Chapter 60: Double-Headed Dragon and Crimson Fortress

  Before making the Three Kingdoms game, Yang Yun still had two important games to hand over to the horizontal scroll project team.

  SLG strategy games are often several hundred MB in size, and the price is also extremely high. From a technical perspective, the production difficulty is not small, it takes a long time, and the R&D cycle is long.

  While Longcheer's game cards are now a cash cow, bringing in a large amount of cash flow, with production directly translating to sales, he cannot slack off on the R&D and design of regular scroll games. Those small games that cost only hundreds of thousands to make are simple, easy-going, and fun, but have an even higher popularity rate. In short, they're more profitable.

  So Yang Yun carefully selected two games, the classic "Double Dragon" and "Red Alert".

  Twin Dragons is a Japanese company TEōS, which was already released in 1987 and was very popular among players. The game was also ported to the FC, but the company went bankrupt in 1995 and has no other notable works except for the Twin Dragons series and the Hot Blood series of fighting games.

  Fighting games are a must-have technology, which is beyond doubt. The classic games such as Street Fighter, Samurai Spirits and King of Fighters on arcade machines can make players addicted. In the future, when entering the arcade industry, these few games must not be missed.

  Yang Yun was no exception. When he was a kid, he would skip breakfast to save 50 cents and buy five game coins instead. After school, he would stand in front of the arcade machine, tiptoeing to watch the skilled players of Samurai Spirits. Once they left, he would rush to take their place, insert his precious coins, and PK with what he thought was a formidable opponent, choosing to play as Haohmaru, wielding the poisonous sword Fugu no Makiri, splashing blood everywhere, but ultimately ending up dead himself.

  It's embarrassing to recall these, but anyway, a hot-blooded fighting game must be mastered!

  So on the FC platform, making Double Dragon Hot-Blooded Fighting, whether it succeeds or makes money, Yang Yun is definitely going to develop it. Since he has a great idea, he can motivate Zhang Guoqiang's team, what's there to fear about game development failure?

  Due to copyright issues, Yang Yun couldn't completely copy Double Dragon's creativity, so he came up with a very interesting idea instead.

  The production team of TEOS is obsessed with Bruce Lee, okay, then Yang Yun worships China's Kung Fu superstar Cheng Long!

  In 1989, Cheng Long was 35 years old and at the peak of his career. He had starred in many classic films, especially the 1985 film "Police Story", which won him the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Picture. The theme song he sang, "Hero's Story", also became a representative song of the Hong Kong police.

  Such a heroic tough guy, never using a stunt double, all the fighting and performing are done by himself, the kung fu superstar who used to be the passerby beaten up by Bruce Lee in movies, who used to be the martial artist kicked flying by others, who used to be the stunt double for many big stars.

  However, his hard work and dedicated performances are the secrets to his success. He is a highly respected Hong Kong artist, widely loved by everyone, with an excellent public image, which is also one of the important reasons why Yeung Wan wants to collaborate with him.

  The prototype of the Japanese Double Dragon is Bruce Lee, and the story takes place in New York. The Chinese version of Double Dragon is Cheng Long, and the battle takes place in Los Angeles, closer to Hollywood.

  Cheng Long's Hollywood campaign got off to a rocky start, but Yang Yun is confident that this opportunity will help him build his international giant dream and lend a helping hand!

  Another game, Akumajou Dracula, was released by Konami in 1988 and had a good sales record one year after its release. Unfortunately, it did not have the opportunity to enter the Chinese market because Yang Yun's Longteng Company had a tight grip on the mainland's game cartridge production. Nintendo was still basking in the joy of its great success in the North American market, and other pirated manufacturers had not yet become popular. As a result, Akumajou Dracula and Nintendo's promotion were hindered, and the Chinese market closed half of its doors to Japanese game manufacturers.

  This is a game that left a deep impression on Yang Yun's childhood, and it is also a full-screen scroll game that Yang Yun emphasized in the company meeting. The playability of the story plot and level design is quite high, and the technology is of course much more difficult than games like Circus Adventure Island.

  The English name of the Red Fortress is Jackal, players control a jeep and fight against enemies on various terrain maps, in deserts, jungles, swamps, and ports, rescue captured comrades and send them to designated rescue helicopters, and finally engage in intense battles with level bosses to save the world.

  The deepest impression of this game is that Yang Yun particularly liked a certain gameplay when he was young. He loved controlling the jeep to sway like a snake, dodging the bullets shot by enemy soldiers, then rolling over them and watching the red graphic behind the car with a silly smile.

  Now Yang Yun has come up with the idea of Akumajou Dracula again, if Konami knew they would definitely cry. They released Gradius, Yang Yun preemptively released Salamander, and now Akumajou Dracula is selling well, Yang Yun thought of an improved version, this is simply a born nemesis...

  The content of this game, Yang Yun has not thought about it yet, but he can't delay, he wants to find a way to contact Cheng Long first and settle the Double Dragon.

  Yang Yun pushed open the office door and called out Fang Huimin: "Is Manager Zhao in?"

  Fang Huimin shook her head: "Manager Zhao has left and should be at the Development Zone Management Committee office."

  It should be related to the leaders of Zhongguancun discussing the purchase of land and building a factory, this is Yang Yun's intention, taking advantage of the current cheapness, can get a large piece of land on the outskirts of the Third Ring Road, which will make a profit in the future.

  Yang Yun nodded: "Let him come see me when he gets back." After finishing speaking, she closed her eyes and began to recall the storyline of Double Dragon and Red Fortress in her mind, and simply drew a few strokes on the white paper.

  Fang Huimin watched as Yang Yun's pen flew across the paper, smiling to herself as she closed the door. It had already spread throughout the R&D department that this Yang was a master of abstract art, with a style that was both elegant and free-spirited. If it weren't for Yang Yun's detailed descriptions, the sharp-eyed game artist Matsumoto Yoshino wouldn't have been able to assist him, and without Xiang Tian, an excellent painter from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, helping to fill in the gaps, probably no one would have been able to understand his rough sketches except for Yang Yun himself.

  Yang Yun sometimes stopped writing and pondered, while at other times his thoughts flowed freely like clouds in the sky. He was very happy with what he had drawn and soon came up with a preliminary design for the Double Dragon game.

  Zhao Yongping didn't return to the company until the afternoon, and when he arrived at Yang Yun's office, his face was filled with excitement.

  Yang Yun smiled and said: "Manager Zhao has taken action, one against two. It seems that you have already settled the matter with Director Hu of the Development Zone Management Committee?"

  Zhao Yongping was somewhat pleased: "Fortunately, it's not a disappointment! The land in Zhaozhuang is four miles away from here, all the way to the suburbs, a total of 10 acres, bought for 1 million."

  Zhao Zhuang's location is known to Yang Yun, now it's a large piece of farmland, in the future it will be on the 4th ring road, 10 mu of land has more than 6,000 square meters, buying it for 1 million is really equivalent to giving it away.

  Yang Yun was very satisfied: "It seems that the title of Labor Model and Long March Shock Troops is still quite useful! That location is good, hey, I'm quite optimistic about the land within the 4th ring road of Beijing. In the future, you'll know I'm not wrong. This piece of land, Manager Zhao, you must plan well, best to combine production and office areas, and in the future, it can also undertake some laboratory tasks for the headquarters. By the way, I have another matter to discuss with you, do you still remember Sister Ju Ping and Uncle Dong? When Xiaobao found them to shoot an advertisement, how much money did they spend?"

  Suddenly asked about this, Zhao Yongping was stunned for a moment, and then his expression became somewhat strange. After a long time, he said: "When I went to CCTV TV station to find them, Dong Hao's body wasn't very good at that time, so he didn't come. It was Li Yang, the one who dubbed Tang Old Duck, who took on this task alone. He just said a sentence 'Ah oh, Xiaobawang is endless fun', and we shot less than an hour of commercials. I gave him 60 yuan."

  "Pffft!"

  Yang Yun almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, 60 yuan? Can 60 yuan get the help of a national first-class broadcaster and the voice actor of Disney's famous cartoon character Donald Duck to do an advertisement?

  What's the difference between this and robbery? Is it praising the noble sentiments of Chinese art workers, or is it satirizing the various stars' rising appearance fees in later generations?

  So it's not too difficult for Cheng Long either? Give him some small money and he can be easily dismissed.

  Yang Yun's mind suddenly popped out two classic advertisements made by Cheng Long, one is Xiao Erlang and the other is Wang Zi Cheng Long, couldn't help but laugh.

  Xiao Erlang's nursery rhyme should be sung by many people, Xiao ya ma Xiao Erlang ya, carrying a school bag to the school hall, not afraid of the sun shining, not afraid of the wind and rain raging, only afraid that the teacher will scold me for being lazy, having no knowledge, no face to see parents.

  Look, being a person must have knowledge, this is what Brother Cheng Long said through words and deeds. If classmates don't buy a Little Emperor learning machine, it's equivalent to being uncultured, and they will be too ashamed to face their parents.

  The "Wangzi Chenglong" ad is the same, with Brother Cheng Long and another actor who looks almost identical to him operating a Little Overlord learning machine, speaking inflammatory advertising language: "In the past I used my fists to conquer the world, now it's the computer age, we must use computers to conquer the world, Little Overlord is your only choice..."

  After laughing, Yang Yun asked: "Old Zhao, what do you think about our company Longteng inviting Brother Cheng Long as the image spokesperson?"

  Zhao Yongping's eyes lit up, and he gave a thumbs-up, saying: "Director Yang, do you still remember the first time we met? The words you said back then? I thought your vision was unique and far-sighted! I strongly agree with cooperating with Cheng Long. I think this decision of yours is absolutely correct! With Cheng Long as our spokesperson, I believe our dragon will soar even higher!"

  Yang Yun waved his hand and smiled secretly, later generations heard that the process of Long is just an advertisement. In the domestic market, whoever endorses Changlong will go bankrupt. For example, Xiaobawang declined, the boss of Aidi VCD went to jail, Fenhuang Cola went bankrupt, Kaidi Auto sold only 900 vehicles nationwide, Bawang shampoo caused cancer, and the latest one is Canon, but it's a foreign company, maybe its resistance to poison is higher.

  Yang Yun didn't believe it and said, "Fine, since Brother Zhao has been prepared for Cheng Long's endorsement, why don't you help Hui Min arrange a meeting between me and him as soon as possible?"

  Zhao Yongping readily agreed, and the next day brought good news: Cheng Long's company was a guest at China Central Television in Beijing to promote the movie "Miracle", which he and Mei Yanfang starred in before its mainland premiere.

  Zhao Yongping and Jiang Shaoyun each used their own connections to contact Cheng Long's agent, which led to this meeting.

  In the next few days, Cheng Long will have a meet-and-greet at the Wenhua Hall of Beijing Film Academy. The Longteng company has obtained two admission tickets, and after the event, there will be half a day available for business talks.

  Yang Yun went happily!