OGP CH50
Liu Muyao had always thought that Yangfan Studio, which could produce three explosive hit games, was a very formidable team with at least dozens or even over a hundred employees, right?
But when she arrived at the office space to take a look—it was completely empty, not a single person was there.
She was stunned for a long time before asking doubtfully: “Boss, is this a newly renovated office location? Where did you work from before?”
Song Qian also reacted and asked: “Boss, when will the other colleagues officially move over?”
Xie Yunfan turned around to look at them and said: “Other colleagues still have to be slowly recruited.”
The three of them: “???”
Xie Yunfan said straightforwardly: “I’m sorry, currently Yangfan Studio only has me as the boss, plus two artists, and a few university students. Aside from that, it’s just the three of you.”
The three of them: “…”
Who could have imagined that the famously renowned “Yangfan Studio” was actually an empty shell?
If it weren’t for Xie Yunfan publicly going on stage to receive awards at the recent Game Gala, so everyone had seen him, they truly would have suspected they had run into a scammer!
Liu Muyao coughed lightly and asked: “In other words, the HR Department is currently just me alone?”
HR Manager, in charge of the company’s personnel—it sounded quite awesome. However, with only her in the entire department, acting as this “Department Manager” was quite lonely!
Song Qian said: “There aren’t any colleagues in the Marketing Department either, right?”
Ling Xiao was helpless: “It seems I’m the only one in the Finance Department. When does Boss plan to recruit people?”
Xie Yunfan smiled slightly: “Don’t be anxious, it will be in the next few days. My recruitment strategy is a bit different. I recruit the department managers first, and then recruit assistants for you.”
The three looked at each other—Xie Yunfan’s recruitment model was a bit of “doing things the opposite way.” In other companies, they truly hadn’t seen anyone do it like him!
However, perhaps the thoughts of someone who could make Ghost Realm were different from ordinary people?
Although the fact that Yangfan Studio was an “empty shell” shocked the three of them, joining now meant they were the founding veterans of the company. With the salary offered being very high, thinking about it, they weren’t losing out!
Xie Yunfan looked at Liu Muyao: “Today is the 12th. On February 14th, there will be a large-scale event for Ghost Realm. Once I finish the promotion, I will immediately issue the recruitment announcement. After the Spring Festival holiday ends, it will be just in time to have everyone come for interviews. You draft the recruitment announcement, and I will send you the specific requirements.”
Speaking of work, Xie Yunfan immediately became serious.
Seeing the solemn expression on his face, the apprehensive moods of the few people also calmed down a lot.
No matter what, Xie Yunfan had made explosive hit games—this was an indubitable fact.
Perhaps his process of making games was relatively unconventional, and the process of establishing the company also didn’t conform to common sense.
But where in the world were there so many “common senses” that must be followed?
Just because other companies recruited people a certain way, did Xie Yunfan absolutely have to follow suit? There was no law stipulating such a thing.
His daring to directly call and contact these three people clearly showed he was very confident in the “attraction of Yangfan Studio.” Didn’t facts also prove it? The three of them came precisely for his studio’s reputation, didn’t they?
As long as the result was right, the process didn’t need to be agonized over.
The three only knew that following Xie Yunfan to continue making games couldn’t be wrong. Joining Xie Yunfan’s team would have great development prospects in the future, and that was enough.
Liu Muyao quickly gathered her spirits and said decisively: “Boss, how many people do you plan to recruit this time? I will set the interview times in advance and do a good job with personnel arrangements.”
Xie Yunfan took out his phone, pulled the three into a “Yangfan Studio” group chat, sent a document in the group, and said: “The personnel to be recruited this time is around 80 people, with 3 to 5 people in each group.”
He looked at Ling Xiao: “The company is just starting out, so the work on the finance side temporarily won’t be too much. I’ll recruit 2 assistants for you, and we’ll recruit more later on.”
Ling Xiao nodded readily: “No problem.”
Xie Yunfan continued: “Song Qian, I’ll recruit a few people first to make the merchandise for Soul of Music. Once you come over, directly prepare for the merchandise R&D for the next game.”
Song Qian said: “Okay. For the next game, have you thought of what to make?”
“Mhm, I already have a plan.”
Hearing this, the three couldn’t help but be surprised by Xie Yunfan’s efficiency.
Had he already thought of the next game this quickly?
Many game planners would have their inspiration dry up, but Xie Yunfan seemed to have a continuously flowing source of brain holes (imagination/ideas).
The initial doubts and shock of the three people gradually vanished under Xie Yunfan’s calm arrangements.
A surge of hot-blooded entrepreneurial passion couldn’t help but well up in their hearts.
For this company, as the management who joined first, following the boss to start from zero and build it up step by step—actually thinking about it carefully, ordinary people wouldn’t even encounter such a rare opportunity.
If the company developed well in the future, wouldn’t they be the middle management with the most stable status?
On the evening of February 13th, Yangfan Studio’s official account, in coordination with Qihang Games, jointly posted a promotional Weibo for an event.
“Dear Ghost Realm players, on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, at exactly 12:00 noon, a brand new theme event for Ghost Realm will officially launch!
The theme of this event is 【Ghost Marriage. The update content is as follows:
- Opening seven new marriage scenes for players to freely explore;
- Adding seven randomly refreshing field bosses; adding seven ghost marriage-related plot side quests where players can roleplay as the ghost bride and experience the complete ghost marriage process;
- Adding a ‘Save the Bride’ gameplay mode; adding a ghost marriage theme to the card faces of the Leaf Cards in the Ghost Village…
On the day of the event, all players who log into Ghost Realm will receive a set of limited-edition clothing.
Thank you to all players for your support of Ghost Realm!”
As soon as this message was published, players who liked Ghost Realm instantly boiled over.
[Damn, a single-player game actually has event after-sales service?]
[I already got all the achievements in this game long ago, I didn’t expect there would still be new events!]
[I knew it, the little sailboat hasn’t given up on Ghost Realm!]
[Ghost marriage? What does that mean, ghosts marrying ghosts?]
[Looking at this promotional image, the bright red bridal veil somehow feels gloomy and terrifying]
This event’s planning proposal had been written by Xie Yunfan when he left Qihang and handed over to Qihang’s team to execute.
Xie Yunfan was also very satisfied with the final achieved effect.
Launching it exactly on Valentine’s Day—the thought process of Ghost Realm‘s operations team was truly peculiar.
For other games, Valentine’s Day events sweetly handed out candy. Although Ghost Realm was also doing marriages—it was ghost marriages, which was a bit terrifying!
At noon on the 14th, countless players flooded into Ghost Realm, and the online rate once again broke a new high. Many people wanted to experience the process of a ghost marriage, only to end up with their heartbeats accelerating from fright as soon as they entered.
This scene was too bizarre.
Players wearing bright red bridal clothes, and then being put into a coffin… buried alive?
Damn, are you sick in the head?
Many players were so scared their faces turned pale, and they ran to Weibo one after another to look for the little sailboat: “Burying the bride alive, is it this perverted!”
“This gloomy and terrifying art style, truly worthy of being a Ghost Realm Valentine’s Day event…”
“Dog planner scared me to death, you absolutely have no heart!”
There were many complaints, but there were also many players who felt the plot was thrilling and fun.
Many people were researching how to fight the bosses. There were also players working hard to save the innocent women being buried alive. Posts on the forums continuously popped out, as if returning back to when Ghost Realm had just launched.
#GhostRealmGhostMarriageThemeEvent# was sent to the number one spot on the trending search list by the fierce discussions of the players.
This game had already been on the market for half a year. Players would naturally gradually churn, but with one event, players who hadn’t played Ghost Realm for a long time came back again.
It could be seen that the status of a good game in players’ hearts was difficult to shake.
Yangfan and Qihang once again earned overflowing pots and bowls!
…
At noon on February 15th, Yangfan Studio released another recruitment announcement.
Title: Yangfan Studio Sincerely Invites Elites to Join Our Team!
The studio is now officially recruiting nationwide. The recruitment positions are as follows—
- Senior Network Engineer, 3 people
Starting annual salary 500,000
Computer technology, network engineering, or related majors, bachelor’s degree or above; 3+ years of working experience; proficient in using various network programming languages.
Those with experience independently architecting websites are preferred. - Game Programming Architect, 5 people
Starting annual salary 500,000
Software engineering, game design, or related majors, bachelor’s degree or above; 3+ years of working experience; proficient in various game programming tools, having participated in complete game R&D.
Those with large-scale online game R&D experience or holographic game R&D experience are preferred. - 3D Modeling and Rendering Engineer, 5 people
… - Game Testing Specialist, 5 people
Starting annual salary 200,000
No age limit, possessing 10+ years of mobile game/holographic game experience, superb gaming skills, first-class operations, able to quickly discover game bugs, and possessing acute market perception.
All the above positions have company benefits of five insurances and one housing fund + meal subsidies + transportation and accommodation subsidies + year-end bonuses. The company will also regularly organize employee team-building activities.
Please send resumes to yangfanzhp@xxx.
Format: Name + Applied Position, Deadline: February 20th at 24:00 midnight.
Looking forward to all of your joining ^^
…
This recruitment announcement directly shocked the industry!
There were also many netizens excitedly flooding the screen in the comment section.
[Damn, is the little sailboat preparing to unleash a big ultimate move!]
[I counted, programming, modeling, level design, art, copywriting… all recruiting people!]
[Adding it up, it’s around 80 people]
[Expanding recruitment by so much all at once, it seems the next game will be very complex?]
[I’ve set my eyes on the logistics group, can I go to the logistics group and do miscellaneous chores for you guys~]
[Even recruiting Game Testing Specialists? If I can get a salary to play games, I will faint from happiness!]
[University dogs shed tears of envy facing a huge pile of starting annual salaries of 500,000!]
[These annual salaries are on par with major companies, right?]
[Wings of Dream and Cool Play only give this much money too, little sailboat is truly generous!]
[Looking forward to more companions coming to Yangfan Studio!]
…
Yangfan Studio’s recruitment announcement was also simultaneously posted on the largest domestic recruitment websites. Countless job seekers drooled with envy looking at the annual salaries that matched major companies.
Technical positions like programming, modeling, and level design were all recruiting people with 3+ years of working experience. The art group and copywriting group were also recruiting fresh graduates, with higher requirements for drawing design and writing ability.
Yangfan Studio—this was a rising new star in the game industry. Furthermore, the salary and benefits offered didn’t lose to major companies… Who wouldn’t want to go?!
The competition would definitely be super fierce.
Some people who were very awesome themselves submitted their resumes full of confidence, while some pressed the send button with an apprehensive mood, silently praying they could pass the initial screening and enter the interview…
For a time, “Yangfan Studio Recruitment” became the most discussed news in the game industry.
Rong City, inside a rented apartment.
A girl was continuously refreshing the recruitment website.
Suddenly, a new piece of recruitment information appeared on the homepage. She clicked it open to take a look, and was instantly stunned.
This piece of recruitment information had only been published for 10 minutes, yet the clicks had already broken six digits, showing how many people were paying attention to it.
The annual salaries offered were so high!
She knew that for positions with such high salaries, she wouldn’t have much of an advantage, and the competition would definitely be very fierce, but she still gritted her teeth and sent her resume over.
Demon City suburbs.
A boy stared at the website page on his computer, rubbed his eyes, and said: “Recruiting Network Engineers? My experience making websites is considered quite rich, even though the ones I made all went bankrupt! Might as well send a resume and try?”
…
More and more job seekers were attracted by the recruitment announcement.
By the time Xie Yunfan woke up from a nap, there were already hundreds of resumes in his email inbox.
Yangfan Studio had built up a reputation in the industry. Coupled with the temptation of high salaries, countless job seekers flocked to it like ducks, all wanting to join such a potential-filled team.
Of course, the possibility of rival companies taking the opportunity to send spies couldn’t be ruled out either.
The resume screening stage definitely couldn’t be sloppy.
Xie Yunfan pulled a few people into the “Yangfan Studio” group chat and said: “Muyao, categorize and sort out the resumes in the email inbox. Forward the ones applying for the art group to Ning Sha and Chu Yue to review.”
“Forward the ones applying for the copywriting group to Zhou Shiyue.”
“You do the first wave of screening for the rest, and hand the screened ones over to me.”
Liu Muyao had been an HR Manager at game companies for several years; screening resumes was work she was very good at. Seeing the boss speak, she immediately felt motivated and replied: “Received!”
Zhou Shiyue was flattered and privately messaged Xie Yunfan: “Yunfan, I’m still a university student and my seniority is so shallow, isn’t it inappropriate for me to screen resumes?”
Xie Yunfan said: “The copywriting group mainly looks at writing style and narrative ability. I wrote in the recruitment requirements for them to bring sample drafts. You look at the drafts, and screen out the ones whose stories are written clearly and fluidly and have a good writing style.”
The trusted Zhou Shiyue: “Okay, I’ll try my best!”
Xie Yunfan closely followed up by sending messages to Ning Sha and Chu Yue to confirm some detailed requirements for screening resumes.
Ning Sha was his internally designated Art Director, and Chu Yue was the Deputy Group Leader. The two had worked with him for so long, they were very clear on his requirements and cooperated with a tacit understanding.
Assigning work to the people good at it—this was precisely the thing a boss should do the most.
…
A week later, the results of the initial resume screening came out. There were as many as 300 resumes selected. Xie Yunfan read through this portion in detail, and ultimately kept 200 people to enter the interviews.
The ratio between the number of people recruited and the number of people interviewed for each group was controlled at around 1:3. In other words, the acceptance rate at the interview stage was only 30%, which was similar to state-owned enterprises, selecting the best from the excellent.
Xie Yunfan had built a company himself in his previous life. Back then, he didn’t have 300 million in his hands, only a little bit of savings accumulated from a few years of working. That was truly “starting from scratch empty-handed.”
The start of this life was already too much better. He didn’t lack money now, which was why he offered very high salaries, matching major companies, also wanting to attract more outstanding talents to join Yangfan Studio.
“Hello, I am the HR Manager of Yangfan Studio. Congratulations on entering the interview stage. Please arrive at the rest area on the 19th floor of Building A, Nanyang Park, Rong City, at 9:00 AM on February 26th to wait and participate in the interview. Friends traveling from out of town can be reimbursed for round-trip transportation expenses, contact phone 158XXXX.”
This email from “Yangfan Studio” made many people excitedly let out screams.
Awesome, made it into the interviews!
Some people started digging through their wardrobes looking for suitable clothes; some were repeatedly practicing their smiling expressions in front of the mirror; and some were closing their eyes and reciting their personal introductions.
This was Yangfan Studio!
Being able to enter this company absolutely meant boundless prospects.
Furthermore, the boss knew many job seekers’ wallets weren’t affluent enough, actually reimbursing round-trip flight tickets for those traveling from out of town. This was simply too conscientious.
…
At 9:00 AM on February 26th, Nanyang Park, Rong City.
The young people heading to Yangfan Studio from all over the country to participate in the interviews gathered here one after another.
Liu Muyao was very experienced, and the arrangements for the interview segment were orderly and methodical. She sent resumes to different groups, the notified times were different, interviewing in batches.
Ji Yan had been idle recently, so he ran over to be an assistant. He shouted loudly in the 19th-floor rest area: “Everyone interviewing for the modeling group, come over with me!”
The crowd waiting in the rest area looked at each other in dismay.
Damn, what’s the situation?
The email notification they received was for an interview at 9:00 AM on the 26th, so everyone came here early in the morning to wait. There were over a dozen interviewees, with 5 ultimately accepted. The competition was quite fierce!
Everyone felt somewhat nervous inside.
As a result, this staff member directly told everyone to go in together?
Could it be a group interview?
Group interviews, these weren’t actually uncommon in the interview process.
Ji Yan led everyone into the elevator upstairs, arriving at the 20th floor.
After passing through a spacious and bright corridor, a set of metal automatic doors slowly opened in front of Ji Yan.
Looking at the neatly arranged holographic gaming cabins in the hall, everyone was stunned.
In the nearly 500-square-meter hall, there were actually nothing but gaming cabins, densely packed, the end couldn’t be seen at a glance…
The scale of Yangfan Studio was so large!
This should be the studio’s game experience center, right? Just the experience center alone had over a hundred gaming cabins, too awesome. They didn’t know how many employees the studio currently had either?
Ji Yan said: “Please ask everyone to lie down inside the gaming cabins, find the ‘Yangfan Interview’ holographic mini-game, and input your personal information to log in. Our interviewers are waiting for everyone inside the game.”
Everyone: “!!!”
Yangfan Studio was truly advanced. This was the first time participating in a “holographic interview.”
The dozen or so people looked at each other. Very quickly someone reacted and found a nearby gaming cabin to lie down in. The others also scrambled to find gaming cabins.
The moment all 15 people logged into the game, a gentle mechanical system prompt voice rang by their ears: “This is Yangfan Studio, welcome everyone to participate in the holographic group interview. Scanning personal information, please wait.”
This mini-program was made by Xie Yunfan recently when he found the time. Luo Hang also helped a great deal, teaching him how to use the connection ports of the Qihang gaming cabins.
The reason for using holographic interviews: firstly, they were a game company, having a somewhat novel interview method was also easy for everyone to accept; secondly, holographic interviews could leave complete video recording information, re-watching the recordings made it convenient to discover the talents he needed; thirdly, of course it saved time and effort!
If you interviewed them one by one, just listening to these people do self-introductions would take a very long time.
Holographic interviews saved a lot more trouble.
In 30 minutes, he could handle an entire group. Moreover, interviewing those competing for the same position together also made it convenient to compare and observe.
The mechanical voice rang by everyone’s ears: “Information entry completed. Please do a 1-minute self-introduction.”
Everyone found that they had entered a closed room. Inside was a sofa used for resting, and opposite the sofa were three dark silhouettes. The “NPC” interviewers in the holographic game gave people immense psychological pressure.
Some with strong adaptability immediately started doing self-introductions facing the NPCs.
Some were stunned for a moment, so nervous their voices were trembling.
After 1 minute, the system prompted: “Please ask everyone to push open the door in front of you and enter the round-table meeting stage.”
Everyone got up, pushed open the door, and saw a round table within a broad space, with over a dozen chairs arranged beside the table.
There were three “NPCs” sitting there. This time they were no longer dark silhouettes, but realistic character images. One of them was a young girl with her hair tied in a neat ponytail, looking very astute and capable.
In the middle was a handsome boy… everyone knew him, Xie Yunfan!
This was the first time seeing the holographic version of Xie Yunfan, sitting there like an NPC. Looking up close, he was even more handsome than when seen at the award gala back then, and the modeling was quite exquisite.
Sitting on Xie Yunfan’s right side was a girl with short hair. Her expression was somewhat cold; they didn’t know who she was.
After the 15 interviewees pushed the door and entered, Xie Yunfan couldn’t help but give Luo Hang a thumbs up in his heart.
Qihang’s gaming cabins were awesome. For this kind of small-scale multiplayer game, there was completely no lag, and the images directly scanned and modeled from the players were also extremely realistic. This interview, using a mini-game to test multiplayer internal networking, had quite good results.
Xie Yunfan smiled and said: “Everyone please sit. I know this kind of interview method is relatively fresh, don’t be nervous everyone, just treat it as a normal meeting.”
Looking at the nameplates placed in advance on the table, everyone quickly found their own seats and sat down.
Without a single word of nonsense, Xie Yunfan directly started asking questions: “Assuming we have a project now that needs a massive amount of 3D modeling to be done, requiring 50 characters and 50 scenes to be completed within 1 month. You are the group leader, you have 4 employees, how would you allocate the tasks?”
Everyone: “…”
A group of people having a round-table meeting, and directly asking a group question?
Some people were participating in this kind of interview for the first time, and were too nervous to speak. There were also people who proactively pressed the answer button, wanting to strive to show themselves off.
Xie Yunfan specifically noted down the few people who answered the question.
In the next moment, the image before everyone’s eyes shifted.
An unfamiliar village appeared close at hand.
Xie Yunfan said: “Giving everyone 5 minutes, personally go take a spin in the small village in front of you, and then, propose your modification opinions for this scene modeling.”
This was directly playing a holographic game during the interview?
Awesome! Truly worthy of being the planner who made Ghost Realm, even having an interview was this bizarre!
Everyone quickly charged into the village in front of them, conducting on-site investigations of the modeling and scene rendering. They saw quite a few NPCs in the village, and then wrote down their answers on the answer cards.
The image before their eyes shifted, and Xie Yunfan said: “This is an original scene painting. Please use the system’s built-in software to create three different weather effects.”
On-site modeling was this terrifying! Everyone went through another bout of bitter thinking and meditation. Some people were so nervous their brains were almost crashing.
Participating in a holographic interview for the first time, the game scenes continuously shifting, and the questions Xie Yunfan asked were also extremely professional… Without two brushes (real skills), one truly couldn’t keep up with the rhythm!
One interview lasted 30 minutes, switching through 10 game scenes, with questions covering a broad range. Aside from a few “true big shots” who answered fluidly, everyone else was in a state of blankly staring with dull eyes.
After a moment, Xie Yunfan said: “Next is the individual interview. Please ask everyone to return to your own rooms. The HR Manager and I might come in to chat with you. Those who aren’t sought out don’t need to be discouraged either. The final interview results will be notified to everyone within three days.”
Everyone automatically retreated back to their rooms.
Sitting in the room, waiting for someone to push the door open? This feeling was truly wonderful!
Xie Yunfan first cut into Room 7. This was a talent he was focusing his attention on.
Looking at the person appearing in front of him, the man was very surprised inside.
His performance today wasn’t considered brilliant. There were a few younger than him who answered questions very actively.
His personality was steady, and he didn’t really like scrambling to answer to show himself off, but he believed he answered the latter few professional questions quite well.
Being individually interviewed at this time meant he had a chance, right?
The man greeted politely: “Hello.”
The holographic version of Xie Yunfan had a very realistic overall appearance, except when smiling, the expression appeared somewhat stiff… making people able to distinguish at a glance: this was the player Xie Yunfan in the game, not the real Xie Yunfan.
The system’s scanned modeling needed improvement, it wasn’t delicate enough!
The man with an occupational disease started picking faults with Xie Yunfan’s modeling.
Xie Yunfan said: “Hello, Qiao Jingmo. Is it convenient to ask why you resigned from AS Company? I remember this company has explosive hit games, and the compensation is also very good.”
Qiao Jingmo said frankly: “I am an only child, and my hometown is Rong City. Last year my father fell severely ill… I was too busy with work and didn’t come back, failing to see my father for the last time.” He paused, and said: “Resigning and returning to work in Rong City is just wanting the convenience of taking care of my mother.”
The tone of his words was very calm, but Xie Yunfan could feel his remorse—no matter how high the work salary, failing to see a critically ill loved one for the last time, this kind of regret would accompany him for a lifetime, right.
So he resolutely resigned and returned to work in Rong City; Xie Yunfan could understand.
Xie Yunfan asked: “You served as the modeling group leader at your previous company. Coming to our company, if you aren’t allowed to be the group leader, would you have any objections?”
Qiao Jingmo said calmly: “It doesn’t matter, I obey the company’s arrangements.”
Xie Yunfan: “Okay, thank you.”
He quickly exited, and went to the next room to continue interviewing.
At the same time, Liu Muyao was also chatting with a few people she was focusing on, asking about salary and benefits, degree of acceptance for overtime, and other questions, and noting down their answers.
Having been an HR Manager for a few years, it was her first time doing this kind of “holographic interview,” and she was actually quite excited!
Being able to move back and forth between different game rooms, and the conversations wouldn’t be heard by other people, this was simply too convenient.
…
At 10:00 AM, Liu Muyao’s gentle voice rang simultaneously in all the rooms: “Everyone, today’s interview concludes here. We will notify everyone of the interview results within 3 days via text message + email.”
“Friends from out of town, please keep your round-trip transportation ticket reimbursement vouchers well. Send an email to the recruitment inbox according to the requirements, and the company finance will centrally process the reimbursements within 1 month.”
“Thank you everyone for your cooperation. You can leave the gaming cabins now.”
Everyone sat up from the gaming cabins, with varying expressions.
Some people were very excited, as if they were certain they would be hired.
Some people, however, had pale faces and were disheartened, feeling they performed very poorly.
No one had expected Yangfan Studio to adopt this kind of interview method.
For other game companies, even Cool Play and Wings of Dream which made holographic games, they hadn’t heard of interviewing like this.
The questions were like rapid-fire cannonballs, requiring reactions to be made within an extremely short time. During the group questioning stage, sometimes there wasn’t even enough time to press the answer button…
The scenes would also continuously shift. Some who hadn’t made holographic games were directly shifted into confusion.
So terrifying ahhh!
In tonight’s dreams, would they dream of the terrifying scene of the holographic version of Xie Yunfan rapidly shuttling through the various rooms asking questions?
Teleporting everywhere, simply like a boss in a game.
Yangfan Studio’s style was truly peculiar.
Wanting to enter here was truly not easy!