C13: Celebrate

A hot pot restaurant in the city of Vientiane.

I was eating hot pot with Ruan Ningxue and Yang Xin.

There was a big pot between us on the gas. Various things like

Beef, tripe, beef louver, beef rolls, BOK choy, watercress, snow pea leaves, Napa cabbage, Chinese spinach, gai lan, and green onions… shimmer in within the liquid soup. They mix well within. I couldn't help but drool at the sight.

If you eat hot pot, can you still call it hot pot without a cow, without the soup, without the heat, and without the pot? Just imagine!

But before I can describe it some more. The girl Xue bought has something to say.

"It's too strong~ the wave, my God, the game circle has exploded, and the domestic players are also giving rave reviews!" Yang Xin, who I had already known. She looked excited while reading the news on her phone.

"Sister Xin, don't call me a *** please, I'm not some ***, just call me by my name." I raised my hand to motion her to calm down while I focused on eating. It's been a long time since I had some hot pot.

It's such an exaggeration, but I'm very clear that the so-called sensation is more of an explosion in the circle of small-scale gentleman game developers. These kinds of sensations come fast and also die fast.

As for the entire gaming world?

At most, it has made some splashes in the independent game circle, and it is still the kind of splashes that don't have many ripples.

I have a very clear understanding of this.

"I don't think I should have said 40,000 sales in the first place." Ruan Ningxue who sat next to me said while looking at me with a smile on her face.

Hearing this, I put down the chopsticks in my hand and said to Ruan Ningxue with a smile, "There's no way, who asked you to decide this, Senior Sister. You are not going to go back on your word, right."

"Hey, I was thinking about inviting you, Chen Xu, to my company, but now it seems that I thought too much!" Yang Xin said a little depressed. (Xin does have good thought~)

"You are still thinking about my junior brother, the three of your games put together are worse than the single-week sales of Mirror!" Ruan Ningxue stabbed a knife in the back of her sister without any mercy. (indeed, only a woman can be more ruthless than a man with another woman, i thought)

"Although all three of my games failed, there is a reason for that. Well, I was only responsible for the structure of the text plot, and the rest of the game was done by other people, and the plot text was recognized by the players' feedback and within the game community. Yes, it wasn't my mistake!" Yang Xin expressed dissatisfaction while spitting out the reasons which seemed half reasonable, or maybe I was thinking too much.

"By the way, Chen Xu, can you help my staff with some issues? I want to see what is wrong with the three games developed by my company?" Yang Xin looked at me and requested.

"There is still a bloated system for positioning." I searched with my mobile phone, and just simply watched some videos on the Internet, and I already understood. (LOL)

"Huh...?" Yang Xin was a little confused by my words.

"Simply put, it's your game, Sister Xin. You want to add a little bit of everything to it, but Sister Xin, you are making a low-cost independent game, not a 3A-level game. Even if it is a 3A-level game, many system settings are basically used for enrichment, not as main dishes." I said to Yang Xin, pinpointing some of the faults.

Listening to my words, Yang Xin showed a sudden realization and enlightenment on the surface with a nod of her head; she understood a little but not completely.

However, although she was still a little confused, Yang Xin was too embarrassed to continue asking it at the dinner table, so she changed the subject.

"By the way, what are you going to do next, Chen Xu?"

"Next, I'm going to start a small game company myself." It's not a secret, I said with a smile.

"Start your own company?" Yang Xin was a little surprised.

"Well." I nodded; this was in the plan.

Yang Xin, who was sitting in the seat, thought for a while, then made a decision and said, "What do you think of me, Chen Xu? Can I go to your place to develop a game together?"

She still loves making games.

It's just that three consecutive failed projects made her a little discouraged emotionally and a little feeble financially.

But now she has figured it out.

Since She can't be a game designer herself, and She can't make a successful game. Is that a problem?

No, it's not!

It's just that She hasn't found a way to succeed. Finding a thigh to hold onto is also the secret sauce to a successful recipe!

The game "Magic Mirror," she had developed a deep understanding of it before she came. (Who knows?)

Then she came to the conclusion that the success of the game was definitely not a fluke. (Yes, many geniuses try to decode it that way)

After Xin just heard his comments on her three games, although she understood a little, she didn't fully understand it.

But she is sure of one thing: this brother who is developing games for the first time in the mouth of her best friend definitely has the potential to become a great developer!

Some game designers may have developed a high-quality game because of momentary inspiration and then disappeared.

But some game designers have a fairly clear understanding of the games they want to develop.

He is obviously such a person.

The failure of three consecutive games gave her a clear understanding of herself.

Listening to her words, Chen Xu, who was sitting across her, also fell into thought.

Chen Xu briefly glanced at the three games she mentioned. As she said, the plot was indeed the highlight.

Most of the bad reviews of the games came from the gameplay settings, while the good reviews focused on the storylines. And it wasn't just one game—it was the same for all three.

Clearly, this was due to the quality of the writing.

Going forward, if he wants to make games on his own, it's definitely impossible for him to handle everything alone. Some main plot lines of games have various intricate contexts, and he can be responsible for those. But what about the entire storyline?

Relying solely on himself, even with a system in place, just isn't realistic.

Take, for example, a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 from his previous life. The mainline text alone spanned over 2,000 pages. If you consider the entire game's text, the script, printed on A4 paper, would be as high as a wooden rank.

For smaller games like Magic Mirror, he can manage it all, but for larger and more context-heavy games in the future, it's just not feasible for him alone.

"Of course, there's no problem. If you're serious, Sister Xin, we can definitely discuss it more once I've got the company side sorted," Chen Xu said to her.

"No problem! I'll wait for your news, Chen Xu," she replied with a smile.

"Okay, okay, if you don't want to eat the pot, I'll eat up all of this," Ruan Ningxue joked.

"I've said it before, if Ningxue joins, we can definitely do something great with our combined strength!" she smiled, looking at Ruan Ningxue sitting next to me.

Ruan Ningxue took a sip of the Wa-Wa Milk on the table and glanced at her without saying a word.

"But I wonder how popular Magic Mirror will be. Could the monthly sales exceed half a million?" Xue speculated.

"It might go beyond it, but going higher than 2 million is almost impossible," Chen Xu said with a smile.

He seemed pretty sure about this. After all, it's an 18R game, and the restrictions are significant.

We all continued eating and drinking in the store. Around nine o'clock, Chen Xu sent Ruan Ningxue and me back to our respective communities, and then he took a taxi home.