Otherworldly Architect

Time has come to May.

The weather slowly became hot, and the breath of summer began to spread in the mainland.

The Royal Academy is again approaching its annual graduation.

Many students have just finished their graduation project. After the defense, they hold their transcripts with joy or regret and start to wait for the final graduation ceremony.

The graduation ceremony of the Game Academy this year seems to have been arranged for a very long time.

The auditorium used is still the largest gymnasium, with banners and stereoscopic projection screens installed early in the morning.

The entire venue can accommodate thousands of people, and a podium is also prepared on the stage in the center.

The officers of the student union, leading a few students, are busy confirming various matters.

"Has the leadership position been confirmed?"

"I took it and showed it to the counselor, it's all ok."

"The sponsor's brand is in place, and the tea has been distributed."

"The second rehearsal was also done. Except for the two guest speakers, we filmed all the processes."

"The ceremony started at two o'clock in the afternoon, and now it's less than one o'clock. The guests should be having dinner with the vice principal."

"Don't worry, we have sent a small team to pick up people..."

This student squad held a sign and waited at the school gate.

Under the scorching sun, the banner of "Warmly Celebrate the Successful Graduation of the XXX Students of the Game Academy" swayed along the breeze.

A suspended car stopped silently at the school gate, and a man stepped down from it.

He was dressed in a silver-gray suit, tall and straight, with bright eyes.

Exactly.

The students suddenly became excited and walked up to the front: "May I ask if this is the chief designer of Bluestar Studio?"

Ming Yan just thanked the driver in the car, and when he looked back and saw the young students picking up the green, he couldn't help laughing: "It's me. Are you here to pick me up? Thank you."

Several students were very active, and on the way to the auditorium with Mingyan, they did not forget to chat with him.

In the past, when Mingyan went back to school, he was called "senior".

In a flash, three years have passed.

When he came back this time, everyone called him "Chief Designer Ming".

The students also seem to be less intimacy and more awe-inspiring than before.

There is a saying that "the name of a man is the shadow of a tree".

Perhaps the status of Bluestar Studios has suddenly increased, which has made Mingyan have a lot of unreachable legends.

The time soon reached two o'clock, and the graduation ceremony started smoothly.

The previous process is also very familiar to Ming Yan.

After the host announced the ceremony, the audience stood up and played the national anthem.

Then the school leaders read out the relevant documents and delivered a speech, which was also the speech of the first guest.

Then the ceremony of awarding the degree will be held.

A team of outstanding student representatives came to the stage to salute.

The leadership team handed everyone their degree certificates, then tugged at the fringes of their bachelor caps and said a word of encouragement.

In the past, it was stated that it was possible to go on this stage and perform the same ceremony.

However, he happened to be very busy at the time, so he still declined... In the end, even the degree certificate was only available later, so he received it directly from the dean.

Then it was the turn of the second guest, who made a speech.

He stood on the podium, put down the script, and tidied up the microphone.

There were more than 2,000 people in the audience, including students, tutors, leaders and others, all looking at him with bright eyes.

Unlike the stereotyped leadership speeches before, Ming Yan is the real senior of the Game Academy.

His qualifications and his achievements are in everyone's eyes.

Many students who have not graduated or are in graduate school have come here specially this time, wanting to listen to his speech on the spot.

Clearly and formulately finish the opening remarks.

He smiled a little, feeling a little nostalgic, and said, "Three years ago, I just graduated from my alma mater. Like you, I was still standing on the tail of my youth. I was a little confused and a little fortunate."

He gestured on the stage, stroked his eyebrows, and said, "I was so tall at the time."

Then he gestured again, pointed to the chandelier above, and said, "My luggage was so high at the time."

There was a burst of laughter from the audience.

Ming Yan said slowly: "I couldn't carry my luggage, so I decided to push them with a hover car, go to a moving company, and put them back to my hometown. As a result, I pushed the car and ran to the check-in place and finished a long speech. Later, the staff member looked around and said, 'Where are the people? Where are the people?' - I had so many things piled up that he couldn't see me at all."

More laughter erupted from below.

Mingyan smiled and said, "That batch of luggage cost me thousands of yuan to check in, because they were too heavy, and they were all paper items. These items were drafts I wrote in four years as an undergraduate, including the "My For all the design books of "The World", I have always been more accustomed to writing physical notes myself.

"However, 80% of the manuscripts in it were later scrapped by me because I came up with some better ideas."

The laughter disappeared.

The audience was silent.

Mingyan paused for a moment and said, "A good game design is made up of 1% of a flash of inspiration and 99% of contemplation. That 99% determines the lower limit of the design, but that 1% determines the game. The upper limit. Just like everyone here, I don’t know how many of you will continue to walk on the road of game production, and how many will give up halfway. But in the end, 99% of the practitioners will become the backbone of the industry power; and only the remaining 1% can create a new glory.

"It's a fact, a brutal fact.

"I can see ambition in the eyes of all of you because everyone thinks they're going to be the 1%. Yes, if the world needs heroes, why can't I be a hero? If the industry needs genius, why should I Isn't that the genius?

"You are still teenagers, and you should have the enthusiasm and ambition of teenagers. To be able to graduate from the Royal Academy, you are already the best among your peers, the top 10% of the genius. But that's not enough, you still need to go further. "

Mingyan took a step back, gestured again, and said, "When I was a freshman, I would wash my clothes by myself once a week, and then I was excluded.

"Because the locals use smart mechanical housekeepers, they have never seen how clothes are washed and dried. I'm sure there are many of you who don't know the inner workings of washing machines.

"Of course, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I was sidelined."

After he finished speaking, he wanted to laugh again.

Mingyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "God, I was very grateful to them at the time. Because I'm not a social person, I think social takes up a lot of my time, and I don't have time to continue writing my design manuscripts."

The audience was quiet again.

"I would like to thank each of my classmates for saving me time for parties, chatting, playing cards, and falling in love." Ming Yan said, "I don't know if you understand, when people are listening to gossip and watching certain TV programs, The activity level of the brain is even lower than when you are sleeping. That is to say, you are not thinking at that time, it is no different from a reed. Of course, the behavior of playing mahjong, gambling, walking birds, eating melon seeds, etc. in the previous generation, and The essence of blogging, watching videos, and browsing forums in this generation is exactly the same, but the expression has changed according to the times.”

"In other words, when people do these things, it is equivalent to sleeping."

"For me, sleep is the same concept as death."

"So if someone invited me out for tea and chat at that time, if they saw my terrified eyes, please don't get me wrong - yes, I was afraid of death."

At that time, Ming Yan had just woken up from a frozen slumber that spanned four thousand years.

He said: "I'm like a prisoner waiting to die every day, checking every night that my last words are well under my pillow. You might think that's funny - my whole legacy is that anyway. Manuscript, I think I have to leave something to this beautiful age, no matter how small or humble it is.

"The feeling of being alive is like my head being pressed into the icy snow. Every day when I'm awake, when I'm doing things, I can put my head out of the water for a few seconds to breathe.

"I was so desperate to make something myself, like a drowning man so desperate to breathe, full of near-death despair.

"If you really want success and your dreams. Ask yourself, do you have such an awareness of your desires? Every minute and every second, if you are not working hard towards your goals, you will feel painful as if Like drowning.

"If not, it's at best something you want, like seeing a toy model in a window as a child - but that's not a dream."

In his senior year, Mingyan also had the opportunity to follow the crowd to find internships or jobs in the few months after Mingyan finished his graduation project.

However, later, the institute learned about this when he was routinely checking and drawing blood.

The nurse was shocked and said, "You've only woken up a few years! Study the language every day, study the history of the league, and take undergraduate courses, and then still find time to write game design manuscripts - where did you come from so much? Time?!"

Very simple.

No socializing, no sleep, no entertainment.

He was afraid that his life was running out, and he felt guilty even sitting quietly for a minute.

It was also from that time that Mingyan suddenly realized that he could not integrate into other corporate cultures.

He is destined not to be a screw in someone else's career.

"Some people ask me why I work so hard? Obviously a game is enough for me to live a good life without food and clothing." Ming Yan said, "I told him because if I wasn't struggling myself, I would feel like I was sleeping. It's like he's dead again."

"Someone asked me how to tell this class of students to work hard?

"I want to say that there is no way. All the geniuses in the world must first have desires that are beyond ordinary people. Desires will drive them to stay up all night to study, make them suffer day and night, and let them walk on the tip of a knife and breathe in flames. —Only a moment of peace and happiness can be found in the pursuit of that only great undertaking."

...

The graduation ceremony is not over yet, but Ming Yan's speech is over.

He did some unscripted speeches, but the timing was perfect, and it ended right at the scheduled time.

The theme of this speech is "The So-called Genius", and the whole video will be uploaded to the school's official website soon.

Taking advantage of the fact that the students are now obediently sitting in their seats, Ming Yan hurriedly slipped out of the backstage.

However, some students still squatted outside to guard him.

These were the students who didn't need to attend the ceremony, and the student council officials who also took the opportunity to sneak out.

Ming Yan had to sign them one by one.

A girl with red eyes said, "Mr. Ming, you're right. I don't know why I'm so moved, and I feel so burning..."

Ming Yan quickly took out the toilet paper to let her wipe her tears, and encouraged her a few words.

At this time, a cadre of the student union was still a little awkward, and he took out a whole stack of papers from his pocket.

Some are sticky notes, some are postcards, some are small handkerchiefs.

Obviously, this classmate wants to help a lot of people bring Mingyan's signature.

Clearly: "..."

Everyone: "..."

Fortunately, the other party is very sensible and does not dare to delay Ming Yan's time too much.

Mingyan signed two for him and had to leave.

The student union cadre blushed and finally said, "Mr. Ming! I... I have to ask you on behalf of the 257 classmates in my department, when will the new game be launched?"

Damn it.

The ALPHA version has not been developed yet!

How come everyone can't open the pot and pick up the pot?

Ming Yan said helplessly: "Next year, I can only guarantee that the internal test can be opened before the New Year's Day next year."

When the students heard this, they looked at each other with great excitement, their eyes sparkling.

These players!

Just thinking about when the new game can be played, have you considered the feelings of the production team...

Ming Yan finally found time to walk out of the small dark room. Is it easy for him?

If the smart housekeeper reminded him that he had already agreed to come to the school to give a speech this time, it is estimated that he would not have gone out today.

In fact, this speech also took into account the Blue Star Studio.

After all, it's graduation season, and Blue Star entered a college for the first time this year for recruitment.

The three major projects of "Minecraft", "League of Legends", and "Blue Star Doomsday" are all being launched, the manpower is getting more and more tight, and the booths are getting bigger and bigger.

In addition to core development projects, Bluestar has already allocated all its work to outsourcing as much as possible, but it still feels a bit connected.

In addition to further recruiting network talents in the market, Blue Star is also qualified to participate in school recruitment.

Regardless of fame or treatment, Blue Star is basically the only one!

Mingyan is very willing to take graduate interns. He deeply understands how important the 1% inspiration is for game design.

Every project cannot lack energetic young people.

However, considering that there are not many senior staff who can bring new people to the studio, this year we can only recruit 5 more interns, who will be assigned to each group.

After the graduation ceremony in May, Ling Xiaoman from the Conservatory of Music finally reported to Blue Star.

Two of her songs have been completely sold to Blue Star, and one of them has been used in the latest promotional video of "League of Legends".

They have a new set of retro rock skins and a new class!

The promotional video is basically an MV, and the picture perfectly fits the rhythm of the music.

Everyone who listened to it couldn't help shaking their heads with "moving times", and their emotions were very excited.

The new class was launched, and although the response within the studio was particularly good, the balance was also designed very well.

But the player's understanding is not as good as the designer's.

They are still in the groping stage, resulting in a poor 39% win rate within a week of the new profession, which is almost sad for those who hear it.

Some players laughed at the designer and said: [Make the MV with your heart and balance with your feet. 】

This stalk can't be stopped as soon as it starts, and the barrage of the MV is full of this sentence.

Do you really think that designers don't go to video sites?

In fact, every designer likes to surreptitiously watch the bullet screens and comments!

This barrage is brushed, and it is clear that he is secretly having fun.

But designers who design new careers are angry.

——I don’t play well enough, I can’t understand the essence of the new profession, so I’m blaming the designer?

——If it is a profession that the chief designer of Ming himself does, it would be strange if you dare to call it that!

Ming Yan thought about it for a while, and then showed a kind smile that comforted people's hearts: "Then change a skill, and then strengthen it a little bit. When the win rate reaches the expected level, it is the same to weaken it again."

Seeing his smile, the designers in the audience couldn't help showing a knowing smile.

a week later.

Mingyan personally designed a strong skill for the new profession: it can confiscate all the damage from the front within a certain period of time.

And then with the epic level strengthening of the new class, plus high-end players have developed its real gameplay and quite a few routines...

This week the win rate has risen to 61%!

It has completely turned into a big BUG that destroys the balance of the game!

In the matchmaking game where people cannot be banned, it is this profession that kills and kills, killing low-end players who don't know how to target them.

The most extreme is that they have no resistance, and their skills are easily blocked.

And then it started-

[Wu wu wu tens of thousands of people's blood book begging to delete the new occupation! 】

[Gan Linliang is playing a fart! A 20-second small skill can block five 200-second big moves on our side! 】

[Who said this thing was weak back then! Be happy now! 】

[The chief designer of Ming will not do balance, you are kidding me...]

In the new weekly meeting, after seeing player feedback.

Ming Yan turned over this small matter with satisfaction, and said lightly: "The problem is solved, let's start weakening."

The designer asked in a low voice, "Should the skill mechanism be changed back?"

Ming Yan smiled and said, "Of course I won't change, be kind. They will soon be happy in their new profession. After all, I'm not a devil."

Everyone: "..." Boss, you know your title too!

After the weekly meeting, everyone in the Blue Star studio had to go back to hold their own small meeting.

Because of the gradual increase in the number of people, flat management is no longer applicable.

Now Bluestar is divided into several groups: planning group, program group, art group, sound effect group, testing group, and marketing group.

The daily morning meeting and the weekly weekly meeting are all held by Ming Yan, each team leader and all the designers.

After the end, the team leader will go back to conduct small meetings in each team, convey the words of the above, and manage the daily work.

This also means that Ming Yan finally does not have to run around and supervise every development process in person.

Then Ming Yan happily returned to his little dark room.

Well, closed development is a good thing.

It won't be long before the ALPHA version of Blue Star Doom will be ready for internal testing.

When talking to Xia Cheng about the idea of ​​this game before, he was also looking forward to it.

When thinking of Xia Cheng, Ming Yan glanced at his phone subconsciously.

Unexpectedly, I just saw this, the muted mobile phone was quietly showing 12 missed calls, all from Xia Cheng.

Clearly: "?"

He picked up the phone and walked out of the small dark room quickly.

When he was about to call back to Xia Cheng immediately, he bumped into the front desk girl he just hired.

The front desk said: "Boss! I was looking for you, Master Xia is waiting for you at the front desk!"

Ming Yan walked to the front desk and saw Xia Cheng looking down at his shoes in a rare embarrassment.

The two looked at each other.

Xia Cheng seemed to have just run up. He was still out of breath. His messy blond hair was more like a little lion back from hunting.

As soon as he saw Ming Yan, the smile immediately appeared on his handsome face again.

He whispered: "That... I went out in a hurry, I forgot to put on my socks."

For the young master of a famous noble family, this is a rare gaffe.

Ming Yan laughed.

The two returned to Ming Yan's office, Xia Cheng still carrying a box in his hand.

He took the initiative to put the box on the table and said, "I had a really good snack tonight. I'll have someone buy it right away. This is for you."

Ming Yan didn't seem to be in a hurry, but he was a little puzzled.

He opened the box and saw that there was a very delicate chocolate ice cream inside, packed in a constant temperature box and perfectly preserved.

Just when Ming Yan pulled out two sets of tableware and prepared to share it with Xia Cheng.

Xia Cheng added: "It is said that sweets can provide a lot of sugar in a short period of time, which helps the pituitary gland to secrete dopamine, and dopamine makes people feel happy..."

Ming Yan looked back at him.

Xia Cheng thought about it and said, "I saw your speech."

Ming Yan's speech at the Game Academy in the afternoon was just uploaded not long ago. It seems that Xia Cheng downloaded and watched it right away.

"I'm sorry you didn't have a good time in college..." Xia Cheng said, "We met too late. But from now on, I promise you won't experience that feeling again."

Ming Yan opened his eyes slightly.

He looked at Xia Cheng and said, "...Many people envy that feeling. At that time, I made Minecraft, and I made a lot of money—"

"But you're not happy enough. I don't want to see you live so tired..." Xia Cheng said, "I only care about this."

Mingyan was overwhelmed, so he lowered his head and dug a spoonful of chocolate ice cream.

This is a bit too sweet, Ming Yan frowned slightly because he was not used to it.

Then Ming Yan suddenly noticed.

When he frowned, Xia Cheng had a shallow dimple on his face.

Dimples that only appear when he's in a bad mood.