To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 18: Excellent News_1

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Under the recommendation of Wang Say Games, thousands of players purchased and downloaded the game, then experienced what is called real-time space travel.

They said they had only played the game shallowly, but before they knew it, the refund period had passed, and then they inexplicably pulled an all-nighter.

It was only when the first rays of the morning sun shone on their faces that they realized, to their surprise, that they had played the game all night.

Amazing!

Nowadays, everyone is busy, so getting two or three hours of gameplay is considered getting your money's worth.

That experience of binge playing a game through the night and still not having enough is rare these days.

Moreover, after playing, that feeling of emptiness, loneliness, and cold didn't flood in; rather, they were filled with a sense of achievement and the impulse to conquer another dungeon.

90% of the players, before closing the game and getting ready for work, quickly logged onto the Steam platform and heartily clicked the "Recommend" thumb.

A large number of players, while yawning on the subway commute, used their phones to write glowing reviews of the game.

"So-so." From a player who had spent over twenty hours in the game.

"I came for the colors, but I found this thing to be more exciting than making colors."

"One of the representational works of the dove genre. I can't recall how many different pieces of equipment I got, or in how many ways I killed bosses. But I find, whenever I feel unbeatable, the game slaps me with even better tricks."

"As always, terrible naming, as always, terrible genre tags. The only thing that's not terrible is the explosively engaging gameplay."

"It's hard to imagine that in this day and age, someone would set up a variety of functions for a small, seemingly insignificant item. For instance, in the game, you can obtain a small mirror. With this mirror, you see your own appearance; you can reflect sunlight to kill certain enemies that are afraid of sunlight; in some special environments, you can travel through the mirror to another scene; you can even grind the mirror to dust and then cast certain spells."

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"If the mirror contains silver, then you can also use the shards to kill some vampire-like creatures. A simple mirror, with hundreds of different uses, really surprises me."

Praise overflowed, quickly propelling the game's rating up to "Overwhelmingly Positive."

Out of love for Princess Dungeon, these players started to pack their own provisions, record their exciting moments, and upload the videos online.

Thanks to its excellent quality and perfect randomness, any player would encounter memorable scenes during their gameplay.

When chased helpless by monsters, just when about to meet your doom, a stroke of luck would trigger a mechanism that burned the boss alive instead.

A misstep that caused a fall from the upper levels of the dungeon might result in you smashing through several floors to land directly in the boss room—where you conveniently squashed the boss to death.

Of course, there were more examples of accidental deaths than unexpected victories.

Some players even began to compile different ways to die in the game, ultimately gathering many interesting moments.

On the 14th day since Princess Dungeon's release, the game finally caught fire.

Social spread reached a tipping point, allowing this "love" game to finally surge to the top.

In the second week, Princess Dungeon's sales finally reached 150,000. And if current trends are any indication, its ultimate sales could likely hit 300,000.

For a game priced at 68 RMB, and coming from a three-person indie studio, this figure was large enough to afford each person a vacation in the Maldives for a week.

Seeing over seven million RMB in the account, Xu Qingling's eyes bulged as she counted the zeros over and over, then she reflected on how lucrative the gaming industry truly is.

While Xu Qingling was puzzled, Fang Cheng was also enveloped in confusion.

Was this love game that mysteriously defeated bosses, died inexplicably, and had no elements of romance, really popular?

Instead of pursuing princesses, were they all discussing which strategies were unbeatable, focusing on the wrong elements?

Was this way of playing games really fun?

Fang Cheng, who had paid off his debts in less than a month, and even had a surplus of six million, sighed again in his office.

Video games, indeed, are so difficult.

Of course, there were doubts about Princess Dungeon as well.

Some said Princess Dungeon was a game that hung a sheep's head but sold dog meat, attracting old gamers with old tricks, and content-wise, it was a low-budget reskin of King's Dungeon.

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Players who had played "Princess Dungeon" immediately fired back.

"Try changing skins and come up with 3,000 different item effects.

Then, change another skin and expand the number of dungeons from 13 to the tens of thousands we have now.

Finally, change a skin again and perfect the so-called environmental system, making it as realistic as a simulation."

"If you could do that, we wouldn't say a word even if you changed skins ten times, we would even hail it as the pride of domestic games, and then find a place to enshrine you."

There was no need for Fang Cheng Studio to hire anyone for PR. Gamers who enjoyed the game could spray these critics until nothing was left of them.

Of course, while some rejoiced, others despaired.

As "Princess Dungeon"'s sales climbed higher and higher, Kongkong Studio had already entered a state of gloom and doom.

They had thought that "King's Dungeon" could push their company's share price up by a few percentage points, but they didn't expect "Princess Dungeon" to emerge out of nowhere, stopping their rising trend with a few slaps, and ultimately causing the share price to fall by a few percentage points.

The day the share price fell, Tianyi's boss, his face ashen, called KongKong into his office.

No one knew what was said inside the office, only that KongKong's complexion was even more ashen when he came out.

At this time, nobody at Kongkong Studio dared to approach him as if he were tainted with bad luck.

But just because they didn't go looking for trouble didn't mean trouble wouldn't come to them.

Main planner Huang Ping was called into the office by KongKong, where the fury from above was unleashed on him even more fiercely, and KongKong didn't stop until he was hoarse from shouting.

Exhausted, slumped in the chair, KongKong asked, "How is this month's revenue looking now?"

Wiping the spit off his face, Huang Ping helplessly said, "Before, it might have been possible to break a hundred million, and those who bought monthly passes are still playing, but..."

"But what?" KongKong asked impatiently.

"But the player retention rate is continuously dropping. By next month, it might be less than two million."

Hearing that number, KongKong felt like he wanted to vomit blood.

Fifty million spent on development, and now they might not even recoup the cost.

And the thought that all this trouble was caused by that same young man who had dared to talk back to him, KongKong gnashed his teeth in hatred, wishing he could go beat him up right then and there.

Taking a deep breath, he said to the main planner Huang Ping, "How's that idea we discussed earlier coming along?"

"Do you mean the idea of incorporating PvP into the dungeon?"

"Don't play dumb!"

"Splitting hairs!" Huang Ping cursed under his breath.

You have so many ideas every day, how would I know which one you're talking about if you don't clarify!

But he knew that the producer was on edge, so he immediately said, "It's not easy to do, after all, balancing a game in the style of 'pigeon meat' isn't easy. It's not simple to create a balance system that satisfies everyone and also accommodates players who spend money."

"Then think faster!"

KongKong brusquely sent Huang Ping out the door and sat in the office contemplating what to do.

He knew his own game well; in terms of gameplay randomness, "King's Dungeon" was already having a hard time competing with "Princess Dungeon."

Even with bias and filled with prejudice, he had to admit that the quality of "Princess Dungeon" was outstanding.

Now, the only way to respond was to further innovate the gameplay by shifting the core of the game from PvE to PvP.

Still fuming, he opened Bilibili to check out the comparisons between the two games when suddenly, he came across a message that left him stupefied.

"'Princess Dungeon' launches PvP!"