Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

September 5th, Sunday…

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch…

Qiao Liang looked at Boss Pei with his light smile and was a little hesitant in whether to say something or not.

Pei Qian smiled and said, "Speak frankly; it's alright. I am a designer that loves hearing others' opinions."

Qiao Liang's mouth twitched as he thought quietly internally. En, I do not doubt this at all.

After Qiao Liang had spoken frankly the previous time, the game had been speedily updated; around 90% of the changes had been related to what he had said.

However, the only problem was that all the changes were exactly the opposite of what he had suggested!

Qiao Liang wanted Pei Qian to make some less popular weapons stronger; Pei Qian had ended up nerfing the popular ones;

Qiao Liang had wanted Pei Qian to reduce the difficulty level of the game in the early-stage; Pei Qian had elevated the difficulty level of the mid- and late stages of the game.

Boss Pei was right: he indeed was a designer that loved to hear others' opinions. However, after taking in feedback, that didn't exactly mean that he would follow and change accordingly…

These three days, Qiao Liang had had a horrible time.

The rebalancing of Repent and be Saved resulted in him having to suffer continuously in the game. As the weapons that he had gotten used to weren't that effective anymore, he could only try and use other weapons.

Furthermore, as the difficulty level of the later parts of the game had been raised, Qiao Liang had been stuck at certain points of the game for some time. Even some settings where he could easily defeat monsters had become extremely difficult; if he wasn't careful, he might have died many more times.

All in all, his improved game experience had worsened a lot!

However, after thinking about this deeply, Qiao Liang felt that he couldn't entirely blame Boss Pei. Qiao Liang might have been too reserved the previous time.

He had only said that the chopper and crescent blade were useful; he had not explicitly said that he wished other weapons could be strengthened.

Boss Pei might have misunderstood.

Hence, Qiao Liang decided that he had to speak plainly in front of Boss Pei this time!

"Boss Pei, as a games tester, I should be able to give some feedback, right?" Qiao Liang tested the waters.

Pei Qian smiled, nodded, and said, "Of course."

"That's good!"

Qiao Liang considered his words carefully, "I felt that the rebalancing of the game had not been down well…"

"En? Why do you say so?" Pei Qian asked, "After the previous adjustments, the balance of the game is still off?"

Huh?

Qiao Liang didn't know what to say at that moment.

From a weapons perspective, the balance had been improved no doubt. Previously, the chopper and crescent blade had been too powerful; the other weapons couldn't compare. Now, the chopper and crescent blade were equally as trashy as the other weapons; equilibrium had been achieved.

"Err, the balance is indeed better. However… those rather handy weapons have become useless. This…" Qiao Liang was a little tormented.

Pei Qian smiled and said, "By nerfing popular weapons, that essentially means that in comparison, the other weapons have been strengthened. You should understand the theory of relativity, right? This is what I am gunning for."

Qiao Liang, "…"

Bloody hell! What theory of relativity!

Pei Qian continued, "At present, Repent and be Saved has tens of weapons; many unpopular weapons have been well-balanced. If I increase the strength of these weapons, I have to do so for tens of weapons at one go. After doing so, some of these weapons might be overkill; that would create a vicious cycle.

"There are actually only two or three popular weapons. As long as I nerf all of these, wouldn't that mean that in comparison, the tens of weapons have been strengthened?

"Furthermore, this would ensure that the balance of the majority of the weapons is not affected as much as possible; this is the perfect solution."

Qiao Liang, "??"

This sounded logical… not!

Qiao Liang ached as he replied, "Boss Pei, you can't achieve a balance like this! You can't nerf whatever that is good to use. As the saying went, if everything was nerfed and nothing was strengthened, even an incredible game would be abandoned by players. Nerfing cannot be done without a thought!"

"Who said I only nerfed the game? Hadn't I increased the difficulty of the game and the damage done by little monsters?" Pei Qian immediately pointed out where Teacher Qiao had misspoken.

Qiao Liang, "…However, this is increasing the difficulty of the game!"

Pei Qian smiled slightly, 'Indeed, all these have increased the difficulty of the game.

"Is that a bad thing?"

Qiao Liang was stunned.

Of course, it is!

I have been playing this game daily; I haven't managed to break through and have been tortured by puny little monsters daily. I have finally found an easier way to play the game, but it turned out that everything had been nerfed in two days. Now, I have to find an alternative way again.

How is this not a bad thing?

Without waiting for Qiao Liang's further protestations, Pei Qian cut in and said, "Teacher Qiao, think about this. That the game's difficulty is high; for a professional player like you, is this really a bad thing?

"The difficulty of any game is like the ceiling. If you and other players all can smash through the ceiling, no one would be able to tell who did a better job.

"However, if the ceiling was raised, this could be easily distinguished.

"Raising the difficulty of the game has essentially given professional gamers like you a larger platform to display your skills and talent, to do some things that ordinary players couldn't.

"Is this really something bad?"

Qiao Liang was stumped by this earnest question from Boss Pei.

Eh, even Boss Pei thinks that I am a professional player? How embarrassing is this!

Qiao Liang couldn't contain his smile. "Aiya, actually, this isn't anything. I am just a little more hardworking than other players, a little more serious…"

Pei Qian smiled, "Teacher Qiao, you are too humble. A true pro like you naturally deserves a greater challenge.

"Reducing the difficulty? That is a form of humiliation for someone like you! Increasing the difficulty of the game allows it to remain challenging; that would be the greatest show of sincerity to hardcore players!"

Qiao Liang looked at his own screen and then at the very serious-looking Boss Pei. He felt all better all of a sudden.

This made sense.

Why did Boss Pei especially ask me to come and try such a difficult game?

He trusted my game instincts and ability to persevere!

Thinking about this, Qiao Liang didn't feel that it was that hard to accept the nerfing of the chopper and crescent blade anymore.

As a professional player, he should be able to master all weapons. If he only fixated on two and used the best two, that indeed would be letting Boss Pei down! After adjusting his feelings, Qiao Liang now felt that this game wasn't that repulsive anymore.

However, Qiao Liang had another thought. He had been able to persevere until now because Boss Pei had been encouraging him!

Which other player would have such special treatment?

This was a severe design flaw!

Qiao Liang hurriedly pointed this out. "Boss Pei, speaking of this, I have a new suggestion.

"While the game is a good one, I feel that the early stage of the game is too onerous on gamers! I have only managed to persevere until now because of your repeated encouragement, slowly building up my interest in this game.

"Hence, perhaps there needs to be a solution to this?"

Pei Qian thought for a few seconds. "This is easy; I'll have someone make changes immediately."

Qiao Liang was impressed instantly.

Boss Pei is indeed Boss Pei. He managed to think of a solution so swiftly?

Pei Qian said, "I can add a segment to the game. After the game starts up, players would be able to write an epitaph for themselves to encourage them while they are playing. Every time they died, the epitaph would surface on the screen; that would be a source of motivation."

Huh?

Epitaph?

Qiao Liang vaguely felt like something was amiss; however, he couldn't pinpoint it exactly.

Pei Qian took a look at his watch, "Alright, it's getting late. Thanks for your hard work all this time; let's go and eat!"

"Ah, alright!"

Qiao Liang had wanted to think about what was wrong with this 'epitaph'. However, hearing Boss Pei's suggestion to have dinner, Qiao Liang instantly forgot about this matter.

He was in for a treat again!

Boss Pei is so good to me. Sigh, I really cannot repay him! Qiao Liang sighed emotively.

…

…

The two got off the car at the entrance of Ming Yun Private Kitchen. Seeing Teacher Qiao's eyes sparkle at the thought of eating delicacies, Pei Qian couldn't help but chuckle internally.

I have been messing about with Teacher Qiao for so long. Sigh, I am such an evil person.

However, taking a look at the surroundings of Ming Yun Private Kitchen, Pei Qian soon lost his mood. Ever since Ming Yun Private Kitchen had grown popular, Pei Qian had not visited yet.

All in all, it was a long story.

Pei Qian had purchased a semi-commercial villa. It was completely separate from other residential villas. It had its own space and cars had their own private entrance as well. Originally, this had been the reason why these villas had been hard to sell.

However, this semi-commercial villa area near Ming Yun Private Kitchen was now filled with luxury cars. These were cars that were rarely seen in Jingzhou.

Furthermore, cabs also kept on arriving.

Ming Yun Private Kitchen's clients were not just big bosses now; some ordinary salarymen also came by. The latter came all the way here on a Sunday to have a good meal and to enjoy the good food and service.

While there weren't that many people, it was very different from before.

The last time Teacher Qiao had come, Ming Yun Private Kitchen didn't have any other customers. It looked rather deserted and only had some waiters running about.

This time, besides the luxury cars parked outside, the villa had many more guests.

Only four or five tables were in the main hall. At this time, all of them were filled. Customers were conversing softly while taking their time to enjoy the meal. No one took out their cell phones and the whole atmosphere of the place was harmonious and natural.

Of course, as Ming Yun Private Kitchen's seating capacity was limited, even though all the seats were filled; the main hall still felt rather spacious. It was completely different from those popular, packed-to-the-brim restaurants with people queuing outside.

Pei Qian was rather pained by what he was seeing.

From his perspective, these customers were troublemakers one and all. They weren't here to throw money at him; they were here to steal money from him!

Behind Pei Qian, Qiao Liang sighed internally.

The last time he had come and saw how deserted the place was, Qiao Liang had thought that this was Boss Pei's private set-up and was for his personal entertainment and indulgence.

From the looks of it now, that was evidently not the case. So many customers were around, and this place was now so popular; this restaurant was raking in money, right?

Although the food here was really good, how on earth did Boss Pei manage to make this place a hit within a mere two weeks?

Qiao Liang could only sigh emotively. It seemed as if not only was Boss Pei good at creating games, but he was also a real business genius. Regardless of which industry it was, he could make it work!