Becoming the Richest Man by Starting with a Gam

Lonely Desert Highway

Regarding the current gaming industry environment, it's quite similar to what Adam experienced in his previous life in 2009.

For example, the most popular online game has shifted from "Shankou Mountain" to "Fantasy World," CS has become "Counter-Strike Plan," and DOTA has been replaced by "Divine Revelation." The packaging might be different, but the gameplay is largely the same. Mobile gaming, however, has seen a significant improvement, likely due to the faster pace of hardware development.

For instance, card games on mobile phones, benefiting from the smartphone boom, emerged in 2012 in Adam's previous life.

However, in this parallel world, similar games appeared around 2008 due to the earlier advent of smartphones, making it a mature game genre by now.

"With this in mind, the situation becomes quite clear."

"I just need to spend money on the resource site to buy templates and art assets, spend all fifty thousand, and then produce a game that nobody plays or buys, leading to a total loss after two weeks."

"Perfect!"

Resolved, Adam starts searching for the templates he wants on the resource site.

"Driving simulation base template, 20,000, includes a set of vehicle interior and exterior textures."

"Desert highway scene template, 15,000. For dynamic environmental changes, add another 8,000, totaling 23,000."

"A bit pricey, but I'm looking for expensive!"

"Still have some money left."

"Radio music, choose 30 out of 100 songs, or let the system randomly play from the library, 6,000."

"Left with 1,000... Hmm, buy a simple leaderboard feature, can't afford anything else."

After some consideration, Adam frantically places orders on the resource site, quickly spending all fifty thousand.

The resources, to be honest, aren't expensive.

For example, the driving simulation base template allows for basic driving simulation game functionalities once set up in the game editor.

Accelerator, brake, turning, collision, it's all there.

The desert highway scene, by default, supports adjusting the road length in the editor, with some random changes to the desert scenery.

After adding the dynamic environmental change feature, there will be day-night cycles, sandstorms, and other environmental changes.

Since these are all common templates, many independent game developers also purchase them, ensuring 100% chance of "face collision."

Some developers, to avoid this, customize some art assets for replacement, which, of course, means further investment.

But Adam doesn't care about that.

Face collision? So what! I'm aiming to lose money anyway, and if players avoid this game because of face collision, all the better!

Adam begins creating the game.

Though he intends to lose money, the game must at least pass the ESRO review and successfully launch.

If it's a severely flawed half-finished product, it won't pass the ESRO review, and the system might consider Adam's actions a violation.

So, no matter how terrible the game is, the basic functions must be complete.

Dragging the base template into the editor, then adding the scene template.

Now, the game's main framework is established; players can drive through the desert highway upon entering the game.

However, the purchased resources shouldn't be wasted.

Adam also adds a radio feature to the vehicles, allowing players to listen to music while driving.

It's mostly niche or classic music; popular songs couldn't be acquired for such a small amount.

Next comes a critical question: what is the core gameplay?

Adam doesn't even know.

A racing competition?

Don't be ridiculous, there's no budget for that.

Only afford a basic template, only one car texture, only one scene.

Complex tracks, beautiful cars, and related gameplay programming for racing competitions are out of reach.

How to develop gameplay without the budget?

Adam has an idea.

The core gameplay is simple: driving!

Start at the beginning and reach the end to complete the game!

But that alone won't do; purely assembling common resources without any gameplay innovation likely won't pass the review.

There needs to be a twist to ensure the game passes the review; but this twist can't be too good, it has to ensure the game loses money and nobody plays it!

Adam decides to extend the desert race track indefinitely.

Make it last a total game time of 8 hours!

Yes, players need to drive on this road for 8 hours to reach the end, and the desert highway will turn at intervals.

It's impossible for players to complete the game by pressing a single button.

This way, the gameplay differs from the typical driving simulation games on the market, which should be enough to pass the review.

And such a frustrating gameplay will surely be detested by players; no way this game makes any money!

Adam is excited, feeling like a genius.

Lastly, he uses a very basic method to create a game completion screen, displaying a single line: "Congratulations, you've just wasted 8 precious hours of your life!"

If someone actually completes the game, they'll be so infuriated they'll vow never to play a game from Adam's company again!

The purchased leaderboard feature is also utilized, creating a "Time-Wasting Leaderboard" to track each player's "Number of Completions" and "Effective Game Time."

This leaderboard serves no real purpose, merely to utilize the purchased feature.

Quickly done, these functionalities are among the most basic supported by the editor, requiring simple drag-and-drop actions and parameter adjustments.

Learning the editor, purchasing resources, and creating the game took less than two hours in total.

"Such a dumb game, I'm bound to lose!"

After completing the game, Adam runs a test on his computer.

He quits after just five minutes, nearly sick to his stomach.

It's just driving, driving, driving, incredibly boring!

Adam is pleased, then promptly releases the game.

Game Name: "Lonely Desert Highway."

Game Description: On a desert highway, drive alone for hours and gain some reflections on life.

Writing the description, Adam struggles.

Praise himself? Inappropriate, what if it attracts title chasers and he loses less money?

Criticize openly? Also inappropriate, too obvious. On one hand, he worries about being flagged by the system for violation; on the other, he fears provoking a reverse psychology in players, making them want to play just because it's labeled as terrible.

So, he honestly writes a description that hopefully makes players uninterested right away!

Then comes pricing.

Adam sets the game's price at 1 dollar.

He doesn't want to set it too high, in case a few foolish players impulsively buy it, which would mean less loss for him.

Setting a low price means even if a few dozen players purchase it, it won't significantly affect Adam's planned losses.

After everything is set, Adam uploads the game, waiting for the review to pass and for it to automatically launch on the official game platform.

This process typically takes a few hours to a couple of days.

The official platform's recommendation system is fully automated, adjusting new game promotions based on data changes without manual interference unless there's malicious manipulation.

Adam is not worried.

Such a trash game will surely be ignored and quickly forgotten upon launch. After two weeks, he'll happily receive the fifty thousand.

Adam closes his laptop, feeling refreshingly content and blissfully happy!