Chapter 255: New Experience Store Location
After seeing off the father and daughter, Chen Mo returned to the experience store.
Nini's situation still stirred something in him, mainly because it suddenly made him realize a problem he had been overlooking all along.
What is a game?
For a designer, games have multiple attributes.
For different groups of people, the games in each person's eyes are also different.
It could be a work of art, a cultural product that integrates many design concepts and artistic ideas.
It could be a great form of entertainment, the best way to decompress after work.
It could be a career, e-sports, a constant drive to surpass oneself.
It could be "spiritual opium," a "raging flood," a "distraction from ambition," something many people avoid at all costs.
Everyone knows that games can move people, bring them joy, and give them negative emotions.
Of course, games can also empty your wallet and make game developers a lot of money.
But Chen Mo also realized that in the process of churning out games nonstop, he seemed to have overlooked something most original and fundamental: the pure fun that games themselves bring.
From the time he entered the industry until now, in the eyes of outsiders, Chen Mo's path had been smooth sailing, with every game making a huge profit. But in reality, no one could see the hardships involved.
After entering the industry, Chen Mo had been developing new games almost nonstop, basically ensuring he produced three to four new games each year, with at least one being a big-budget title costing over a hundred million.
Beyond that, to accumulate funds faster and ensure his game development speed surpassed the progress of this world's designers in game design concepts, Chen Mo had also created quite a few pay-to-win games.
Basically, he worked every single day.
Before game development, he conducted market research, analyzed player preferences, and planned game design proposals. During development, he coordinated everyone's progress and had full control over all aspects of the game, including gameplay, art, and music. Before a game's release, he used various methods to build hype. After release, he collected player feedback for revisions and then quickly moved on to the next game's development.
It could be said that within the entire team, Chen Mo could replace anyone's role, but no one could replace his.
Setting aside all other factors, at least in terms of diligence, Chen Mo should be second to none in this world's gaming circle.
Of course, this was partly due to Chen Mo's own personality and partly due to external environmental factors.
Although Chen Mo had many classic game ideas, in the gaming industry, ideas weren't valuable.
Compared to the power of channels and capital, ideas were sometimes very fragile.
So, Chen Mo had to tread carefully before, because once an opportunity was missed, it was hard to seize again.
But after seeing Nini play *Minecraft*, Chen Mo suddenly realized something.
Thunderbolt Interactive was now an influential game company, and he was no longer the unknown rookie designer he used to be.
He could afford to slow down a bit, no longer needing to calculate every step so precisely, with no room for error.
He should treat every player as a living, breathing person, not cold, hard data.
He should start thinking about things beyond just making money.
...
On the second floor of the experience store, in Chen Mo's own studio.
Lin Xiao handed a written report to Chen Mo: "Store manager, the renovation of the new store is basically complete, all done according to your previous plans. Here's the detailed report."
Chen Mo took it: "Good, thanks for the hard work."
Lin Xiao asked, "So, store manager, when are we planning to move? If the date is set, I'll notify everyone."
Chen Mo thought for a moment: "Next week. You can notify everyone now."
Lin Xiao nodded: "Okay."
After Lin Xiao left, Chen Mo began flipping through the report.
The location for the new experience store had been under consideration since last November, before the development of *Minecraft*. During that time, Lin Xiao had practically scoured all of the imperial capital, looking at many places.
In the end, Chen Mo settled on a four-story office building.
It was located in the northeastern part of the imperial capital, between the Third and Fourth Ring Roads, right at a subway exit. The building was low-rise mainly because there were historical sites along that route, which prohibited the construction of tall buildings, so this building was only four stories high.
The entire building was under construction and was completed in March of this year. Chen Mo was satisfied with both the structure and location, so he directly decided to buy it.
The price was 46,000 yuan per square meter. With four floors totaling 6,400 square meters, the total came to 290 million yuan. This price was a bit on the high side overall, but it had many advantages. First, transportation was very convenient. Second, it was relatively close to Chen Mo's current experience store. Third, the total area and number of floors met Chen Mo's requirements, so he went ahead and bought it.
After completion in March, he hired a specialized decoration company to design and do a high-end renovation, slightly altering the building's structure and adding various decorations both inside and out.
Adding in various other miscellaneous costs, as well as the expenses for purchasing equipment for the experience store, Chen Mo spent a total of over 300 million yuan. By now, the renovation of the new experience store was fully complete.
The entire structure of the experience store was personally planned by Chen Mo.
A five-minute walk from the subway exit leads to the main entrance of the experience store. The first-floor lobby serves as the front desk and rest area, with many sofas for players to relax and chat, along with dedicated coffee machines and beverage supplies.
The lobby entrance faces the elevators, with two elevators serving floors one through four.
The corridors on both sides connect to the main usable areas. The first floor is the PC gaming experience area, with a layout similar to an internet café. The left and right sides of the lobby are two zones, with a combined usable area of about 1,200 square meters, housing a total of 200 computers.
The second floor is the holographic projection viewing area and the mobile gaming experience area. Floors two, three, and four don't need a lobby, but each has a front desk attendant to receive players.
The holographic projection viewing area has one large holographic projection device and two small ones. These devices can display in-game scenes and visuals through holographic projection.
However, in this world, because such holographic projection equipment is extremely expensive and not very practical, it isn't popular. Chen Mo bought them in preparation for future e-sports games.
Additionally, on the second floor's viewing area wall, there is a huge LED screen, similar to those used at concerts and e-sports matches, also for players to watch battles.
The remaining areas include a spectator section and a mobile gaming experience area. Furthermore, each seat has a phone and tablet fixed to it for players to use.
The third floor is the VR gaming experience area, with a total of 80 VR gaming pods. The experience price for VR games is higher, with corresponding time limits, but it's much cheaper than VR internet cafés.
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