Video games are considered the ninth art form on Earth not just because they entertain people, but because creating them requires artistic skills on par with traditional forms of art—or even more.
These two seemingly opposite forms of art actually share the same foundation: creativity.
The reason Blue Star's game industry was falling behind was simple—it lacked creativity. All the good ideas were going into TV shows, comics, and novels. No one cared about games. The slow progress meant it lost the market's attention. It was a blue ocean, sure—but also a dead sea.
There's always someone willing to take the first bite. William might not have been the first, but he was the one who made everyone realize how good that first bite was.
Once people see that making games can make money, the market will naturally start paying attention. The dead sea will become a blue ocean again.
It's easy to guess who'll benefit first—it'll be the people right behind William, because in business, the first rule is always: copy what works.
Games will never be separate from business—and they don't need to be. They're the perfect blend of art and commerce.
But once business is involved, there's always going to be competition. And in a mature market, capital knows how to use bad money to drive out the good.
In less than a month, the market will be flooded with Piano Tiles clones. People won't even be able to find the original version anymore. The developer "Earth Games" will be replaced by knockoffs like "Earth Makes Games," "Earth Loves Games," and "Earth Playing."
It's unavoidable. But if William acts fast and keeps releasing *Piano Tiles*-style games until the market is saturated, he can keep new money from jumping in—and avoid being pushed out by the fakes.
But that strategy basically means he'd be pushing himself out too. In the end, it's lose-lose.
Of course, there's an even simpler way: fight capital with capital.
But the little money William had wouldn't even make a splash if he threw it in—it'd just be a joke.
It seemed like his path was already set: either keep making Piano Tiles–style games so the market remembers him, or wait to be eliminated by capital.
But all of that rests on one thing—William can't make another hit game.
As long as he stays ahead, the chaos behind him will never reach him.
And as it happens, hit games are the one thing William has plenty of.
With no fear of being pushed out, the only thing capital brings is benefits.
There are two reasons why the game market can't grow: one, there aren't enough good games; and two, it lacks capital interest.
In fact, capital interest matters even more than good games.
And once you have both, someone's prediction can come true.
Without thinking further, William began working on his next game.
New folder: 2048
2048 is a simple puzzle-strategy game, but just like Piano Tiles, it's super addictive.
Players swipe up, down, left, or right on a 4×4 grid. At the start, the game gives you two "2" tiles. Your job is to merge them into a "4", then merge two "4"s into an "8", and so on, until you reach 2048.
Unlike when he made Piano Tiles, this time William didn't just grab assets from the engine's marketplace—he wanted to draw everything himself.
The background, number design, number blocks—he'd make them all on his own.
He opened Photoshop. The Art Handbook had given him the skill to design, though he still lacked experience using the tools. Fortunately, you can learn anything online.
After about twenty minutes, he got the hang of Photoshop's basic features.
Time to draw.
Though "draw" might not be the right word—"trace" is more accurate.
William found a picture of the original 2048 game online and copied it. Once he finished the background, he gave each number a different color—and it was done.
As for the code, it was even easier. In less than two hours, William had the game running smoothly in the Cocos2d-x engine.
Export.
While waiting for the export to finish, William got a phone call.
"Hi, I'm Cynthia from the business department at Tencent," she said sweetly, like she had candy in her mouth.
"Hello."
"Are you with Earth Games...?"
"Just call me William."
"Okay, Mr. William." Cynthia paused. "Sorry to ask, but are you currently the person in charge of Earth Games?"
"That's right."
"Great, thank you. The reason I'm calling is to see if there's any chance we could work together."
"Go ahead."
"Okay, you've used our company's WeChat app, right?"
"Of course."
"Then you've probably also used our Mini Program feature?"
"I have."
"Great. Here's the thing—our company would like you to make a game, something like Piano Tiles, that can be played directly inside a Mini Program. What do you think?"
A game inside a WeChat Mini Program?
William immediately thought of a small game he played a couple of years ago. He was intrigued.
Cynthia added, "And of course! This is a paid project. If you're interested, we can talk more about the details, including profit sharing and so on."
"No need."
"Huh?" Cynthia sounded shocked. She quickly asked, "Wait, have you already been contacted by another platform?"
"No, it's not that. I've just decided I'm not making any more Piano Tiles-type games."
"Oh… what do you mean?"
"How about we talk about working together on a different kind of game?"
"A different game?" Cynthia sounded unsure. Then, as if she'd made a big decision, she clenched her teeth and said, "Can we meet in person?!"
"Of course, no problem."
They settled on a time and place. Cynthia would fly to Riverdale tomorrow at noon.
She would even drive over to pick William up — partly to show her sincerity, and partly because William had mentioned he'd take a cab. Cynthia suggested it afterward, probably also as a way to show off the company's strength.
As soon as the call ended, the system popped up with a new task.
[Business Task]
[Objective: Reach a deal with Tencent and meet their requirements]
[Reward: +3 Reputation Points]
Well then.
Now, even if Tencent's conditions weren't great, William had a reason he couldn't say no.
Looking at it another way, with the system's reward as a safety net, he could give it his all without holding back.
Tencent had once topped the global game company revenue charts. That kind of success doesn't happen by chance — it's backed by a full, well-developed business model. If he could build a deep partnership with them, it would be a huge boost for William's future.
Of course, what William really cared about was their resources.
Everything would have to wait until tomorrow when he met Cynthia. So, William started preparing a little gift for the meeting.
He opened Photoshop and began sketching a rough draft.
Then he searched for Maya tutorials online, spent a few dozen minutes learning the basics, and began working on the first 3D model of his career.
It was really just a tiny game piece, plus a few cubes and rectangles of different sizes.
There wasn't time to code it, though, because Aunt Lisa was already knocking on his door, calling him to dinner.