Chapter 305: War of Freedom

“Next, let’s talk about how the game determines victory.”

“My team and I spent a long time discussing this. At first, we planned to base it on kill count—whichever side reached 100 kills first would win.”

“But that setup would encourage players to start fighting right from the beginning or pick high-damage characters.”

“That would take away a lot of the strategy and depth from the game, and limit the variety of gameplay.”

“After multiple revisions and overhauls, we eventually settled on a mechanic inspired by chess: victory comes from eliminating the enemy’s ‘general.’”

“But we made some changes to that concept. Instead of a general, we designed a core mechanism—a structure placed in front of each team’s spawn point. Along the three lanes, we also set up various defensive mechanisms to assist players and help fend off enemy attacks.”

“If the enemy is too strong, players can retreat under the protection of these mechanisms.”

“With this setup, the win condition becomes destroying the enemy’s core mechanism.”

“………”

Xu Yuan continued flipping through the PowerPoint slides, thoroughly explaining the gameplay mechanics of 【War of Freedom】.

By the time he reached the final slide, the entire game concept had been presented in full.

Xu Yuan and the colleague who had assisted with the presentation stood at the front of the room and bowed deeply to the audience of employees seated in the conference room.

“Thank you, everyone. That concludes our game proposal.”

The room fell silent.

A moment later, a wave of thunderous applause erupted.

Wei Yan slowly flipped through Xu Yuan’s proposal again, recalling the details of the presentation.

In terms of creativity and thoroughness, this proposal was clearly superior to the one submitted by Lu Ren’s team.

From his personal perspective, Wei Yan felt that Xu Yuan’s proposal was excellent.

However, he wasn’t deeply versed in game development himself, so he wanted to see how the rest of the team felt about the two proposals.

Xu Yuan had already returned to his seat. Wei Yan glanced around the room at the assembled staff.

“You’ve all heard both proposals. In a moment, I’ll ask you to raise your hands to show which one you support.”

“But before you vote, I want you to be objective. Don’t just vote for your own team’s proposal out of loyalty.”

“You should understand that whichever game we choose will likely be managed by our team going forward. If the game performs poorly, it’ll affect your own income.”

“You all received your project bonuses during the New Year. If you want to keep earning bonuses like that, then you’d better choose the game you truly believe has the most potential.”

Wei Yan spoke slowly and seriously.

He believed that after hearing this, everyone in the room would understand what was at stake.

A successful game could multiply their income. They had already seen that happen firsthand. There was no reason not to believe it could happen again.

After Wei Yan finished speaking, the employees exchanged glances, their expressions shifting.

“Alright, that’s all I have to say. Now it’s time to make your choice.”

Wei Yan observed the changing expressions in the room and knew his words had landed.

“All those who support Lu Ren’s proposal, please raise your hands.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a few employees slowly raised their hands.

Wei Yan quickly counted and recorded the number, then continued.

“All those who support Xu Yuan’s proposal, please raise your hands.”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Hands shot up across the room.

Xu Yuan looked around at the raised hands, his heart surging with excitement. There were so many that he didn’t even need to count—clearly, the majority supported his team’s proposal.

Wei Yan nodded at the sight.

So many people believed in the 【War of Freedom】 concept.

“Alright, hands down. No need to tally the exact numbers. The winning proposal is 【War of Freedom】. Let’s give them a round of applause.”

Clap clap clap clap!

The conference room erupted in enthusiastic applause.

When the clapping died down, Wei Yan turned with a curious expression toward Lu Ren, who was sitting not far away.

“Lu Ren, tell us—why did you vote for Xu Yuan’s proposal?”

He had seen it with his own eyes during the vote: Lu Ren had raised his hand in support of Xu Yuan’s game.

That puzzled him. After all, Lu Ren was the lead planner of the first proposal. Yet he had openly supported the competing project.

Lu Ren stood up with a smile.

“I believe Xu Yuan’s game concept is better. That’s not to say my own proposal was bad, but given the current state of the gaming market, Xu Yuan’s idea is truly groundbreaking.”

“The gameplay and innovation behind 【War of Freedom】 are things we haven’t seen in the industry yet. It’s a completely new type of game. Just like Extreme Survival—it introduced a never-before-seen style of gameplay.”

“Once this game is developed and launched, there are only two possible outcomes. Either it fails to gain traction and fades into obscurity, or it explodes in popularity like Extreme Survival.”

“Sure, it’s a bit of a gamble, but I believe that if our project team works together, we can make this game a success and minimize the risk.”

“And to be honest, the biggest reason I chose this game is because I see the same potential in it that Extreme Survival had. If it takes off, our project bonuses will be huge. And really, who doesn’t like making money?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the room burst into laughter.

Exactly.

Who doesn’t like making money?

Hearing Lu Ren’s words, Wei Yan couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration.

A true professional really does speak differently.

He had simply thought Xu Yuan’s proposal was better, but couldn’t quite explain why. It just felt right.

But when Lu Ren said it, it instantly sounded convincing.

“Alright, now that we’ve chosen the proposal, does anyone still have objections? If so, feel free to speak up now.”

Wei Yan looked around the meeting room at the gathered staff. For a moment, no one responded.

“Since there are no objections, then this proposal is officially finalized.”

“Starting today, we’ll begin collective development on the game project 【War of Freedom】. I hope everyone will work together and help create a game as explosively popular as Extreme Survival.”

Clap, clap, clap!

Another round of applause echoed through the room.

Seeing this, Wei Yan smiled slightly. Since the formation of this project team, they finally had a clear goal. It felt like things were finally on track.

He couldn’t help but wonder how the game would be received once it was developed. Would it really become a hit?

A trace of unease stirred in his heart.

He just hoped he wouldn’t let President Chen down.

Wei Yan let out a quiet sigh. President Chen had placed so much trust in him—if he ended up producing a money-losing game, he’d never forgive himself for betraying that trust.

The pressure was immense!