This is not a BUG, this is a game feature

After deciding on a low-key release and not carrying out any form of publicity and promotion strategy for the game, another problem followed.

That's right!

"Abba" does not seek rewards. Whether players buy the game or not is secondary. Even if they do buy it, and there are many people buying it, Chen Ba will donate this part of the income, so zero publicity is not a big problem.

But...

This game was made for the sake of winning prizes. If he couldn't win prizes, what was the point of Chen Ba's busyness during this period?

In other words.

Players may not buy or play the game "Abba", but the judges must play it and let them know about it.

"There's enough time..."

Yang Dong analyzed: "There is still plenty of time to apply for awards. We can issue a CDkey to those game media people and game producers who are qualified to nominate and vote before the game is officially launched."

This is also industry practice.

Just like those films that are aspiring to win Oscar awards, they will mail a video tape of the film to Academy members at their own expense, saving them the need to buy tickets to watch it themselves.

The awards in the game industry are basically determined by well-known game media people, producers and industry veterans who take turns voting.

We cannot expect every one of these people to buy and play "Abba". This is definitely unrealistic.

Therefore, giving away a free Cdkey or even a game cartridge disc has become a very necessary thing.

Besides, it doesn’t cost much.

There are only a few hundred media and producers who are eligible to nominate and vote. Giving away these hundreds of games is definitely a piece of cake for Tianba Studio.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Ba said: "Since you want to give away, let's be generous. We will not only give away games, but also give away some small gifts, derivatives and souvenirs."

"Isn't this... a bribe?"

"Reciprocity is a normal public relations lobbying act, how can it be called bribery?"

Chen Ba said angrily: "Then when you ask others to do things, you can't treat them to a meal and a bath? As long as you don't give money openly, it doesn't matter."

It's definitely not okay to give money openly. The impact would be too bad, and it wouldn't sound good if it spread out.

But giving away game Cdkeys and game cartridges along with some "insignificant" small gifts is another matter.

In fact, Tianba Studio does this kind of thing a lot.

Take the media with the best connections [Game Star] as an example. From the editor-in-chief to the ordinary editors, who has not received occasional small gifts from Tianba Studio?

Otherwise, why do you think [Game Star Sky] publishes articles every now and then to talk about Tianba Studio and their games, and is nicknamed "Tianba Star Sky" by players?

There is no love without reason, and there is no hate without reason!

Everyone always says that China is a humane society, and everyone has to toast a glass of wine and smoke a cigarette when someone comes, but how can it be better abroad?

In addition to emotional factors, the interactions between people are nothing more than interests!

In this regard, Chen Ba dare not say that he has a say, but at least he has a certain ability to judge.

Why is it that Tianba Studio has the Nobug platform, but the game will still be released simultaneously on Ebao, Steam, Wegame and other platforms? Could it be that without these platforms, they can't have Nobug exclusives?

of course not!

Chen Ba can be exclusive. Players who want to play Tianba Studio’s games can only purchase them on the Nobug platform.

But he knows that eating alone often doesn't end well, and players don't want to see this happen. Making more friends is always useful at critical moments.

"This makes sense..."

Yang Dong said with a smile: "Our relationship with the steam platform is not bad. Over the years, they have given high-quality recommendations and our games are always listed on the homepage."

This is the benefit of cooperation.

The Steam Platform also attaches great importance to the cooperative relationship with Tianba Studio, and does not want to see Tianba Studio withdraw from the Steam Platform, so it has been trying its best to retain it.

Trivia!

For ordinary game developers, after the game is sold on the Steam platform, the "toll" collected by Steam is 30%, which is a full 30% of the revenue.

As for Tianba Studio, a developer with certain "initiative power", the commission ratio obtained through negotiation is only 10%, which is even lower than the commission ratio announced by Ebao.

Of course, the benefit that E Bao promised Tianba Games privately was to avoid being drawn.

All in all, E-bao is better!

It's a pity that Ebao doesn't live up to expectations. The creation of community atmosphere has always lagged behind a lot, and even now it can hardly catch up with the Nobug platform.

Yes, the community atmosphere of Ebao is not as good as that of Nobug platform.

Although Nobug is jokingly called the "large Wegame", after all, this platform also integrates the [Tianba Community], and the activity of the Tianba Community, I believe there is no need to go into details, right?

"E-Bao is quite miserable, but it doesn't matter. At least they still have the Dream Engine. With this engine, they won't die for a while."

Yang Dong sighed: "On the contrary, our carefully built Tianba engine has been updated to version 5.0, but it is still a lot shorter than the Dream Engine..."

Chen Ba was speechless.

Is the Tianba engine easy to use?

Easy to use! Absolutely easy to use!

As an AI game engine containing black technology, the development convenience of Tianba Engine is unquestionable, which is why it has won the favor of many developers.

However, developers who use the Tianba engine are mostly small developers or independent game developers. Real big companies or top studio teams rarely use this engine to develop and produce games.

Why?

Of course, this is because compared to the Dream Engine, the Tianba Engine is easy to use, but it is too unstable!

Do you like my Bug Maker?

After using the Tianba engine, many developers have encountered the problem of "unknown" bugs in the game, and they have been troubleshooting for a long time but cannot find the cause.

The engine lacks stability and reliability and may cause hidden dangers for your game at any time. Therefore, independent game developers do not dislike it, and even love it.

Big manufacturers won’t even take a look at the Tianba engine. They always think it’s “Chen Ba’s conspiracy”. After all, whose engine can create so many game bugs?

"well!"

Sighing slightly, Chen Ba said: "I will try to update the engine later. Let's not talk about it for now. You can make arrangements for "Abba" first."

"Do it now?"

Yang Dong was a little surprised. If he remembered correctly, the original release date of "Abba" was next month, right?

For a game that is expected to be released next month, give Cdkeys to game media professionals and producers now. Will they be able to play the game?

"Can play!"

Chen Ba said without thinking: "The server has been set up a long time ago. For the client, we just need to get a special download link."

The reason why the games are given to these media and producers one month in advance instead of waiting until the game is officially released is actually due to a certain "time" factor.

Next year's The Game Awards, also known as TGA, will soon enter the nomination and selection process.

If we don’t hurry up and send the game out, we will definitely not be able to catch up with next year’s TGA selection, and we will have to postpone it one year to compete for the grand prize the year after next.

Originally this was not a big deal.

If it is postponed for one year in the future, it will be postponed for one year. Is there any difference between the nomination next year and the nomination the year after?

It turns out!

Chen Ba learned through inquiries that there is a high probability that there will be no highly competitive 3A masterpieces such as "Baldur's Gate" and "Elden's Ring" in next year's TGA, which is a typical "a small year for awards."

The next year, it will be much more difficult.

If nothing else, there will be sequels to many well-known 3A games in the year to come, including many top IPs such as Laotou, Assassin's Creed, Sekiro and God of War.

The most important thing is that there is a high probability that there will be a sequel to "that game" the year after next, which is "GTA7" for which Rockstar has vowed that the folder has been created...

For this reason, Chen Ba does not want to attend the TGA the year after next because of the release time, but will try to participate next year as much as possible.

The difference in this year is huge.

Being selected for next year's TGA, Chen Ba is fully confident of winning the "Game of the Year" award. After all, other games are no match for "Abba".

But if by chance it is selected for the TGA next year, then even if "Abba" has the advantage of subject matter, it may be a disaster. After all, the several games that were also nominated are not good ones!

…

Los Santos, Game Detective editorial office.

The Game Detective website was founded in 1997 as a sharing game community. The founder, Roy Clift, collected a lot of game information and strategy tutorials and shared them for free with other interested players.

Later, the website grew bigger and bigger, and its business was no longer just about sharing game content, but gradually evolved into an extremely professional professional game media.

The website has its own newsroom, which is responsible for collecting the latest information and reports on the gaming industry and publishing them on the website for all players to browse and review.

Peter is one of the editors.

The section and reporting content he is responsible for is "Asian Games". Because of his professional writing and comments, he has a strong influence on the console player community.

Today, Peter was preparing to brew himself a cup of fragrant coffee as usual before starting his day's work.

But just as he was making coffee, the editor-in-chief stopped him.

"A new game?"

Peter put the coffee on the table, turned on the computer, received and checked the content of the email forwarded by the editor-in-chief.

cool!

Tianba Games is a company he is very familiar with because he is a loyal "Speed" console player and has even spent thousands of dollars on the game.

"Let me see what other incredible game they have come up with!"

When he clicked on the download link, Peter was filled with anticipation.

The editor-in-chief just told him that even if this game is average, don’t criticize it too much, because it is a public welfare game, and the developer is also a good friend of the Game Detective website.

High emotional intelligence: Don’t find fault!

Low EQ: The other party has given us a favor and he is now our good brother!

Of course Peter understood what the editor meant, but if he understood it, he would understand it. If this game was really bad, he probably wouldn't be merciful and he would definitely criticize it a few times when writing the article.

But then again...

After learning that the developer of this game was Tianba Games, and that the name of the game was highly similar to a certain movie, Peter was already looking forward to what the game would look like.

"The True Story of Abba"?

To be honest, there is nothing particularly surprising about this name. Even after being translated into English, there are some mistakes in the meaning.

But that's not important, because in addition to the name, there is also a general plot introduction to the game.

"The protagonist is a..."

The Internet speed in the office was very fast, and it didn't take long for Peter to download the client of "Abba".

After logging into the "dedicated" account sent by Tianba Studio, he was quickly confused by the game's initial page.

In other games, the initial page is either a nickname, a facial expression, or personalized...

But "Abba" is different.

There is only one "gender" available for players to choose from, face-shaping does not exist, and naming does not exist either!

Perhaps in the online mode, players can individually name or make faces, but in the normal stand-alone story mode, these are not optional.

Of course, that's not the point.

Players who like to play stand-alone games don’t pay much attention to this aspect in the final analysis. After all, online games only have so many demands for face-making and personalization, and personalization is not really important when playing stand-alone games.

The point is, after selecting the gender, the player enters a brand new link, which is also a key step in determining how the main line and plot of the game will develop: randomly obtaining physical defects!

Players start with three dice.

If you are not satisfied with the random physical defects, you can use dice to refresh and replace them.

Peter's randomly generated physical defect is "blindness", a.k.a. Blind Abba!

He did not use the dice to refresh or reset, but entered the game with curiosity. He wanted to know how the game could simulate the feeling of being "blind" for him.

Soon, he knew.

The originally 4K high-definition display screen suddenly changed to "prehistoric quality". After entering the game, except for the "Settings", "Help" and other function buttons, no details can be seen clearly in the screen. There is only A hazy light.

Peter: "???"

What kind of plane did the producer use to make the game screen look like this? How could he still play the game?

So…

He can't see anything clearly now, how can he play? Doesn’t this game have a novice tutorial?

Oh, it turns out there is!

Under the guidance of the novice tutorial, Peter obtained a blind cane and a guide dog, and roughly figured out the specific use of the blind cane.

In other words, these are his eyes.

Then what?

After the game gave him a blind cane and a guide dog, there were no new changes. Peter was at a loss and didn't know what to do.

Press the O key to stand up, press the O key again to sit down...

You can take action as soon as you stand up. Press the direction keys and cooperate with the feedback from the blind cane and guide dog to get a rough understanding of some information.

But this is too troublesome!

Peter felt that these assistants were useless. Although the screen was blurred and nothing could be seen, the protagonist didn't need to be so cautious, right?

This step is too slow. Anyway, the leg is not broken. Can't I run faster?

Plop!

"You fell into the river and drowned..."