To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

[Three Practices to Make Your Game Sell as Well as “Botanic Garden.”]

[From Obscurity to Millions in Sales, Fang Cheng Studio Only Got These Few Things Right.]

[Is Game Quality or Marketing More Important?]

As he read article after article, Fang Cheng couldn’t help but feel confused.

He couldn’t understand why, after he had only contemplated Heavenly Tao for a few days, the buzz around “Botanic Garden” had completely changed upon his return.

Failure was no big deal, since he had failed many times in his previous life, like when he just wanted to slay a Demon but accidentally destroyed its lair too.

But failure should have its reasons.

It shouldn’t just be incomprehensibly unsuccessful.

Randomly clicking on a report, he found that the writer seemed not to be writing about their studio.

“Miraculously cunning marketing tactics, an artful approach to marketing. Fang Cheng Studio has shown us what attitude an excellent studio should have.”

“In an era filled with anticlimactic offerings, every game strives to put its best content in the first two hours, so players miss the refund window. The rest of the content often feels like it’s pieced together or edited in, with tedious side quests and extensive collect-a-thon missions that drag the game out for dozens of hours.”

“Open-world games absolutely will not introduce fast travel points. They’ll tell you it’s for realism, but they’ll never admit they want you to run through the map to prolong the playtime.”

“A game claiming to have five hundred quests might only have a dozen or so with any novelty, and these unique side stories are all experienced within the first couple of hours, with the rest being repetitive content.”

“The gaming industry is gradually turning into a scam industry, with industry leaders focusing on how to keep players expectant and forgetting how to leave them satisfied.”

“Therefore, in this period, Fang Cheng Studio’s work is such a pleasant surprise to me.”

“A stunning opening, progressively enjoyable gameplay, unveiling the world’s secrets and understanding the gifts within through exploration—this kind of surprise, akin to opening a mystery box, is something I haven’t experienced in a long time.”

“I had lost hope in domestic games, but I am thankful to Fang Cheng Studio for reigniting my confidence as a nearly despairing gamer.”

“They don’t mind hiding the good stuff till later because they know the initial delicacies are enough to keep you, and the delicacies later on are enough to keep you reminiscing.”

“Fang Cheng Studio is like a skilled chef. He opens a small restaurant, sits by the roadside watching the scenery. When you pass by, he won’t call out to you deliberately, just displays the sign, telling you what’s special for the day.”

“You might hesitate, because the spot used to be another restaurant that mainly sold curry, but only the first half of the meal was curry, the latter half was crap. By the time you reached the part you shouldn’t eat, it was too late for a refund.”

“Before that, there was a restaurant that served tasty food, but only a little bit of it, the rest required a membership card purchase, and then you would receive the good stuff six months later. However, less than a month in, the restaurant had run off, taking your membership along with it, disappearing without a trace.”

“Before that, it was a scam-shop, ostensibly free to enter but with blind boxes inside. Most of the blind boxes contained fragments, and only by collecting the complete set could you get a good meal. When you complained about not getting the whole set, someone next to you would pull out a complete menu they got from the draw, fondly call the restaurant owner ‘cousin’, and start feasting in front of you, while you got nothing.”

“Because of the wrongdoings of predecessors, you were filled with distrust towards this newly opened small restaurant. But eventually, with encouragement from others, you dug into your pocket, took out your money, and bought the set meal.”

“You were led into the little restaurant, and the lovely atmosphere made you look forward to the dinner ahead. The owner wouldn’t talk much, just serving you a delicious dish.”

“The tasty meal made you linger and satisfied you fully. When you got up to leave, the owner pushed you back down and brought out the second steak dish.”

“The steak was succulent and juicy, each bite dancing on your taste buds, with a perfection in cooking you had never experienced before, and it brought a satisfaction like never before.”

“You were full and ready to leave, but the next dessert arrived.”

“When you thought the dessert marked the end, baked lobster was served, followed by sashimi, roast duck, spicy duck heads, well-water crayfish…”

“Finally, you were full. You left reluctantly. When you looked back, you saw the owner had already changed the sign and was serving the next set meal.”

“You stopped.”

“You turned back.”

“You reopened the door of the restaurant, paid, and sat down in your old spot, ready to enjoy the next delicious meal.”

“And this is how I feel about Fang Cheng Studio.”

“Lastly, please raise the game’s price a bit. I can afford it.”

The poetic description garnered many likes for the article and filled the comments with replies of “I feel the same.”

But Fang Cheng couldn’t believe they were actually describing his game and could only marvel at how intense the fans’ filters were.

It was the weekend, and to truly understand what his own game’s players thought, he didn’t disturb Huang Ping and others. Instead, he logged into the game himself and observed through his gaming character.