Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 313 - 322: Smooth and Silky at the Start?

Chapter 313: Chapter 322: Smooth and Silky at the Start?

Instructor Ding was utterly at a loss for words.

Why can’t it be silky smooth in the early stage and also silky smooth in the latter stage?

I mean, is that "constipated" phase really necessary?

Looking at the previous successful games from Nitiandang, this statement seemed like nonsense, but President Gu’s expression was incredibly sincere, and each word appeared exceedingly authentic.

Instructor Ding wanted to ask more, but Gu Fan had already stood up.

"Alright, there’s still a lot to do here at the booth, I need to handle some things.

"Anyway, this is just an ordinary exhibition; neither ’Shadow World’ nor ’Legend of Infinity Fantasy’ are anything more than trial demos, and they can’t represent the final effect of the games.

"The actual situation will be based on the official version of the games.

"You should go check out other game developers’ booths."

Gu Fan took a bottle of water from the side and handed it to Instructor Ding, then went back to his busy work.

Instructor Ding looked at Gu Fan’s receding figure with some confusion, then decisively returned to the end of the queue to continue waiting.

"Go visit other developers’ booths? Sorry, but I’m not interested!

"I want to see what’s so special about ’Legend of Infinity Fantasy’!"

...

Finally, another two hours passed, and Instructor Ding finally got back in.

"I want to see for myself this game President Gu described as ’silky smooth in the beginning and constipated in the latter stages’!"

Instructor Ding had just sat down when two people beside him, whose time was up, stood up together.

They seemed to have come together and were chatting as they walked out.

"This new game from Nitiandang is quite interesting; it’s worth getting as soon as it’s released!"

"True, the previous games from Nitiandang only got fun after you discovered the hidden mechanics, but this game seems fun even without hidden mechanics. Just that there are still quite a few small bugs."

"Heard it was made with a new engine, but I didn’t really feel it."

"Right, thought it would be similar to ’Ascension’, but it’s quite different, even the combat system is not the same."

The two briefly chatted and then packed up and left, which, on the contrary, made Instructor Ding even more curious and eager to try it out.

He quickly picked up the controller and began to play.

On the computer screen, the same message was displayed.

"The current game is an internal test version demo; gameplay and graphics do not represent the final quality of the official game!"

However, Instructor Ding was already immune to this message and simply ignored it, turning his attention to the game screen instead.

In the image was a humanoid stone sculpture. Instructor Ding lightly pressed a few buttons on the controller, and with the vibration coming from the controller, the humanoid stone sculpture in front of him also shattered, releasing a cartoonish Warrior protagonist who was about as tall as four heads.

He had features that combined elements of both eastern and western appearances, along with the pointed ears of Elves, resembling some cartoon Heroes from anime, yet still retaining the style typical of Western Fantasy.

Although it took a bit of getting used to at first, paired with this environment, it felt quite harmonious.

The art design of Nitiandang remained impressive; although it was not their best Western Fantasy realism style, it still exceeded the average industry level.

After a brief run around, Instructor Ding uttered the same sort of sentiment as those two players from before.

"They actually used Myriad Editor for this? Nitiandang really went all out this time, didn’t they? How many bugs did they fix!"

Previously, Myriad Editor was successful with only one game, which was "Ascension."

However, the success of "Ascension" was inimitable, as it was the lone game full of bugs that everyone treated as features. Many gaming companies later attempted to use Myriad Editor for their game development, only to fail so badly even their mothers wouldn’t recognize them.

Even though the official later on made tons of functional fixes to Myriad Editor, resolving some old deep-rooted bugs, most companies still kept their distance from it.

When players initially saw Legend of Infinity Fantasy being made with Myriad Editor, they thought they might get a "Ascension 2" or another game rife with visual bugs, but it turned out to be quite different from what everyone expected.

Instructor Ding began to explore the uses of various buttons.

"No need to mention the joystick, the ABXY buttons correspond to sprint, item interaction, jump, and attack... Holding down the attack button charges up for a powerful strike, rapid presses trigger a combo, and you can also pair it with sprint or jump to unleash special attacks..."

"The left and right directional buttons switch between different weapons and items.

"Wow, there are so many weapon slots in this game? They give you five slots right from the get-go!"

"Pressing the left joystick makes you crouch and sneak, while pressing the right one locks onto monsters.

"The up directional button selects special abilities.

"The left shoulder button is for defense, the right shoulder button for throwing weapons, the left trigger for using special abilities, and the right trigger for archery..."

"Huh, there are this many special abilities? There are five of them!"

"Besides Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, there’s also a ’Time’ ability?"

There’s not much to say about the game’s key arrangement itself; as action games have evolved thus far, the main functions for controller buttons have more or less stabilized and are quite similar, so players can easily get the hang of it.

Two main differences set Legend of Infinity Fantasy apart from other games: one is the change of the right shoulder button to throw the weapon in hand, a rarity in other games, and the other is having the left trigger as the special ability button, which necessitated integrating the archery function onto the right trigger.

After pressing the up button on the D-pad, a selection box appears on the screen, where you can move the joystick to select different abilities.

At this moment, pressing the left trigger enters you into the preparatory state for that ability.

For example, the Fire Element ability creates bombs, and by holding the left trigger, you can instantly gather fiery energy and create a bomb. Then, with a combination of other buttons, you can quickly employ the special ability.

For example, while holding the left trigger, pressing the right trigger brings up a throwing arc, and releasing it will throw the bomb;

The same goes for other operations: While holding the left trigger, pressing A, B, or X will target different directions—the A button targets directly beneath you, while B and X are for tossing to your right and left, respectively.

The Y button is a bit special; it sticks the bomb directly onto the currently locked-on monster.

You can have up to three Fire Element bombs, which charge continuously.

The Earth Element ability allows you to burrow underground, and its operations are largely the same. By pressing the left trigger, you enter the burrowing state, and with a combination of ABXY, you can travel through different areas below, beside, or above you.

However, there are many limitations to burrowing; if you burrow upwards, you continue until you reach open ground without soil above you, but if you burrow downwards, you can only go slightly below the surface.

At this time, the camera can see a ghostly outline of the character, who can move rapidly underground and choose the right moment to emerge back on the surface.