Earth, server room.
As the three initial beta testers logged back in in succession, some of Yang Qiu's worries were finally put to rest.
Players from Earth who came to the magic plane via the Mind Imprint Matrix could be monitored by Yang Qiu via the matrix when they were "online." However, if a player "disconnected" and their soul lost contact with the matrix, their mental "back door" would be closed and Yang Qiu wouldn't be able to know anything about the player then.
The trio had been wiped out shortly after the game's start and Yang Qiu was somewhat worried that they might give up playing.
Now, as he observed the three individuals heading back to the southern ruins to retrieve the dropped clothes, it became apparent to him that as long as the game was hardcore enough, with challenging and enjoyable content, players actually enjoyed being tortured…
"What's most important is the game's quality. As long as the quality is solid, there's no need to worry about a lack of anchor points!"
Yang Qiu punched the air, then opened a document on his computer and began diligently writing quest texts…
The early-stage work was spent on creating game characters and better disguising Exile Town as a beginner village, without paying much attention to the game's main storyline.
From the earlier conversation between Vanilla Pudding and Blossoming Strokes, it seemed that not everyone was just after mindless gameplay. There were many that appreciated a captivating storyline that would give them a sense of belonging.
Since players had expectations, Yang Qiu would do his best to meet them.No backstory of Exile Town? Make one up!
No epic historical tale of the Taranthan Wastelands? Make one up!
Just the zombie general having a name wasn't enough. The background and personal histories of other zombie NPCs ought to be developed too.
What was a game's humanistic sentiment? Invest time and effort to create a story with sufficient depth, a touch of melancholy, and sufficient twists and turns. And that's where the sentiment came from!
As for source material? That wasn't too big a problem for Yang Qiu. Before being chased by the lunatics of Inquisition, Yang Qiu had roamed the continent for more than a hundred years.
He had visited numerous places and encountered tons of diverse characters. He could just borrow some of those experiences and apply them to the zombie NPCs.
While independent game developer Yang Qiu carefully fleshed out backgrounds to be integrated, elsewhere, Qin Guan's video had passed the upload review and appeared on the latest uploads page of the gaming section.
Tang Jia, a college sophomore, woke up close to 10:30 a.m. on the first day of the National Day holiday.
And then… Getting out of bed and washing up was out of the question. She laid in bed playing games for another half an hour till she felt that she had no more energy to get out of bed…
Many people had a misconception that all that existed in a female college student's mind were boyfriends, dating, idolizing celebrities, watching brainless dramas, and squealing at pretty boys on small screens.
As a perfectly typical female college student, Tang Jia has only one thing to say about such stereotypes: That's all a load of rubbish!
Twenty-year-old Tang Jia had no interest in real-life men, and of course, she wasn't interested in paper-cut pretty boys either. She simply enjoyed playing games, especially ones where she could beat up other players till they lost confidence and swore angrily…
In short, Tang Jia, was a competitive girl who hated losing, particularly in games. She had recently lost interest in the most popular battle royale game after achieving the highest rank and had been searching various gaming forums for a challenging new game.
While browsing Bilibili's gaming section, she realized that the "transvestite boss" Vanilla Pudding, whom she followed, had posted a video recommending a new game. Without much hesitation, Tang Jia clicked on it.
"Trans Boss Vanilla" wasn't considered popular on Bilibili, but he had a fair bit of reputation among niche games. This was because of his down-to-earth personality and his often unabashed jokes about his own state of poverty. Thus, he had decent likability among poor students like Tang Jia, who never played pay-to-win games.
Of course, the main reason was that the games recommended by "Trans Boss Vanilla" were usually enjoyable without the need for in-game purchases. The recent game that Tang Jia "graduated" from after achieving the highest rank was one that "Trans Boss Vanilla" had recommended in a video four months ago.
"OtherWorld? RPG? And a VR game?" When Tang Jia saw the written introduction of the video, she started contemplating about closing it.
As a poor female college student with a meager monthly allowance of only 1500 yuan, Tang Jia couldn't afford to play a VR game.
However… considering that the financially struggling "Trans Boss Vanilla" probably wouldn't recommend games that required substantial financial commitment. After mulling for a bit, Tang Jia decided to click play.
The first scene showed two skeletons sweeping the floor with brooms.
Tang Jia: "??"
In the second scene, a gruesome zombie handed a neatly folded T-shirt toward the camera.
Tang Jia: "???"
The third scene showed a zombie clad in worn-out armor but still looking mighty fierce. With a hideous face that could give one nightmares, it looked toward the camera and said sinisterly, "Hey, compatriots. It seems like you all have just awakened from eternal slumber. Would you be willing to help me with something?"
Tang Jia: "????"
Tang Jia minimized the video, and with squinting eyes, carefully read the video description…
That's right, the description by the content creator, Vanilla Pudding, made it very clear that he was sharing a gaming experience video of an extremely accessible and low-entry VR game and not a movie clip.
With head filled with question marks, Tang Jia opened the video once again.
"Hello everyone, it's me, Vanilla Pudding. Recently, I obtained a closed beta slot for a newly released VR indie game called 'OtherWorld.' Today's video will be showing you guys my first-hand experience of this game…"
"Here's the character selection interface. The voice-over was added later on, so I selected the character rather quickly. If you're a newcomer to the game, please don't randomly close your eyes and choose like I did. Otherwise, you'll definitely regret it if you have bad luck and end up with a weak character. That would mean you have to put in more effort compared to others because of the character's weak initial Potential…"
After a brief introduction, Vanilla Pudding stopped providing voice commentary and directly showcased his first-person perspective gameplay footage.
The video displayed backgrounds reminiscent of blockbuster movie scenes and an impressive physics engine. Even the dust particles kicked up while walking had incredibly realistic trajectories… The more Tang Jia watched, the more amazed she became.
Especially when two other beta players appeared on the screen with their skeleton characters. The astonishing realism, lifelike movements, and the clattering sound of their teeth when they spoke…
If Tang Jia didn't know that those two skeletons were controlled by players, she would have thought that Vanilla Pudding had gone to a film set and resurrected actual skeletons for the purpose of deceiving people.
"Is this the world of RPG?! This is the world of VR gaming!!"
Still lying on her dorm room bed, holding her phone with both hands, Tang Jia exclaimed in awe, startling her roommate who was watching a drama on the other side.
Then, without any hesitation, Tang Jia clicked on the link in the video description for the game's official site and added money to her account in the name of faith…
Many people were accustomed to sleeping in during the holidays, and, combined with Vanilla Pudding not being a particularly famous content creator, this meant that there hadn't been too many views so far. As Tang Jia made her top-up, there were still over a hundred closed beta slots available out of the 300 posted on the official website.
After entering her address, Tang Jia thought of her best friend and resolutely paid for her as well.
Tang Jia definitely wouldn't have been able to imagine how much trouble her decisiveness would save her and her best friend. Once this batch of closed beta slots offered on the website was snatched up, it wouldn't be easy for Earth's players to enter the magical land of "OtherWorld" anymore.
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