"Well, the next question is: which industry should I choose?"
After careful thought, Pei Qian decided to first understand the overall environment of this world.
Opening his laptop, he launched Qiandu, the popular search engine, and began browsing recent news, especially technology-related articles.
"There are some differences, but not too significant," Pei Qian concluded.
...
Compared to Pei Qian's original world, this parallel world wasn't drastically different—only slightly ahead in terms of technological progress.
Communication and information technologies had advanced faster, with significant improvements in computer chips, graphics cards, and other digital hardware.
Several technologies that Pei Qian remembered emerging around 2015 or even later had already begun to surface here.
For example, the smartphone revolution, which originally became mainstream around 2012, had nearly completed its popularization by 2008 in this world. High-quality mobile games were already widely available.
Additionally, copyright protection was much stricter. Piracy across all sectors had been thoroughly suppressed, with penalties becoming significantly harsher and criminal thresholds much lower.
Other areas hadn't changed much.
The industries trending here were still internet-based technology, gaming, and cultural sectors—similar to his original timeline.
Pei Qian was free to choose any field; the system didn't impose limitations.
However, to operate legally and avoid system penalties, he'd have to hire relevant professionals. Entering an industry he didn't understand could be risky—what if these experts turned out to be exceptionally talented and inadvertently made him money?
After much contemplation, Pei Qian decided to start with the gaming industry.
Although he had never personally worked in gaming, Pei Qian had played countless games. This exposure granted him a decent grasp of the industry.
Compared to other fields, Pei Qian believed he'd have better control over game development.
A slight tweak in gameplay could easily doom a game to commercial failure—this was a huge advantage for his plan!
Moreover, the gaming industry burned through money quickly.
Businesses in traditional sectors could sell physical assets after failure, recouping some losses—but failing in games meant absolute losses, as useless code was completely worthless.
Armed with memories from ten years into the future, Pei Qian could consciously avoid potentially successful games.
Step One: Create games!
Step Two: Lose money, converting system funds entirely into personal assets!
Step Three: Spend extravagantly!
Yes, it was the perfect plan.
Pei Qian admired his own genius.
...
After settling on this direction, Pei Qian searched for the official website of the Bureau of Commerce. He downloaded the personal business management app and successfully logged in using his ID number and default password.
His name already had a registered company: Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd., with 50,000 yuan in the company's account.
This registration must have been automatically handled by the system's mysterious capabilities.
In terms of entrepreneurship, the parallel world set at 'easy difficulty' was vastly different from Pei Qian's original world.
Here, to encourage entrepreneurship, the barriers for individuals starting businesses were incredibly low, and most processes had become automated, achievable online or through client apps.
This streamlined approach was even more advanced than what Pei Qian remembered from ten years later, offering significant convenience to individual entrepreneurs.
There were similar advantages elsewhere too.
For instance, benefiting from rapid advancements in communication and cloud technology, networking resources in many industries were centralized, greatly enhancing the efficiency of online operations.
Taking the gaming industry as an example, a unified official body called the Entertainment Software Rating Organization (ESRO) oversaw regulation and approval processes for all games.
At the same time, ESRO had also launched an official resource marketplace designed specifically for entrepreneurs.
This official ESRO resource marketplace could be considered a centralized hub for gaming resources across the domestic market. Entrepreneurs could pay to access common art assets, programming templates, and design documents, or hire professionals to customize their own games.
These art assets and templates were voluntarily shared by other companies or individuals in the industry and could be used for a fee.
Of course, most resources here were relatively basic or standard.
The marketplace also enabled direct contact with industry veterans, such as top-tier artists, allowing entrepreneurs to negotiate and collaborate with them directly.
In addition, ESRO provided its official game editor, integrating several mainstream editors and simplifying their functions. With some practice, even individuals without programming knowledge could master it to a certain extent.
These changes occurred over a rapid period of technological advancement, roughly between 2007 and 2009.
It was precisely thanks to the strong support from a robust official body like ESRO that such transformations took place within the gaming industry.
Of course, other industries—such as movies, animation, and other cultural sectors—had similar changes, but Pei Qian didn't need to worry about those for now.
...
"Let me check the system requirements for this resource marketplace client and the editor..."
"Hmm, not bad. My laptop can just about handle it. Though there are still some limitations—large-scale games aren't feasible."
"But that's fine—I wasn't planning to create large games anyway."
Pei Qian had purchased his laptop shortly after entering university. It had only been a few months, so it was still capable of running ESRO's resource client and game editor.
However, since Pei Qian's laptop had mid-to-low specifications, it couldn't handle large-scale projects. Creating smaller-scale games would be possible, though.
It wasn't an issue. Pei Qian never intended to create large games anyway. He lacked both manpower and sufficient funds, and most importantly, he wasn't even aiming to turn a profit.
Creating a passable indie game alone, just enough to pass ESRO's inspection, would suffice.
Pei Qian opened the editor first and seriously studied the tutorials.
An hour later, Pei Qian felt himself drifting into sleepiness.
"What happened to the 'easy enough for people without programming experience?' advertisement!? What part of this is easy!?"
Pei Qian felt cheated.
While the learning curve of this editor was indeed significantly lower compared to traditional game development tools, it was still challenging for someone like Pei Qian, who had zero programming foundation!
However, he did manage to grasp simple tasks, like using existing templates or swapping art assets.
"Forget it. I'll just browse the resource marketplace first and analyze some current games."
Pei Qian opened the resource marketplace and browsed available resources.
The marketplace had an extensive variety, offering general templates for various genres, such as simulation driving, fighting, shooting, RPG, and more.
These templates were basic, priced reasonably.
For instance, a shooting game template included essential functions such as walking, firing, reloading, and default bullet trajectories.
By purchasing a few simple art assets and integrating them, one could create a basic and simplistic shooter.
Creating more complex mechanics, however, required mastering advanced features of the editor.
Highly complicated functions might even require hiring dedicated professionals via the resource marketplace.
- - - - - -
If you want to see more chapter of this fic for free, please go to my Scribblehub Account[1], I cross-poted this fic in there too.
Link: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/[2]
[1] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/
[2] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/