72: Chapter 72 The Star Path Reboots, It's Only Just Beginning

The office area of Singularity Technology seemed to have been injected with new vitality recently.

The most obvious change was in Zhang Fan and Zhou Yurou.

During meetings, the two no longer deliberately avoided suspicion; when Zhou Yurou handed over proposals, Zhang Fan would naturally take them, their fingertips occasionally brushing, with smiles hidden in each other's eyes.

When discussing company matters, Zhou Yurou would propose suggestions for resource allocation, and Zhang Fan could immediately grasp her considerations; this tacit understanding was like a spring breeze, making the whole team feel at ease.

On Wednesday afternoon, Singularity Technology held the most important strategic meeting since its establishment.

In the conference room, Zhou Yurou placed a thick proposal on the table, with "Singularity Technology Strategic Transformation Plan" written on the cover in bold, forceful characters.

"Everyone," Zhou Yurou's gaze swept over those present, her tone firm, "Over the past six months, we have relied on outsourcing to accumulate funds and technology, but outsourcing business is unstable and we have always been working for others' benefit."

"Now that the framework for 'stardust leap' is set up, and the funds from Liwen Group are in place, I suggest—from now on, the company should shift to an 'independent IP + co-development' model. At the same time, we should establish a technical middle platform to convert the optimization experience of the Sok Engine into standardized tools so that no matter what projects we do in the future, we can reuse technology and improve efficiency."

The conference room was silent for a few seconds before Wang Chengsi raised his hand first: "I support it! Outsourcing is too passive. Although we made money on the last Digital Power project, the client changed requirements whenever they wanted, and our technical advantages couldn't be brought into play at all. If we have our own IP, we can call the shots!"

Liu Ruyan also nodded: "A technical middle platform is very necessary. Many functions are currently being redeveloped repeatedly. If we can make them into standardized tools, we can save a lot of time writing code in the future. For example, the particle effect module we made last time has to be rewritten again for 'stardust leap' this time; it's such a waste."

Everyone's gaze fell on Gu Jingshen. He put down the tablet in his hand; the cast on his arm hadn't been removed yet, but it didn't affect his professional judgment in the slightest.

"Back at Blue Whale, we knew best the bitterness of not having independent IP." Gu Jingshen's voice was steady, carrying emotion about the past, "At that time, we were all doing customized projects for big companies. No matter how well the code was written, the copyright belonged to others, and if a project was cut, there was nowhere to even reason."

"Things are different now. We have the technical foundation of the Sok Engine, and the team has been well-honed. If we build up our IP, we won't need to look at others' faces when negotiating cooperation or attracting investment in the future; even if we want to create derivative content later, we will have our own foundation."

These words struck a chord with everyone—most of the core members present had experienced the helplessness of "working for others' benefit," and Gu Jingshen's words were like a shot of adrenaline, making everyone more determined in their decision to transform.

Finally, Zhang Fan picked up the proposal and flipped to the chapter on the technical middle platform, his eyes full of approval: "Sister Zhou's plan is very comprehensive, and I fully support it."

"Wang Chengsi, the technical middle platform will be your responsibility. Prioritize breaking down the three core modules of the Sok Engine—rendering, physics, and AI—into reusable components. The interface documentation must be written in detail to facilitate subsequent project docking;"

"Ruyan, you continue to be responsible for the star scene optimization of 'stardust leap', cooperate with the technical middle platform for adaptation, and focus on testing the compatibility of the reusable components;"

"Old Gu, you dock with the joint development team of Liwen Group, synchronize our technical progress, and by the way, sound them out about their resource support for IP operations. I will coordinate funds and external copyright matters to ensure a smooth transition."

As soon as the division of labor was settled, Wang Chengsi suddenly spoke up: "By the way, I have an idea to discuss with everyone—can the name 'stardust leap' be changed to 'star path: reboot'?"

"star path?" Zhang Fan was taken aback for a moment. This name was like a key that unlocked his memories—it was the first independent game project he worked on at Blue Whale Games. At that time, Wang Chengsi, Gu Jingshen, and several other old colleagues all participated. Later, the project had its credit stolen by Chang Yuan, and Blue Whale Games even renamed the star path project to "Cangqiong".

Although Blue Whale Games had gone under, "Cangqiong," relying on the foundation of "star path," still had quite a few loyal players to this day, and occasionally one could still see players on forums discussing, "Is 'Cangqiong' still around?"

"Exactly!" Wang Chengsi's eyes lit up, "'star path' is our original intention, and old players remember it; 'reboot' represents us picking up this IP again, and also symbolizes the rebirth of Singularity."

"Currently, 'Cangqiong' players are still looking for similar games. If we use this name, we won't need to spend too much money on promotion to attract a wave of old players. Moreover, the original idea for 'star path' was Zhang Fan's; I still have the design manuscripts and core gameplay documents from back then. What we are making now, 'stardust leap', has a plot about interstellar exploration, uses the new rendering technology of the Sok Engine, and adds AI interaction to the gameplay. It is completely different from the 'space battle' of 'Cangqiong'. We are just borrowing the sentiment of the name; there is no copyright infringement issue."

Zhou Yurou frowned; she considered things more thoroughly: "Sentiment is important, but copyright risks must be avoided. Although Blue Whale Games has gone bankrupt, the copyright of 'Cangqiong' might still be in the hands of the bankruptcy liquidation team. We must first contact the liquidation lawyer to confirm the copyright ownership of the name 'star path' to avoid someone making an issue of this later."

"I've already checked!" Wang Chengsi was well-prepared and took out his phone to pull up a liquidation announcement, "When Blue Whale Games went bankrupt, the copyright of 'Cangqiong' was listed as 'ownerless assets' because no creditors claimed it; furthermore, as the original idea, 'star path' was Zhang Fan's idea back at Blue Whale. Using this name is justified."

"Let's call it 'star path: reboot'." Zhang Fan made the final decision, his tone filled with emotion, "It's not just to attract old players, but more for us—for the 'star path' we didn't finish back then, and also for the 'new journey' of Singularity now."

After the meeting ended, the technical team immediately threw themselves into building the technical middle platform.

A week later, the first version of the technical middle platform was officially launched.

When Wang Chengsi gave a demonstration to the whole company, everyone was stunned.

Test data showed that the technical middle platform increased development efficiency by 50% and reduced code repetition by 40%. Even the docking team from Liwen Group couldn't help but praise it: "Your technical middle platform is even easier to use than our internal tools!"

What was even more unexpected was that Li Rui, the technical director of Digital Power, heard about it and took the initiative to come over, holding a cooperation proposal: "Mr. Zhang, Ms. Zhou, your technical middle platform is amazing! Our company is currently working on an AI-driven NPC system. If it can be docked with your Sok Engine tools, the NPC's behavioral logic can directly reuse your scene data, and efficiency can be increased by at least double. We are willing to share our AI training data—it contains interaction cases for thousands of game scenes—and we can also jointly develop a standardized 'AI + game' solution, with profits shared proportionally!"

Zhang Fan and Zhou Yurou looked at each other, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.

Digital Power was very strong in the field of AI. Their training data covered full-scene interactions from "novice guidance" to "high-difficulty dungeons." If it could be integrated into 'star path: reboot', the NPCs in the game could adjust dialogues and tasks according to the player's choices, and even remember the player's preferences. This kind of "personalized interaction" was a leading technology in the industry.

"Happy cooperation!" Zhang Fan extended his hand and shook Li Rui's, "We will arrange the technical docking as soon as possible and strive to have the AI NPC prototype done by next month."

After seeing Li Rui off, Zhou Yurou looked at the sunset outside the window and said to Zhang Fan with a smile: "I didn't expect the transformation to be so smooth; even Digital Power came to us on their own initiative."

"It's all the result of everyone's joint efforts." Zhang Fan picked up the 'star path: reboot' design draft on the table, which depicted a spaceship flying towards a galaxy, "Especially you; if it weren't for your strategic planning, we would still be spinning in the circle of taking on outsourcing."

"Learned it from you." Zhou Yurou lowered her head, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, "As you said, love has no standard answer, and neither does career—only by constantly moving forward can one find their own path."