Everyone left the meeting room one by one.
Huang Sibo stopped Bao Xu.
"Brother Bao, please try to come up with a concept quickly. I'll need at least five days to write the design document, so it would be best if you can have a basic idea by tomorrow for us to start discussions as soon as possible."
Huang Sibo was very polite.
This was because he didn't really know Bao Xu's background. His judgment was based on just a few observations:
He looked older, with a noticeably receding hairline.
He was a veteran player who had special privileges for overtime, clearly deeply trusted by President Pei.
He was quiet, always looking like he was lost in thought.
Taking these points into consideration, Huang Sibo assumed Bao Xu was probably his senior.
Bao Xu nodded: "Alright, Brother Huang."
Bao Xu also didn't know much about Huang Sibo, but he knew clearly that he himself was just a freshman student. Huang Sibo, on the other hand, had graduated and entered the industry already, making him undoubtedly a senior.
Both men thought the other was just being polite or respectful as new colleagues, so they didn't take it too seriously.
Who would have thought they genuinely meant it?
Back at his workstation, Huang Sibo felt both excited and anxious.
Excited because he found that both his boss and colleagues here were so friendly and polite, completely unlike the hierarchical and oppressive atmosphere at his previous company.
Anxious because he feared that his abilities weren't good enough and that he would become a burden.
He hurriedly pulled out the many design documents he had gathered previously, trying to cram at the last minute.
After two days, once Bao Xu's basic ideas were ready, it would be up to him to write the actual design document.
Meanwhile, Bao Xu had already quickly entered the brainstorming phase.
Memories of countless FPS games flooded through his mind, providing inspiration.
Making the game beginner-friendly wouldn't be too difficult—simple adjustments could achieve it easily.
For example, enlarging the hitboxes, especially the head, would significantly increase new players' headshot rates.
Or speeding up the scope-in and weapon-switching speeds for sniper rifles could allow new players to master quick-scoping quickly with minimal practice.
Bao Xu wasn't exactly an FPS expert at a professional level, but he was still considered a strong player among average gamers.
It wouldn't be hard to achieve this if he relied on his own instincts to make adjustments.
As for the pay-to-win weapons, it was just about setting higher prices, which wasn't difficult either.
But the biggest challenge Bao Xu faced was President Pei's first requirement: the story mode!
Bao Xu fell into deep thought.
Honestly, he couldn't really understand this point.
After all, most popular FPS games in the country didn't even have story modes. Even "Counter-Terrorism Plan" didn't have one—it was just all about players shooting at each other.
Some overseas single-player FPS blockbusters did have story modes, but what scale were those companies? How could Tengda, with only thirty people, compete with that?
Trying to match the content scale of foreign FPS blockbusters with a thirty-person team would be nothing short of overestimating their abilities.
Even though Bao Xu was new to the industry, he still understood this clearly.
This forced Bao Xu to reconsider.
With only thirty employees, it was obviously impossible to match the content volume of foreign single-player FPS hits.
If even an outsider like him knew this, wouldn't the brilliant President Pei know?
Of course President Pei knew!
Then why did he still set such a strict requirement?
This was both a test and a hint!
President Pei was testing their abilities, and at the same time, hinting that they absolutely couldn't approach this using the same methods as the big foreign FPS studios!
Bao Xu fell deep into thought.
...
5:00 PM.
Pei Qian happily slipped away from work.
This feeling of leaving work exactly on time was great!
Of course, as the boss, Pei Qian didn't have to come into the office at all.
But if he didn't, he wouldn't get to experience that excited anticipation while waiting to leave work, nor the thrill of leaving at precisely the right moment.
Just like a certain rich second-generation landlord who owned over thirty properties but still insisted on personally collecting rent every day once said: people shouldn't remain idle, or else they would become useless.
Pei Qian thought similarly. Even though the system had granted him a golden finger that allowed him to live comfortably just by losing some money, he couldn't let himself sink into a life of pure leisure and ruin himself.
Going to classes occasionally depending on his mood, leaving work punctually each day, experiencing a sense of productivity—these were necessary to avoid becoming idle and useless.
During the previous week, Pei Qian would make sure to drive out any employees who habitually stayed after hours, especially Huang Sibo.
He was determined to correct these employees' bad habits!
Bao Xu was an exception, though. Pei Qian quietly allowed him to stay late to play games, since it helped consume some electricity.
After a week of effort, Pei Qian felt confident that most employees had abandoned their bad habits.
Who would actually enjoy staying late at work when there was no real work to do?
Seeing everyone gradually cultivate the same habit of leaving on time as himself, Pei Qian felt very pleased.
...
Huang Sibo had just started packing up his belongings.
However, as soon as he saw President Pei had left, he immediately sat back down again.
He decided he would take the risk today.
He would disregard President Pei's warnings about docking pay and voluntarily stay behind to work overtime!
This overtime session was entirely his own choice.
Huang Sibo felt extremely anxious. He worried that he wasn't competent enough to handle the role of Lead Executive Designer, so he decided to stay behind to study and better prepare himself, ensuring he wouldn't become the one holding everyone back!
Most of the other employees had already left at the scheduled time.
After all, they didn't have much to do at the moment, and everyone was eagerly waiting for Bao Xu to complete the initial game concept.
Huang Sibo wondered briefly what he would say if President Pei suddenly returned unexpectedly.
However, he soon realized his worries were unnecessary—President Pei surely wasn't so bored that he would randomly come back to the office just to check if anyone was still working.
Very quickly, the large office area emptied out, leaving only Huang Sibo and Bao Xu.
Bao Xu casually grabbed a large bag of potato chips from the snack area and poured himself a cup of coffee from the beverage station.
These were company-provided, unlimited in supply.
Initially, Bao Xu had felt incredibly lucky, drinking coffee and soft drinks like water, but eventually, it lost its novelty, and he now only took moderate amounts.
Seeing Huang Sibo still at his desk, Bao Xu was slightly surprised but didn't say anything. Instead, he returned to his own seat and began scribbling on a blank piece of paper.
...
A little past 8 PM.
Bao Xu stood up and approached Huang Sibo's desk, holding a paper covered in messy sketches and dense notes that resembled some kind of cryptic code.
"Brother Huang, I've basically figured it out," Bao Xu said.
Huang Sibo nodded hurriedly, "Go ahead, Brother Bao."
Bao Xu pulled over a chair and began explaining his rough ideas to Huang Sibo.
"President Pei's second and third requirements aren't too difficult to implement. The real challenge is the first one—the story mode."
"I believe there's no way we can match the scale of storyline content seen in overseas FPS blockbusters. Our character models, animations, scene assets, and so on—none of these can come even close."
Huang Sibo nodded vigorously, "That's exactly my thought."
- - - - - -
If you want to see more chapter of this fic for free, please go to my Scribblehub Account[1], I cross-poted this fic in there too.
Link: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/[2]
[1] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/
[2] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/