Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 63 Three Levels of Standards

Chapter 63: Chapter 63 Three Levels of Standards

Gu Fan checked the date, and it was July 2.

"Destiny of the Sleeping Dragon" had been released on June 30, while Nitiandang Games had just paid out June’s salary on the 28th.

Of course, except for Su Tong, the veteran employee who had directly participated in the development of "Sisyphus" and "Heaven Defying Blocks" and therefore received a bonus, the rest of the new employees only received their basic salary.

Gu Fan was of course very clear about this: "Normally, salaries and bonuses should be paid on the 26th of this month.

"But considering that this is the first profit-making game since everyone joined the company, I’ve decided that as soon as we receive the first income from ’Destiny of the Sleeping Dragon’ this Friday, I will issue a bonus in advance.

"From then on, we will stick to distributing salaries and bonuses on the last Friday of every month."

Xiao Mingyu nodded quickly: "Yes, President Gu!"

At this moment, she was a little shocked. Could the boss be in such a hurry to give out bonuses? Can’t even wait a month?

President Gu certainly had unique and unconventional ways of thinking.

"Then, on what basis exactly do we distribute the bonuses? Is it 10%?" Xiao Mingyu asked.

She had a certain understanding of the game industry and knew that for most game companies, it was already exceedingly generous and uncommon in the industry to allocate 10% of their profits for employee bonuses.

And the rest of the money?

The bulk of it was definitely meant for investment in new projects; the remaining funds were either for operating the company and employee benefits or for the boss to pocket.

Gu Fan said earnestly, "This is easy to calculate, take note.

"25% of the net profit from each game will be used as the company’s operational funds. This money is mainly for two things: the first is bonuses for all employees who participated in the development of that game, the second is for the company’s daily expenses and benefits, like rent, office computers, etc.

"Remember, 25%, no mistakes can be made."

Xiao Mingyu was somewhat speechless and puzzled.

Speechless because, as a top student from the Capital University Finance Department, how could she possibly miscalculate a simple 25%? There was absolutely no need for President Gu to emphasize such a thing.

The puzzlement stemmed from why it had to be exactly 25%? Could there be no deviation at all?

Seeing Xiao Mingyu’s expression, Gu Fan didn’t have much to explain.

What could he say? Because the contract I signed with Lilith stipulates exactly 25%? That would be nonsensical.

The figure was not flexible; if it fluctuated and caused a breach of contract, then it would be the end for me, and I wouldn’t get to see tomorrow’s sun.

In any case, Xiao Mingyu silently took note: "Alright, 25%, got it.

"So President Gu, how should we specifically allocate the first and second expenses?

"I understand that we should prioritize the second one, meaning we first deduct the company’s daily expenses and employee benefit measures, and what remains goes towards the first expense, to distribute bonuses, right?

"Should we consider improving the office environment and employee welfare then?

"After all, our company now has monthly revenues of at least a few million, yet we are still holed up in a coffee shop, which seems quite odd."

Gu Fan shook his head: "Wrong! You’ve got it backwards.

"We need to prioritize the first expense, meaning first consider giving employees as much bonus as possible. As for the company’s daily expenses and employee benefits... the more we save, the better! How much we can actually save depends on the capabilities of our financial director.

"Of course, such savings must be within the limits of the law."

Xiao Mingyu was shocked again: "Huh?"

Gu Fan was not very fond of her naive demeanor: "What huh? Just calculate it like that."

"Destiny of the Sleeping Dragon" had so far brought in a profit of 3.27 million for Nitiandang Games, which by 25% calculation, equated to 817,500 yuan.

If there were no employee benefits and if the daily expenses continued at the current minimum standard, the rent for the second floor of the coffee shop was only 5,000 yuan a month... As for the employees’ office computers, they had been purchased long ago and didn’t need upgrades or replacements in the short term.

Doesn’t that mean at least 800,000 could be used for employees’ bonuses!

Xiao Mingyu felt her CPU overheating, not because the numbers were too complex, but because the way the money was being spent was too fantastical.

Gu Fan continued: "As for how much each employee gets...

"With this, we will simply divide our employees into three different ’Performance Tiers’ according to their contributions.

"The third tier is the ’Diligent Tier,’ which includes those, like Old Yellow Ox, who steadfastly completed their job responsibilities.

"The second tier is the ’Core Tier,’ which includes those responsible for core development work or the company’s key operations. All you their main department heads fall into this tier, or an ordinary employee who has made particularly outstanding contributions can also be counted in this tier.

"The first tier is the ’Special Tier,’ which is for those who played a special role in the process of the game becoming a hit, like Su Tong’s ’Five Consecutive Dragon Flapping Wings’ video at the time.

"There should be at least one person in the Special Tier.

"The bonus coefficient for the Diligent Tier is 1, for the Core Tier it is 2, and for the Special Tier it is 4.

"Just calculate with this coefficient, and distribute all this money. There are a total of nine employees in the company right now, not counting myself."

This algorithm was indeed very clear; Xiao Mingyu quickly went through it in her mind, but during the process, she encountered new problems.

The easiest to calculate were clearly those in the ’Core Tier,’ perhaps because the company was rather small at the moment, making this tier the most populous. The test team leader Su Tong, art team leader Guo Hongyu, and financial director Xiao Mingyu were undoubtedly of this kind.

But what about the two programmers, Feng Hui and Zhao Haiquan, and the executive planner Zhou Yang?

Who is the head programmer? Who is the head planner?

Strictly speaking, neither of them really count because the main leadership for program development was Gu Fan, and the submission of planning proposals was also Gu Fan’s work. Feng Hui and Zhao Haiquan could only be considered as ordinary senior programmers at best, and Zhou Yang, even more so, could only be called a standard errand planner.

Would it be a bit far-fetched to include these three in the Core Tier?

But then again, Xiao Mingyu herself felt it was quite far-fetched to include herself in the Core Tier as well, since she hadn’t really done much as a financial director. At most, she just distributed everyone’s basic salary since the company had neither procurement nor other business activities.

She was already earning more than twenty thousand a month; taking another bonus would make even herself feel a bit embarrassed.

But if that’s the case, it seemed like Guo Hongyu, the art team leader, hadn’t done much work either...

The only uncontroversial ones were probably the three testers.

They would definitely get the lowest ’Diligent Tier.’

But in other companies, they wouldn’t even be eligible for this tier, given that a tester’s job is to find bugs, and they hadn’t even tested out the significant bug of "Strategic Dragon Synergy."

Although that bug was eventually proven to be a beneficial one, enhancing the game’s profitability, that couldn’t be the reason to reward them!

Xiao Mingyu hadn’t expected to encounter such a difficulty in her role as the financial director.

In other companies, financial directors are busy finding ways to reasonably deduct the bonuses everyone is supposed to get.

And here she was, trying to find ways to give out undeserved bonuses in an unreasonable manner?

That was outrageous!

After a moment of silence, Xiao Mingyu said with some difficulty, "President Gu, to be frank, you contributed at least eighty percent to the success of this game, so even if we didn’t distribute any bonuses, I’d find it reasonable...

’Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to butter you up, I’m just speaking the truth...’"

Xiao Mingyu felt that her own words might be coming across a bit too much like a scab, but that was the harsh reality!

Gu Fan simply chuckled and said nothing.

Do you think I wouldn’t want to pocket all the money myself? But that damn Lilith laid down the law in the contract that I can only take 5%, and saving the money doesn’t make any difference! Better to distribute it and use this money to curry some favor.

As for how much favor can be reclaimed from the employees? Let it be up to fate. In any case, it’s always better than leaving it with Lilith’s company.

Thinking this through, Gu Fan made a firm decision.

"Here’s how it’ll be, Su Tong, you, Feng Hui, Zhao Haiquan, Guo Hongyu, Zhou Yang, you several team leaders, are all to be calculated as the second tier.

"The three testers will be calculated as the third tier.

"As for the special tier this time... If we must select someone, then it goes to Zhao Haiquan.

"He was in charge of fine-tuning the fake-AI, and did his job with all his might; otherwise, we might not have seen such a great result.

"Calculate how much money each person gets."