Started as a comics editor

Chapter 252 I've gone mad! I'll even cut myself!

"There is indeed some connection."

Upon hearing this, Li Xue's expression turned somewhat strange. She said softly, "I did some research with headhunters, and I heard that as a new broom sweeps clean, the CEO of EasyGames laid off almost half of the game department, several project teams specifically responsible for 2D games, unprofitable game project teams, and some experimental project teams."

This even includes their in-house engine development team.

"Um???"

Upon hearing this, Tang Yao abruptly stopped, looking up in surprise: "What are you doing? Punching yourself?"

Let’s not talk about anything else.

Are they even cutting their internally developed engine team?

Developing your own game engine is extremely expensive.

Even for basic engines used by small teams, if universality is not a priority, the cost can be in the hundreds of millions.

Not to mention the game engines of big companies.

of course.

It doesn't count if it's just a slight modification to an open-source engine.

Moreover, the most troublesome thing about this is not the money, but the technology.

After the initial investment, stable iteration and upgrades are also needed.

Otherwise it would be a waste of time.

In Tang Yao's previous life, EA's Frostbite engine collapsed after the departure of DICE's technical staff, and some of its studios even started using Unreal Engine.

It can be said.

Engine development is a long-term process. After it's completed, it needs to be upgraded continuously. Once a project is approved, money needs to be invested continuously.

Generally speaking, only large companies can make this kind of thing, because only by using it in a large number of products can they get enough returns. If fewer games are made using it, it becomes purely a matter of technical accumulation.

Therefore, whether or not a company has its own self-developed engine is, in fact, a sign of whether it is a major company.

Only large companies have this demand, as well as the determination and confidence to invest in research and development.

Ultimately, game engines are essentially reinventing the wheel; their purpose is to facilitate game development. If you're working on several games, it's more cost-effective to use a commercial engine.

Tang Yao had never considered developing her own engine.

Because it is not necessary.

Avalon itself doesn't have much technological expertise.

Moreover, it's really hard to find talent in this field.

If Tang Yao really wanted to develop a game engine that was comparable in quality to current commercial engines and also easy to use, that would be extremely difficult!
Because this requires a lot of technological accumulation and scientific research, it would probably take Avalon another five or six years to develop it.

Five or six years.

That would be better to just use a commercial engine.

And EasyGame undoubtedly has such a need, as well as the ability to develop its own.

just.

Cut?

No.

Does this mean they've given up? Why?
Tang Yao looked at Li Xue curiously: "Is their engine not working?"

"Do not."

Li Xue shook her head slightly: "I heard that... the new person in charge felt that developing a game engine was too expensive. The mobile game era is coming soon, so game engines for PC and consoles are meaningless. Moreover, Yiyou doesn't have many games in this area, and it would be too wasteful to keep investing money."

Hearing this, Tang Yao was even more astonished: "This...isn't that too short-sighted? How much money was invested?! And they just cut it all?"

"Hmm... I heard that Jin Feng is the younger brother of the current head of Yiyou. It's probably to clear out the influence of the previous CEO. After all, I heard that the original person in charge once wanted to work with the producers to carry out an MBO, but they did not get a consensus. Someone informed on them."

Subsequently, Eyou's board of directors forcefully ousted the original CEO, citing reasons such as missing out on mobile games and mismanagement, and then appointed his younger brother to take over as CEO of Eyou Games, thus mitigating the negative impact..."

Tang Yao was even more confused and interrupted, "Wait, what is MBO?"

"Management buyout".

Li Xue explained, "Simply put, it means that the company's managers use loans to finance capital or equity transactions to acquire shares in the company... Eyou was recently undergoing a privatization process."

Tang Yao: "So... this is what happens when a traitor is discovered? And then they send people to cleanse him out?"

"almost."

Li Xue nodded gently: "Those people who are being laid off now, besides not making money, are more or less the legacy left by the previous CEO. For example, the person in charge of the game engine was rumored to have been personally invited by the former CEO, who invested in it every year without regard to cost, and even publicly said that they were the future of the company."

In addition, the same applies to experimental projects.

The headhunter said that their engine team had actually been developing it for five years, and they were supposedly about to produce results. Now, with the project suddenly being canceled, the entire team was stunned.

Avalon is currently short-staffed.

Of course, we also hired headhunters.

Such a big thing happened inside EasyGame.

The headhunter immediately notified Li Xue.

"Don't they consider the circumstances when they're fighting amongst themselves?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Yao couldn't help but shake her head slightly, then fell into deep thought and whispered, "Five years..."

then.

Tang Yao seemed to be deep in thought, then suddenly said, "Then the technical level of this group of engineers must be quite good, right?"

"Indeed."

Li Xue nodded: "Moreover, their main focus is on graphics rendering and physics engines, which perfectly matches the needs of our current Left 4 Dead game."

Tang Yao's eyes lit up: "You mean?"

“That’s right.” Li Xue smiled knowingly. “I’ve already had headhunters contact the core members of this engine team. There’s a technical director surnamed Zhang who has made significant achievements in the field of computer graphics… Do we need him?”

"need!"

Tang Yao immediately replied, "It would be best if we could dig them up; I need them!"

Let's put aside other things for now.

That's a team that EasyPlay has nurtured for five years!
Five years!

Their abilities shouldn't be too bad!

but.

Tang Yao suddenly thought of a question: "Could this involve intellectual property issues?"

Li Xue was prepared: "I asked around and found that EasyGame owns all the intellectual property rights, but the team members are very familiar with the engine architecture and algorithms. As long as they don't directly use the original code, it is perfectly legal to reimplement similar functions."

"That's good."

Tang Yao immediately said, "Then please make arrangements for Miss Li. By the way... if possible, I would like to meet with Director Zhang."

"It's already arranged, Wednesday."

Li Xue blinked: "He seemed very interested in Avalon. As soon as he heard that Avalon was recruiting them, he immediately agreed to meet."

"Ok?"

Tang Yao asked, somewhat puzzled, "We make mobile games, right? Don't they mind?"

"I don't know the specific reason."

Li Xue gently shook her head: "However, Director Zhang privately expressed that he appreciates our courage to try different game genres, especially after hearing that we were making a 3D shooting game like Left 4 Dead, he showed great interest."

"Oh……"

Tang Yao drawled, "Oh, I see. So what's the current situation with their team?"

"The core team consists of about 20 people, all of whom are senior engineers."

Li Xue thought for a moment and said, "However... there is a special case. Although Yiyou laid off the entire engine team, it gave them a one-month grace period. In other words, these people are still nominally employed, but they have already started looking for other jobs."

Tang Yao's eyes lit up: "So that means..."

“Yes.” Li Xue nodded knowingly. “If we act quickly enough, we may be able to take over the entire team. Director Zhang has hinted that if we can ensure the team’s integrity, they are willing to switch jobs en masse.”

"Then I'll accept it all!"

Tang Yao said happily, "Even if the game engine doesn't work out in the end, we can still build a dedicated technology platform to be responsible for open-source engine optimization and toolchain development! It's definitely worth it!"

This unexpected joy almost made Tang Yao hug Li Xue in excitement.

"Then I'll go prepare. By the way... besides this engine team, there are several lead programmers and lead artists in the unprofitable 2D game project teams that they disbanded. Now there's a sudden influx of experienced game developers in the market, and they were all forcibly laid off. They must be eager to find new jobs. This is a good opportunity for us to expand our team."

Li Xue added, "I will also have headhunters contact those people."

"it is good."

Li Xue hurriedly left, wearing high heels.

Tang Yao, meanwhile, remained seated, still processing the news.

so good!
This is like a windfall!
Developing game engines requires highly specialized talent, and such people are quite scarce.

Therefore, Tang Yao never considered developing her own engine.

But now there are readily available talents, and they also have experience... Even if they cannot develop an engine that meets Avalon's requirements, they can improve and optimize existing open-source engines, or carry out secondary development based on open-source engines, thereby creating a game engine that better meets Avalon's requirements.

Avalon was just preparing to make a single-player game when this happened.

Isn't this like a windfall?
the most important is.

Tang Yao didn't know much about the technical aspects.

But since I worked in the gaming industry in my previous life, I still have a general understanding of the major game engines from that time.

Needless to say, Tang Yao doesn't pursue a commercial engine.

This kind of all-encompassing business engine is simply impossible to create.

Her hope was that this group of people could create an alternate-world RE engine for Avalon... that is, Capcom's self-developed engine.

In Tang Yao's previous life, 19 years ago, Capcom held RE Engine technology seminars in Tokyo and Osaka and released the videos online.

And quite coincidentally.

She's seen that video! She has a general understanding of the features and implementation path of the RE engine!

Compared to commercial engines that strive for comprehensiveness, such as Unreal Engine, there are also engines that, in pursuit of versatility, have become large and complex, placing high demands on the operation and learning of professionals, such as Frostbite Engine.

The RE Engine's greatest strengths are its high performance, powerful optimization capabilities, unique art style, and excellent close-up rendering capabilities, especially for interiors.

the most important is.

Tang Yao can still produce two games and have them work together to develop and refine the engine.

Left 4 Dead!
And... Outlast!
The right time, the right place, and the right people are all in place!
Even if they ultimately fail to develop their own engine, having these engineers who have spent five years developing game engines will likely greatly improve Avalon's development efficiency!
EasyPlay is amazing!
Think of this.

Tang Yao couldn't help but sigh.

At the same time, I temporarily put aside my work, opened a document, and began to urgently write the proposal for "Escape".

……

at the same time.

In the engine R&D department on the 17th floor of the EasyPlay Building, a middle-aged man with slightly balding hair was silently staring at the complex code on the computer screen.

He is Zhang Mingyuan, the technical director of the EasyPlay Engine team.

And this moment.

The cursor on his screen was flashing and hovering over the last line of comment:

Project termination notice.

Five years of hard work have come to an end.

He closed the file with a wry smile, took out a piece of draft paper filled with his thoughts from the drawer. This was the core algorithm he had designed for the next generation of rendering engines, which now had no chance of being implemented.

"Mr. Zhang, Avalon has replied."

At this time.

An engineer of similar age knocked on the door and came in: "They agreed to the condition that our entire team joins."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingyuan looked up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Really... Did they make any requests?"

"No."

The engineer shook his head slightly: "We'll just say we'll talk about it in person later."

"Let's talk face to face then."

Zhang Mingyuan sighed, then said softly, "I hope it's not just a passing fancy."

"Yes," the engineer sighed.

Actually tell the truth.

If they had a choice, they would prefer to work for other large companies...

After all, although Avalon has been doing very well recently, its foundation is actually quite shallow.

But the problem is.

Game engine development has a long development cycle and a shortage of talent.

From design to maturity, a game engine often requires several years and a huge investment.

Even if the engine design is completed, it is difficult to guarantee a quick return on investment, because the maintenance costs in the later stages are equally high. As a high-tech industry, software development requires substantial financial investment.

At the same time, there are many third-party open-source engines on the market...

Compared to developing their own engines, large companies tend to prefer using existing third-party open-source engines because it is more economical and efficient.

Most importantly, there are very few high-quality AAA games that China can offer.

Most large companies still prefer the online game model, which can bring more revenue to the company.

Therefore, these people are not very popular with large companies, and they have no intention of developing their own engines.

This is actually one of the reasons why Goldwind cut their department.

As for other smaller factories, they have even less need for this.

Therefore, Avalon was not the only manufacturer that contacted Zhang Mingyuan.

But among them, Avalon seems to be the most reliable.

First of all.

They have money, and it's common knowledge in the industry that their mobile games are profitable.

Second.

They seem to be planning to make a 3D game, or at least a single-player game.

Although it was just talk and we don't know if it was true, they were the only ones willing to promise to give us the greatest support to develop the engine.

Other major companies just want them to improve their third-party engines.

So in the end, Zhang Mingyuan chose Avalon and planned to talk to their leader.

just.

Choices are choices.

Zhang Mingyuan was still somewhat uneasy.

Is this recently rising game company really willing to keep burning money?

And the games they release are mainly for mobile devices, right?
Is it really suitable for me...?

Zhang Mingyuan was very worried.

……

No matter how worried Zhang Mingyuan was.

On Wednesday, he changed into a formal suit and went to Avalon.

Ultimately, he really didn't want his five years of hard work to be ruined.

If someone is willing to take over their entire team and provide financial support to allow them to continue developing engine technology, then it's definitely worth a try.

soon.

He then went to Avalon and met Tang Yao.

"..."

I saw Tang Yao.

Upon hearing Li Xue's introduction, I learned that this was the person in charge of Avalon.

Like many others who were visiting Avalon for the first time, he was somewhat taken aback.

only.

He's quite knowledgeable and worldly-wise.

Moreover, there have been rumors in the gaming industry recently that Avalon's leader is very young, in his early twenties.

So he was somewhat prepared and didn't point at Tang Yao again and ask, "Is this the boss!?"

There were quite a few people in the conference room.

Besides Tang Yao and Li Xue, Li Zhongzhi, the person in charge of "Survival Road", and Kang Ming were also present.

Making such a fuss... How embarrassing.

So he chose to endure it.

But there is one thing to say.

She's so young and beautiful...

"Director Zhang, I've long admired your name."

Tang Yao's eyes lit up when she saw that the other party wasn't making a fuss.

After remarking that he was indeed a reliable, balding middle-aged man who had seen it all, he greeted them, "Thank you for taking the time to come to Avalon."

Seeing Tang Yao's beautiful smile.

Although they have been married for many years.

Zhang Mingyuan was still a little reserved: "Mr. Tang, you're too kind. You must be aware of our team's current situation, right?"

“I not only understand, I also fully comprehend it.”

Tang Yao gestured for him to sit down, and said, "Having five years of hard work cut off in one stroke must feel terrible."

Zhang Mingyuan gave a wry smile: "The business world is like a battlefield. We tech people can only go with the flow."

"No, that's not the case in Avalon."

Tang Yao shook her head slightly, then got straight to the point: "What we value is the intrinsic value of the technology itself, not short-term commercial returns."

As she spoke, she pushed a document towards you: "This is the plan we prepared for your team. Please take a look."

Zhang Mingyuan was stunned, seemingly not expecting Tang Yao to be so direct.

But then I thought about Tang Yao's age.

He felt relieved, glanced down at the document, hesitated for a moment, then picked it up and opened it.

then.

slowly.

His eyes gradually widened.

The plan not only promised to retain the entire team, but also outlined a complete technology development roadmap and even included a budget plan for the next three years.

“This is even more than our previous budget at Easy Travel…” Zhang Mingyuan looked up in disbelief.

Tang Yao chuckled and said, "Because we really need your technology, but in the meantime... we will have two 3D game projects initiated internally, which will be developed in cooperation with your engine, or to be more precise, I hope you can cooperate with the game development."

"……Um?"

Zhang Mingyuan was completely dumbfounded: "Two 3D games?! Developed together??"

"Correct."

Tang Yao hesitated for a moment before pushing the proposal over: "The game project hasn't been made public yet, so I hope you can keep it a secret."

Zhang Mingyuan immediately nodded in agreement, then quickly flipped through the proposal, and his eyes widened as he read on.

A first-person horror game has high requirements for lighting effects and physical interaction, making it practically tailor-made for testing engine performance.

then.

He then opened another project.

This is a shooting game that emphasizes online multiplayer zombie shooting.

No.

Isn't Avalon a mobile game developer?
Two 3D games?

When have I ever fought such a rich war?

During his five years at EasyGame, Zhang Mingyuan's biggest pain was the lack of actual projects to verify the engine's performance.

Each test can only use the demo scenario.

After all, even before the original CEO was ousted, EasyGame wouldn't have casually launched a serious 3D single-player game that focused on graphics.

The internal resistance is too great.

The original CEO had wanted to give it a try before being ousted.

But there was no time.

He was kicked out.

And now Zhang Mingyuan's entire team has been cut...

"Mr. Tang...you're not kidding, are you? Are you really planning to make a single-player game? You're not..."

Zhang Mingyuan looked up at Tang Yao in shock.

Aren't you guys in the mobile game industry?
"No kidding."

Tang Yao nodded slightly: "The Left 4 Dead project has been approved and has already achieved some progress. As for the Outlast team, it is currently being assembled. Once your engine technology has a certain foundation, we will start immediately. Both games will adopt the 'engine and game development in sync' model."

In other words, you don't hand over the engine to the game development team only after it's finished; you're deeply involved in the game development from the very beginning, and the engine team and the game development team will collaborate with each other.

Zhang Mingyuan: "...But Mr. Tang, this requires a huge investment of resources and patience. The early stages of engine development will definitely slow down the game's progress and may cause various problems."

"I can accept that."

Tang Yao replied matter-of-factly, "That makes perfect sense."

Zhang Mingyuan: "..."

Have I arrived in heaven?
the other side.

Tang Yao noticed that Zhang Mingyuan was interested, so she didn't continue the topic and abruptly changed the subject: "Let's talk about the game engine itself, we can talk about the game later."

Zhang Mingyuan was stunned again, looking at the pretty girl in front of him: "The game engine itself?"

"Yes, is the engine and script programming for the EasyGame game developed using the C++ language?"

"..."

Next.

Tang Yao began to talk to Zhang Mingyuan about the content of the RE Engine technology seminar held by Capcom 19 years ago.

The two talked about everything from game engine computer languages, the transition of C# code from intermediate language to standalone microcode, and shader editors.

During this period, new graphics and rendering technologies were introduced, such as 2D fluid simulation, dynamic shadows, shadow caching, FXAA+TAA, and so on.

We talked about everything.

Zhang Mingyuan's eyes grew brighter as they talked.

He even started taking notes in his notebook.

In particular, Tang Yao mentioned the use of photos to assist in modeling.

He suddenly had a flash of inspiration and wrote a lot of things.

And beside Tang Yao.

Li Xue, Kang Ming, and Li Zhongzhi all stared at Tang Yao as if they had seen a ghost.

Especially Li Zhongzhi, who opened his mouth, his face clearly showing the word "Holy shit".

soon.

Zhang Mingyuan looked up and continued to ask Tang Yao about the Houdini and Maya collaboration.

The two talked more and more.

soon.