Chapter 1023 – Guidance on game development

“Get someone to conduct Alpha testing and then get ready for free Beta testing. After that, start the advertising campaign to let people understand and like this game.” Feng Yu instructed Kameda Masao privately.

“Boss, will it be too rush if we are doing a worldwide launch? We do not have much time until next year’s New Year’s Day, and the game still has so many bugs!” Kameda Masao is worried. Feng Yu can detect so many bugs easily, what about the players? They will discover more bugs.

“That’s why we must conduct Beta tests to let players find the bugs for us. You must advertise that we will reward players who detect bugs during the Beta test. The reward will be 100,000 USD!”

“How much?” Kameda Masao is shocked. “100,000 USD is too high. We had bought this company for only 4 million USD. How can a bug worth so much?”

“100,000 USD. In China, there is an old saying, ‘one word is worth one thousand gold,’ and it is rumored to be first recorded in Lü Buwei’s <Lüshi Chunqiu>. Lü Buwei recorded all his customers’ suggestions and put it up on the City’s gates with a notice. He will reward 1000 gold pieces to whoever that can increase or reduce one word in this book. From then, his book, <Lüshi Chunqiu> become famous throughout China.” Feng Yu laughed, and he knows of many similar stories in history.

Kameda Masao nodded. “Boss, you are saying that this is also a marketing tactic for this game? Many people will start playing this game for the 100,000 USD reward, and they will slowly enjoy this game. Even after they cannot find any bugs, they will continue to play and increase our profits. In Japan, we also have such stories, but I have not thought of using it on our products. You are so smart!”

When Feng Yu said he would be giving out 100,000 USD for discovering an in-game bug, Kameda Masao knew what Feng Yu wanted. But he purposely did not say anything and pretended to have learned something from Feng Yu, and at the same time, he can kiss Feng Yu’s ass.

Feng Yu also know Kameda Masao is feigning ignorance. When it comes to management and operations, Kameda Masao is much better than him. But even knowing this is flattery, he still likes to hear it.

“Also, in different countries, the stats for the three classes must have slight differences.”

“Why?” This time, Kameda Masao is really puzzled.

“Mage, Taoist Priest, and Warrior are the three classes in the game. In Southeast Asia, Taoist Priest will be very popular as this class had appeared in many countries’ folktales and stories. Taoist Priest is almost non-existence in the West. They would call them Shaman, but Shaman is very different from Taoist Priest. Also, Mage is recorded in the European folktales and legends. They can use all sorts of mysterious magic, and most of the westerners will prefer to play this class. Warriors are best suited for Americans. They have a shorter history and like heroism. So, this class that wields swords and axes should be popular with them.”

“That means this game will have different versions in different regions?”

“Only slight differences. Increase some of the character’s stats is easy. In Southeast Asia, Taoist Priest should be slightly stronger, but the game’s lore, NPC, maps, etc. should remain the same. Even the end boss’s name and stats must be the same. We will use this game to spread our Eastern culture to the West. The names and stats of other mini bosses can have slight differences. I will write down some suggestions, and you get the developers to start developing the expansion based on my suggestions.”

In Feng Yu’s previous life, Legend of Mir had been upgraded several times. This includes the modifications in private servers. People had created all sorts of mini-bosses in the private servers, and it was enjoyable for the players. Feng Yu decided to consolidate everything and incorporates them into the game now. This way, Legend of Mir will be more popular than his previous life!

“Also, a good MMO must have a good storyline. If not, this game will be meaningless, and the players do not know the reason for killing monsters.”

“Aren’t video games all about killing monsters? You had said that leveling, finding equipment, skill books, to strengthen the character and even killing other players, are the attractiveness of this game?”

“Yes. But don’t you find it more interesting if you know about the back story of this game? Where did the NPCs come from, the reasons for giving out quests, the history behind the cities and locations, where the monsters come from, and why did the final Boss want to take over human cities, etc. After knowing all this, the game will be more interesting.”

Kameda Masao thought about what Feng Yu said and felt he is right. But it will be too troublesome. All the NPCs in the game must have a back story, and all the quests had to be linked up. Also, there must be the main storyline. This is only a game. Is there a need to make it so complicated?

“The console and arcade games you played before have storylines. Those stories will attract people, and we can also make money from it.”

“Ah? Those stories can also make money?”

“That’s right. We can write the stories into a novel and publish them in our magazine. Of course, in this magazine, we can publish walk-throughs and gameplay strategies for bosses and quests. New items and equipment will be shown in the magazine, motivating players to level up.”

“Also, other than novels, we can also publish manga, and the main character does not need to be the game’s NPC. We can use the players’ characters as characters in the manga, and let the players feel they are part of it. In the future, we can also make it into a movie.”

In Feng Yu’s previous life, manga and video games go hand-in-hand. Games like Pokémon, King of Fighters, started with games, followed by manga and anime. All these will bring in high profits.

“Then, are we going to hire writers and mangakas? In Japan, there are many talented mangakas, but we don’t have any famous novelists.”

Kameda Masao felt this novel based on a storyline for a game is very difficult to write. But to Feng Yu, it is easy. All he needs to do is to provide a general storyline, set the main characters, and let the netizens decide the rest.

Of course, the netizens can only help to give inputs, and Feng Yu will still need a professional writer to write it. Feng Yu prefer writers that specialized in historical stories as he wants to let the game have an authentic feel and create a game universe!

In this era, there is still no online novels, unlike the time before Feng Yu’s rebirth.

“I will get someone to write the novel. You just contact the mangaka. There is no rush with the manga. Let him design the characters first, and we can showcase the game equipment to the players. Remember, the women characters must be pretty and sexy, and men must be handsome and masculine. You don’t need to worry about the Chinese market. But for the rest of the countries, you must find local partners, or acquire some game distribution companies. As for the advertisements, you can get some models or celebrities to film it. After all, celebrities can also endorse video games.”

Kameda Masao felt he had learned a lot from this short chat with Feng Yu. Feng Yu is really a genius when it comes to making money!

Translator’s notes:

Software testing

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