Hearing Shen Siyuan confirm that the project was feasible, Ding Youguang grew even more excited.
"But there's one thing I don't get," Shen Siyuan said.
"Go on."
"Why did you come to me? I don't think I can be of much help to you, can I?"
"You can't say that, Brother Shen. You just don't know your own value."
Hearing this, Ding Youguang immediately chuckled with a sly look.
"Oh? What value do I have?"
Shen Siyuan himself hadn't discovered any value he might have.
"First off, you should know, I don't have any money."
"Mm, and?"
"And this project requires at least a planner, a programmer, and an artist…"
At this point, Shen Siyuan started to understand why he was being approached.
He was after his team's free labor.
"I can't possibly spend money on trial and error, so I can only find people who won't cost me anything."
"Fuck, I knew this was too good to be true," Shen Siyuan said.
"Why would you say that? Just tell me, can we do this or not?"
Shen Siyuan had no rebuttal.
"You go talk to the programmer and the artist.
If the game is a success, we'll split the profits equally. If it fails, all we'll have wasted is some spare time.
It's not like we do anything other than play games or binge-watch shows anyway, our time isn't worth much…"
"This is still an untapped blue ocean. If we get in now, we still have a chance…"
"What's the cut for the distribution channels, and what kind of game are you thinking of for a trial run?"
"It's a seventy-thirty split.
As for the game, I need you to come up with the idea. You definitely have more thoughts on this than I do," Ding Youguang said with great sincerity.
The monthly revenue figures Ding Youguang had just shown him were data from the channels, so the split hadn't been deducted yet.
If the four of them participated in this project, they would each get a minimum of forty to fifty thousand a month, and up to a hundred thousand.
That was way more than their salaries, and it was passive income.
"Do you have a company? We'll need to sign a contract," Shen Siyuan said.
When money was involved, a verbal agreement wasn't enough.
"I have a company.
I registered one before and never canceled it. Don't worry, we'll definitely sign a contract.
Not a single cent that belongs to you will be missing," Ding Youguang immediately promised, patting his chest.
"Alright then, I'll find a chance to talk to Zhou Zhengdao and Li Qunfang."
These two were the programmer and the artist on Shen Siyuan's team, respectively.
"Will Li Qunfang be willing?" Ding Youguang asked, a little worried.
As a programmer, Zhou Zhengdao often went out for drinks and meals with Shen Siyuan, so they were on good terms.
Plus, his skills were excellent. He had participated in the development of various game projects in the Online Games Department, and his technical abilities were top-tier throughout Glorious Animation.
But Ding Youguang didn't know them well, which was one of the reasons he'd approached Shen Siyuan.
As for Li Qunfang, she was a young girl who didn't talk much on a daily basis.
Other than the colleagues sitting next to her, she rarely interacted with anyone. She liked anime and cosplay, and seemed to be in a completely different world from Shen Siyuan and the others.
"Shouldn't be a problem," Shen Siyuan said calmly.
"So, what project do you think we should do for our first game?" Ding Youguang asked.
Clearly, his question carried a hint of a test. Everyone had their value.
Zhou Zhengdao's and Li Qunfang's value was obvious; the project couldn't work without either of them. So, where did Shen Siyuan's value lie?
"Fishing.
We can also set up a points ranking and a lottery draw," Shen Siyuan said with a calm expression.
"Explain."
"Go to an arcade.
What's the game that players play the most?" Shen Siyuan asked back.
"Fishing?"
Shen Siyuan nodded.
"Not everyone will play fishing, but it's definitely one of the most played games."
"Besides, fishing has simple controls. You can play with just up, down, left, right, and a confirm button. And those buttons can be used directly with a remote control."
"In an arcade, people play fishing for points, for game coins.
Both points and game coins can ultimately be exchanged for physical rewards. So we can't just let users play the game to kill time, we have to set a hook for them.
For example, the top ten on the points ranking get a cash prize every month, or the top player gets an iPhone…"
"Isn't that just gambling?"
"Yes, but we're legal. What do you think our Operations Department does? Every holiday, what kind of events do we launch? Lottery draws, playing the odds.
That's how we guarantee our revenue…"
"Fishing is just a casual game, there don't seem to be many profit points, right? If we do it this way, won't we lose money?" Ding Youguang's mind was still sharp.
"We can sell VIPs.
A VIP 1 user can get double points from fishing, and so on. The higher the VIP level, the greater the points multiplier.
Then, the player with the most points each month can get a ten-thousand-yuan prize. Do you think people will pay to compete for the top spot?"
"Besides, we can manipulate the rankings ourselves.
That's too easy for a programmer. We're both the players and the referees.
We call all the shots…"
"Heh heh~, Brother Shen, you're so ruthless."
"Pah, nonsense. These are all just marketing tactics."
"Let's eat… let's eat…"
Ding Youguang was beaming, feeling that he had found the right person.
The reason he had sought out Shen Siyuan for a partnership was initially for his connections.
Besides that, he was also using him as a planner.
After all, operations and planning weren't actually that different; both were proficient in game content design. Plus, their project wasn't big, so the requirements weren't that high.
Shen Siyuan could handle it without any problem.
But in such a short time, Shen Siyuan had not only provided a concrete plan but had even considered the profit points in advance.
This gave him even more confidence in the project.
After eating, Shen Siyuan went to buy cold skin noodles and cola, and then the two of them returned to the company.
As they entered the company and were about to part ways, Ding Youguang whispered to Shen Siyuan, "As soon as possible."
In principle, the company didn't interfere with employees' entrepreneurship, but using company resources for personal projects was definitely not allowed.
So before anything was settled, it had to be kept secret. This was also why Ding Youguang was unwilling to discuss it on Enterprise WeChat.
Upon entering the Operations Department, most people were already napping at their desks, with only one or two still playing games.
Li Wenjuan was also asleep at her desk.
Shen Siyuan tiptoed over and placed the cold skin noodles on her desk.
But he saw that there was also a container of freshly cut fruit and a cup of coffee on her desk.
Obviously, she couldn't have gone downstairs to buy these herself; they were brought for her by others.
Li Wenjuan had many suitors.
There were several simps in the company who were practically hooked fish she was stringing along.
This was one of the reasons Shen Siyuan wasn't fond of her.
If you don't like someone, just say so. What was the point of always stringing people along?
But Shen Siyuan only treated her as a regular colleague; they weren't close enough for deep talk.
Besides, did those hooked fish really not know what was going on? They were just playing dumb, each thinking they would be the one to win in the end.
Shen Siyuan's movements were already very careful, but he still woke up Lin Manzhi, who was sleeping beside him.
Seeing it was Shen Siyuan, her eyes lit up. She immediately picked up the mobile phone on her desk and pointed at it.
Shen Siyuan was a little confused. He opened his own mobile phone, only to see that she had sent him her best friend's WeChat contact.