133: Chapter 133 "Star Dream Workshop" Open Beta Becomes a Huge Success

At six o'clock on Friday morning, the lights in Singularity Technology's Technology Department were still on. The sound of keyboard clicking rose and fell like a bloodless battle; the server warm-up for the cross-platform public beta of 'star dream workshop' had entered its final stage.

Wang Chengsi, the technical director, stared at the traffic monitoring chart on the screen, his fingertip hovering over the 'Open Download' button as fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. 'All nodes are ready, CDN acceleration is active, we're just waiting for President Zhang's order!'

In the meeting room, Zhang Fan, Zhou Yurou, and Liu Ruyan were huddled around a screen, refreshing the pre-registration data from various major app stores in real-time—over 80,000 on TapTap, 50,000 on the Huawei AppGallery, and 30,000 on the Apple App Store. The total of 160,000 pre-registrations far exceeded the expected goal of 100,000. 'Open downloads at exactly 8:00; don't let anything go wrong.' Zhang Fan looked at his watch, his voice tinged with anticipation. 'Liu Ruyan, is the player community side ready? If there's high-quality content, we need to push it immediately.'

'It's been ready for a long time!' Liu Ruyan held up her phone, showing the interfaces of over a dozen player communication groups. 'We've arranged for ten operations specialists to monitor the groups. High-quality maps and plots posted by players will be immediately featured and recommended, and we've even prepared physical rewards for the "Best Creator".'

At exactly eight o'clock, the moment Wang Chengsi pressed the 'Open Download' button, the curve on the traffic monitoring chart soared like a rocket—within the first 10 minutes, downloads surpassed 10,000;

One hour later, it broke 30,000;

By 12:00 PM, mobile downloads officially surpassed 50,000. Simultaneously, the TapTap rating opened at a high score of 9.2, and the comment section was filled with player praise:

'The AI generation is incredible! I entered "Jiangnan Water Town," and it directly produced an ancient town with black-awning boats. The details are amazing!'

'The plot branches are so free! I saved an alien princess in "Space Adventure" and even triggered a hidden ending!'

At two in the afternoon, Liu Ruyan rushed into the meeting room clutching a tablet, her voice full of excitement. 'President Zhang! President Zhou! Downloads have broken 100,000 in 24 hours! The TapTap rating even went up by 0.1, it's at 9.3 now! High-quality content generated by players is already flooding the screen, and the hashtag #StarDreamWorkshopPlayersAreTooGood# has surpassed 5 million views on TikTok!'

She clicked on a TikTok video with over 100,000 likes—the screen showed a "Peach Blossom Dock Secret Realm" map generated by a player using AI. Pink peach blossoms across the mountains fell with the wind, and a player character in traditional costume carried a lantern; as they walked on the flagstone path, a faint glow rippled at their feet.

Upon encountering the NPC "Peach Blossom Immortal," one could trigger a "Dream-Seeking Quest." Depending on the dialogue choices, one could unlock a "Wine Brewing Secret Recipe" or the "Sword Kinesis Heart Method."

The video caption read: 'After playing games for so many years, this is the first time I've been the "Creator" myself. star dream workshop is the GOAT!'

'And this one!' Liu Ruyan clicked on a Little Red Book post. It was a "Starry Rescue" plot shared by a player: the player input "Spaceship malfunction, need to save crew," and the AI generated a damaged interstellar ship scene featuring moving meteorites, an escape pod requiring a password to crack, and even a combat segment with "alien parasites."

The author of the post wrote: 'My best friend and I played online for 3 hours. The plot was entirely generated randomly by AI, so we couldn't guess the next step at all. It's more exciting than watching a movie!'

Zhou Yurou added with a smile, 'Finance just crunched the numbers. The current payment rate has reached 18%, far exceeding the industry average of 5%-8% for casual games. At this rate, this month's revenue can easily break 5 million. Among them, "3D Map Generation" and "Character Skin Customization" are the most popular paid features.'

As they were speaking, the front desk suddenly called, the voice sounding somewhat agitated. 'President Zhang, people from two film and television companies are here to visit. They say they want to discuss the IP adaptation rights for plots generated by "star dream workshop" players. They're waiting in the reception room right now.'

'Film companies?' Zhang Fan was a bit surprised, then smiled and said, 'Let them in. It's a good time to chat.'

The people who walked in were project managers from two well-known domestic film and television companies—one wanted to adapt a player's "The Longest Day in Chang'an" ancient-style plot into a short drama;

The other had set their sights on the "Deep Sea Mystery" sci-fi theme, wanting to develop an online movie.

'We've noticed that there are many high-quality original plots in "star dream workshop" with complete world-building and vivid character settings. They are very suitable for film and television adaptation.'

One of the managers handed over a proposal. 'We are willing to pay copyright fees and can also co-develop with your company. Subsequent game tie-ins can also be promoted simultaneously.'

Zhang Fan took the proposal, flipped through a few pages, and looked up. 'IP adaptation is a good thing, but we have one requirement—the original intent of the players must be respected. Before adapting, there must be communication with the creators to ensure the plot doesn't deviate from the original meaning.'

'Additionally, we hope to plant "star dream workshop" tie-in easter eggs in the films or shows, such as scenes of the protagonist playing the game, to guide the audience to download and experience it.'

'No problem!' the other party immediately agreed. 'We will arrange for dedicated personnel to interface with the players. Copyright royalties can also be given to the creators proportionally. This will stimulate even more creative passion from the players.'

Just as the two sides were chatting enthusiastically, Wang Chengsi hurried in, his expression somewhat solemn. 'President Zhang, we just received a lot of player feedback. When the AI generates complex maps, the waiting time is a bit long—the longest takes 30 seconds. Players are already complaining in the comment section.'

Zhang Fan immediately pulled back his smile and said apologetically to the film company people, 'I'm sorry, we have some technical issues to handle here. I'll have my assistant follow up with you on the details.'

After seeing off the guests, Zhang Fan called a meeting with the Technology and Planning Departments. 'AI generation speed is the key; we can't make players wait too long.'

He pointed at the user feedback on the screen. 'Old Wang, can the Technology Department optimize the algorithm? For example, by splitting complex maps into small modules and generating them in stages while showing a "generation progress bar" to reduce player waiting anxiety.'

Wang Chengsi nodded. 'We can try that! Additionally, we can add a "Prefabricated Template Library." Once a player chooses a template, the AI only needs to modify based on that template, which can increase generation speed by 50%. We can have an optimized version out tonight and push the update tomorrow morning.'

'Good!' Zhang Fan made the decision, then looked toward the Marketing Department. 'Increase promotion efforts. Invest in traffic on TikTok, Little Red Book, and Bilibili, focusing on pushing high-quality player creation cases to let more people know about "star dream workshop's" AI generation gameplay. As for Gu Jingshen, have him contact game streamers to arrange special live broadcasts for "star dream workshop" to further expand our influence.'

After the meeting adjourned, Zhang Fan walked to the office area and saw that the employees were all busy yet full of energy.

Some were organizing player feedback, some were interfacing with film companies, and some were debugging AI algorithms. He took out his phone and sent a WeChat message to Lele: 'Lele, the online feature for "star dream workshop" is live. How about Uncle accompanies you to build a castle tonight?'

Before long, Lele sent a voice message, her voice full of excitement: 'Okay, okay! I want to build a castle with a swimming pool, and I'll save a room for Uncle!'

Zhang Fan replied with a smile, his heart full of warmth—from the controversy of "star path: reboot" to the explosive success of "star dream workshop," from helping Xia Qinanyi and her daughter to the company's steady development now, every step was inseparable from the team's hard work and the warmth hidden in the details.

He looked up out the window. The setting sun was slowly descending, dyeing the CBD office buildings gold—the story belonging to Singularity Technology had only just turned to its most brilliant chapter.