Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 275 - 284 What kind of shitty code!

Chapter 275: Chapter 284 What kind of shitty code!

Gu Fan continued to explain, "When initially entering the game and choosing a class, the system not only forces a basic attack skill specific to that class onto the player but also tags the player with a ’class label’ in the background. This class label isn’t tightly tied to the underlying code, but in some special cases, certain features will check for this label.

"For example, when players approach a Trainer to learn skills.

"But the problem now is... due to Nephalor’s boss mechanic, it also assigns a class label to players! This has led to the breach of the dual restrictions that were originally in the game!"

Lilith’s brain was overloaded, "Wait! Why does Nephalor assign class labels to players? Explain clearly!"

Gu Fan sighed softly, "That starts with the calling-out mechanism in the third phase of Nephalor.

"It’s evident that the ’calling-out’ mechanism was a unique feature the developers had in mind when designing Boss Nephalor. You might even say that the dumpling was wrapped for the sake of the vinegar.

"However, Nephalor, as the final boss in the first raid, had a design that predates the overhaul of the class system.

"So initially, Nephalor couldn’t directly call out classes because players didn’t yet have a class.

"To achieve the effect of calling out, the developers designed it so that ’Nephalor would call out players based on the last skill they used on him.’

"For instance, the last player who used a Shield Bash-type skill would be prevented from using their shield; the last player to deal damage with a totem would plant various totems that instead buff him.

"This mechanism could create certain difficulties for players, but actually, it also provided enough countermeasures: as long as players learned a specific, insignificant skill to ’touch’ the boss before being called out, they could trick the boss and break the mechanism.

"It was gameplay that the original developers allowed, even encouraged.

"But after the class system was revamped, Nephalor’s mechanism definitely needed some adjustments. After some minor tinkering, the original developers encountered a somewhat frustrating issue, which was that calling out classes often resulted in bizarre BUGs, causing the game to crash.

"For example, the original design intended for the last player who used a Shield Bash on the boss to give up using shields; but now with Shield Bash available to both warriors and Knights, and the Paladin corresponding to other call-out effects, it had to be singled out.

"Another example, the original design made it so that players who controlled minions with Polymorph in a raid would, after being called out, cast Polymorph on a random teammate.

"This design also had a unique intent, encouraging players not to use Polymorph during the earlier pioneering stages. Although it significantly increased the difficulty when fighting minions, it meant one less wiping ability when facing the final boss.

"For players, this added a level of tactics and trade-off.

"But now, divided by class, it had to be changed to ’call out Mage players to use Polymorph on a teammate.’ However, the problem is that many Mage players had never even used Polymorph, or they might not have learned it at all. This could lead to the system misjudging Mage players when it tries to determine them through the Polymorph skill.

"Furthermore, there could arise some extreme special cases, like the boss reading the skill but tagging the wrong player. Although the probability is exceedingly low, with programming bugs you can never say it’s zero. No matter how low the chances are, if there are enough players, an unlikely issue will eventually occur.

"To resolve these issues, especially to fix wrongful judgments, the original developers patched the game so that when Nephalor calls out, it would first judge based on the last attack skill used on him by the player.

"Moreover, to prevent potential bugs in the game’s future updates, if there was a conflict between the skill and the class label during the call-out, the skill would take precedence, and the system in the background would default to assigning another corresponding class label to prevent contradictions that could lead to bugs.

"This way, at least when players are battling Boss Nephalor, they wouldn’t face errors related to calling out and class issues that could cause the game to crash.

"Later, after players logged off, the system would clear the class labels from the players, and the next time they logged in, everything would reset.

"It just wasn’t anticipated... that there would be players who didn’t log off and then went to talk to other class Trainers."

Lilith was almost overwhelmed by what she heard.

What kind of code mess was this? A mountain of code piled upon another mountain!

The original design was one thing, the modified design was another, and to make the modified design work, the programmers slapped yet another layer of code on top. Although it managed to perform the original intended function on the surface, who knows how it was actually implemented!

Take Nephalor, for instance, whose original design was quite good. But it was the "class system" change that mandated adjustments to the original design, and once these adjustments were made, bugs emerged. Fixing these bugs led to even more bugs...

Clearly, players attempting to conquer Nephalor were not only deceiving the boss but also throwing the system into turmoil.

Calling out using players’ skills was the original design, tied to many core codes, so it couldn’t be changed. Changing it risked causing serious issues.

On the surface, it was calling out classes, but in reality, it was still calling out based on skills.

Named skills could potentially conflict with the codes for occupations added later, so the only option was to prioritize the named skills, forcibly assigning players an extra occupation code to get the function running.

This was necessary to ensure that during the raid, players wouldn’t face game errors, crashes, or other serious consequences.

The additional extraneous code would be cleaned up after the player logged off.

However, after layers of modifications, although the code barely operated, it led to an even more significant loophole.

This allowed players to inadvertently bypass both "skill" and "occupation label" restrictions, unlocking skills and talents of other occupations!

And once this unlocking occurred, there was no stopping it.

As long as players learned any occupation’s skill, the system would default to marking them with the corresponding system tag. Unfortunately, this system tag was not unique but could exist in multiples simultaneously.

Hence, the emergence of so many "all-occupation players"...

Lilith felt like her brain was about to explode, the complexity of the issue far exceeding her expectations.

The key point was that this explanation actually made a lot of sense!

It was logical, and even the cause and effect were clear.

"But Gu Fan! Why didn’t we fix this legacy issue?" Lilith asked, somewhat angrily.

Gu Fan was shocked, "President Li, listen to what you’re saying!

"We simply haven’t had the time!

"Ever since we acquired the game, we’ve been incessantly developing new features, including two other major raids, as well as a complete overhaul of the art assets, not to mention all the bug fixes...

"We barely managed to patch the severe bugs, how could we possibly delve deep into functions that seem perfectly normal on the surface?

"To find this loophole, it would require extensive testing, and who knows how deep we would have to dig into the original mess of code. Do you think we have enough development time for that?

"Of course, if you’re willing to give us a year or two for development, we can overhaul and remake the game.

"But then we’re back to the original issue, President Li, didn’t you decide to buy Demon World Conflict precisely to save time?

"What’s the point of buying it if we’re going to rewrite the core code?"

Lilith was dumbstruck; Gu Fan’s argument was so valid, she couldn’t counter it!

Why did Shadow World encounter problems?

Because Demon World Conflict was a half-finished product, significantly modified, and riddled with all sorts of strange, small bugs.

But purchasing Demon World Conflict was Lilith’s decision in the first place, made in a bid to rush the schedule and take on the project.

Strictly speaking, the Nitiandang team’s development efficiency was already incredibly impressive. In such a short time, they not only developed two brand-new raids but also completed various tasks like game optimization and system repairs.

The fact that Demon World Conflict only encountered this bug, without severe issues like game crashes, repeated errors, or massive gold farming exploits, was nothing short of miraculous.

If it had been any other game company, they would have been popping champagne by now.

Where could one find programmers of such elite caliber?

This was precisely where Lilith’s discomfort lay.

If it were game crashes, repeated errors, or gold farming exploits, she would have felt a bit better since these could deter players and generate a fair amount of negative sentiment.

But this bug not only failed to deter players, it actually made them more thrilled!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.