To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 71: The Place Where I Have Struggled

All My Life_l

Wang Xiaoying neither liked nor disliked games.

Because she hardly ever played them.

Her family was not wealthy, and her parents had chronic illnesses. In order to reduce the family’s financial burden, she spent most of her time working to earn money, leaving her with little time to play games.

She also spent her spare time learning about data analysis and reading case studies on product operations, which left her practically no time for games.

After installing the game, she intended to just give it a try, but by lunchtime, she was completely astonished.

Holy moly!

Is this really a game?

The studio’s most famous flagship product, “Quiet Cultivation,” seemed average to her, but the early “The Forest’s Second Son” and the recent “The Nameless” were her favorites.

There was one particular aspect of these two games that deeply moved her.

And that was freedom.

These two games perfectly embodied what an open-world means: anything you can think of, you can do within the game.

Especially “The Nameless,” which vividly portrayed the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the suffering of its people, and the helplessness of its heroes.

This might seem to contradict the concept of freedom at first glance, but upon deeper reflection, this sense of helplessness only highlighted the preciousness of freedom, inspiring players to act tirelessly in its pursuit.

The game actually had only two main missions: joining the Protectorate of Anxi in the early stages and delivering a message to Chang’an later on. These missions ran through the whole game but were far from hollow.

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Completing each phase of the main missions changed the game experience, from the early lone wolf stage to the mid-game communal life, and finally to late-game team combat; these three styles blended skillfully, making her feel a unique sense of freedom in each phase.

The freedom of the lone wolf was the most absolute, but also the most dangerous. Players could freely explore the wilderness, but they had to face the terrifying forces of nature and could die at any moment.

The freedom in the Protectorate of Anxi was the most limited, yet the safest. Moving with the main force meant that players only had to focus on their own tasks, using the rest of their time to improve themselves.

The period of delivering messages struck a balance.

Players could act freely while still assisting their companions. Sophisticated Al allowed players to form deep bonds with their companions and even make sacrifices for them.

Even more terrifying was that these companions weren’t fixed.

Based on earlier choices and actions, the companions in the later stages could be almost freely combined. Wang Xiaoying even managed to persuade a timid new soldier to become her companion, deepening her connection to him and pushing her to protect him all the way to Chang’an.please visit ” sitestorys(.)c0m ” maybe y0u will enj0y the captivating sh0rt st0ries.

Of course, this meant greater difficulty, but she chose to focus on equipment maintenance and trap-making instead of directly engaging the enemy, making her gaming experience less thrilling but safer.

At midday, she played the game so intensely that she forgot to eat, only coming back to reality when Xu Qingling placed a food box in front of her. Blushing, WangXiaoying said, “Sorry, I’ve played for too long, I won’t do it again.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m just reminding you to eat earlier,” Xu Qingling said with a smile.

Inviting Wang Xiaoying to the break room for lunch, Xu Qingling curiously asked, “Is the boss’s new game fun to play?”

At that question, Wang Xiaoying couldn’t even care about her food anymore.

Putting her chopsticks down, she excitedly said, “It’s really fun, with incredible freedom. I don’t know about other games, but this one is fantastic! Xu Qingling, what’s your favorite genre?”

“Ah… I don’t play,” Xu Qingling replied.

“Why not? It’s such an interesting game!”

“I only play male-oriented romance and character development games.”

“Really? That’s a shame.”

“Yeah…” Xu Qingling sighed regretfully, feeling it was indeed a pity.

But seeing someone else enjoy the games made by Fang Cheng so much made her happy.

It was no wonder she had chosen him as her boss; he truly had talent.

After lunch, Wang Xiaoying couldn’t wait to get back to the game, playing until she had to officially start working in the afternoon.

Reluctantly putting the game aside, she opened a Word document, started to contemplate the unique features of the game, and considered how she could promote it.

Many people think that game operations are simple: organize some game events, hand out some benefits, sell some charm on social media, and then, that’s it.

And in fact… many operators do just that.

But a good operator should proficiently master the players’ game data, devise operation plans based on retention and demand at various stages, and develop and explore the game’s selling points and gameplay, ultimately aiming to increase game sales or the payment rate.

One needs to decide when to buy traffic and purchase it for different user groups across various platforms. Typically, a game’s operating costs account for about 30% of its revenue, which illustrates the importance of operations.

However, after understanding the previous operational methods of Fang Cheng Studio, Wang Xiaoying found that their main approach to operation was laissez-faire.

I made the game,

I put it on platforms,

As for whether or not players buy it or when they buy it, that’s none of my concern.

Yet the more it was so, the more Wang Xiaoying felt that this place was filled with talent.

In a situation with absolutely no promotion, achieving sales of millions of copies solely through player advocacy is truly like getting a million-dollar advertising campaign for free.

Quality and reputation are Fang Cheng Studio’s ultimate weapons; these two factors can save a great deal of cost in game promotion and enhance the studio’s profitability and competitiveness.

After analyzing the studio’s core competitive edge, Wang Xiaoying shifted her focus to “The Nameless.”

This game should be her trial, and the next step should likely be to operate “Quiet Cultivation” and push its popularity even higher.

Flexing her fingers, Wang Xiaoying felt her switch was flipped on, and she started writing documents at her workstation, lost in her work.

Drinking the company’s free tea, she felt an outpour of inspiration, and the words in the document flowed like a floodgate had been opened.

By the time work was almost over, she had completed the document.

Looking at the document with tens of thousands of words, Wang Xiaoying stared at her fingers in surprise, as if seeing them for the first time.

Fast!

So fast!

For some reason, she felt that her work efficiency had doubled today. What should have been a tedious job became quick and efficient, and upon completion, she even felt a sense of achievement like never before.

“This place is really too awesome!” she couldn’t help but exclaim while sipping her tea.

Just as she was about to submit her operation plan, the end-of-workday music began to play.

Three planners stood up helplessly, packed their things, and left directly.

The studio’s boss, Fang Cheng, watered the leeks in the tea room and immediately left without staying a minute longer.

And Xu Qingling sighed and said to a confused Wang Xiaoying, “It’s time to leave; don’t stay here. Be careful if the boss discovers you’re working overtime; you’ll be in trouble.”

“What happens if someone discovers you’re working overtime?” Wang Xiaoying swallowed nervously and asked.

“They’ll give you triple the overtime pay,” replied Xu Qingling.

“Ah?”

“Then they will let you take time off at a two-to-one ratio; that means for every hour of overtime, you get two hours of time off, starting from 5 PM.” “Ah?”

“If you stay past 6 PM, they give you a meal allowance, eighty yuan; past 7 PM, a transportation subsidy, one hundred yuan; past 8 PM, a health subsidy, two hundred yuan.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You can try it; it’s really scary. Especially the time off; nobody can bear the pain of not seeing the boss. Okay, you better go now.”

Leaving the studio in a daze, Wang Xiaoying saw Xu Qingling really locking the front door of the studio.

Walking outside, she felt as if she had found the place she’s been striving for all her life.