Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

"This is the development plan for my new game. This time, my goal is not limited to your three game development teams. The engine development team and special effects production team in the United States will also work together to support your work."

Zhu Youxing casually picked up an A4-sized booklet from the cart and then asked the employees who came to help to distribute it.

Some of the more quick-witted employees immediately stepped forward and began to help distribute the booklets. Within five or six minutes, the booklets had been distributed to everyone present.

For a moment, the entire conference room was filled with the sound of papers turning over.

They were all looking at this brand-new game development plan with great interest.

Previously, when Zhuyouxing wanted to develop a game, they also followed this process, but this time the project is significantly more substantial than before.

This also indicates that Zhu Youxing attaches great importance to this new game development, and he will probably devote more of his energy to it.

Holding the booklet, Zhu Youxing explained, "This contains the initial general framework of the story. The game is set in an era similar to steampunk and near-future technology, which will include the standard Final Fantasy features that players are familiar with: crystals, chocobos, and large-scale map adventures, etc."

"Up to now, the framework for the game's world view in this project is still in a relatively preliminary stage. What I need now is for you to enrich the story background based on the framework I have provided."

These people were watching very intently; the proposal had already outlined most of the general worldview of Final Fantasy VII.

The details that need to be added are nothing more than minor aspects such as hydrology and social structure.

These are all settings that are emphasized in the document as essential to set up.

Everyone was somewhat surprised when they saw this.

Before this, the story background of Final Fantasy was mostly set in the Middle Ages, with at most a little bit of the technological foundation of the steel industry.

Moreover, Zhu Youxing rarely requested such detailed descriptions of the story's background in the past.

It seems that Zhuyouxing really intends to build a completely fictional world and then fill it with all sorts of logical fantasy elements.

The scriptwriters found these requirements quite challenging, as they were very different from their previous work.

It seems they need to get all these settings sorted out first.

"If you have any questions, you can raise them now, and I will personally explain the more details of my requirements to you."

In addition to requiring detailed descriptions of the setting, the project proposal also naturally includes information about the gameplay itself.

This time, the entire map will be much larger, bigger than any previous role-playing game.

Therefore, the requirements are even higher.

Level designers and gameplay designers must find ways to ensure that the game map expands without making the world seem dull and boring.

We can't let players feel that the whole world is too empty.

Moreover, we can't resort to the kind of perfunctory, question-mark-filled behavior that's popular in later open-world games.

We should strive to ensure that each region on the large map has its own unique content, making the world appear more realistic.

The story designers had just been having a headache, and soon the level and gameplay designers were also feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Fill a huge map with countless gameplay options? That's insane! Even if they could actually make it, the game's size would probably be off the charts.

Now our game consoles... oh, right, the new GS1 game console has instantly jumped from the original SFC's mere tens of MB to over 2GB.

Moreover, with future expansion technologies for optical discs, this capacity can continue to double.

So it seems like we can really make a big splash.

In the past, they have always tried to create as much content as possible within the limited game space.

In the early days, people would rack their brains and struggle with even a few KB of storage space.

However, this time the GS1 directly increased the capacity of this once very precious content by dozens of times, which is like a complete transformation.

"President, I have a question."

At that moment, Yuki Uesugi raised his hand.

Zhu Youxing looked at him and said, "You speak."

"President, with so much content in this game, won't players feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content?"

Upon hearing this question, everyone else also looked up.

Actually, they all had similar thoughts just now.

Previously, no matter how frantically they tried to save resources within a limited space, the overall flow of the game was limited and could not be enriched further.

Unless you want to play through the game multiple times and add your own storyline, such people are usually true fans, but you can't just cater to true fans.

Upon hearing this question, Zhu Youxing laughed: "How high do you think the player's threshold is?"

"This one……"

Yuki Uesugi thought about it carefully, then shook her head: "I don't know, I just subconsciously feel that this game has too much content."

Zhu Youxing said, "Actually, this is not enough."

The games with truly explosive content are probably massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

For example, World of Warcraft.

Compared to World of Warcraft, single-player role-playing games like Final Fantasy VII are ultimately slightly inferior in terms of content.

If World of Warcraft players can accept it, then Final Fantasy VII is naturally no problem either; however, the people in this world are unaware of this.

Chapter 320: Issuing a mission, and giving someone a pep talk.

The main story of Final Fantasy VII takes about 10 to 20 hours, excluding the time spent on text dialogue.

This isn't considered a very long main storyline in previous role-playing games.

However, if you do some side quests and play some mini-games, a role-playing game can keep you playing patiently for about 60 or 70 hours.

This is now considered the standard length for role-playing games.

Previously, some game companies tried to increase the overall length of the story, but the results were not very good. Many reviews said that such a long story made people sleepy.

However, the real reason is not that the main storyline is too long, but that the content is too repetitive.

Developers who want to deliberately lengthen game durations can't find any more elements to add in the short term; they're simply adding repetitive content to the game itself.

This time, Zhu Youxing aims to broaden the scope of the entire worldview.

GS1 is the gateway to a new era, and Takeyusei hopes that Final Fantasy VII can be the key.

When asked a question by Uesugi Yuki, Takeyusei answered directly that one wasn't enough, which surprised everyone.

The gameplay, world map size, content, and storyline proposed by Zhuyouxing in the project proposal have all been elevated to a new level, which was unthinkable in the past.

Moreover, even if they were just imagining it, the cost of developing such a game would probably be quite high. The labor cost of a team of four or five hundred people alone would be a considerable sum, not to mention the investment of other resources. This is essentially a gamble.

Previously, game development was always kept within a certain range, with the investment for a typical game generally below five million US dollars, and only a few top-tier series games from Gamestar Entertainment had development costs reaching ten million US dollars.

This has led many industry insiders to believe that game development is at this scale and that the cost investment will not be too exaggerated.

While it's not uncommon for people to consider large investments with high returns, no one dares to be the first to try it, because the cost is too high. If the large investment fails to recoup its costs, the entire company could be dragged down immediately.

Moreover, there are only a few companies that have the capacity to make large investments in game production. They are still in the exploratory stage, so they are naturally more cautious about investing funds.

The larger the company, the less likely it is to take risks.

In the film and television industry, it is not uncommon for a film company to go bankrupt due to a single big-budget film.

Moreover, the video game industry is still in its infancy.

"President, isn't this enough? Then we can make the game even bigger in the future?"

“That’s right, this is just a preliminary step. I have already prepared a hundred million US dollars to invest in this game, and I will have at least fifty million US dollars in reserve at any time.”

This is a test of our company's game industry system. After so many years of experience, Zhuyouxing believes that our company still has the strength to develop a game that is good enough. Now we just need an opportunity, and Final Fantasy VII is such an opportunity.

The initial investment of one hundred million US dollars truly surprised everyone. It directly raised the previous maximum cost of game development to ten times, which sounds almost like gambling.

At that moment, Tsukino Aya also arrived at the conference room at some point and sat alone in a corner of the conference room, listening to Takeyusei's empty promises.

When she heard Zhu Youxing mention development investment, she was also somewhat surprised, but soon she also showed a hint of longing.

With such a large investment, the human and material resources that can be mobilized will be unimaginable. If it is truly successful, it will definitely be a catalyst for the industry to take off.

It's a pity she doesn't have that much money or manpower to lead the way; otherwise, she would love to be the first to try something new.

In Zhu Youxing's view, the 100 million yuan investment in the Academy of Fine Arts was actually just a small matter.

Which of the major AAA games of later generations didn't involve investments of hundreds of millions of dollars?

Large investments can yield large returns, but the risks are also extremely high.

However, with established game models from predecessors, the risks that Zhuyouxing takes are naturally greatly reduced.

Even if they do lose money, they can afford to lose $100 million. The company already has $700-800 million in reserves, enough to burn through three or four more games of this scale. This shows that having money in hand makes them feel secure and even allows them to enjoy themselves.

Yuki Uesugi clearly wanted to say something more, but Yusei Take raised his hand to interrupt him: "I know what you want to say, so I'll just answer you directly. I can afford this money, and the company won't have any problems because of it. You can just unleash your creativity. Right now, you only need to worry about your lack of creativity and don't need to consider anything else."

After speaking, Zhu Youxing looked at everyone solemnly, his gaze sincere.

"In the past, we were limited by the capacity of game cartridges and the performance limitations of game consoles, which prevented us from making better games. This has always been a regret of mine. So this time, I think we should try to expand and also prove our company's development capabilities. In the past, we have always led the industry, and I hope to do the same with the arrival of this new era."

To lead the industry again—that's a very ambitious statement.

But Zhu Youxing certainly had the confidence to say such a thing.

Because he has been leading the industry's development in the past.

Yuki Uesugi didn't say anything more, and the other two also remained silent.

But their eyes were filled with excitement.

It was a feeling of excitement that came from finally being able to go all out and do something big.

Since the president has said so, all they can do is to do their best to meet the requirements.

This meeting served two purposes: firstly, to assign general tasks to everyone, and secondly, it was essentially a mobilization meeting.

Mobilize everyone to join this high-stakes gamble.

If successful, all the participants will also reap huge benefits, including a significant increase in game development experience and a boost in fame.

The heads of the three major game development teams will inevitably become more famous, and their industry status will rise accordingly.

Especially for Yuga, who has only recently become the head of the development team, this game development may be the one that makes him famous.

The only regret is that this was not a game development led solely by him; otherwise, his fame and status would likely have been even higher in the future.