Just like a real game's beta testing, Shanwan Ranch continuously improved its process design through its first joint event.
During the nearly month-long event, new visitors would occasionally notice that the ranch had added some rules or tweaked some details.
For example, the ranch decided to limit the number of tour guide cats to around three hundred based on data from the past week. That is, three hundred cats with varied personalities and patterns would serve as guides, and no new cats would be added.
First, they invited visitors to name the cats instead of numbering them.
In Qihe City, a nearby amusement park, after secretly observing the ranch for half a day, scoffed at this approach—
Zoos might name new animals to increase visitor involvement, but real animals are alive. Here, these "cats" are just randomly generated data. No matter how lively they seem, visitors wouldn't mistake them for real cats, right?
Do they really think that with AR and VR experiences, they can trick visitors into treating data as living beings? Isn't that just playing house?
Fans were indeed puzzled, as most of the ranch's fans "bring their own cats." With daily visitor numbers close to ten thousand, only three hundred guide cats were needed at a time, which showed that these cats weren't special. So what was the point of naming them? Aren't they just discardable data?
Then, the official account released the first episode of the ranch's themed animated series.
Fans: "?!"
["Weird... even though there's no real plot, why do I find this animation so cute..."]
["Not only is there no plot, but I don't even know the names of the cats! The art style is a bit rough, but it's so soothing. I ended up watching it without realizing it, and now all I can think about is cat meows."]
["Don't fall for it! There are plenty of cute cat videos online. Why, why did watching an animation about a cat cleaning a window make me smile non-stop..."]
["Everyone says this is Wu Voice Group's scheme to create an IP... Don't fall for it! Let me be the one! I have experience falling for these tricks!"]
...
Indeed, those with insight could see that Chu Tingwu was using the opportunity to build the ranch's original IP through collaborations with other IPs. Constantly collaborating isn't the norm. Seeing the profit potential of an IP, it would be unreasonable not to create one for the ranch.
But theoretically, creating a virtual image for a ranch wouldn't spark such widespread discussion online.
Even small-town shopping plazas create virtual images and mascots, but if they don't reach the public, it's as if those IPs don't exist.
Other competitors were equally baffled. Such a short animation, while more costly than simply drawing or modeling a virtual image, isn't unprecedented. Why did it suddenly go viral?
Chu Tingwu placed a deck chair by the dock, lying back to watch the birds settling by the lake. Three Five Five napped beside her hand, while a large yellow dog named Egg Yolk slept at her feet, forming a fur blanket. Raphael trotted past her, the white horse's mane flowing like a breeze, exuding freedom.
If Chu Tingwu had seen their confusion, she might have said, "Because we're purely creating an IP, not promoting the ranch."
Or, "Our animation solely focuses on depicting the characters' personalities (cat personas). There's no hidden agenda. Even the words 'Shanwan Ranch' only appeared once in the title and the introductory scene. The rest of the episode focused on the cats' after-work lives at the ranch."
Initially, only three characters were set: an orange cat with a head full of orange dreams, always wanting to groom other cats and act as the leader; a calico with a red scarf, working a second job to supervise hotel renovations after clocking out; and a colorful lynx wearing sunglasses, who just wanted to rest but kept getting entangled in other cats' troubles.
These basic cat images, with minor distinguishing marks, played out the entire first episode.
The response was overwhelmingly positive.
Most people said, "After watching, my heart feels so calm."
While Wu Voice Group employees' comments were: "I really can't tell the difference between this version and the last one..."
In fact, no one knew that this animation had undergone many iterations—many competitors envied and resented, thinking that with Chu Tingwu's company's scale and resources, creating an animation for promotion was a breeze. In reality... it was indeed quite easy.
But the process of deciding every detail of the animation was far from simple.
The first version was naturally made by Chu Xiao and others, with only the plot and music worthy of praise. The dubbing and modeling were rather poor. Then Chu Tingwu handed it over to her "contractors," and the next morning, they were gathered by her to watch the second version.
The three of them: "What speed is this?"
Chu Xiao, enduring several times: "Is the contractor's studio in debt to you?"
Chu Tingwu: "Don't be long-winded."
Everyone: "Why not argue!"
The second version, designed by the system, changed the visual style, retaining the original strengths while adopting a more globally accepted 2D cartoon style. The overall atmosphere was light and cute. Everyone thought it was fine.
Chu Tingwu: "Then keep refining the details."
She invited visitors who had been "served" by the guide cats to watch the video and rate it, welcoming their suggestions and even stories they wanted to see.
Most visitors, while surprised, remained calm or just happy, as it was like a survey, earning points that could be used for discounts on all Wu Voice Group products, even if not for big-ticket items like drones, but also for cat food and daily necessities.
But a few wrote surveys and weren't satisfied, dialing the ranch directly.
One of them was the first guest served by the colorful lynx.
That person was also a visitor who had shown great concern for the cat's future before leaving.
This was actually quite normal, Chu Tingwu thought, since the cats were generated based on the data they provided.
—The system would grab big data. To boost the ranch's performance, the initial cats were generated according to visitors' preferences, and that guest had had a very old and lazy but gentle lynx at home when she was a child, accompanying her until she was sixteen.
Now, she was twenty-six.
The visitor had initially just come to discuss the plot but ended up talking about her old cat. She thought ten years had blurred the memory, but when she spoke, it felt like yesterday.
"Mimi was actually very smart... It not only understood 'Mimi' but also the other names my family gave it. If it didn't like someone or could bully them, it pretended not to hear. My grandma loved cleanliness, so she didn't let Mimi onto the bed. When I slept with my grandma, Mimi stayed under the bed, climbing up only after we fell asleep—I always woke up hot from it.
"It was picky eater too, preferred fish, but didn't like catching it. Whenever our neighbors made fish, it’d howl loudly in the yard and glare at the fish-eating neighborhood cat, Blackie, scratching the window screen. My grandma was furious, looking for slippers to smack it, but the next day would buy fish anyway. One day, grandma didn’t smell any fish cooking next door but saw Blackie gnawing something. Mimi was howling. Grandma went to buy fish, but I saw that Blackie was just playing with wild fruits. So Mimi was really cunning.
"It wasn’t close to my grandpa or my brother, probably because Grandpa had scolded it and my brother had bullied it when he was little, but it was very close to me. Once, when I had a fever, grandma went to help cook at the village feast. Mimi saw me not eating, very anxious, and finally went to find grandma… Grandma thought it was trying to steal food, scolding it when she saw it howling hoarsely, but only realized something was wrong then."
"On the way back, Grandma was worried that the house might have caught fire, only to find out it was because I had a high fever—when I grew up, relatives would bring this up, saying my fever was so intense it set the house ablaze. As a kid, I was confused for a long time," she recalled.
"Mimi..."
"Sorry, did I say too much?"
"Not at all," the staffer on the phone responded gently. "Thank you very much for your feedback. Would you mind if we used your provided character template as a reference to slightly adjust the cat's personality? Of course, we won't directly replicate the story you shared, and there won't be any humans in the narrative."
—Although in reality, there were still human staff at the ranch, the ranch advertised itself as "fully automated," striving to minimize human involvement as much as possible through ongoing adjustments and upgrades.
Original staff would typically be transferred to other departments as the facilities and processes evolved.
Thus, in this relatively uncompetitive environment (since there were no clear promotion paths), the atmosphere among the staff remained quite harmonious.
"Of course, thank you..." The visitor repeatedly offered thanks before choking up, "I just... miss Mimi and Grandma."
While the names of the cats were ultimately left to the audience and visitors, the first three had been internally named within the company before being disclosed.
The ranch, as the production entity, stated that the animated series depicted "after-work" experiences, but the cats still went to work regularly, even getting fixed vacation times. The animation was set to air weekly, inviting everyone to support both the show and the ranch.
Ordinary viewers were unaware of the implications, but the publicity department of Yuan Tang, responsible for the crossover collaboration, held a special meeting to discuss the matter, with the head of the department musing:
"Now... the ranch has truly established its own IP."
Wu Voice Group had initially aimed for a ranch crossover; however, Yuan Tang declined, despite the various cutting-edge technologies involved. They recognized that the ranch itself lacked a distinctive memory point. Yuan Tang assumed that Xuetong and the ranch were inseparable, given the AR projections of cats—but it seems the ranch's intent was not to completely tie itself to the game. The game's projections were merely a means to an end.
It remains to be seen just how far they can go.
-
Chu Tingwu fell asleep by the lakeside, letting the breeze wash over her.
When she opened her eyes in the dream classroom, she found herself still within the ranch simulation of the "dream" system, but this time, she wasn't seated on a lounge chair—instead, a wolf snoozed behind her.
The pure white wolf, named Michelle, had passed away in reality, but in the "dream," she was roused by Chu Tingwu, letting out a yawn before standing to survey the unfamiliar pastures.
Chu Tingwu gazed at her profile, a faint smile playing on her lips.
Michelle would exist within her "dream," within the dreams of many, in imagery, in records... The significance of digital data was embodied here. However, the absence of a pack left the lone white wolf seeming a bit lonely.
A few minutes later, Chu Tingwu sat cross-legged by the lakeside as Michelle led a procession of data-generated kittens, with three horses interspersed within the group.
The wolf bounded into the lake for a splash, while the cats perched atop the fluffy white giant's head, cautiously observing. Michelle let out a long howl toward Chu Tingwu.
Chu Tingwu: Thanks, but no thanks.
Not only was she no longer lonely, but her dream had become quite noisy!
