Chapter 5 Independent Game Producer
All black magicians know... forbidden magic such as "Dark Magic: Army of the Undead" only looks awesome, but is actually useless.
The reason is very simple. Whether it is the "Resurrection of the Dead" that uses corpses as materials to revive, or the "Summoning the Undead" that directly summons from the demon world, the ones summoned are toys with almost no IQ, dull and stiff, and even a naughty child can't catch up with them. They have no fighting power...
Just very cute.
The thousands of corpses that Yang Qiu summoned from the swamp didn't even have a spiritual fire in their eye sockets. They relied entirely on the magic power provided by Yang Qiu to move as slowly as an old man.
As soon as Yang Qiu took away his magic power, the corpses fell to the ground with a crash.
Of course, Yang Qiu didn't expect this cute skill to be of any use...all he wanted was the corpse.
Next, Yang Qiu rolled up his sleeves, squatted in the middle of the pile of corpses, and picked out the intact bones one by one...
After working hard for several hours, we were able to pick out more than 300 relatively intact bodies.
Then, inject magical power into these more than 300 corpses, so that these corpses of different shapes line up in rows and follow the undead horse back to the birth point.
Next, there was another big challenge - to process the simplified spiritual imprint and the simple teleportation array that could only be used to teleport non-living people into these corpses.
It is impossible to require players to play the game without wasting time and not die even once.
Can you be called a player if you don’t waste time? Can a game that doesn’t allow you to waste time be called a game?
But even if Yang Qiu found this Tarantan wasteland, which was once an ancient battlefield, as a playground, there would not be so many complete corpses to use, so he had to consider what to do after the players died...
Forget about the magic circle that can teleport living people. I don’t have the money! I don’t have the materials! I can’t afford it!
The magic circle for teleporting non-living people is simple...just modify the summoning spell used by the caster to summon the demonic servants.
Well, this teleportation array modified from summoning can't work on dead things, because dead things can't respond to summons...
In short, after the player dies, the modified Spirit Brand Core, which serves as the "resurrection point", will send out a resurrection (teleportation) call, and the player will naturally be able to respond, which solves the resurrection problem.
"It's a good idea... but with two formations added together, the mental energy consumed will double!"
Halfway through, Yang Qiu discovered another big problem.
The mental strength of the people on Earth, or in other words, the young people in China, is relatively good, at least better than the natives of the magic plane.
According to the evaluation standard that Yang Qiu figured out himself, if a magic apprentice's mental power must be at least eighty points, then the average mental power of Chinese young people is about forty points, which is 30% higher than the natives of the magic plane.
As for the reason, Yang Qiu thinks it is probably because the spiritual world of Chinese young people is relatively complete, and they have established a worldview of "believing in human beings more than gods" since they were very young ...
This is not just random speculation, Yang Qiu has solid evidence - you have to know that to become a magician in this plane, the first hurdle to entry is "the caster must never pray to God."
Chinese young people who do not believe in gods and believe that man can conquer nature are consolidating their spiritual foundation from an early age... Although there are no magical rules on Earth, no matter how strong the spiritual power is, one cannot become extraordinary.
In short, the relatively high average mental power of the Chinese youth group gave Yang Qiu the confidence to develop the earthlings into "different world game players", but if the double-layer magic array engraved on the "game character" consumes more mental power than the Chinese youth can bear, then he can't continue this play...
If players feel exhausted and exhausted after playing the game for a few hours, will they suspect that there is something wrong with the game? Will they refuse to log in?
What's the point of talking about sustainable development?
Yang Qiu held his head in his hands, thinking hard.
"etc!"
"Players only need to return to their resurrection point when they die. There is no need to keep using summoning spells... er, resurrection teleportation!"
"The resurrection transmission is only activated when you die, and a death penalty is added... Yes, a death penalty! If you die, you will be forced to disconnect and cannot go online for half an hour Earth time. If you rest for half an hour, you can definitely make up for the energy consumed by the resurrection transmission!"
After coming up with a solution, Yang Qiu happily continued working.
Finally solved the problem of death and resurrection...but more problems emerged.
"Forcing players to play... uh, forcing players to stay online for a long time requires a numerical reward mechanism with timely feedback. Otherwise, players will have no sense of accomplishment and will quit the game - and we need a level mechanism!"
"There's also the class system... Without a rich class system, the game will be the same no matter how you play it. Once the novelty wears off, players will get bored and abandon the game!"
Realizing that if these problems were not solved, the game would not retain people even if it was launched, Yang Qiu had to stop working, return to Earth, and go to Internet cafes to study a large number of game commentary (complaint) videos...
After going back and forth like this, it was more than twenty days later, Earth time, before the exhausted Yang Qiu finally worked out a "game mechanism" that could barely work and turned more than 300 skeletons into suitable "game characters" for use.
Next, Yang Qiu was faced with the super difficult problem of how to turn the motorcycle helmet ordered online into a "magic VR helmet"...
It is not difficult to engrave the spiritual imprint , but the trouble lies mainly in the USB system that can be connected to the computer host.
The USB flash drive system installed in the helmet is not a high-end device. It is just a simple audio and video transcoding system and an operating interface so simple that even an elementary school student can make it by following the tutorial.
When players play games, they will definitely want to take screenshots, record videos, or even live broadcast.
How to transmit the video and audio to the earth through the consciousness channel and decode and compress it into video and audio that can be played by the computer really made Yang Qiu's intestines knotted...
Magic can't solve this technical problem.
After much thought, Yang Qiu decided to resort to cheating methods: buy a server and use the space-time rift to achieve a physical connection; the screenshots and recorded images taken by players must be uploaded to this server at the designated location of the birth point, and after exiting the game, log in to the official website of the game through the VR helmet to download it.
In order to avoid increasing workload and raising costs, Yang Qiu decided that not all players would be able to take screenshots and shoot videos freely in the future. They must make certain contributions before they can apply, and then he would install a shooting device on the applicant's "game character".
Uh...actually it's a camera bought online, the kind that can only store data without connecting to the internet.
Forget about live streaming, the time flow rates in both worlds are different and cannot be synchronized!
During this period, due to insufficient funds, Yang Qiu had no choice but to buy a set of bone china handicrafts from a supermarket on Earth, and then ride out of the Tarantan Desert on horseback to sell them to a country noble...
It was October of the 2019 Earth time. Yang Qiu, who had worked hard on both sides and finally completed the "opening" work, scheduled the game's opening day during the National Day holiday.
Early morning of October 1st.
Yang Qiu purchased a computer through an account opened with an identity purchased online , and rented a house in the suburbs to house the server. He first logged into the social account he used before traveling through time and left a message for his sister.
He had worked very hard to remember the password of his social account half a month ago, and then he immediately contacted his sister through the social account... He had no choice but to be in a hurry, as his missing person notices had been posted on the streets.
Then...he was taken turns being fucked by his sister and mother and was beaten to a pulp.
After racking his brains to calm his family, Yang Qiu also sent a magic VR helmet to his family... His sister doesn't like playing games, not even mobile games, but he still wants her to see the results of his work after "running away from home" for a month...
After leaving a message for his sister, Yang Qiu opened the official website and checked the message board.
Because he doesn’t have the magical system assistance... It’s impossible for him to apply for a game approval number, he can’t do any public promotion, and he can’t openly put up a link to sell helmets - the severity of the profit issue has to be multiplied tenfold, and the official website will be blocked at 404 in minutes.
So, Yang Qiu just kept to himself and didn’t do anything unnecessary… He bought a domain name and created an official website. The homepage contained a row of extremely concise and clear large characters: “Alien World” - the exploration version of the first non-profit independent VR game developed by an individual in China.
Yang Qiu had no idea whether putting up an independent game sign could bypass the 404 monster, but as long as he could trick players into logging in as quickly as possible, it didn't matter...
On this extremely simple official website, Yang Qiu posted a few fabricated introductions to the game background, a few real-life footage of the Tarantan Wasteland and the "Undead Birth Point", and his carefully produced "Undead NPC" battle video. Ten days ago, he secretly created a small account and participated in forums, discussion areas, and Tieba activities where all types of hardcore players gathered, and secretly promoted the game...
The result is obvious. Hardcore players are very pessimistic about "independent VR games". No matter which discussion forum Yang Qiu's small account posts in, it has never been welcomed. Either he is ridiculed or simply ignored by these players.
But we have to say that there are still a lot of bored people in the world. Although Yang Qiu’s posting account was ridiculed very badly, there are still many players who “have nothing to do anyway” who follow the post to find the official website.
Then, the official website, which was not even as sophisticated as the Penguin Space for middle school students, discouraged a large number of these bored and annoying people.
In the end... there were only nine people who had the patience to endure the extremely embarrassing homepage, were attracted by the extremely realistic promotional video that seemed like a blockbuster movie, and filled in the closed beta application information in the application column at the bottom of the official website with a half-believing and half-doubting mentality, and paid 188 yuan for the helmet materials and postage.
In other words... including the helmet mailed to my sister, Yang Qiu ...
On the huge official website, there are only nine applicants on the closed beta list. These players who paid for the helmets themselves all sympathized with the developers. In the past few days, these nine people would log in to the official website from time to time and post one or two awkward but humane consolation messages on the message board, such as:
"I'm so hungry. I should have known I wouldn't be an independent game producer."
"Did the producer use all the money he swindled to shoot promotional videos? There's no need to do that. It's better to save some money for instant noodles."
"I'm too embarrassed to ask for a refund. Forget it, I'll just use this helmet as a safety helmet."
"Is the producer still here? Did the investor beat you to death?"
"Making independent games is a dead end, why not join me in a livestream in women's clothing?"
……etc.
Yang Qiu remained calm about these reactions.
It is indeed annoying that only nine players are willing to buy it, but if you change your perspective and interpret it as nine people on Earth willing to take the initiative to become his anchor points - the feeling will immediately be very different.
After appreciating the few new sexy words added to the message board today, Yang Qiu calmly posted the server launch announcement on the official website and sent launch reminders to the email addresses left by nine paying players. Then he sat down quietly and waited for the anchor to arrive.
The server launch announcement was posted at exactly nine o'clock in the morning.
At 9:20, Yang Qiu, who was COSing Jiang Taigong in a computer room with only one server, suddenly opened his eyes.
In the spiritual imprint matrix composed of 300 mass-produced inscriptions that he created, one inscription was lit up.
Then, the second, the third...
