Chapter 640 - None of He An’s Four Theories were Correct (1/2)
He An, who spent more than five hours clearing ‘Struggle’ in one sitting, fell into confusion.
Was something… wrong with this game? That was just too gloomy and sad, right?
Or was my luck that bad for me to obtain the trashiest ending after choosing every option seriously?
He An reflected on himself subconsciously.
Yes, it could be something I did wrongly.
Interactive movie games like this had many side options after all. Struggle was the same.
He An looked at the plot lines in the game. It was as dense as a big net with many branches. Generally speaking, every version should have at least three to four endings to be worthy of the size of this game.
Moreover, there should be hidden endings and Easter eggs if he bought the poor and rich versions together.
Therefore, He An decided to play all the routes after his meal. He should be able to obtain a good ending then.
Such a feeling was like a table of dishes that had both delicious and disgusting tastes. If someone ate something disgusting, they would take a bite of something delicious to press it down. Otherwise, the disgusting taste would linger.
“I cannot say that Boss Pei’s skills are quite deep. No matter whether the direction was right or not, the foundation is still there.
“I originally thought that the realism theme would be boring to play, but it did not feel that way. Even though they were both bad ends, but the content was still rather moving.
“I will be able to analyze the personal opinions that Boss Pei had in this game after I finish all the endings.”
He An found a rare excitement and anticipation that he usually did not experience with domestically-produced standalone games. He could not wait to finish his food and continue to play the other endings of the game after the meal.
…
…
September 4th, Sunday, noon…
He An sat in front of his computer, lit up a smoke, and thought about life silently. He had been trying all sorts of routes tirelessly from last night.
He gave the protagonist of the rich version different hobbies when he was young, chose different girls to marry when he was an adult, and chose different careers when he grew up.
He gave the protagonist different courses when he was young and tried to plan carefully, save money, and find better jobs when he grew up…
Yet, no matter how hard he worked, how many routes and sub-routes he cleared; the two endings did not change one bit!
No matter what the rich man did, he would be killed at the signing ceremony.
No matter what the poor man did, he would always enter into the vicious cycle of poverty.
Of course, there were still some subtle differences between the two versions.
The progress of the game would not be affected, regardless of whether the rich man made the right choice or not. That was because funds would be replenished quickly every time he failed; choosing a different profession was just a change from one kind of success to another.
As for the poor man, choosing the right choice had its influence. If he kept choosing the wrong choice, then the ending would come in an hour. If he chose the right choices, then he could persist for up to three hours… after he tasted the sweetness of middle-class life.
As for the so-called hidden ending? It was nowhere in sight!
That was fine. What was more, there was absolutely no connection between the rich and the poor versions.
He An originally thought that the one who killed the rich protagonist was probably the poor protagonist whose dreams had shattered or perhaps even his son. However, he tried for a long time without being able to find any connection between the two.
There was absolutely no connection between the rich protagonist, the poor protagonist, and his son.
That meant that it made no difference to the rich version whether you bought the poor version or not.
That was very ridiculous!
That seemed to be screaming ‘You best not buy both; if you really want to buy it, then buy the rich version.’
It was not very reasonable!
He could not help but apply his theory for game design to this game. He spoke about four main points to Boss Ma:
Choose marketing methods according to the game content…
Choose a game type with a high market share…
Have your personal opinion in the game…
Analyze and fulfill the market demand…
This game, Struggle, really did not fulfill a single one of them! Every one of them was wrong!
He An felt that this game would not be perfect if there was one condition missing; if two were missing, then the sales would be worrying. Three would mean absolute violent death.
However, a game with all four conditions not met? Unheard of!
He should choose the game type and appropriate marketing methods right at the very least? They were the easiest of all. Wasn’t it a bit too ridiculous for them to be all wrong?
As for the last two points, the methods of Struggle seemed to be rather problematic as well.
He An mentioned before that a game with personal opinions had to take into account the affordability of the audience and their acceptance.
What was the personal opinion that Struggle had then?
Stirring hatred? Or that it was useless to struggle?
Indeed, this game was realistic enough for a realism theme, including the details of the lives of the poor and rich which were basically consistent with some data in the United States.