2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 87 Dota Dota!
"Are you going to do it or not? If not, I'll find someone else."

Even if Chu An explained the logic perfectly, Lin Wanchen would still find it hard to understand why a shortened Weibo post would necessarily lead to success.

To put it simply, this is an advanced way of playing on the internet, which greatly increases the participation of ordinary netizens.

Before Weibo, no matter how prosperous the internet industry was, it was still a platform for a select few to gain value. For ordinary people, it wasn't much different from television or radio, just a slightly more convenient channel for obtaining information.

But after the emergence of social media platforms like Weibo and Facebook, the nature of the internet has completely changed.

Ordinary people are gradually gaining the power to guide public opinion by speaking out through social media platforms, and sometimes they can even influence the direction of public perception.

This is the real reason why Weibo and other online products have become so popular.

Seeing that Chu An was losing patience, Lin Wanchen gritted her teeth and said, "I'll trust you this once! But I don't have any money!"

Well, even the trust between friends has its limits. It's not that Lin Wanchen doesn't have money, but that she can't fully commit to it.

You can't expect me to contribute both manpower and money, only to lose everything in the end, while you, Chu An, walk away unscathed, leaving me to suffer the consequences. That's not fair, is it?

"Heh!" Chu An laughed when he heard this, immediately understanding Lin Wanchen's thoughts, but he didn't expose her.

He's short of money now, but the problem is, he's not that short.

"It's settled then! I'll provide the money, you provide the labor! I'll be the boss, you work for me!"

Lin Wanchen, “.”

My heart suddenly tightened, as if I had missed something.

But then I thought about it again, and it made sense; the risk was relatively small!
"Then you can write something down clearly, expressing your ideas and concepts for Weibo, and I'll go and set up the company and solve the technical problems."

After saying that, the matter was settled. "We won't go back tonight." He rubbed his neck and went back to his room to take a shower.

Lin Wanxing didn't leave, pretending to warm herself by the fire. After her older brother left, she suddenly jumped over, "Can I join you?"

Chu An frowned at her, then backed away. This woman was getting more and more out of line: "What do you mean, 'take you along'?"

Lin Wanxing said, "I'll put up the money, so count me as a shareholder."

Chu An, "."

After looking at Lin Wanxing for a long time, I felt a warmth in my heart.

Lin Wanxing knew about his investment in "Heart Fire" and also knew that Chu An's account was empty.

He didn't even know where the initial investment for setting up Weibo came from.

This was to give Chu An a way out, in case he was too embarrassed to speak up.

"If you want to help me, you don't have to be so secretive. I certainly won't hold back."

Lin Wanxing: "."

The adorable one replied, "Sorry, I forgot you're shameless."

Chu An, "How much money are you investing?"

Miss Wanxing thought for a moment, "I think I have five million, right? But you have to leave me some pocket money!"

She's anything but frugal; she always spends money lavishly. Plus, she has to keep Starry Sky Company running, so that's all she has on hand.

Extremely generous: "Here's three hundred, is that enough?"

Chu An rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "That's bullshit! It's far from enough."

In his previous life, Chu An had never built a website, but he at least knew that it was a very expensive thing to make.

Before securing funding, wouldn't you need to prepare at least ten or twenty million?
Lin Wanxing's money was just a drop in the bucket; he still needed to find a way to make more money.

The question then arises: among the people he knows...
Who is the richest?
Thinking of this, Chu An silently took out his phone and called Lu Mingze, "Director Lu, come over to my house for a fireside chat."

Old Lu had planned to meet Chu An again tomorrow, but upon hearing this, he exclaimed, "I'll be there right away!"

He now has a bunch of ideas about the new drama to discuss with Chu An.

A short while later, Lu Mingze arrived. He even brought a bottle of red wine, perfectly embodying the decadence and affectation of high society.

He was about to get to work when he sat down in front of the fireplace, but Chu An didn't even give him a chance to speak.

"Let's not talk about work for now, let's chat casually."

Old Lu, "."

Well, talking about work during the Chinese New Year is definitely a bit of a downer.

But I couldn't help but mention, "The investment funds for 'Heartfire' are already being processed, and they should be transferred out after the fifteenth."

There are many channels for domestic companies to invest overseas.

The most common procedure is to file with the National Development and Reform Commission, then register with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and finally take the aforementioned documents to the bank to process the remittance.

It's troublesome, but as long as the procedures are complete, it can all be done.

Generally, there are two other methods:
First, there is the domestic guarantee for overseas lending. This means that a domestic bank issues a guarantee, and an overseas bank lends money to the target company or project.

Another option is equity investment, but this requires an "Overseas Investment Certificate" issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

Here, Chu An used an internal guarantee for an external loan method, depositing the money into the Bank of China to obtain a guarantee. The Bank of China's US branch could then disburse the loan to Sophia's film crew, making it the simplest and most straightforward channel.

Chu An heard that it could be done immediately and didn't say much. Of the 1500 million, it was his own, and the 500 million belonged to Lu Mingze; it wasn't a loan but an investment.

Old Lu is very wealthy now, with over 4000 million yuan lying in his account, and he doesn't know what to do with it.

When Chu An asked to borrow money, he agreed without hesitation. Later, upon hearing that it was for investing in Su Manqing's new film, he waved his hand even more generously, "Why don't you just not borrow any more money? I'll just invest 500 myself, okay?"

He was thinking that art films have unstable box office performance, and if they lost money, Chu An would still owe him money, and he would be embarrassed to ask for it back. How could that be?
It also hurts feelings.

All I can say is that Lu Mingze is the kind of person who takes money for granted.

"Don't worry!" Chu An reassured Lu Mingze. "Investing with me will only make you money, not lose you!"

Lu Mingze: "It would be best if we could make a profit, but it's okay if we lose!"

Chu An: "Perfect timing, we were just discussing a new project."

Lu Mingze wasn't interested in investing, but not wanting to spoil the fun, he casually asked, "What project? Another good script?"

Chu An: "This time, let's switch our focus to the internet!"

Lu Mingze, “.”

He hasn't even figured out how to make it in the entertainment industry yet, why is he switching to the internet?

Next, Chu An fully utilized his cunning and deceitful nature, portraying Weibo as a beautiful flower.

Pointing at Lin Wanxing, who looked like a fangirl, "Wanxing has already voted and brought out her dowry."

"I'll talk to Xu Shu later and ask her to invest some too. Let's try to achieve financial freedom using this one website!"

"When the time comes, I'll film whatever I want, who cares if it makes money or not? It's not for anything else, I just want to! Right, Lao Lu?"

Lin Wanxing chuckled. Chu An was too funny and shameless. He would stop at nothing to swindle money from Lao Lu.

But believe it or not, Old Lu falls for that, what can you do?

Grinning widely, rubbing his bald head.
"That's great!! Acting out of interest, that's the kind of life I've always dreamed of!"

Chu An: "Then it's settled! Twenty million! I'll give you 30%!"

Lu Mingze: "I've voted!"

Chu An: "Alright! I now announce that the angel round of financing has been successfully completed! Our beloved Director Lu, with his discerning eye, has joined the Weibo family!"

Clap clap clap!

Miss Wanxing is such a sycophant; she kept clapping her hands, saying, "Congratulations, Director Lu! Congratulations, Weibo!"

"I want to be a spokesperson!"

Lin Wanchen had just finished showering and answered a phone call. They talked for a while, and when she pushed the door open, she saw the three of them raising their glasses in celebration!

He grinned and asked, "What are you talking about? You seem to be having a lot of fun?"

Chu An: "Just letting you know, the angel round of investment has ended. We currently have 2300 million yuan in the account, enough for you to spend as you please." Lin Wanchen: "."

What the hell did I miss? What? The angel round is already over?
That night, Lin Wanchen suddenly realized that Chu An was serious; he wasn't just impulsively thinking of creating a platform for verbal battles. Because in the following moments, Chu An explained his vision for Weibo in detail.

The more Lin Wanchen listened, the more reliable it seemed.

That night, Lao Lu also drank a lot of alcohol. As he left, he grabbed Chu An's hand and said, "Chu Shikui, you didn't cheat me, did you? How come you spent all my money?"

President Chu didn't sleep well that night either.
I did the math.
Didn't we agree to make money? Didn't we agree to raise funds for Dad?
But the money hasn't materialized, and my assets are currently in the negative!

He was heavily in debt.
This is not a good thing! The next morning, Chu An called Lao Lu.

"Um, if any endorsements or commercial performances come your way, don't turn them down. I'd like to take a look."

Lu Mingze frowned. "You said before that you didn't care about the endorsement fees from those big stars, so I turned them all down for you! Why did you change your mind again?"

Chu An grinned, glared at him, and argued, "Before? Before, I was young and reckless and didn't know my place. Now I'm older, more sensible, and I don't pretend anymore."

As a result, Lu Mingze retorted harshly, "Hey, who was the one who filmed 'With You'? They always say I'm a money-grubber."

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river!"

Chu An, "."

If it weren't for the fact that Lao Lu was his biggest creditor, he would have started cursing on the spot.

After hanging up with Lu Mingze and having breakfast, Xiang Lintao from Green Field Company arrived at the door with his planning team as promised.

"Thank you, Teacher Chu, for thinking of our game despite your busy schedule!"

This made Chu An a little embarrassed. People in the industry called him Teacher Chu, which Chu An could accept. Someone of President Chu's level deserved to be called a teacher.

But outside the circle... never mind.

He smiled and said, "We're all family here, Mr. Xiang, you can just call me Xiao Chu."

The next sentence was, "Hey, Mr. Xiang, do you need a spokesperson? Do you think I'm suitable? I'll give you a 12% discount, 8 million is enough!"

Xiang Lintao, “.”

I seriously suspect that Chu An didn't come to discuss business, but rather to ask for money!
He gave a evasive answer, "Well, for our game, there are no plans to hire a spokesperson at the moment."

"But don't worry, Professor Chu! We'll definitely think of you first if we ever have such a need!"

Chu An felt embarrassed. "If you don't want to pay, just say so!"

Without dwelling on it, he said, "I have an idea for an RPG map, and I'm planning to..."

Originally, I intended to give it to Green Field Company to enrich the game content. But then I had a sudden thought, "I plan to borrow the editor from 'Race Wars' to create a prototype."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Lintao was willing to agree to anything as long as it wasn't about asking him for money.

It's just editing a map, isn't it?

"Teacher Chu, please give us your advice, and we will do our best!"

Upon hearing this, Chu An gave a barely perceptible, sinister smile.

"Then let me explain my idea!"

He took out his sketchbook and began sketching while explaining to Xiang Lintao, “The map is a 5v5 battle mode, with two factions: Sentinel and Scourge. There are three lanes for attacking each other, and defensive towers, bases, wilderness shops, and neutral monster spawn points are set up at different map nodes.”

"Players enter the game, select their own hero to lane against each other, and the winner is determined by destroying the opponent's base."

Chu An explained the main settings of DOTA, such as map layout and hero skills, to Xiang Lintao.

Yes, he didn't choose League of Legends or Honor of Kings here, but chose Dota.

Compared to games like "Honor of Kings" and "League of Legends," Dota 2 has obvious disadvantages, such as a high learning curve and excessively long game durations.

However, Dota also has many irreplaceable advantages.

For example, Shadow, last-hitting and denying, and the Aegis of the Immortal make Dota's tactics incredibly diverse. Of course, what Chu An admires most is the Dota spirit of "never giving up until the base is destroyed."

The thrill of turning the tide on all three lanes with the World Tree at your back is an experience that no other game can replicate.

As for the difficulty of getting started and the length of the game, these are not issues in this day and age.

As for Xiang Lintao, he didn't react much after hearing Chu An's description.

I just think that Teacher Chu's brain is still working well; this is already a fairly complete game design proposal.

From the background and setting to the details of the heroes, the level of completion is quite high.

As for whether it's fun or not, or whether it's a good game...
He didn't seem to feel anything.

The joy of Dota-like games can only be truly appreciated by playing them yourself.

Those who are not familiar with the game think that people who play this game are crazy. They feel that there is no sense of progression or the thrill of leveling up. What is so fun about controlling a little character to fight?
But once you start, it's hard to put it down.

"This is simple!" Xiang Lintao decided on the spot. "The concept is already there. Using the character models from 'Race Wars,' I'll make it for you in three days!"

Chu An raised an eyebrow. "That's great! It doesn't need to be too complicated. Just make about 20 heroes first. I'll give it a try, and if it works, I'll turn it into a new game."

Xiang Lintao thought to himself, "Teacher Chu is really ambitious! He's even venturing into the gaming industry!"

He didn't expose it, but he wasn't really optimistic about it; what was popular now were real-time strategy games like StarCraft.

It can't compete with any other Dota.

Chu An said, "After you're done, could you please help me test it?"

Xiang Lintao said, "Teacher Chu, don't worry about it. I'll definitely make you satisfied."

Without lingering, they left with their people and the plan.

Regardless, we still had to give Teacher Chu face. President Xiang specially arranged a team, and they actually created a test map for Dota in three days.

Chu An made a special trip to Green Field Company to see the results and had to admit that Xiang Lintao had a lot of talented people under his command, almost exactly as he had described.

After confirming that everything was in order, "then I'll trouble Mr. Xiang to test it out."

Xiang Lintao: "No problem!"

The closed beta of "Race Wars" has been completed, and it's just waiting for the broadcast of "You Are My Glory" to coincide with the public beta promotion.

So the company has been quite relaxed lately, immediately transferring the Dota test map to the testing team. First, they conducted a code self-check, and then internal staff played the game to find vulnerabilities and shortcomings.

then
Then Mr. Xiang realized something was wrong.

On the first day the staff started using the map, General Manager Xiang specifically asked, "Is this map fun?"

Several programmers shook their heads. "I can't explain it. It's too difficult. I haven't even figured out how to last-hit."

The next day, Xiang Lintao went to check and found a group of people still practicing last-hitting in lane, and their gameplay was chaotic.

Mr. Xiang shook his head. What future could this game possibly have?
The third day.
Xiang Lintao worked overtime until midnight. At this time, the company wasn't busy, so there was probably no one else working there besides him.

When I came out of the office, I saw that the lights were on in the office area.

When I went over to check, I found that half of the company's employees hadn't left.

Xiang Lintao thought to himself, "These people are usually so reluctant to work overtime, what's wrong with them today?"
As I walked over, before I even looked at it, my eardrums started ringing.

"The second tower is about to fall! Someone, come quick!"

"TP! I have the ultimate! Let's crush the planning team!"

"Full control!! Skills follow up."

"The wandering swordsman is awesome again! Hahaha!"

Xiang Lintao, “.”

A little confused, "Have they all gone mad?"

.

(End of this chapter)