Former head of Mingchao Engine: The game industry is becoming more and more torn, unemployment is increasing, and investors are not confident

How far away forever seems to be a philosophical question that cannot be sought.

Recently, two months after leaving Kulo Games, Jiff Wang, the former head of the engine of Kulo Games "Mingchao", shared an article entitled "How Far Is Forever" on Zhihu, telling about some of his feelings and thoughts on life and the industry after leaving his job.

In the article, he wrote: "The game industry is becoming more and more torn: on the one hand, the cost of game research and development is getting higher and higher, the team is getting bigger and bigger, the time cycle is getting longer and longer, investors are becoming less and less confident, the sound of layoffs at home and abroad is endless, and there are more and more unemployed colleagues and friends around. There is light in the eye. It seems to express frustration with the current situation of the industry, and also cast envious eyes on independent game development.

It is understood that Jiff Wang joined Kulo Games in September 2021 as the head of the engine of "Singing Tide", and then left Kulo Games in March 2024. He has previously represented Kuro Games at Unreal Fest 2023 to share <鸣潮>"Unreal Engine 4-based Multiplatform Effects and Performance Optimization Practices".

It is worth mentioning that Wang Hongbo, who majored in Chinese language and literature rather than science and engineering technology-related majors in college, wrote in his profile of Zhihu: "Game code farmer, good at reading, not seeking to understand much, and harboring unrealistic and beautiful fantasies about human beings." It also adds an air of idealism and real life to his writing.

The following is the full text of Wang Hongbo's "How Far Is Forever":

Two months after leaving Mingchao, I got rid of a heavy burden mentally, physically and three views, and my mood was undoubtedly relaxed and happy.

The route of the trip was from Chengdu to Shanghai, Huangshan, Huizhou Hongcun Xidi, and then back to Changsha, Xiangxi's hometown, Zhangjiajie, and then back to Guangzhou, where he traveled to many places and met many relatives and friends. The advantage of travel is that you can see other people's stories in another time and space, and really switch to a completely unfamiliar state of life. Searching for curiosities in ordinary daily life, touching the touches, interests, joys and sorrows of a different life, is actually exploring the possibility of another life.

Human beings are animals that do not live long but have endless desires, and there are always a handful of people who have inexplicable fantasies about eternity - they feel that time is running out, life is impermanent, and they want to leave something in the world they have come; But more people are related to the seven emotions and six desires in secular life, people reach middle age, ambition and edges and corners are consumed, fame and fortune and power have increased, so they fall in love with the "Yangzhou dream of ten years", and even more are a sinking to the bottom of the brazen pursuit of fame, fortune and power for a while and more party and selfishness, flies and dogs, risking power and throwing pots, Mu monkey bullet crown to play a bad money chasing good money, but I don't know that I am just another butcher's fish on the chopping board, jumping back and forth to increase karma and how do you know how to be satisfied!

As a game engine program, it is easy to be thought that it is difficult to understand in the industry and the company, and it is easy to fall into the circle of arrogant thinking, and there is a kind of pride that belongs to the world and can do everything. But if you look a little farther away, nine times out of ten, today's cutting-edge real-time rendering technology will be worthless in three or five years, and thirty or fifty years from now, it will never exist. I often think that when I was old, when I look back on my work life when I was younger, I guess all the fulfillment I have today will be gone, right? The interest and enthusiasm for work burned out in this mood, and there was nothing left of ashes.

So for me, gaming technology is just one part of the game and the product, no more, no less, just apply. I also appreciate and respect those who are purely pursuing technology, but I should not be obsessed with the best technology, nor should I be obsessed with the highest cutting-edge, but should make more appropriate decisions according to the project cycle, manpower allocation, and resource mobilization.

Two days ago, a friend approached me, and they were amazed by the success and low cost of a casual H5 3D project, and they wanted to improve the specifications and configuration of the technical team for better artistic performance. I advised them to use U3D and stop thinking about UE. After all, one is not to make the world bigger, the second is not to focus on 3C, the third is not to focus on performance, the fourth is not to do multi-platform, and the fifth is not to do FPS, so the advantages of UE cannot be brought into play, but the disadvantages are indispensable. Especially if you want to adapt to Southeast Asia and South America, a paradise of low-end mobile phones, why bother to enter the Longtan Tiger's Den and feel the torment of hell. What's more, in the territory of Guangzhou, how can you recruit a suitable and reliable UE program in a short period of time.

The biggest benefit of this trip was that I got a different perspective from talking to my friends about technology and game design, which not only greatly benefited my long-term confidence in the industry, but also allowed me to re-examine the nature of game technology and the difference between myself and my goals. I sincerely admire and bless those peers who take making a good game and making their favorite games as their ideals. After all, the domestic industry is really an idealistic desert, and this industry has neither a lack of profit-oriented capital, nor a company without a basic contract spirit and a hypocrite and villain who are full of calculations after running the train; What this industry lacks is the real enthusiasm, ability and resources to be the producers of their favorite game categories, those who dare to open up the course in ridicule and incomprehension, those who are bold and careful are full of idealism, both respect themselves and know how to respect others, so there is always the respect of others, this is the world's masterpiece, my generation model, the mainstay of the industry.

When choosing a partner, character should be the first priority. Not only what he says, but also how he does it; Not only what he does to you, but also what he does to his former partner. It is not only about what those close to him think of him, but also about how his estranged partners in the past evaluate him. People, you must cherish your feathers, don't always be arrogant and fantasize about the victor writing history, the pattern and three views of the victor who writes history, how can it be so low that you need to protect your feathers, and how can the victor who writes history be so low that you can't protect your feathers. I often say to my colleagues, half-jokingly, half-seriously: "We work from our twenties to our sixties, and most of our lives are spent in the workplace. ”

When I was eighteen years old, I almost died due to a serious illness, and I clearly remember that I had no fear of death at all, but only felt full of regret, and I didn't finish a lot of things that I liked and could do. More than ten years ago, when I read "The Biography of Chanel" and "Single Reading" compiled by Xu Zhiyuan at the Nanshan Library in Shenzhen, I suddenly felt that I was approaching old age and couldn't cry myself, just like Duras described in "Youyou": "This is inevitably too early, too hurried, I am only eighteen years old, and it is already too late." On the contrary, after the age of 35, I gradually became dull to the panic and helplessness of age, and cherished my family, friends, and my inner peace more.

The game industry is becoming more and more torn: on the one hand, the cost of game research and development is getting higher and higher, the team is getting bigger and bigger, the time cycle is getting longer and longer, investors are becoming less and less confident, the sound of layoffs at home and abroad is endless, and there are more and more unemployed colleagues and friends around.

I asked a friend, why do you bother to practice asceticism like game development? He replied to me with Su Dongpo's "Fixing the Storm":

"I asked Lingnan if it was not good, but I said, this place of peace is my hometown."