Chen Mo a game designer got sent to a parallel world with advance technology but undeveloped game concepts. Watch as he redefines the world's gaming industry with the games he remade from his old world.
Almighty Video Game Designer #Chapter 1 - Read Almighty Video Game Designer Chapter 1 Online - All Page - Novel Next
Chapter 1: Chapter 0: Please Call Me a Videogame Designer
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
As a videogame designer, Chen Mo thought that his life was already perfect.
All the games that Chen Mo had designed went into video game history.
"Journey" had received seven awards at the Global Game Developers Conference, including Best Visuals, Best Design, Best Sound Effects, and Most Innovative Game of the Year.
League of Legends was now seven years old and still held the throne of PC gaming. The League of Legends World Championship finals continued to break viewership numbers.
The Last of Us, Uncharted, and GTA5 were popular all around the world, selling tens of millions of copies, breaking many records in the process.
Outlast, Tales Of Glory, and Thriller Paradise had revolutionized the VR gaming industry. Many video game designers considered them classics as they studied them repeatedly .
Even mobile games, such as Honor of Kings and Onmyoji, were always at the top of mobile games ranking, barely threatened by their competitors.
Don't even get him started on the money tabletop games made in just two months. That was really easy money.
And then there's also RapeL... Nevermind, that genre hadn't really been explored.
If Chen Mo had any regrets, it was probably the fact that he still hadn't fixed his habit of daydreaming while on overtime.
That's right, all of the above were just Chen Mo's daydreams. He was actually the main producer in a mobile games company from China. It was inevitable that he would start daydreaming after two months of gruesome overtime.
Just like other video game producers, Chen Mo entered the industry filled with hopes and dreams. However, after a few years of overtime, the dreams he once had were drowned out by harsh reality.
However, Chen Mo still liked calling himself a video game designer despite being a video game producer. That might be all that remained of his hopes and dreams.
Chem Mo looked at the table next to him, which still had a cup of noodles from yesterday on it. It belonged to a software developer with messy hair and massive eye bags.
Can't help it, the software developer had stayed back longer than Chen Mo did.
Perhaps software developers were aliens. Chen Mo felt like the extra five minutes of overtime might kill him, but the software developers seemed to be able to maintain this zombie-like condition for months. Even when more bugs appear after they say 'it'll be online after this bug's fixed', they still have enough energy to fly to the moon.
Alas, that is the life of hard workers.
"This is so boring! I can't take this anymore, I'm gonna take a nap."
Not knowing if he was laying down or had passed out, he felt his vision going black. It didn't matter as long as he was unconscious.
Perhaps it's just a part of his imagination, but Chen Bo heard a sound in his dream.
"Game downloading...
"Main Objective: Become the best video game designer in the parallel world.
"Side Objective 1: Get over an income of two billion from a game in one month.
"Side Objective 2: Get over 10 million active players in one game in a month.
"Side Objective 3: Create games on PC, mobile and VR, and have 'classics' on each of the platforms.
"Side Objective 4: Become famous, reaching the level of a tier-one celebrity.
"Newbie bonus: None.
"Game difficulty: Max.
"Game tutorial: Closed.
"Switching to parallel world in...
"3...
"2...
"1...
"Game start!"
Chapter 2: Chapter 1: The World with a Misclicked Tech Tree
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
The Imperial Capital...
Chen Mo woke up.
"I feel like I might die any moment now...
"No more, I must go to bed earlier tomorrow..."
While heading his temples to soothe an intense headache, Chen Mo sat up on his bed.
"I'm so sleep-deprived that I'm hallucinating. I was fine with daydreaming, but dreaming like that during my sleep? Stop messing with my sleep quality, please..."
Chen Mo hadn't gotten over his terrible rest. But the next moment, he was stunned, and unable to recover his wits for a long time.
"What the! Where am I? Did I transmigrate?"
Chen Mo looked around his surroundings.
He was in an unfamiliar room, which looked like a twin room in a hotel. However, his twin room didn't look like the luxurious type. Other than being barely considered clean, nothing else was noteworthy.
There was a large luggage bag next to the table in the room. There was a strange laptop on the table. It was as thick as a brick and had a massive screen. It looked heavy but intricate, like nothing he had seen before.
Chen Mo had never seen a laptop like this in his previous world, but after a reality check he noticed it looked expensive.
Chen Mo proceeded to enter the bathroom to wash his face. Looking into the mirror, he saw that his appearance was the same, but just slightly younger.. He looked like himself four to five years ago, just after he had graduated from university.
Slowly but surely, Chen Mo gained memories about this parallel world.
This world was ninety percent similar to the one Chen Mo was used to. The only difference was that the gaming industry he was ever so familiar with was vastly different.
All this stemmed from the difference in technology.
In this world, a string of technological booms had happened for some reason. Perhaps it was the doings of aliens, or even a transmigrator like Chen Mo, but the speed of the advancements in computing were beyond belief. The changes happened very rapidly, faster than a rocket..
Before personal computers were even common, top researchers had already invented supercomputers that could make trillions of calculations a second. Halfway through the development of computer technology, VR technology experienced a huge breakthrough. The dream of a virtual world was achieved using personal gaming pods.
In three to five years, this world had achieved what Chen Mo's previous world had only achieved half of in over seventy years.
Of course, the technological boom was beneficial, but it had directly resulted in the stalling of the gaming industry in this world.
Before PC games were invented, they had entered the VR era. Of course, the gaming companies spent all their resources on VR game development.
As a result of that, the gaming industry didn't have the experience of making PC games. Although VR games had great engines, theories in video game design felt like they were stuck in the Stone Age.
However, there was an upside to all this: this world viewed the gaming industry very highly!
Video games here weren't viewed as plagues on society or an online drug, but viewed as the ninth art form, respected and even promoted by certain governments.
Furthermore, video game designers weren't the IT workers of Chen Mo's previous world. As it was considered a highly technical job, video game designers had gained respect similar to doctors, lawyers, or even a culturally impactful artist!
As for the original Chen Mo of this world, he was just an ordinary fresh graduate who was ready to devote himself to the gaming industry.
Oddly enough, this world's method of 'devoting oneself to the gaming industry' also differed from his previous world
——
Chen Mo wiped his face down with a towel, then went to the windows and opened the blinds.
Bright sun, clear skies...
The Imperial Capital was usually quite hot during August. Seeing the sun made him feel like he was melting, despite being in an air-conditioned room.
Chen Mo had a feeling that the people walking by would turn into human-shaped pools of liquid, slowly evaporating in the sun like they were candy.
He stepped over to the table.
The massive laptop was the highest specced laptop in this world, starting at twenty thousand RMB.
Being a poor fresh graduate and not coming from a rich family, why did he choose to starve himself for the better half of a year to buy such an expensive laptop?
It was because Chen Mo wanted to use this laptop to design games!
That's right. That was another difference in this world. Here, a programmer wasn't required when a video game designer designed a game!
Then... who did the coding?
Answer: There wasn't a need for coding! This world had the best video game engines. All a videogame designer had to do was to storyboard the game and assemble it using the engines according to the documentation. Viola, the idea can now become a reality!
From minigames, that were just a couple megabytes, to VR games that required tens of terabytes, everything could be done using a game engine. Of course, the time and effort required were definitely different!
Unlike his previous world, where video game designers were just workers in the production line, the video game designers here were extremely rich with great personal charisma, having status similar to successful artists.
Another difference was that in Chen Mo's previous world, video game designers would be assigned different parts of the game: coding, storyboarding, levels, etc. However, in this world, one had to know everything. A game designer that only understood the system, but not the plot would be disdained by others within their circles.
It was to the point where some video game designers were also top-notch writers and artists, masters of all trades, just like how Michaelangelo was a sculptor, artist, architect, and poet!
Of course, for large scale VR games, the main designers would also hire assistants. However, the words of the main designers were absolute, controlling every detail of the game. The assistants were less like co-workers than interns.
As mentioned previously, Chen Mo was a young man who wanted to devote his life to the gaming industry.
However, the way to devote oneself wasn't to apply for jobs at video game companies, but through other means.
All video game engines in this world were open to the public though rights and accessibility may differ, depending on the designer . Entering the video game industry required one to design a complete game. It also had to pass through a board of professionals for review.
The Chen Mo of this world was already qualified to be an entry-level video game designer. He just needed to design a simple mini-game to become a D-grade video game designer.
As for the reason Chen Mo was staying in a hotel, he had registered himself for a video game design contest in the Imperial Capital. He needed a quiet environment for two days to finalize his designs.
Unfortunately, perhaps because of stress or too many late nights, he suddenly died!
"Pulling two late nights and suddenly dying? Man, my body is weak despite being so young," muttered Chen Mo.
Perhaps it was normal to have so much stress. Even in this world, the road of a video game designer wasn't easy.
It had been almost a year since the Chen Mo of this world graduated, and yet he hadn't gotten off on the right foot. None of the games he made got past the review. Despite being entry-level in every aspect, he was unable to break through to being a D-grade video game designer.
If this continued, Chen Mo would be out of money. He'd be left with three choices: starve, go back and depend on his parents, or change career paths.
Hence, Chen Mo had done his best, hoping he could get a good ranking in this video game designing competition. However, before he could finish his product, it seems that he had been 'finished' first!
After sulking for a couple more seconds, Chen Mo calmed down.
'Isn't it just designing video games? That's right up my alley! If I don't make waves in the current video game industry, I would really be a waste of resources.'
Chen Mo turned on the laptop. However, before he did anything, he decided to order some food.
Chen Mo's stomach was growling. Not wanting to be the first transmigrator who died of starvation after the original's sudden death, Chen Mo picked up his phone.
Indeed, the lifestyle apps were largely similar. Chen Mo noticed that other than the higher specs, mobile phones were largely similar to those of his previous world.
After ordering a rice bowl and milk tea on an app called "Hungry?", Chen Mo fully calmed down, and opened the game engine on his laptop.
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Chapter 3: Chapter 2 Can Money Change Fate?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
After finishing his meal, Chen Mo looked through his laptop in a dissatisfied manner while sipping on his milk tea. His heart was racing, and his breath was heavy.
Chen Mo felt frustrated. He almost choked on a pearl from his milk tea as soon as he got angry.
Why was he angry? Because when Chen Mo turned on his laptop, he grew happier and happier after he confirmed the games in this world.
VR games dominated the scene.
PC gaming was pathetic, simply dismal, as the main purpose of PC's was for work.
The mobile games market was filled with casual games. Not a single one of them was targeted at hardcore gamers. Moreover, most of them were made by C or D-grade designers as practice, resulting in few being profitable.
There weren't any browser games, nor console games.
It was obvious that video game companies had rushed towards developing VR games. Nobody cared about the PC side of things, and there was a complete lack of people for consoles.
Thinking it was a great opportunity for him to show his abilities, Chen Mo was quite happy.
But when he saw his personal savings account, his happiness had turned into anger. At that moment, Chen Mo almost choked on the pearls in the milk tea.
Chen Mo realized that the game engine he was currently using was called "Illusion Game Engine", an invention from mainland China. There was also another engine from outside China called "Reality Game Engine". They were mostly similar, although Reality had a slight edge in VR games.
However, video game designers in China usually preferred Illusion Game Engine in order to access publicly available resources and upload their games. The information of the designers was also stored here, therefore Chen Mo had also chosen to use Illusion.
Opening the editor had revealed a number of statistics to him.
Chen Mo: Video Game Designer (Entry Level)
Creativity: 7
System: 8
Coding: 3
Level Design: 4
Story Design: 10
Concept Art: 7
3D Art: 1
Monthly Quota: 294MB/300MB
The numbers in his account must've been the overall score the system had given Chen Mo for his previous games.
Storyboarding was rated the highest, probably due to his major in literature.
As for the pathetic 3D arts, it's because Chen Mo had never touched any games related to 3D.
-Oh, right. All the statistics are rated out of 100...-
What angered him weren't the tragic statistics, but the "Monthly Quota" at the bottom.
This suggested that every designer could use the free resources online for their games, but the quota would differ according to their levels.
For a video game designer like Chen Mo who doesn't even have his foot in the door, 300MB could be considered quite a bit. But the real problem lay in the fact that he had used 294MB, with only 6MB left!
This was only the middle of the month. It wasn't realistic to wait until the next month, as the due date for the competition's final submission was in two days!
-Even the gods are tormenting me!-
After a big gulp of milk tea, Chen Mo opened his save file in the video game engine. "There's nothing I can do other than take a look at this save file and see if it's possible to salvage it..."
—
After one minute and forty-three seconds, Chen Mo silently pressed the 'X' on the top right.
-Man, that was unsightly.-
It was a 2D martial arts game. It had basic combat and some simple moves, along with dozens of lines of dialogue.
As to the resources used... it was probably spent on the ten backgrounds and the seven or eight bosses...
In Chen Mo's opinion, this game had no potential at all.
The mechanics, combat, graphics, scenes, all of them were beyond saving.
But... restarting?
What could he possibly make with 6MB of resources? Minesweeper?
Sure, he could. But even if something of decent quality was made with the 6MB, it would be impossible for it to win a prize in the competition!
-Pain in the ass!
-How could I get myself caught up in this sort of problem?- Chen Mo felt like he had swallowed a big chunk of ice. Not only did it feel terrible, but he also felt a cold spot in his heart.
He extended his hand and shut the lid of his laptop.
-It's hopeless!-
At that moment, Chen Mo noticed the bracelet he had on his wrist wasn't quite normal.
The bracelet was bought by the original Chen Mo. Its effects were similar to the fitness tracker of his previous world, heart rate tracking, sleep quality, etc. He hadn't noticed it before, but could now see that the bracelet was in fact extraordinary.
Chen Mo tapped the bracelet, invoking a virtual display.
"What the... what is this?"
Chen Mo was shocked. Initially, he had thought that it was some sort of black technology[1]' from this world. But after scouring through his memory from this world, he realized that bracelets weren't supposed to have this feature.
Chen Mo examined the simple virtual display, only displaying 2 messages. A string of numbers and a virtual wheel.
The string of numbers: 597,340.
Almost sixty thousand credits...
The virtual wheel had three distinct areas. The green one had 'Designer Skill Book' written on it, the blue had 'Rare Skill Book' written on it, whereas the purple had 'Special Equipment' written on it.
The green area was the largest, and the purple the smallest.
The wheel also had a big "Spin to Win" button in the middle.
Underneath the text was a small row of text, 100,000/spin.
Seeing this string of numbers made Chen Mo enter deep into thought.
After giving it some thought, Chen Mo finally understood. As a transmigrator, this was probably his artifact from the previous world. It appeared that it was an artifact that he had gotten through lucky draws.
However... what did the 597,340 mean? Why was there a zero at the end?
Like performing an autopsy, Chen Mo dissected his memory for numbers, remembering all the way from when he was young to now, before he finally slapped his forehead and figured it out.
This number was the amount he had spent on video games in his previous life, multiplied by ten. Approximately sixty-thousand RMB.
This included money spent on RPGs, original AAA titles, and a bunch of equipment in some crappy Chinese game. Thinking back, he had indeed spent no less than sixty-four thousand four hundred eighty RMB!
"Damn, I should've spent more, had I known!"
Chen Mo felt some regret. Had he known earlier, he would've dumped his hundreds of thousands of life savings into games when in his previous world.
Although, it still hurt to look at the 100,000/spin.
That's really expensive. This would be 10,000 RMB cash per spin!
However, since he couldn't cash it out, Chen Mo decided to just spin and see what happened.
Chen Mo pressed the button as he muttered. "According to the usual plot logic, shouldn't I be receiving some unique item plus some resources in order to create a new game?"
Swish, swish, swish... The wheel had started spinning.
Special equipment! Special equipment! Special equipment! Chen Mo was hoping loudly to himself.
Although Chen Mo didn't 'know' which prize was the best, it was obvious that it was purple. Its area was the smallest, it must mean that it must be the rarest prize!
With a clacking, the wheel had finally stopped. The pointer landed on the green area: Designer's Skill Book!
"It's fine, it was unlikely to land on the purple first time around. It's perfectly normal! Relax, relax..."
Chen Mo discovered that a book had appeared on the virtual display, with a notification saying: "Designer Skill Book: Coding 1"
Chen Mo tried tapping it with his finger. The book turned into sparkles, flowing into his fingertip!
[1] As in illegal technology, banned by the government
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Chapter 4: Chapter 3 – A Simple Game that Leaves a Deep Impression
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
A few numbers flickered inside Chen Mo's mind, becoming part of his memory. He could feel that his coding skills did improve a tiny bit.
"That's not so bad! Wouldn't consuming a hundred of these books mean that my coding skills would be maxed out? A hundred of those just adds up to a hundred thousand RMB, what a great deal... of rubbish! That's just plain robbery!
"Ten thousand to buy one point of Attribute! What am I, stupid?
"Relax, relax...
"It's just small money. If I make a hot trendy game, it could be raking in millions a month. Enough for me to be spinning this wheel for a while.
Chen Mo consoled himself, continuously pressing the "spin" button at the same time.
Clack, green.
Clack, green!
Clack, green!!
Chen Mo was ready to throw a fit.
Four spins, four hundred thousand credits, 4 Designer Skill Books!
That was equivalent to four hundred thousand cash!
With only a hundred and ninety thousand credits left, he had enough for one last spin.
Of course, next to the wheel was a thoughtful "top up" web portal. Chen Mo opened it and closed it after looking at it for half a second.
Cash to credit ratio was 1:10. There weren't any discounts, not even a first time double credit bonus!
"Just my luck, huh. Even QQ games[1] have better luck."
If Chen Mo wanted to spend all his points, he'd have to top-up another three thousand points, meaning three hundred RMB. Currently, he was struggling to fill his stomach for another few days. Chen Mo was struggling to justify the three hundred RMB.
"Last time, I'm giving up if nothing comes up. Worst case scenario, I'll just opt out of this competition, and design another one next month. I'll still get my D-grade certification..."
Gritting his teeth, Chen Mo hit 'spin' one last time.
Though he kept saying no, his body behaved otherwise. He could feel his heart jumping out of his chest and his hands trembling.
At this moment he understood what went through the hearts of men with gambling addictions. If it happened to be another green book, he was ready to jump off the balcony.
Clack, the wheel had stopped once again.
Purple area! Special Equipment!
Chen Mo was shocked. Finally, he'd been given a lifeline!
A chest had appeared on the screen. Chen Mo tried tapping it with his finger. The chest opened with a click, rays of golden light coming out of it.
Chen Mo glanced at the screen, which read Special Equipment: Super Focuser.
It even had a description!
"Super Focuser, one time use. Duration: 10 minutes. After using, gather the attention of 500 people to any local. The effect starts immediately after use and cannot be moved."
Chen Mo scratched his head, not quite understanding the current circumstances, reading the description again.
-I kind of understand, but this thing doesn't seem to have anything to do with video games?-
Chen Mo thought for half a day, scratching his chin. The only use he had for this was during the competition, attracting the audience and the judge's attention to his game.
But... then what?
The effect only lasts for ten minutes. Furthermore, it only attracted attention, it didn't change their opinions on his game.
Forcing others to play his game, especially when it's not good, might make the situation worse!
"Keep thinking, there has to be some way."
Chen Mo wasn't giving up. Wouldn't it be a great prank if he couldn't use his purple equipment after trying so hard to get it?
Chen Mo now required a game like this:
Not too complicated.
Resources are within 6MB.
The audience will love it after playing it for ten minutes.
Even if they don't love it, it should at least make a long-lasting impression.
There has to be something special to get people to talk about. It was the only way to win first place in the video game design competition!
"It seems like this impossible task wasn't so impossible for me after all. Luckily, I've had a lot of experience in my previous life, and seen all types of games.
"Alright, let's get to work!"
——
With a new target in mind, Chen Mo once again sat in front of his laptop and launched the video game engine.
Originally an impossible task, but now with the "Super Focuser", this task now had a sliver of hope. Furthermore, it was a rather big sliver.
Of course, before starting, Chen Mo consumed the rest of the green tech books first: three Coding books and one Level Design book.
It probably wasn't doing much, but better have it than not!
The video game engine wasn't hard to use at all. It took Chen Mo no time to get used to it.
After downloading the remaining 6MB of resources, Chen Mo started writing the design document. As the game wasn't big, the document only required a few hundred words.
Resource usage was minimal, mostly utilizing the free shared resources on the engine, which were usable after a few small tweaks.
The foundation of the game was finished within the night. The next day, after he woke up, Chen Mo added some simple networking and leaderboards to the game, and considered it done.
After finishing, Chen Mo did some testing. The game felt similar to his work in his previous life.
After making an installation package, Chen Mo submitted the game to the competition officials. As to whether the game would gain any recognition, he'd only find out on the day of the competition.
——
On the day of the competition...
Chen Mo put on his only suit, readying himself to attend the video game design competition
The Imperial Capital was usually quite hot in August. Chen Mo felt stupid in formal wear. Fortunately the venue was air-conditioned, cooling him down after a short time.
Under the guidance of the officials, the judges, competitors, and audience were led to their seats in an orderly manner. The preparations for the competition were underway, all that was left was for the competition to start.
It wasn't a small audience, with at least six hundred people.
This competition was no ordinary competition: not only was there a live broadcast and full recording of the event, but they had also managed to invite three fairly famous video game designers as the judges.
The prizes for the competition weren't small, either. The first place would receive three hundred thousand RMB for video game research and development, a D-grade video game designer certificate, and a personal video game experience store.
Not much needed to be said about the three hundred thousand RMB. The most attractive part was the last prize, a personal video game experience store!
Video game experience stores were places where video game designers displayed their works: a gallery. Video game experience stores came in various sizes; SSS-grade video game designers had entire towers for their video game experience store. Sometimes it became a Mecca of gamers, somewhere they must visit once in their lives.
In terms of layout, video game experience stores were like internet cafes, but served a different function.
Experience stores weren't for profit. First, they mainly served as a workplace for designers. Second, they were a platform for the game designers to interact with the gamers..
Gamers who come to experience stores have opportunities to speak with the designers, to give suggestions and test out their latest creations. Once the designer thinks the game is about done, the game will then be released.
Of course, testing can be done online in the form of alphas, but the designers in this world preferred using experience stores. As everyone in their store was a tangible, personable human, it filled the designers with ideas.
As such, experience stores had slowly become the symbols of a video game designer. A video game designer without their own experience store was a designer that was looked down on.
Chen Mo also knew the value of an experience store. If he wanted to open a store on his own, the money he would spend on rent wouldn't be small, not to mention equipment, none of which he could afford as of now.
Therefore, Chen Mo had to grab hold of the opportunity when it came!
[1] QQ games are known for freemium, pay to win, or gacha heavy games.
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Chapter 5: Chapter 4 – The Competition Rules
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
After grabbing his seat, Chen Mo started to observe the situation around him.
The audience had already been seated, around seven hundred people. Some of them were making conversation and others were playing on their phones.
The telecommunication technology in this world was very advanced. A normal sim card would have mobile data upwards of hundreds of gigabytes. Furthermore, the amazing signal strength and coverage was more than enough to watch videos or live streams.
Chen Mo had felt that this was a reason that mobile games hadn't taken off. Most would be playing VR games when they reached home. Mobile games were usually played when people were bored. Moreover, there were movies, TV series, variety shows, live streams, news, and social media, so it was unlikely one would be playing mobile games to pass the time.
Entertainment in the parallel world was also very developed, meaning that video game alternatives were also quite abundant. Combined with the fact that mobile data cost barely any money, so movies were at anyone's fingertips, and many opted to not play mobile games.
Of course, the majority of the audience were gamers, in particular mobile gamers. Only mobile game lovers would attend an event like this!
After all, this competition was for amateurs. There were barely any D-grade video game designers among the participants. What kind of game could they possibly design? At most, there would be a few simpler casual mobile games.
Most of the audience probably entered with a free ticket, not bearing high hopes for the competition.
There were also the three judges who had just arrived at the venue.
The three judges had their names on plates in front of them on their table. Using his phone, Chen Mo did a quick check on their identities.
Shi Huazhe, forty-seven years old, B-grade video game designer. Used to work at Emperor Dynasty Entertainment, but had since retired and is now a professional video game critic.
Lin Hai, thirty-nine years old. B-grade video game designer at Zen Entertainment. Now working in management and no longer working in video game RD. Video game reviewer.
Qiu Hengyang, twenty-seven, B-grade videogame designer. Founder of .
The judges were coincidentally about 10 years apart, in their twenties, thirties, and forties, covering the golden ages of a videogame designer.
Although it might seem like they are all B-grade video game designers, in reality, there was still a gap in their abilities.
Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Entertainment were the two best companies in video game RD on the mainland. Combined they took up around eighty percent of the video game industry here. Most video game designers like to work there to improve their CVs.
However, just because they came out of those companies didn't mean they were good. For example, Shi Huazhe might have worked at Emperor Dynasty and had a few decent games, but in reality, it wasn't because of skill or knowledge, but purely due to years of effort.
As for Lin Hai, his design skills were much better than Shi Huazhe, but ever since he entered a managerial role, his abilities had been getting rusty.
Under these circumstances, it seemed that twenty-seven-year-old Hengyang was the best in terms of video game design. A B-grade video game designer at a young age and the founder of , his future seemed brighter than the previous two.
"Hopefully the three judges will go easy on me. At the very least, one of you will pass my game..." Chen Mo prayed quietly.
The other contestants were also quite nervous. There were a total of twenty contestants, but the highest prize was only given to the first place.
Although the certification of a D-grade designer was more important, clearly the ones who had entered were after the three hundred thousand cash and the experience store. Most of them had the mentality of first place or bust!
Soon after, the competition started.
——
Emcee hyping up the crowd.
Leader's speech.
Judges' introduction
Judges' speech...
After the long foreplay, the main event finally came.
The MC saw the audience dozing off. Four hundred of the seven hundred were on their phones, another two hundred of them were whispering to one another, and some of them even fell asleep in their seats.
It couldn't be helped, these were essential parts of an official event.
"Ahem." The emcee cleared his throat, hinting at the audience to wake up for the main event.
"Alright, up next is the highlight of this competition, the selection round! Allow me to reiterate the rules!
"Everyone in the audience should have received a tablet for testing. They come with the games of all the contestants preinstalled."
Chen Mo looked over; everyone in the audience had a tablet on the table in front of them. As the emcee finished his sentence, all the tablets turned on automatically.
"For the next hour, everyone in the audience can test out any game of their liking on the laptop. At the same time, we will put up a short introduction for each of the games on the main screen.
"When you quit the game, you can either choose 'recommended' or 'not recommended'. Recommended means you are willing to share this game with your friends.
"Our judges will test out these twenty games within the time limit as well.
"After an hour, we will gather the playtime and the number of recommendations from everyone, which will decide the rankings.
"After this will be the discussion round for the judges. After getting to know the opinions of the judges, everyone in the audience will get another chance to either recommend or not recommend each of the games.
"Finally, the designer who designed the game that tops the charts with the combined score after considering the playtime and the number of recommendations will be crowned the champion!"
The emcee changed the topic, emphasizing, "Please take note! Even after first place has been chosen, the judges have the power to veto the decision. This will require unanimous votes from all three of them. In that case, second place will take the first spot, so on and so forth.
"Everyone understand? Alright, the one hour starts now!"
Without needing the announcement of the MC, the audience excitedly started playing.
Chen Mo had known the rules beforehand, which is why he was so worried about the judges.
In the first round, the audience played a huge role, as the playtime and their recommendations directly influenced the rankings.
However, the judges were even more important!
Firstly, there was the discussion round, and the audience would receive another vote after that. That meant the judges could influence the decisions of the audience. If the first two performers were neck and neck, and the judges praised one of them, obviously the results would be influenced.
Secondly, the judges had the ability to veto. If a unanimous decision was reached by the judges, failing the game, achieving first place would mean nothing.
This was probably due to the respect this world had towards video game designers. But in Chen Mo's opinion, these rules were completely meaningless and incredibly stupid.
In the end, he was only a competitor. All he could do was suck it up.
At the same time, Chen Mo's game introduction had appeared on the screen!
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Chapter 6: Chapter 5 – Can't Help but Tap on this Game!
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
Most of the gamers didn't immediately start playing, but instead looked at the main screen. They waited for the introductions, only playing a game when they felt it was interesting enough.
The deep voice of the male emcee boomed throughout the venue.
"Contestant number Seven, entry: FlappyBird!
"In this game, the player controls the flight of a bird through tapping the screen, navigating obstacles. For every obstacle you clear, you gain one point.
"The game also has online capabilities and a leaderboard. Um, yes. Leaderboard?" the emcee stuttered during his delivery. He was in the middle of trying to make the game sound impressive, but alas he had failed.
Even a well-known professional emcee couldn't find other parts of the game to be praiseworthy. All he could do was awkwardly repeat its online capabilities and its leaderboard.
Yep, it was an online game, to some extent.
Snickers came from the audience. Sure, there were a few more simple games among the earlier entries, but they were not this simple!
Judging from the screen, this barely passed as a game, by just a hair...
It was so simple it was an eyesore.
There were no other mechanics in sight.
There was only one boring playstyle.
Who's gonna play this?
Looking back at the three judges, Shi HuaZhe looked pale. Lin Hai was shocked.
Qiu HengYang felt that there was more to it and was trying to confirm on the tablet if the game really was that simple.
It was obvious that all three judges were thinking the same thing: Game mechanics like this still exist?
How did the game designer clear the preliminaries with such a game?
The contestants also sniggerred, their stress and anxiety from before had been relieved.
Many were trying to scope out who designer number Seven was. Were they not afraid of becoming the laughing stock of the video game industry if this got out?
Chen Mo remained calm and collected. Nobody could tell that he was the designer number Seven they were looking for.
The contestants did not have their entry numbers on them. This was to prevent cheating or prejudice from both judges and the audience because of the contestant's identity.
The emcee continued to introduce the other games. This incident had become an interlude, passed off as a joke by many.
Chen Mo felt that the time was right. He discretely turned on the virtual display from his bracelet and activated the super focuser.
Chen Mo had already tested it before. Only he could see the virtual display, therefore he was able to use it in crowds at any time.
After that, Chen Mo had the attention of the judges and the majority of the audience, exactly five hundred people, all focus on his game.
A countdown timer had appeared on his virtual screen, showing ten minutes. For the next ten minutes, all their attention would be on his game.
After it had was done, Chen Mo stayed on his seat quietly, waiting.
As they say, do one's best and leave the rest to fate. This was the time to leave it to fate.
——
Among the audience, a student turned on their tablet, ready to try out a game.
Originally, he never even considered touching a game like FlappyBird, but for some reason, he involuntarily tapped on it's icon.
"Huh?" He was a bit shocked, but he could feel a voice inside him, strongly cheering him on, chanting: Try it out, try it out...
"Wasn't this that extremely simple game... doesn't look like it'll be any fun.
"... Whatever, I'll just try it out."
The student tapped the screen in the end and started the game.
—
Another couple was playing a two-player online dogfight game, but the woman felt a sudden disinterest.
"It's so boring, let's try another one," said the woman;
The man nodded, "Alright, I also found it boring, but what's next?"
The couple looked through the twenty games and somehow landed on the fat and ugly bird icon of FlappyBird.
The woman said, "I think this game has online capabilities and a leaderboard. Why not try this out?"
The man hesitated, "Alright, but is this game fun?"
"We'll know when we play. Wasn't there an online leaderboard? Let's see who gets the higher score," replied the woman.
"Alright!" the man replied with a nod.
The couple both tapped on the bird icon of FlappyBird.
—
The effect of the Super Focuser was seen immediately, as five hundred people opened FlappyBird for some unexplained reason and started playing. This included the three judges!
Shi Huazhe was still furious. Upon seeing the introduction for FlappyBird, he'd almost stood up and requested they cancel designer number Seven's entry.
After all, Shi Huazhe was the oldest of the three judges. People tend to become a stick in the mud when they get older. According to him, this wasn't considered a game, a joke maybe, and most definitely brought shame to video game designers.
-How can someone like this get past the preliminaries? Did the organizers not review their abilities properly?
-Or perhaps... family connections?
-Even competitions like this have a shady side. What a shame!-
Shi HuaZhe was still angry, but he found that he couldn't control himself. Out of the twenty icons on the screen, he felt that the stupid fat bird the most compelling, as if it took up the entire screen.
"... I do want to find out how crappy it can be."
Shi Huazhe tapped the stupid bird icon and started the game.
He still didn't feel too good about playing it, as if it was degrading him. When he finally glanced at his fellow judges, they also had FlappyBird on their screens!
"..." It looked like he wasn't the only one.
The other two judges, Lin Hai and Qiu Hengyang were also playing FlappyBird!
—
Qiu Hengyang wasn't playing because of the influence of the Super Focuser. He had noticed a problem when the emcee was introducing the game.
Why would anyone spend the time and effort to add online and leaderboard functions to such a simple game?
It felt completely unnecessary. Why not design a few new levels, or a new character with the extra effort?
With this question in mind, Qiu Hengyang tapped the stupid fat bird icon.
The initial image was very simple, telling the players to tap on the screen to make the bird fly upwards. Other than that there weren't any other hints.
On the top of the screen was a zero, probably referring to the score.
The graphics of the game were exactly the same as the one shown on the main screen, so simple it was offensive. The bird looked like a ball, along with two emotionless eyes and hotdog lips, and two small wings. No matter how you look at it, it just looked stupid.
Furthermore, there was another point of interest.
Qiu Hengyang tapped the screen while trying the game.
The stupid bird flew like a drowning salted fish, flying slightly upwards just a tiny bit. Then it immediately took a nosedive, dying once it hit the pipes.
Qiu HengYang, "..."
-What is this even?!-
Chapter 7: Chapter 6 Infectious Game
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
His first attempt resulted in a score of 0. This was the first time Qiu Hengyang had encountered a situation like this.
After the bird died, a Game Over overlay appeared, along with Qiu Hengyang's current and best scores... both of which were zero. Underneath that was the leaderboard, displaying — where his current rank was supposed to be. It was likely that his score was too low to be entered into the leaderboards.
Other than that, Qiu Hengyang had noticed the upper fourth of the screen was blank, and had the words Ad Space written on it.
Qiu Hengyang nodded: these words had changed his opinion of designer number Seven.
Qiu Hengyang was the founder of , and had been actively researching video games. Therefore, he valued the commercial model and value of games.
Many entry-level video game designers who have not been in the industry have the quirk of not considering the commercial model of their game during design.
In reality, a designer should think of the best commercial model for their game from the beginning.
As for casual games like this, they could consider between making it a paid app or serving advertisements. Different ways of profit could greatly affect the performance of their game on the market.
This designer had left a space for ads, showing that they knew the importance of commercial value, much better than designers who spend their time on insignificant problems...
Tapping the screen again restarted the game.
This time Qiu Hengyang prepared himself, tapping on the screen non-stop. However, the flight path of the stupid bird was too hard to control. Qiu Hengyang managed to clear two pipes before crashing head first into the third one.
"Freaking damn it!" Qiu Hengyang was not willing to give up, so he went for another attempt.
After five minutes, Qiu Hengyang had already restarted dozens of times.
As expected, it was easy to die in this game. Even if they put all their concentration in the game, it was possible for them to die within a few seconds.
Furthermore, after dying, another tap would restart the game. There wasn't any need to consider if they wanted to, before they knew it they had played many rounds.
Qiu Hengyang's best score was 12, a score that he had achieved by giving his all.
After trying a dozen more times, he finally managed to push the score up to 14, feeling like he was unable to think straight.
Qiu Hengyang noticed that after that attempt his ranking on the leaderboards had moved up to sixth at the end screen.
He tapped on the ranking and out came a leaderboard, sorted by highest to lowest score.
Of course, the names on the leaderboard were all in the format of 'GuestXXXXX'. Chen Mo couldn't have everyone create an account, as it would adversely affect the gaming experience.
However, the players were allowed to change their names freely on the leaderboard.
Qiu Hengyang scrolled down and was shocked to find out the leaderboard had five hundred and forty-three people on it!
-Five hundred players out of seven hundred in the audience? No way! How is that possible?-
Qiu Hengyang thought that the majority wouldn't find a game like this interesting. The number of people interested in a simple tapping game like this had exceeded his expectations.
Qiu Hengyang couldn't help feeling satisfied, ranking sixth out of five hundred or so people. This was a result to be proud of!
Qiu Hengyang tapped on his account name and changed it to his real name.
But before that, he scrolled down the leaderboards again, noticing that it was constantly shuffling. It looked like it was updated quite frequently, possibly every five to ten seconds.
After seeing the shuffling of the leaderboard, Qiu Hengyang couldn't help but feel that the game was quite lively.
Scrolling upwards shocked him, it revealed the first place player with a score of forty-seven!
-Holy shit!-
Qiu Hengyang felt like dying. How did they do that? What kind of psychopath got a score of forty-seven? Did they cheat?
The top players hadn't changed their names, likely because they hadn't discovered the feature.
Qiu Hengyang wasn't happy with his measly fourteen. He was in sixth place for now, but he could be knocked down at any time.
"I'll play for another five minutes. Then I'll try the other games."
After closing the leaderboard, Qiu Hengyang was ready to play hard.
——
Ten minutes passed quickly and the effects of the Super Focuser ended.
"What an unexpected game... How did I spend so much time on that? Damn it."
A middle-aged man with glasses closed FlappyBird. A popup had appeared: Would you recommend this game to others?
The man hesitated for a bit and pressed Recommend.
It was hard to explain objectively but it was probably an 'I can't be the only one going through this torture" mentality.
Up till now, FlappyBird had five hundred and eighty-nine people on its leaderboard and had no signs of slowing down.
This was because of the inherent crowd mentality of humans. Some of them saw their friends or family playing it, competing to get a high score. Furthermore, upon seeing that many others in the audience were playing the game, others felt compelled to try the game out, even without the effects of the Super Focuser acting on them.
After the effects of the Super Focuser expired, the majority of players quit the game. However, a small portion of those chose to not recommend the game;The remaining others recommended it.
As for the players still playing, they were still trying to grind out their high score.
Lin Hai noticed the Shi Huazhe didn't look too well, asking out of concern, "What's wrong, feeling unwell?"
"Oh, it's nothing," he replied, shaking his head.
Lin Hai noticed that Shi Huazhe's eyes were glistening, and he was trying to hide it. Lin Hai couldn't help but be curious.
In the end, he glanced at Shi Huazhe's screen. On it was the results screen of FlappyBird: Score: 4, High Score: 4.
Lin Hai quickly looked away, barely holding in his laughter. It seemed that Shi Huazhe was angry because of that. Fair enough, he had been playing for ten minutes to achieve a high score of 4. That score wasn't even in the top two hundred, anyone would be mad!
Sensibly, Lin Hai chose to not pry into it...
——
The game experience round continued. The whole round was an hour long, and only ten minutes or so had passed.
Of the seven hundred people in the audience, almost six hundred of them had played FlappyBird. However, only a small portion of those were still pushing on; others chose to play other games.
Chen Mo wasn't worried. When the emcee was introducing the other games, he learned the abilities of his competitors, and most of them were barely competitive.
Other than a handful of works that were passable, the others weren't even comparable to his FlappyBird.
Put it this way: the games had better graphics, resources, and content compared to FlappyBird. But in terms of gameplay and speed of spreading?
-I'm not targeting anyone specifically, but what I'm saying is that everyone here is garbage!-
Indeed, when trying other games, most of the audience quickly closed them, and reopened FlappyBird.
Not saying that the game was fun, the most important part was grinding the high score!
Why not say that the game was infectious. It did get stale after playing for a while. It was also quite boring, and most importantly, torturous! But after just closing it for five minutes, the desire to reopen the game came back.
Chen Mo knew this from the reactions of the audience. Now, he only worried about the judges.
If the judges all rejected the game and disqualified him, it would still be over!
However, as long as one of the judges acknowledged his game, first place would definitely be his!
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Chapter 8: Chapter 7 – Is this Even a Game?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
The hour for the video game experience round had ended. The emcee walked to the front of the stage.
"Alright, the video game experience round has ended! Did you guys manage to find a game you like?
"Let's move onto the next stage, but first, let's look at the results these twenty games have achieved so far. Please look at the screen."
The audience shifted their gaze towards playtime and the number of recommendations for the twenty games, displayed on the main screen.
The audience let out an audible gasp.
"What the... No way!"
"T-that game's so nonsensical. This is crazy!"
"How could the gap be that big?"
"I thought there were standards! Emcee, are there cheaters?"
Everyone was drawn to the numbers FlappyBird managed to achieve: a total playtime of 349 hours, 544 recommends!
On the other hand, the second place Hunter Island only had 92 hours of playtime, with only 330 recommendations!
The emcee was also shocked, as it was his first time seeing the numbers. He also had the same thought as the audience: the numbers must be wrong!
The judges were also at a loss, finding the numbers unbelievable.
How was this possible? There were a total of seven hundred people in the audience, meaning that they all averaged half an hour on this game!
Five hundred and forty-four out of seven hundred people were willing to recommend the game to others. These numbers defied logic!
Chen Mo wasn't too surprised, as the numbers were within his calculations.
In reality, FlappyBird wasn't some kind of alluring game; it was the exact opposite—torturous. If this game was put onto the market, the majority of players would close it after five minutes.
However, the target audience was in a video game design competition, meaning that the competition for FlappyBird wasn't mature, well-developed games, but instead disastrous entry-level games.
The other works weren't able to hold the audience's attention for long. Therefore, a majority of them chose to come back to FlappyBird to grind out their score. The more stubborn among them spent all their time grinding FlappyBird.
With that in mind, FlappyBird achieving so much playtime was quite normal.
The emcee held his earpiece and whispered for a few moments before raising his head and telling the audience, "I have just confirmed with the technicians, the numbers are indeed correct. These are the final scores of the twenty games."
There was still a lot of commotion going on among the audience.
Many in the audience refused to believe that FlappyBird could achieve that result, especially those who felt nothing for games like this and had only played the game for a few moments.
However, most of the audience accepted it as the truth.
"Is this game actually that great? It looks so simple it hurts, the game mechanics are incredibly shallow. How could it be in first place, and be that far ahead of second place?"
"What's so strange about that. Just think about it, how much time did you spend on it?"
"...at least forty minutes."
"I spent nearly an hour! My head is still hurting from all that grinding."
"Right? When I close my eyes, all I see is that stupid bird bobbing up and down, I can't help but play..."
"Look, there's nearly six hundred people on the leaderboards. The top two hundred are all over twenty and many of them over forty-five. Think about how long you played to get to twenty."
"Right... It was at least twenty minutes. If you didn't get the feel for it you might not even get there at the end of the hour."
"Exactly, the numbers work out."
"But still... That's insane..." The deniers were now starting to question their beliefs.
The emcee lets out a cough to alert the audience, "Alright, since the technicians have confirmed the numbers, currently in first place is FlappyBird, by designer number Seven!
"Up next is the judges evaluation round. After the evaluation is over, everyone in the audience will participate in the recommendation round after that."
After a pause, the emcee continued, "As a reminder, so far, FlappyBird leads in both playtime and recommendations. According to the rules, each recommendation is worth thirty minutes of playtime, meaning if Hunter Island in second place gets at least 128 recommendations more than FlappyBird, it has a chance of taking first place!
"Alright, up next will be the judges' review."
The emcee raised his hand, gesturing at the judges to start their reviews.
The judges looked at one another. Then Qiu Hengyang said to Shi Huazhe, "Perhaps the eldest among us should speak first."
All the judges were B-grade video game designers. They weren't working in the same company, therefore there wasn't any difference in position. As Shi Huazhe was the eldest, Lin Hai and Qiu Hengyang were being respectful by letting him speak first.
Shi Huazhe paled, moving the mic closer to him, and cleared his throat.
"Is this even a game?! I'll be the first to disapprove of it! If this can be considered a game, then wouldn't just anyone be able to make a game?!
"Is a street artist who sings a pop star?!
"Is a graffitist an artist?!
"Hitting enter "a couple more times when writing prose, is that a modern poet?!
"Garbage!
Shi Huazhe was visibly angry, and he even gave the table a good hit with his knuckles.
"First, this game has no story, the playstyle is mundane, the graphics are simple, and the controls are terrible! This thing doesn't match the criteria of a game at all!
"Second, this game was a cop out. It takes advantage of players trying to beat each other's score in order to artificially inflate the playtime!
"All the stats that you see, no matter the play time or recommendations, are all pointless! Why? It's because it's unorthodox!
"Therefore, as you can tell, I'm strongly against this being in first place!"
After finishing, Shi Huazhe pushed away the mic, breathing heavily.
"Yeah! Mr. Shi said it well!"
Someone yelled out, and the audience followed it up with roaring laughter.
It was from a competitor, most likely the designer of Hunter Island.
Chen Mo calmly twisted open the cap of his water bottle and took a sip. He completely expected such a reaction from Shi Huazhe.
Obviously, Shi Huazhe strongly disliked games like this, because he wasn't good at them and didn't enjoy grinding his score.
Moreover, Chen Mo's Super Focuser had forced him to torture himself in the game for ten whole minutes; all this pent up anger was normal.
The emcee had obviously not expected Shi Huazhe to be so furious, and quickly changed the topic, "Alright, Mr. Shi Huazhe had expressed his opinion! Next up, Mr Lin Hai."
Lin Hai looked at Shi Huazhe, then back at FlappyBird. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he hesitantly turned on his mic.
"This game... I think Mr Shi Huazhe raises good points, the game is indeed quite shallow and has some pretty basic mechanics. In terms of quality, it doesn't quite fit to be the champion of this competition.
After a pause, Lin Hai said, "However, I think if it's able to get a result like this relatively high score in both playtime and recommends, it means that the players think it's worthy. Therefore, I maintain my stance: I'll leave the final decision to the audience."
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Chapter 9: Chapter 8 – Is This the Reason you Grind your High Score?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
Lin Hai's speech was much more thought out, not offending either side. In truth, he didn't have a clear stance on the matter.
Whispers started coming from the audience.
Shi Huazhe's speech still made an impact. A senior designer having such a strong opposing stance on a video game all the while providing valid arguments caused some of the audience to waver on their stance, wondering if a game like this was really worth recommending.
On the other hand, Lin Hai was just trying to be neutral. In reality, it made no difference, the words had left the audience as soon as he said them. In contrast, Shi Huazhe's speech had made a deep impression.
Chen Mo still managed to heave a sigh of relief.
If Lin Hai turned out to be against FlappyBird, he would be stuck in an awkward situation. The attitudes of the two judges would affect a majority of the audience. While Lin Hai staying neutral wasn't good, it wasn't bad, either.
However, Chen Mo didn't let his guard down.
The youngest judge, Qiu Hengyang, was up next. One of the two judges opposed strongly and another remained neutral, his thoughts on the game decided the fate of the game to a certain extent.
Qiu Hengyang turned on his mic, speaking after some thought, "About this game, I actually have a different view than Mr. Shi Huazhe."
Chen Mo was shocked. –Why is this guy helping me? Could it be that his tastes were more unique than the previous two, and he could see the good sides of this game?-
Shi Huazhe also showed surprise, staring at Qiu Hengyang, wanting to see what Qiu Hengyang was going to say.
Qiu Hengyang said, " This game... before I saw the numbers, I gave it an eight, but after I saw the statistics, I think it deserves a nine. Of course, this score is compared to the other nineteen games.
"That is to say, this game is truly deserving of its first place status."
The audience let out a gasp.
What the? Nine? Maybe out of a hundred?
However, based on Qiu Hengyang's tone and expression, it was obviously nine out of ten!
Many in the audience liked FlappyBird. Sure they might like it, but they knew that the game was rough around the edges. A seven out of ten would've been quite good, but nine out of ten was a bit too much?
Qiu Hengyang ignored the surprised audience and continued, "Please don't think it's weird. This is the difference in perspectives of a video game designer from normal players.
"You guys see a minigame with simple graphics and a monotonous playstyle, but in my eyes this was a carefully crafted, carefully thought out game made genuinely.
"Why do I say that? Let me explain."
The audience was drawn in by Qiu Hengyang, many of them curious about the praises he was singing about the game. What was so good about it?
The competition was also being live-streamed and recorded. If Qiu Hengyang was talking rubbish, it would be detrimental to his image in video gaming circles!
Qiu Hengyang said, "Next up, I'll ask you guys a few questions. Don't worry about answering, just think about it.
"First question, you guys said that the game looks so simple it's an eyesore. Let me ask, do you guys really think the bird is ugly? Or do you think that the bird looks kind of dumb, but the flying and dying animation is still quite amusing?
"Second question, did anyone attempt to calculate how fast the bird falls? Or how much it moves up when you tap?
"Third question, why does the game restart with one tap after gameover? Why does a simple minigame need a leaderboard and online functions?
"Fourth question, did you guys notice the ad space on the topside of the Game Over screen?
"Please think seriously about these questions."
After Qiu Hengyang finished, he intentionally turned off the microphone to allow some time for the audience to think.
The audience immediately started discussing.
These were all gamers, so they were naturally interested in the video game meta and trying to dig into the reasoning behind it. Furthermore, most of the audience was addicted to FlappyBird, so the questions Qiu Hengyang asked raised plenty of discussions.
Chen Mo felt quite shocked, because the questions Qiu Hengyang asked were right on the key points of the game, leaving him quite surprised. After all, the video game design ideology in this world was lagging behind and filled with prejudice.
Qiu Hengyang was quite incredible. He could put aside his biases and dig deeper into the factors that make a game successful while completely disregarding the idea of blind luck... something Chen Mo valued highly in a video game designer.
Just from this quality alone, Chen Mo was confident that even in his previous world, Qiu Hengyang would have still been an extraordinary video game designer!
Once Qiu Hengyang decided that the audience had plenty of time to think about it, he continued, "Everyone should have some ideas now. Congratulations on taking the first step into the world of a video game designer's thoughts.
"First question, were the graphics of this game really that bad?
"When you look at this bird, what was the first thought that went through your mind? Stupid? Immature? Silly? Make no mistake, this may seem like a graphically simple game; the bird was drawn using simple colors and lines, but the big eyes, sausage lips, and small wings immediately invoke an image of a stupid bird. It's no simple task!
"Moreover, the looks of the bird match quite well with the contents of the game. The silly look of the bird takes the edge off the disappointment and the failure from the game. It even makes you feel that it's the bird that's stupid, not you, right?"
As Qiu Hengyang finished, laughter came from the audience.
Qiu Hengyang continued, "Second question! Why did I ask about the falling and flying speed? Simple, these were key factors of the code, directly impacting the difficulty of this game.
"If the falling speed was too high and the speed of flying back up was also too high, the game would be overly difficult. Most people wouldn't reach two digits. This means that the game would be too punishing, and most wouldn't play this game for longer than they have to.
"In the opposite case, the game would become too easy, most would be able to reach double digits. The player would then feel that the game was incredibly stale and boring; also ending in the player quitting.
"Therefore, in my view, the game's design was carefully thought out. It was able to get the right balance of being difficult and torturous while giving you hope, constantly giving you wishful thinking, driving you to try again and again!
"Third question! The game intentionally made the game design simple, restarting on a tap. This was to reduce the number of unnecessary steps and allow you to start the next round quicker. During the numerous attempts, the player grows numb to the Game Over screen, even making the player lose their sense of time.
"As for leaderboard and online capabilities, I think it was the finishing touch. Without the online function, its results might be a third of what it is now, possibly even less.
"Why? Because in these types of games, it's the climbing of ranks that makes your result meaningful. Otherwise what's the point of trying to get 100 or 1000 points if you can't brag about it?
"I say brag; not by showing others your phone, but you are able show other players how good you are through the leaderboards! It is like saying, Look, see how incredible I am! How many of you were grinding out your high score? I did!"
A large portion of the audience raised their hands.
Qiu Hengyang nodded, "That's what I'm saying! The online connectivity and leaderboard were vital finishing touches to this game!"
A member of the audience in the front row shouted "Mr Qiu, is that why you ground out a score of 39 and signed your name?" Huge laughter came from the audience.
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Chapter 10: Chapter 9 A High Opinion
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Coldtaco
Edited by Aelryinth
Qiu Hengyang didn't mind. After the laughter from the audience died down, he continued, "As for the last question, the ad space at the top of the gameover screen!
"Many entry-level video game designers share a common shortcoming: not paying enough attention to the profit model, completely disregarding it at the start of the design process.
"For example, Hunter Island, the game in second place. It is a relatively mature adventure game. However, the designer hasn't thought of the profit model, which I think is a shame.
"It's not that you'll succeed after silently finishing a game design. Just like directing a movie, even if you get good reviews, if the seats to your movies are completely empty, that wouldn't be success!
"If you haven't considered the profit model, you can only put your game on the market and sell it for some standard price.
"Let's say that a game like Hunter Island sells for ten RMB. So far there's three hundred and thirty recommendations. Say that eighty percent of the three hundred and thirty are willing to pay, a pretty generous estimate, then the profit of Hunter Island would be two thousand six hundred and forty RMB.
"On the other hand, if FlappyBird also based its profits from purchases, I can guarantee you that it'll fail badly!
"Obviously the designer has thought of this, making it free to pay and profiting through ads. This was an excellent move and suits the game's special characteristics very well.
"The total time you guys spent playing was three hundred and forty-nine hours. Lets say that on average each run lasts for ten seconds, a generous estimate, and most probably don't even last for three seconds.
"That works out to one hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred and ten deaths, meaning that within the hour of testing, this game has shown a hundred and twenty thousand ads!
"Moreover, the reasoning behind the ad placement is quite explicit. As the players who like games like FlappyBird are definitely mobile gamers, and more intensive users at that, it means the players that stay are the more patient players!
"Therefore, if I was the designer of another mobile game, I would consider buying this ad space. Let's say one in every thirty people engages with the ads in FlappyBird and one in every ten of those would make a purchase. Therefore, if I bought the adspace, I would've gotten four hundred eighteen and eight-tenths purchases.
"If every purchase was ten RMB, the profit I get from buying the adspace is 4,188 RMB. I would be willing to invest at least three thousand RMB for the ad space... already surpassing Hunter Island!
"There's another point of note! Hunter Island uses a single-purchase model. The number of players who like these types of games are already small in the first place, and they certainly wouldn't buy it a second time, meaning that the profit over time decreases.
"As for FlappyBird, because it spreads like an infectious disease, its user base could experience explosive growth. Moreover, the adspace can be changed on a fixed-time basis. I'll buy it this month, and next month will be bought by someone else, this way the future profit is guaranteed to a certain extent.
"Therefore, the gap in profitability of FlappyBird and Hunter Island is actually massive!
"The above points are why I think a game like FlappyBird could succeed. Most importantly, the author managed to combine all the points, basically making the best decision for every single aspect. That's what's most surprising to me!
"To be honest, if you gave me six megabytes of resources to make a game that has a higher profitability than FlappyBird, I don't know what else to say than... I can't do it!
"That's all I have to say, emcee."
Qiu Hengyang turned off his mic and gestured for the emcee to move on to the next round.
The audience was so shocked that no words came out. Maybe that was too much praise?
Qiu Hengyang wouldn't be able to do it to this level using 6 MB of resources? Didn't that mean that the ability of the author in mention surpassed a B-grade video game designer? There had to be some sort of threshold for this kind of praise, right?
However, the words of Qiu Hengyang did have evidence backing up his claims and provided plenty of insight to his analysis. Many of the audience following the thought process of Qiu Hengyang also agreed that FlappyBird might seem simple, but it had a lot of minute details.
Obviously this designer number Seven had planned all parts of it from the start. Perfect balance between self harm, bragging rights, and ad revenue. This was a near complete game that was also very profitable!
As they said, professionals have a different perspective. After some analysis from Qiu Hengyang, a majority of the audience also thought that FlappyBird was quite impressive.
Chen Mo couldn't help but look at Qiu Hengyang when he opened his bottle and took a sip of water.
In truth, Qiu Hengyang came up with the reasoning for the adspace profitability by himself.. Obviously he hadn't researched too deeply into the statistics of games. Evidently it wasn't a big concern for video game designers in this era.
According to statistics in the previous world, FlappyBird had more than fifty million downloads. The maker, Nguyen Dong, had fifty thousand USD, or three hundred thousand RMB, going into his bank account every day, just from the adspace.
According to the rate of banner ads at that time, every thousand ad views would result in 0.15 US dollars, or about one RMB, meaning that FlappyBird would show three hundred million ads a day.
Using the same rate of one RMB per one thousand views, the FlappyBird that Chen Mo displayed a hundred and twenty thousand times, amounted to about a hundred twenty RMB.
Even if it was a slightly more expensive pop-up ad, increasing it tenfold to twelve hundred RMB, Qiu Hengyang had obviously overestimated.
However, Qiu Hengyang was correct about one point: the biggest advantage this game had was the potential explosive growth! This was especially so with the online leaderboard function added to further increase its growth. That was its basis of guaranteeing income.
Obviously, Chen Mo didn't want to argue against Qiu Hengyang, and he didn't even have time to celebrate. He knew that his champion position in the competition was secured after so much praise coming from Qiu Hengyang.
Moreover, Qiu Hengyang was able to make all that analysis within an hour of play testing, including the rough estimate for income, which Chen Mo thought was very impressive. Compared to the other judges, it was obvious that Qiu Hengyang's skill level blew Shi Huazhe and Lin Hai out of the water.
-This world still had some geniuses, not all of them are mindless slaves like Shi Huazhe.-
Shi Huazhe's expression looked unsightly. Qiu Hengyang's analysis basically asserted that he was wrong in front of everyone, embarrassing him. How good could he feel after that?
Among the two judges, one said that it's garbage and worthless, the other praised it as a genius invention. Obviously, only one of them was right. In fact, most of the audience were on Qiu Hengyang's side!
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