Chapter 418: Chapter 262: Next-Generation Fighting Game (Happy New Year to Everyone)

How each company convinced investors and boards to donate funds to Tianba Studio for the development of "Star Emperor 2", Chen Ba was not sure.

Anyway, they always had a way!

In comparison, it was the development strategy for "Star Emperor 2" that really troubled him.

Here’s an interesting fact...

Although "Star Emperor" was known globally for its stunning special effects and exquisite game graphics, it actually used the relatively old Dream Building 5 Engine.

Chen Ba thought back to the old days.

Back then, the Dream Building 5 Engine had just been released, and there wasn’t a single medium to large scale game developed using this engine in the market, let alone knowing its full potential.

Then, "Star Emperor" stunned the world, showcasing the powerful special effects and rendering precision of the Dream Building 5 Engine, letting many people witness its might.

But that was old news!

With the Dream Building 7 Engine now in use, who would still care about the old Dream Building 5? It’s impossible for "Star Emperor 2" to continue using Dream Building 5 for development!

But here’s the problem.

If we don’t use Dream Building 5, then what engine should we use? The latest Dream Building 7 Engine? Or should we wait for the Dream Building 8.0 update?

Upon returning to the studio, Chen Ba immediately posed this tricky problem to Yang Dong and Old Luo.

"Dream Building 7 isn’t quite right!"

Seeing Ba looking his way, Old Luo shared his thoughts: "Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Dream Building 7 Engine isn’t strong, or that it can’t be used, it’s just..."

Even if used, it has to be used under certain conditions.

For regular games or new games without a predecessor, using the Dream Building 7 Engine is perfectly fine.

But "Star Emperor 2" is different. After all, it’s a sequel, with a predecessor as a benchmark, fans and players have different expectations.

"I understand your point..."

Chen Ba nodded his head.

Old Luo’s thinking was in line with his own. In fact, he was not prepared to use Dream Building 7 for developing the sequel to "Star Emperor".

The reason is simple; the improvement from Dream Building 5 to Dream Building 7 is too small, the game might give a "new bottle, old wine" feeling.

Although...

After multiple rounds of iterative updates, the mainstream PC hardware configurations today are fully capable of playing "Star Emperor" without any pressure.

Yet even so, when selecting games with superior graphics and effects, "Star Emperor" is still among the top, sometimes even in the top few.

This is enough to prove that a game built on the Dream Building 5 Engine, even in the Dream Building 7 era, still has its merits.

Looking at it another way, one is an old game from years ago, another is a newly released game, they can hold their own against each other...

The improvement of Dream Building 7 isn’t substantial!

The sponsorship money from various major sponsors, Chen Ba would certainly embezzle, after all, this money was picked up, not taking it would be a waste.

But even if it’s embezzled, the game can’t be made into an excuse for embezzlement, can it?

So, based on this premise, Chen Ba first ruled out Dream Building 7, then proposed a more feasible plan: modify the Tianba Engine and create a new one!

"Modify?"

Yang Dong was curious, so he asked: "How do you plan to modify it, and to what extent? Is there really a need for this? I think the Tianba Engine is already quite good!"

"It’s good, but obviously the Tianba Engine is not suitable for developing ’Star Emperor 2’, so it needs modification."

Chen Ba contemplated: "As for how much to modify it, it depends on what kind of game we want ’Star Emperor 2’ to be."

What kind of game?

Hearing this, Yang Dong had several large question marks appear on his forehead, and he couldn’t help but reply: "Isn’t it a fighting game, what else could it be?"

"What you said..."

"There are several types of fighting games, and I’m not talking about the game genre but the game’s positioning."

Chen Ba explained: "This is the first time our Tianba Studio is making a sequel, it’s extremely significant."

The first time is always memorable.

As the first game under Tianba Studio to have prequels and sequels, forming a series, "Star Emperor 2" is destined not to be simple.

Chen Ba had high expectations for this game as a "next-generation" fighting game.

"Next-generation?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Come on, Ba, don’t just use new words without understanding them!" Liu Jinfu joked, "The term has been marketed for years, now it just makes me laugh."

The term "next-generation" originally came from Neon, and its meaning is essentially an elegant translation of the English "Next Generation".

Next-generation = Next generation!

What is a next-generation game?

There are two explanations, one is simple series continuation, like the "Resident Evil" series, every new release can claim "next-generation".

But this explanation is too far-fetched and is not widely accepted, the genuine understanding of "next-generation" actually refers to the dramatic change from functional phones to smartphones.

In the gaming world, this kind of transformation has happened several times.

For example, the first game that ran smoothly on handheld consoles, that game could be called a "next-generation" game.

Because it was the first to go mobile, allowing players to play anytime, anywhere, it was a next-generation game.

As for the rest...

Due to marketing and promotion reasons, hearing the words "next-generation game" now is just for laughs. Most companies that claim "next-generation consoles" and "next-generation games" are simply playing word games.