This comeback meant the two companies were now officially at odds, but William wasn't worried—and neither was Cynthia.
When it came to PR skills, Merry might not be the absolute best in the industry, but she was definitely among the top contenders. As long as she was around, there was no need to worry about PR. She would never let GlamorArts gain the upper hand.
A public opinion battle is always fought on the front line. Only when the front line is stable can the back end develop in peace.
GlamorArts' biggest problem was plagiarism—and it was obvious, undeniable plagiarism. Unless they could make sure every copy they released could surpass the original like this one did, it was only a matter of time before they failed.
Earth Games just needed to keep releasing new games and switching to new tracks, waiting for their opponent to struggle to adapt. When that happened, they'd bring about their own downfall.
In fact, competition could be a good thing. As long as the other side didn't go too far, William wasn't the type to keep chasing them down.
At the end of the day, both sides were just fighting for attention. If anyone took it too personally, that would be a sign of immaturity.
Who knows—maybe one day the CEO of GlamorArts and William would sit down for tea together. Business doesn't follow normal human logic.
At the moment, Leon had almost finished preparing the art assets for "Happy Mahjong," and Tina had already rendered all the mahjong tiles. The only thing left was to make two virtual characters—one male and one female. Coding-wise, this was probably the simplest game William had ever developed. It could be done in half an hour.
After all, the rules and play logic of mahjong were second nature to him.
The first version of "Happy Mahjong" would only have two online modes: one where players create their own rooms, and one for random matchmaking. As for game types, it would offer two: Sichuan Mahjong's "Blood Flow" and Guangdong Mahjong.
The rules could be taken directly from the internet, ready to use. But to be safe, William asked Cynthia to contact the relevant department at the China Mahjong Association to consult about the game. At first, they had a strong stance, but after Cynthia's persuasion, they finally agreed to open the door for negotiations.
It was only a negotiation opportunity, though—it didn't mean the game could go online yet.
Cynthia also had to talk to WeChat Games about revenue sharing. Earth Games was firm on taking 50% of all top-up revenue, and they wouldn't take part in ad or sponsorship revenue at all. But whenever players topped up Happy Beans, Earth Games wanted their cut.
Here's the catch: Earth Games never said these beans were only for "Happy Mahjong." William's plan was to build a whole "Happy Universe," so any future game that used Happy Beans would also have to share revenue with Earth Games.
Because of this, Earth Games had already applied for the intellectual property rights to "Happy Beans."
William even planned to write in the user guide that Happy Beans would be the universal virtual currency of the Happy Universe.
"Happy Mahjong" would be the first step of the Happy Universe. After that, it would depend on whether the game could achieve results that satisfied everyone. If it performed well, William would set up a new studio dedicated to building the Happy Universe.
While Cynthia handled negotiations, William called the studio staff over to slack off together.
"Claire, Tina, Marcus—anyone else coming?"
He looked at the two who hadn't spoken up yet.
Cynthia wanted to join but was too busy, so she could only watch longingly.
Leon said, "I'll pass. Still have some art to finish."
Chris, who was buried in study, wasn't interested at all. "You guys play, I'm out."
"Alright, then it's just the four of us."
William opened "Happy Mahjong" on his computer and sent the room invite to the work group. Since there was no server yet, they were playing over LAN.
When they entered the room, the game background was a mahjong table with a dice area in the middle. Each of the four seats had a lift mechanism in front of it.
To make it feel better, William even added a simple one-frame lift animation that played at the start, showing the tiles rising up.
The deal was fully random—whatever you got was pure luck. The tile positions were decided from the start of the game, with no bias toward any player.
Some mahjong games adjust tile distribution during play depending on how good or bad a player's hand is, just to please certain players and make them enjoy the game more.
William felt that took away the biggest fun of the game—luck.
While skill mattered in mahjong, luck was still a big part of it, especially for casual players, who were in it for the thrill of a lucky hand.
In the "Blood Flow" mode, when one player wins, the game doesn't end. It only ends when all the tiles are drawn. Of course, if a player wins all the Happy Beans from the other three, the game can end early.
Friend matches didn't use Happy Beans—only a score to see who won.
In the first round, Marcus was the biggest winner. With a pure one-suit hand plus self-draw, he scored over a hundred points in one go. The others only managed hands like "All Pairs," with few points and low multipliers—no comparison at all.
By the second round, everyone was going for a flush, but, annoyingly, three players ended up with the same suit. This made Claire the biggest winner, completely making back the points she lost in the first round and even winning a few dozen extra.
In the third round, William, who had only won two small hands in a row earlier, finally hit his stride. He landed a big "Earth Win" and racked up over 300 points, turning Tina into the biggest loser.
"The boss must be cheating!" Claire huffed, still refusing to believe anyone could win an Earth Win.
Marcus chimed in, "Yeah, boss, did you secretly tweak the code?"
Only Tina sat there staring blankly at the screen, unable to believe her luck could be this bad — three rounds in and she had only managed two "All Pungs," spending the rest of the time just watching others win.
William walked out of the office and said, "Is it really that hard to admit I just got lucky?"
"We don't believe you!" Claire was still yelling. "Let me check your computer."
"Sure, check all you want."
William could tell — Claire was a full-on gambling addict.
While Claire was checking William's computer, Marcus came over to join the fun. The two rummaged around but couldn't find anything suspicious, so they left in a huff.
As soon as she sat back down, Claire shouted, "Another round!"
Honestly, her behavior made everyone else turn to look at her. She'd always seemed quiet and shy, but put her in front of a mahjong table and she became a totally different person — suddenly outgoing.
William had been curious about what Claire was like at work. Even though he'd seen videos, it wasn't the same as seeing her in person. Now he knew.
"Uh… I'm done," Tina said, looking completely defeated.
"I'll play!"
Cynthia, who had been waiting for her chance, jumped in eagerly.
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