Chapter 760 - 415: Simple Joys in Life (Part 3)

"Then let’s make a truly dynamic open-world game."

"Cool!"

"Great, I knew it!"

After Li Peifeng said this, the managers in the audience all smiled.

Open-world games have three characteristics:

First, free exploration, with no clear level requirements. Players don’t need to be at a specific level to reach a certain map, even a newbie entering the game can ’go wherever they want.’

Second, non-linear quests. Even if there are main quests, they won’t force players to complete them to proceed in the game. No need to worry about players not knowing what to do, because open-world games are packed with side quests hidden in the vast map, waiting for players to explore and trigger.

Third, high interactivity: Players can freely explore and interact with the environment, and interact with NPCs to gain favorability, etc. But these interactions are limited and can only be achieved under certain conditions to obtain missions or rare items.

This is what defines open-world games. If you add ’dynamic’ in front, the freedom is further enhanced, and the player’s sense of immersion becomes stronger. Simply put, each player’s character growth or actions will impact surrounding changes, and even affect the direction of the game world.

Looking at PC or mobile games, very few online games in the market truly achieve this. Players, although protagonists, are more like supporting actors; they are not the ones in charge—it’s the game planners and writers. The stories in the game are fixed, no matter how hard players try, the storyline will not change one bit.

But Western Continent plans to innovate with "Sword and Magic," allowing players to become the true protagonists...

"Then we’ll set the player’s entry point at the third year after Wang Chi time-traveled, which is the 210th Chapter, ’The Fall of the Xianglu Empire.’ If players and the main character work together to repel the invasion, it will rewrite the story, save General Geng Wu’s life, and prevent the tragedy... Some regrettable events in later stories will also change with players’ efforts."

"Of course, if the necessary conditions are not met, what should have ended happily in the novel might also end in tragedy."

"Right. But the conditions have to be quite strict!"

"Also, boss, I see in your outline that you intend to kill off Wan Rong too. Can that be..."

"He can be saved, everything can be saved, but it depends on the player’s skills."

Li Peifeng continued discussing other storylines that could be dynamically altered with everyone. After chatting for a while, Wang Lianzong muttered under his breath, "If we do this, the cost and production time might increase again."

These days, He Yimeng had heard similar words many times from him and was relatively calm now: "How much more cost and how much longer again?"

Wang Lianzong pondered: "The current headcount is already a bit lacking. Ideally, we need about 200 people. Now that we’ve positioned the game as a large-scale dynamic open world, the company lacks the technical foundation for such games, so we need to poach at least twenty experienced programmers from large companies, and preferably have an architect."

"Additionally, involving changes to the original storyline, we need to recruit at least three more writing teams, two art teams, one level design team, one quest design team... and twenty other relevant support members."

Facing He Yimeng’s sharp gaze, Wang Lianzong, after calculation, gave the answer: "We need to hire another two hundred people, and with a four-hundred-member team, development time would be about a year... but development costs would double, around three hundred million."

The development cost mostly corresponds to personnel salaries, and a budget of three hundred million is worthy of the grand plan for "Sword and Magic"...

But doesn’t Boss Li have that much money left?

[I do, agree.]

He Yimeng silently watched Li Peifeng, paused for a moment, and then slowly nodded, "Got it, you all go ahead and get busy."

"Alright."

As the others hurriedly left the room, leaving only the two of them, He Yimeng said indifferently, "Spending five hundred million here and then over eighty million on a villa, are you planning to use royalties to pay them? But don’t forget, you are about to get married after graduation, and holding a wedding costs money too."

"It doesn’t matter," Li Peifeng replied with a smile. "The rich lady by my side will step up... right, President He?"

He Yimeng sneered, "You expect me to give you money to help handle your wedding? How can you even think that!!"

Li Peifeng did not mean it that way. He knew she understood that he didn’t mean it that way either. Saying that was just to mock himself intentionally, but he didn’t mind, he would make a move!

"Let go, I still have work to do."

Li Peifeng hugged He Yimeng and nodded, "I’ll listen to you, so let’s do it."

What comprehension skills do you have?

He Yimeng was speechless, stumbling to the window and closing the blinds...

At five in the evening, Li Peifeng left the company and returned to the villa to prepare dinner.

Under a balanced work pace, the "Sword and Magic" mobile game project was progressing steadily, and after more than a month of living together, the relationships among the four girls at home no longer seemed so tense.

Even arguments became rare, just occasional bickering, and most of the time, their interactions could even be considered harmonious, akin to the mode of interaction in Shared Dream.

However, the scenario Li Peifeng hoped for, of four or even five people sharing a bed under one blanket, did not happen. Whenever he subtly suggested this idea to one of them, he would be met with cold ridicule.