Restart life

Chapter 22 0021 [Try it, a bicycle turns into a motorcycle]

Tao Chenggang was concentrating, reading and thinking at the same time.

It took him half an hour to put down the A4 papers.

Chen Guiliang immediately took it back, folded it in half and put it in his pocket.

Tao Chenggang burst out laughing at this and then asked, "You have some great ideas. Why don't you go to a big company?"

Chen Guiliang said: "I don't even know which way the doors of those big companies open. Even if I find a senior executive, I'm afraid they will swallow up my ideas."

Tao Chenggang asked, "Aren't you afraid that I will swallow you?"

"My cousin said Mr. Tao is a man of integrity and would definitely not do such a despicable thing," Chen Guiliang complimented him with a smile, but then added, "If Mr. Tao doesn't buy, I'll try looking for a big company."

Of course Tao Chenggang could hear the hidden meaning in the words. This was Chen Guiliang threatening him.

If he really made up his mind to develop the game, he would have to worry about Chen Guiliang messing around and selling the product to three different companies, which would be depressing.

For Chen Guiliang, as long as he can get the money, there is no need to mess around.

In reality, the representative figure who has become famous through game creativity is the Chinese first father.

A working man who graduated from junior high school was appointed as the planner of "Westward Journey Online 1" because he participated in the internal test of "Westward Journey Online 2" and wrote more than 30 pages of problem feedback and improvement suggestions. He then served as the core planner of "Fantasy Westward Journey".

The wild era.

But the premise of all this is that this person has worked as a customer service representative for "Westward Journey Online 1", and being arranged to participate in the internal test is also part of his job, and his opinions can be effectively fed back to NetEase's senior management.

If it were a high school student who rashly went to a large company to sell his game concept, he would probably be kicked out by the security guards on the spot.

Furthermore, if Chen Guiliang's game ideas were adopted by a major company, it would likely not bring him much cash. At best, he would be invited to work in the planning department of a major company, just like China's first father.

Chen Guiliang was not seeking a job in a large company.

He wants to start his own company in the future.

"Are you studying at the No. 2 Middle School in the county?" Tao Chenggang stopped talking about business and started chatting with Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang said, "Senior year, liberal arts experimental class."

Tao Chenggang said, "He's a top student. My sister also studies at No. 2 Middle School, but she's only in a regular class."

"They are all about the same. To be able to get into No. 2 Middle School, your grades must be very good," said Chen Guiliang.

They seemed to be chatting, but in fact they had entered into negotiation mode.

Tao Chenggang continued to probe in the tone of an elder: "Which district or county are you from?"

Chen Guiliang said: "Yaojia Township, Fushi County."

"There's an ancient town over there. I've been there," Tao Chenggang asked. "When I was driving past it, I came across a Yaojia Bridge. Is that right there?"

Chen Guiliang said, "The township square is at the bridgehead. My junior high school is on a nearby mountain."

Tao Chenggang smiled and said, "Next time I go to the ancient town, I'll ask you to be my guide."

"It's my honor." said Chen Guiliang.

The two sat in the office, chatting casually.

Yang Yuhui took a nap and ran to the studio outside, watching the internet-addicted teenagers working and completing some game transactions.

Seeing that Chen Guiliang always chatted with him and never talked about games, Tao Chenggang already knew that Chen Guiliang was not simple.

Whoever starts talking about business first will be at a disadvantage.

Because this deal is very non-mainstream, both parties are wary of each other, and it is like trying to catch a wolf with a stick and both ends are afraid of it.

Tao Chenggang said, "Your stuff is interesting, but I have no plans to make games."

"Even if the deal doesn't go through, there's still friendship. I'm glad to meet Mr. Tao today," Chen Guiliang said, taking a step back. "During winter vacation, I'll go to the coast again. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou...all these big cities have game companies. Maybe one of them would be interested."

Tao Chenggang said, "Those big companies are very conservative and only know how to distribute foreign games. Their executives don't even play games. Your free-to-play game idea is too bold. They won't take the risk of investing."

"Who knows? Maybe it's just a blind cat catching a dead mouse." Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Tao Chenggang pretended to be indifferent, stood up and said, "Sit down for a while, I'll go to the studio to check it out."

Chen Guiliang was left alone in the office.

Tao Chenggang walked out and immediately took out a cigarette and lit it. He needed to think calmly.

He runs an internet cafe, has also been involved in a private server for Legend of Mir, and currently runs a game studio. He has a deep understanding of player psychology, and if he follows Chen Guiliang's ideas, he could create a game that would be a huge hit.

This kind of sense of smell is not possessed by senior executives of large companies.

Elites at large companies aren't short of money; instead, they value their time. They simply think that paying for game cards is normal, considering a monthly card only costs a few dozen yuan, and that a pay-to-win model can actually disrupt game balance.

What about the perspective of the bottom-level players?
Wow, this game is free. I don’t need to recharge my monthly or point card. I can just keep killing monsters and playing.

Players in later generations found killing monsters to be boring.

For most players at this time, being able to kill monsters without spending money is a blessing!
Tao Chenggang had worked on a private server for Legend of Mir, and he could imagine how many freeloaders a free game could attract. With the massive influx of freeloaders, the real paying players would stay.

What's more, the large number of krypton gold routines that Chen Guiliang came up with made Tao Chenggang, a businessman, feel his scalp tingling.

But the problem is, Tao Chenggang is not a real big boss, he is just a small rich man in a remote city.

If you want to develop your own game, you have to bet your entire fortune, and initial funds are still scarce.

Want to bet?
What if it fails?
In addition, he was also worried that Chen Guiliang was having an affair.

He was worried that when his game was halfway developed, Chen Guiliang would sell his creative ideas to a big company, and he couldn't compete with the big companies in terms of operational capabilities.

Seeing Tao Chenggang standing in a daze in the corner, Yang Yuhui asked, "Brother Gang, what's wrong with you?"

"nothing."

Tao Chenggang said, "You're not getting married by the age of 28, are your family members not urging you to get married?"

"You're not married yet," Yang Yuhui said unhappily, "I'm stuck in this shabby place all day, how can I have time to find a girlfriend?"

Tao Chenggang said to himself: "Yeah, I'm not married either."

If the eight Internet cafes were sold one after another, they could fetch around three million.

You can get 200,000 or 300,000 yuan by mortgaging or selling a house or a new car at a low price.

He still had nearly 400,000 yuan in cash, which was the money he planned to use to open another Internet cafe.

It’s not enough. Maybe you can make a game, but you don’t have the money for initial operation and promotion.

We still have to attract investment!

The game development team was actually quite easy to find. Tao Chenggang knew all the technical experts in the private server industry. He could trick them into joining, and then have them recruit more people.

There is no need to make the game fancy. Even if it is a rubbish game, it can become popular with Chen Guiliang's ideas!

Tao Chenggang is a big gambler.

To put it nicely, it means being brave and fighting.

His parents were just ordinary employees of a central enterprise in Longdu City. Although they had never had to worry about food and clothing since childhood, they had no money to support him in starting a business.

This guy graduated from a junior college in 1996. He was really unlucky as junior colleges no longer guaranteed job placements.

His parents used their connections to get him a job at a boiler factory (a state-owned enterprise). They paid him 5000 yuan in bribes, and the leader promised to make him a regular employee after working for a year.

As a result, after only three months of working in the boiler factory, Tao Chenggang resigned and went to the coastal areas to make his own way.

He changed jobs several times, joining Starcom in the summer of 1998 to sell PHS in the Yangtze River Delta. Six months later, he resigned without warning and switched to selling IC phone cards in third- and fourth-tier cities.

In just two years, Tao Chenggang earned 700,000 to 800,000 yuan by selling IC cards on behalf of others.

As the market for this business gradually became saturated, Tao Chenggang returned to his hometown to open an internet cafe. He then developed a private server for Legend of Mir 2 and a gaming studio, and partnered with Feng Tao to sell computers.

He originally wanted to set up a chain of Internet cafes, but Chen Guiliang suddenly came up with a set of game ideas.

Tao Chenggang was moved.

Even a little bit excited!

This feeling is very similar to when he was working as a salesperson selling PHS, but accidentally discovered that IC cards were a blue ocean in third- and fourth-tier cities.

It's worth betting your wealth and future on.

Give it a try and turn your bicycle into a motorcycle.

When the day comes when his funds run out, he can still go to his old employer Starcom.

This company has so much money that it doesn't know where to invest it!
……

When he walked back into the office, Tao Chenggang found Chen Guiliang hanging out on the forum.

Moreover, the operation is extremely outrageous.

A netizen named absolut (Liu Jiajun, a platinum writer on Qidian.com) posted on the Mengya forum, angrily criticizing Guo Xiaosi as a sissy, which triggered a passionate war of words between the "anti-Guo faction" and the "pro-Guo faction".

What is Chen Guiliang doing?
Adding fuel to the fire the whole time!

However, Tao Chenggang never came back, and Chen Guiliang was so bored that he temporarily registered several forum accounts.

The first account posted: "All of you who criticize Xiao Si are doing so out of jealousy. Xiao Si is a great contemporary writer, more talented than Li Bai and Du Fu. Even if the eight great writers of the Tang and Song dynasties were combined, they wouldn't be as talented as a single hair of our Xiao Si."

These words irritated the "anti-Guo faction" and immediately attracted a lot of angry criticism.

Chen Guiliang quickly switched accounts again: "A plagiarist still has the nerve to call himself a literary giant? If I self-published '300 Tang Poems' and changed the author's name, would I become a poet immortal?"

After pressing the Enter key, Chen Guiliang switched accounts again.

Tao Chenggang stood by and watched for a while, his expression neither laughing nor crying. What kind of psychopath is this?
Chen Guiliang actually turned around and asked him, "Mr. Tao, do you want to come and play for a while? It's fun, just like blowing up shit with firecrackers when we were kids."

What a good metaphor...

"Cough cough!"

Tao Chenggang cleared his throat and asked, "How much do you plan to sell these game ideas for?"

"Three hundred thousand." Chen Guiliang asked loudly.

Tao Chenggang asked, "Do you know what the average salary is in Longdu City?"

Chen Guiliang said, "A few hundred yuan."

Tao Chenggang asked again: "Do you know the price per square foot of the most expensive house in Longdu City?"

"I don't know." Chen Guiliang replied.

"Only 1300," Tao Chenggang said. "In the new residential complexes built this year in Longdu City, the highest unit price is only 1300 per square meter. You're asking for 300,000, which could buy two high-end commercial apartments of over 100 square meters. My internet cafe only invested 300,000 or 400,000!"

Chen Guiliang said, "Then it's 25. I promise that after I sell you those pieces of paper, I won't look for any other big companies."

"It's worth at most ten thousand yuan." Tao Chenggang bargained starting from the ankle.

Chen Guiliang posted, "20. I'll give you some more detailed advice. Those pieces of paper aren't clear enough. For example, game shills and stuff."

"Gaming tout?" Tao Chenggang's first reaction was that it was similar to medical touts and wine touts.

While typing away, Chen Guiliang switched accounts and posted a message to provoke a fight.

He put down the keyboard and said, "Don't disband your studio. Let them go into the game and act as agents. Some of them will pretend to be girls and have online romances with wealthy players. Some of them will become the rich players' minions, stirring up hatred and fighting among them. With women, brothers, and enemies, love, hate, and resentment will be poured into them. Are you still worried that the rich players won't spend money to improve their combat power?"

Tao Chenggang looked at the instigating posts in the forum, and then thought carefully about what Chen Guiliang said about the game shills.

Same tune with the same effect.

Good chicken makes sense!

What's wrong with this high school student's brain?

But it was still not enough to make Tao Chenggang pay. He looked at Chen Guiliang who continued to post and asked: "Do you have any other good ideas?"

"A lottery."

Chen Guiliang hit the enter key and said, "Before private lotteries were restricted, street vendors were everywhere trying to pick up lottery tickets. Even farmers coming into the city to sell vegetables couldn't resist trying to pick up a few."

"You can create a lottery system in the game. Regardless of whether players top up their account or not, they can enter the lottery for free once a day. Use the daily free lottery to attract players, but the second time you enter, you have to pay. Set up some top-quality equipment and display it on the lottery interface. The more consecutive draws you make, the higher the chance of winning something good. Then, you can set up a ten-draw streak, a twenty-draw streak, and guarantee a good item as a bonus..."

Tao Chenggang recalled the crazy scenes of roadside raffles in the 90s and thought: Just this lottery system can drive game players addicted.

"What else?" Tao Chenggang continued to inquire.

Chen Guiliang stopped talking: "It's just like a lottery game. Those two ideas were given away for free, but the rest will cost money. As long as Mr. Tao pays, I will tell you everything I know."

Tao Chenggang thought silently.

(End of this chapter)