Simply put, it still came down to promotion, then holding an event.
But this event would have to wait until Blood-Red Golden Triangle: Survivors had truly made a name for itself.
The specifics would depend on how much buzz Shen Yingying’s first wave of publicity could generate, and how many Reputation Points it could bring him.
When the time came, depending on the level of hype, they could roll out a limited-time price drop and sell the virtual helmets at a discount.
Earn a little less profit, then play the sympathy card a bit—he should be able to win quite a bit of support from the players that way.
Of course, the premise of all this still depended on the results of Blood-Red Golden Triangle’s first round of marketing.
However, Chen Jiajun wasn’t too worried.
He had full confidence in this game. Besides, Shen Yingying was in complete charge of this promotional campaign.
If nothing else, when it came to generating buzz and stirring up hype, Shen Yingying was absolutely an expert.
Having figured all this out, Chen Jiajun felt much more relaxed.
He opened the official website’s backend,
and closed the game reservation channel.
From now on, free reservations through the official website would be completely terminated.
No one would be able to make free reservations through the official website anymore.
This was paving the way in advance for the future sale of virtual helmets, and it was also a crucial step in transitioning toward a paid model.
Players who had missed out on the closed beta benefits would have to pay if they wanted to reserve the game.
Leaving aside the factor of the system mission,
at the end of the day,
he had to eat too.
Free service couldn’t be maintained forever. Generating electricity purely for love was ultimately not a long-term solution.
It was just like writing a novel. Sooner or later, one had to go through the stage of going premium and charging fees.
Once an author received returns and had their livelihood secured, they would naturally write with more confidence, and the work would become increasingly exciting.
Taking another step back,
even if he really was willing to keep generating electricity for love and remain free forever, Shen Yingying would never agree.
After investing so much money and pouring in so much effort, they had to reap some return no matter what.
Charging fees was inevitable!
As for the specific pricing strategy, as well as how to design the discount plan, he would have to find time to discuss it properly with Shen Yingying.
All the preparations that needed to be done were now in place.
At last, he could catch his breath.
Chen Jiajun leaned back in his chair and stretched.
Then he casually clicked into the game’s official forum.
The servers had been open for three days, and yesterday, another batch of players had received their helmets. He wondered how far the plot had progressed, and what their evaluations of the game were.
Sure enough, there were quite a few new posts on the forum.
He swept his gaze over them. There were no negative reviews.
Aside from some ordinary review discussions, most were analysis posts about the plot and the game.
Among them, the most popular were naturally the posts by “Freeloader King” and “Sun and Moon in the Same Mistake.”
After Sun and Moon in the Same Mistake’s analysis post from yesterday exploded in popularity, today’s post was still an analysis post.
Its content was even more hardcore than yesterday’s analysis.
It focused on dissecting the anti-fraud value contained within Blood-Red Golden Triangle: Survivors.
【As of today, I have created new characters a total of 21 times, and discovered an extremely interesting setting.】
【Every time a character is created, the background story generated by the system is different. 21 characters, 21 life backgrounds.】
【After each character dies, the anti-fraud warning that appears in the game’s closing remarks is also different.】
【From this, it can be seen that the production team truly put great effort into embedding anti-fraud content.】
【They are not only attempting to fully present fraud cases, but are also committed to giving every character a genuine character arc.】
【This is something the overwhelming majority of games on the market find difficult to achieve.】
【I compared the top ten works from the TIG competition. Their understanding of the anti-fraud theme still remains at a relatively shallow level, with most relying on the thrill of punishing evil, promoting good, and fighting violence with violence to attract players.】
【Judging from Blood-Red Golden Triangle’s level of completion and depth of content, as long as the public beta’s publicity doesn’t hold it back, then even if it cannot become a phenomenon-level hit, it will definitely secure a place within certain circles.】
【Finally, a suggestion: I hope more complete character biographies can be released in the future.】
【You could consider unlocking the complete biographies by achieving certain accomplishments in-game.】
【This would both strengthen narrative immersion and further enhance the effectiveness of anti-fraud publicity.】
{Newbie: Big shot, you’re awesome. It’s so detailed—I wouldn’t even have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out.}
{Third Time: A very fair evaluation! (Like)}
{Quit the Game: Sigh, I’m jealous. This old man still hasn’t received his virtual helmet. /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~}
Chen Jiajun looked at this post and immediately marked it as featured.
The critique was on point, full of substance and truth. He liked hearing it.
Especially that last suggestion—it really scratched the itch.
Back when he designed the game, he had indeed had a similar idea.
But fully restoring a character’s entire life history involved data mining and computing costs on a scale that simply wasn’t something an individual developer or a small workshop like his could bear.
Unless… the system was willing to step in.
That was something he could look forward to.
The exchange shop had yet to be unlocked.
Once he accumulated enough Reputation Points, the exchange shop might bring him an unexpected surprise.
Exiting the post,
Chen Jiajun casually clicked into Freeloader King’s update.
After this guy had been dealt a blow by Sun and Moon in the Same Mistake’s analysis post yesterday, he had changed directions.
From the looks of it, he was preparing to take the route of plot analysis from now on.
【Comrades, I have successfully crossed the river and smoothly arrived at a company somewhere in Myawaddy!】
【Advance warning: the following content contains spoilers. Those who mind, enter with caution!!!】
【…First, I have to praise the scene design! The clothing is packed with a sense of the era, and the desolate, dilapidated mountain region has such a retro film texture.】
【Add in the perfect character interaction design, and any random shot feels like a scene from a drama.】
【Ahem… back to the point. The game’s main storyline is indeed not as simple as it appears on the surface. As for the kidnapping segment at the start, I tried N escape plans and can basically draw a conclusion: don’t struggle. You can’t escape at all.】
【Just obediently follow the plot. As long as you don’t resist along the way, your life won’t be in danger.】
【At most, this group of kidnappers will get jealous of your handsome face and teach you a little lesson. If you dare resist, not only will you be beaten half to death, after the beating you’ll also be tied up like a rice dumpling and thrown into a corner.】
【Their ultimate goal is money. Unless absolutely necessary, they won’t kill anyone.】
【They’ll sell you into a company—or rather… calling it a compound would be more accurate.】
【This compound doesn’t look like much from the outside, but there’s a whole other world inside. It’s extremely luxurious.】
【As soon as you enter, you can see a particularly large and especially clean outdoor swimming pool. In addition, there are game rooms, hotels, and all sorts of entertainment facilities.】
【I almost feel like I’m not here to work, but have arrived at an entertainment city. I’m kind of looking forward to it.】
【I recorded a live gameplay segment for this part. If you’re interested, click the video below to watch.】
【Finally, remember to like and follow. Future updates will be placed in a collection and pushed simultaneously.】
Unexpectedly, this guy had reacted so quickly.
Chen Jiajun read the post from top to bottom, then silently gave it a like.
He had to admit, this kid’s insight was quite decent.
The kidnapping at the beginning of the game was, by design, an unsolvable plot event.
He had originally thought the guy would spend at least a few more days banging his head against that broken boat at the start. Who would have thought he would suddenly come to his senses?
Without any hints at all, he had managed to touch upon the main storyline this quickly.
But don’t get happy too early. He had only just reached Myawaddy.
The nightmare hadn’t even begun yet.
You think you’ve arrived at an entertainment city?
You’re actually looking forward to work?
Heh, don’t be in such a hurry!
The “good show” is still yet to come!