Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 211: This Escape Is Not That Escape

"Let players rot in jail?"

"This..."

"..."

Ti was tight and the mission urgent!

After confirming the ga project, Gu Sheng imdiately began arranging matters related to attending GDC.

First, he instructed Secretary Chu to draft a formal reply letter to the GDC organizers, expressing Golden Wind’s honor to accept the invitation and stating they would contact the organizers later to understand the specific participation details.

Then, with a decisive gesture, he summoned all the project departnt executives for a pre-approval discussion eting.

It’s better to work smart than just hard!

Now, the Whistleblower DLC for Escape was basically complete, with only so finishing touches and minor bug fixes remaining.

Everyone felt empty, confused without a next goal!

Good news arrived—

A direct invitation from GDC, they were heading to a bigger stage!

Everyone in the project departnt knew exactly how important GDC was.

For industry insiders, GDC was even more prestigious than the four major global ga expos!

Because it was the world’s only platform where top professionals gathered and exchanged ideas!

To exaggerate a bit,

Shining at one of the four major expos only proved your ga’s production skills were recognized by players and the market.

But winning applause at GDC? That’s when you’re truly impressive!

There’s truth to this saying.

Competitors are often enemies,

But when even your rivals cheer for you, it ans you really have skills that command respect.

So!

Upon hearing this news,

The entire project departnt was electrified, rushing to the eting room with urgency, all eager to "can’t wait, I want to show off at GDC in front of peers" vibes!

However!

The next mont,

When Director Gu revealed the project concept for the conference, all the excitent froze on everyone’s faces.

Rot in jail???

This idea caused the entire office to fall silent!

Everyone exchanged glances, faces full of doubt and suspicion!

Moreover!

The director said players wouldn’t just rot in jail, but had to find ways and opportunities to attempt prison breaks!

This ga... is way too harsh, right?

Seeing everyone stumble over words, unsure what to say, Gu Sheng chuckled and waved his hand:

"No worries, feel free to share any thoughts."

Everyone looked at each other, and finally Lu Bian spoke first:

"Here’s the thing, Old Gu,"

"While cri-thed gas aren’t rare, gas where you commit such serious cris like ours... are pretty uncommon, right?"

Lu Bian had watched plenty of prison break-thed movies and shows.

But making such a concept into a ga? He had never heard of that and worried about market acceptance.

Before Gu Sheng could reply, Jiang Yun chid in:

"There was a ga like this about seven or eight years ago on PC,"

"Called Escape, adapted from the Arican TV series of the sa na, developed by Chicago Studio under Midwestern Cloud Gas,"

"When it was released, it had so popularity, but quickly declined due to diocre gaplay design and bugs."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow.

He had originally thought such a ga concept never appeared in this world.

Unexpectedly, soone had beaten him to it seven or eight years ago.

But thinking about it, with The Shawshank Redemption and Prison Break shows influencing this world, it wasn’t surprising such a genre had appeared.

"What exactly was diocre about the gaplay?"

Gu Sheng wanted to understand why this officially licensed ga had flopped so badly, nearly disappearing from the ga community, only rembered faintly by experienced veterans like Jiang Yun.

"Infinite tasks, main and side quests overlapping,"

Jiang Yun explained:

"Suppose I want to prepare a prison riot, I’d need a sharpened toothbrush, which I have to trade with a guard, the guard wants cigarettes as bribes, cigarettes need to be traded with the gang leader, the leader wants to join his gang, joining requires pleasing his underlings, and pleasing them needs soap..."

"Plus, during these tasks, you’d encounter all kinds of side quests,"

"The end result is, the deeper you go in the ga, your map is just full of quest question marks,"

"Add to that terrible optimization and occasional ga-breaking bugs,"

"Players end up synchronizing with the protagonist’s prison experience,"

"This is why this ga... Director Gu, are you okay?"

Jiang Yun didn’t finish his sentence!

Gu Sheng suddenly clutched his chest, looking unwell.

"I... I’m fine..."

He waved his hand, signaling no big deal.

He just felt it was painfully relatable!

Although Jiang Yun’s critique was about the world’s Escape ga, as soone who had worked under Ayu in his past life, Gu Sheng felt every word was mocking him.

Countless question marks, endless side quests, bizarre and even ga-breaking bugs...

Luckily, the old Escape was a single-player ga. If it had been online with potato servers, Ubisoft’s whole suite would be complete.

"That situation shouldn’t happen in our ga,"

Taking a deep breath, Gu Sheng said:

"Because this ti, our ga will focus on the story,"

"And besides that, there will be an unprecedented innovation."

At this,

Everyone in the eting leaned forward, eyes full of anticipation.

Gu Sheng’s creativity was well-known.

His wild ideas always shook the ga circle.

And this ti, at GDC, Golden Wind would attend an international ga exchange event for the first ti.

What surprise did Gu Sheng have prepared?

"Two-player cooperation, and the entire ga process must be completed by two people working together."

Hiss—!!!

At these words, the entire eting room gasped!

The whole ga process "must" be completed cooperatively by two players!

That ant no AI in this online ga!

This hardware requirent was insanely high! Forcing players to have a friend!

"The reason for this restriction is because this ga will use a dual-linear storyline,"

"Two players, two perspectives, two storylines connected in one story,"

Gu Sheng explained:

"Sotis, both players will be in the sa scene, sotis in completely different scenes,"

"The two complent each other, neither can be missing,"

"Even at the sa ti, different choices made by the two players will directly affect the story direction and plot developnt,"

He clapped his hands:

"Friends, this is no longer a simple online adventure ga, this is a true two-player cooperative ga,"

"A two-male-lead movie we are filming."

Wow—!!!

After Gu Sheng spoke, the eting room erupted!

A truly ‘cooperative ga’!

It wasn’t like Left 4 Dead, where four team mbers fight zombies, and the final goal is only the safe house.

Nor was it like Overcooked, where friends cooperate in cooking, and the final goal is just tily dishes.

This ga’s core had long surpassed simple ‘action help’.

No longer just ‘helping teammates up’ or ‘passing dishes’.

It was a story-driven deep binding of two players in the ga, indispensable to each other!

This was true ‘cooperation’, converging on the sa goal!

"Of course, since there’s never been a ga like this on the market,"

Gu Sheng said:

"Making this ga is quite challenging for us,"

"By this weekend, I will finish the project proposal and distribute it,"

"Then, at the official approval eting, we’ll discuss the ga presentation in detail."

eting adjourned!

Everyone happily stood up, eager and ready to prepare for the new project!

"Oh, right!"

Just as they were leaving, Lu Bian suddenly rembered sothing and stopped, looking at Gu Sheng:

"We’ve been talking so long, but haven’t decided the new project’s na yet, right?"

‘Oh yeah...’

‘We’ve been so focused on the concept...’

‘So what’s the new project’s na?’

‘Has the director decided yet...?’

‘Director, tell us!’

Gu Sheng replied: "Escape."

Huh???

Everyone was stunned!

Wait a minute? Did we all lose our mory or did Director Gu?

Escape? Didn’t we just release Escape less than a week ago?

Could it be a sequel?

The two-player, two-perspective Escape with Miles and Waylon Park?

But the director usually showed little interest in sequels!

Seeing everyone’s suspicious looks, Gu Sheng laughed:

"This Escape is not that Escape,"

"Escape from Hell,"

"Abbreviated—Escape."

...

With the new project ready for approval,

Golden Wind’s already high morale soared even higher, everyone eager and ready to start the new project.

Gu Sheng extracted Escape from the system and began rewriting and redesigning it to fit the motion-sensing pod format.

This was no easy task.

Especially the mid-to-late ga’s ten-minute-long chase scene, worthy of legend.

On PC, since the ga used third-person perspective, cara work was relatively easier.

But in the motion-sensing pod, achieving smooth CG-to-first-person seamless long shot was extrely difficult.

Gu Sheng knew this transformation would be tough.

But he decisively chose to make it a motion-sensing pod ga.

Because for him as a ti traveler, Escape was just an appetizer.

The true ‘trophy maker’ would be his next two-player cooperative ga.

To fit the current market mainstream and enhance imrsion and novelty, that work must be a motion-sensing pod ga.

So!

Better to do thorough preparation early and use Escape as a sample!

Of course!

Hardworking Gu Sheng also enjoyed his deserved king-level treatnt!

Little Nezha was practical and reliable; she handled all the housework for the week.

Besides that, she served tea, poured water, cut fruit, all perfectly in place.

Later, Gu Sheng got a little scared, worried Little Nezha might poison his tea or spray poison on his fruit.

He only felt at ease after being scolded by Little Nezha with hands on hips.

She declared, "Now I feel a lot better."

Ti flew by!

Friday ca!

Tap tap tap—tap tap—

Leo carried his wife and child, gradually fading into the distance. The light blue sedan finally disappeared on the open highway... (Ending 2: Complete)

As the keyboard tapping stopped,

The last storyboard script was finished.

The project proposal, over a hundred pages long, was finally completed.

"Phew—"

Gu Sheng grabbed an apple nearby, stuffed it in his mouth, and stretched:

"Finally done."

Before he finished speaking,

Click.

The study door opened, and Little Nezha poked her head in: "Done?"

Gu Sheng shivered.

He hadn’t shouted, his volu was normal.

So how did Little Nezha, playing alone in the living room, hear him?

"You were... standing at the door all along?"

Gu Sheng looked puzzled.

"I..."

Shen Miaomiao scratched her head; she had actually been eavesdropping at the door for ten minutes:

"Just happened to pass by, that’s all."

"That’s quite a coincidence,"

Gu Sheng smiled, not exposing her, stood up and stretched his limbs, glancing at the ti:

"Yo, it’s almost eight? Is the Whistleblower DLC about to launch?"

"Right! So I specially ca to remind you, happy ti has arrived!"

Shen Miaomiao waved two bags of chips in her hand.

"You’re such a dark person,"

Gu Sheng laughed helplessly:

"Watching others freak out over snacks, you really treat strears as your happiness source?"

"Oh, that’s exactly their purpose for streaming!"

Shen Miaomiao tossed a bag of chips to Gu Sheng and pushed him towards the living room:

"Co on, co on, relax a bit and check our first-week sales."

Silent dagger reveal!!!

Indeed!

Actually, Shen Miaomiao cared less about watching strears play the Escape DLC!

Her main concern was the fresh first-week sales of Escape!

One point three billion!!!

Today!!!

Of course!

That 1.3 billion was only an estimate; actual sales would differ sowhat.

But even if so, the difference wouldn’t be huge!

After all, she couldn’t resist secretly checking Escape’s sales yesterday—

1.03 million copies sold worldwide!

Over a million copies in six days!

No doubt, that was a terrifying number for a horror ga.

But regarding Shen Miaomiao’s worry about breaking even, it was nothing to fret over!

One million copies, total revenue 18 million dollars! After a 25% average cut, profit was 13.5 million dollars!

Still far from the 18.15 million dollars cost!

Moreover!

With current sales montum, Escape couldn’t suddenly explode overnight to recoup losses!

Unless the system cheats!

So!

Plopping down on the sofa, Shen Miaomiao sat cross-legged, opened an ice-cold cola, and took a big gulp!

Tonight!

She’d enjoy the loss!!!

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