Rebirth 08: Can a mobile game company also build a tech empire?

"Fruit Swordsman?"

Tao Manwen silently recited the game's name, which indeed perfectly matched the gameplay.

"right!"

Lu Chen gave a firm and resounding answer.

Just as Lu Chen was about to say "Fruit Ninja," the name "Fruit Swordsman" inexplicably popped into his mind.

The name Fruit Ninja has a strong neon vibe to it, with the word "ninja" in it.

Since this game is now developed by Journey Technology.

Then let's change it and just use "swordsman" instead of "ninja".

Meanwhile, some game elements, such as music and art style, are also affected.

It should also be changed to a Chinese style accordingly.

Lu Chen thought that Chinese culture is so profound that it would be perfectly fine to use martial arts to replace ninjas.

As Japan's economy grew in the last century, it exported many games that belonged to Japanese culture to the world in the cultural and entertainment industry.

The most classic examples are The King of Fighters, Sekiro, Yakuza, and so on.

There are quite a few game companies in Japan.

Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Sony, Namco...

Nintendo, a single company in Japan, has created so many world-renowned games.

But Lu Chen's Conquer Online Technology isn't bad either.

Although it's just starting out, Angry Birds is the only thing keeping it afloat.

However, with more and more games being released in the future, it is not impossible for it to become like Nintendo.

Let's get back to the Fruit Swordsman.

The core gameplay remains unchanged; it's still about slicing fruit.

However, with a few simple changes, Fruit Swordsman can be completely transformed into a game with a Chinese core!

"Now that the name has been decided, let me say a few more words." Lu Chen rested his hands on the table.

"This time we're going to create a game with a Chinese style."

I think martial arts games are a perfect fit for our gameplay.

Therefore, in terms of art and music, we need to get closer to the martial arts style.

The art team needs to use Chinese-style architecture as the background this time.

The sound effects section primarily utilizes traditional Chinese musical instruments such as the flute, pipa, and guzheng.

We strive to create an authentic martial arts style!

Of course, we are a game for players worldwide.

Therefore, I will oversee the entire process regarding how to decide on the gameplay style!

Lu Chen made a series of arrangements, organizing the upcoming development tasks in an orderly manner.

Everyone listened attentively, afraid of missing any of the key points in Lu Chen's words.

After all, a capable leader will assign tasks reasonably to everyone.

Employees can simply follow the instructions.

Only incompetent leaders would be vague and evasive in their work.

When an employee makes a mistake at work, he can conveniently shirk all responsibility.

Seeing that everyone understood his thoughts, Lu Chen spoke up:

"Does anyone have any further questions?"

"No," everyone said in unison.

"Okay! I declare!"

"From this moment on, the Fruit Swordsmen are officially in action!"

At Lu Chen's command, everyone sprang into action and left the office.

……

Recently, everyone in the company has been working on the development of Fruit Swordsman.

Meanwhile, Journey Technology already has experience in developing Angry Birds.

With Lu Chen's arrangement of the game development process, everyone's work became much simpler.

This time, ZhengTu Technology is no longer facing the bankruptcy crisis it did last month.

Everyone just needs to complete their daily tasks step by step.

Game development is proceeding smoothly.

Since the decision had been made to modify the game content, Lu Chen thought it might be better to make the changes more thorough.

Aside from the core gameplay remaining unchanged.

The remaining art style and background music were all changed to a martial arts style.

During this period, Lu Chen spent the most time with the art team and the sound effects team.

I don't know how many reference pictures I looked at and how many musical instruments I listened to before the game was gradually improved.

Lu Chen could dream about the top ten ancient buildings and traditional Chinese music.

At the same time, Lu Chen designed a short opening animation to introduce the game's plot.

Lu Chen designed the player as a young martial arts student who one day encounters a wandering swordsman. The young man wants to become the swordsman's apprentice and learn swordsmanship, but the swordsman refuses, telling the young man to practice cutting fruit first. He will only accept the young man as his apprentice when the young man has mastered the skill of cutting fruit.

A simple opening, just like Angry Birds.

However, it can enrich the player's experience.

The various fruits thrown upwards in Fruit Swordsman also require 3D modeling.

The satisfying animation of fruit being cut and juice splashing is the most important element of this game.

So recently, Lu Chen has been spending almost all his time in the art team revising animation effects.

This put immense pressure on the art department.

However, the three members of the programming team found themselves with nothing to do.

All they need to do is wait for the art and sound teams to finalize the game assets, and then hand it over to the programmers to link the game assets to the program so that the game can be played according to the designed gameplay.

Time flies.

The development of Fruit Swordsman is also nearing completion.

9 month 20 day.

As the progress bar on Wu Zhixuan's computer finished, the Fruit Swordsman program was packaged into an application that could run on an iPhone.

This means that the development of Fruit Swordsman is now complete!

All that's left is to upload it to Apple's servers and get it approved by Apple.

Fruit Swordsman will be able to meet players all over the world!

There was a minor disagreement among the company members regarding the game's pricing.

Lu Chen believes that the Fruit Swordsman should still be priced at $0.99.

Because most apps on the App Store are now priced at $0.99.

If the price is too high, players may not accept it.

Ultimately, the company is still in its early stages. Releasing more games to generate volume and build brand awareness is more important than anything else.

This is in preparation for entering the domestic market later.

Lu Chen never imagined making a fortune through buy-to-play games.

Because everyone knows that spending money on in-game purchases is a true bottomless pit!

But some people in the company don't think so.

Jiang Chang's idea was that Angry Birds was already too cheap, and Fruit Swordsman insisted that the price should be increased!

He wants to price the game at $9!

The reasons are also quite valid.

Take Super Monkey Ball, which he mentioned before, for example. The game is priced at $9.

Despite being several times more expensive than Angry Birds, the Super Monkey Ball has achieved comparable sales.

This makes Super Monkey Ball's actual revenue much higher than Angry Birds!

Wu Zhixuan also believes that the price of the new game should be increased.

He believes that Fruit Swordsman has a better chance of becoming a hit than Angry Birds.

Even if sales reach only half of Angry Birds', it can significantly boost revenue!

This is beneficial to the company.

After all, if a company wants to develop in the long term, it cannot rely solely on small games. It still needs to accumulate funds and produce large-scale games to strengthen the company's foundation.

Fruit Swordsman is the best opportunity for the company to grow and expand!

Both sides had valid points, leading to a heated argument.

Some people sided with Lu Chen and supported the low price.

Some people sided with Wu Zhixuan and Jiang Chang, supporting the price increase.

Neither side wanted to give up!

The two groups were arguing so fiercely that neither could afford to make the down payment.

We must roll up our sleeves and use physical methods to determine the outcome.

Lu Chen slammed his hand on the table and shouted:

"Stop!"

Hearing Boss Lu's angry voice, both sides finally quieted down.