Chapter 8: Tianba Game

Under the night sky, Jiangning City’s sky was completely dark, with no stars in sight.

Actually, you could see them before.

About four or five years ago, when Chen Ba just got into Jiangning University, the night sky was very beautiful, with many stars and a gorgeous galaxy...

In these few years, who knows if it’s due to city light pollution or some other reason, but anyway, there are fewer and fewer stars at night.

Strolling along the way home, Chen Ba took out his phone to check his WeChat messages.

Good news, Kun Kun made it home!

Bad news, Kun Kun reeked of alcohol and his mom scolded him again, she even arranged a blind date with a nurse working at the city hospital for him tomorrow.

"Moment of silence!"

After expressing sympathy for his good friend’s predicament, Chen Ba shook his head, then looked at the game’s real-time sales data.

Very good, it broke 50,000 copies!

However, the sales curve of "Cold Window Study Simulator" has shown signs of weakness since breaking 50,000 copies.

"Not bad, it should sell about 150,000 copies in its entire lifecycle..."

As Chen Ba’s first game creation, he was already quite satisfied with this sales performance.

After all, the input-output ratio was disproportionate. Compared to what he invested, the return from this game was enormous, it’s not an exaggeration to say he became an overnight millionaire.

"God of Gods, despite the abstract and rough game graphics, the story is quite touching, highly recommended!"

"Qian Duoduo fan checking in here..."

"Saw it in a video, and ’Cow Herding Simulator’ lives up to its name! Check out my game time, I’ve become completely obsessed with that damn old cow of mine!"

"Bought for my kid, they love it, even sensitive skin can use it, the seller’s service is very attentive, will buy again next time..."

"After a day of 996, I come home to play the game, herding cows, cutting pigweed, and harvesting corn... such a fulfilling and beautiful day!"

"I’m such a fool, I actually spent money just to spend a cyber day with cows! ’1047 people found this review hilarious’"

The game’s popularity continues to rise, with many new player reviews in the comment section, turning the previously quiet game community lively.

Of course, all of this was within Chen Ba’s expectations.

What really surprised him was, that someone in the community was asking if there were any fanworks about the "Protagonist X Old Cow"? Novels or comics, they needed it urgently!

Huh?

Chen Ba exclaimed, "good lord."

He knew that humans’ preferences are free, but this was a bit too free, right? Even the old cow can be stimulated, what kind of people are these?

Shaking his head, Chen Ba put away his phone and walked into the Shuxiang Meiyuan District where he rented an apartment.

After taking a shower, he turned on his computer to address and adjust some issues players reported.

First was the abnormal Physical Strength issue.

Some players discovered their Physical Strength didn’t recover after a night’s sleep, instead, they fell into a "weakened" state, which they considered a bug and reported to the developer.

After investigating, Chen Ba found out that this player had probably encountered the "random illness" event for the first time, so he patiently explained.

In the game, due to the player’s "weak and sickly" Special Physique, they would randomly trigger various illness events. If unlucky, they might even randomly contract an incurable disease and be taken away in one fell swoop.

The players who reported this bug were mostly encountering this for the first time, so they seemed a bit at a loss.

After answering various questions from the players, he began editing the content for the game’s second update.

There weren’t many random events built into "Cold Window Study Simulator", and many players reported frequently encountering repetitive events in the game.

This needed to be changed.

Primarily, add some new random events, minimizing event repetition as much as possible to prevent players from feeling bored.

Receiving love letters, paying protection fees to bullies, being mocked by classmates, home visits, misunderstandings...

More than ten new random events were quickly written within the framework set by the system.

"Whew! Finally done."

Stretching with a yawn and rubbing his sore neck from sitting too long, Chen Ba pushed the update package to the platform server.

If there’s no surprise, this should be the last major content update for "Cold Window Study Simulator".

After this, Chen Ba would no longer make any content patches for this game, instead focusing all his energy on developing his next game.

But before that...

Staring at the "Revenue Sharing Settlement" page displayed on the backend, Chen Ba decided he should first register a game studio.

Previously, he was an independent game developer because he had no money, couldn’t hire staff, and had to do everything himself.

With the success of "Cold Window Study Simulator", his share of the income should at least be in the millions.

Though it might not seem like much money, not enough to buy a decent house, being frugal, it’s definitely enough to hire staff and set up a small studio.

What name should he give the studio?

Furrowing his brow in deep thought, Chen Ba finally decided to name it "Tianba Game".

Tianba is from an ultimate move of a character in a MOBA game he often played, which he found exceedingly cool the first time he saw it.

What? Too cheesy?

What’s wrong with a man being a little cheesy?

And all those famous game studios, which of their names aren’t cheesy or absurd? Things like Zulong, Maniac, Thunder, Linglong Sky... you just got used to hearing them, so they don’t sound strange anymore.

Besides, naming a studio after the founder is quite common in the industry!

After settling on the studio’s name, Chen Ba found a decently-sized, well-renovated apartment online and planned to rent it first.

Computers and such could wait.

Renting the apartment has drained all of Chen Ba’s savings, buying equipment would have to wait until the revenue share hit his account.

As for registration and handling related paperwork, he’d leave it to an agent later. They’re pros in that area, and although Chen Ba could save a lot of money by doing it himself, who knows how long it would take?

The most important thing at the moment was recruitment.

At the initial stage of Tianba Game Studio, constrained by funds and office space, Chen Ba didn’t plan to hire too many people, aiming to keep it within five persons if possible.

Even though that was a bit few, with the help of the system, it’s definitely enough.

"Then let’s hire four people!"

Recalling a senior that Wang Kun recommended to him before, since he’s a programmer, counting Chen Ba himself, they still need a competent artist, a planner, and a versatile backup candidate.

After determining staffing needs and basic salary offers, Chen Ba sent the job posting to a local WeChat public account.

With such a recruitment ad, posted on professional forums probably wouldn’t get much response. After all, who would join a newly established small studio unsure of its survivability if they had other options?

Therefore, when recruiting initially, Chen Ba didn’t expect to find any big names, just someone competent who could help take on some of the work would suffice.

Having too much expertise, or if a top-notch person indeed applied, with Chen Ba’s current funds, he couldn’t afford them...

To be honest, it’s a bit embarrassing.

Chen Ba’s approximate million-dollar savings was probably not as much as their half-year salary and bonuses. Given what he had at home, he really didn’t have a better option.