sinovels Chapter 424 The East Wind Has Arrived
Chapter 424 The East Wind Has Arrived
After replying with just two words, Lu Ran ignored Chen Mo completely.
He put his phone aside, stood up from the sofa, and stretched his neck, which was a little stiff from sleeping.
I slept in a bad position on the sofa last night, and my neck was crooked all night. Now it makes a cracking sound whenever I move it.
He walked into the kitchen, where Shen Yuege was standing in front of the stove frying eggs.
She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, her hair was casually tied in a ponytail, and an apron was tied around her waist. She looked quite energetic.
Two eggs were sizzling in the pot, while milk was boiling in a small pot next to it, the steam making a bubbling sound as it hit the lid.
"Awake?" Shen Yuege asked without turning her head. "Why did you sleep on the sofa last night?"
"You fell asleep on the sofa, and I didn't move because I didn't want to wake you."
"Then you could wake me up. Sleeping on the sofa is so uncomfortable."
"It's alright. Much wider than the single bed in the RV."
Shen Yuege was amused by his words, scooped the fried eggs onto a plate, and turned off the heat.
She brought breakfast to the table, and the two of them sat down to eat.
"What time is the song being released today?" Lu Ran took a bite of an egg; it was soft-boiled, and the yolk spilled out and clung to the corner of her mouth.
"10:00 AM. The studio is all ready; it will be shipped out on time."
"What about the promotional materials? Have the posters been made? Have the copywriting been written?"
"Everything's done. I made three versions of the poster and chose the best one. I wrote the copy, take a look." Shen Yuege handed over her phone, a text message on the screen.
Lu Ran took it and read it once.
The copywriting is well done, just a few simple sentences: "The first song of the new year, 'A Thousand Songs.' In Cantonese. Dedicated to everyone who continues to move forward in the new year."
There were no fancy embellishments or deliberate sentimentality; it was simply a straightforward announcement: "I've released a song."
"That's fine." Lu Ran handed the phone back to her. "Just send it like this."
Shen Yuege took the phone, glanced at the text again, confirmed that there were no problems, put the phone aside and continued eating.
The two finished breakfast quietly, and Shen Yuege went to change her clothes to go to the studio.
Lu Ran said she could keep an eye on things at home and didn't need to go to the studio.
Shen Yuege said she felt anxious staying at home and felt more at ease going to the studio.
Lu Ran didn't stop her. He knew Shen Yuege's personality; she needed a work-oriented environment to work, and being too comfortable at home made it difficult for her to concentrate.
After Shen Yuege left, Lu Ran sat alone on the sofa and picked up his phone to read Chen Mo's message.
He looked at the line "Are you sure this was written by the same team?" again, and a slight smirk appeared on his lips. Chen Mo, though he said he wouldn't ask about the source of the code, still had his doubts.
Lu Ran glanced at it and saw that Chen Mo had replied with another message, which he had just sent.
"The game is great. I played a few rounds and the controls are excellent. The map design is also interesting. The balance on the Desert Dust map is well done; whether you're playing as a defender or an attacker, you have a good game. And the Transport Ship map is incredibly fast-paced; my palms were sweating after just one round."
Lu Ran's lips curled up as he read the reply.
If Chen Mo likes it, that's good; only if he likes it can we move on to the next step.
"Would Mr. Chen be interested in joining in?"
Chen Mo did not reply immediately.
Lu Ran waited for about five minutes, then his phone vibrated.
"I'm interested. But I have a few questions."
"Please speak."
"First, who is this team? I need to know the basic information about the partners, otherwise I can't report it to my superiors."
Lu Ran leaned back on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds.
He had anticipated this question and had prepared his answer in advance.
"I can't disclose specific information about this team, but I can guarantee two things: First, they have fully licensed the complete code and resources of this project to Tutu Technology, and I have complete control over them. Second, this team will not collaborate with any third party on this game; Tutu Technology is the sole partner. In other words, you can talk to me directly; you don't need to contact that team."
Chen Mo did not reply immediately, but responded about ten minutes later.
"Mr. Lu, you always do things in such a secretive way. It was the same with 'Minecraft,' you said you had someone help you write it, and that you signed a confidentiality agreement so you couldn't reveal the details. And now another mysterious team has come. Just how many people do you know that I don't know about?"
Lu Ran laughed. He replied, "Mr. Chen, don't worry about who I know. Just tell me if this game is any good."
"OK."
"Then let's talk about cooperation."
"How do we cooperate?"
Lu Ran thought for a moment and typed a line: "TuTu Technology will provide the technology and core code, and Tencent will provide the channels and operational resources. Revenue sharing will be 60% for TuTu and 40% for Tencent."
Chen Mo replied quickly this time: "Forty percent? You're taking sixty percent? Mr. Lu, isn't that a bit excessive? We're providing the channels and operations, why should you take sixty percent?"
"I brought out the game myself." Lu Ran felt a bit domineering when he typed this, but he didn't delete it and sent it directly.
Chen Mo sent an ellipsis and then said, "You really don't stand on ceremony when it comes to business."
"Can politeness feed you?"
Chen Mo sent another ellipsis and then said, "I need to report to my superiors. I can't decide this profit-sharing ratio on my own."
"Okay. I'll wait for your reply."
Lu Ran put down his phone and leaned back on the sofa.
He knew Chen Mo would try to win it over.
It wasn't because Chen Mo liked him that much, but because Chen Mo had done the math.
Tencent didn't invest a lot of resources in its collaboration with Tutu Technology, but the returns were clear.
The previous example of "League of Legends" is that Tencent invested some resources and in return, it resulted in a significant increase in user dwell time in East China.
Chen Mo understood this better than anyone else.
If Tencent doesn't cooperate with them now, Tutu Technology will most likely find someone else to work with on "CrossFire".
Whether it's Perfect World, NetEase, or even Bilibili, whoever gets the cooperation rights for this game will be able to grab a share of the FPS market.
Although Tencent has Half-Life, that game is too old and its user base keeps declining, so it urgently needs a new product to fill the gap.
Chen Mo wasn't stupid; he understood this principle.
Lu Ran stood up, walked to the window, and stretched.
Several children were flying kites on the lawn downstairs. The kites weren't flying very high, just swaying gently above the treetops, the strings being pulled in and out of the children's hands.
He looked at the children for a while and thought that sometimes being carefree is good too.
He turned on his computer and logged into the TUTU backend.
Shen Yuege's new song will be released in more than an hour, but the trailer has already been released.
He opened the trailer page and saw that there were already thousands of comments in the comment section.
Some people are asking about the song title, some are asking if it's a Cantonese song, some are asking if it was written by Lu Ran, and there are all sorts of questions.
One comment was pushed to the top: "Shen Yuege didn't say a word during the Spring Festival, I thought she was resting. Turns out she was holding back a big surprise. Her first song of the new year, I give her full marks for this."
Indeed, when you are good enough, great scholars will naturally come to debate with you.
When Shen Yuege releases a new song, her fans can easily imagine that she didn't even get a break during the Chinese New Year.
Lu Ran did not reply and closed the page.
He then opened the work group.
Zhou Mingzhe sent a message in the group saying that the employee training at the Chengdu branch had ended, and all 63 people had passed the assessment and were ready to start work.
He asked Lu Ran how these people should be distributed.
For Lu Ran, this news was like a pillow coming out of his sleep.
What Lu Ran needs most right now is manpower.
Everything is ready, except for the manpower needed.
If Lu Ran weren't short of money, he would have poached the entire Tencent.
It's perfect to train them now. After a few more months of practice, they'll be able to participate in Minecraft and CrossFire as well.
Lu Ran thought for a moment and replied in the group: "Put everything on the 'Seven Heroes Jianghu' and 'Three Kingdoms Kill' projects first. These two games are currently under maintenance, so they're perfect for newbies to practice on. Let them look at the code, fix the bugs, and launch it themselves. If they fix it well, that's their achievement; if they mess it up, I'll take responsibility."
Zhou Mingzhe replied: "You said the same thing last time. As a result, the code of 'Seven Heroes of the Jianghu' was modified by a newbie and several bugs were found. Old Wang spent several days fixing them."
"That was last time. This batch of new recruits has been trained for two months and is much better than the last one. Don't worry, there won't be any major problems."
Zhou Mingzhe sent a "I hope so" emoji.
Lu Ran did not continue the topic.
He opened the beta version of Minecraft and ran around in the game.
The world generation speed is much faster than in the last test, and the occasional lag issue has been resolved.
The graphics are smooth, the controls are fluid, and the redstone system runs without any bugs.
He cut down some trees, built a small house, dug a mine, made a diamond sword, and killed some zombies.
The whole process went smoothly without any problems; it was almost identical to the version he downloaded from the system.
He exited the game and sent Lao Wang a message: "I ran the beta version once, no problems. Has Engineer Liu finished the rendering module?"
Old Wang replied: "It's done. Engineer Liu has been optimizing it during the Spring Festival. He sent me a new version last Friday, and I tested it for two days. There are no problems. The whole project is now in the final integration stage, and it is expected to be launched in the first half of the year."
"First half of the year? Which months specifically?"
"May or June, I'm afraid it won't be enough time to do sufficient testing if it's any earlier."
Lu Ran thought for a moment.
May and June, this is a good time.
Everyone had their fill of playing Infinite Firepower during the Chinese New Year holiday, the competitions ended in March and April, and Minecraft was released in May and June, the timing was just right.
"Okay. Let's go with this schedule. Don't rush, just focus on quality."
Old Wang sent a "Received" emoji.
Lu Ran closed the beta version of Minecraft and opened a new document.
He typed a line in the document: "Crossfire Development Plan".
...