The spring night of the Magic City is filled with dreamy rain of apricot blossoms. At nine o'clock in the night, employees of the independent game studio, Chengjue Studio gathered excitedly in front of the LCD screen in the office area to watch the live award ceremony of the 24th International Game Developers Conference held in Magic City.

Since cloud games suddenly and magically solved the long-standing problem of efficiently compressing high-definition video files, the threshold for players to play stand-alone 3A masterpieces has been greatly reduced, and the dividing line between independent games and 3A masterpieces has gradually blurred.

The international game developer conference, which originally belonged to the stage of independent games, suddenly filled with international manufacturers.

In the venue where masterpieces are crowded, the independent game, which is already difficult to survive, is becoming increasingly dimmed and its decline is revealed.

This year, Chengjue Studio's works have also participated in the competition for various awards at the Developer Conference.

Although the sales volume of tens of millions was completed, Chengjue Studio's revenue was not considerable after the platform was divided. In addition, the studio's newly developed projects were too ambitious, and the development costs were seriously exceeding the budget, and the funding gap was increasing day by day.

The two heads of the studio had to apply for a new round of investment and even initiated crowdfunding. This time, they participated in the competition for the International Developer Awards, which is also a valuable way out for the studio to win investors' favor.

If you can win the award, you will never worry about the studio's project funding gap, and you will never have to worry about the future of yourself and the studio.

Whoever wins the grand prize this time is related to everyone's destiny. However, facing the unattainable international 3A masterpiece like mountains, everyone's pressure is doubled.

"The worst thing is to win a Best Download Award." The main beauty Wang Jiali's voice was already nervous and trembling like a crying voice.

"No, the most promising thing is the Best Narrative Award!" An employee couldn't help but speak.

"That's right, Mr. Chu...No, Mr. Chu's story style in "Spirit" is impeccable." The employees nodded one after another.

"You are wrong. The judges of the developer conference do not care about our spiritual stories. Even if you write a Dream of the Red Chamber, you will never win an award. Art, only Chu Shao's artistic skills can touch their hearts. Just like the last time "Breakthrough of the Dead House"!" Jiang Shen glanced at Wang Jiali.

"This time, I just continued the style of Chu Shao's "Breakthrough of the House". The judges could not give the same art style twice. Diversity is the purpose of the conference. And this time, there are so many 3A masterpieces, how can Chu Shao and I fight over the decades of accumulation in international factories?" Wang Jiali shook her head powerlessly.

"That's right, only game design is the truly competitive award for Mr. Chu!"

"I agree with this. It cannot be the best technical award anyway. Chu Shao himself said he was lucky when he won the award in "The Breakthrough of the House".

"As the customary 3A masterpieces win the annual awards, and the judges of other awards should consider independent games!"

"Really? If you really want to consider independent games, these 3A masterpieces shouldn't be elected at all. And there are so many, is one annual prize enough?"

"Shhh! Look, Mr. Cai appears." Cheng Jiangshen pointed to a man on the screen with his hairline struggling on the edge of life and death.

His face was rich and rosy, his nose was shiny, and his bean eyes were flashing with anticipation. He looked at the camera with agility, raised his fingers quietly, and made a gesture of scissors.

Among the two big shots of Chengjue Studio, Cai Jue is the operation director, product director and producer, and he is the face of the studio. He is the leader of all major awards and interactions with players.

"Mr. Cai's ring finger is shaking." The beauty Wang Jiali sighed.

Everyone couldn't help but want to laugh, but no one could laugh out loud, and they were too nervous and depressed.

Everyone subconsciously turned their heads and looked at the desk in the center of the work area. There was a person sitting in front of the desk. In the Chengjue Studio tonight, he was the only one who pointed the back of his head at the big screen.

His name is Chu Qiancheng, and he is a man called "Sir Chu". He is the project leader of Chengjue Studio and a famous game producer.

His first independent game "Breakthrough of the House" in collaboration with his best friend Cai Jue won four awards at the 22nd International Game Developers Conference.

"Breakthrough of the House" is a game that allows players to help a otakus who is autistic at home due to the pandemic rush out of the fantasy world he created, muster up the courage to go out of the house and re-enter the society.

Every day when I go out, I experience countless psychological struggles. The game converts this struggle into a rogue-like level-breaking game.

This game was written by Chu Qiancheng based on his own experience, with unique gameplay and is known as the foodie country in the industry.

Chu Qiancheng's second game completely gained the reputation of his Chengjue Studio, which is his "Soul Guardian".

The game also uses the rogue-like level-breaking mode. Players play as a teenager who suddenly understands super powers "enter the dream" on the edge of despair. They can enter the dreams of those who are on the verge of despair to collect psychological trauma and complete their self-rescue puzzle.

After saving girls who are on the verge of collapse due to domestic violence, campus violence, workplace discrimination, online violence, childhood shadows, opposite sex harassment, and best friend back pricks, they will collect psychological trauma fragments as rewards and integrate their own self-rescue puzzles. The day when the self-rescue puzzle is completed is the time when the player breaks out of the cocoon.

When saving the girl's soul, players must rely on sacrifices and dedication during the level-breaking process to awaken the girls' inner courage and strength. The final boss must be caused by the girl's soul to produce the last wave of damage to be truly eliminated.

The core of the game is "sacrifice and redemption".

Chu Qiancheng originally didn't want to set all those who were on the verge of despair as girls, but Cai Jue, who was responsible for the production, production and operation of the game, insisted that all girls were girls, and everyone understood!

The game was sold on the internal combustion engine platform in the first month of its release, and sold more than 10 million copies a year, becoming the first stand-alone game in the foodie country to be sold in a volume of over 10 million.

The protagonist who participated tonight was also this game that created miracles.

At this moment, Chu Qiancheng was constantly modifying the original game painting using the hand-drawn screen connected to the host.

This is a black and white original painting of the heroine of the game. She wore a shabby work leather hat on her head, with protective glasses on the leather hat. She held a smoked welding gun in one hand, and reached out to the picture with the other, as if she wanted to touch the viewer.

She was thin and short, with a thin face, her lips were chapped and skinny, and there were faint black circles under her eyes, looking haggard and tired, but her light eyes were bright, as if there was a galaxy hidden.

Chu Qiancheng's concentrating look, as always, made the employees feel extremely at ease, as if all the honors will be the things in the pocket of Chengjue Studio.

However……

"Now the best sound effect award of this conference is announced. The candidate is the soul guardian, Douzong 5... The winner is the crying from afar 8."

"Ah~~~" There was a sigh in the work area.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Jiang Shen raised his hand and pressed it down, "There was no hope at all."

"The best art award for this conference is now announced. The candidate is the soul guardian, and the biochemical disaster remake... The winner is Douzong 5!"

"This is simply crushing." Everyone lamented. Douzong 5, a stand-alone magical work that has been popular for almost twenty years, has its artistic foundation that is not comparable to that of an independent production like "Soul Guardian".

"Now the audience selection award for this conference is announced... The winner is a remake of the biochemical disaster!"

"No one expects them to choose our game." Wang Jiali said angrily. The work area was quiet, and people's hearts were pressed against the heavy rocks. They did not respond to her. Even Jiang Shen, who was most in line with her, didn't want to talk.

“…The Best Technical Award at this Conference…Douzong 5.”

"Oh~~~~~" This time everyone couldn't hold back and shouted in disappointment. Although everyone knew that it was unlikely that they would get the technical award, they had accumulated too much disappointment.

“……The winner of this conference’s best download award is hell no one.”

"What's going on!" The beauty of the main beauty Wang Jiali exclaimed, "Our "Soul Guardian" has downloaded more than tens of millions on the steam engine platform. What's the origin of "No one in Hell"?"

"..." Jiang Shen shook his head in a heavy mood, "A master has emerged again. It's hard this time."

"The winner of the best narrative award at this conference is... Black Soul 4!"

"Alas~~~~" The workspace was drowned by the lament. Sure enough, the judges of the developer conference had no empathy for the general public who cared for in "The Guardian of Souls". They only thought the game... noisy.

"The Best Game Design Award at this Conference, the candidate's soul guardian, the biochemical disaster remake, no one in hell... The winner is Black Soul 4!"

"What!?" Jiang Shen and Wang Jiali hugged the top of her head with her hands at the same time.

Black Soul 4 is the masterpiece of the legendary old thief in the game industry. In his new work, he used the rogue-like map reset mechanism to create a never-ending box garden world. While he was so cruel that the players could not put them down, he became a patient with Stockholm syndrome.

However, this mechanism is also used in "Soul Guardian". Moreover, "Soul" was released earlier than "Black Soul 4". This is not to say that the old thief plagiarized "Soul", but a rare hero's opinion is similar.

However, the old thief's status in the world is unattainable after all, and Chengjue Studio can only accept a disadvantage. After the Best Design Award for Game, other awards "Soul Guardian" have no competitiveness, and the annual award cannot match the 3A masterpiece.
Chapter completed!