My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 153 The Key of Talent
Zhou Kuang was delighted to see that he was back at the preview meeting of "The Elder Scrolls 5"!
It was just as I thought. Although I didn't know the reason yet, the system had actually expressed its will through Todd's mouth.

Zhou Kuang can only leave here if he acquires the ability to lead a large team to produce an open world game.

Although Zhou Kuang's initial results were indeed ugly, and completely ruined the "The Elder Scrolls" IP and the reputation of Bethesda, Zhou Kuang did not gain nothing. At least he had fully understood this project and this company.

Now facing his colleagues, Zhou Kuang tried to put himself in Todd's position and began to lead the meeting.

This time, he will calm down and work seriously as a producer to complete this work.

……

……

……

Zhou Kuang touched his nose and looked at the evaluation given by the system in front of him.

[Overall game rating: 54 points]

Game Review: A deeply disappointing sequel, its gameplay innovation even falls short of The Elder Scrolls IV. Despite being based on a legendary IP, it's a half-baked fast-food game stacked with mediocre elements. Its bland content doesn't even qualify it as a qualified fast-moving consumer product.

[Producer Rating: D-]

Producer's Comment: You've tried many improvements in this project, but all have yielded only half the results. It's truly frustrating that you've been unable to fully utilize such excellent resources. You've focused too much on maintaining stability, forgetting that the true essence of a game lies in its playability. A game that's simply not fun will never win the hearts of players.

Zhou Kuang was a little disappointed. He had been calm and focused throughout the whole process, and as the producer of the game, he had been controlling the entire game development process, but the final product was still disappointing.

In order to avoid the first time when the atmosphere of the entire team completely exploded and they had to rush the game into production with bugs everywhere, Zhou Kuang paid close attention to the quality of the game this time.

It may be that Zhou Kuang's mentality led to him going too far in the end.

He reflected on what he had done wrong.
This time he controlled the team atmosphere very well, and the employees maintained a stable mentality throughout the process.

Zhou Kuang neither chose to put extreme pressure on his employees like Ken did, nor did he indulge his employees too much.

Instead, we need to find the most appropriate point in the process of continuous pressure and contraction, so that employees will not have overly negative emotions and the progress of the project will not be slowed down.

This is the most cost-effective solution, but the "degree" is difficult to distinguish.

Zhou Kuang believes that his ability to manage a team is not inferior to anyone else, but when it comes to content creation, it is hard to say.

But no matter what, Zhou Kuang has nothing else to do now. If it doesn't work once, then do it a hundred times.

……

……

……

once.

once.

Again.

No matter how many times Zhou Kuang tried, he still couldn't reach the standard he wanted to achieve.

The best score he received during this period was only 78 points, and the system gave him a B score.

It sounds good, but Zhou Kuang himself knows that it is not the case.

Because the seemingly decent score of 78 points that time was actually achieved by relying on Ken's "extreme pressure" method.

He pushed his employees to their limits, and almost everyone was exhausted before they made a game that was evaluated by the system as "a poor imitation".

However, this so-called success was a coincidence under extreme conditions.

It just happened that the employees were able to endure it, so they were able to persevere until the game was launched and released.

After that time, Zhou Kuang tried this method countless times, but every time the Bethesda team failed to explode.

There are so many variables in the game development process that lasts for several years, and any small change may have little impact on the game itself.

But if the game producer chooses this extreme production method and lets the employees bear all the pressure, then any small change in the entire development process may lead to the worst result.

That's the butterfly effect.

It can be said that with this kind of development method, either the boss is a bad person or you can only rely on luck.

Therefore, Zhou Kuang believes that this development method is even more impossible to achieve in reality.

After all, there is no system in reality that can help him trace the progress. Once the team explodes, it is really exploded. The best outcome is that the entire project is in turmoil for a period of time.

And once the gaming industry knows that this company unscrupulously exploits the potential of its employees, the company's reputation will be ruined.

Truly capable people will never come to you.

Zhou Kuang was a little annoyed and a little discouraged at the same time.

Is there no other way?
Zhou Kuang thought.

However, after thinking for a long time, he really couldn't think of any good solution.

Even though he kept trying, Zhou Kuang felt that his growth was very limited.

As a producer, his talent is indeed not as good as Feng Qi's, and his skills are more in management.

If he could handle both game development and company management, wouldn't he be invincible?

It would be great if the system was still there, at least I could enter the mall to see if there was any way to break the deadlock.

Zhou Kuang thought so and subconsciously tried to open the system.

It turned out that although he still couldn't open the system, he could see his backpack.

Ok?
A glimmer of hope arose in Zhou Kuang's heart, and he looked at the items one by one.

If he remembered it correctly, "Jinhui Huazhanglu" seemed to be able to enhance his understanding of Chinese culture, right?

For the project of "The Elder Scrolls 5", it will definitely be useless unless he changes the entire game into a Chinese style game and rewrites all the plot settings.

Putting aside whether the players will be angry, it is impossible for the Bethesda employees to make a Chinese-style game.

The result will be a hodgepodge.

Like Ghost of Tsushima, this is because the employees have a high degree of recognition of the cultural content they produced and have conducted in-depth learning.

There are very few such cases.

This thing won’t work.

What about the negative emotional resonance zone?

This thing allows him to strengthen the player's resonance with negative emotions in an area of ​​the game.

But for a game, this thing is more of a icing on the cake, rather than a timely help, and it cannot turn the tide.

A game that lacks gameplay will not be very good even if it has the bonus of this thing.

Expansive surprise gift box...

Ok?
Zhou Kuang carefully looked at the introduction of this thing.

【Expandable Surprise Gift Box】

[Introduction: This surprise gift box contains a random surprise item. The longer the holder holds the gift box, the more valuable the item will be, until the holder chooses to use it and opens the box to obtain the item.]

Holding period: 573 days

This thing...

Will it work?

Zhou Kuang was a little hesitant.

He had this item for a long time and never used it. On the one hand, he couldn't find a suitable opportunity to use it, and on the other hand, he also hoped to open it when its value was the highest.

But today it seems that there is no better way to break the deadlock than this prop.

It would be best if the item he drew was useful to him, but if it wasn't, he would have to go back and try playing "The Elder Scrolls 5" dozens of times more.

It sounds easy, but Zhou Kuang's mental state can no longer bear it.

If the last thing he drew was a game plan, he would be in tears.

It's a good thing, but it came at the wrong time.

It’s better to keep it.

After thinking it through, Zhou Kuang gritted his teeth.

use!
After use, a golden light flashed, and the expanding surprise gift box disappeared, replaced by another item in the backpack.

【Key of Talent (Selected Version)】

[Introduction: Among all the talents of top gamers, choose one and use it for yourself.]

The moment Zhou Kuang saw it, the corners of his mouth began to curl up.

It’s stable! It’s all stable!

This might be the prop with the shortest description he has ever seen, but Zhou Kuang's favorite is this one!
Simple and unpretentious, a heavy sword without an edge.

It is simply the best possibility, the only one left.

He didn't hesitate and chose to use it directly.

Soon, a selection interface appeared in front of him, with the names of many familiar gamers and their talent keys marked on it.

[Sid Meier's Gifted Key: Turn-Based Strategy System Design]

Hironobu Sakaguchi's Key to Talent: Grand Narrative Architecture Design

Eric Baroni's Key to Talent: Healing Farming Game Design

Shinji Mikami's Key to Survival Horror Game Rhythm Control

Todd Howard's Key to Talent: Immersive Open World Building

[Kamiya Hideki's Key to Talent: Ultra-Deep Action System Design]

……

Zhou Kuangren was stunned, and his mouth was always open.

What are these?
The game developers in front of him were all top game producers that he once looked up to!

And the keys of their talents are all the real things they use to make a living!
Damn, the system really didn't lie to me! They say I'm a top gamer, so I'm really awesome!
So awesome!
Zhou Kuang looked at these names and talents, his eyes turned red and he almost had a nosebleed.

Any of the talent keys in front of him, after taking it, can instantly make him the top game producer in the industry!

That feeling is so great!
In his previous life, he couldn't even dream of this kind of dream.

Can't even think about it.

There is simply no one left!
While Zhou Kuang was grinning from ear to ear, he was also caught in a happy dilemma.

If the system gave him a talent key, he really wouldn't have any worries.

But now he has the key to the talent of all game developers in front of him, and he is not just an ordinary game producer, but a top-level one.

Zhou Kuang wanted every talent these people possessed after seeing it.

I want this, and I want that.

Unfortunately, in the end, you can only choose one.

The safest solution now, of course, is to take away Todd's talent key directly.

After all, his goal is to complete "The Elder Scrolls 5" and meet the system requirements.

Although he didn't know what the system's requirements were, if Todd himself couldn't meet the other party's standards, then Zhou Kuang really had no choice.

However, Zhou Kuang looked at the things in front of him and still wanted to pick some.

A talent key like Eric Baroni's was the first type that Zhou Kuang excluded.

Eric Baroni is the author of "Stardew Valley". Zhou Kuang was a little surprised to see him being ranked among the top game developers.

After all, "Stardew Valley" is an independent game, and the only producer is Eric Baroni himself.

Moreover, this game is a 2D pixel-style farming game, which does not quite match the impression of a top-level game.

But Zhou Kuang quickly figured it out, there was nothing wrong with the system being arranged this way.

Because the description of this item says it is the talent key for top gamers, not the talent key for top game producers.

Moreover, "Stardew Valley" has achieved the ultimate in its own category. We should never think that the game is not top-notch just because it is not a 3A game.

So, Eric Baroni is indeed a top gamer.

But his talent can only be used on small teams.

As the boss of a commercial company, Zhou Kuang wants to lead a larger team to produce 3A games in the future, so such skills are too useless for him.

The second type is the talent key with a smaller scope of application.

For example, Hideki Kamiya's Talent Key has a very wide range of applications because almost most games have a combat system.

Todd's Talent Key has a smaller scope of application, but it is still quite versatile. After all, developing the world is also one of the very popular elements of 3A games nowadays.

However, Zhou Kuang believes that games with clear game types, such as Sid Meier's The Gifted, should not be chosen.

Unless Kuangshi Games changes to specialize in strategy games in the future.

That would be such a waste.

Zhou Kuang thought so.

After thinking it over again and again, Zhou Kuang finally made a decision.

That’s it.

[Eiji Aonuma's Key to Talent: Inspiring Open World Exploration Design]

Eiji Aonuma, producer of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

He himself was deeply involved in the development and production of the entire Legend of Zelda series.

The key to his talent is also easy to understand, which is to use visual elements and other in-game designs to inspire and trigger players' purest desire for exploration.

Whether it is the placement and design of treasure chests, buildings or terrain, all efforts are made in this.

It allows players to be driven by their curiosity the moment they step into the open world, and actively explore every corner.

Such driving force and design capabilities are absolutely subversive.

As a gamer, Zhou Kuang certainly knows the value of such talent.

The most important thing is that "The Elder Scrolls 5" is also an open world game.

Faced with his current difficulties, if he does not use Todd's Talent Key, then Aonuma Eiji's Talent Key is the best choice.

And compared to Todd's talent, the incentive-based open world exploration design is the easiest way to completely change the quality of the game.

Zhou Kuang even believes that compared to simple game design, this is more like an analysis of human nature and an insight into the human instinct level.

It's it!
(End of this chapter)