Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 112 The Start of the Game Isn’t Bad at All (Three more for monthly pass!)

Chapter 112: Chapter 112 The Start of the Game Isn’t Bad at All (Three more for monthly pass!)

After the CG, the game officially entered the gameplay screen.

The camera started with a high-altitude aerial view of the landscape and then gradually zoomed in, eventually fixing above this city and starting the game with the common 45-degree top-down perspective.

When players use the mouse to pull the camera back to the furthest point, they can overview the entire city. However, due to the large scale and many details of the city, fine-tuned operations are required by zooming in to manipulate various elements in the city precisely.

Events in the game, depending on their importance, would have two types of prompts.

For less significant events, an exclamation mark icon would appear at the edge of the vision, guiding players to move their screen to check; for highly significant major events, a pop-up would appear right in the center of the screen.

One must admit, City Forsaken by Gods is indeed majestic.

At the very edge of the screen are desolate battlefields, scattered villages, and facilities like farms, pastures, and mines.

They are situated around City Forsaken by Gods, linked to the city through various pathways.

City Forsaken by Gods itself features different districts and buildings with distinctive styles, touring this city is like examining an anatomy chart of a medieval city.

From the outermost layer inward, the city is generally divided into several layers of defense structures.

The outermost layer is a moat that encircles the city walls, but it is not entirely filled with water: near the front gate of the city is where the water is present, but as the moat extends towards the East, the ground gets higher and the water gradually dries up, leaving only sharp wooden stakes embedded in the riverbed for defense.

However, the moat to the West connects to a small river and flows into the sea.

So there’s a small port on the west side of the city.

At the city entrance, there is a massive gatehouse with cylindrical projection towers on both sides, and the gatehouse also has retractable metal grille gates.

In the event of a battle, soldiers inside the gatehouse could stab at the enemies outside crazily through the grates with spears.

Outside the gatehouse is a significant wooden drawbridge that can be retracted when necessary.

There are several holes in the ceiling of the gatehouse, known as "murder holes." If the enemy breaches the gate, soldiers would drop stones, boiling water, or other objects from these holes, causing harm to the enemies.

Beyond the gatehouse is the city’s outer wall, which looks both high and thick, constructed from square-cut stone bricks.

Every so often on the city wall, there are battlements with a variety of auxiliary structures such as crenels, walkways, parapets, and arrow slits.

And every few battlements, there would appear a defense tower far taller than the city wall, generally cylindrical, built at the corners of the walls to provide an extended view.

Past the outer walls, you arrive at the outer courtyard of the city, also known as the bailey. It’s a rather spacious open area with a large fountain.

If the enemy breaches the main gate, they would be subjected to concentrated attacks from soldiers in the outer wall, outer towers, inner wall, and inner towers within this open area.

However, the castle is currently not in a state of war, so the outer courtyard also serves as a marketplace and a training ground for soldiers.

The inner wall appears to be notably taller than the outer wall, and even more solid. Beyond the inner wall lies the main area of the entire City Forsaken by Gods.

This area can be roughly divided into several districts:

First is the trade district, which is directly connected to the outer courtyard through the inner city’s gate, bustling with endless streams of people.

The main buildings in the trade district include banks, auction houses, inns, weapon shops, blacksmiths, and other facilities, which all seem quite lively.

East of the trade district is the poverty-stricken area, where the environment looks terrible with low houses and dense alleys, and bad security incidents occur frequently.

To the West of the trade district is the affluent neighborhood, with buildings that look more luxurious and streets that are cleaner.

North of the trade district, there’s a grand cathedral, and right beside it is the city hall, dealing with various public affairs of the city.

Further East of the slums is a cluster of somewhat eerie buildings. Even the city walls here show signs of corrosion. A vast open-air mine extends into the ground, where the ruins of Ancient Demons are faintly visible after excavation.

To the West of the cathedral area and affluent neighborhood is the port seen earlier, with many ships docked.

In addition, there are many other buildings, such as the underground prison, herbalist shop, relief center, City Defense Army Station, and so on.

As the game progresses, the vast open spaces within the city can be utilized by players to construct different buildings to prepare for even more severe disasters.

Farther north of the Chapel, atop the highest hill, stands a majestic fortress, the Castle Lord’s Mansion.

The high walls of the Castle Lord’s Mansion make it more defensible and difficult to assault, which symbolizes the last line of defense of the entire City Forsaken by Gods.

If even this place were to fall, it would mean the City Forsaken by Gods had completely collapsed, and the game would immediately end.

Just from the layout of the entire city, one could discern its former glory.

Unfortunately, at this moment, the city was shrouded in a strange atmosphere, as if the screen had a filter over it, with the sky gray and ashy, and it seemed like ashes were still floating in the air. Upon closer inspection, the mental state of the city’s residents also didn’t appear to be particularly normal.

The game’s UI is informative, with the top displaying time, weather, quantities of various resources (stone, wood, food, etc.), and population, while the bottom has progress bars for "Faith Orientation" and "Satisfaction Level," along with key operations like "Building," "Code of Laws," and "Faith."

"Faith Orientation" represents the city’s main allegiance, whether to Angels or demons, while "Satisfaction Level" reflects the overall satisfaction of the city’s residents with their lives.

The buttons for "Building," "Code of Laws," and "Faith" are prominent and the core functions of the game’s internal affairs.

Upon clicking "Building," a variety of building blueprints appear, which can be dragged to specific locations for construction.

The construction of buildings here is quite free, and they can be built even without sufficient resources, but construction will halt if there are not enough resources, leading to unfinished structures.

"Code of Laws" is enacted through the town hall and tribunal, allowing players to choose from various legal provisions, which can be more lenient or extremely strict—if the player wishes, they can even execute all thieves.

Of course, whether or not there are enough Guards to enforce this law, and whether there will be any chain reactions after the law is published, is another matter.

"Faith" is executed through the Chapel, which can strengthen the people’s faith in Angels or spark doubt in Angels and guide their faith towards demons.

Judging by this part alone, the game somewhat resembles some common management games.

However, City of the Abandoned Gods also incorporates some RPG combat elements.

In the upper left corner of the screen is the City Lord’s portrait; clicking it allows players to select and control the City Lord.

The City Lord is a towering, imposing Knight clad in heavy armor, whom players can control to wander around the town, deal with matters in a timely manner, or engage in combat directly with attacking enemies.

However, aside from the City Lord, all other characters are not directly controllable.

There are only two ways to control soldiers: one is by clicking the City Defense Army Station to change their combat tactics and adjust the defense zone; the other is by controlling the City Lord and selecting the soldiers’ mode of combat to have them gather around him and fight in various formations.

The early part of the game is mainly focused on tutorials for beginners, including how to enact the Code of Laws, how to construct buildings, and how to adjust city defense deployments, etc.

Instructor Ding followed the tutorial step by step and quickly got the hang of the game’s basic mechanics.

Then he faced his first wave of enemies.

The first to invade the City Forsaken by Gods were a band of Rogues, looting the small villages around the city.

Following the game’s guidance, Instructor Ding controlled the City Lord to lead dozens of soldiers to strike decisively, repelling the Rogues, seizing some loot, and returning triumphantly.

"Huh, this game is actually quite well-made! How come I suddenly feel like I’m not playing a game by Nitiandang?"

Instructor Ding was surprised to find that he hadn’t been disgusted by the game initially!

This was indeed quite astonishing.

The game continues Nitiandang’s consistent style, with exquisite art, rich details, and distinctive style, especially the medieval feel, which is truly compelling. Apart from Nitiandang, other domestic companies’ artistry simply can’t match it.

The combat is satisfying too, and although the City Lord is the only character that can be controlled, every strike feels impactful, with solid animation and rich sound effects, even surpassing some major games in execution.

However, unlike previous games, Instructor Ding did not encounter a "harsh reality" upon starting this game; instead, he found it quite enjoyable to play.

Everything about this game seemed quite normal.

This doesn’t quite fit with Nitiandang’s usual style, does it?

Upon returning to the Castle Lord’s Mansion, Instructor Ding again briefly arranged the city’s affairs, and everything seemed to be thriving.

However, just then, he noticed a new prompt in the Castle Lord’s Mansion he hadn’t seen before: an icon of a little girl.