Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

604

"I am a researcher at the Battle.net Workshop named Bamboo Star One. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime. I will do my best to answer them. If you are interested in the Workshop, then follow along with this tutorial. I can assure you that you will not regret watching this tutorial. It will open up a whole new world for you."

On the webpage, Zhu Youxing, dressed in a white lab coat, stepped aside, revealing the scenery behind him to the viewer.

This is a screenshot from a game, and Aiko quickly recognized it as Counter-Strike, a very famous competitive game.

She had played this game before, but she wasn't very interested in first-person shooter games, and playing them too much would make her feel uncomfortable, though she couldn't quite explain why. So she tended to avoid first-person games.

But at this moment, she was captivated by the scene inside.

Because just a second ago, the screen was showing a perfectly normal Counter-Strike scene.

But the next second the camera suddenly turned blood red, and the hands that were holding the gun quickly turned into hands that looked rather frightening, hands that no normal person could have.

At this moment, Zhu Youxing's voice rang out: "Before, I wondered if a game would inevitably lose its value after its release? I don't think so. Some games should be able to live forever, and this longevity is not simply due to their competitive attributes, but rather because they attract players to stay in the game by constantly introducing new and exciting content."

"But I am just one person, and the creativity in my brain will eventually run dry. It is impossible to guarantee that a game will always be popular. So I thought of a completely new approach, which is to reduce the difficulty of game development on the one hand, and at the same time try to see if a game can live on in another direction. This is the purpose of the Steam Workshop."

"And this scene is a result of some simple modifications I made to the original game's code. Please take a look."

As soon as he finished speaking, the video screen dimmed slightly, and a dialog box with what appeared to be some complex code appeared.

"Previously, games couldn't be modified at will, except for features like StarCraft's map editing capabilities. Now, I've added a brand new backend to Counter-Strike, which I call the console. Here, you can easily learn and master the editing functions and gameplay. At the same time, we've added a feature to the game's source files that allows for easy replacement, letting players freely replace any model in the game. This makes a game more than just one gameplay style and format. With some simple modifications, I've created a completely new gameplay mode, which I call: Biohazard Mode."

Zhuyouxing simplified the modified code and models in the tutorial as much as possible. In order to make it even simpler, Zhuyouxing stayed up all night to work on it. All of this was to make it easier for players to create their own gameplay.

Bamboo Star One began testing this new game mode, and Aiko was quickly drawn to it.

This brand-new mode is called Biohazard Mode. Simply put, players start on the same side, but one or more infected individuals are determined by a countdown. These infected individuals will attack nearby humans and infect others, turning them into zombies. Whether humanity will ultimately win or the zombies will infect all of humanity remains to be seen.

This is truly a very novel gameplay mode, something I've never experienced before.

"Kazumi, Oto-chan, stop arguing and come look at this!"

At this moment, Aiko pulled the two who were still arguing apart and made them both look at the screen.

The two turned their heads in confusion, and then they saw this brand new game mode.

At first, Kazumi and Otoko were a little confused, but they soon figured out how to play the game.

"Huh? This gameplay is quite interesting. Is this a new game launched on Battle.net?" Yin-chan showed great interest.

Kazumi was a little scared, but the game was noticeably less frightening.

Aside from the occasional sudden transformation into a zombie that can be quite startling, most of the scenes aren't actually that scary.

So after watching for a while, Kazumi also became somewhat interested in the game.

But at that moment, she was still thinking about farming.

Aiko shook her head: "No, this isn't a brand new game. How should I put it... it's a brand new feature launched by the platform called the Creative Workshop. You can freely modify existing game content in the Creative Workshop and add various gameplay elements to the game."

"Creative Workshop?" Yin-chan tilted her head, seriously trying to understand what Aiko was saying.

"Let's take a look first, and you'll understand later."

Next, the Biohazard mode was just a simple demonstration; the webpage mainly contained tutorials on how to create your own gameplay through the Workshop.

The simplified programming allows even someone like Kazumi, who isn't very good at programming, to understand it at a glance.

At least she now knows how to add her favorite models to Counter-Strike, giving the game a fresh look.

Suddenly, Aiko thought that it would be interesting to have some of her favorite anime or movie characters appear in a Counter-Strike match.

Yinjiang became more and more focused as she watched.

She finally understood what the so-called creative workshops were all about.

The tutorial displayed on the webpage is just a simple guide. After the guide ends, the webpage returns to static, and several new options appear on the webpage.

Biochemical Module Development Tutorial

Hide-and-Seek Module Development Tutorial

A tutorial on mods for farming in Counter-Strike.

Tutorial on creating large-scale battle scenes with thousands of players in Counter-Strike

A series of tutorials for various modules are presented, each with a very short tutorial process.

Aiko casually opened the tutorial for the biohazard module, and the entire tutorial was less than an hour long.

With a little effort, a normal person can quickly learn how to develop a biohazard module using the basic game Counter-Strike within an hour.

By applying this principle to other situations, one can quickly come up with more game ideas.

"Aiko, Oto-chan, this thing is so interesting, and it looks super simple." Kazumi looked very excited.

This was the first time she felt like she could develop a game all by herself.

Although games developed in this way are probably destined to be unprofitable, she still finds them very interesting, and feels a great sense of accomplishment as long as they are developed independently.

Chapter 605: Making Players Work for Free?

605

"What's that Zhuyouxing been up to lately? Shouldn't he be focusing on developing new games and consoles? Why is he suddenly promoting the Workshop on that Battle.net platform?"

Hayakawa Ueto was somewhat puzzled by the latest news from Takeyusei.

Yuxing Electronics Entertainment's main base should be home consoles and handheld gaming, right? So why are they suddenly focusing so much on the PC-based Battle.net platform?

Previously, Hayakawa Ueto had always thought that the Battle.net platform was just a product of the collaboration between Takeyusei and Morgan Group, and that Takeyusei was just creating such a platform to cater to the other party's needs.

But now it seems that Zhuyouxing has a particular fondness for this Battle.net platform?

"President, I think this is because Takeyusei himself is too complacent. He thinks he already has an absolute advantage in the console market, so he doesn't take us seriously and is preparing to expand into other markets instead," said a mid-level manager at Surui Electronics.

Hayakawa Ueto frowned; this Takeyusei was indeed difficult to understand.

However, he felt it wasn't as simple as his subordinates had just said.

He also watched this workshop. To put it simply, it wasn't that BambooStar had come up with any unexpected games again, but rather that it seemed to be trying to encourage players to spontaneously add all sorts of fresh gameplay and fun to the game.

But... is that even possible?

This looks like players are working for free. How can players possibly create interesting content under such circumstances?

Is it possible to increase sales of a game through player creativity?

Counter-Strike is an excellent game with a very strong competitive element. In addition to official tournaments, Counter-Strike competitions are springing up in various regions, which proves that the game is very good in the field of e-sports.

Hayakawa Ueto initially envied the e-sports benefits brought by games like Counter-Strike and StarCraft.

StarCraft almost dominates the entire South Korean esports market. The continuous popularity of StarCraft from a single country means that StarCraft can become a very healthy and evergreen cash flow without even needing to be promoted by Zhuyouxing itself.

Counter-Strike is another example.

However, instead of strengthening its e-sports capabilities, Zhuyouxing has created a creative workshop that has nothing to do with e-sports. This move is really hard to understand.

However, each of Takeyusei's actions proved successful in the future, so Hayakawa Ueto did not dare to underestimate him.

Today, video game business has become one of the pillar industries of Suri Electronics, almost on par with its subsidiary Detroit Film Group, so Hayakawa Ueto is paying close attention to this area.

Of course, this was also influenced by his father, Kentaro Hayakawa, who was very optimistic about video games. He firmly believed that video games would be the mainstream form of entertainment in the future, a brand-new entertainment product that would surpass other cultural products.

"Is it possible for us to learn from this creative workshop format?"

"This... might be a bit difficult, because it means giving players free access to the game program data. If we do that, our game consoles will probably be cracked in no time."

Hacking video game consoles has become a major headache.

Zhu Youxing seems to have always maintained a conservative attitude towards this, imposing some restrictions on the cracking process, but the management is not particularly strict.

However, their industry chain is singular, and they have ample funds. They also frequently offer discounted games, so cracking is not necessarily more cost-effective than buying the official version.

But Surui Electronics couldn't do that.

Their market position was already at a disadvantage. Once game consoles were hacked on a large scale, the first thing affected would be the trust of game developers. Their sales would drop significantly due to the hacking, and once their trust was broken, future cooperation would become even more difficult.

Hayakawa Ueto nodded. Presumably, Takeyusei only launched the mod function on the PC Battle.net platform for this reason. If a home console launched the mod function, it would be like laying all the console's cards on the table for those with ulterior motives.

"So we can't learn this model?"

"That's not necessarily true. We could also release our games on the PC platform, but that would probably affect our game sales. After all, piracy is rampant on the PC platform, and players who can easily obtain pirated games are unlikely to pay for our games again."

Hayakawa Ueto directly rejected the decision.

Their first-party games have finally built up a certain player base, and these players are very willing to spend more money on Suri Electronics' game consoles. If the games are released on the PC platform, it will probably be a big blow to these players, and Hayakawa Ueto doesn't want that to happen.

The games that Yuxing Electronic Entertainment releases on the PC platform are also selective. They are either old games that have been outdated for a long time and are released on the Battle.net platform at a very low price so that players can play them at will, or they are games that were originally planned to be released on the PC platform, such as StarCraft and Counter-Strike.

The latest installments of games like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario will definitely not be released on PC.

Furthermore, Yusei Electronics initially defined its development direction as a multi-platform strategy, and players are still very tolerant of Yusei Electronics' works being released on PC platforms.

It's not working on my side.

At this point, a manager said, "President, perhaps we could also develop a few games that are only available on the PC platform, and compete with Yusei Electronics Entertainment for the PC market?"

"Competing for the PC market? Ha! The PC market is so small. It's not worth wasting time on such a small market."

Another manager scoffed, saying he wasn't optimistic about PC games, believing they were generally of low quality and had a significantly smaller player base compared to console games.

Looking at Youxing Electronic Entertainment's Battle.net platform, only a few games, such as StarCraft, have sold over a million copies so far.

However, on home console platforms, there are many games with sales in the tens of millions, so this is simply incomparable.

Hayakawa Ueto nodded; he also largely agreed with this assessment.

"President, I don't think we need to pay too much attention to this 'Creative Workshop.' In my opinion, this Creative Workshop is the biggest mistake that Zhuyouxing made. Isn't he obviously telling players to make games so that he can increase the sales and popularity of his own games? Who would want to do something that benefits others?"

Hayakawa Ueto was silent for a moment, then looked at the others: "Do you all think so too?"

Everyone nodded: "Yeah, this creative workshop is probably meaningless, and the results probably won't be very good."

Hayakawa Ueto said, "Then let's leave that matter aside and discuss our future development plans and the progress of our latest upgraded game console..."

Chapter 606 This is actually pretty exciting.

606

In fact, apart from Surui Electronics, other large game companies that are already quite established also don't quite understand Youxing Electronics Entertainment's actions this time.