Zhonghai, Demon Dragon Studio.

As one of the top game studios domestically, Demon Dragon has a notable reputation in the industry.

Their representative work, the Demon Sword series, is also a famous and grand fantasy RPG in the country!

This time, Chen Ba led his team to visit and learn from Demon Dragon Studio, essentially to gain some insights and exchange development experiences.

This sort of thing is quite common.

There aren’t many studios making single-player games in the domestic gaming industry. Exchanges and collaborations between them are frequent, and privately, everyone is familiar with each other.

"This shouldn’t be the case..."

Zhong Shengwei muttered, "Normally, aren’t we at each other’s throats with these peers, you dislike me and I dislike you?"

"Whenever we make a game, they have to jump out to mock and undermine us, even challenge us and hire trolls to bash us, right?"

"Isn’t that so?"

Chen Ba: "..."

This kid, has he read too many novels?

In reality, there aren’t such brainless antagonists. Perhaps new works might clash, but in that case, one just needs to speak up.

As for mocking and undermining, or hiring trolls to bash a competitor’s game, it’s not unheard of, but it happens only to some particularly hated competitors!

Normally, everyone minds their own business; you go your way, and I go mine, without much intersection.

Moreover, among those doing single-player games domestically, there’s a sense of mutual respect. Private exchanges are frequent, and there’s no communication barrier.

"The mobile game circle and the online game circle might be slightly chaotic, and the relationships between big companies could be tense or sensitive."

Chen Ba explained, "As for us small workshops, teams operating as studios, there aren’t so many formalities."

Though Demon Dragon Studio is located far away in Zhonghai, Chen Ba is quite familiar with them, as they also participated in the development of the AAA game "Global Evolution".

Therefore, the meeting between both parties was friendly and harmonious.

The head of Demon Dragon Studio also led Chen Ba to tour their wall of honors, introduced several games they developed before, and provided information on some core team members in their studio.

"The Demon Sword series is too unfortunate."

After visiting, Chen Ba said with regret, "It was born in an inopportune time when the peak period didn’t meet an era supporting genuine games."

The Demon Sword series released seven generations.

The third generation is recognized as a masterpiece, still the best and most playable Demon Sword game so far.

Unfortunately, in that era rampant with piracy and cracked versions, Demon Sword 3 didn’t bring profitable returns to Demon Dragon Studio, as the profits went to all sorts of pirate vendors.

Demon Sword 7 was just released last year, with decent performance, selling over 1.2 million copies on the Steam Platform, barely recovering the production costs.

"In fact, this should be the last generation of the Demon Sword series!"

The leader of Demon Dragon Studio, Xu Hong, known in the industry as the "Father of Demon Sword," sighed, "The Demon Sword series has accompanied everyone for over a decade, and it’s time to bid farewell."

Their new work is also fantasy-themed, but it’s not part of the Demon Sword series anymore.

The Demon Sword IP will halt at the seventh generation, with no further sequels, replaced by a new game series called "Shushan."

"Shushan?"

After listening to Xu Hong’s introduction on "Shushan," Chen Ba nodded and said, "Sounds pretty good, your game should sell well!"

"Thank you for your good wishes."

Xu Hong smiled and asked, "Why are you suddenly interested in fantasy themes? Could it be... Tianba Studio’s new work will be a fantasy game?"

"Most likely yes!"

Seeing Xu Hong’s expression become a bit solemn, Chen Ba quickly waved his hand and explained, "But don’t worry, this time we’re not making a single-player, we’re making an MMORPG multiplayer online game."

"An online game..."

"You might want to look into games like Nishuihan, Celestial Blade, and Sword Three!"

Xu Hong explained, "We at Demon Dragon Studio haven’t done MMOs, so I don’t have much advice to offer you; you’ve come to the wrong place."

"Not the wrong place, I’ve learned a lot of new things here!"

For example, Sword Flight!

This is actually quite an interesting system; Demon Dragon Studio specifically designed a set of movements for Sword Flight, producing fluid and neat effects, filled with fantasy charm.

This is one of Chen Ba’s gains.

Additionally, during the visit, he learned about many unique settings in fantasy games and their corresponding expressions.

For instance, the "Multi-Currency" system!

In traditional RPG games, the currency system is generally quite monotonous, usually consisting of the old trio: gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins, lacking novelty.

But in fantasy games, the currency system is an entire discipline. Copper coins and taels of silver are primary currencies, Spirit Stones as secondary currency, and on this basis, there’s room to add a third-tier currency.

This is quite a complex system, appearing more intricate and imbued with Hua Country’s cultural characteristics compared to traditional gold, silver, and copper coins.

Besides, fantasy games have another important aspect worth attention: "Naming"!

Demon Dragon Studio has a specialized naming tool, which can give elements like moves, cultivation techniques, characters, weapons, equipment, and map scenes in the game a name with ancient charm and Immortal Aura.

Don’t underestimate these names.

Some names, once marked, intuitively suggest they’re from a fantasy game and even hint a bit at their function and efficacy—this is the advantage names bring.

For example—Water Manipulation Technique!

Just hearing this name, players could roughly guess it’s a cultivation technique or divine technique related to the "Water Element", with effects likely involving driving or controlling the water element?

See, this is what a suitable name brings to a fantasy game!

Of course...

Xu Hong also smilingly suggested that instead of concocting wildly in this area, it’s better to read more books, not just fantasy web novels, but also folk tales of gods and ghosts

Reading a lot of books fills your mind, so when it comes to naming characters or crafting plots, you won’t feel flustered, nor make a fool of yourself.

"Makes sense!"

Chen Ba expressed his strong agreement.

He hadn’t read much, and his mind was empty, which is why the game story scripts at Tianba Studio always left much to be desired, drawing countless complaints from players.

If he had read more books, would it still be like this?

The saying goes, a guest comes from afar.

As it approached mealtime, Xu Hong enthusiastically ordered a table full of good dishes to entertain Chen Ba and his group, who had come from afar.

At the dining table, Xu Hong inquired whether Tianba Studio would be participating in this year’s Zhonghai Game Exhibition and received an affirmative answer.

Participation was a given.

Since they had come all this way, it wouldn’t make sense not to visit the exhibition.

What’s more, the news that Tianba Studio was about to develop a new game needed to be announced at this exhibition; otherwise, how would they gain attention?

"Announcing at the exhibition, huh?"

Xu Hong sipped his tea, slightly curious, "So soon? I thought you guys would announce it later!"

"We’re always quick..."

While chewing on a big crab, Lu explained to Xu Hong, "Has President Xu forgotten the ’quick shooter’ title our Tianba Studio has?"

"Hahaha, indeed!"

Xu Hong couldn’t help but laugh, "I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it, but your Tianba Studio is indeed famously quick."

Not just quick, almost like riding a rocket!

While others are still struggling with game plans, even without a completed PPT, Tianba Studio has already initiated a new game project.

When others finally set up a new folder, full of ambition, ready to officially develop, turning around, they find that Tianba Studio’s new game has already started pre-testing!

Simply inhuman...

If R Star could develop at this speed, let alone GTA6, they might have reached GTA100 by now.

After the joke, Xu Hong, taking the opportunity of a toast, inquired about the situation of Tianba’s new game.

Chen Ba bowed his head in thought.

Since they would announce it at the Zhonghai Game Exhibition in a couple of days, revealing a bit now wasn’t a problem. Old Xu was reliable.

So, he picked a bit of the game’s general framework to tell Xu Hong.

The new game is an MMORPG online game.

A fantasy theme, mainly playing as a cultivator, adventuring in the vast Cultivation Realm, ultimately becoming a True Immortal free in the world!

The game includes multiple realms.

Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation, Integration, Returning to Void, Mahayana...

In a nutshell, it’s stitched together!

Chen Ba wasn’t ashamed, openly admitting that this set of settings was all stitched from novel content.

Bad news: stitched monster!

Good news: all stitched in!

The game’s essence is still the standard MMORPG routine of leveling up and battling in dungeons.

Leveling up is just improving the cultivation realm, battling monsters can’t be called battling monsters, it should be called eradicating demons. Entering dungeons can’t be called entering dungeons, it’s called exploring the Secret Realm Cave Heaven!

PK is also included.

Cultivators are ambitious, the Cultivation Realm is extremely cruel, killing and robbing treasures is commonplace, right?

So the game has a PK system.

However, to limit player conflicts and PK behavior, and to protect relatively weaker players, Chen Ba added a "karma" system.

So-called karma, naturally refers to Heavenly Dao Merit!

This is very common in those Primordial Stream novels, with obvious benefits, such as reducing the difficulty of Celestial Tribulation, improving cultivation speed, and also for refining Magical Treasures.

In short, karma is hard to come by...

Wanton slaughter increases Evil Qi, which erodes karma, leading to ominous curses, such as getting struck by lightning while walking, or growing red hair all over.

Doing good deeds, eradicating demons and defending the Dao, all these earn karma. The game encourages players to do good and be good people, rather than spending time killing and robbing treasures and doing absurdly bad things.

Unless you don’t need karma and don’t mind the ominous curses...

But that’s impossible.

In this game, karma is the most powerful game currency! Having enough karma lets you play even better than paying players.

"Is that true?"

Lu, who somehow found a chicken leg, said while gnawing, "Better than paying players, isn’t karma too broken?"

"Of course!"

"Otherwise, why is there such a thing as Merit Ascension? Just think! If enough karma can even transform you into a Saint, then what can’t it do?"

Chen Ba set karma as a level three currency, naturally with his own plan.

Paying players can still have a good time in this game, but they can’t compare to the karma experts, as karma is something money can’t buy.

In other words.

Paying buys Spirit Stones, Immortal Jade, and other level two currencies, which are just a level higher than Copper Coins and taels of silver.

Karma, however, is a level three currency, higher in status than level two currencies, and karma doesn’t support conversion, it can’t be bought.

Kid, cultivation isn’t about fighting and killing, but karma is supreme, do you understand?