Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 84
“Abstract? I think it looks fine.”
Putting down the profit-sharing agreement, Gu Sheng followed Little Nezha’s gaze to the logo on the meeting 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 gameplay innovation was essential.
So naturally, a battle royale game was the go-to choice!
The first titles that came to Gu Sheng’s mind were APEX and COD: Warzone!
Unfortunately, both of these games 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 game.
As for Warzone, there was no need to explain—it's just a mode tacked onto the main game, 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 game, he’d have to pay double the emotional points to unlock it.
That meant, games 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 game itself.
Gu Sheng scratched his head.
But then again, maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing.
Those two games 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 game-changer.
So in the end, Gu Sheng decided to go with the original classic—PUBG!
He believed the shockwaves this game 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 game?”
Shen Miaomiao held her notebook, making a stir-frying gesture:
“A Cooking King Championship, right? Top chefs from across Asia join the game 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 immediately think of cooking!
She was no exception!
A motion-sensing eSports game with a 50 million investment…
You’re telling me 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 games—especially with Golden Wind’s MFGA shaking up the domestic 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 moment, Gu Sheng thought of so many iconic moments that he couldn’t help but chuckle, nodding:
“Yeah, kinda.”
“Whaaa—!!!”
Hearing that, Shen Miaomiao’s eyes lit up!
What a hilariously dumb game!
She had also looked up past winners of the annual conference, and apart from the first year, the games in the past four editions were all dominated by shooters, racers, and sports games.
But Gu Sheng wanted to make a cooking game—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 codename: 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 warmed up—was about to fly out the door.
But!
Shen Miaomiao wasn’t fazed at all!
A 50 million investment 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 supplement wasn’t enough, the remaining funds could be deducted from her reserved profit share!
This time!
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 investment into a 10 million rebate!
Now with the PUBG project in hand, a 50 million investment 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 game proposal and deposit the full development funds into the committee’s account.
So, over the next month, Gu Sheng needed to start drafting the game 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 games in its portfolio now, and his emotional points income was getting more stable.
Plus, Golden Wind was now a VIP backdoor candidate personally recommended by the vice-chair of Huayu Entertainment. (That sounds a bit off…)
So he wasn’t worried about any policy issues affecting the previous games 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 games.
Massive maps, complex terrain, dynamic situations, supporting 100 players on the same server… the workload was enormous.
Programming architecture, graphics systems, gameplay 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 investment had cleaned out Golden Wind’s pockets—
Even Shen Miaomiao’s personal savings and profit shares were emptied.
Flat-out broke. Not a dime 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 game 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 game forever, offering constant support.
So!
After careful consideration and unanimous agreement among the management team—
Golden Wind decided to expand its staff!
However!
When it came to how they should expand, Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao had a bit of a disagreement.
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 games, plus his own fame 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 recruitment 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 Game Developer Conference they were preparing for—Golden Wind’s biggest project to date!
And they had been handpicked by the vice-chair of Huayu Entertainment!
If something 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 recruitment—
Targeting students who were as green and naive as they were back in the day, with that same innocent and clueless look in their eyes!
Plus, there was another advantage—
If these rookies could be properly trained, they’d become 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 become 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 mess with Huayu Entertainment at a time like this.”
Gu Sheng frowned and shook his head, not agreeing with Shen Miaomiao’s campus recruitment 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 development 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 me 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 meeting room door was knocked.
“Come 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 immediately sank.
Of course! This could only mean one thing—campus recruitment!
Graduation season was approaching, and with it, the annual campus recruitment activities.
Binjiang University, being a top-tier university, always had plenty of companies participating in their campus recruitment 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.
Meanwhile, 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 meeting for today? Let’s go, Senior Gu! Let’s see what kind of good news your alma mater is bringing us!”