Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 83 Sincerity
After Chu Chen's "Identifying Popular Comments about Stars" became popular.

It's not just among players; employees of Starry Night Games also talk about it casually.

The younger the person, the more excited they are about this kind of thing.

In addition, He Xiaofei herself is a typical "sunny" girl. She just graduated and is very lively and talkative.

"Sister Yingying, do you think if I ask President Chen to sign a few autographs for me now, and he becomes a big internet celebrity in the future, will his autographs become very valuable?"

Song Yueying didn't think much of what he said at first, but after hearing it, the image of Chu Chen wearing sunglasses and a mask after he became famous suddenly appeared in her mind, and she couldn't help but smile.

"You're thinking quite far ahead."

"Isn't that right, Sister Yingying?"

He Xiaofei didn't catch the teasing in her tone at all and excitedly leaned forward.

"I really think President Chen could become a big star! I watched that video three times last night! My stomach hurt from laughing so much!"

"I saw it everywhere when I woke up this morning."

Song Yueying also watched the video, but the title of "big internet celebrity" was really hard to associate with Chu Chen's image.

"If you really want an autograph, go ahead and ask. Let's see how our 'big internet celebrity' reacts."

Hear this.

He Xiaofei, who was just excited, suddenly felt as if someone had grabbed her by the neck.

"I... I'm afraid it might be a bit... inappropriate for me to go alone..."

He Xiaofei scratched his head.

Like many others in the company, He Xiaofei felt the same way about her boss, Chu Chen.

It's a mixture of respect, love, and fear.
Under normal circumstances, Chu Chen is not very strict with the art team, or even with the entire company. Most of the time, he speaks and chats with a smile.

During the site visit, he also encourages the employees.

At first, she wasn't quite used to the boss making rounds from time to time.

Moreover, she didn't understand why those veteran employees of Starry Sky not only didn't resist, but instead became unusually excited when Chu Chen toured the premises.

It wasn't until one day when she was at work that Chu Chen praised her to her face, saying that her drawing skills were solid and that she was worthy of graduating from the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts.

Goodness, He Xiaofei's face was still red for at least an hour afterward.
Aside from communication during inspections, Chu Chen doesn't act like a boss at all. He enjoys interacting with everyone and even invites them to lunch alone.

He Xiaofei was also invited out to dinner alone at a restaurant next to the company. She thought she would be very nervous, but the atmosphere of the whole lunch was surprisingly good.

On the one hand, Chu Chen took this meal very seriously, asking the other person carefully about their preferences when ordering food, and on the other hand, he didn't talk about work at all during the conversation.

We just chat about whether the food is good or not, and about things in life.

Let's talk about our favorite games, movies, TV series, and the like.

In addition, He Xiaofei is a very talkative person, so she felt very comfortable having dinner with Chu Chen. She even took the initiative to talk about some work-related matters.

Many people feel much better mentally after having a meal alone with Chu Zeng.

Especially those who leave their hometowns and work alone in Shanghai.

He Xiaofei also heard that someone had cried a lot after going home because of this, so privately everyone actually had a good impression of Chu Chen.

But when they were at work, no one dared to act recklessly.

This is because Chu Chen is very serious about his work and has an exceptionally strong learning ability.

Especially when you are assigned a task but don't know how to do it, you and your boss will often end up working together to figure out how to achieve the desired effect.

Then you'll find that your boss's problem-solving approach inexplicably becomes faster than yours.

Sometimes Chu Chen doesn't seem like a boss in his twenties at all; instead, he seems like a veteran game developer with over a decade of experience who knows everything.

Moreover, his thinking is incredibly clear.

Having a boss like this in a company is both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing is that because the other party understands your work, the boss can see whether you do well or work hard.

The downside is that not only is it troublesome to slack off, but if what you hand in is substandard, you're doomed.

He Xiaofei had personally witnessed Chu Chen taking the mountain-like programmer "Xiong Er" outside into the corridor, and then talking to the person opposite him who was crying his eyes out.

"No, Xiong Ping! I don't mean to criticize you, but can you explain why you can notice and implement the same effect in the simulated battle mode, but not in the PVE mode?"

"Didn't I mention that PvE is also a core aspect of our game? I want to know why you're downplaying PvE gameplay? If I didn't clearly explain the importance of these two gameplay elements, then I apologize."

These two sentences, taken individually, are actually not bad.

It was criticism, but not that harsh.

But this was paired with Chu Chen's frosty face, serious expression, and indescribable aura.

It's really hard to withstand.

Anyway, not only did Xiong Ping fail to hold on, He Xiaofei, who happened to be passing by, felt extremely flustered after hearing the story, even though it didn't involve her. She went back and carefully reviewed the original artwork she was supposed to submit many times.

So, if you ask Song Yueying to go with her to get Chu Chen's autograph, He Xiaofei isn't afraid, but if you ask her to go alone, she's a little timid.

The two chatted as they walked inside.

Then a loud voice suddenly came from the conference room next to the art department. "President Chen! We've come with sincerity."

"You call this sincerity?!"

"Isn't this sincerity?"

"If this is your sincerity, then I do not accept it. Please leave."

"Okay, Mr. Chen, we'll be leaving now. But if you come back to us after we're gone, the price won't be the same."

Following that, Song Yueying and the others in the company...

Then, several men in suits stormed out of the conference room.

The leader's face was ashen. As he left, he swung his arm forcefully, almost bumping into a potted plant. The men following behind him also looked resentful, seemingly muttering something under their breath.

It was right after lunch, and there were many people in the office. Many people saw what happened, and whispers began to circulate in the office.

"what's the situation?"

"Who is this? So arrogant!"

"They seem to be from an animation outsourcing company. Could there be a problem with the animation outsourcing?"

Song Yueying frowned as she looked at the closed conference room door. The sound just now seemed like someone had slammed their hand on the table or smashed something.

Because of this sudden change, the company, which was quite lively after lunch, suddenly became much quieter.

It felt a bit like the homeroom teacher suddenly appearing at the back of the classroom. After hesitating for a moment, I noticed that everyone around me was turning their attention to me.

Song Yueying grabbed a can of cola from the rest area and, after a few steps, knocked on the door of the conference room.

There was silence inside for a few seconds.

"Enter."

The voice sounded somewhat deep, but was still relatively steady.

Song Yueying pushed open the door and went inside.

Chu Chen was the only person in the conference room. The table was fairly tidy, except for a document that was carelessly tossed on the corner near Chu Chen, with some wrinkles on the paper.

Song Yueying gently placed the cola on the table.

"How about some cola?"

Chu Chen turned around, glanced at Kele, and then looked at Song Yueying.

"Did everyone outside hear that?"

Song Yueying nodded without saying anything; at this moment, it seemed inappropriate to say anything.

Chu Chen opened the can of cola and sighed.

"Sigh, I still can't control my emotions. Later, can you go out for a walk for me and play the good cop? This has nothing to do with their development work; it's my problem."

Just as a family needs both a "good cop" and a "bad cop," so too does a company.

Salary is merely a basic indicator of a company's atmosphere and does not determine its efficiency. A prime example is ByteDance's foray into the gaming business, which poached talent with high salaries, instantly raising industry-wide wages by 10%.
That was a 10% increase across the entire industry; you can imagine how crazy ByteDance was back then.

In the end, despite burning through billions, they gained nothing.

Chu Chen knew very well that money was the foundation of everything, but money was not everything.

People are complex, and managers are even more complex. Because of work requirements, although he communicates with employees in private, he still needs to play the "good cop" most of the time.

After all, he is directly responsible for the outcome of the game, and he needs to use various means to ensure the normal progress of the project.

So, without knowing when it started, Song Yueying naturally became his partner, taking on the role of the "good cop."

For example, Chu Chen's slam on the table just now could very well make it so that no one in the office dares to report to him for the rest of the afternoon.

At this point, Song Yueying would need to go out and say something like, "Hey, President Chen is fine, don't overthink it, just go to work as usual." or "You should report, report! What are you waiting for? It's nothing."

Sometimes, if employees have complaints but are too embarrassed to tell Chu Chen, there is a mediator who can mediate.

These are all very detailed things, but many things often accumulate in these details.

As they switched between playing good cop and bad cop, Song Yueying and Chu Chen, who were already familiar with each other, naturally became even more familiar with each other.

Therefore, seeing Chu Chen like this, Song Yueying was also very direct.

"What's wrong? I rarely see you like this."

"It's nothing..."

From an outsider's perspective, Starry Night Games is experiencing phenomenal growth, with its revenue exceeding 5 million RMB before May was even over, leading many media outlets to haile it as "this year's biggest dark horse."

But it ended up with Chu Chen.

After his success, Chu Chen finally understood what it meant to be "famous and troublesome." A whole host of messy things followed after the game became popular.

First, the Hardcore Alliance came knocking, and now new troubles are on their door.

This trouble, while not a major problem for Chu Chen, still made him somewhat restless and irritable.

(End of this chapter)