Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 36 Evaluation

Chapter 36: Chapter 36 Evaluation

"Against Heaven Blocks" couldn’t last ten minutes in the hands of these judges.

They quickly gave up and moved on to evaluate the next games.

Lilith finally couldn’t hold back and started laughing uncontrollably in the massage chair, nearly spilling her cola.

Clearly, the current state of the game was exactly as she had envisioned!

The screen full of negative emotions had proven that her modifications successfully turned "Rotating Blocks," which originally generated more positive emotions, into a negative emotion generating machine.

These four judges could be said to be the cream of the crop in various areas of the gaming industry, including professional reviewers, veteran designers, streamers, and professional players.

Yet, while they played "Against Heaven Blocks," they all generated far more negative emotions than positive ones.

This was also thanks to the original "Rotating Blocks," since everyone was familiar with the original game, these annoying modifications stood out like lice on a bald head—blatantly obvious, naturally resulting in more negative emotions.

On the official platform, the games participating in the competition were gradually being made available for trial play, and "Against Heaven Blocks" was naturally among them.

As more and more unsuspecting players stumbled upon it, the negative emotions generated by this game continued to grow.

At present, all these games were available for free trial and would not generate any revenue.

However, after the evaluation is completed tomorrow night, the games that receive the judges’ approval can be officially launched for sale at the official set price, which might be between 1 and 20 yuan, depending on the ratings given by the judges.

But Lilith felt that "Against Heaven Blocks" definitely wouldn’t receive approval, and naturally wouldn’t get the chance to go on sale for a fee.

This was exactly to her liking.

When the time came, she would simply launch it for free; the more people she could fool, the better, as it would generate a continuous stream of negative emotions, wouldn’t it?

Clearly, even a small game has its advantages!

The more Lilith thought about it, the happier she became as she continued to watch the projector screen, looking forward to the review segment that was to follow.

...

Soon, the time reached 9 p.m., leaving only one hour before the end of tonight’s event.

The four judges had essentially completed their trial play of the games.

Obviously, the judges had different preferences and spent varying amounts of time playing the games. So what followed was the rapid evaluation segment, where they would go through all the games in order, with each sharing their own opinions.

This would be an important reference for tonight’s and tomorrow’s audience voting.

When tomorrow night comes, voting will close, and the final awards will naturally be announced.

"Okay, I ask the judges to give a concentrated critique of the competing games and offer specific evaluations of ’recommend’ or ’do not recommend.’

"After collating the opinions of all four judges, we will label the games with ’Exceptionally Good’, ’Good’, ’Mixed’, ’Bad’, ’Exceptionally Bad’ tags.

"And this tag will hang on the game’s page on the event site, providing a basis and reference for the vast number of players when they vote.

"First up is game number 1, ’Bubble Blocks.’

The host gestured for the first judge, Cheng Anhua, to begin speaking.

Having played these games beforehand, the judges already had a clear idea of what to say—serious judges like Cheng Anhua had even taken notes.

Therefore, they didn’t need to organize their thoughts, speaking off the cuff.

"I think the first entry’s art style is quite eye-catching. Although there is almost no innovation in gameplay, the sensation of bubbles bursting feels comfortable and stress-relieving. As a casual game, I find it worth playing, so I give a ’recommend.’

Then, the other three judges spoke in turn.

"I think since ’Bubble Blocks’ used ’bubbles’ as its theme, it should have designed some unique game mechanics around this concept to enrich the content of the game. It’s a pity the creator didn’t do this. As a designer, the game doesn’t meet my expectations. Simply for art effects, it’s not worth playing specifically, so I give a ’do not recommend.’

"Personally, I found playing this game to be quite comfortable. I can see that the author spent a lot of effort on adjusting the dynamic details of the bubbles, the special effects, and even the falling speed, which I quite appreciate. I give a ’recommend.’

"’Do not recommend.’

The last judge to speak was Jonas, who spoke in English, but he had a dedicated translator next to him.

It was clear that Jonas was a man of few words, too lazy to say much, but his reason for "Not Recommended" was easy to guess.

Top professional players of Rotating Blocks often display a bit of "purism," meaning they clearly prefer the original game and look down on other modified block games, instinctively rejecting them.

In the eyes of Cheng Anhua and Li Wenhao, turning the blocks into cute bubbles in Bubble Blocks was a point in its favor, but for Jonas, that was actually a drawback.

So Jonas’s "Not Recommended" was not surprising.

The host did not pursue the matter further, partly because as a host, he should not guide or interfere with the judges’ subjective evaluations, and partly because time was tight for the event, and there was no need to dwell on games without much controversy.

"All right, so the four judges have given the Number 1 entry, Bubble Blocks, a mixed final review", clearly this game is "picky" with its audience, viewers in front of the screens can try it out for themselves and make their own final decision.

"Okay, let’s please have the judges continue to review entry Number 2..."

The process proceeded in this manner, rating each entry in turn according to their sequence.

This process was quick; each game took only about two or three minutes to review.

For some games that really had no highlights, even the judges couldn’t be bothered to say much, giving four "Not Recommended" verdicts, with the entire process taking less than a minute.

And Jonas’s tastes were especially finicky, giving nearly every game "Not Recommended" without bothering to explain his reasons.

This made it a bit difficult for the host to keep a straight face, but he didn’t say much else.

After all, Jonas was the top Rotating Blocks professional player, and he had the privilege to be capricious.

Finally, it came to entry number 11, Against Heaven Blocks.

Seeing this familiar screen, the previously jovial judges immediately became serious.

Especially Liang Chun and Li Wenhao, you could even see their expressions darken a degree, obviously recalling the experience of being fed a bitter pill by this game.

Li Wenhao couldn’t wait to say, "I give it a ’Not Recommended’. From a player’s perspective, this game gave me a very bad experience, nowhere near as good as the original.

"My view might be subjective, but that’s truly what I think."

Liang Chun coughed lightly, "I also ’Not Recommended’.

"This game has decent art and special effects, but the key issue is that it changed the original gameplay of Rotating Blocks, and these changes are... beyond words!

"First off, the game seems to have deliberately adjusted the frequency of the I-shaped, or ’Heaven Defying’ Block—the more blocks you have stacked up, the less likely it is to appear!

"For a game like Rotating Blocks, this is a devastating blow to its gameplay.

"And what’s more absurd, the ’Angel’s Descent’ mechanism, which should be a reward when you reach a certain score, actually adds junk blocks to your own game. I can only say that such design is preposterous, and as a designer, I completely fail to understand it!

"In summary, the changes to the mechanics can only be described in four words: counterproductive. It has transformed the original Rotating Blocks into a purely disgusting game.

"So, I highly discourage anyone from playing it, unless you just want to torture yourself."

At this point, the order of the judges’ statements had gotten mixed up, with Cheng Anhua who was supposed to speak first now being the third, but that didn’t really matter anymore.

Cheng Anhua leaned slightly into the microphone, "I also ’Not Recommended’. I can only say that the designer must have wanted to break new ground with the classic gameplay of Rotating Blocks, to give players a fresh experience, but it backfired.

"My guess is that deliberately reducing the frequency of the long bars was meant to make players use other types of blocks more. However, the end result deviated significantly from the designer’s intentions.

"And as for why the online mode was designed this way... I’m completely baffled."

All three judges had given a "Not Recommended" option, meaning that the review tag for Against Heaven Blocks could only be either "Bad" or "Overwhelmingly Negative."

Everyone looked towards Jonas.

Obviously, following Jonas’s earlier pattern, it was likely he would also give a "Not Recommended".

However, to everyone’s surprise, Jonas actually spoke, "Although I haven’t completely figured out the game’s mechanics, there’s no doubt, I will give this game a ’Special Recommendation’."