Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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Mark smiled and was about to speak when he suddenly heard an interesting news broadcast over the coffee shop's loudspeaker. Instead of speaking, he pointed to the loudspeaker.

The radio is broadcasting a social news story.

It's said that a game store in Los Angeles was robbed yesterday by a young man who took a gun and went into the store. The employees were stunned and quickly handed over their money.

However, after robbing the money, the young man refused to leave and insisted that the clerk give him a gift recharge card for the Xinghuo platform.

The shop assistant was also confused.

He said that the recharge cards on the Spark platform were selling out too quickly these past two days, and asked if I wanted Apple or Android gift cards, or Steam gift cards.

The shop assistant was telling the truth.

Although most domestic players now use Alipay and WeChat for online transactions.

However, overseas, buying and topping up gift cards at convenience stores remains a popular choice for many people.

The game "Star River Paradise: Survival" has been selling like hotcakes these past two days, which has also led to a surge in sales of Starfire platform recharge cards. However, the store clerks never expected that a robber would also want this thing.

After confirming that he wasn't joking, the shop assistant told him that they didn't have any in stock right now, and if he really wanted them, he could come back the next day when they were restocked.

The young man then asked when the goods would be restocked the next day, and the clerk replied that it would be at 10 a.m. sharp.

The young man who committed the robbery took the money and left, but he actually showed up the next day as promised!

However, the store had already called the police, and the local police quickly dispatched officers to arrest the young man.

This news story, which reads like a comedy sketch, quickly spread across major American media outlets and was soon reported by media around the world. Paris, France, has also been reporting on it in the past two days.

no way.

That's just so stupid.

How could anyone be so stupid? But while everyone was saying this person was stupid, many media outlets were also marveling at how incredibly popular Xinghuo had become during this period.

"Why are recharge cards available for Google, Apple, Amazon, and Steam, but not for the Spark platform? This is a very thought-provoking question."

Many media outlets have used this as a joke, partly to mock the robber's stupidity, and partly to amplify the "spark threat theory."

Of course, Mark wasn't referring to the radio broadcast at this point to talk to Penny about this.

Peiwen was a shrewd person; she understood immediately.

"You mean, you got investment from Spark Entertainment!?"

Pevin's voice carried a hint of disbelief, not because he thought Mark couldn't get the investment, but because the investment actually came from Spark.

It's worth noting that Spark is also a shareholder of Ubisoft.

Chapter 536 Ubisoft? What Ubisoft?

“I know what you’re thinking, but the fact is, many people who left Ubisoft have joined Starfire, which I think you know as well.”

"Besides those who joined Xinghuo, quite a few others have also joined us."

"In fact, you might be surprised to hear this, but Spark supported us in inviting our former colleagues from Ubisoft. In fact, a lot of information was leaked to us by Spark's operations department."

"For example, your resignation."

Peiwen still found it a little hard to understand.

"But why would they do that? I mean, why would Spark do that? They're also a Ubisoft shareholder. Aren't they undermining their own company?"

"Ubisoft just let Spark dig them up like that!?"

Mark smiled.

"I don't know about that, but Ubisoft definitely doesn't care, since you weren't poached by Starfire, but fired by Ubisoft."

"Ubisoft executives might even be glad that Spark cleaned up their mess."

"As for Starfire, I don't know why they did that, but I think they did the right thing. After all, there are many talented people at Ubisoft, and you and I both know that."

"If it weren't for Xinghuo, we might really have fallen apart."

"There aren't many companies in France that can accommodate ours."

Marc put it very bluntly: France is not a traditional game-making powerhouse; apart from Ubisoft, there are very few studios capable of producing AAA games.

So if it weren't for Spark's financial support, Mark really wouldn't have had the opportunity to open his own studio to complete the game they wanted.

"So, Peiwen, what do you say?"

Mark looked at him, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Peiwen took a deep breath and slowly raised her head.

"Okay, Mark, you win. I'm joining you."

Mark smiled too.

Welcome aboard

~~~

For some reason, Pevin felt much more relaxed after deciding to join Mark Reno's studio.

The suppressed feeling I had at Ubisoft was suddenly released.

The saying goes, "Once the thought of siding with the Communists arises, one suddenly feels the world is vast and boundless."

The two quickly began discussing specific development details.

Mark Reno also talked about some of the things his studio is currently doing.

"We are currently working on a mod for Paradise Survival."

"Make mods? Why?"

"It's mainly for practice. Although Spark has invested in us, we don't have enough people right now and we need to recruit more. At the same time, we also need to practice."

Pevin was puzzled by Mark's words.

"If we want to practice, we can make a demo. Why make a mod for another game?"

Mark smiled, picked up his coffee, and took a sip.

“Pevin, don’t rush, let me finish. Making mods is indeed not our ultimate goal, but it is a very good starting point.”

"First, by making mods, we can quickly familiarize ourselves with Starfire's development tools and platform. After all, Starfire's engine is quite different from the one we used at Ubisoft before, and we need some time to adapt."

Peiwen nodded, her expression relaxing slightly.

"That makes sense, but is it really necessary to create a dedicated mod just to get familiar with the tools?"

"Of course it's more than that."

Mark put down his coffee cup, his expression turning serious.

Have you read Lin Li's autobiography published by Xinghuo?

"Lin Li's autobiography? I haven't read it."

Peiwen did know that there was an official Xinghuo publication of Lin Li's autobiography, because the book was quite famous and many people knew about it.

Since its initial printing in 19, it has been reprinted 11 times worldwide.

It is said to cover thirteen major languages ​​worldwide, has sold over a million copies globally, and has even been featured on a French bestseller list.

But the saying goes, "In literature, there is no first place; in martial arts, there is no second."

Although Peiwen knew about the book, he had never read it. He always felt that he, an old game developer, already understood the things Lin Li talked about.

Mark nodded.

“I hadn’t seen it before. After I started my own studio, many friends recommended that I buy it and take a look.”

"I must say, this book is really useful."

After saying that, Mark took out a book from his pocket that looked like it had been read many times, and then he took out an unopened book.

“I will send a copy to everyone I invite.”

"I think there's a sentence in it that's very good: a team must first have the ability to collaborate before it can be creative."

“Although we have all worked together at Ubisoft before, we have been scattered for a long time, and everyone’s work rhythm is different. By making a relatively simple MOD, we can quickly integrate the team and find the most suitable way of working for us.”

Peiwen nodded thoughtfully.

"Hmm, that's certainly a good idea. But why choose Paradise Survival? Didn't you say you wanted to make a fantasy-themed Assassin's Creed game?"

Mark smiled, a hint of slyness in his voice.

"That's exactly why I chose it. While Paradise Survival's gameplay is different from our project, its open-world architecture has many similarities to our project."

“We can gain experience in open-world design by making mods. Moreover, Spark provides excellent mod support for Paradise Survival, and we can use their resources to quickly build a prototype.”

Peiwen's eyes lit up when she heard this.

"You mean, I should use this mod to create a simplified version of 'Wizard of Wizards Assassins' to test the core gameplay and systems?"

"That's right!"

Mark excitedly slapped the table.

"Furthermore, given our current team situation, many players might be hesitant to develop games, as our appeal might be somewhat lacking. But if we were to develop mods..."

"Just think about it, a mod created by the original Assassin's Creed team..."

Mark's logic is actually quite simple.

That's right, be the head of a chicken, not the tail of a phoenix.

Given Mark and others' resumes, do you think they would definitely attract a lot of attention if they were to develop a AAA game?

It's hard to say.

After all, in recent years, the reputation of so-called celebrity production teams has been almost completely ruined.

Many new companies claim their teams are star production teams, but as these teams boast more and more, fewer and fewer actually produce anything of substance.

In the past two years, players have become less superstitious about so-called star producer teams.

However, it's a little different when it comes to making mods.

The mod has a short production cycle and is based on the popularity of the original game. For players who like Galaxy Park: Survival, their expectations for this Assassin's Creed mod are naturally higher.

As Mark himself said, their MOD was only in the project initiation stage, but it had already received hundreds of thousands of reservations online.

"so much!?"

This number startled Pevin.

Hundreds of thousands of pre-registrations—that's a significant number, not just for a mod, but for a game in general.

Mark Reno sighed.

"It's not that we're popular, it's just that Paradise Survival is such a hot game lately. You know that guy Hawke, right?"

The Hawk that Mark mentioned also came from Ubisoft.

"That guy Hawke now makes mods specifically for Starfire's games, and he's making quite a bit of money."

"Can this still happen?"

"Yes, but our ultimate goal is still to develop our own games."

During this conversation, Peiwen also accepted Mark's book.

"Mark, you've changed a lot."

"There's no other way. The world of indie games isn't as comfortable as Ubisoft's. How can we survive if we don't change something?"

The two exchanged a smile, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Peiwen leaned back in her chair and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Okay, I admit, your plan does make a lot of sense. So, what do we do next?"

Mark took a document out of his bag and handed it to Penny.

"This is our current development plan. We've analyzed the combat module of Paradise Survival and contacted the development team at Starfire. We can completely change this part, first creating a set of animation modules and adjusting the perspective to a third-person view..."

"In a game that was originally a top-down perspective, changing the view to third-person makes our mod look incredibly impressive..."

"Using this as a gimmick..."