To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

The planners first looked nervously at KongKong, then dissatisfiedly at the planner named Qiu Yu.

Everyone is singing praises, do you have to throw cold water on it?

What kind of person is KongKong, don’t you know?

Someone gently tugged at Qiu Yu’s clothes, but he didn’t bother with the person behind him and continued, “Although our scores are high, I feel that part of our score should be attributed to the 3D and art enhancements. If we remove that part, our game’s playability should only be around 70 points.”

“Qiu Yu, stop talking,” a planner whispered.

“It’s fine, I don’t care,” Qiu Yu said calmly, “Getting back to the game, ‘Dark Builder’ might have lower scores, but that’s because pixel art inherently faces challenges in the art department. Yet, I’ve also played it extensively, and the art style is actually very impressive.”

“What’s so impressive about pixel art?” a planner scoffed disdainfully, “Have you seen many pixel art games take off?”

Qiu Yu turned his head, his youthful face looked very young, but his eyes shone with a sword-like gleam.

Facing the old planner’s nitpicking, he said directly, “‘Dead Cells,’ ‘Terraria,’ ‘Under the Legend’—I can easily name many pixel games. Have you played any of those?”

The old planner wanted to argue, but couldn’t utter a word.

In the face of these universally acclaimed masterpieces, any rebuttal seemed pointless.

Standing up, Qiu Yu spoke leisurely, “Although it’s pixel art, ‘Dark Builder’ pays great attention to detail, and the handling of the finer points is not weakened by the pixelation but allows players to focus more easily on the game itself. In contrast, our game may look pretty, but the high cost of art rendering has brought on a problem, which is the need to limit the number of enemies on the screen. This greatly reduces the game’s exhilaration.”

Hearing this, KongKong nodded slightly, “This is a problem, but why didn’t you mention it before?”

“I did, but you didn’t listen.”

These words seemed to shift the blame, instantly sparking a defensive reaction from the old planners present.

But before they could refute, KongKong raised his hand and said, “I remember now, there was such a thing. That’s my fault, continue.”

The other planners looked at the two in astonishment.

Today’s KongKong was obviously different; he looked exhausted, like an elderly man on his deathbed, delivering his last words.

Nodding his head, Qiu Yu continued, “As you can see, ‘Dark Builder’s’ style is meant to create a sense of oppression through the environment, achieve collaboration through building structures, and ultimately gain unparalleled elation by defeating wave after wave of frenzied enemies. Here, the quantity of enemies is critical; the more there are, the stronger the tension and sense of oppression before victory, and the more thrilling the release once they’re overcome. I’m not sure if Living Immortal did it intentionally or by chance, but the difficulty of his monsters wasn’t particularly high, which made the hacking and slashing feel even more exhilarating. In contrast…”

“In contrast, we couldn’t put too many so we had to add a large number of elite monsters,” KongKong added.

Qiu Yu was taken aback, then blurted out, “You knew?”

Then, realizing his impoliteness, he quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

He could be candid, but he couldn’t be impolite; the result of his character and upbringing taking effect.

“It’s fine, it’s better to be straightforward, but don’t say it in front of so many people next time.”

KongKong smiled benignly, which led to wild speculation, with some even beginning to think of Qiu Yu as KongKong’s illegitimate child.

After nodding, Qiu Yu continued, “Indeed, the appearance of elite monsters can greatly intensify the tension, but at that moment, players don’t need elite monsters to provide pressure; they just want to feel more exhilarating. Alright, having explained that, let’s discuss the next issue, where is the core element of ‘Dark Builder’?”

“Farming monsters?” a planner asked.

“It’s cooperation,” Qiu Yu corrected with a smile, “The producer has been pushing the game towards cooperative play. Personally, I think it would be more interesting if a bit of competitive element were added. Of course, just a personal thought. With this focus on cooperation, the rival has introduced many magical weapons that even newcomers can play an important role with, such as Unmovable as a Mountain.”

“We also have lots of magical weapons, and newcomers can use them too,” another planner retorted.

“And how much would that cost?”

“Uh…”

“Top up 128 to immediately receive it, but it’s just a seed. To make this seed useful, you need to spend money on materials to upgrade, and on gemstones to inset. Only then can a newbie become useful. And as for ‘Dark Builder’… I’ve opened five or six accounts to test, and it takes about two or three tries to obtain a similar magical weapon, after which a newbie can join the official round and start learning the veterans’ gameplay. This means that basically after a few rounds, a newbie can play the game officially.”

There was a pause, and something occurred to Qiu Yu. He then added, “Speaking of magical weapons, I remembered something. We have too many leveling systems.”

“Is that bad?”

“Yes, bad. That is a traditional RPG approach suited for client-based games, and it’s obviously not suitable for games like ‘Dark Builder’ anymore. Players nowadays prefer fast gameplay and simple character development. They can live with some grinding and paying, but they can’t deal with overly complex cycles. Life is already tiring as it is, so don’t force them to learn content they don’t enjoy.”

After that, Qiu Yu continued to calmly discuss issues with the game for half an hour.

Through his speech, it was evident that he had thoroughly researched both games and made detailed comparisons.

Many nuances that can only be discerned after a lot of gaming time were starkly contrasted with the planners around him who only knew how to look at data, and some who even hadn’t played their own games much.

Looking at Qiu Yu’s free-spirited brilliance, even KongKong couldn’t help but admire him. A planner, filled with malice, asked, “You seem very familiar with it. You must have played these two games a lot in your spare time, right?”

This question was insidious.

Even though it’s a game company, Tianyi does not allow planners to play other games during work hours, and they try not to let planners play their own games unless it’s for feature testing.

For a game company, this rule indeed goes a bit too far.

And the opponent’s question was clearly a direct inquiry to Qiu Yu: “You’ve been breaking the rules, have you?”

But Qiu Yu just smiled and said, “I play them in my free time. I only sleep four hours a day, and I play these two games whenever I can.”

“You…”

“Moreover, if I had broken any rules, HR would have come to have a chat with me. What’s your intention in asking me this now?”

“…No intention…”

The other party stuttered, trying to end the conversation, but Qiu Yu suddenly slammed the table, the loud noise causing a bunch of people to tense up instantly.

Staring at the planner who asked the question, Qiu Yu spoke harshly, “So what is it you really mean! The game’s not good, and all you think about every day is how to make someone else take the blame. You’re useless and only know how to stir the pot. Your age is increasing, but your morality is decreasing. Calling you a senior is really giving you too much credit!”

The planner who was berated face-to-face turned pale, unable to say a word.

After the outburst, Qiu Yu’s expression softened, and he added, “As I analyzed, everything in our game is fine except that it’s not fun. ‘Dark Builder’ seems simple, but it’s fun. Fun is the only standard to measure a game, and unfortunately, we’ve lost sight of the essentials.”

KongKong listened and nodded, and at this point said directly, “That’s enough, meeting dismissed. Qiu Yu, stay behind.”

As the planners filed out, the spacious meeting room was left with only the two of them.

An old man and a young one, standing opposite each other, but Qiu Yu was not intimidated and stood firmly, looking at KongKong in front of him.

Looking at Qiu Yu, KongKong saw a younger version of himself.

Back then, he was just like his opponent, outspoken and daring in his actions.

And then he was suppressed by others, wasting much time before he got back on track.

The KongKong who returned became oily and slick, the ideals he once had slowly faded away, becoming adept at passing the buck, with the only remaining goal being making money.

Exhaling deeply, KongKong felt truly old, even starting to reminisce about the past.

Turning back to face Qiu Yu, he asked, “Tell me, how do you understand Tianyi?”