Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 84: You Talk About the City Gate, I Talk About the H

“Abstract? I think it looks fine.”

Putting down the profit-sharing agreent, Gu Sheng followed Little Nezha’s gaze to the logo on the eting notes.

A round frying pan, tilted to the side, and on the bottom of the pan, four letters were engraved—

PUBG.

Nice!

Gu Sheng had indeed put a lot of thought into the topic for this developer conference.

In his mind, if they wanted their entry to break even and aim for the championship, a second-generation FPS combined with gaplay innovation was essential.

So naturally, a battle royale ga was the go-to choice!

The first titles that ca to Gu Sheng’s mind were APEX and COD: Warzone!

Both gas were masterpieces that embodied the evolution of battle royale after years of developnt, whether it was in terms of pacing or player experience.

Unfortunately, both of these gas were spin-offs based on existing main titles.

APEX was derived from Titanfall—things like gun data, skill abilities, item effects, all were pulled from the base ga.

As for Warzone, there was no need to explain—it's just a mode tacked onto the main ga, with all its data also originating from the core title.

According to the system’s rules, if Gu Sheng wanted to flip the script and release a spin-off before the main ga, he’d have to pay double the emotional points to unlock it.

That ant, gas that would normally cost 300-400K emotional points to unlock would turn into unattainable luxury items, with emotional point demands skyrocketing close to the level of the main ga itself.

Gu Sheng scratched his head.

But then again, maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing.

Those two gas had already evolved beyond traditional battle royale.

APEX’s various hero abilities and Warzone’s killstreak rewards were more like upgrades built on top of the battle royale foundation.

For this world, just having a second-generation FPS plus battle royale should already be a ga-changer.

So in the end, Gu Sheng decided to go with the original classic—PUBG!

He believed the shockwaves this ga would send through the local gaming industry would far surpass the impact PUBG had back in his previous life.

Of course, that was just Gu Sheng’s foresight as a transmigrator.

For Shen Miaomiao…

“So… we’re making a cooking ga?”

Shen Miaomiao held her notebook, making a stir-frying gesture:

“A Cooking King Championship, right? Top chefs from across Asia join the ga and compete in cooking?”

She had absolutely no idea about Gu Sheng’s new project design!

And honestly, when you see a frying pan at first glance, 99% of people would imdiately think of cooking!

She was no exception!

A motion-sensing eSports ga with a 50 million investnt…

You’re telling people are going to compete by cooking?!

Shen Miaomiao was shocked.

But even more shocked was Gu Sheng.

Do I really look that dumb to you?!

In a market dominated by shooters, racers, and sports gas—especially with Golden Wind’s MFGA shaking up the dostic gaming scene—why the h*ck would I ditch shooters to make a cooking competition simulator?

Even if I was crazy enough to try, wouldn’t Jiang Yingcai absolutely blow a gasket?!

But then again…

Calling PUBG a cooking competition wasn’t entirely off the mark.

What’s that saying again?

This isn’t just a simple soup—many chefs are cooking up a storm!

“In a way…”

At that mont, Gu Sheng thought of so many iconic monts that he couldn’t help but chuckle, nodding:

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Whaaa—!!!”

Hearing that, Shen Miaomiao’s eyes lit up!

What a hilariously dumb ga!

She had also looked up past winners of the annual conference, and apart from the first year, the gas in the past four editions were all dominated by shooters, racers, and sports gas.

But Gu Sheng wanted to make a cooking ga—a Cooking Master Simulator?!

How could I not profit from this?!

“What a… brilliant and creative idea!”

Shen Miaomiao raised both thumbs at Gu Sheng.

And so!

The project for this conference was tentatively decided in the fun, chaotic atmosphere of “you say city gate, I say hip bone.”

Project codena: PUBG.

The logo? That silly-looking frying pan.

Project Director: Gu Sheng.

Deputy Directors: Lu Bian and Xu Dajiang.

In the following month, Golden Wind had three major tasks to complete:

First, Fundraising

With Golden Wind’s current revenue, it was impossible to scrape together 50 million by the end of the month.

Shen Capital had already made it clear they wouldn’t provide a single cent.

So Shen Miaomiao’s personal piggy bank had to be tapped.

The 10 million she had just received—barely ward up—was about to fly out the door.

But!

Shen Miaomiao wasn’t fazed at all!

A 50 million investnt into a goofy stir-fry simulator? She was ready to lose everything with her eyes closed!

In fact, she even sent a special request to the finance lady—

If, by the end of the month, the 10 million supplent wasn’t enough, the remaining funds could be deducted from her reserved profit share!

This ti!

Shen Miaomiao was determined to milk the system for all it was worth—this was going to be a massive win!

As she always said:

Back in the day, Left 4 Dead was a massive hit—she turned a 10 million investnt into a 10 million rebate!

Now with the PUBG project in hand, a 50 million investnt turning into 100 million in rebates? No problem!

First issue? Not a problem at all!

Second, The Proposal

PUBG was only in the early planning stage.

The official start date would be when the developer conference kicked off at the end of the month, when the whole team traveled to Dongjin to submit the complete ga proposal and deposit the full developnt funds into the committee’s account.

So, over the next month, Gu Sheng needed to start drafting the ga proposal.

Once the emotional points reached 350,000 by the end of the month, he’d redeem the complete PUBG data from the system and flesh out the drafted proposal.

For Gu Sheng, this was a piece of cake.

Golden Wind had five gas in its portfolio now, and his emotional points inco was getting more stable.

Plus, Golden Wind was now a VIP backdoor candidate personally recomnded by the vice-chair of Huayu Entertainnt. (That sounds a bit off…)

So he wasn’t worried about any policy issues affecting the previous gas and disrupting emotional point earnings.

Emotional points were guaranteed!

Third, The Team

Yes, PUBG was a massive project.

Too big for just outsourcing.

From scale alone, it was far beyond any of Golden Wind’s previous gas.

Massive maps, complex terrain, dynamic situations, supporting 100 players on the sa server… the workload was enormous.

Programming architecture, graphics systems, gaplay design, scene design, character design, lighting, UI, VFX, animation, character rigging…

With so many tasks, if they outsourced everything, the three of them would be dead tired just managing the communication alone.

And in terms of costs, outsourcing was always more expensive than having in-house staff.

Outsourced teams didn’t get company benefits, bonuses, or profit shares, so they naturally charged higher rates.

Previously, Shen Miaomiao could insist on outsourcing because Golden Wind had enough cash to cover it.

But now!

The 50 million investnt had cleaned out Golden Wind’s pockets—

Even Shen Miaomiao’s personal savings and profit shares were emptied.

Flat-out broke. Not a di left. Shen Miaomiao couldn’t even scrounge up a penny if she wanted to.

And PUBG’s unique nature—it wasn’t just a single-player or co-op ga anymore. It was a full-fledged multiplayer online tactical shooter.

Ongoing operations and maintenance would be essential.

You couldn’t outsource that kind of thing.

And Golden Wind couldn’t expect Gu Sheng and the others to babysit this ga forever, offering constant support.

So!

After careful consideration and unanimous agreent among the managent team—

Golden Wind decided to expand its staff!

However!

When it ca to how they should expand, Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao had a bit of a disagreent.

Gu Sheng, with his extensive industry experience, believed that while Golden Wind wasn’t a big studio yet, its reputation in the field was solid.

As pioneers of psychological horror and second-generation FPS gas, plus his own fa as a Supernova Designer, as long as they put out a hiring notice, experienced professionals would flock to join them.

These were seasoned experts who could hit the ground running.

So he firmly believed in hiring from the industry—an open recruitnt drive was the way to go.

But!

Shen Miaomiao disagreed.

In her view, Golden Wind was a young company, just one year old, with a shaky foundation and no way to properly vet applicants.

If they were just here for a paycheck, fine.

But what if they were spies sent by competitors?

This was the Asian Electronic Sports Ga Developer Conference they were preparing for—Golden Wind’s biggest project to date!

And they had been handpicked by the vice-chair of Huayu Entertainnt!

If sothing went wrong, it wouldn’t just tarnish Golden Wind’s reputation—it could tank the company’s future!

So!

To avoid that risk, Shen Miaomiao insisted on campus recruitnt—

Targeting students who were as green and naive as they were back in the day, with that sa innocent and clueless look in their eyes!

Plus, there was another advantage—

If these rookies could be properly trained, they’d beco the backbone of Golden Wind in the future—trusted lieutenants, loyal generals.

Everything she said made perfect sense—so noble, so selfless.

But in reality, only she knew—what loyal generals, what spies.

She just wanted to hire more clueless newbies to drag down the company’s progress.

Because if they brought in a bunch of skilled, experienced pros like Gu Sheng suggested, Gu Sheng would beco even more unstoppable!

“I’m confident I can handle those old pros. And with Jiang Yingcai backing us, no other company would be dumb enough to try sabotaging us right now—no one wants to ss with Huayu Entertainnt at a ti like this.”

Gu Sheng frowned and shook his head, not agreeing with Shen Miaomiao’s campus recruitnt idea.

“But what if, just what if, even one bad apple sneaks in? That could be catastrophic for us. And wouldn’t it be better for the company’s long-term developnt to start nurturing our core talent now?”

Shen Miaomiao wasn’t backing down either.

The two sides faced off, neither willing to budge.

Lu Bian and Da Jiang, sitting on the sidelines, felt like they were on pins and needles.

The tension was so high, they were furiously texting under the table!

Da Jiang: Should we back Sheng-ge? If he says it’s fine, it’s probably fine.

Lu Bian: Screw you, don’t drag down with you. If Old Gu dares to argue with Little Nezha, I’m definitely not stepping in.

Da Jiang: But we can’t just let them argue like this forever, can we? They’re about to throw down!

Lu Bian: Let ’em. My money’s on Little Nezha.

Da Jiang: Because she’s the CEO?

Lu Bian: Because of love.

Da Jiang: …??

Lu Bian: shiba-inu mischievous grin.

Da Jiang: How do you know?!

Lu Bian: I’ve dated 23 girlfriends…

Just as Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao were at a stalemate and the others were quietly watching the drama unfold…

Knock knock knock—

Suddenly!

The eting room door was knocked.

“Co in!”

With Shen Miaomiao’s answer, everyone turned to the door.

Chu Qingzhou walked in.

“Ms. Shen, sorry to interrupt—there are guests asking to see you and Director Gu.”

“Us?”

Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao exchanged puzzled glances.

“Who is it?”

Chu Qingzhou smiled and replied:

“It’s Professor Lin, the Associate Dean of the School of Electronic Engineering at Binjiang University.”

Uh-oh!

Gu Sheng’s heart imdiately sank.

Of course! This could only an one thing—campus recruitnt!

Graduation season was approaching, and with it, the annual campus recruitnt activities.

Binjiang University, being a top-tier university, always had plenty of companies participating in their campus recruitnt events.

These events mainly targeted graduates, though they also recruited juniors for internships.

And Golden Wind, as the fastest-growing tech company in Binjiang—and with Gu Sheng being an alumnus—it naturally caught the university’s attention.

Gu Sheng clicked his tongue.

D**n, things just went sideways.

anwhile, Shen Miaomiao’s eyes lit up!

Oh ho! Just what she was hoping for!

She even cast a smug look at Gu Sheng, raising an eyebrow:

“So, shall we wrap up the eting for today? Let’s go, Senior Gu! Let’s see what kind of good news your alma mater is bringing us!”