“Besides, do you know that nowadays games are all made with editors?”

“And with the current explosive development of technology, the pace of innovation is just too fast. The techniques in these books are already half obsolete and basically useless.”

Brian Carter's face turned pale: “No wonder the bookstore is having a sale! Turns out they just can’t sell these books!”

“I searched the bookstore for a long time and couldn’t find any books about game design, only these. Since they were on sale, I just picked a few and bought them.”

“What should I do now? Discounted books can’t be returned!”

Brian Carter was a little flustered.

Eric Bennett was completely at ease now. Smiling, he said, “It’s fine, it’s the thought that counts. If you feel like you can’t let these books go to waste, just skim through them a bit. They might still be of some help.”

Hearing this, Brian Carter felt a little relieved: “Do you want to read them? We can take turns.”

Eric Bennett's face darkened and he quickly waved his hand: “No, no need.”

Who would want to read these books? They’re not even comfortable enough to use as a pillow!

Brian Carter lay on the bed and opened the thickest one, “Advanced Programming Overview.”

After just five minutes, the sound of snoring came from his bed.

Eric Bennett was very satisfied.

Yep, reliable!

Look at that attitude—100 points!

Now look at that ability—0 points!

Isn’t this exactly the kind of designer he’s been desperately searching for?

It’s just a pity that Eric Bennett only knows one talent like Brian Carter.

If there were a few more, wouldn’t Eric Bennett be over the moon? Losing 300,000 would be a piece of cake!

……

Eric Bennett opened the official ERSO editor, somewhat dejectedly ignoring the fact that “Lonely Desert Road” had gained several thousand more downloads today, and began to study his next plan.

For an indie game, popularity usually comes fast and goes fast.

Especially for a game like “Lonely Desert Road,” which has no technical content and no sustainable gameplay.

Actually, in his previous life, Eric Bennett had seen similar cases: low-quality games with rough art and monotonous gameplay going viral for some special reason.

But such cases are extremely rare—out of hundreds of similar games, maybe only one or two would make it.

Eric Bennett never expected that he would run into such a thing himself!

In the coming period, the popularity of “Lonely Desert Road” will definitely drop rapidly, and downloads and revenue will naturally plummet. This is normal.

But, whether it plummets or not, this game has already made real money, and that’s what makes Eric Bennett most upset.

After some painful reflection, Eric Bennett decided to change his approach.

This time, he can’t make another indie game—he has to switch!

Because in the short term, Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd. is already tied to “Lonely Desert Road” in the minds of players.

Eric Bennett faces a dilemma:

If he makes a crappy game, he might accidentally replicate the success of “Lonely Desert Road.” Even if it doesn’t get as popular, making a little profit would still be a disaster for Eric Bennett;

But if he doesn’t make a crappy game and instead makes a proper indie game… players might buy it just because they think the quality is decent.

That’s just too frustrating!

What’s more, spending 300,000 on an indie game is actually kind of hard.

How expensive do the templates and art assets have to be to spend all 300,000?!

And if he buys all those expensive art assets and makes the game look great, it might attract a bunch of players who care about appearances, and he still won’t be able to lose money!

So, after much thought, Eric Bennett decided to temporarily abandon these indie game enthusiasts and switch to a different field.

300,000 isn’t enough to make a large-scale game.

Although Eric Bennett's goal is to lose money, as always, the finished game must at least be completed.

If the game fails to pass review, and the 300,000 in system funds is spent with no result, the system will judge it as a violation.

So, the money must be spent, and the game must be made.

Eric Bennett browsed the official platform for a while and finally settled on his target.

Mobile games!

This is also a last resort. On one hand, he doesn’t have enough money to make a large-scale game; on the other, it’s not suitable to make another indie game for now.

Mobile game players and indie game players are not the same group.

Indie game players might check out a new game just because they know “Tengda,” but mobile game players won’t.

As long as the mobile game is bad enough, Eric Bennett is sure that no one will care about it!

With the direction set, it was time for market research.

Eric Bennett entered the official game platform, browsed all the popular mobile games, and even downloaded a few to try them out.

Previously, Eric Bennett had already noticed that in the mobile field, the technology in this parallel world seems to be advancing much faster than in his previous life.

Chapter 12: It’s You, Card Game!

In his previous life, the smartphone boom happened around 2010 to 2011, and thanks to that trend, some popular mobile online games—like card games—started appearing around 2012.