My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 151 Literature
Where the hell did this come from? Is this still China?

Zhou Kuang was stunned by the scene in front of him.

Although he had never heard of Rockville, the name Maryland seemed to sound familiar.
He remembered a mobile game he had played when he was in school, called KanColle.

In the game, there seems to be a character named Maryland, which is an American battleship.

According to the American habit of naming battleships at that time, battleships were usually named after states, so Maryland should be a state of the United States.

Zhou Kuang made this judgment.

So, Rockville is a place in Maryland, United States?
Zhou Kuang still couldn't believe his eyes, blinking and staring at the environment outside the door.

In the office, where everything seems normal, many white employees are quietly carrying out their daily work.

However, when such a normal picture is paired with Zhou Kuang’s bedroom door, it inexplicably gives people a feeling of magical realism.

He even had an illusion that the door in front of him was not the door of his bedroom, but a portal that could take him to any place.

After all, the environment inside the door is completely different from that outside.

"Let's go."

Todd said this and walked out first without looking back.

"Wait……"

Before Zhou Kuang could react, he had just raised his hand when the other party had already walked through the bedroom door and stood on the floor of the office.

People in the office also looked up and noticed Todd.

Zhou Kuang was still a little hesitant. After all, everything in front of him was too weird, and the system kept being offline without any explanation, which forced him to be cautious.

However, no matter how cautious we are, the current situation will not change if we continue like this.

Zhou Kuang gritted his teeth and walked over.

There is no feeling.

Zhou Kuang originally thought that there would be some strange feeling, but in fact it was no different from walking through an ordinary door.

"Hey, Todd!"

A young man passing by waved at Todd, and Todd waved back with a smile.

"Hey, Josh! How are you?"

"Not bad, how about you?"

"I guess it's ok, this is my friend, Zhou."

Zhou Kuang was at a loss when he heard Todd mention him.

"Chou, welcome to Bethesda. If you need anything, just let me know."

"Thank you."

Looking at the foreigner in front of him who was completely indistinguishable from the people in real life and spoke fluent Chinese, Zhou Kuang was at a loss.

Are these phantoms created by the system, or real people?

If it was an illusion, then at least until now, Zhou Kuang had not sensed any flaws.

If it were a real person...

impossible!
Zhou Kuang shook his head and dismissed the idea from his mind.

In reality, how could there be so many foreigners who speak Chinese more authentically than ourselves?

Not to mention Todd Howard, who is also one of them.

"Josh, I need to take Zhou for a spin."

"OK, I'll go to work first."

The other party smiled brightly and left.

After Todd waited for him to leave, he turned to Zhou Kuang and asked.

"Well, Josh is a great guy, right?"

Todd showed a hint of pride on his face.

"Yes." Zhou Kuang answered somewhat dryly, "What does he do?"

"He's the programmer we recently hired."

Zhou Kuang was a little surprised to hear this answer.

Before, he saw Josh calling Todd "Todd" directly and thought that the two of them were very familiar with each other.

Or at least management.

It turned out that he was just an ordinary employee.

Todd seemed to see what Zhou Kuang was thinking and explained with a smile.

"That's the work atmosphere at Bethesda. It's quite casual."

"A name is just a nickname. Some people like to call me Boss, and some people like to call me Todd. I have no problem with either."

"Names are ultimately just for the convenience of communication."

Hearing what Todd said, Zhou Kuang agreed very much.

I also want to create such an atmosphere of communication at Kuangshi Games. It seems too strange and rigid for employees to call me boss, so those who are familiar with him are used to calling him Brother Kuang.

But now it seems that it is still not as casual as Bethesda, where a new employee can call Todd by his name.

Todd pointed around.

"Look, we all come from different places, and we joined Bethesda for a common goal. Everyone is more focused on: how to come up with good ideas and make great games."

Zhou Kuang took a look and found that Bethesda’s employee group was indeed quite diverse.

Although most of them are white, there are also many Asians, blacks and Hispanics.

"So...why is Bethesda's office right outside my bedroom door?"

Zhou Kuang couldn't help but asked the question that concerned him most.

"I don't know either..." Todd showed an innocent expression, as if he had nothing to do with this matter.

“It just works.”

Zhou Kuang stared into the other person's eyes for more than ten seconds before he was helplessly convinced that Todd really didn't seem to know.

"So you don't know how I should leave?"

"Oh, I know that!"

Todd raised his index finger and replied.

"So how do we leave?" Zhou Kuang asked anxiously.

He thought Todd definitely didn't know the answer to this question, but he actually said he knew?
"Well, once you learn how to lead a large team and make an open-world RPG, you can get out of here."

Hearing what the other party said, Zhou Kuang was stunned for a moment.

Leading? Large groups? Open world? Role-playing?

and many more!

Open world?
Zhou Kuang suddenly felt that he had heard this term several times. Was this a coincidence?

Zhou Kuang looked up at Todd, but seemed to feel the corner of his mouth slightly raised, but it disappeared immediately.

He had no choice but to continue thinking.

Bethesda is extremely good at making open world games. Since the first game in the Elder Scrolls series, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, every game they have made has been an open world game.

Then the "conditions for leaving" mentioned by Todd are definitely not a coincidence!

There must be some connection between Bethesda and the condition of open world games!

Zhou Kuang was now certain that he was not dreaming nor was he hallucinating.

Although the system has not responded, Zhou Kuang is sure that this must be caused by the system.

And all of this stems from the fact that "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" has achieved its sales target of five million copies, which allowed Zhou Kuang to complete the last system task.

Then, as long as I do what Todd said and fulfill this condition, the current situation will definitely change.

Zhou Kuang thought so.

Thinking of this, Zhou Kuang began to ask about the specific details of this condition.

"How many people are considered a large team?" "How do I define whether I have learned something?"

"What is an open world role-playing game?"

"What do you mean I can leave here?"

Zhou Kuang actually knew the answers to some of the questions here, but he still asked them.

Of course, he was not asking questions knowing the answer, but rather wanted to understand everything in more detail.

After all, everything Zhou Kuang is facing now is too weird, so he has to be careful.

Todd began to answer without hesitation, as if he had already thought of the answers.

"Large teams, strictly speaking, refer to development teams with between 200 and 2,000 people."

“An open world role-playing game is a role-playing game with high freedom, non-linearity, and seamless large maps.”

"As for you leaving here, naturally you should go back to where you came from."

"As for how to define whether you've learned it..." Todd snapped his fingers, "You can start now."

What to start with?
Before Zhou Kuang could react, everything in front of him suddenly went dark.

When he could see clearly again, he saw an office in front of him.

He could tell at a glance that this was still the same Bethesda office he had been in before.

But the surrounding layout is somewhat different, and the buildings look noticeably more dilapidated.

This is not the biggest change. The biggest change is that everything in Zhou Kuang’s eyes now looks particularly yellow!

Don't get the wrong idea, it's not that kind of yellow.

But it's the yellow tint of the filter in retro movies.

In other words, it seemed as if Zhou Kuang was watching a retro movie all the time, except that a filter was added to the real scene.

This made him very uncomfortable.

"Hey, Todd!"

Suddenly, someone patted his shoulder.

Zhou Kuang turned around and found a strange face.

A white man with short blond hair, a receding hairline, and stubble on his chin.

But soon, a name appeared in his mind.

Emil Pagliarulo, Creative Director of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

"What are you doing here? We have a meeting."

"what?"

Zhou Kuang was stunned.

"Todd, are you listening to me? Hey! Are you still awake?" The other party looked helpless and waved in front of him.

Todd? Are you calling me?

Zhou Kuang looked bewildered.

who I am? where am I? What should I do?
"Ah huh."

In short, agree to it first.

Zhou Kuang followed behind Emile, who kept complaining about his unhealthy condition and told him to cheer up for the meeting later.

When he arrived at the conference room, Zhou Kuang finally understood.

Am I Todd now?
He was still confused when he was hit by another fact.

"We're here today to discuss what's next for Bethesda."

"That is, the fifth work of the Elder Scrolls."

Wait, wait!
Zhou Kuang finally realized, the fifth part of The Elder Scrolls? Isn't that Skyrim?
I actually came to the time when "The Elder Scrolls 5" had not yet started development and became Todd himself?
Zhou Kuang suddenly understood how the other party was going to define whether he had learned it or not.

What better way for him to learn how to lead a team through an open-world role-playing game than to do it himself?

"Todd, today is your home court, you go ahead and speak." Emil passed the message to Zhou Kuang.

"Uh……"

Zhou Kuang was stunned. Although he understood what the goal was, he didn't know what to do?

Not to mention that when he is in the company, he always leaves everything to Feng Qi and does not manage the team himself at all.

Even if he really managed it himself, he didn't know Bethesda's early views on "The Elder Scrolls 5"!
Zhou Kuang stood up, walked to the front with a blank mind, swallowed, and then began to deliver his speech.

"Well, it's still early, don't worry."

"Is there anyone who hasn't come yet? Is there anyone who hasn't come yet?"

"Raise your hands if you haven't come yet."

The employees below looked at each other, and only Emil raised his hand weakly.

"Okay, Emile didn't come!" Zhou Kuang said.

"No! I'm here!" Emil said hurriedly, then lowered his hand again. "I just wanted to say that those who didn't come can't raise their hands."

"Ahem." Zhou Kuang cleared his throat. "Okay, since you're all here, I'll say a few words first."

"Today, I will only tell you one thing."

"Of course, I will explain this matter in two parts."

"This question is quite crucial. You can take notes first."

Seeing Zhou Kuang so serious, the people below also took out paper and pen to prepare to take notes.

Zhou Kuang continued, "We are currently facing a critical issue, and it is extremely critical."

"How critical is it?"

"First, let's define what the key issue is."

"I have also thought about this issue carefully day and night."

"I believe that if we grasp the key to the problem, we have also grasped the key to the issue."

"That way we can address this critical issue."

“The second part, naturally, is to come up with the necessary solutions.”

"So, how can we provide the necessary solutions?"

"Then we must grasp this problem. As long as we grasp the problem, then there will naturally be no problem."

After Zhou Kuang finished speaking, the whole audience fell silent.

Emil, who was holding a pen, loosened his grip and the pen fell onto the table with a crisp sound.

Zhou Kuang felt a little embarrassed when he saw that no one responded.

"Hey! Mark, you should speak first." Zhou Kuang looked at a man with black hair and brown eyes standing beside him.

Mark Lamia, Project Management Manager at Bethesda.

Mark nodded and stood up.

"What we are about to do is the fifth generation of The Elder Scrolls, which is Bethesda's most important project at the moment..."

Zhou Kuang breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Mark explain and analyze the entire project fluently.

He suddenly became Todd himself and was forced to attend a meeting about "The Elder Scrolls 5". He really didn't know what to say.

He wanted to do the work that Todd was responsible for, but he didn't understand the project or even the company, so there was nothing he could do.

Even if I want to replace Todd, I should at least give him some time to adapt, right?

In this way, Zhou Kuang fooled his way through the meeting.

Even without Todd's leadership, they still managed to complete the earliest planning meeting for The Elder Scrolls 5 well, relying only on the initiative of other employees.

The next step is to complete all the preliminary design work and technical verification.

And this was just the beginning of Zhou Kuang’s headache.

(End of this chapter)