Before approaching the mainland, Jester suddenly became more and more troubled.

Especially the copyright of Hasbro's "Real Estate Tycoon" has been discussed. Although Mars Entertainment is very popular in the game market now, because there are no other competitors, Hasbro's copyright fee is not high.

It was surprising that he had obtained the exclusive copyright of the PC and home computer of "Real Estate Tycoon" for only $200,000. He originally thought he needed to share the money, but he didn't expect Hasbro to mention it.

It may also be that the toy giant Hasbro saw that the sales of PC games have been low and the market for home gaming consoles was bleak, so they did not take the share seriously. After all, it was not worth a few dollars at all, so they asked for a slightly higher amount of direct copyright grant.

But Jester doesn't have time to make this game now.

It just so happened that the late stage of the game "City of Fierce War" was almost finished. The three-person group he formed had been free, and the tacit understanding of these people was also there. In addition, Mars Entertainment lacked a team dedicated to PC game research and development, so Jester had a plan to form a new team with this group as the core.

During this time when I left, they just made a game setting for "Real Estate Tycoon" to see if these people have the ability to take on this important task.

So, Jester invited the three of them, one artist, one program, and one planner, which happened to be the standard triangle configuration of a game team, which was just enough to act as the skeleton of a R&D team.

In fact, with the size of the game team and the level of responsibilities, the importance of the iron triangle of the game team is also completely different. It is not that game planning is definitely more important than program, nor that program must be higher than art engineering.

In the gaming industry, there is never the most important statement of a certain position. For example, Shigeru Miyamoto was a graphic artist, Ji Yuji was proficient in programs, and Yu Suzuki was a master of planning.

Of course, in general, there is still a job ranking. For example, the importance of job programs at the grassroots level is greater than that of art, and the importance of art is greater than planning, but in the middle level, it is completely opposite. The importance of the main strategy is the most prominent, after which he is the art director and then the framework programmer. At the most important high-level of a game, the status of the game producer is unquestionable. Coordinate everything, and then the main program is much more important than the artistic director.

Of course, this is not absolute. Based on Jester's understanding of the gaming world in later generations, this can be summarized from the different salary of game companies for different positions.

Generally speaking, a truly excellent game is the product of compromise between these three major departments.

Just imagine, if you want to complete the functions in a game, even if your planning plan is completed very clearly, when you hand over your planning plan to art and program, their thinking is completely different from yours, so they will inevitably discount your original idea when they see your planning plan. In this way, after two discounts to art and program, the actual effect will be different from your original idea?

Therefore, whether it is now or in the future, true top game producers are proficient in art, programming and planning, and at least two of them. If you only understand the same thing, you will not be a producer at all, because such people cannot control the timing of a game at all.

The producer who can lead a game team by slapping your head and making creativity does not exist in this world. To be honest, a person who only knows how to slap your head but lacks enough understanding of the game industry can't even do the most basic game planning. To give a simple example, for example, if you want to add a backpack system, it's okay, but what if it conflicts with other projects? Simply put, what should you do when you open your backpack? What should you do if someone trades with you? What should you do if someone or monster attacks you? And so on, these are all things that the planning needs to do. If you have never thought of these situations before, it is to let the entire team suffer and do nothing.

Without understanding the entire game production process, it is impossible to have a specific simulation of the final product of the game in your mind before the game is completed. Of course, there is no question of controlling the temperature of the game.

The word "temperature" can only be understood but not expressed in words. Just like a chef cooking, it depends entirely on the producer's personal understanding of a game. Sometimes, the team is still those teams, and the members are still those members. Just because the producer is replaced, the game produced in the same theme will have different styles and may even cause a major decline in its level. There are countless examples such as Aoshi Itagaki and Yosuke Hayashi.

Of course, producers are not omnipotent. If producers do not have excellent team support, they cannot make good games. There are many such examples. The most famous ones are the flagship studio formed by Dark Father Bill Robert after leaving Blizzard, and the tragic "Dark Gate: London".

Therefore, the birth of a good game is like industrial production, and it is the joint cooperation of an excellent team, rather than the whimsical idea of ​​someone slapping his head.

Moreover, an excellent game R&D team is different from the industrial production team. The number of people is very important for industrial production, but it is not the case in the field of game R&D. This is not to say that it is not important, but to say that it is not very important. This is an unnecessary sufficient condition, not a necessary condition.

So, what is the most important thing about an excellent game research team?

In Jester's view, first of all, the most important thing is the professional ability of the team members. This is the cornerstone of everything. Without this, let's take a break. Judging from the abilities shown by several members of the R&D team he personally led in the R&D team, Jester believes that they are fully qualified and their professional qualities are completely trustworthy.

He firmly believes in this.

Second, it is the control ability of the game producer. Of course, this time Jester still has the intention of testing the team, so the producer of "Real Estate Tycoon" is still himself. He will personally check the game, which is completely safe. Third, it is the tacit understanding of the cooperation of the three major departments. As mentioned earlier, making a game is a team's division of labor and cooperation. Unless you are a person who takes care of the entire work of planning art programs, otherwise, it is very important whether these three departments can work together tacitly and understand each other's ideas.

Playing games is actually like getting married, but it is just a marriage of three people. Then conflicts are indispensable, and there are many inevitable things. Fighting at the bedside and at the end of the bed, from the addition of one effect to the fine adjustment of one function, it may cause disputes between the three parties, so a certain degree of tolerance and compromise is essential, and this is tacit understanding.

Then, it is the pressure resistance of the entire team. You should know that every game produced by Mars Entertainment is well-known and called. This can certainly bring extremely high profit returns to the company, but it will also bring generous rewards to the employees, and it also brings great pressure. When the slogan "Mars is produced, it must be a fine product" is shouted out, every employee of Mars Entertainment knows that the game they are making is absolutely not allowed to fail, otherwise it will smash the company's signature.

This kind of pressure is very great.

Jester has no mind reading skills, does not have a perspective, and cannot see through the pressure resistance of these employees under his command, so it takes time to test.

Do you think this is enough? It's still far from it.

The development process of the game is a ever-changing process. You don’t know when you will find that the progress cannot keep up with the situation where additional personnel are needed, but can human resources be sent at will? Just recruit a few people to join the team and cooperate perfectly with previous members?

Stop talking nonsense. Even if an industry giant like Blizzard disbands the Titan R&D team and assigns personnel to WOW's R&D team. After the number of people in the entire team increased by 50%, the R&D progress of WOW's new expansion packs did not increase but decreased.

Sometimes, too many people do not mean that they have great power.

Therefore, it is also crucial to have enough talent reserves to integrate into the project as quickly as possible. This is why Jester wants all new employees to work together in the "scavenger" he formed. This is to train their tacit understanding and be familiar with the company's work style. When people need to supplement their personnel in the future, they can omit some necessary running-in time.

There are many factors that can affect the formation of a game team, such as the execution ability of the entire team, whether the project cycle is reasonable, and whether the project funds are sufficient and stable.

Finally, it is a very important point, is the entire team full of confidence in the project?

Jester was not worried about these people. He personally led these three people, so he knew that their execution was fine, and the project cycle and stable financial support were nothing more than that. These were guaranteed by Jester. As for whether the entire team was full of confidence in this project, we just need to know that after they said in front of them that they immediately decided to make the project and immediately after obtaining the copyright of "Real Estate Tycoon", they were cheering and surprised so much that they were beyond words.

In other words, the three people in front of Jester now have the prototype of forming an excellent R&D team. As long as they can pass Jester's test this time, a new R&D team will be officially established.

So, Jester told the three of them his decision.

After listening to it, the three of them also made a promise that they would definitely come up with a game plan that was absolutely reliable and feasible before the boss came back.
Chapter completed!