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms" has also made tens of millions, and it will make at least tens of millions in the future. With such an income, Yao Xiaoguang is already very satisfied. In the end, At least there is no shortage of funds to develop DOTA2.
Yao Xiaoguang has never fought such a wealthy battle. In the past, when developing games, each phase only required hundreds of thousands of funds. For the entire game project, it would be considered a lot to have a fund of two to three million. Well, even when I was working with Shanda, I was still making 3D games, and the funds for game development did not exceed 5 million.
Now with tens of millions of development funds in hand, Yao Xiaoguang’s inner requirements for DOTA2 are a bit higher. The game engine must be refined, the graphics must be full of details, and many functions and settings that were originally too afraid to be used must be used as much as possible.
The most expensive aspects of game development are the game engine and art. It is common for many masterpieces of console games to spend tens of millions on CG for a section and hundreds of millions on art for the entire game. Moreover, the art that costs so much money is often criticized by players for poor graphics.
Fortunately, MOBA games like DOTA2 do not have high requirements for art. As long as the game engine is good, the game does not stutter, and players can play smoothly, the rest is a matter of balance.
Yao Xiaoguang only has one requirement for the graphics of DOTA2, which is to surpass the graphics of DOTA1, which is the graphics of Warcraft 3.
Although Warcraft 3 was a game released in 2002, it was produced by Blizzard after all, and it was a product of Blizzard's peak era. The graphics of the game still do not feel outdated even after more than ten years. .
It is actually not an easy task to surpass Warcraft 3 in terms of graphics.
So this month, Yao Xiaoguang’s main focus is on the development of DOTA2.
Zhang Wei feels that he should devote some energy to continue making web games. Web games can still make money. In an era when online games were sparsely regulated, even a shoddy web game could make a quick buck.
Even in the worst case scenario, you can still win by quantity. Make a web game, run it for more than half a year, make 18 million and then stop the service. Make a web game every two months. You can make a lot of money in a year.
So Zhang Wei handed the planning proposal for "Three Kingdoms" to Yao Xiaoguang.
"Three Kingdoms? Another Three Kingdoms web game?" Yao Xiaoguang read the planning book carefully.
“Recruiting generals requires an inn and a recruitment hall. The generals in the inn are refreshed at regular intervals. The higher the level of the inn, the higher the level of the generals that can be recruited.
If you want to recruit multiple generals, you need to upgrade the skills of the recruitment hall. Generals can also be upgraded through internal affairs and military affairs.
There are twelve arms, each with unique functions and effects, and the arms will restrain each other.
There are five major types of props in the game, equipment, treasures, acceleration, production and treasure chests. The props can be obtained through battle drops or purchased with ingots.
Equipment will increase various attributes of generals and can be made from raw materials. It has durability and can be repaired, but repair will reduce the upper limit of durability. Using ingots to repair it will not lower the upper limit of durability.
Equipment can be strengthened and embedded. Strengthening can improve the level of the equipment. The higher the level, the more attributes the equipment can improve.
Diamonds can be used to drill holes into props, and the drilled equipment can be inlaid with gems, which can also enhance the attributes of the equipment.
Can gems be synthesized? When two gems of the same level are synthesized into a high-level gem, the higher the level of the synthesized gem, the greater the chance of failure?
We also set up a task system. Daily missions, epic missions, general missions, and weekend missions. There are quite a lot of varieties!
Daily tasks include paying tribute to the court with resources, exterminating bandits, relieving victims, and assessing rebels. Epic mission, conquer the Yellow Turban Army, lead troops to serve the king, and rescue the emperor.
Famous general missions, missions that can only be received by specific generals? Weekend missions, expelling Karasuma in the first week of each month, pacifying the Western Qiang in the second week, conquering the Southern Barbarians in the third week, and a martial arts tournament in the fourth week?
I thought it was another card-drawing game, but I didn’t expect it to be much more complicated and have rich settings. Now it looks like a serious online game. It should be considered a strategy game, right? "
Zhang Wei nodded: "Don't make it too simple, otherwise it will be too easy for others to plagiarize. However, as the game becomes more complex, your workload will also increase a lot. ”
“It’s just a few lines of code, not much work. "Yao Xiaoguang replied.
Zhang Wei continued: "In this game, we are going to add a new setting, the boss button. ”
“What is the boss button? One-click recharge, become the boss in the game, kill everyone? ”
"Where are you thinking? The so-called boss button is to set a button. Just press it and the game interface can be directly hidden so that others cannot see it." Zhang Wei explained.
"I understand, this boss button is a button set to avoid the boss' inspection?" Yao Xiaoguang showed an expression of sudden realization.
“Yes, I have even thought about the advertising slogan for this game, so that you can play the game at work!”
“Uh...this...” Yao Xiaoguang was confused for a moment. Know what to say.
Playing games at work is definitely not a serious matter. Yao Xiaoguang is also a boss himself, and he is definitely opposed to employees playing games at work.
But he is a gamer himself, so naturally he hopes that the more people play games, the better.
Zhang Wei said to himself: "This kind of strategic management game is actually very suitable for work. It is not necessary to watch the game screen all the time like in role-playing games. If you are distracted for a moment, you may die.
So our main target group is also the majority of working people. It allows them to fish for a while in their free time and complete the operation with just a click of the mouse without being discovered by the boss.
And office workers have a salary, so they will naturally top up if they have money. Like those poor students who don’t have much pocket money every month, they have to be careful when going to Internet cafes.”
“Office workers use computers to play games at work, and they don’t have to pay for the Internet!” Yao Xiaoguang agreed. The nodded.
Zhang Wei continued: "We will take advantage of this project to accumulate more experience. At least before DOTA2 is officially launched, we will strive to develop a web game every three months! The types are all strategy-based and the target group is It’s mainly office workers!
In this case, we will at least have follow-up funds to support the research and development of DOTA2, and we will also have funds to promote DOTA2 after it is launched.”
……
You can also play games at work. This is obviously a crooked slogan. But in fact, this kind of strategy web game is indeed created for office workers to fish.
There are two views in China’s web game circle. One is that web games should be strategy games, and there is no need to emphasize technology and artistic performance. They only need to maintain light entertainment and are suitable for leisure fishing. That’s it.
Because web games are subject to hardware settings, it is impossible to compare with client games, so don’t touch on the strengths of client games, such as gameplay, graphics, etc.
Another type of person believes that the advantage of PC games is that they do not need to be downloaded and can be played immediately after clicking on them. This makes the game threshold for PC games very low and can reach users more quickly.
Therefore, web games need to make breakthroughs in technology and graphics. As long as they reach a certain technical level, they can replace 2D client games.
China's web games have also embarked on two different paths because of these two different development routes.
One is to make strategy web games, developing towards leisure; the other is to make 2D role-playing web games, to replace 2D client games. The result is that before the two can decide the winner, a mobile game appears!
In the face of mobile games, web games have no advantages.
In terms of technology and graphics, web games are definitely not as good as mobile games. After all, mobile games are also client games, and their technology and graphics are definitely better than web games.
Mobile games can be played anytime and anywhere. In terms of quickly reaching users, they are much more convenient than web games. After all, playing web games requires a computer connected to the Internet, while mobile games only require a computer. mobile phone.
The rise of mobile games also means that web games will inevitably decline.
...
After leaving Weiguang Technology, Zhang Wei came to the school network again.
Xiaonei.com has just undergone a major update. Users can now see information posted by their friends on their homepage.
Prior to this, the user's own homepage could only display what he or she had posted and messages from friends. If you wanted to see the photos and articles posted by your friends, you had to click on the other party's homepage to see them.
After this update, new updates posted by friends will appear on their own homepage. Users only need to enter their homepage to see new content posted by their friends.
Facebook also launched this function in early 2006. The school network followed suit and planned to launch this function. However, because the function had just been launched, it was not very stable yet. After a period of testing, it was Officially launched.
This function ensures that users’ newly posted information can be seen by their friends, which greatly improves the social nature of the school network and encourages users to post more updates.
But the pressure on the server has obviously increased a lot.
Content that originally only needed to appear on your own homepage now has to appear on the homepages of dozens or hundreds of friends. The amount and difficulty of data processing has increased significantly.
Zhang Wei tried out the new function and found it very smooth.
Wang Xing next to him said: "Thanks to your one million US dollar investment, the school network was able to launch this new function so quickly!"
"It feels much smoother than before, senior brother, yes Didn't you rent a new server?" Zhang Wei asked.
"In addition to renting new services, we also made some optimizations, so the web page is much smoother than before." Wang Xing said.
“I believe you are a ghost!” Zhang Wei sighed in his heart.
Investors’ money really doesn’t feel bad when spent!
Zhang Wei suddenly had a hunch that the one million US dollars he invested might not last more than half a year!
"It seems that this guy Wang Xing is not that reliable! Maybe it won't take too long, and this million US dollars will be spent, and then you will have to ask me for money again. I have to hurry up Just get some money to avoid being blinded!”
After returning to Tsinghua University, Zhang Wei checked the growth rate of the fund he bought online.
After the Spring Festival, Zhang Wei invested all the spare money he had on the stock market.
Although it was a bull market in 2006, Zhang Wei couldn't remember which stock rose the most, so he simply bought a fund and let the fund manager operate it!
Anyway, in the bull market of 2006, you won’t lose money if you find a dog to operate. What's more, the fund manager Zhang Wei is looking for is a star trader with a very good record.
This fund manager has lived up to expectations. In the three months after the Spring Festival, the funds he operates have increased by 23%, surpassing most stock funds.
Zhang Wei is actually very satisfied with such a rate of return, but it is far from satisfying the gold-eating beast of Xiaonei.com.
"Weiguang Technology has to develop DOTA2 and a new project called "Three Kingdoms", so we can't allocate funds from there for the time being. If you want to make money at this stage, you can only use that trick. !”
Zhang Wei looked at the calendar, calculated the time for the final exam, and nodded silently.
"According to the time, it will definitely be in time!"
...
In the evening, as soon as Ye Haotian returned to the dormitory, he found Zhang Wei looking at the calendar in a daze.
"Zhang Wei, you shouldn't take the college entrance examination this year, right?" Ye Haotian asked.
“I haven’t committed any crime yet, so I won’t be fired this year.” Zhang Wei replied.
"That's good. Congratulations, you can be promoted to sophomore year!" Ye Haotian said with a smile.
Lu Yunxiang asked: "Brother, do you have any plans for the summer? Do you want to go to the beach for vacation? My family is in Sanya and I just bought a villa! If you guys want to go, I will borrow it from my uncle. A yacht, let’s go to sea!”
“No, it’s too hot in Sanya in summer. I’d better stay at home, blow on the air conditioner and drink herbal tea!” Ye Haotian shook his head.
“You are the only one from Shanxi in our dormitory who is interested in the sea!” Ye Haotian pointed at Zhang Wei and continued: “You are from Qinhai and I am from Guangzhou. We can see it every day. The sea. As for your specimen brother, he not only has the sea in his mind, but also the vast universe!”
“Viagra, why don’t I go to your house to spend the summer? I heard that your place is a summer resort. You have to wrap yourself up in a quilt and sleep!" Lu Yunxiang continued.
"That will have to wait until after mid-July. In a few days, I plan to go to Germany." Zhang Wei said.
"Why are you going to Germany? Are there any academic exchange activities? It's summer, don't Europeans take summer vacation!" Ye Haotian asked casually.
“I’m going to watch the World Cup!” Zhang Wei replied.
"Yes, Germany is hosting the World Cup this year!" Lu Yunxiang slapped his head and said excitedly: "Brother, take me with you too! I want to go to the World Cup too!"
< br>"You have to pay for it at your own expense." Zhang Wei said.
"No problem, I'll pay all your expenses!" the pretentious person said in a loud voice.
"Xiao Lu is treating me to a treat, are you two going?" Zhang Wei looked at Ye Haotian and the autistic man again.
“Yes, we will go to the dormitory together, and I will cover all the expenses!” The pretentious criminal finally found an opportunity to show off.
The autistic person was the first to shake his head: "I want to do an experiment. If the project is successful, I will stay in school!"
"You can stay in school! This is a good opportunity! Chen Ming, what about you? Come on!" Zhang Wei made a fist gesture.
For Chen Ming, an autistic person, being able to stay in school may be his best way out. Doing scientific research at Tsingta University, although it will not make him rich, at least he will have a guaranteed income despite droughts and floods.
Ye Haotian also refused: "Actually, I have plans for this summer vacation. I plan to go to the United States. There are several summer camps in colleges and universities that I want to participate in. I also want to inspect the schools there and look at the graduate student applications. Where."
"If you want to go to Princeton, I have an acquaintance!" Zhang Wei said.
"My family still prefers Harvard and Yale. My dad wants me to switch to business studies and go into business or politics in the future." Ye Haotian said.
“Okay, let’s go to Germany!” Zhang Wei continued; “Xiao Lu, remember to bring more euros!”
"Viagra, don't worry. I'll take the Centurion Black Card and travel with me. I'll make sure you enjoy the delicious food and drink."
"I'm talking about eating and drinking. I'll ask you to bring more money. There are other uses!”
“Viagra, are you planning to trick me into Germany and then kidnap me?” Lu Yunxiang said in surprise.
“Do you think I can’t kidnap you in China?” Zhang Wei snorted coldly, and then said: “I asked you to bring some capital, and I will take you to Germany to make a fortune!”
< br>(End of this chapter)