Text/Liang Lotte

In the face of the reduction of projects and even departments, what choice will you make: whether to transfer internally and continue to stay in the company; Or take the money and walk away and look for new development opportunities?

The village chief, the producer of Endless Starfire, clearly falls into the latter category.

At this year's WePlay Game Show, Grape Jun came to the booth of "Endless Starfire" and tried out the current demo of the game.

As an action game that combines side-scrolling and meat pigeon elements, in this game, players will control the character to attack, move and dodge, match different main and secondary weapons, choose the appropriate construction genre, and accumulate strength through levels such as monster room, challenge room and reward room to deal with the boss's furious and varied attacks.

In terms of overall experience, if you want to take the meat pigeon games on the market as a reference, "Endless Starfire" is somewhat similar to "Hades", both emphasize smooth action experience and precise dodge timing.

But at the same time, there are still a lot of building elements in Endless Starfire, such as character stats, attack methods, and skill effects, which add a deeper level of strategic gameplay to the game.

In between the trials, Grape Jun also had a brief exchange with the village chief. Different from the common planning configuration of college students or newcomers in general independent game teams, the village chief is not only from a large factory, has more than ten years of game development experience, but also led the development of "Metal Showdown" in NExT Studio, and successfully obtained an overseas agent advance payment of 3 million US dollars (about 21.89 million yuan) from Youzu.

Since leaving Tencent last year, the village chief has assembled a team of six people to devote himself to the development of Endless Starfire. In the past two years of development, the team members have not only not earned income, but have invested nearly 1 million yuan in the game.

At present, the game is still undergoing content filling and optimization iterations, and is expected to be released next year.

The village chief's B station account

Why did you choose to make an indie game from a big factory? Why did the team choose the meat pigeon track for their first game? Has his mindset changed compared to when he first left?

In order to answer these questions, I visited the development team of Endless Starfire, the Freedom Salted Fish Studio, some time ago, and had a conversation with the village chief.

01

Wild Road

I'm curious why I named the studio "Comfortable Salted Fish".

The village chief explained that he wanted the team to remain at ease, as the studio's name suggests. What they are looking for is to make some money while doing what they love. He believes that as long as the work itself is fun, it is enough, and the rest of the things take their own way, and there is no need to get too tangled.

However, unlike his current salted fish and Buddhist attitude, the original intention of the village chief who chose to step into the game industry more than ten years ago was precisely because he heard that this industry is easy to make money.

At that time, domestic stand-alone machines had already turned from prosperity to decline, and the boom of mobile games had not yet arrived, and online games represented by "World of Warcraft" and "Journey" were the mainstream of the industry.

Journey

In the village chief's own words, his way of entering the industry can be regarded as a "wild road".

The story begins with him dropping out of high school. At that time, the village chief stumbled upon an advertisement in the newspaper: Recruiting game developers, which intrigued him, who was full of yearning for the game industry.

As a result, the village chief inquired and found out that the recruitment was indeed a problem, but that it was not game developers who were recruiting, but trainees who participated in game development training. Although it was a little different from his original expectations, in order to step into the game industry and make money, the village chief decided to sign up for the training course. There, he received less than half a year of training in game animation production.

Image source network

Perhaps in order to allow the trainees to get on the job quickly, or perhaps because they felt that the free labor was not in vain, the school set up an outsourcing company to provide one-stop services from training to employment. Although he didn't make any money, the village chief said that he did accumulate a lot of experience during that time.

After the training, the village chief joined a small company to do animation outsourcing. After that, he jumped to the giant, worked for two years, and then stayed in the West Hills for another five years. During this period, he participated in projects such as "Sword Network 3" and "Sword World" mobile games. Around 2017, he finally joined Tencent.

The mobile game "Free Fantasy" is one of the projects that the village chief has participated in at Tencent

In the process, he developed both mobile games and MMOs, but the village chief gradually realized that animation alone was no longer enough for his professional pursuits.

On the one hand, in game development, animation has certain limitations, and it is ultimately for the overall service of the game; On the other hand, he felt a little uncomfortable in the industry environment at that time, and although he had been working for eight or nine years, he often had to follow the planning and command of those new graduates.

Therefore, since the Nishiyamaju period, the village chief has used his spare time to study game engines in his spare time. At that time, when the Unity engine was just starting to gain popularity, he found tutorials to teach himself.

During this time, he learned how to control the character's movements, attacks, and how to interact with the monsters in the game. In order to verify his learning results, the village chief also made a series of demos.

Among them, the demo of a horizontal board fighting mobile game is particularly eye-catching. The village chief recalled that because he had previously participated in the development of the low-cost hit "Stickman Alliance", he initially wanted to make a side-scrolling action mobile game.

However, in the face of the many side-scrolling games in the mobile game market, the village chief realized that the development space of this category was limited and the competition was extremely fierce. As a result, he decided to change course and try to develop a pure fighting game.

As an animator, he always had the idea of making a fighting game. At the time, there were only a handful of mobile fighting games on the market, such as Shadow Fight, and he tried them out and thought they were "so addictive that I could do better than them." ”

And this demo eventually developed into "Metal Showdown", the sixth game officially approved by NExT Studio.

02

Metal Showdown

After joining Tencent, the village chief not only used his spare time to make demos, but also participated in game sharing courses held within the company.

During a class to share his experience in overseas operations, the village chief got to know Moliba, the speaker at the time. Moliba was a little surprised by the appearance of the village chief, because usually the participants in these sharing classes are mostly planning or programming, and the art is usually only interested in the field of art.

Later, Moliba transferred from the overseas operations department to work at NExT, and the village chief came across a job posting on her Moments and took the initiative to get in touch with her. Moliba then introduced him to Steven Wu, then the head of NExT Shenzhen.

The village chief then presented it to Steven Wu with a demo of the fighting game he had made. According to his recollection, at that time, Steven Wu felt that the demo was very complete, especially in terms of art, and hoped to hatch the demo.

So, around 2018, the village chief officially joined NExT.

An early mobile version of Metal Showdown

During the development of the mobile game, in order to facilitate testing and exhibition, the development team packaged the game into a PC version. However, while exhibiting, they were surprised to find that the feedback from players was generally good.

After several rounds of verification, the team decided to launch the PC version first, and then make a mobile version later. If the market response is positive, they will also consider launching a console version.

According to the village chief, as a hardcore and niche 1v1 mecha fighting game, the project "Metal Duel" has always been quite controversial. In the initial internal review process, the village chief and the judges "failed to convince each other", but with a good performance in terms of impact and art, they finally won the opportunity to officially establish the project of "Metal Showdown". And that's just one of the many challenges that Metal Clash encountered during its development.

After a period of operation, NExT realized that it was not possible for all employees to be creative. Therefore, they carried out an internal reorganization: they brought together a small number of people who were willing and able to form a creative workshop to specialize in creative incubation; More members follow the top-down management model, focusing on the possibility of generating continuous activity and revenue (GaaS), and also have the opportunity to join some categories with innovative gameplay.

In this context, "Metal Showdown" also began to adjust the plan, set KPIs, and calculate ROI. In order to meet the KPI indicators, the development element has been introduced in the game. At the same time, the whole game was transferred back from PC to mobile.

In the village chief's view, "Metal Showdown" was not designed to cater to the commercial game market from the beginning of the project. This positioning clashed with the KPI requirements that were later put forward by management. The game's commercialization model is mainly to sell heroes, but the problem is that the player base of fighting games is relatively small, which limits their potential for commercialization.

Some of the characters in "Metal Showdown".

Despite many challenges encountered during the development process, in the end, "Metal Showdown" still got an advance payment of 3 million US dollars (about 21.89 million yuan) from Youzu for its quality.

In August 2021, "Metal Showdown" opened the uncensored limited number test in the South American market, and topped the Google Play free list in 12 South American countries including Brazil. At the same time, the game has also obtained a version number in China and determined the agent.

It's a pity that "Metal Showdown" may never wait for the day when it will be launched in China.

At the end of 2022, Shen Li, general manager of NExT, suddenly resigned. From 2023 onwards, NExT has also begun to adjust its team one after another: the business of the creative workshop has been adjusted, and the person in charge, Zhang Zhechuan, has resigned; "The Edge of Rebirth" producer transferred; Deputy General Manager Gu Yu resigned...... The "Metal Showdown" team led by the village chief is naturally one of them.

In the course of the conversation, I noticed that he didn't remember well the date he started the industry, the number of years he worked, the node he joined NExT, and the development cycle of Metal Showdown.

The village chief told me that he was not a particularly time-sensitive person. However, there was one day he remembers very well – April 17, 2023, which was his last day at NExT.

03

Endless Spark

Summing up in hindsight, the village chief believes that there are two main reasons for the cancellation of the "Metal Showdown" project: one is the adjustment of the studio, and the other is that the game's revenue did not meet expectations.

He calculated for me that according to Tencent's labor costs, they have 10 people a year, and the average cost per person is 1 million, so it is 10 million a year.

This means that the cost of "Metal Showdown", which has been in development for almost 5 years, is at least 50 million. The advance payment provided by Youzu can only cover the cost of the project for two years.

As for why you finally decided to take the money and leave? Here's how the village chief explained it to me:

On the one hand, even if he joins other studios, it is nothing more than being a big soldier. There is always a limit to what one person can do, but if you work together and start a business together, the value you can create can be very different.

On the other hand, IP can grow gradually through cultivation. The Street Fighter series, for example, started with its original game many years ago and has gradually amassed a large number of loyal fans through the continuous release of sequels. He wanted to do something like that, too.

So, the village chief, who got the severance compensation, bid farewell to the fast-paced Kexing Science and Technology Park, and rented a 100-square-meter office at a price of 10,000 yuan per month in Guangming District, a suburb of Shenzhen, and lived a life of "free salted fish".

Comfortable in the office of Salted Fish Studio

Every morning, after the village chief sends his children to school, he comes to the office at seven or eight o'clock and works until five or six o'clock in the evening. "If you are inspired, you will do it for a while, and if you are not inspired, you will go home and bring the baby."

For a team, starting a business is not much different from working in a company. When he was in the company, the village chief was responsible for leading the team, and his management style was laissez-faire, as long as the team could successfully complete the task, he would give the members a lot of freedom; Now I start my own business, the situation is similar, as long as the work is done, there are no strict requirements for commuting time, everything is very casual.

In the office, the village chief is dedicated to children

A play area has been demarcated

They positioned their first title as an action pigeon game. The team believes that whether it is a traditional action fighting game or an MMORPG, there are already many on the market, and it is difficult to break through again. As a new game mode, the meat pigeon is relatively more interesting and can quickly engage players and immerse them in it.

At the same time, given that the team has many years of experience in the development of fighting games, they still have a lot of confidence in the action field. Interestingly, this path-dependent fighting game development experience also had some negative effects on them at first.

Taking normal attacks as an example, at the beginning, they added pauses to the characters' attacks according to the idea of fighting games, so as to express the sense of punching to the flesh. As a result, players generally reported that the characters' movements were stiff and their attacks felt poor.

Later, the team realized that there was a difference in operating environment between the fighting game and the action pigeon game. The former requires a board and a glance, and it is necessary to ensure the logic of the character's actions, the backward and backward swing of the attack, and the limitation of skill combos; The latter, on the other hand, focuses more on the character's high mobility and fast attack rhythm. In short, the core difference between the two is the 1v1 vs. 1vn enemy environment.

In the development process of the past two years, the village chief was most impressed by the balance of action and construction in the action meat pigeon game.

In his opinion, "Hades" is an action-oriented meat pigeon game, and the clearance process is relatively simple, and players only need to choose according to the options provided by the game;

On the other hand, a build-oriented pigeon game like "Warm Snow" is less dependent on operation, the key is the card combination, once the right deck is established, the damage output is high enough, and the player can easily crush the opponent. The two games offer very different experiences.

If Hades and Warm Snow are considered two extremes, developers can create action-meat-pigeon games with different experiences by adjusting the ratio of action and building elements to meet the preferences of different players.

Part of their job now is to balance the two in their game through testing and player feedback.

Of course, outside of the game, the village chief also admitted that although there are no KPI requirements and no need to write a PPT report, they are not without pressure.

About three or four months ago, the feedback the team received when they approached an external publisher was not ideal. After reflection, the village chief came to the conclusion that the product itself was not good enough.

So, they shifted their anxiety to product iteration and revised it for nearly two months. Eventually, they were able to get publishers to reach out to them just by posting gameplay videos.

"We conclude that as long as the game is awesome enough, you don't need to look for others, and others will naturally come to you. So, what we have to do is polish the product and make it more awesome. ”

Comfortable in the lunch break room of the salted fish studio

So far, the studio has not accepted any investment or issuance offers. In the past two years of development, the team members have not only not earned a penny, but have invested nearly 1 million yuan in the game.

I believe that while envying this kind of comfortable life, many people may also wonder: is this situation really sustainable? What if I run out of savings? If the project doesn't work out, will the team members eventually have to go back to work?

The village chief told me that in terms of time, they are doing quite well. To make an indie game, the development cycle can take up to three years, and if it is short, it may take a year and a half. In their view, around two years is a reasonable median. This is also within their expectations. Of course, if it takes another three or five years, it will definitely not work.

In addition, from the very beginning, he clearly informed his team members about the risks associated with starting a business. He believes that the benefits are directly proportional to the risks, and if the project succeeds in making money, everyone will share the benefits equally; If the project fails and loses money, everyone has to share the loss. If you are not prepared to face the risks, then the best option is to stay with the company and work.

04

epilogue

The village chief said that his mentality has not changed much compared to when he first left. If I had to say yes, it would be that he is enjoying it right now, because he feels like he is getting stronger every minute.

Unlike when he was working in the company, he was constrained by KPIs, leaders, and publishers, but now he can make changes as soon as he hears feedback from players, quickly adjust what doesn't make sense, and iterate quickly.

At the same time, he told me that after participating in WePlay, he also experienced frequent insomnia. But it's not because of the pressure of work, it's because of the interesting feedback from offline players that gives him a lot of inspiration and keeps him thinking about how to solve and improve the game.

In the comment area of station B, many viewers put forward suggestions for modifying the game

At the end of the conversation, I asked the village chief, do you have any expectations for the game now?

"Fill your stomach first, just starve to death. We don't expect to make money as soon as we come up, it's more about saving money, and then slowly accumulating and continuing to do what we find interesting. ”

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