"Do you know that "Sword and Fairy II" was almost going to be done by Huangpu at that time. Yao Xian negotiated with the headquarters countless times, and the headquarters had already agreed. Lu Minghui said.

"Agreed, then how do I remember that Yao Xian did it himself?"

"At that time, Zhang Yijun from Huangpu had not yet been in charge of a large-scale project on his own, and the headquarters felt that his personal ability still needed to be examined, and they were skeptical of the technical research and development level of the mainland subsidiary, and did not think that we were capable of developing high-level games. It was only under Yao Xian's strong assurance that he reluctantly agreed. ”

Lu Minghui shook his head: "Hey, as a result, everyone here is ready to submit an application for the project, but Xie Chongming from the Maniac Production Team of the Wanwan Headquarters submitted the project proposal first, and then the headquarters also passed it, and they all started work directly." ”

"What a resounding name, a madman."

When Ye Shenxi was still struggling to make indie games, fanatics, the names of Duomo Studio had already resounded all over the country, both sides of the strait.

"It's also reasonable to say that this is the most important IP of Dayu, and it can almost be said to be the foundation of his life. It is understandable that the headquarters still wants to complete it under its own supervision. ”

"Back then, Yao Xian wanted to bring the "Fairy Sword" series to the mainland, but he didn't want the headquarters to interfere more, alas...... At that time, Yao Xian and Zhang Yijun hurriedly completed the project proposal, and then communicated with the headquarters, and also expressed their dissatisfaction, but nothing changed. ”

"At that time, in order to appease the mainland, the headquarters directly handed over another project to us to start doing."

"Sword and Fairy III?"

"Yes."

"Then "Fairy Sword II" and "Fairy Sword III" started almost at the same time?"

"Almost, not too late. But "Sword and Fairy III" itself wants to try 3D production, and the development cycle will definitely be much longer than "Sword and Fairy II", and it will definitely be on the market later. Do you know how much R&D funds were allocated to Huangpu at that time? ”

Ye Shenxi did the math: "In 01, the 3D stand-alone game, the IP of Fairy Sword, Huangpu, the two-year development cycle, there should be six or seven million, right?" ”

"5.4 million." Lu Minghui gestured with both hands for a five and a four.

"It's a little less, but it's barely acceptable." Ye Shen Creek Road.

"It's okay to make a third-rate game, this is "Fairy Sword", and at that time, Zhang Yijun had another RTS project "Han and Rome" on him, and he was also eating money."

"That's a bit of a stretch."

"This is still the start-up capital of the entire Huangpu Soft Star, and it is necessary to settle a bunch of things such as rent, water, electricity, property, and network fees."

"This ......" Ye Shenxi didn't know what to say: "That's true, it's quite miserable." ”

"Anyway, everyone is surviving a hard life, at that time, where were these people who made a lot of money in online games, and they were quite content compared to everyone, Huangpu Soft Star seems to be a branch, in fact, it is a sub-team of Beijing Soft Star."

Lu Minghui took another sip of wine and continued: "Anyway, both sides are doing their own projects, and as a result, in February 02, at the headquarters, the madman production team left collectively. ”

Ye Shenxi knew this: "It can also be imagined that Xie Chongming himself is from an art background, and it is a little difficult for him to lead the overall development of such a game." ”

Xie Chongming has a nickname, the laziest Ah Xia, Gu Long said that people's names may be wrong, but the nickname will not be wrong.

Although I don't know where this nickname came from, and I don't necessarily say how lazy this person is, art is usually a creative inspiration, but it is easy to make mistakes when it comes to the logical and detailed development of daily life.

"And then it left a mess of "Sword and Fairy II".

"So Yao Xian hurried back to Wanwan to clean up this mess?" Later, Ye Shenxi also wanted to get it.

"Yes, there was less than a year left before the game went on sale, and a lot of things hadn't been developed yet, Yao Xian couldn't figure it out even if he was really an immortal, and it was almost hastily launched in a semi-finished state at the beginning of 03, so you know the result."

As a result, "Sword and Fairy II" is the worst word-of-mouth in the entire "Sword and Fairy" series, and it can be said that it has received rave reviews.

At that time, it was nearly eight years before the release of the 95-year-old generation, and many players who had been waiting for it for nearly eight years could not believe that this was actually an orthodox sequel developed by the Maniac of the Wanwan Ohahara team.

The Silence of the Lambs from Video Game magazine gave "Sword and Fairy II" a 65/10 that year, and this is still based on feelings and good memories of the past.

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Although relying on the influence and feelings of "Sword and Fairy I", after eight years of waiting, "Sword and Fairy II" still sold 510,000 copies. But we all know that if we do another "Sword and Fairy II" level out, this series will be ruined. ”

"So "Sword and Fairy III" is really a product that cannot be lost, and the pressure on Huangpu is even greater. We all knew at the time that once "Sword and Fairy III" failed, Huangpu would be completely out of touch with the "Sword and Fairy" series, not only that, but even the reputation accumulated over the years would be exhausted, and it was also possible that the more serious Huangpu Soft Star would close its doors. ”

"This is a work that really only allows for success, not failure." Lu Minghui said: "Since the launch of "Fairy Sword II", there is only half a year left before "Fairy Sword III" meets players. As a result, each of us consciously worked overtime without pay, working almost 15 hours a day, and at most did not have a day off for two months in a row. ”

Speaking of this experience, Lu Minghui still has some emotion, the feeling of the eventful years.

"A lot of online game companies are like that." Ye Shenxi's words spoiled the atmosphere a bit.

"Can that compare to your online games?" Lu Minghui said disdainfully: "At that time, the 5.4 million funds were almost gone, and the headquarters refused to make additional investment, not a penny, and when I was the poorest, the monitor at the main planning level of me was broken, and the picture was so blurry that my eyes hurt, and I wanted to change it to a clearer one, but I had no money." A meeting to print a copy of the information, A4 printing paper is not much, the front is printed and the back is printed, and there is more blank space in the middle to make a meeting record. ”

"It's quite difficult." Ye Shenxi can also imagine the scene at that time.

"At that time, Zhang Yijun paid out of his own pocket to support the daily research and development work, alas, ......," Lu Minghui sighed.

"Didn't you mention it to Yao Xian?"

"He has a good face himself, and even if he mentions it, at most it will be from the capital, or Yao Xian's personal support, and it is impossible from the headquarters. Fortunately, in the end, he signed a contract with Huanyu Star and got a life-saving money, otherwise Huangpu Soft Star would have to be disbanded at that time, and where would it last year. ”

"That's how we survived until the launch of "Sword and Fairy III"."

""Sword and Fairy III" is quite successful, you can be regarded as bitter and happy."

In July 2003, "Sword and Fairy III" was officially released, and the quality of the game greatly exceeded expectations, conquering all players including the mainland, Wanwan, and Xiangjiang.

It can be said that fans of the "Sword and Fairy" series have also swept away the haze of the previous work, and regard "Sword and Fairy III" as a true sequel to the "Sword and Fairy" series, and even many players who have never known what "Sword and Fairy" is are also attracted by the unique Chinese cultural heritage and good gameplay of "Sword and Fairy III", and have become loyal fans of the series.

"Fairy Sword III" standard version is priced at 69 yuan, deluxe version 129 yuan, there was also a super luxury limited edition at that time, in addition to the game disc and manual, original music D, crystal bookmark, there are two 20m nightshade and Zhao Ling'er full-body character model, theme glass mouse pad, theme t-shirt, bandana, backpack and a series of game peripherals.

The price of this ultra-luxury limited edition is 499 yuan, but it was once fried to 12,000 at that time, which shows that the game is popular.

The total sales volume of Sword and Fairy III was 534,000 units, with a total sales of more than 60 million yuan, which was an absolute miracle in the Chinese single-player game market at that time. If piracy is included, there should be about 3.5 million copies.

As an aside, the release time of "Sword and Fairy III" is the same day as Jay Chou's solo fourth chapter album "Ye Huimei", and the sales of "Ye Huimei" in Asia are 3 million copies.

The huge success of "Sword and Fairy III" not only made Yao Xian and Zhang Yijun proud, but also allowed Dayu headquarters to dispel all doubts and leave the independent development rights of the "Sword and Fairy" series on Shangsoft.

"But that's it, the "Fairy Sword" series stayed in Huangpu, but still, yes, no, yes, yes, money, ah." Lu Minghui sighed and said word by word.

"Huangpu Soft Star has no independent financial rights, 60 million sales, in addition to various costs, Huanyu's share, the net profit is only 14 million, and this part of the profit, the headquarters has to take the lion's share to support the development of other projects. In the end, only five or six million remained in Huangpu. ”

The profit of physical sales is indeed very low, and pressure sales, physical stores, transportation, and layer by layer have to make money.

"Isn't it the same as when we started?" Ye Shen Creek Road.

"No, we worked hard for almost three years and finally got back to square one. There is not much left to fill the gap of the company with more than 5 million, Huangpu Soft Star wants to develop, the employees have worked hard for so long, and the project is successful to give some bonuses and open a new one

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The project "Sword and Fairy IV" also needs money. ”

Later, Zhang Yijun weighed it and still felt that the development of the company should be the priority, and the project bonus would mean it, which was no different from not being paid. In addition, many people's wages have not risen at all in the past two years, and you don't know how fast Huangpu is developing, but prices are soaring. ”

"At that time, your "Eternity" should also make money, and the income of your company's people should also be raised." Lu Minghui asked.

"Yes." At that time, "Eternity" had already shown super vitality, the milestone had already been lifted out of poverty, and the first few people also had their own savings.

"But you may not imagine what kind of situation we are in the stand-alone game circle in Huangpu, where we also make phenomenal products...... Lu Minghui sighed again.

"No wonder I occasionally asked you to come out for a gathering at that time, but you said that you were busy and had no time, so it turned out that you still had a good face."

If you want to say that you are busy, you really can't say that you can do stand-alone games compared to the race against time in online games.

"I was quite angry at the time, obviously they were all making games, and the gap was too big."

"Your brother is quite sensitive, so now you have figured it out?"

"Not yet, didn't you come here directly, then I can still turn it away, eh, don't interrupt, I'll continue."

"Okay, I won't interrupt."

Soon some key members left Huangpu Soft Star, and Zhang Yijun knew that he couldn't keep it, and he was even more embarrassed to keep others. The headquarters saw that the online game in the market was making money, and it also wanted to start an online game project, but it also needed to invest money, and we also needed to support it. ”

"Your Da Yu's treatment is also notoriously poor in the industry."

"So famous?"

"Fame."

"That'll do. Anyway, there is no money to develop "Sword and Fairy IV", and the headquarters will not give it, so we can only directly do low-cost projects to generate revenue to support. ”

"There is "Sword and Fairy Three Gaiden Questions"?"

"Yes, and there are things like Cats and Dogs 2 as well. However, every time a new product is launched, some colleagues will leave, because the effort and gain are really not proportional, and there are few veterans who stay in Huangpu. When "Sword and Fairy Three" was listed, a bunch of people left, including Wang Shi, the chief planner of "Sword and Fairy III", Zhang Yijun had the idea of leaving, but after so many years of dedication and feelings for "Sword and Fairy", he still insisted, and he decided to rely on "Sword and Fairy IV" to make a last stand. ”

"During this period, the headquarters did several online games to test the water, but they all failed, not to mention making money, there were huge losses, and the stand-alone market has been shrinking, which is even worse."

"Da Yu has always wanted to transform."

"Yes, the successive failures have not shaken the determination of the headquarters, but have increased investment, and the investment budget on the single machine side has been reduced, not only on the mainland side, but also on the later Xuanyuan Sword Five and Gaiden, how about the quality You have also seen, it's like rushing to work, and when an important character dies, he doesn't even give a G, and a few dialog boxes are done...... It's also true...... Alas......"

Lu Minghui felt that he wanted to explode foully, but he calmed down.

Later, 350,000 copies of "Sword and Fairy III" were sold, and the sales were average but the cost was not high, so I finally saved up the money for "Sword and Fairy IV". So "Sword and Fairy IV" started, with limited funds, but it carried the ardent expectations of countless players. ”

""Sword and Fairy IV" should be the one with the best reputation besides the first generation." Ye Shenxi said.

"The word-of-mouth was optimized by Beijing Soft Star later, and the main reason is that the plot is good, but when it was first listed, you didn't know how badly Zhang Yijun and they were scolded."

At that time, "Sword and Fairy IV" was made by Star Fore encryption software, which caused many players to frequently freeze, and the server was too small to cause congestion and could not be verified, which hit many people's enthusiasm for collecting genuine copies, and the sales volume was less than 500,000 in the end.

And the final profit is also about 10 million, and it is the same as back then, and in the end, there are only more than 5 million left to Huangpu Soft Star.

At this time, it was already August 07, more than five million, in Huangpu.

At that time, the players scolded "Sword and Fairy IV", scolded Huangpu Soft Star, scolded Yao Xian, scolded Zhang Yijun, looked at these unreasonable scolding, recalled Da Yu's indifference to Huangpu Soft Star for so many years, and had to face the impossible task of "Sword and Fairy Five" in the future, Zhang Yijun really felt a little tired. ”71