My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 152 Blue Bay
In this way, Zhou Kuang took over Todd's position in a daze and began to lead the entire project as the producer and director of "The Elder Scrolls 5".

Although he said some nonsense at the project vision meeting, Todd's long-term resume made the employees still convinced that he was the right person and leader to continue to lead the entire team forward.

This gave Zhou Kuang more confidence. As the person in charge of the project, what he was most worried about was that his subordinates did not trust him and questioned him.

With the current level of trust, it can be said that the project is already halfway to success.

Although he is definitely not as reliable as Todd as a producer, he at least has the production experience brought by "The Netherworld" and the ability to judge people.

As long as he follows his usual style, uses the right people, and gives his subordinates a certain amount of trust, he will surely make "The Elder Scrolls 5" successful as it has been in history.

Zhou Kuang originally thought so, until some "small changes" happened in the middle.

The Elder Scrolls 5 project had just begun, and Zhou Kuang spent some time getting to know the team members.

Each person's abilities, strengths, interpersonal relationships with others, etc.

Soon, he locked on a candidate.

"Ken, you lead the team."

Hearing Zhou Kuang say this, Ken, a senior game designer, or senior game planner in the context of the American game industry, was stunned.

Zhou Kuang had certainly chosen this candidate after careful consideration.

First of all, the role positioning of the leadership employees he most hopes to find is still positions such as planners and designers.

After all, these two are the builders of the game framework and have the deepest understanding of the game.

It is like an architect who watches the workers build a high-rise building brick by brick and has the best understanding of the building's structure.

No matter how gorgeous the exterior is, the final interior structure still depends on their opinions.

For a project like "Netherworld Mountains and Seas", resources are actually very inclined towards art, and many gameplay contents will be compromised for the consideration of the art team.

Although this is only due to the gameplay of "Youming Shanhai", they cannot reach the top level for the time being, but in terms of art, they can rely on their unconventional stylization to polish it to the top level.

This is of course a compromise solution after comprehensive consideration, and it is definitely not a common thing in the gaming industry.

Even so, the weight of Feng Qi and Yang Ji in the project is still a perfect 50-50.

If we consider that Feng Qi is the producer and chief planner, while Yang Ji is only the chief artist, then there is no doubt that Feng Qi has more say.

Ken, whom Zhou Kuang values, is actually very similar to Feng Qi. They both come from online game projects and have outstanding game design skills. In addition, Ken has worked at Bethesda for a long time, so no one will question his qualifications.

After considering all aspects, Zhou Kuang really couldn't think of anyone more suitable than Ken to be Feng Qi's "stand-in".

The company has decided, Ken, you will be the "Feng Qi" of "The Elder Scrolls 5"!
However, this was just the beginning of the nightmare.

Ken is indeed very capable and has made great progress in advancing the project. Zhou Kuang was shocked by the high quality and speed of polishing many contents.

Unfortunately, the project had only been underway for a year and a half when the office collapsed.

Although Ken is very capable and has outstanding management skills, he is too strict in project management. The employees are under high pressure for a long time and complain about Ken privately.

In the original timeline, Ken would not have such great power, and therefore would not be able to implement such a high-pressure policy.

However, because Zhou Kuang gave him enough trust, his power increased dramatically, which eventually led to such disastrous consequences.

A year after the development of The Elder Scrolls V began, employees' output began to decline, and the quality did not improve, but instead continued to decline.

Ken was furious about this matter and asked the leaders of each department to go back and find a way to bring at least one of the two, speed or quality, back to the original level.

Logically speaking, Ken had already compromised. He had more or less realized his problem and didn't demand a complete return to the original state.

But even so, employees have long since had enough.

We don't buy it!
This is not a job for humans!
They gradually began to miss the time when "Todd" was in charge personally. At that time, Todd would directly participate in the detailed design of the project and maintain frequent communication with the entire team.

Unlike Ken, he attaches great importance to team spirit and always tries to create a positive office atmosphere.

Todd's favorite way to encourage employees is through praise and his personal sense of humor.

Although not everyone buys into his approach, at least overall, his leadership style makes the team feel very reassured.

Once employees settle down and work hard on games, they can produce higher quality content.

When the employees thought about the treatment they received when working under Todd in the past, and then thought about how they not only had to work overtime every day but were also under pressure from their superiors to meet deadlines, they were completely upset.

After about a year and a half, this time bomb finally exploded.

Dozens of senior employees joined forces to find Zhou Kuang and said that there was only one solution now.

"Todd" quickly came back to take charge of the matter himself and let Ken do what he needed to do.

Either Ken gets out, or they get out quickly.

They would rather not suffer this!

How can we complete a project if we work with such a jerk?
Ken is like a negative example, using a game development concept that is completely opposite to Todd's, and the end result is a complete defeat.

Zhou Kuang was helpless. In ancient times, for a camp explosion of this level, the only way to resolve the conflict was to take the commander's head, and even then the chances were slim.

Zhou Kuang could only execute Ma Su with tears in his eyes and let Ken immediately retreat to the second line and do whatever he could.

Anyway, even if the other party returns to his previous position, he will still be hated by everyone.

He originally wanted to find someone to replace Ma Su, oh no, Ken.

However, the trust crisis left by the other party was too serious, and no one could suppress it except "Todd" himself.

So, in the end, Zhou Kuang had no choice but to bite the bullet and get on with it.

As a result, even with Todd's reputation, it took him several months to rebuild the atmosphere within the team.

At this time, two full years had already passed since the development began!
Bethesda's funding is definitely not abundant, and they are under tremendous pressure for a large-scale project like "The Elder Scrolls 5".

The parent company ZeniMax gave some money, but it was definitely not abundant.

There was still some money earned from "The Elder Scrolls 4", which was basically all used to develop the game. Most of it was used, and the rest was just some miscellaneous money.

They also borrowed a lot of money from banks, but they had to pay interest on these loans. From the perspective of company development and profitability, borrowing more money made no sense.

Therefore, the development schedule of "The Elder Scrolls 5" is very tight.

All the progress that was advanced due to the high-pressure management was lost during the "change of leadership" in the past few months, resulting in the current project progress being far behind the expected schedule.

Therefore, Zhou Kuang could only try to balance the team atmosphere while pushing them to catch up on the progress.

As for the result of his efforts...

It can't be said to be a complete success, but it can at least be said to be a complete failure. The employees discovered that it wasn't just Ken who had the problem; even Todd had changed his personality.

In the final analysis, you still want us to continue to suffer and work hard for you.

Good man, it turns out that the mastermind behind this is you!
The employees were instantly furious.

Kaka! How could you betray us!

How can we play the game well with such insects?

Three and a half years passed in this chaotic situation.

2011年11月11日，《上古卷轴5：天际》准时上线pc、ps3和xbox360平台。

Players who are looking forward to the latest game in Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series have sat in front of their game consoles or computers early on, and are delighted to be able to play the long-awaited game.

Although many media outlets disclosed that this latest masterpiece of Bethesda may have major problems before the game was released.

But the players didn't believe it at all.

What? Bethesda did that?

Or the latest installment in the Elder Scrolls series?
shut up and take my money!

Shut up and take my money!
The media is talking nonsense! I just want to play!

When they entered the game, the players were stunned.

Problems such as flash crashes, save and load errors, object clipping, characters stuck in terrain, water rendering errors, etc. are endless!
The enemy's AI logic is too simple, and fighting with the enemy is like watching a replay, which makes people lose interest at all.

The numerical design completely failed, and the strength of some skills and equipment was out of control.

The difficulty design is also based on the same principle. Sometimes the difficulty is too easy and makes people drowsy, and sometimes extremely strong enemies suddenly appear, making it impossible for players to even play the main storyline smoothly.

The most terrifying thing is that the task chain is often broken, and it is impossible to continue halfway.

At this time, the player can only load the file and start over, but as mentioned before, saving and loading the file also has problems. For some players, after failing to load the file once, the entire archive file even disappears!

The plot is the only part of the game that is still above par.

But that's about it.

The quality of the game makes players wonder, am I dreaming?

Is this Bethesda? Is this their latest Elder Scrolls game?

I must have downloaded a pirated game!
When they exited, they discovered that this was actually the latest Elder Scrolls game, and they were extremely furious.

Purely disappointed in someone!

I like your game so much, and you just serve me such a huge one?
In a short period of time, countless fans turned against them and people turned against them.

Bethesda's entire reputation plummeted, and game sales plummeted. Even relying on the reputation of the previous Elder Scrolls series, it still couldn't save this game.

[Overall game rating: 28 points]

Game Review: This isn't exactly a bug-filled game. Rather than a sequel to Bethesda's epic IP, it's more like Bethesda's last-ditch effort. In a true open-world game, even bugs are flying around freely. Bethesda employees who worked on this project should find a factory job right away.

[Producer Rating: F]

Producer's comment: You played a mere existence role in this project. Unfortunately, even your presence has caused the project to irretrievably veer off the fast track toward a dead end, resulting in a tragic car crash and fatalities. Next time, try resigning voluntarily; that might be more respectable and better for your boss's heart.

The nostalgic filter in Zhou Kuang's eyes suddenly disappeared, as if he could see things with his own eyes all of a sudden.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Is the system appearing before my eyes?
Unexpected, but reasonable.

Zhou Kuang was not too surprised and read it carefully.

However, after finishing reading, Zhou Kuang's face turned red and black at the same time, and his face almost became a color palette.

Indeed, under Zhou Kuang's command, the entire "The Elder Scrolls 5" went towards a completely opposite ending.

Zhou Kuang could think of many excuses, but in the end, none of them could be said out loud.

Although I was very unhappy, I couldn't find any reason to refute it.

He made all the decisions alone, no one influenced him and no one forced him.

Zhou Kuang felt a little ashamed when he thought that he had the ability to judge people.

This may be true in Megagames, but on the Bethesda side, "Todd" is neither the boss nor does he have trustworthy right-hand men like Feng Qi and Yang Ji, so he has to use a different set of logic to do things.

Zhou Kuang reflected on it and suddenly seemed to understand a little.

The real Todd once said that he would only leave here when he learned how to lead a large team and create an open-world role-playing game.

The key lies in the word "lead".

Zhou Kuang always thought that this was no different from his usual role in Kuangshi Games. After all, he was also leading the "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" project in Kuangshi Games.

Although Feng Qi was the one who did the specific work, who can deny that he did not lead this project?

Without his leadership, can the development team work peacefully for two years?
The various supports from Antarctic Interactive Entertainment did not fall from the sky, but were discussed by Zhou Kuang with colleagues at dinner parties.

However, he now understood that what the system called leadership and what he thought was leadership were not the same thing.

Instead, he must personally participate in the project, understand all the details of the project, communicate with all team members, stabilize everyone's emotions, and sort out the development context.

In other words, what the system wants him to do is to play the role of Feng Qi in "The Netherworld Mountains and Seas"!

Do you have power?

Yes, and it’s very big!

But does he have as much power as Zhou Kuang?

That is impossible.

And when you are in such a position, you can't avoid things.

The consequences of avoiding trouble were clearly laid out before him.

"Look, do I still have a chance?"

After Zhou Kuang thought about the cause and effect clearly, an idea came to his mind.

The next second, he was back at the preview meeting for "The Elder Scrolls 5"!
(End of this chapter)