Winning awards can definitely boost oneâs status, like a certain famous game producer who won multiple TGA yearly awards and is quite the sensation in the gaming industry.
But so what?
Are people making games to "show off"? Is showing off more important than game sales? In other words, does fame really bring tangible cash benefits?
On one side, thereâs the TGA annual award, and on the other, a "non-3A" game with million-level sales. Any rational game producer would likely choose the latter.
Game Detective interacts with most game companies, but without exception, most of them use the resources of the Game Detective website to promote their games.
But Tianba Game from Jiangning set a precedent: they approached Game Detective not for advertising, but just for votes!
What the fuck?
Not saying, man, what are you thinking? Itâs not that we look down on the TGA awardâs value; this award is hailed as the "Oscars of the gaming world," so itâs very prestigious indeed.
But no matter what, that trophy canât be eaten! You spent so much on developing a game comparable to a 3A masterpiece, and youâre really not concerned about sales and return on investment?
Are you doing charity here or something?
"Youâre right, from what I know, this developer seems to actually be doing charity. They even call this game a charity game!"
Editor Smith shrugged and said, "They claim that after the release of this game, half of the proceeds will be donated to help people with disabilities..."
Why only donate half of the proceeds?
Peter wasnât naive enough to ask this question because he quickly realized that donating half is because the developers would only end up with about half of the profits.
As for where the other 50% goes?
Taxes are one part, and then there are channel fees and other expenses from various platforms. For example, on the Steam Platform, the toll takes away 30%.
Precisely because of this, the developer announced that they would donate 50% of the proceeds from "Ababâs True Story" to help more people like the protagonist Abab, which actually means they donât make a penny, and all profits are donated.
Peter was deeply impressed.
Initially, he was already shocked by the game "Ababâs True Story," and after learning about the developerâs actions and decisions, he was shocked once more.
Oh my, why does this developer shine with such a holy light? Is it really an angel descending to earth?
"Such a fantastic game, it canât be buried!"
Upon learning that the developer decided to donate all the profits, Peter also found an excuse for their decision to "skip advertising."
This noble-minded developer surely spent all their money on game development, leaving no fortune for advertising.
Thatâs right, that must be it!
As for their voting appeal on Game Detective, Peter found it reasonable too.
They made such an amazing game, not earning a penny, just wanting recognition on the TGA stage. Whatâs wrong with that?
"Yes, I agree,"
the editor nodded as well, saying, "Weâve seen charity games before, but a charity game with such scale, comparable to a 3A title, is definitely a first in history!"
"Go ahead, Peter, unleash your talents and write a feature on this game!"
"But..."
Peter raised an eyebrow and said, "Didnât you just say that they didnât pay for a front-page advertisement?"
"Yes, they didnât purchase ad space, nor did they ask us to write a promotional article for the game."
The editor nodded first, then said, "But I can decide to give them an ad space, which is entirely within the guidelines."
"Thatâs great!"
Peter eagerly left the editorâs office, already planning to include this conversation with the editor in his upcoming article.
Oh, this is so cool!
"Ababâs True Story" is such a fantastic game, and being a charity game, itâs totally worth it.
This free advertisement, not only will Game Detectiveâs users not call them stupid, but theyâll even commend them for doing great and being socially responsible!
Coincidentally, the editor felt the same way.
Whatâs wrong with giving an ad spot to "Ababâs True Story"? Such a large-scale charity game with such a unique theme is rare in the world.
Utilizing an ad spot to catch some attention is definitely beneficial and harmless.
The key is that the "reputation" sounds good!
If "Ababâs True Story" was an ordinary game, the editorâs action would be pointless, except for gaining the developerâs goodwill.
But this is a charity game with the theme of "caring for people with disabilities."
Given this premise, the website helping promote the game for free could definitely gain an advantage in public opinion, and anyone who hears about it would give them a thumbs-up.
...
What happened in Los Santos, Chen Ba didnât know.
Because at the TGA ceremony, there were plenty of media professionals and game developers with nomination and voting rights, and Game Detective was just one of them. He didnât have to pay much attention.
As long as he got one nomination!
With "Ababâs True Storyâs" themes, if itâs nominated for Game of the Year, it would practically mean a 100% win, with no suspense.
More than that, he was concerned about a game bug discovered by Zhong Shengwei during the testing phase.
Indeed!
"Ababâs True Story" was about to be released, and the time left for testing was running out.
Just as Chen Ba thought "Ababâs True Story" would be like Tianba Studioâs other games, where no problems are found during testing, but a serious bug appears once released, a bug did show up.
Zhong Shengwei, while testing the stability of "Ababâs True Storyâs" multiplayer mode, unexpectedly discovered that during certain tasks in multiplayer mode, thereâs a probability of triggering a "blink" bug.
What is "blink"?
The name comes from its principle resembling a summoner skill in a MOBA game â blink, where the character instantaneously moves from point A to point B!
Actually, "teleportation" might be more appropriate, but thatâs not the point; the main issue is that this bug severely disrupts game balance.
Because in "Ababâs True Story," if players could teleport, many tasks would become incredibly easy, reducing their difficulty to practically zero.
In the online mode, when players carry out team tasks, they usually take on specific roles or professions.
For example, a courier!
The requirement is to deliver ten packages to each customer within a "limited time," and up to five players can join to complete the task.
Doesnât seem hard?
That might be the case for normal people, but for Blind Abab, Lame Abab, Deaf-mute Abab, Downâs Syndrome Abab, and others, that task becomes quite a challenge.
However, the "blink" bug clearly ruins the game experience because once the bug is exploited, players can teleport across the map, making the task trivial.
After some diagnosis, the cause of this bug was quite simple.
"This speed value, because every unit is Abab, in certain circumstances, itâll stack up."
Yang Dong explained, "The single-player mode is unaffected since thereâs only one Abab throughout. But in online mode, there might be two identical Ababs, and both teaming up for the same task..."
These two Ababs, though having different nicknames and facial features, are essentially the same, using the "Abab" code from the single-player mode.
Simply put, in online multiplayer mode, despite playersâ freedom to customize their characters and names, all characters use the same template.
Then in team mode, if two Ababs with "default faces" and similar symptoms team up, it triggers this bug.
For instance, two "default face" blind Ababs team up for a task, this triggers the bug causing one characterâs value to stack on the other.
The value doubling might seem like just times two, but with the "game value" having a limit, surpassing this limit results in teleportation.
The game speed limit is 100 points; stack two 55 points and it visually results in teleportation, as speeds over 100 points canât be processed.