Chapter 200: Director Lin Really Does Have Some Substance!
Although Lin Wan couldn't precisely explain the difference between a web game and a client game, she still had a general understanding of the issues involved.
Client games and browser games were two entirely different categories.
Their core gameplay, design philosophies, and target audiences were all completely different.
If someone thought a web game could be easily converted into a client game, that person had to be a total newbie who didn't understand games at all.
Ports only worked top-down—for example, a client game being ported to web, or a web game being ported to mobile.
And even then, it only worked if the original game's structure supported such a transition.
But the other way around—turning a web game into a client game—would require so many changes that it was essentially the same as developing a brand-new game from scratch.
Yet, Shangyang Games had already confirmed that they were developing Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition. Even the design draft was finalized. This was President Pei's decision, so it absolutely couldn't be changed.
That meant, if they wanted to spend that much budget, making a micro-client became the only possible solution.
But, just as Wang Xiaobin had said, developing a micro-client carried huge risks.
A micro-client required fewer downloads than a full client, but the graphics would be much better than a web game. On the surface, it seemed like the best of both worlds.
But looked at from another angle, it might be the worst of both worlds.
For client game players, its graphics couldn't match regular client games.
For web game players, having to download even a small client meant losing the "instant play" advantage—too much hassle.
This could very well result in neither group liking it—leading to complete disaster.
Once again, all eyes turned to Lin Wan.
This was a decision only the director could make.
Lin Wan felt a little flustered.
Back at Tenda, although she had been responsible for some work, she had never made such a critical decision before.
She understood very clearly: this one decision might directly determine everyone's workload for the next several months—and involve several million yuan in funding.
If it worked, great.
If it failed, everyone's hard work would be wasted, and all that money would go down the drain.
The weight of responsibility pressed heavily on her shoulders.
Her first instinct was to ask President Pei for guidance.
But after a moment's thought, she realized that wouldn't do.
President Pei had sent her here to take charge of Shangyang Games—he was placing great expectations on her!
If she asked him about everything, she'd be nothing more than a mouthpiece. That would completely betray his trust and good intentions.
Lin Wan fell into deep thought.
'If this were President Pei, what would he do?'
'Calm down. President Pei often makes unexpected decisions—but when you think about them carefully, they always make sense.'
'Would he cut the budget? Absolutely not.'
'Would he care whether players accepted the micro-client right away? Probably not.'
'President Pei would make the choice for the players, whether or not they liked it at first.'
'So… it's clear what he would do.'
After thinking it through, Lin Wan said decisively:
"We'll do a micro-client. The design content stays exactly the same—but all art assets will be upgraded, moving from 2D to full 3D."
Her expression brimmed with confidence.
That confidence didn't come from herself, but from her precise understanding of President Pei's intentions.
This—this was the self-discipline of a true Tenda employee!
. . . .
The meeting ended.
Back at his workstation, Ye Zhizhou began revising the budget and requirement sheets.
Although doubling the budget was, in a sense, a good thing, for Ye Zhizhou it was still a major headache to rework all those documents.
Fortunately, this could still be considered a "happy kind of trouble."
Just as Ye Zhizhou was busy working, his phone screen lit up.
It's a message from President Pei.
"How's the progress?"
Ye Zhizhou perked up immediately. Perfect! President Pei took the initiative to ask!
Truth be told, Ye Zhizhou was still a little worried about Lin Wan's decision.
Doubling the budget, switching the project from a web game to a micro-client—these were both risky decisions. Without President Pei's approval, Ye Zhizhou still felt uneasy.
But he couldn't take the initiative to report it either—that would make it look like he was tattling.
Now that President Pei had asked on his own, this was the best possible outcome.
Ye Zhizhou quickly summarized the results of the meeting—the budget changes and the decision to make it a micro-client.
He figured, if President Pei had any objections, he could clarify things further.
Two minutes later, the reply came:
"Good. Do it that way."
"In the future, if there's anything you can't decide, just follow Director Lin's lead."
President Pei didn't raise a single question—he completely agreed with Director Lin's decision!
Ye Zhizhou couldn't help but marvel. As expected, someone parachuted in from Tenda to be the design director could never be just an empty title.
During the meeting, Ye Zhizhou had still held a trace of doubt.
After all, Lin Wan hadn't questioned a single detail of the design draft. She had directly made such a major decision, and to him, that had felt somewhat rash.
But now, with President Pei's approval, all doubts vanished into thin air.
If President Pei had signed off on it, how could it be wrong?
And just like Director Lin had said, President Pei had approved the 5 million budget without hesitation. Even the risky micro-client decision was accepted without question.
It really did look like Director Lin understood President Pei's thinking on a much deeper level than they did!
With this, perhaps President Pei—so busy with other work—could finally rest easy about Shangyang Games.
. . . . .
Pei Qian put down his phone, in quite a good mood.
Lin Wan's performance was even better than he had expected!
Pei Qian's main worry was that once Lin Wan arrived at Shangyang Games, she might be too timid, not daring to make decisions, ending up sidelined as a powerless figurehead.
If that happened, she wouldn't experience enough frustration, and she might end up blaming others, unwilling to give up and obediently return to inherit her family fortune.
But now, it seemed Lin Wan had adapted to her new role very well!
She had actually made decisions that aligned perfectly with his intentions.
Not only did they spend more money, but they also changed a safe, reliable web game into a risky micro-client project.
Pei Qian knew about micro-clients. He also knew this model had never become mainstream for web games.
Not in the past, and not in the future either.
Yes, some web games had released micro-clients—but only as a small optional feature. Most of them kept the size under 50 MB.
What Shangyang was doing, however, was entirely different.
On one hand, the game's system requirements would go up. On the other, the download size would balloon to 200–300 MB.
That meant a lot of office workers using company PCs or old machines to sneak in a web game session would be completely turned away!
In other words, the game wouldn't appeal to client game players or web game players. It would fail to please either side, while spending more money at the same time. Perfect!
A web game like this, burning 5 million in development upfront, with another 2–3 million spent later on promotion—its progress would likely even outpace Turn Back Before It's Too Late!
That meant it could launch more than a month earlier, securing losses ahead of schedule. Absolutely delightful!
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