Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Many players complained in their feedback that Cloud Dream was stingy, and the money given for tasks was too little, not enough to spend.

Lincoln had to admit: it\'s true.

But the problem is: when the game was initially designed, the player was supposed to be short of money!

If the player isn\'t short of money, where\'s the motivation to make money?

Moreover, this way, future in-game events and rewards will be more attractive to players.

So for these opinions, Lincoln planned to ignore them.

Aside from these, there was one type of feedback that appeared most frequently.

Out of over 3000 feedback messages, a whopping 2800+ of them mentioned almost the same suggestion-

"Increase the level of interaction with NPCs in the custom shops."

Many people were ranting:

"I don\'t care, I just want intimate contact with beautiful girls!"

"No more false advertising! The custom shops must allow more explicit interactions after the official release!"

"Anyway, no one will know if anything really happens, right? It\'s just between you and me, and if no one talks about it, it\'s like it never happened, so just feel free to go all out on the rating!"

"My roommate, my friend, and myself are all suffering from terminal illnesses. Our last wish before we die is to take a bubble bath with beautiful girls, without swimsuits. Please, Cloud Dream, satisfy our insignificant desires!"

"Please, open a higher level of interaction in custom shops! This is my one request in life!"

...

Some players acted as if they were shareholders of Cloud Dream, giving them advice:

"Suggest secretly increasing the level of interaction in custom shops, but not opening it up completely. Instead, use a lottery to randomly open it up, and firmly deny everything."

"Suggest launching two versions of the game, [17+] and [18+], and open up more explicit interactions in the [18+] version."

"Suggest producing R-rated DLC, adding more beautiful girls, handsome boys, wives, Furui, Dragon girls, slimes, and other special characters, and sell them to adults aged 18 and older."

...

"It\'s too perverted!" Lincoln frowned, "And that last person, what a complicated taste they have!"

"Don\'t these people know that someone will really look at these feedback messages?"

Shaking his head, he threw aside the player feedback and said goodbye to Mavis, then went offline to sleep.

*

At the beginning of the new week, Lincoln sat in his office, no longer the sleepy person he once was, very energetic now.

After practicing with Xu Chun and the others for these days, it\'s hard to say whether his combat skills have improved.

But his daily routine had become more regular, and his mental state had improved a lot.

When he was about to log into the virtual world with his headband, Quentina suddenly knocked on the door and came in.

"Boss, several companies want to discuss cooperation with us."

Lincoln wondered, "Why not go to Jerome? Why come to me?"

"Jerome is busy discussing cooperation with several overseas game companies and is not currently in the company."

With a brief pause, Quentina added, "And, boss, you might be interested in the companies that are coming over."

"I\'m interested? Who\'s here?"

Quentina smiled slightly, "Southern Branch and Qingjin, both arrived almost at the same time."

"Oh~" Lincoln understood, which explained why Quentina thought he\'d be interested.

Back when the person in charge of Southern Branch, John, came to discuss cooperation, his arrogance really annoyed Lincoln, and he even asked for Cheryl\'s help, giving him a hard time.

It was also because this person had no sincerity, looked down on game developers, and thought they were above it all, which led to the collapse of the cooperation.

As a result, all the real clothing store brands in Metropolis became Qingjin\'s brand.

Although the Qingjin clothing stores in Metropolis were robbed and zero-cost purchased by players every day, the brand operation department didn\'t mind it and was even quite happy.

Whenever there was a new product launch, they would update the clothing stores in Metropolis first.

Their actions weren\'t hard to guess: the advertisement had a good promotional effect.

Lincoln came back to his senses, "Is John the one who came this time?"

"Not him." Quentina shook her head, "This time it\'s a female manager."

Lincoln thought for a moment, but what did it matter?

So he shook his head: "Forget it, I don\'t know much about these things anyway, let them talk to the marketing department. As for the manpower issue, what\'s the situation with the IP acquisition groups you mentioned?"

"I know some." As Cloud Dream\'s housekeeper, Quentina knew: "The easy acquisitions have been taken in, and the rest are either unwilling to sell or want to drag on a bit longer and make a killing."

The price offered by Cloud Dream was already at a high premium, and at this point, still stalling and engaging in round after round of negotiations, was a clear indication that they wanted to take advantage of the situation.

"In that case, let\'s put the IP acquisition on hold for now. The IP characters in the amusement park should be enough. I\'ll set up a small team to handle the seasonal look updates for the Candy Track."

"With these people freed up, will there be enough manpower to discuss cooperation with the brands?"

But Quentina was not quite sure: "It\'s hard to say."

"Huh?" Lincoln was a little surprised.

He wanted these groups to come back, which was almost like giving them a break. Wasn\'t it just discussing cooperation with Qingjin and the few brands that had temporarily been put on hold?

Did they need so many people?

Quentina knew clearly why Lincoln was surprised and explained to him: "The number of brands looking to cooperate with us has been increasing. After the closed beta of "Speed Chase", the number has more than doubled, and there are now eighteen brands."

Quentina\'s tone contained a slight surprise: "Yesterday, even a car company contacted us."

"Car company?" Lincoln was also a bit surprised.

What did a car company want to advertise in "Speed Chase"? What were they trying to do?

Did they want to participate in Death Racing and get smashed to a pulp?

Oh, no, there were regular speed races in Night City, alright then.

"Just give it a try first. If we\'re short on manpower, we can hire more people. There should be plenty of space left in our old office, right?"

"Absolutely," Quentina assured him.

*

After reporting on the job, Quentina quickly left the office to contact Jerome and notify the market department employees about the job changes. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lincoln yawned and lay back on his chair, "Mavis..."

Before he could finish speaking, there was a "heave-ho!"

Mavis had already leapt into his arms.

Lincoln held Mavis in one arm while propping himself up with the other hand, sitting on the familiar little sofa on the Spaceship.

But, subconsciously sitting up and looking around, Lincoln melted onto the sofa like a boneless creature.

Mavis followed suit, sprawling on top of him with a satisfied sigh, not bothering to move any further.

The space became quiet.

After a good while, Lincoln gently patted Mavis\'s back, "Alright, shall we do something productive?"

"Mm-hm!" Mavis nodded.

"Check out what the players are up to?"

"Alright." Mavis didn\'t move, but rows of players\' posts and comments automatically appeared in front of Lincoln.

 The most eye-catching was a post by Super Tomato:

"Speed Chase" will officially release in 4 years!"

Obviously, after the closed beta, Super Tomato started the countdown again.

This countdown was generating much more hype than before!

After all, this time the players were not just mere spectators; when the countdown ends, they could actually play!

As expected, everyone was similarly eager.

However, unlike the impatience and heartache felt after the "Assassins\' Alliance" closed beta, this time there were arguments everywhere.

The key reason, of course, was due to the existence of "Assassins\' Alliance". A single virtual city was no longer enough to directly create a shocking impact for everyone.

As the most eye-catching part couldn\'t be documented, players couldn\'t see it.

Main storyline? Wasn\'t open.

So finally, for those who didn\'t participate in the closed beta, the combat system of the new game became the biggest concern.

Unfortunately, the combat system was also quite controversial.

After the closed beta, Cloud Dream showed no intention of making any adjustments or strengthening players\' combat abilities.

This made the players very noisy and argumentative.

According to the information collected by Mavis, most of the discussions were occurring in the Void, which had insanely high levels of participation.

Seeing this situation, Gary finally loosened up his heart.

Although Jason was still anxious, Gary felt much better.

It wasn\'t that Gary thought the controversy would make the "Blaze 3" DLC "Red Flame" crush Cloud Dream\'s new game. But, at least in terms of public opinion, Cloud Dream\'s new game didn\'t have the invincibly crushing dominance it used to have.

As for the effect when the DLC actually releases?

Sadly, that\'s not his responsibility.

If it does well, he\'ll happily clap for them!

But if it fails, it\'s not his fault.

...

As for Lincoln\'s opinion -

"Mavis, help me filter out the parts complaining about weak combat power for now. These opinions have little reference value at the moment."

Mavis didn\'t speak, but the hovering windows in front of Lincoln disappeared one by one, reducing the display by about a quarter within a short time.

Lincoln nodded. It looked much better now.

Next, Lincoln found an interesting topic:

"Are the modified cars in Night City realistic?

I want to participate in the Death Racing competition too! It looks so exciting! But I don\'t know anything about car modification, can I still play it?"

Lincoln thought for a moment and replied with his account: "It\'s best to know about it, but it\'s not necessary. Cars can break down, but as long as you unlock the modification room, special parts can be crafted with the blueprints provided, making it very simple to remake. As for how to modify more effectively, just keep trying it through trial and error, and you\'ll naturally understand."

18:50

Many players in the comments section have similar concerns.

According to Mavis\'s ranking of trending topics, many players are interested in this issue.

This also shows that the influence of virtual games can be seen in all aspects.

In traditional games, players would hardly care about such issues.

Lincoln thought for a moment and replied with his account: "It\'s best to know about it, but it\'s not necessary. Cars can break down, but as long as you unlock the modification room, special parts can be crafted with the blueprints provided, making it very simple to remake. As for how to modify more effectively, just keep trying it through trial and error, and you\'ll naturally understand."

Of course, Cloud Dream doesn\'t expect all players to become car modification experts.

In the game, as long as players unlock the workspace, they will be provided with special tools to help with modifications.

Even if a player\'s blueprint looks like a crooked turtle shell, the tool can correct it into "turtle-shaped bionic iron armor".

As long as your engine is powerful, you can bring it onto the race track!

If it\'s not powerful enough, that\'s fine, the assistance tool can alter the weight directly.

Anyway, in the virtual world, we don\'t have to worry about material issues. If you reduce the weight, the system will decrease the thickness and strength of the armor as well.

As for balance, that\'s up to the players to grasp during practice.

Also-

Every time you make a component, you need certain materials, and for the materials...

Players have to earn money and buy them themselves!

Again, if players don\'t need money, how are they going to be motivated to make money?

If you\'re broke and don\'t want to make any money, then-

You can rob others instead!

After all, this is Night City!