Generally speaking, the development progress of a game company's dev team is always one or even two versions ahead of what the players are currently experiencing.
For example, if the players are playing version 1.01, then the test server should already be running version 1.02, the development team is working on version 1.03, and the planning for version 1.04 is already on the schedule.
Of course, this only applies to games that update frequently.
But even for games that don't update as often, the development plan should at least be one version ahead of the current player-facing version.
Once a game is completed, the dev team should move quickly into the next development phase; otherwise, the project team would have nothing to do in the meantime.
So, based on his past work experience, Huang Sibo felt that it was time to finalize the next stage of the development plan. This was his responsibility as the Lead Executive Designer.
They couldn't wait until President Pei pushed them to start the next version before making arrangements, that would be a serious oversight in his duties.
Bao Xu had no objections to this and fully supported the idea.
"But the problem now is… I don't know what kind of plan to set up. I don't even know what to change or improve, there's no direction," Huang Sibo said, expressing his frustration.
A new version usually consists of two aspects: fixing and improving.
On one hand, it involves fixing bugs, exploits, and unreasonable elements in the current version; on the other hand, it adds new gameplay, maps, and content to improve and expand the game itself.
But the issue Huang Sibo faced was that Ocean Fortress already felt like a perfect version to him and Bao Xu. There didn't seem to be any bugs or design flaws left to fix!
As for new content…
Honestly, there were already plenty.
There's a story mode and a versus mode. Within versus mode, there are already multiple sub-modes like Biohazard, Ghost, and Bomb modes.
There really didn't seem to be any room for new additions at the moment!
Until players got bored of the current content, spending the effort to make new modes and maps just felt like overkill.
Bao Xu was at a bit of a loss as well, this was out of his expertise.
Playing games? That was his jam.
But game planning? That was way beyond him.
"I don't know either. You decide, Brother Huang. What do you think we should do?" Bao Xu asked.
After thinking it over, Huang Sibo said, "I think we should bring in a few core players to try the game out and give us feedback and suggestions."
"Don't take it the wrong way, Brother Bao. I'm not saying your input isn't useful, it's just that we're a bit too close to the project ourselves. We need to hear from others too. The bigger the sample size, the more accurate the data."
Bao Xu didn't mind at all and nodded, feeling that Huang Sibo's reasoning made a lot of sense.
Up until now, game balance and feel had basically been entirely in Bao Xu's hands.
If Bao Xu thought a weapon's recoil needed tweaking or a certain animation didn't feel right, Huang Sibo would immediately assign the design team to fix it.
But no matter how good Bao Xu was, he was still just one person. His preferences didn't necessarily represent the tastes of tens of thousands of players.
So, Huang Sibo felt they needed a batch of players to test the game.
Once they pointed out problems, he could then incorporate those into the next version's plan and keep optimizing the game.
That way, he'd also have a clearer idea of what to plan next.
"I'm on board," Bao Xu said. "But who do you plan to invite? I mean, if we ask people to test our game out of nowhere, would they even be willing? Shouldn't we offer them something in return?"
"Hmm… yeah, that's a good point." Huang Sibo furrowed his brows. "Let me think about where I can find a few guinea pigs."
…
Back at his desk, Huang Sibo was still a little troubled.
They definitely needed some guinea pigs right now—actually, they needed a lot of guinea pigs—to help test the game.
In fact, most normal games go through a player beta test phase before launch.
Many times, even the most skilled QA team can't match those bug-magnet, meme-loving players when it comes to finding problems.
On one hand, with the widespread use of game editors and faster ESRB-style content review, many game development cycles have been getting increasingly compressed, and public beta tests have become more optional than necessary.
On the other hand, President Pei never said anything about arranging a beta, he just told Huang Sibo to submit the game for review directly.
As a result, Ocean Fortress went online without ever going through a player beta phase.
Now, Huang Sibo felt it was necessary to round up a few guinea pigs to gather feedback on the game. But when it came to where to find those guinea pigs, that was a big problem.
No connections. No network!
Maybe... he should check with President Pei?
No way.
It'd be too embarrassing to bother the boss with something so simple.
Huang Sibo reminded himself repeatedly: You're the Lead Executive Designer now!
President Pei entrusted you with this role not so you could act like a clueless schoolkid, asking about every little thing, but to take charge and handle your responsibilities like a pro!
Small issues like this should be handled smoothly and independently, don't keep running to the boss for help.
Besides, even if he did ask, it's not like President Pei would necessarily have a solution. Sure, the guy might have connections, but he wasn't about to roll up his sleeves and start scouting for players himself.
So Huang Sibo decided to bury the idea of going to President Pei and take care of the grunt work himself.
After getting nowhere using search engines, he turned to the internal design team and dropped a message:
"I'm looking for a group of players to help test the game… anyone got any leads? Ideally, I'd like to get in touch with a few FPS fan groups and see if the group owners are open to a little partnership and bring in a batch of guinea pigs for us."
"Of course, we'll show some appreciation. No money involved, but we can give out a few exclusive, limited-edition in-game weapons."
Sure, they could pay people.
But if they did, President Pei would have to be notified.
And Huang Sibo didn't want to bother President Pei for this. He wasn't about to dip into his own wallet either. So, in-game rewards were the only option.
They might not be massively enticing to all players, but hey—better than nothing.
Responses rolled in quickly.
Most of the team, like Huang Sibo, had no connections and didn't know anyone who ran player communities or gaming groups.
Xiao Lu suggested trying to sneak into some Counter-Terrorism Plan fan groups and see if he could buddy up to a group owner and strike a deal.
But the odds of that working were pretty low.
Popping into someone else's FPS community to promote a rival game—without offering any real benefits—was a surefire way to get kicked out immediately.
That's when Lin Wan spoke up.
"Uh… I actually have contact info for a few group owners from some big FPS fan communities. Most of them run one or two groups each, and there should be a few hundred or even a thousand players in each."
Huang Sibo jumped in right away:
"Can you… uh… reach out to them for a little collab? I mean, ask if they'd be willing to help out a bit."
He quickly corrected himself, realizing he probably shouldn't use terms like "PY" (a slang abbreviation of "backroom dealing") in front of a sweet-looking girl like Lin Wan.
But Lin Wan didn't seem to mind.
"No problem. I know them well—it's just a matter of sending a message."
Huang was a bit surprised.
"Wait, how do you know so many FPS group owners?"
It didn't quite add up.
Lin Wan wasn't into FPS games, and even if she were, it'd be unusual for her to be connected to so many group admins.
Lin Wan explained:
"Oh, that's from my internship at Tianhuo Studio. Our team was developing Bullet Hole, and we specifically brought in a bunch of hardcore FPS players as testers. I was in charge of coordinating with them."
<+>
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