FG's crowdfunding needs to be reviewed, and the fundraiser needs to submit the prepared materials, mainly to concretize the idea, complete the design drawing, plan, project proposal and other content, and submit it to the official review team of Qingyu, and only after the review can it be released on FG.

The purpose of the herring is not to control the quality of the game.

First of all, there is no way to control the quality of a game when there is no prototype of the game. From the perspective of design concept, herring also believes that it has no right to judge whether a creative idea has a future. In this world of diversified aesthetics, a highly developed market, and innovation in gameplay is precious. A fresh concept, whether the innovation in the system can be accepted or not, only the players and the market have this criterion for judging, and even if the players and the market do not recognize, it may just be bad luck.

What the herring can do is only to evaluate the attitude of these teams, take a look, are you serious?

At least as much as possible to ensure that it will not be the kind of team that plans to run away with money, and has not made it for a few years after raising money, and then issued an announcement to tell everyone that I'm sorry, the money is spent, and it is impossible to return it.

The threshold for crowdfunding is very low.

Its significance lies in the fact that those projects with real potential that have not been favored by traditional capital can get a platform for realization, but in the same way, for many grassroots teams, game production is a complex process, and without proper funding and project management, it is easy to carry out the development process in an orderly manner.

Most games have to go through a lot of difficulties before they can finally meet players, long development periods, unexpected technical difficulties, all kinds of fancy reasons for delay, many of them disappear, or some are just a hasty release of a semi-finished product, which is also an area that requires regulation and rule formation.

Of course, on the FG platform, many companies or angel investors have been staring at it.

Since the launch of FG's crowdfunding feature in August, it has begun to show a more vertical positioning than traditional established crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, because it is a game, and the supporters who follow the FG platform are also players.

And because of the influence of the company Qingyu, it is equivalent to eating face in the player group, and it is also in the third anniversary celebration of the FG platform, and a new feature is launched in a bunch of green -XX% stickers in various big promotions, and many teams are ready to move.

In October, a new crowdfunding project caused an uproar among players and the media.

A game called Pillars of Eternity (not Eternal War) was launched on the FG crowdfunding platform, and the promoter was the famous Obsidian.

Many of their employees come from another god-level studio from the ancient era, the Black Isle. That is, the "Fallout" 1st and 2nd generations, and the "Outlander Requiem" that is unsurpassable in the minds of many players, and the studio that released "Baldur's Gate" for his former younger brother Gayare. Because of the difficulty of finding a balance between artistry and commerciality, and the poor management of the parent company Interplay, the studio was disbanded in 2003, and it can be regarded as a death on the altar.

Many of them then entered Obsidian.

It's such a company, but now life is really bleak and stretched.

They helped B to make "Fallout: New Vegas", which was a one-time sale, and B gave a one-time sum of money, no royalties, and gave a condition that if the score on Metacritic reached 85 points or more, there would be a bonus.

As a result, after the launch of "Fallout: New Vegas", the Metacritic score was 84, although many players feel that this is more in line with the old Fallout in their minds than the "Fallout 3" made by Company B itself, but there are too many bugs that inexplicably make people's mentality explode...... Company B naturally declined the bonus, which was $1 million.

They helped Square Enix make "Dungeon Siege 3" again, and learned the lessons of "New Vegas", Obsidian does not seek merit this time, but seeks no fault, and the result of this concept is that "Dungeon Siege 3" is indeed their least buggy work, but it is also the most mediocre, almost becoming a piece of black history. The console version was released in May last year, and the PC version was released in October, with a total sales of 970,000 so far, which is the result of 140,000 sales contributed by digital platforms like FG.

This caused the entire studio to lose prestige, to the point where there was no publisher to do the work.

IN THE SECOND HALF OF LAST YEAR, GIANT HARD FOUND THEM, AND GIANT HARD IS DEVELOPING XBOX ONE, HOPING THAT OBSIDIAN WILL HELP MAKE AN RPG MASTERPIECE TO SUPPORT THE FIRST SCENE...... Obsidian began to diverge, and the project gradually took shape, but at the end of the year, Juhard canceled the project, and general manager Urquhart tearfully laid off 30 people.

In the middle, they also get a job called "South Park: The Stick of Truth", and the whole company depends on this project to eat, but the publisher THQ is in a storm at this time, and he can't pay his own salary, and he is trying to go crazy on the verge of collapse.

It's either the publisher who cheats people or dies himself, Obsidian has reached the point of life and death, no one can compare with it, and it is almost about to repeat the mistakes of Black Island and prepare to disband.

So, they found the FG platform.

How exciting are the ups and downs of life?

At that time, Urquhart sent an application email to herringfish, in addition to submitting relevant information, he also attached a sentence "Please speed up the review, our team may be disbanded tomorrow." ”

Pasca happened to have a look at the projects he applied for that day, and he sometimes paid attention to those crowdfunding projects. Then seeing this team and their works, Ye Shenxi directly said to the person in charge of the review team, "Give it to you." ”

Generally speaking, the herring review team can reply in about a week, a platform with such a high degree of attention, and there is no service fee, no commission, and there are no overlord clauses, such as after the completion of development, it can only be put on the FG platform for herring to be released, etc., there are too many projects to apply. But Mr. Dang hand-picked the gold medal for passing, and "Pillars of Eternity" appeared on the FG crowdfunding platform the next day.

On its first day on the platform, Urquhart's ideal expectation was $100,000 and the proposed target was only $1.2 million, but 24 hours later, the amount raised reached $1.1 million, which was a new record for the FG platform at the time, and it cheered up the hearts of all indie game development teams.

Urquhart specially recorded a thank you video for this and uploaded it to FG, thanking all the players who supported it, and even more thanking the FG platform and Pasca, with sincere words and tears in his eyes, claiming that Pasca has benefited too many gamers with FG is like a savior.

Another fierce general has been added to the party blowing camp.

And Ye Shenxi also congratulated Obsidian on his personal social media, and you are welcome.

So far, Pillars of Eternity has raised more than $2.4 million on the FG platform, and not only Obsidian, but also many indie game teams have found it much more reliable than asking for money from a publisher......

Of course, that only if your idea is good enough, your presentation is good enough, and preferably your team has some fame in its own right.

Where is it so easy for an ordinary little-known team to soar to the sky.

Among the people who were excited, there was a guy named Tomas Sakalauska, from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, he is an independent game maker, and he is also a mod maker, in the innovation workshop of the FG platform, he made a paid download mod for "The Origin of Everything" and "Getaway" brought him $2,000 in prize money, and also met some partners who also have game development skills, and some ideas they will discuss together, Help each other to get it done.

Thomas felt it was time for him to take a step in the direction of indie gaming.

It's the feeling that there is a fire in the chest, and I can't bear it, many indie game makers have all kinds of wild ideas, and what they lack is just a platform for realization, and the success of "Pillars of Eternity" has made him see such hope, that momentum, as if returning to the time when he was 18 years old, and he couldn't exhaust his strength.

At the beginning of November, he asked his friends if they wanted to be together, and he already had the team in mind. He made it clear to everyone that they also have to take the crowdfunding route, which depends on the fate of the players, anyway, he himself has no money to pay everyone's salary.

Seppo from Finland said: "I joined. "He's the most knowledgeable person Thomas knows about the Athena 2.0 Engine, and he's skilled at mining many of its physics.

Van Liam, from the Netherlands, said: "I'm joining. "This is also an indie game developer, and Thomas feels he can solve the problem of player online content.

For the rest of the program, Thomas himself can do most of it.

But Xie Jiaming, from China, said: "I'll think about ......"

That's what Xie Jiaming said at the time.

Thomas hopes that Xie Jiaming can help solve problems related to art resources. Because his code skills are not solid, they were all slowly taught by Jiaming himself after the launch of "Survival", so most of the mods released by Jiaming are still art-related. Characters, buildings, weapons, clothes, wild animals or companions of the protagonist, pets and the like.

Jiaming's works are actually on the FG Innovation Factory, and the praise rate is not low.

Thomas thought he was very talented in this area and also sent out an invitation.

At first, Jia Ming refused.

But about a month later, at 7 p.m. local time in Lithuania on December 1, Thomas received a private message from FG's friend Xie Jiaming, who was concise and to the point, and Jiaming said: "I'm joining!" ”

Thomas paused for a moment before asking, "What happened?" ”

Xie Jiaming replied: "Nothing happened. "He still wants to have a face, and he can't just say that he is rejected by the opposite sex he likes, and he wants to change himself.

"Don't lie to me, I know something must have happened, it's seven o'clock in the evening here, you know, it's one o'clock in the morning in China."

"I ...... I don't know, I don't think I can live at the current pace anymore......" Xie Jiaming Actually, I also want to find someone to talk to, a conflicted young man.

"Did something happen?"

"No, it's just that I want to quit, my current job is not for me, I don't believe that I have no talent, although I don't know which direction of talent, how much talent...... I don't know what I'm capable of doing for a while, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do next, but at this time you are the only one who has invited me, so I have to join...... Thomas, your side...... It's not full yet......"

"Of course not, you're very welcome, thank you! Of course you're talented, I know, and I think all the players who have used the mods you've made know about it. I think you're a good person to do the art design work in game development. I want you to be in charge of all the art content, by the way...... I didn't think your job was so suitable for you, you have a sensitive sense of art, you design a trading company propaganda website and so on, and follow the instructions of your superiors to draw the effect that those merchants want, which is really a despicable waste. ”

"Thanks, Thomas, I'm going to resign tomorrow."

"Is this still the Xie I know?"

"That Xie you know is dead." This kind of dialogue, Jia Ming probably watched a lot of film and television dramas in the second secondary school.

"Have you really figured it out?"

"I've been thinking about it for a long time...... It took about two and a half hours. ”

"Wow...... It's been a long time, but I'm just asking casually, I've already added your name to the list of creators, and it's too late for you to regret it. ”

"There is also a list of main creators, so what is the name of our studio......

"I've figured it out, what do you think of No Brakes Games, we just should keep going, like a train without brakes."

"The name, I don't want to comment...... Can you tell me what kind of project it is? Xie Jiaming also wanted to find something else to talk about, to think about new projects and the like, to divert his attention, and it was best to have a place to focus his life in the future.

"Of course, I'm thinking more clearly than ever."

"You say."

"At first, I just saw the success of the crowdfunding for Pillars of Eternity, and then I thought we could start a crowdfunding project as well."

"But not every game can be crowdfunded, and there are some dismal projects on FG, where do we have the fame of obsidian."

"That's right, so we should have a clear idea, find our own positioning, determine the target users, think of a good promotion plan, and think clearly about many details, so that we can have a higher possibility."

"So you now have a very clear idea of the project."

"I don't have the specific gameplay yet, I want to discuss it with you, but the idea is there, after watching Pasca's two live broadcasts."

"You don't want to do 'Nobody Survives' or 'Paradise Lost'......"

Ye Shenxi has also conducted two live broadcasts so far, one is the online mode of "No One Survives", leading water friends to fight zombies, and the other is "Paradise Lost" online, randomly matched, and the 800-meter headshot is now widely circulated, becoming the most brilliant moment in his game career, and even improving the public's evaluation of his game level.

"No, it's not about the game, it's about the live stream!" Thomas said.

"What do you mean?" Jiaming didn't understand too much.

""Nobody Survived" was okay that time, but "Paradise Lost" didn't you find out that time, one of the scary things about this game is that its live broadcast effect is amazing, those random content, picking up powerful equipment around the corner or encountering an enemy, snatching the battle of the empty investment source, crawling in the grass to ambush the enemy, whether it is 1 headshot or 20 bullets, all of them are empty and one shot does not hit the enemy, and the driving vehicle occasionally jumps high and rolls over the car, trying to find a bunker only to be smashed by the collapsed wall and losing a tube of blood, Every time it happens, is there a cheer in the live broadcast room of those anchors? ”

Thomas continued: "So we had a very clear idea for this project, and I just wanted to do live effects. ”

"Live Effect...... I don't understand too much, can you be specific? ”

"That's it...... Well, it's the kind of game that when you watch a live stream, the fun in the game will be infinitely magnified, and you will want to ...... In your words, it is to pit others, and you will be cheated by others, but no matter what, it will bring a comedic effect. It will even be more interesting to watch others play than to play by yourself, but it doesn't matter, we just want to achieve the maximum publicity effect through the Longyan platform, we want many streamers to broadcast this game live, and players also spread the word. ”