In late July and early August, Shanghai's gaming atmosphere is always intense due to the annual ChinaJoy. I don't need to elaborate on this; anyone who has attended ChinaJoy surely feels the same.
What many may not know is that around the same time this year, also in Pudong New Area, another gaming event took place. Supported by Tencent Lightspeed Studios, the "Zhu Feng Master Class · Next-Gen Pre-Research Seminar" featured Mr. Zhu Feng, a Hollywood concept designer and current Head of IP Creative Development at Tencent Games' Lightspeed Studios. He attended the event to share and engage in deep discussions for a full day with numerous senior industry practitioners, core creative staff, and emerging talents, under the theme "How a Game IP Moves from Idea to Reality."
Before joining Tencent Games' Lightspeed Studios, Mr. Zhu Feng had nearly thirty years of experience in original IP creation across the film and gaming industries. He participated in concept design for several major Hollywood films, including Transformers, Star Wars Episode III, and The Island, collaborating closely with renowned directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Michael Bay, and Luc Besson.
In the video game sector, he has also contributed to world-building and concept design for several globally renowned AAA game series, including Dead Space, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Duke Nukem Forever. This lecture served not only as a public sharing of his design philosophy with the domestic game industry but also as a rare opportunity for Tencent Lightspeed Studios to openly share its internally accumulated strategies, communicate with industry members, gather feedback, and progress together.
With such a prominent figure leading the session, upon arriving at the venue, I could sense a restrained excitement permeating the audience. Clearly, the attendees were eager to see this industry legend in person and absorb valuable knowledge and experience from his speech.
Amidst this atmosphere, the "Zhu Feng Master Class · Next-Gen Pre-Research Seminar" officially began.
Although there was much he could have introduced, after taking the microphone and stepping onto the stage, Mr. Zhu Feng did not spend much time detailing his personal resume. He went straight to the topic, offering his insights on the most fundamental yet critical question: "What is the most important attribute of an IP product?"
At the beginning of his speech, Mr. Zhu Feng stated that the key to a successful IP lies in first providing users with a unique experience. Moreover, the medium of video games is particularly influenced by this theory. He cited an example: in films, the director controls the experience, precisely arranging what the audience sees and doesn't see in every 24 frames per second. In video games—especially AAA titles—the experience must be entirely handed over to the player. Players can pause or quit at any time, so the game's worldview must be more detailed and costly than films, ensuring players feel compelled to keep playing. In this process, while piling up details is important, the most crucial aspect is delivering an impressive experience before players even notice those details.
Building on this, Mr. Zhu Feng further argued that to achieve the effect of "retaining players," it is necessary to evoke a sense of both familiarity and novelty from the start. To accomplish this, IP products should maintain an approximate ratio of 8:2 between classic elements and differentiated designs, with the proportion of differentiated design potentially being even lower. This approach is taken because good differentiated design, despite its small proportion, can have a significant ripple effect on the entire IP product.
Mr. Zhu Feng also shared that he once told his team members, "You only need to focus on getting this 20% of differentiated content right; it doesn't matter if users are very familiar with the rest, because we never buy things they haven't experienced before."
After conveying his foundational design philosophy, the speech moved to the second topic: "How to successfully implement these ideas." Mr. Zhu Feng stated that the initial phase of IP creation must prioritize the most efficient methods and strictly control development costs. Citing his own experience, he mentioned that in many large-scale film projects he participated in, the teams responsible for creative direction initially consisted of only three or four people, rarely exceeding six or seven. "Time in the original concept phase is extremely precious; starting with a team of hundreds would instead consume the most valuable window for originality due to excessive meetings, approvals, and collaboration overhead."
After successfully validating on a small scale and ensuring the overall direction of IP creation is correct, the team can begin formal IP production. Mr. Zhu Feng stated that at this stage, the team still needs to adopt a cautious expansion strategy. He introduced that an original team should ideally follow the "3D" process: Design, Digital, and Demo. This involves: ① Designing the worldview, core gameplay, and experience; ② Digitally building technical pipelines and toolchains; ③ Creating a playable prototype (Demo) to validate the core loop and highlight moments, gradually turning ideas into reality.
During this process, the team can also expand in an orderly manner following the 5^n rule, scaling from approximately 5 to 25 to 125 people, corresponding to each stage of the "3D" process. Mr. Zhu Feng also emphasized that before each expansion, complete validation of the existing process must be achieved to maximize the project's chances of success.
Finally, using a specially prepared simulated IP proposal as an example, Mr. Zhu Feng fully demonstrated how the core elements of an IP project proposal—five definitions, three main storylines, and one risk-reward cycle—are concretely applied in actual development. Participants in this lecture could use this as a reference for their own projects to see where these methods can be implemented.
During this process, Mr. Zhu Feng, as an industry pioneer, also shared his insights on the rising trend of AI-generated content in recent years. In a simulated IP proposal, he demonstrated how he used AI to generate videos, rapidly realizing certain design elements and shortening the overall workflow. However, he also emphasized that AI is not a panacea; it is merely a tool. It can enhance production efficiency, but only if you already know what you are doing.
Mr. Zhu Feng argued that current AI-generated short dramas perform exceptionally well because film and television have very mature formulas and frameworks. You know what you are selling; by providing the title, shots, and logical framework to AI, it can roughly deduce the rest. But games are different—they have too many variables. AI can improve production efficiency, but it cannot replace the decision-making process for each variable. He stated, "AI can currently amplify 1 to 10, but if you start with 0, using AI won't magically turn it into 1."
He added that over the past decade or so, short videos, social platforms, and smartphones have continuously lowered the barrier to creation. Theoretically, everyone can make videos or games. But those who truly earn money from content remain a minority—and the emergence of AI will not change this fundamental rule. Those who can produce great works are still the ones who have been thinking and accumulating experience all along.
"If someone already loves films, games, and creation, AI will help them move faster. But if they lack interest and ideas, AI won't suddenly turn them into an excellent creator." Finally, Mr. Zhu Feng used this statement to make his judgment on the arrival of the AI era, affirming the value of creators.
From the above speech content, it is not difficult to see that Tencent Lightspeed Studios held this "Zhu Feng Master Class · Next-Gen Pre-Research Seminar" specifically targeting developers like Zhu Feng who are committed to original IPs. Beyond sharing mature experiences, it also demonstrates Tencent Lightspeed Studios' "hard power" to provide long-term, systematic support for original IP projects, as well as its exploration in the direction of original IPs.
On one hand, through sharing events like the "Zhu Feng Master Class · Next-Gen Pre-Research Seminar," they are opening up internally developed methodologies to the industry, promoting the overall prosperity of original IP endeavors. On the other hand, this event demonstrated that, leveraging long-accumulated industrial R&D collaboration capabilities, Tencent Lightspeed Studios can ensure efficiency and quality baselines through its mature industrial pipeline, while leaving creative judgments to those who understand the content best, allowing decisions to be made closest to the content, helping creators truly realize their ideas.
Currently, the domestic game market is undergoing unprecedented changes unseen in decades, with demands for high-end, systematic approaches gradually being prioritized. Through this event, Tencent Lightspeed Studios has showcased its procedural advantages in the field of original IPs, as well as its determination to deeply cultivate original IPs in the future. Standing at the forefront of industry transformation, how Tencent Lightspeed Studios will continue to refine its original IPs and gradually build the "Lightspeed Universe" is something to look forward to.