Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

You can participate in the competition as long as your game has not been announced or tested before, and you are willing to sign a PC exclusivity agreement with Spark Games.

Finally, there's the Sunday group.

"Sunday" is like the no-holds-barred division in boxing, where anyone can sign up, including Tencent in principle. This division is mainly for mid-sized game companies.

Like Moonbeam, this group does not restrict the subject matter of the entries; as long as the game has not been released and the player is willing to sign a PC exclusivity agreement, they can participate.

Of the three groups, the Sunday group has the highest prize money, while the other two groups have slightly lower prize pools.

But even lower.

The top three prizes were ten million, nine million, and eight million respectively.

The remaining places can earn at least several hundred thousand to a million.

For a domestically produced indie game that is typically priced between 20 and 30, this already represents a profit that would normally require tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.

And don't forget.

If you make it into the top ten of your group, you can get an interest-free loan of up to tens of millions.

This could be a huge opportunity for many independent game studios and individuals to take off completely.

The entire competition, from the prize money to the competition format, was perfect.

Perhaps the only downside is that all the games participating in this competition have to sign PC exclusive agreements with Spark.

This rule has been criticized by many independent developers abroad, but it hasn't made much of a splash in China.

Spark explained that the reason for the exclusivity was to maintain the game development ecosystem and create a positive cycle.

Although the announcement was sincere, the attitude remained unchanged.

If you want to participate in the competition and earn this money, you must exclusively use the Spark platform.

Ultimately, Lin Li's original intention was to unite the numerous small and medium-sized game developers in China. As for foreign developers, they could come if they wanted, and he wouldn't force them if they didn't.

Also.

Lin Li was well aware that the number of people receiving awards in this competition was somewhat excessive, and the number of award rankings was also too high.

It is very likely that the games selected in the end will be those of the top teams in each group.

The games that followed were all of average or even below-average quality.

Furthermore, most of the interest-free loans issued by Xinghuo this time are likely to go down the drain.

but..

Since we are doing business and expanding into new markets, some waste is unavoidable.

On a larger scale, what Lin Li did is somewhat similar to the government's promotion of subsidies for new energy vehicles.

There were definitely omissions and errors in the initial stages.

But over time, catfish can be cultivated.

If it relies solely on the free development of the domestic market, it's uncertain when the Spark platform will be able to enjoy the benefits of the rise of domestic developers.

Many large companies are unwilling to spend this money.

However, Lin Li was willing to be this "Foolish Old Man".

On the one hand, he is not short of money.

Leaving aside the fact that Xinghuo's annual profit has exceeded 10 billion yuan, just consider the Douyin stock he currently holds.

That's enough to keep his family and even his descendants busy causing trouble.

For Lin Li, money is a resource and a tool.

Many things are worth spending money on if they can be accomplished.

Look at Huawei, they can spend 25% of their annual revenue on R&D, which can amount to hundreds of billions of yuan. Has anyone ever frowned at that?

In fact.

Lin Li felt that the reason why the domestic game industry couldn't take off was because, strictly speaking, the owners of domestic game companies couldn't really be considered capitalists.

Capitalists are driven by the pursuit of future profits.

You have to spend the money you earn to generate returns.

If a capitalist actually holds a lot of cash, he will be ridiculed for no longer knowing how to make money or invest.

In contrast, most domestic game developers are essentially just nouveau riche.

They grab onto any money tree they see and relentlessly try to squeeze it out, pocketing every penny they earn, holding on tightly, calculating the immediate rate of return on every single expense.

Capital isn't played like that...

Xinghuo's actions this time seem grand, but the actual cost, even including the interest-free loans issued, will not exceed one billion.

It's nothing more than 10% of the annual profit, or even less than 10%.

The reason this seems so generous, even to the point that some domestic developers can't understand it, is thanks in part to those stingy, miserly old folks in China...

~~~

After reviewing the entire registration rules.

Zhou Xun suddenly exclaimed.

"This time, the theme for the Starlight Group is science fiction!?"

"Hehe, do you know who set this topic?"

"Holy crap, it can't be you, can it?"

Hearing Zhou Xun's exclamation of "Holy crap!", Song Shiyu was finally satisfied.

I called because I wanted to hear that "Holy crap!"

"Hehe, aren't you going to thank me? I've done a great service to domestic science fiction games. Do you know how hard I worked to get science fiction as a theme, debating with everyone at the meeting?"

In fact, Song Shiyu's statement contained both truth and falsehood.

The former is true; he did indeed propose using science fiction as the theme.

However, there was no debate among the scholars.

Because at the meeting, General Manager Lin made the decision directly...

But this doesn't stop Song Shiyu from adding his own dramatic flair.

"Wow, Song Shiyu, you can tell everyone else you don't have it."

Zhou Xun sincerely praised it, saying that for domestic science fiction game producers, this was indeed a glimmer of starlight in a dark night sky.

"No, you were the first person I thought of. You didn't talk to me about your Dyson sphere idea last time. I think this is an opportunity. Isn't your wife in the game industry too? I think you two could take some time to make a demo. What if it works?"

Zhou Xun nodded excitedly.

The two chatted for a while.

Hang up.

Before we knew it, it was already dark, and all the lights in the studio were off.

As a single-player game developer, Pathea Games doesn't have frequent overtime work.

After Zhou Xun turned off the office lights.

The environment suddenly went completely dark.

The city's night view outside the window comes into view. Through the gaps between the buildings, the lights of Chongqing are connected, creating a picturesque scene.

~~~

The impact of the Spark Games Competition is stronger than we imagined.

It's not purely because of the bonus.

There's also the factor of topicality.

On the one hand, Xinghuo has integrated the excellent traditions of domestic publicity and promotion, and has also made available the amount of interest-free loans, with the slogan "Share 10 billion".

On the other hand, there are indeed very few similar competitions in China.

Players also found it very novel.

In particular, in addition to providing the main game competition, Spark also organized an individual competition.

The individual competition also has a separate prize pool of 1800 million.

Moreover, the individual competition format is also very innovative.

The entire Spark Games Competition individual event is divided into 6 sub-projects.

Chapter 455 White Hair! Twin Tail!

[100 Rendering Contest]

[100 Copywriting Contest]

[100 Programming Contest]

[100 Art Competition]

[100 Scenes Contest]

[100 Planning Competition]

There are six major projects in total, with a prize pool of 300 million for each award, and the top 10 will receive a prize.

Furthermore, compared to the bonus.

This competition focuses on individual awards, which is rare in the global gaming industry.

Although the competition format is uncommon, the demand for such competitions has always existed.

How many game developers are there in the world today?

This number was not statistically analyzed.

However, judging from the fact that global gaming revenue totaled $1379 billion in 2018 alone, it's clear that the number of people working in the industry is substantial. These people possess the skills, the desire to express themselves, and the ambition to showcase their abilities, but lack a platform to do so.

It is precisely because this demand has existed for a long time that no one has explored it.

That's why the 100 Rendering Contest in the previous life became an instant hit.

Many big shots don't want bonuses.

It's not the praise from others, but the admiration of others.

This time, Spark went even further, firstly by greatly expanding the scope of participants.

Aside from rendering, copywriting, programming, art, and even planning, if you're a game industry professional, you can basically say that everyone is involved.

Simply put, if the previous 100 Rendering Competition was a single event, then this time Spark was more like hosting a sports meet.

Moreover, this event is of a higher standard and has more prize money.

What's even rarer is.

Spark provides a framework for each individual event, allowing participants to freely develop their ideas within that framework. This approach is undoubtedly more challenging.

This also provides a basis for judgment.

In addition, the Spark competition adopted a two-tier judging system.

First, the preliminary round is judged entirely by a panel of judges, who will select 90 people from all participants to enter the main competition.

Even works that are rejected are not entirely without a chance.

Spark will place the shortlisted works into a voting pool and allow players to vote to revive 10 entries.

After the first phase.

The judging process in the second stage of the competition was also quite interesting.

~~~

"Video reviews account for 80% of the score... What does that mean?"

Guangzhou, Kuro.