Restart life

Chapter 351, page 0338: ["My Own Swordsman" and "Minecraft"]

Bian Guanyue had just returned to the capital from the mountain city.

She could have taken the postgraduate entrance exam as a fresh graduate in her senior year, but she felt that she hadn't mastered her major knowledge yet, and she hadn't chosen a good topic for the self-prepared research paper that Chen Guiliang asked her to prepare. So, she decided to prepare for another year and take the postgraduate entrance exam after graduation.

"Take a look at this." Bian Guanyue handed over a thesis outline.

Chen Guiliang took it and saw that the title of the paper was: "Resonance of Regional Music Genes: A Comparison and Origin of the 'One Leads, Many Harmonize' Form in Sichuan Opera High-pitched Tune [Xiangluodai] and Bashu Weeding Song".

Chen Guiliang was both amused and exasperated: "If this article of yours is well-written, it could be used as a master's thesis."

Bian Guanyue said, "A lot of the content is my conjecture, to put it bluntly, it's just wild speculation and writing. Before, I heard folk artists singing the rice weeding song in eastern Sichuan, and I felt that some of the forms were very similar to those in the Sichuan opera 'Xiangluodai'."

"I'll take you to visit your advisor another day with your thesis," Chen Guiliang said.

Bian Guanyue said, "I've only written the outline; I haven't even finished the thesis."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "It's precisely because it's not finished that we're inviting the tutor to give us guidance! You've already finished it, so what does it have to do with the tutor?"

Bian Guanyue scratched his head: "That makes sense."

They haven't even registered yet, and they've already set their sights on a professor at Peking University as their mentor, then went to seek his advice with their own research topic. As long as they pass the written exam, they're sure to pass the interview.

Because in this era, there are not many students who actively study these things, and each one of them can gain the attention of professors.

"Let's go out to eat to celebrate your chosen research topic. We won't be cooking at home today." Chen Guiliang tossed the thesis outline onto the sofa.

Bian Guanyue said, "Let's go eat at Lao Shu Ren."

The two walked downstairs hand in hand, and as soon as they got out of the elevator, they received an overseas phone call.

It was a call from Wang Chenyu of Breaking Boundaries Animation.

Breakthrough Animation has been responsible for the cutscenes of "Future Era" and also produced promotional animations for "Three Kingdoms Kill" last year. In between these projects, they managed to finish "Summer of Little Monsters".

Then, I went to attend various film festivals.

They only made an appearance at the Annie Awards, the Berlin Film Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival, and were only nominated each time. They didn't win any awards, but they did spend a lot on airfare and accommodation.

Currently participating in the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

“Mr. Chen, it was the middle of the night here in China when we received the award yesterday, so I didn’t want to disturb your rest,” Wang Chenyu said excitedly. “Our short film ‘Summer of Little Monsters’ won the Jury Prize at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival!”

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "Congratulations, congratulations!"

Foreigners don't have a special connection to "Journey to the West" and can only understand "Summer of Little Monsters" from a modern perspective.

The Annie Awards and the Annecy International Film Festival are both professional awards for animation.

However, the Annie Awards are more commercialized and directly linked to the mainstream North American animation industry; this year, "Kung Fu Panda" swept the Annie Awards. The Best Animated Short Film award, similarly heavily influenced by commercial elements, was won by a British animated film.

The Annecy International Animated Film Festival places greater emphasis on art, with the top prize in the short film category going to "House of Bricks" by Little Days. The Grand Jury Prize, awarded to "Summer of Little Monsters," is equivalent to the second-highest prize in the short film category.

Wang Chenyu suggested, "President Chen, let's turn 'The Summer of Little Monsters' into a feature film and release it during next year's summer season! With its international award-winning experience, we should be able to secure more screenings."

"Give it a try, but don't have too high expectations for the box office," Chen Guiliang said.

Fortunately, not many people are into boxing these days, so even if it doesn't become a box office hit, they can still get two legendary figures to promote it in reverse.

Wang Chenyu hesitated before saying, "Mr. Chen, could you spare some time to come and support us at the Shanghai International Film Festival next week? Half a day would be enough."

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "Okay."

The Shanghai International Film Festival, touted as an A-list international film festival, has attempted to rival film festivals like Berlin and Cannes since its inception.

It's become a joke now.

This year, in particular, the organizers were too eager to internationalize, submitting a large number of foreign films, most of which were relatively unknown. Only two Chinese films were nominated.

The shortlist was met with skepticism from industry insiders and netizens as soon as it was released. The reasons given were twofold: firstly, there were too few domestic films, and secondly, the foreign films lacked recognition.

Last year there were animation awards, but this year they have been canceled, and participants can only participate in the non-competitive sections.

Wang Chenyu wanted to bring Chen Guiliang along to increase the exposure of "Summer of Little Monsters" by leveraging Chen Guiliang's fame.

Chen Guiliang didn't care about it; it was his own film anyway, so there was nothing wrong with helping out.

After strolling over to Lao Shu Ren for lunch, Chen Guiliang took Bian Guanyue to Game Science.

Feng Ji returned yesterday.

"Damn, you've gotten so tanned you look like an African guy!" Chen Guiliang exclaimed in surprise.

Feng Ji smiled and said, "I just came back from the south."

Last year she had fair and clean skin, but this year her skin is dark.

This guy has been conducting field research across the country for nearly 20 months, and he hasn't spent much money at all. His main expenses are travel and accommodation. Of course, there are also the salaries of his three-person team.

No, it's a team of four.

Last year, he also recruited a teammate majoring in ancient architecture, someone familiar with the "Yingzao Fashi" (Treatise on Architectural Methods)!
Feng Ji took out several portable hard drives: "These are the materials I've collected."

The external hard drives were numbered, and Chen Guiliang plugged number 1 into the computer.

Feng Ji, standing nearby, explained: "This disk mainly contains textual materials, as well as many professional papers, which I collected while auditing classes at Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Hard drives 2 to 7 contain images and audio files, as well as hand-drawn information from our field trips."

Chen Guiliang then opened the second external hard drive, clicked into a folder, and sure enough, found a large number of pictures, including 3D hand-drawn illustrations of temples and Buddha statues. "Awesome!" Chen Guiliang exclaimed sincerely.

Feng Ji said weakly, "I want to make it into a 3D game. Ideally, it would be a self-developed 3D engine, with pre-made templates for roof tiles, painted decorations, and carvings, automatically generating ancient architectural systems such as foundations, column grids, and roofs."

He used to say that 2D was fine, but now he feels that only 3D can perfectly depict ancient society.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Your idea is very expensive."

Feng Ji said, "If all else fails, let's make it a chibi 2D version."

Chen Guiliang said, "Approve 1000 million yuan first, and come back to me if it's not enough... It's definitely far from enough, so be careful with your spending. As for the R&D team, you can discuss it with the technology and HR departments to set it up."

"I will definitely be careful with my money!" Feng Ji was overjoyed.

You're a spendthrift!
Chen Guiliang said, "Go ahead and do your own thing. Oh, and call Ding Xiaoqi from the 'Three Kingdoms Kill' webpage team."

"Okay." Feng Ji left with the portable hard drives in a cheerful mood.

Bian Guanyue said, "This person really spent 20 months investigating the whole country?"

Chen Guiliang said, "That's why I'm willing to invest money in him to make games. There aren't many people who can settle down like that."

Bian Guanyue said, "We can help with the traditional music of the Sichuan and Chongqing region. Although Sichuan Opera was not yet fully formed at that time, it already had its early prototypes."

Chen Guiliang said, "Although it claims to authentically recreate the style of the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible to completely recreate it because the target audience of the game is modern people. In terms of local customs, it is still necessary to reflect the culture of various places today. When you help, don't think about researching history, just apply the folk music of Sichuan and Chongqing in modern times."

"Oh, I understand." Bian Guanyue immediately understood.

A few minutes later, a man with long, flowing hair knocked on the door and came in.

"Hi boss."

"sit down."

Ding Xiaoqi looked at Chen Guiliang with curiosity, and then secretly glanced at Bian Guanyue.

His father is from Northeast China, and his mother is from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They are both quite robust with delicate features. In addition, they have long hair, giving them a very artistic vibe.

This guy graduated with a bachelor's degree last year and has been working at Game Science for a year and a half, where he has participated in the production of several web-based mini-games. He was recently transferred to the web-based game team for "Three Kingdoms Kill".

Although it's described as a web-based game, due to technological limitations, it's still difficult to make "Three Kingdoms Kill" a purely web-based game. For now, the more mature Flash solution is the only option.

It won't be until around 2011 that a truly web-based version of "Three Kingdoms Kill" will be released—it's possible to do it now, but it will be extremely laggy.

Ding Xiaoqi was a little uneasy because Chen Guiliang kept smiling at him after he entered the room.

Does the boss have a peculiar fetish for men?

That doesn't make sense either, there's a beautiful woman sitting right next to the boss.

The smiles on Chen Guiliang's face were because he was recalling old stories.

Ding Xiaoqi was his business partner before his rebirth, the one who gave up after achieving financial freedom, and often took Chen Guiliang to meet young women.

Like ByteDance, Game Science primarily recruits through universities in Beijing. However, it also reserves a few openings, and students from all over the country can apply online.

Ding Xiaoqi was recruited online, and it wasn't until several months later that Chen Guiliang recognized him!

The main difference is that Ding Xiaoqi, whom Chen Guiliang remembered, always had a buzz cut, but now he had a head of long, stylish hair.

Chen Guiliang said, "I'm planning to do a small project and I'd like you to be the leader of the development team."

"I can be a team leader too?" Ding Xiaoqi automatically ignored the words "small project".

Chen Guiliang nodded and said, "Yes, it's a small project with only three people."

"Uh...it is indeed small enough." Ding Xiaoqi felt like he'd been doused with cold water.

Chen Guiliang then offered a pie-in-the-sky promise: "But I am very optimistic about the prospects of this project. If you have the ability, you can turn it into a large project with hundreds of people."

Ding Xiaoqi felt a little dizzy.

Turn a small project with three people into a large project with hundreds of people? Are you kidding me?

Chen Guiliang said, "This project is called 'Minecraft,' and it's an open-world game with extremely high freedom. The map can be generated infinitely randomly, including caves, forests, plains... just like it's made of building blocks..."

Ding Xiaoqi became increasingly confused as he listened, finding it difficult to understand Chen Guiliang's ideas.

Chen Guiliang could only pick up a pen and paper, draw crooked and messy renderings, and then explain the game content he wanted based on the renderings.

Minecraft will be released next May, but development began early next year. One person developed it alone for more than four months, producing a very rough test version with only a tiny 32x32x32 map and no block placement functionality.

The original author didn't have an impressive resume; he dropped out of a Swedish vocational school and only worked on web pages/Flash games for three years. He didn't expect it to go viral when he uploaded it; it was just for fun.

"Does anyone play with this? It's... unusual." Ding Xiaoqi couldn't help but ask.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "A group of people can freely build blocks in the game and create the world they want. If you're good at it, perfecting all the functions, enabling multiplayer interaction, and even building the Bird's Nest and the Great Wall, would you want to play?"

Ding Xiaoqi's mind was instantly sparked: "That would be so much fun!"

-

(Some people say I like to label people as traitors, but you really haven't seen the outrageous remarks made back then. They were viciously cursing the founders of China's nuclear weapons program.)
(End of this chapter)