"You said he wanted to make a VR game?"
Haicheng, Infinite Network Entertainment's General Management Office.
Manager Liang looked somewhat surprised after hearing the report.
"Yes. I told him we needed to discuss it and would reply later. Manager Liang, do you think we should still pursue this?"
A tall woman in a white blouse and short skirt stood before the desk.
As a supervisor, she adjusted her silver-rimmed glasses. After her initial surprise, she instead found the idea rather fanciful.
Manager Liang glanced at her, frowning slightly.
"Did you tell him about the current state of VR?"
The woman nodded.
"I made it clear to him that VR games are technically difficult when it comes to delivering a real-time gaming experience. It isn't like film and television, where all you need is a 360-degree video. They're two entirely different concepts."
"What did he say?"
"He said he knew very well and understood it completely. That was exactly why he wanted to do it."
Manager Liang was instantly at a loss for words. Only after quite a while did he speak with displeasure.
"I think he doesn't understand anything at all! If VR games were really that easy to make, wouldn't the big foreign studios have done it ages ago? And it's not like those foreigners haven't tried. Doesn't someone in this industry know how disastrously VR StarCraft flopped?"
The tall woman did not respond. Clearly, she too felt that making a VR game was somewhat unrealistic.
Manager Liang leaned back in his chair and shook his head.
"It's a good thing for young people to have ideas, but ideas aren't the same as fantasies. You can't just open your mouth and start doing something. The fact that one person made Dark Forest only proves his technical skills are solid and that he's a versatile talent. It doesn't mean he can ask for the stars and moon. People need to face reality!"
After a pause, he looked at the woman before him.
"Supervisor Lian, reply to him. Tell him that VR games have never shown outstanding results anywhere in the world. There hasn't even been a single work worth looking at. If he wants to use the funding from the support program to make VR, first ask whether he has any presentable examples."
After Manager Liang finished speaking, he sat up slightly and lit a cigarette.
"We happen to have a partnership with Tongxin Technology, so use one of their VR devices. Tell Mr. Shuo Guang that we'll provide the VR development tools and have him make an example for us to see."
"The original purpose of the support program's funding is investment. But investments go toward promising, profitable projects, not money thrown away down the drain. VR is a direction with an unclear future. Without a convincing example, even if I agree, the shareholders won't. So having Mr. Shuo Guang provide an example isn't merely about convincing me. It's about convincing the shareholders, and even more so, convincing the market, so that this money can be given willingly."
"Understood?"
"So your boss's meaning is that he wants to see whether I have the ability to make VR games, right?"
Meng Shu held his phone and drank soda as he summed up what the person on the other end meant.
[We're really sorry, Teacher Shuo Guang, but this is difficult for us too. VR games truly aren't easy to make right now. It isn't just a technical problem—it's also a matter of extremely high costs.]
[Foreign companies have made these kinds of VR games before. Not only was the quality poor, they also had an enormous number of bugs. The launch prices were absurdly high as well. Players didn't buy into them, and the games had to be taken down. In the end, their published financial reports showed massive losses.]
[Since then, no company, domestic or foreign, has made VR games. Players have also grown accustomed to PC and console platforms. VR may not be able to gain players' acceptance for the time being. Teacher Shuo Guang, you need to think this through.]
After the woman on the phone finished speaking, Meng Shu pondered for a while. But when he saw the development engine before him that even a monkey could use, he revealed a confident, absolute smile.
"Thank you for the reminder. I actually know everything you mentioned. I'd like to ask: if I really produce an example, roughly how much support funding would you provide?"
There was silence on the other end for a moment, followed by a sigh.
[It would depend on the quality of your VR game. If it really reaches an impressive standard, it won't be less than ten million.]
Ten million?
Meng Shu frowned.
To be honest, it was too little.
But when he considered that he did not develop games like other companies, painstakingly working step by step, but instead relied on the system, it no longer mattered.
"One month. I'll release the example within one month. But ten million is too little. Once you see my example, then you can consider how much support to provide."
A sudden gasp came from the other end of the line.
[O-One month? Th-then... we'll wait for your good news.]
It was obvious that the person on the other end did not believe him, yet she restrained her urge to ask questions, making her speech somewhat halting.
Meng Shu chatted with her for a while longer and learned that they partnered with a VR company, saving him the time of contacting one himself.
He then explained that he needed development tools for that VR device and asked them to provide them as soon as possible.
Afterward, he hung up and received the electronic version of Dark Forest's publishing contract.
Looking at the two PDF files in WeChat, Meng Shu shrugged and did not open them immediately.
Holding his phone, he lowered his chair and lay back on it, staring at the ceiling where some of the paint had peeled away as he fell into thought.
VR was clearly widespread in this world, yet VR games were crude and untouched by anyone. The fundamental reason was most likely—
The development engines couldn't keep up!
This problem had also appeared in his original world.
Many people believed that developing VR games was not much different from developing for PC or consoles. So they ported some classic games to VR in hopes of making a fortune, only for every single one to crash and burn.
Whether it was The Elder Scrolls V VR, Fallout 4 VR, or L.A. Noire VR, all of them flopped without exception.
But it wasn't as though there were no VR games worthy of recognition.
For example, Resident Evil 7 VR was a high-quality work.
And among all VR games, the one at the very top of the pyramid was probably Half-Life: Alyx.
Its incredibly realistic graphics, highly flexible controls, fluid movement, detail-packed textures, and industry-leading physics and collision feedback—
It truly brought players into the game world, letting them enjoy everything to the fullest.
And the engine used for such an outstanding work was a brand-new tool developed only after nearly a decade of refinement.
So, a good development engine was extremely important for a good VR game.
And the engines in this world clearly could not achieve that.
Otherwise, VR games would not have been so crudely made.
Although this world's game engines were inadequate, the development engine produced by the system—the one even monkeys could use—could do it!
Moreover, it was stronger and more comprehensive than the engine that had developed Half-Life: Alyx in his original world!
In a world where VR was widespread, yet no one made VR games, the market was practically blank.
If he did not make good use of it, how could he live up to his identity as a transmigrator and the system's abilities?
At that thought, Meng Shu smiled.
"Playing games through a screen is like watching movies. Given enough time, there are probably plenty of people suffering from digital impotence."
"It's time for something fresh. Now it's time to bring you all onto the grand stage of the game world!"
Before you continue