The two parties reached an agreement, but we have to consider slowly how to sign the specific contract.

Weiguang Studio now has legal affairs, so Zhong Ming doesn’t have to worry about signing a contract anymore. He just needs to take a rough look after the contract is signed.

Lin Xiaoguang wanted to talk to Zhong Ming about the design details of this game, but he might also feel unsure.

Originally, he didn't have much hope for Weiguang Studio, but just planned to spend two or three million to buy a game to enrich the game library. As a result, Zhong Ming's confidence made Lin Xiaoguang look quite excited.

"Don't worry, wait until the game is made and then show it to Mr. Lin. If you don't make this game, I can't tell you anything by just opening my mouth." Zhong Ming smiled.

Lin Xiaoguang was stunned: "Teacher Zhong is very confident. He is not afraid that the demo will be made and we will not be satisfied with it. If we don't sign for exclusive use?"

Zhong Ming laughed: "Don't worry, Mr. Lin, if you don't want this game, I won't worry about sales."

...

When he got home, Zhong Ming took out the hand-painted board and began to draw a concept picture about this game.

On the other hand, I was also thinking about how many people Wei Guang Studio would need to recruit urgently.

This time, it's a big job.

Although the performance of the handheld console platform is worse than that of the console, it is far more than the independent games produced before. After all, this time it must be a serious 3D game, and it must be picturesque, excellent combat system, good feel, and the performance limit of the handheld console must be fully taken into account.

If you can't do it, the game cannot be blown up; if you can't do it, you can't bring up the handheld console.

Just like why so many people yelled about "The Legend of Zelda" in the previous life, it is because such a big open world can run smoothly on the handheld machine, which shows the functionality of the Switch well.

Moreover, we have to consider the current actual situation of the Weiguang Studio.

There are not too many people, and most people do not have the experience of developing similar games. If you want to make a game similar to "The Legend of Zelda" in a short period of time, it is purely a dream and will not allow it in all aspects.

The key is that you still have to get some Chinese elements.

There are also some specific considerations for how many Chinese elements are brought. This game takes into account both Chinese players and Western players, so the proportion of Chinese elements in the game can be said to be too much or too little, and it must be just right.

Of course, Chinese players like to make "Taiwu Painting Scroll", but Western players will definitely not buy it; but if the Chinese elements are too small and cannot show the cultural characteristics of this game, Chinese players and Western players may not like it.

Moreover, it is best not to use some particularly profound and complex cultures, such as the set of myths in ancient China. It is best not to use them because Westerners do not understand them.

They didn't know Pangu, Nuwa, and Houyi, and even if they knew it, they only had a slight understanding. It was too difficult to use these contents in the plot of the game and it was not worth the effort.

Weiguang Studio has not yet reached the stage of exporting Chinese culture to the world as you wish.

All these factors combined, Zhong Ming roughly thought of a game.

This game was changed from a classic game "Wanda and Colossus" in its previous life. After adding Chinese elements, it was renamed "The Guardian of Zodiac".

In this way, the game's art style needs to be slightly modified, and the boss battle needs to be greatly modified, but this change is still within the acceptable range of Zhong Ming.

As for why you choose this game, there are three reasons.

First, it is very suitable for handheld console platforms. "Wanda and Colossus" is a game in the PS2 era, and it was later reset during the PS3 and PS4 eras. This game was released as early as 2005 and used a very fashionable seamless map, which could be said to have illuminated all players at that time.

Even from today's perspective, this game has a combat system and design concept that is out of date at all, and it can almost be said to have squeezed the performance of PS2 to a limit.

Now we use it as a handheld machine. This shocking boss battle can show the performance of the handheld machine without worrying about being unable to run.

Second, its development difficulty is still within the affordable range of Weiguang Studio. "Wanda and Colossus" has a total of 16 bosses throughout the whole process, with only bosses and no monster battles, which greatly reduces the development content.

If it is like "The Legend of Zelda", there are boss battles, hundreds of shrines, map collection elements, and a large number of plots... Then it would be difficult to complete the current Wei Guang Studio for a year.

But if there is only a boss battle, the development workload will be reduced a lot at once, and the number of 16 bosses will be reduced again by changing them to the twelve zodiac signs.

Third, its gameplay and artistry are rare masterpieces, and even after ten or twenty years, it is still not outdated. Such a game is enough to blow it up.

Of course, in order to add Chinese culture, Zhong Ming also had to make some magic modifications. However, because the plot of the original work itself is relatively simple, the difficulty of magic modification is not high.

The story background of the male and female protagonists is relatively easy to talk about, and the framework of the entire story can be directly used.

The biggest difficulty lies in the art style and the design of the boss battle. This change can almost account for more than 90% of the game changes.

However, this is exactly why Zhong Ming chose it, because the game content is very consistent with Chinese culture!

In the original work, each colossus is very design-oriented, leaving a deep impression on players.

The "Zodiac Guardian" that Zhong Ming wants to develop is also trying to achieve such an effect.

A relatively simple plot framework is not difficult to understand for Western players; and the cultural output of Colossus in artistic image is easier to be accepted by Western players.

People are more likely to receive screen information.

Just imagine, a temple full of Chinese style, surrounded by twelve zodiac patron gods, each patron god has its own characteristics, and it also has a strong Chinese style in appearance, which is also very attractive to Western players.

This approach is definitely a hundred times better than forcing Chinese culture into a plot and forced into the game to feed to Western players.

The rat, the ugliness, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake...

Each zodiac is a ready-made animal. On this basis, it is recreated artistically and designed to fight bosses around this image. The difficulty of development will be much lower, and the effect will be extremely excellent.

What Zhong Ming has to do now is to make conceptual maps of the twelve zodiac signs as much as possible. Different bosses have completely different appearances, different active areas and environments, and their skills and playing styles are naturally different.

If you decide all these contents, it will be much easier to develop later.

...

The next morning.

Zhong Ming called the heads of several departments and core members to the conference room.

"Tell everyone good news, I took on a big job." Zhong Ming said, "As for how big it is... as long as we can achieve 500,000 sales, there will be an exclusive fee of 30 million; if we can achieve 1 million sales, there will be an exclusive fee of 50 million!"

“50 million!”

Many people's eyes lit up.

Just the exclusive fee, there are so many??

You know, this 50 million is equivalent to an extra profit. If the game really exceeds one million, the share of the money you should get will not be less.

Fu Xingan hurriedly asked, "Exclusive? Which game platform is exclusive?"

Zhong Ming smiled: "It's not a certain game platform, it's exclusive to Moya Technology's handheld console platform. What we are going to do this time is a handheld game, which is to go against those 3A masterpieces on the market."

When many people heard this, they were a little discouraged.

Fu Xing'an, Wu Mingliang and others looked at each other, a little confused.

It’s not that I look down on Moya Technology, nor that I look down on my handheld machine, but that I look down on myself...

Sell ​​a million copies on the handheld machine?

Too difficult, right?

Five hundred thousand copies are also difficult!

The key is that although Weiguang Studio has been smooth sailing so far, it has basically been struggling in this small circle of the Chinese cultural circle.

The sales of "Taiwu Painting Scroll" are indeed expected to reach one million in the first month, but the problem is that this is an independent game! Independent games naturally have a set of special evaluation standards, which are not suitable for the same evaluation system as those 3A masterpieces.

If you make similar games, work harder and achieve sales of millions, everyone will still have confidence.

But if you want to compete with those 3A masterpieces on the market, it will be in an instant.

What's more, how many users are for handheld consoles?

Independent games are aimed at PC players. The number of PC players is the largest in the world and the number of host players is also quite large. In some developed regions, it can even reach a host share of more than 20%. In comparison, the user group of handheld consoles is very rare, and it is probably a fraction of the host group.

Selling millions of shares in this group? It is absolutely not enough to rely on the Chinese market alone. We must explore the Western market.

But... Wei Guang Studio has never had the experience of selling games to the Western market. The games developed are basically very inconsistent with the tastes of Westerners.

So in the final analysis, this matter is not as reliable as Zhong Ming said.

Wu Mingliang raised his hand and said, "Boss, I have a problem. What should I say if our game is done well but because the handheld platform is too spicy and has dragged down our sales?"

Zhong Ming nodded: "This is a problem. This handheld console will be released soon. It is probably a bit difficult for us to catch up with its first launch. However, it is just a good opportunity to take this opportunity to see the reputation and performance of this handheld console. If the performance is not good, we will use a limited-time exclusive method, and the game can still be sold on other platforms."

Wu Mingliang nodded and felt relieved.

Limited time exclusiveness reduces the risk. However, there are still risks.

Because according to Zhong Ming, this game is completely developed for Moya Technology's handheld console, and it must first take into account the other party's requirements in all aspects. If the sales on the handheld console platform are not good, then the game will be sent to other platforms, such as the console platform and PC platform, and the sales will not be particularly good. After all, it is completely developed for the handheld console platform, and there are also some design and technical problems in the transplantation.

However, Wu Mingliang also understood that there are few opportunities to cooperate with a large company like Moya Technology. Even if you have to take some risks, it is worth it.

The key is to look at the effect of the game.

"In the near future, we will urgently recruit a group of people, mainly programs and art. In terms of programs, we must recruit programs that are very proficient in 3D engines, and art, modeling, actions, etc., which are also very important. But there is no need to do much overall, mainly to make up for it..."

Zhong Ming said a lot here, mainly focusing on the studio architecture. HR and Miao Zhu frequently recorded these recruitment matters, and they will be busy with these recruitment matters in the future.

It should be fine to recruit people. Although I missed the golden period, it was still after the New Year. It really wasn't possible. I could still find a headhunter to poach people. Anyway, there is no problem with giving some premiums from Weiguang Studio now.

"Okay, stay with the R&D team, and briefly talk about the game we are going to develop next."

After Zhong Ming finished his order, he sent Miao Zhu and the others away. The remaining R&D personnel listened to Zhong Ming’s basic information on "The Guardian of Zodiac".

Design concept draft, not yet available.

However, this game is not particularly needed, and it is enough to have a concept map.

Zhong Ming first showed a large map with a little bit of Chinese landscape painting, but the lines were not that thick. In the center of the map was an ancient temple, surrounding the temple with different terrains such as mountains, seas, swamps, snow fields, volcanoes, waterfalls, deserts, etc. These terrains were pieced together very naturally, and the entire large map formed a whole.

On each terrain, different images are marked with high recognition and can be recognized by everyone here at a glance.

"Twelve Zodiac signs?" Xiao Mu blurted out.

These zodiac guardians are also closely related to the terrain. For example, the dragon flying by the sea, the horse galloping on the grassland, the rat drilling holes in the mountains, the monkey moving in the dense jungle, the pig in the vast swamp, the snake shuttles through the desert, and the sheep in the volcano...

Zhong Ming cuts to the second picture again.

This time, it is a ready-made Zodiac Guardian concept draft, which is the image of these bosses in the game.

Zhong Ming painted a Chinese dragon, which is completely different from the Western monster with wings and can spit out fire.

The appearance of this dragon has been processed by art. It is no longer the image of a dragon with pure body, but has become the form of a body + stone statue. Its whole body seems to be covered with stone armor. These stone parts are exquisitely combined with its body, giving people a sense of vicissitudes and a sense of time.

In other words, it gives people the feeling that it is not a divine beast or a living creature, but more like a creation of a certain god, like a guardian.

Then, Zhong Ming showed the cow and monkey. These three guardians were conceived last night. Other guardians of the zodiac are still unremarkable.
Chapter completed!