Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 258 - 267: Opening CG

Chapter 258: Chapter 267: Opening CG

Upon the release of this message, Black Pieces and White Pieces alike fell silent.

"How could there be such a nonsensical ending? Isn’t this too much of a stretch?"

For the Black Pieces, they thought they had a major scoop, confirming that Nitiandang had plagiarized other companies’ art resources for its games. This would not only create a media storm but the subsequent lawsuit could bleed Nitiandang dry, tarnishing its reputation in the gaming industry and sending its status plummeting.

But now, they’ve bought it!

This cleared Nitiandang’s new game of any ethical or legal issues.

The Black Pieces, like onlookers who watched as someone only got a bowl of noodles on a huge table, silently dispersed.

And for the White Pieces?

Although the issue was resolved and Nitiandang had proven its innocence, what the hell does buying another company’s game even mean?

In fact, many players don’t really care whether a game has borrowed or plagiarized from others, they just want it to be fun.

But with Nitiandang’s approach, can the game be fun?

Buying a semi-finished game from another company to finish it yourself? This is rare not just in the domestic gaming industry, but even on a global scale!

As for why this blew up, insiders at Nitiandang had already held thorough discussions.

While the general public might not be too aware, there are many enthusiastic gaming bloggers ready to enlighten them.

In a nutshell: don’t have too high hopes for this game!

If it wasn’t pretty bad already, the original company wouldn’t have sold it; it would make no sense not to continue working on it themselves.

And it’s unlikely that Nitiandang would actually be able to turn something rotten into something magical and make the game incredibly fun in a short period of time.

Add to that the somewhat outdated MMORPG genre, and it would be no surprise at all if the game flopped. It would truly be astonishing if it succeeded.

Thus, after about two or three days of fierce debate, the online controversy gradually calmed down.

It must be said that it was quite a spectacle how Nitiandang caused such a huge uproar online with just a simple poster and a few words, informing many that Nitiandang’s next game would be an MMORPG bought from another company.

It’s certainly good for a product to have initial hype.

But can this buzz be converted into reputation and sales?

That can only be determined by the product’s quality after its release.

...

...

December 24th, Christmas Eve.

Today, Instructor Ding started his live stream unusually early.

"What? Why not go look for girls on Christmas Eve? Ha, don’t joke, women would only slow down the speed of my sword drawing!

"I feel Nitiandang’s summoning, and I must respond!

"Alright, speaking plainly, tonight ’Shadow World’ officially goes live. How could I not game all night?

"Cough cough, all night is a bit of an exaggeration, let’s first stream until midnight and see how it goes.

"What? Some people still don’t know what ’Shadow World’ is? Oh man, it’s actually ’Demon World Conflict,’ that MMORPG from Nitiandang, just renamed."

Instructor Ding introduced the game to the audience while opening it up with practiced ease for the last update before officially playing.

The game had already been available for pre-download, but there was still a minor update before the official release.

Nitiandang didn’t do much advertising for this new game.

They only revealed a detail page for the new game about four months prior, released a promotional image with a simple phrase, and then went silent without any further information.

However, the game’s popularity was anything but low!

Over these four-plus months, the game was a constant topic of online discussion, with several hot threads popping up monthly, regular as clockwork.

This popularity wasn’t bought by Nitiandang; it was purely the players’ own doing.

Because this game is just too topical!

The first MMORPG from Nitiandang naturally donned a mysterious veil, and the fact that this game was purchased directly made players even more concerned about its unconventional business practice.

As a result, many players, through various channels and means, sought to dig deeper into what kind of game Demon World Conflict actually was.

After all, Nitiandang had less than half a year from acquiring the game to its official launch.

In half a year’s time, even if changes were to be made, there probably wouldn’t be much alteration. The fundamental framework of the game wouldn’t undergo any substantial changes; otherwise, Nitiandang might as well have developed a new game from scratch.

Thus, many players naturally assumed that if they could understand what Demon World Conflict was all about, they would roughly see the outline of the game as modified by Nitiandang.

Demon World Conflict had already conducted some player experience events previously, not to mention that the game’s project team consisted of over a hundred people, and even more were involved in outsourcing tasks—up to three hundred individuals.

It was impossible to keep everything completely under wraps.

Soon, players began to piece together the complete picture of Demon World Conflict, and the results they pieced together were, naturally, quite pessimistic!

Clearly, this was a rather outdated MMORPG, whose gameplay might have been considered innovative twenty years ago, but today, twenty years later, it stood no chance of competing with the nostalgia servers of other classic MMORPGs.

Therefore, as time went on, players were increasingly polarized in their opinions about the game!

But regardless, the initial buzz around the game was at fever pitch, on the merit of being "Nitiandang’s first MMORPG," both Black Pieces and White Pieces had to give it a try.

A week ago, Nitiandang announced that they would officially launch Shadow World at 8 PM on Christmas Eve!

Yes, there would be no closed beta wipe tests, no open beta tests—just a direct launch.

This was distinctly different from other MMORPGs that typically underwent several rounds of testing and even inflated the cost of testing keys.

After all, for Lilith, gaming was a one-time deal; once released, it couldn’t be modified, so conducting numerous tests was pointless. If you couldn’t make changes after the tests, then why test at all?

Just charge in and be done with it.

For players, this no-nonsense approach was certainly welcome, but many also expressed concerns about the quality of the game. After all, MMORPGs were notorious for being bug-ridden, and would Nitiandang’s mythical reputation for being bug-free continue?

Everything would be revealed tonight.

...

As soon as it turned eight o’clock, Instructor Ding entered the game right on time.

First up was an opening CG.

The camera zoomed through the clouds from high above, descending onto a vast continent.

Then the camera quickly dropped to an old, ruined church, passing through the colorful, narrow stained-glass windows, to focus on a white-haired elder furiously writing at a desk.

At the same time, an aged, deep voice-over started, reminiscent of an elderly person recounting the world’s secret history to the younger generation.

"The world of Azerlya you see is just the tip of the iceberg.

"And now, it is changing.

"I feel it from the earth.

"I feel it from the hurricanes.

"I feel it from the flowing waters.

"I feel it from the flame.

"The hidden iceberg is emerging, the world of shadows is awakening, and most of those who recorded these events have long passed.

"All races must set aside their hatred at this moment, to unite against the invasion from the world of shadows.

"In the days to come, every race, every being on Azerlya might determine the fate of the entire world."

As this narration played, the white-haired elder was rapidly writing with a quill pen on a hefty tome, and as he closed the heavy book, the camera angle switched, starting to feature close-ups of the different races.

Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Undead, demons...

Various races and professions made their appearance in the opening CG, either embroiled in conflict with each other or casting their professions’ powerful moves, looking incredibly cool.