Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 157 Azazel’s New Game (First Update)

Chapter 157: Chapter 157 Azazel’s New Game (First Update)

Gu Fan let out a small sigh of relief, "Oh, which one of our games does President Sa plan to copy this time?"

Compared to that, matters on the Hell Frontline side were the least stressful for Gu Fan.

Because from previous experience, Azazel was still at Lilith’s early stages, basically copying Lilith’s past ideas, from game design to game pricing, and then to game promotion, almost the same routine.

So, Gu Fan had many plans waiting for him.

As long as Azazel continued to copy Lilith’s plans, then he would have to faithfully fulfill this contract.

However, Lilith suddenly shook her head, "This time he’s not planning to copy me!"

"Not only that, he’s also changed the entire pricing and promotion strategy for the game!"

"So I hurried over to discuss it with you."

Gu Fan raised his eyebrows, "Oh? Tell me more."

Unexpectedly, Azazel seemed to be a lot smarter than imagined, having changed his tactics so quickly?

But that was also normal. Although Hell Inferior Demon was profitable, making Lilith a tidy sum, Azazel lost a fortune.

He was a clever demon, and even though he was initially disoriented by the defeat, after a few days, he would certainly have figured out approximately what had happened.

However, even if Azazel vaguely guessed that Lilith was the traitor behind it all, he didn’t dare to do anything drastic.

On one hand, there were limitations due to the contract, which Azazel, as a demon, had to strictly adhere to; on the other hand, because Lilith’s status in Hell was far above his, Azazel still had some will to survive.

Therefore, all he could do was to try every possible way to make the contract impossible to fulfill within the rules.

But what exactly had he thought of? Gu Fan couldn’t guess for the moment.

Lilith explained, "This time, he’s actually planning to make an original game, and he wants to take inspiration from reality!"

"The game’s sale price has been changed too, down to six dollars!"

"Besides, he’s planning not to use the art team from Hell anymore, claiming he will give all the art resources to me, and he’ll have his game materials outsourced from the Human World!"

Gu Fan couldn’t help but feel respect.

Hm? This Azazel is quite clever!

He’s identified the key factors behind his previous failure and is targeting them precisely!

Why did Hell Infernal Demon fail before? Mainly for two reasons: first, for copying Lilith’s ideas, which allowed Gu Fan to easily counter; second, the game’s sale price was still somewhat high, while the cost was too low, so a little push from influencers made it profitable.

Clearly, Azazel was determined this time to lower the price and increase the cost.

Originally, the art resources for Hell Frontline were all made by the art team from Hell, but now he’s outsourcing, which could not only lower the quality of the art but also increase expenditure.

Coupled with the reduced game price, making a profit would be even harder.

And an original game means that Gu Fan and Lilith would find it difficult to apply their "successful experience" to crack the code.

Gu Fan hurriedly asked, "So how does he specifically plan to take inspiration from reality?"

Lilith didn’t answer directly but asked instead, "Gu Fan, if you had to choose the most unfree and painful stage in life, or the most unfree and painful group of people, what would you choose?"

Gu Fan thought for a while, "That’s tricky to say.

"If we’re talking about the most painful, there’s no upper limit.

"Plenty of things can break adults, like the workplace, family, and so on, once misfortune strikes, there’s no ceiling.

"But... as the saying goes, happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

"Like the ’mid-life crisis’ can certainly be considered unfortunate, but everyone faces different problems.

"If I must choose a stage that’s broadly applicable, unfree and painful, I would pick... the high school period of students in the major college entrance examination provinces in our country."

Lilith’s eyes lit up, "Oh? Tell me why?"

Gu Fan didn’t directly answer the question, but asked in return, "Does this have something to do with Azazel’s game? Even if you need material, that would be for the next game. We have to finish "Ascension" first, right?"

Lilith, excited, slapped the table: "Isn’t this perfect? Your answer is very close to the one Azazel came up with after much research!

"The game he wants to make is called ’Henggang Middle School Simulation’!

"I can’t figure out why he wants to do this, so naturally, I have no clue.

"Since you came up with a similar answer, you should be able to understand his thoughts, right? Tell me!

"As long as we understand his train of thought and find corresponding ways to deal with it, won’t three-quarters of the negative emotions be easy to capture?"

Gu Fan couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows, slightly surprised.

This Azazel, he’s got something going for him, doesn’t he?

Although I don’t know if this idea was his own or if he asked someone else, the fact that he thought of this is indeed commendable.

A major issue for Hell Demons is their lack of understanding of the Human World, and so they don’t have a clear idea of what scenarios can cause players to generate a large amount of negative emotions.

That’s exactly why Lilith often needs to ask Gu Fan for information and material.

But in this respect, Azazel seems to indeed be doing better than Lilith.

Of course, it could also be because Azazel doesn’t have a traitor by his side...

Gu Fan explained: "Henggang Middle School is often called ’Human Purgatory’. The ’Henggang Middle School Simulator’ that Azazel wants to make is obviously based on this school. He just needs to replicate some of the content from there, and he can already generate a sufficient amount of negative emotions."

Lilith couldn’t help but express surprise: "Human Purgatory? Is it really rated that high?

"I heard that some internet addiction rehab schools are truly terrifying."

Gu Fan shook his head slightly: "There is a big difference between the two.

"Internet addiction rehab schools are indeed terrifying, but because they are too horrifying, the excessive suffering might trigger a person’s subconscious self-defense mechanisms. Players might gradually adapt to this intensity, and eventually, they might not generate as much negative emotion.

"It’s like in Hell, when a sinner is boiled in oil for the first time, they find it very terrifying and painful. But if they are boiled every day, they would quickly get used to it, right?

"Moreover, this kind of abnormal suffering can actually stir up some positive emotions, such as sympathy, compassion, righteous indignation...

"So after careful consideration, this theme might not be cost-effective.

"It’s possible to collect a considerable amount of negative emotions, but it could also produce a strong critical effect and cause fierce reactions, which might make the game profitable and achieve both fame and fortune."

Lilith nodded seriously: "Hmm... that’s true.

"Hey, your understanding of collecting negative emotions now seems to have almost surpassed mine, huh?"

Gu Fan cleared his throat lightly: "Ahem, isn’t this being responsible within my role? I’m a pure and loyal Infernal Inferior Demon, and of course, I need to thoroughly understand the rules to collect more negative emotions."

Lilith asked, "Then why don’t these problems exist with these so-called ’college entrance examination factories’?"

Gu Fan explained: "It’s simple, just compare ’college entrance examination factories’ with ’internet addiction rehab schools’ and you’ll see.

"Internet addiction rehab schools are too horrifying, pure, meaningless, excessive suffering stimulates people’s subconscious self-defense mechanisms, but college entrance examination factories don’t.

"Their pain is perfectly sandwiched between ’pure, meaningless suffering’ and ’complex, meaningful struggle’.

"The actions at internet addiction rehab schools are meaningless from beginning to end, only satisfying the emotional needs of impotent parents, so players can without hesitation criticize this phenomenon.

"But what about the college entrance examination factories? The issue is much more complex, they have indeed enabled many students to get into the universities they wished for, and for some who have changed their destinies as a result, it seems to be a ’meaningful struggle’. But from a higher perspective, because the quota for each province’s admissions is fixed, this struggle is actually a meaningless rat race.

"The problem is, it’s a dilemma without a solution, even after going through all that, it’s hard to clearly pin down who should be held responsible.

"If you were persecuted by an internet addiction rehab school, you could point fingers at the school’s principal and teachers.

"But if you’ve spent three years in a college entrance examination factory, like a prisoner, whom can you point fingers at? The principal? Teachers? Parents? But they all indeed hope you can achieve good results, get into a better university.

"So even if players generate a lot of negative emotions, they can’t find an outlet to vent, and they will simply feel frustrated."

Lilith nodded somewhat understandingly.