Although a lot of publicity work has been done before, the niche game genre will inevitably bring about poor sales.

In addition to the sales in the first few days because of the publicity in place, the sales in the back immediately fell, the sales in half a month were less than 500,000, and the gap with Mars Entertainment, especially Jester's several games is too big, and, in the face of Nintendo's "Metroid" head-to-head confrontation, this number can be said to be a big defeat - although Sid. Mel didn't say anything, but Jester could still make a look of disappointment on his face.

The reputation of "Age of Discovery" is indeed very good, even if you don't like this kind of simulation strategy game that is very tiring to play, it is just that this game is not very fond of it, but this is indeed a good game, as for those who like this genre, it is even more because of the gods.

On this day, Jester had just returned to the company, and when he returned to the office from the development team, he saw Sid. Mel was waiting for herself.

This makes Jester a little strange, it stands to reason that Sid. Mel has nothing else to do that doesn't come to him while Sid. When Mel saw Jester returning, he immediately stood up, his face was ashamed, and said, "Boss, I let you down this time. ”

So that's what happened!

Hear Sid. Mel's words, Jester understood what he meant, but what made Jester even more unexpected was Sid. After Mel finished speaking, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket without hesitation, and then handed it to Jester with both hands, and at the same time, his mouth was also a little reluctant: "This is my resignation letter, and I am willing to take responsibility for the poor sales of "Age of Discovery" this time." ”

"Age of Discovery" Mars Entertainment has made a large investment, and it takes a long time. Mel also had high hopes for this before, and he himself knew that such a game would not be able to compete with those popular games in terms of audience, but such a number of sales. Or make him feel that he has the first responsibility.

However, in Jester's view, it is not easy for a real simulation strategy game to sell half a month and 500,000 units in such an era, but it seems that the sales of 500,000 units are not outstanding because the previous games are too good.

According to the current sales curve, it should not be difficult to continue to buy, and finally the sales of "Age of Discovery" will reach **100,000 units, and there is even hope to hit the number of one million units, you know, in the history that Jester knows, the total sales of the first part of Enix's DQ are only a little over a million.

So, Jester looked at Sid. Mel had a look of surprise on his face. He was puzzled and asked, "Why did you resign?" When did I get dissatisfied with the sales of Age of Discovery? ”

In fact, neither Jester, nor the entire Mars Entertainment, has any impact on Sid. Mel's "Age of Discovery" shows the slightest dissatisfaction, even if it is a matter of dissatisfaction with Sid. Mel didn't deal with it, and when he was developing "Dawn", he accumulated a lot of contradictory Sean. After playing "Age of Discovery", Dabilee also said that this is a work that is difficult for him to achieve.

Even Jester felt that even if it was himself, it would be impossible to control Zuò's Bisid. Mel outstanding.

Meet Sid. Mel wanted to say something, but Jester smiled directly: "Actually, I'm already very satisfied with the sales of the game "Age of Discovery". And you yourself know that this game is not close to the people in terms of experience and operation, and it is beyond my expectations that it will have sales now, and you can look at the reviews of your game in these game magazines and some programs. How did you suddenly have the idea of quitting? And I remember what you told me earlier about a game that covers the entire process of human civilization, and you quit if you don't finish this game? I disagreed with the first one. ”

Sid. Mel smiled amused at Jester's statement, and he said with some embarrassment, "It's that I'm thinking a little bit wrong, but I've been thinking a lot lately." I feel that the simulation of strategy games is too troublesome to operate on home game consoles, and it is far less convenient than that on PC. I wondered if it would be a better fit to move this genre to PC. ”

Hear Sid. Mel said this, Jester just nodded quietly, he rarely said to his employees now, what should you do, but let them do it, because Jester knows that only after doing it himself, the experience gained is the most unforgettable.

"Just do it if you think of it, I'm going to port Age of Discovery to PC, and I'll know if I give it a try." Jester said in a bland tone, which made Sid. Mel was a little surprised, he had thought that Jester's words were to comfort him, but in fact he was very concerned about the sales of the game.

Jester didn't explain further, he just continued to smile and said: "After the PC port of Age of Exploration is done, you should make your simulation game that covers the course of human history, but I have been impulsive about this game since the first time I heard you mention it, if you don't do it, then you are welcome." ”

Sid. Mel also knew that Jester was joking, and he also knew that his ambitious game was known to many people in the company, and there were many people who asked him to make zuò as much as possible, in fact, he himself had been preparing for this game for a long time, originally he said that he planned to start making zuò after the end of "Age of Discovery", but now, he may still feel that his level is not enough to structure a game of this scale, so he plans to wait a little longer, Let's start by making a different game to continue to accumulate experience.

So, Sid. Mel shook his head without hesitation, and then said: "I plan to transfer the platform of Civilization to PC, but I still lack a lot of experience in developing such a game on PC, so I want to make a new similar game on Zuò after completing the porting of Age of Discovery, and then start making Zuò this Civilization that I have been thinking about for many years." ”

"Other games?" Jester frowned when he heard this, and he asked with some curiosity, "Have you figured out what the theme is?" "As for the type of game, there is no need to ask at all, since Sid. Mel said that he wanted to gain experience for his "Civilization" game, which must have been a strategy simulation game.

This time Sid. Mel didn't think much about it, and blurted out directly: "It's a game about railroads.,The background is probably the era of the great development of railroads in the United States.,And then the player will play an Iron Curtain tycoon in the game.,And then try your best to make your own railroad all over the country.,I thought of this inspiration a few days ago.,After thinking about it carefully.,It's pretty good.。 ”

Hear Sid. Mel talks about the new game he wants to make Zuò, and Jester gets a sense of familiarity, and Railroad Tycoon is a game that Sid. One of Mel's masterpieces, although much worse in terms of fame than his Civilization series.

"Still, it's a great idea." Jester said heartily.

And with Sid. Mel chatted a few words about the porting of "Age of Discovery", and in Jester's eyes, even a ported version should be a little different from the original to be interesting, otherwise how can you trick those who have played the original to play port?

"It's better to add an RPG script and add world treasures and stuff." Jester is so built up, and he has seen from recent letters from readers of "Game" that the vast majority of players still like the RPG elements of "Age of Discovery".

It's actually with Sid. Mel's original intention of making Zuò this big sailing game was contrary, in his opinion, this game should be a simulation strategy management game, and with some RPG elements, he thought it was a great mention at the time, just because he felt that these things were still going to attract some players, and to keep these people, it was not possible to rely on these gimmicks.

But in fact, in fact, it seems that there are many people who are more interested in the elements of these RPGs than the simulation system he painstakingly designed, in fact, in Jester's view, Dark Rong's original "Age of Discovery" was also the next few works, and it was not until "Age of Exploration 4" that it became a god, because "Age of Exploration 4" basically turned this nautical management game into a game with a very large proportion of RPG elements, just like Jester's changes to "Fire Emblem".

But Sid. Mel didn't say anything else, since what he thought before was deviated from reality, his boss wanted to correct him, and he agreed, however, his agreement to correct does not mean that he agreed with Jester's design thinking, so, on the game "Railway Tycoon", he decided to concentrate on making a pure simulation strategy management game, to see if such a game has a broad market prospect.

Every great game designer is someone with a very strong personal mind, and it's impossible for this kind of person to take over a different idea from his own. Mel is such a person, some people make games to make money, and some people make games not just to make money, Sid. Mel is the second type of person.

In fact, in Jester's own opinion, he was in Sid. When Mel wanted to make "Pirates", he whimsically said the idea of "The Age of Discovery" by Dark Rong, and it was just for fun. Although Mel only regards the RPG elements as the icing on the cake, in line with the principle of perfectionism, even the RPG content that is not the core gameplay of the game is very well-made.

It is reasonable that such a niche game can sell 500,000 units in half a month.

Is half a month 500,000 sets rare?

Jester was telling the truth before, and for the game Age of Discovery, it was enough. (To be continued......) R752