Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, you're right. We do need to redesign the entire VR area."

"Let's do this. The main computer will still be placed on the shelf above us. The power key will be drawn down through a line. Then, the entire VR experience area will be made into cubicles. The display screen will be hung on the partition in front of us. There will be foldable table boards below. There will be scaffolding on the table. There will be a keyboard and mouse hanging on it."

"The table is designed to stand at the right height."

"The VR head and controller are hung on the partition on both sides. It's convenient to use."

This way, the table board would have two forms: flat or against the wall.

When gamers used it, they would be allowed to play the game on the computer and enter VR mode. Then, they would be able to leave the table against the wall to experience the game.

That was because the mouse was fixed by the small frame on the table. Thus, as long as the mouse was stuck in the frame before it was put down, there would not be an awkward situation where it hung in the air.

He could only say that if gamers liked to stand and play computer games, then so be it.

Pei Qian felt that such players would be pretty rare.

Xiao Peng nodded. "Alright, I'll follow this plan."

"However… Boss Pei, have you thought of a problem? Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is already a little overcrowded now. If we remove half of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 1.0's computers and replace them with VRs, wouldn't that aggravate the situation?"

"Then I can only open more branches."

Pei Qian's mouth twitched. Good lad, are you threatening me?

What? You think you're so great just because you opened more branches?

You're making it sound like you're not going to open a branch if I don't change this VR game area. How refreshing!

The branch was already opening like dumplings. It was opening anyway. Changing the VR experience area would reduce the income of all the stores by a huge margin. I would not lose anything.

Pei Qian waved his hand. "If you want to open it, so be it. I told you long ago that I will not restrict you from opening branches will not. You can open it however you want."

Xiao Peng nodded happily. "Understood, Boss Pei! I'll start preparing now."

"It's not a small project to make a VR experience area. It can't be done in a day or two. After all, we have to make cubicles, purchase equipment, and so on."

"I plan to modify the internet cafe in batches. I wanted Liang Qingfan to help me design the internet cafe. I haven't found a good opportunity. I can take this opportunity to complete it together!"

Even though such changes would cost a lot of money, I believe that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would look brand new by then. The turnover would be even higher!"

Pei Qian laughed in his heart, rejecting Xiao Peng's last sentence several times.

He could consider changing it, but it was better to reduce the turnover.

…

Pei Qian left Slow Movement Studio not long after.

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin came to the conference room and had a meeting with Lin Wan and the current chief designer of Slow Movement Studio, Cai Jiadong, to study the design details of "Animal Island".

Lin Wan took a few documents from the side, flipped through them, and selected one. Then, she asked her assistant to make a copy.

Soon, this information was sent to everyone.

Each of these documents was a design plan for the new VR glasses. The one that Lin Wan picked was the final plan.

Lin Wan said, "Boss Pei has already decided that Tengda and Shenhua will each invest 10 million yuan more. In other words, the research budget for these VR glasses has reached 40 million yuan."

"Therefore, the design plan for the VR glasses can be finalized. We'll use the most expensive version."

Ye Zhizhou, Wang Xiaobin, and Cai Jiadong picked up the document and read it again.

Before this, Old Song had many ideas. According to the research and development budget and the final price, they had been sorted into several versions.

The most satisfactory version was temporarily shelved because of insufficient research and development funds. Now that the funds were in place, there was no need to hesitate.

Lin Wan explained, "These VR glasses will adopt the all-in-one solution + wireless/wired streaming + binocular head 6DoF positioning system. The lens has to have 4K resolution, 120hz refresh rate, 125 degree field of view, and 5,000mAh battery for continuous gaming 2.5 hours…"

There were not many VR equipment at the moment, and most of them were overseas. However, there was a clear polarization in the development direction of the VR glasses.

One was a pure VR headset that had to be connected to the computer and matched with the positioning base station. The other was a VR all-in-one machine that could be used by the built-in chip alone.

Both methods had their pros and cons.

Comparatively, a pure VR headset would definitely have a better experience, a higher price, and more convenience. For example, in Pei Qian's memory, a VR glass with an 8K gimmick had achieved a 200-degree view angle and a resolution of as high as 8K. Compared to a group of VR all-in-one machines, the screen parameters were completely crushing.

However, the VR all-in-one machine had its own meaning because it could be used in more places.

The VR headset had to be used with a high-end computer, and it had to be connected with a wire. This meant that it could not watch the VR movie independently and could not be too far from the main computer. Moreover, the relatively high price made most players have no desire to buy it.

The VR all-in-one machine was relatively heavier because there was a chip and a huge battery in it. However, it did not need to be connected and was more flexible. What's more, it could have internal programming. It could play VR games with low configurations even without a computer. It was similar to mobile games.

If he wanted to play large-scale computer games, he could use Wi-Fi or wired streaming.

This was actually Shenhua Corporation's strength.

It was precisely because Old Song was very confident in the wired and wireless transmission technology of this pair of glass that he was more inclined to use the plan of the all-in-one machine.

These specific parameters were all decided by Old Song after much consideration.

The binocular head 6DoF positioning system used by the all-in-one machine simply meant that there was no need to locate the base station. Instead, there were two cameras in front of the glasses to film the real environment and locate the location based on the images captured.

The accuracy might be slightly worse than the base station, but it was not obvious. Ordinary players could not feel it.

What's more, these two cameras had special uses. When players left the safe zone or under special circumstances, the glasses would no longer display the game's graphics. Instead, they would display the realistic images captured by the cameras.

However, this image was rather blurry. It was like what a short-sighted person would see.

The other key parameter was the quality of the screen.

The resolution of the VR glasses directly determined the player's usage experience. The first VR glasses were all 2K resolution, but 2K resolution was obviously not enough. It had to be at least 4K.

In fact, even 4K would not be able to completely eliminate the VR's grille effect. However, it would cost too much to increase the resolution. It would be difficult to achieve it with the current technology level.

The refresh rate of 120hz was necessary in order to obtain the best gaming experience. If it was only 60hz, it would actually feel like it was stuck and would not be able to obtain the most smooth gaming experience.

If the main function was to watch movies, 60hz would be enough. However, if he wanted to play games, he had to go 120hz.

The viewing angle was the visual angle of the VR glasses. If it was small, players would feel like they were looking at something through the gap of the door. It was more cramped.

However, the visual angle could not be unlimited. That was because the larger the visual angle, the larger the lens. The larger the lens, the higher the cost of production. The original resolution would also be stretched.

For example, a 100-degree visual angle could maintain 4K. If it was pulled to a 200-degree visual angle, the resolution might only be 2K.

The human eye's overlapping field of vision was 124 degrees. When focused, the range of vision was 25 degrees. The level of vision of the eyes could reach 188 degrees.

In other words, once the VR glasses reached a 200-degree angle, it would give players an extreme sense of immersion. No black rims would appear in their vision.

However, this was too extravagant after all. It was not a plan that could be used at this stage.

Old Song set the angle of the field to 125 degrees, which matched the normal overlap of the eyes. Even though he could still see some black rims from the corner of his eyes, he no longer felt cramped and looked at things through the door.

Such a screen quality coupled with the all-in-one machine's chip would obviously greatly increase its energy consumption. A 5,000 mAh battery would only be enough to play for two and a half hours.

This extended duration was actually more suitable because VR games were different from computer games. They were too immersive and would feel dizzy and tired after playing for too long. It was actually more reasonable to play for two hours to rest.

Of course, there would be no time limit if he could play as it charged. It would just be inconvenient for him to move.

This battery was not small, so he had to use a back-up design plan to balance the weight of the entire glasses, which was the battery part, on the back of the player's head.

This way, the VR glasses would be priced at 4,599 yuan.

It still exceeded everyone's bottom line.

In fact, at the beginning, everyone wanted to try their best to control the price to around 3,000 yuan. That way, the price would be easier on the people and more beneficial to the spread of equipment.

However, it could not be helped. Many parameters could not be lowered, and the price naturally could not be reduced.

Everyone read the information carefully and basically knew what to do.

That was because the specific parameters of the VR glasses would affect some things in the game.

Game design could be said to be an art of 'dancing in shackles'. That was because in all the eras since the birth of the game, its specific content had been limited by the hardware parameters.

It was a test for all designers to do their best under the limited hardware conditions.

Everyone did not get to the main topic immediately. Instead, they chatted for a while.

Lin Wan asked, "How's Shang Yang Games doing?"

Wang Xiaobin smiled. "They're all quite good. The Fitness Battle is considered a success. At first, I was worried that the refund mechanism would cause income to plummet. However, it did not. Instead, it stimulated gamers' passion for charging."

"Other than creating new props for 'Fitness Battle', there's basically no other work."

Lin Wan asked again, "What's the next new project?"

Wang Xiaobin shook his head. "I'm not sure. Let's wait for Boss Pei to give us the task. The two of us have some ideas, but they're not very mature."

That was the end of the conversation. Lin Wan organized her information and prepared to move on to the next topic.

However, at that moment, Ye Zhizhou, who was sitting beside him, suddenly looked up as if he had realized something.

"Wait, I suddenly thought of something!"

"Perhaps Boss Pei has already hinted at our next project?"

Wang Xiaobin and Lin Wan were very surprised. "Huh?"

Ye Zhizhou suddenly became excited. He said to Wang Xiaobin, "We bumped into Boss Pei at the door just now. What did Boss Pei say?"

Wang Xiaobin tried his best to recall. "Er… Boss Pei said that we should fully cooperate with Slow Movement Studio's work. If it really doesn't work out, we can put Shang Yang Games' matters aside."

Ye Zhizhou said, "Isn't that right?"

Wang Xiaobin was still confused. "How so?"

Ye Zhizhou paused for a moment and explained, "We can put Shang Yang Games aside for now. That means that we don't have to rush to start a new project and come up with a new game."

"To fully cooperate with Slow Movement Studio's work is obviously not just to help design the game. After all, no matter how much we cooperate, the design work will mainly be done by Slow Movement Studio's designers."

"However, our cooperation might not be limited to that. We can also do something that would be helpful to the VR glasses!"

"For example, should we develop a VR version of 'Fitness Battle'?"

"I suddenly realized that 'Fitness Battle' and 'VR' seem like a match made in heaven?"