The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 131: After ten years of drinking ice, it’s hard to cool the hot blood
In Xu Meng's impression, the Cologne International Games Fair has always been the label of this city.

But in fact, as the fourth largest city in Germany, there is still a lot worth mentioning about this city.

Before the International Game Show moved to the city, it was famous in Europe for its history, culture and heavy industry.

The symbol of this city is Cologne Cathedral.

It is regarded as the most perfect example of Gothic church architecture.

Compared with those two magnificent spires towering into the sky, the Cologne Games Show is just a young and emerging successor.

But Gamescom is moving too fast.

Riding on the momentum of the Internet, its influence is growing day by day.

Today, it is known as one of the world's three major game exhibitions along with the US Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and the Izumo Tokyo Game Show (TGS).

And it has already become the world's largest offline game exhibition.

——E3 is more professional, but because of its high price, it is mainly aimed at professionals.

The Cologne Game Show has 300,000 to 400,000 gamers attending, so its scale and momentum are incomparable.

If you are just a player, you may not feel it so deeply.

But for game producers, the Cologne Games Show is truly irreplaceable.

……

Half an hour later, the team arrived at the hotel.

Standing in the hotel lobby, Chen Junyi asked Xu Meng: "Do you want to meet up with the vanguard and check the layout of the booth?"

Hearing this, the excited employees around him quieted down and looked at Xu Meng.

Xu Meng immediately shook her head: "That's not necessary."

"There's still a day tomorrow, there's no need to rush."

"Everyone has been sitting on a plane for more than ten hours. It's already uncomfortable enough. Let's all go and have a rest."

After saying that, he pulled his suitcase and was about to leave.

But after taking two steps, he remembered something important and immediately turned around to remind them: "If someone is energetic and wants to go out for a walk after taking a shower, it's best for a few people to go together."

"And—don't go to the red-light district."

"There are also a lot of domestic gaming media gathering here at this time. If we get caught in the act, it will be a lot of trouble."

Ding Nian raised his right hand and asked in confusion: "Boss! Excuse me! Why are there reporters in the red light district?"

"Is it because there's news in the red light district?"

"What if? What if?" Xu Meng was a little speechless. "Why, you want to go to the red light district too?"

Ding Nian blinked: "I really want to go and see it."

"???" Xu Meng looked at Ding Nian with a strange look, "Are you... planning to come out?"

"?" Ding Nian was stunned for a moment, then looked at the surprised looks on the faces of his colleagues around him, and immediately retorted loudly, "Of course not!"

"I'm collecting materials!!"

"Painter! You need inspiration!"

"What kind of inspiration requires going to the red-light district to get it?" Xu Meng couldn't understand.

But he still understands the principle of not interfering in the affairs of artists.

"You can go if you want, but don't run around by yourself. Once you're done with the game show, I'll find some bodyguards to accompany you before you return home."

Ding Nian's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly.

It seemed that Xu Meng's reaction gave her confidence, or that the bodyguards Xu Meng mentioned gave her a sense of security, so she immediately added: "There are also nightclubs and strip clubs!"

"???"

Xu Meng was a little hesitant, "Are you sure you're really doing this to collect material, and not to hang out in a nightclub at public expense?"

"I swear!" Ding Nian raised three fingers and swore solemnly.

"Okay, is there anything else? Say it all at once." Xu Meng has always been tolerant towards his own people.

Ding Nian really has——

"Next month! Monihei! Erotic Expo!"

Wow, Xu Meng looked Ding Nian up and down carefully and felt like he was getting to know her all over again.

Ding Nian felt a little guilty when he looked at her, "Well...it's not that I have to go..."

"No, go!" Xu Meng waved his hand, "Just go! The company will reimburse you!"

As soon as this was said, many people nearby raised their hands and shouted: "Boss, we want to go too! We need inspiration too!"

"You guys don't need shit!" Xu Meng said bluntly, "You guys are not painters, what inspiration are you looking for?"

Of course it is impossible for Xu Meng to bring a group of artists to Cologne to participate in the exhibition.

Only "Frost and Snow Project" is special. Character design is one of the core elements of the game, so Ding Nian was brought in.

Xu Fang, who had been transferred to the team leader of the "Lord of War" project team, did not come along this time.

The exhibition team is mainly composed of marketing, publicity and a small amount of programming.

These people did not give up, so they said: "We can protect Director Ding!"

"Go and have some rest!" Xu Meng waved his hand and pulled his suitcase upstairs to rest.

He was worried that if he continued to discuss this topic, it would eventually turn into outrageous news like "Dream Building Game employees collectively went to the red-light district to collect materials."

The young assistant Chen Mengling hurriedly followed, dragging her suitcase. Their rooms were on the same floor.

After washing up and having a midnight snack, Xu Meng sat in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, admiring the brightly lit night view of Cologne outside the window, and couldn't help but be a little absent-minded.

Attend Gamescom.

Now it seems to be a natural thing and there is no difficulty at all.

Even without the invitation and help from Sofort Game Box, Dream Building is fully qualified and capable of participating in the exhibition.

But in his previous life, he was an independent game producer.

It is his dream to bring his own games to the exhibition.

But he never realized this dream until his sudden death. In the old world, the games he made relied on "riding on popularity" and "creating memes" to successfully recover the production costs and earn money to develop the next game.

In this world, colleagues, the media, and even his own employees all think that Xu Meng's actions are out of line and his thinking is weird, and it is difficult to follow his thinking.

But for Xu Meng, this is already a blessing in disguise.

Back home, he did far more outrageous things to promote games.

When promoting his debut film It Takes Three, he shamelessly used the following slogan:

[Recommended for couples and besties, or couples and their mistresses to play together, the fun will be doubled!]
He was criticized quite badly, but he also attracted a lot of attention.

What he didn’t expect was that there were actually incredible players who played like this!
——Of course, most of the time one of the parties is unaware.

As a result, a problem occurred while playing:

Get anxious and angry when encountering difficult levels;
Who should be taken care of first where tacit cooperation is needed;
After successfully completing a difficult problem, should you celebrate with excitement by hugging or kissing?

And so on details, clues can be easily discovered.

So the mistress tore up the wife, the boyfriend kissed the wrong person, the male bestie got angry, and the husband/wife came out on the spot...

A large number of big news that shocked the netizens came one after another, making the popularity of the game continue to soar, and finally it even crushed the assassin-themed canned games released by overseas veteran manufacturers that month!
When the second game "Baokemon" was released, Xu Meng once again used his amazing brain circuit to give players a little "Guangdong-style" shock:
In this game, you can not only capture magical animals, but also make soup out of those that you can’t capture!

After eating it, not only can the probability of catching the same kind of magical beast next time be increased, but also the trainer's various attributes can be improved.

That way, when the pet loses a battle, the trainer can pick up the weapon and join the fight!

The players were shocked.

While transforming into the God of Food and eating to his heart's content, he was also guessing when he would receive the lawyer's letter from Ren Hell.

However, he did not receive the lawyer's letter, but he still kept the traffic.

……

His marketing strategy has always been unconventional, and it is a method that can only be used in the Internet age.

This is not because he has a bias against traditional marketing methods.

But as an independent game producer, he cannot afford the high cost of traditional marketing methods.

The living environment for independent game producers is so difficult.

Many people have had to give up their gaming dreams because they couldn’t get enough exposure or their games failed as soon as they were released.

But Xu Meng didn't.

He tried every possible way to make games, but he never thought of giving up.

However, having my own booth at the Cologne International Games Show and introducing my own games to players all over the world has become an unspeakable dream.

He always thought that he could only realize this dream after he turned 40, became a truly famous producer, and founded his own studio.

But he didn't expect that this dream would come true in such a magical way.

This made him feel somewhat unreal.

Among the temporary exhibition group, many employees did not feel tired at all even though they had been on the plane for more than ten hours.

Still excitedly chatting about various things——

The novelty of going abroad for the first time, complaining about German food, meeting a group of international students in the hotel’s small bar, and running into a famous game producer while having dinner.

Some people went out in groups to enjoy the night view of Cologne.

Some people are talking a lot about the next few days of the exhibition, looking forward to the performance of their own games, and also looking forward to the emergence of other high-quality games...

This group of people seemed to have endless energy, and they were still chatting until Xu Meng fell asleep.

The next day, Xu Meng woke up and immediately led his team to meet up with the vanguard, check the layout of the booth, and arrange work schedules for the employees.

The booth that Zhumeng obtained was not very big.

After all, when they decided to participate in the exhibition, it was already a little late and the good locations had already been booked by big companies.

He had so many things to put in that it looked a bit cramped no matter how he looked at it.

But Xu Meng has a good attitude.

Although Zhumeng has made a name for itself in Xiaguo's second-tier travel circle, the company's cash flow is also very impressive.

But on a global scale, it is only just beginning to emerge.

This year's Cologne International Games Fair has more than 60 companies from over 1000 countries participating, bringing together large and small game production, toy and animation, digital equipment, as well as various software, hardware and emerging technology companies from around the world.

Every exhibition hall and every booth is precious.

So the stage was simply cancelled, no performances were scheduled, and almost all the space was used to place equipment.

The tank simulator, which takes up the most space, has not been put out for the time being. Only 20 universal treadmills and supporting equipment, as well as five fully enclosed compartments for changing clothes have been put out.

The remaining billboards, posters, and displays were placed in the outer circle.

Demo, visitor accounts, queuing software, emergency measures, game introduction, peer and media connection...

Xu Meng checked every detail to make sure everything was foolproof.

In this process, [attending the Cologne Gamescom] finally felt real.

After everything was ready, Xu Meng announced the disbandment and allowed everyone to act freely.

As he sat in the Dream Building booth, he watched his colleagues from all over the world busying themselves outside, and a special emotion kept rising up in his mind -

The world's top gaming exhibition.

The total exhibition area is 23 square meters. There are more than 60 exhibitors from more than 1000 countries, nearly 110 players from 40 countries, game makers from all over the world, and game media of all sizes... gathered here for the grand event.

In the next five days, this will be a holy land for global gamers, the absolute center of the storm!

In my two lifetimes combined, this is my 10th year of making games.

He finally got here.

Into this storm.

And he's not just here to make a cameo appearance.

He came here to announce his arrival to the world, to make this a starting point for building his dreams and step onto a broader world stage!
Let’s start from this small booth!
　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)