Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 37 Rotating Elimination!

Chapter 37: Chapter 37 Rotating Elimination!

As soon as these words were uttered, everyone was shocked.

"Special recommendation?"

Although the judges only had two options, "recommend" and "do not recommend," and even if they said "special recommendation," it would not give the game any extra points, these four words still very clearly expressed Jonas’s favor towards this game.

But why?

Everyone was utterly baffled. Could it be that professional players were masochists who just liked to be disgusted by game mechanics?

In addition, many people also noticed that there seemed to be a deeper meaning in what Jonas had said.

He said, "Although I haven’t fully understood the mechanics of this game."

What mechanics?

Weren’t the changes in the game compared to the original just those few aspects? It was nothing more than deliberately decreasing the probability of getting straight pieces, and then creating a disgusting online mode that annoyed everyone.

The mechanics were already simple enough that even a host like Li Wenhao had completely understood them, so how could Jonas, a top professional player of Rotating Blocks, not understand?

It made no sense!

The host was also puzzled and asked, "Mr. Jonas, can you provide a detailed explanation?"

After thinking for a moment, Jonas said, "I’d like to explain in conjunction with the game footage, is that okay?"

The host nodded, "Of course."

The director professionally switched to Jonas’s screen, and Jonas started playing Against Heaven Blocks.

The other judges also curiously turned their heads to watch.

In fact, Li Wenhao, who had been sitting next to Jonas, had already noticed that Jonas spent much more time playing Against Heaven Blocks than anyone else, but he hadn’t given it too much thought at that time.

Now it seemed that there was definitely more than meets the eye.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lilith was also stunned.

What the heck?

The rationalization Cheng Anhua had made earlier, saying that "the deliberate decrease in the appearance probability of straight pieces was to make players use other types of blocks," was laughable to Lilith.

Idiot, I just wanted to disgust players and gather their negative emotions!

Lilith greatly appreciated such "masochistic" people who were even ready to count the money made from their own suffering. To her, such comments were music to her ears.

However, with Jonas, Lilith couldn’t laugh anymore.

She had a vague feeling that things weren’t as simple as she imagined.

Could such a simple game still produce unexpected problems? That made no sense!

Unconsciously, Lilith crumpled the can of cola in her hand, leaned slightly forward away from the massage chair, and stared intently at Jonas’s play on the live stream.

...

"I first became aware of the problem with this game when the ’Angel’s Descent’ event happened for the first time.

"According to common logic, an ’Angel’ represents goodness and beauty, so its appearance should be a positive event. Yet in the game, it brings us several rows of garbage blocks.

"This is clearly a contradiction.

"Could it be that in the designer’s eyes, angels are some sort of evil being? This is obviously strange."

Jonas emphasized the word "weird" at the end.

Liang Chun thought for a moment, "We can’t rule out that possibility. Maybe the designer wanted to be unconventional."

Jonas nodded slightly, "That’s certainly possible, but it’s a point of doubt. Hence, I began to consider another possibility: what if it’s a hint?

"Perhaps, the game designer is suggesting that the Angel bringing these garbage blocks is a good thing."

The judges looked at each other in disbelief, clearly thinking the idea absurd.

How could garbage blocks be a good thing! That completely overturns the basic gameplay of the original Rotating Blocks!

How is that different from saying ’The sun should rise in the west’?

Jonas continued, "The ’Angel’s Descent’ in the online mode provides corroboration: triggering ’Angel’s Descent’ in this mode adds four rows of garbage blocks for oneself, but the opponent only gets two rows.

"If ’Angel’s Descent’ itself is a reward mechanism, or rather, it is both a ’reward mechanism’ and a ’punishment mechanism,’ and whether it’s a reward or punishment depends on the player’s skill level, then this logic becomes reasonable."

People felt there might be a little sense to the idea, but how could a trash block be a reward mechanism?

"This is something I discovered by accident," Jonas pointed to the status on his screen. "Please take a look at the state of my screen now."

Only then did everyone notice that he had already stacked quite a number of blocks.

However, the way these blocks were stacked was quite an eyesore.

On the right side of the screen at about two-thirds, the blocks were stacked neatly, tightly packed without any gaps, pleasing to the eye.

But on the left third of the screen, it was a mess, with many empty grid spaces below. According to the standard gameplay, one could only start clearing from the very top, which was undeniably a terrible arrangement.

Yet the next second, Jonas chose to use the "T" block he had on hold.

This block quickly fell toward the very left of the screen, but given the current situation, its orientation was extremely awkward and it couldn’t clear any line.

Everyone was puzzled. Wasn’t Jonas a professional player? What was he trying to do?

The next second, something astonishing happened.

A second before the T block got stuck, Jonas hit the "Rotate" button, and then, the block forced itself through the gap, fitting snugly and filling up the three bottom layers of blocks!

The elimination was instantaneous!

Li Wenhao was stunned, "No way, what was that move? How did he do that? Why could the block that was already stuck in the gap be forced in there? Is this a bug?"

Cheng Anhua also frowned, "Is it a bug...?"

The two looked at Jonas, then turned to Liang Chun.

Liang Chun was a designer, and on this issue, he obviously had more say than them.

But Liang Chun was clearly confused too, his brows deeply furrowed, "It’s really hard to say whether this is a bug or part of the game mechanics!

"In the original Rotating Blocks, this operation couldn’t be achieved. Because if any little block is obstructed during rotation, it won’t go in, let alone fit through a gap like a needle.

"But in Against Heaven Blocks, it seems that this isn’t how it’s judged.

"Perhaps only the very center block is subject to collision?

"As long as there are connected gaps, and the space below allows for the rotated block to fit, then during the rotation, the block won’t collide but will instead be squeezed directly into the gap.

"If this is an intentional design by the creators, then it isn’t a bug but a unique mechanism that differs from the original Rotating Blocks; if the designers did this unintentionally and unintentionally achieved this effect, then it’s a benign bug."

Li Wenhao scratched his head, "So? Is this change in mechanics important?"

It sounded like a negligible difference.

However, Jonas seriously said, "Of course, this change is critical; it completely overturns the current gameplay of Rotating Blocks! It can even be said that it has elevated the competitiveness of Rotating Blocks by more than just a notch!

"With this new mechanism, I can do this...

"Like this...

"Even like this!"

As Jonas spoke, he demonstrated in the game.

People were amazed to find that the well-known Rotating Blocks suddenly became unfamiliar!

Jonas would deliberately arrange some seemingly bizarre shapes, and then, when he got the specific block he needed, he applied the earlier trick to forcefully squeeze it into the gap.

This allowed for the elimination of three lines with almost every block!

This was far more efficient than the "waiting for a long bar" method of elimination!

Of course, this way of playing had a problem: it was very brain-intensive!

To intentionally leave just the right gap in the stacked blocks, one needed a profound understanding of the game’s shapes, and the brain’s reaction speed had to be very fast, or else one would backfire and mess up.

And Jonas, being the number one professional player in Rotating Blocks, had precisely this ability.

It was a little clearer why he had said this technique would significantly enhance the competitiveness of Rotating Blocks.

If your brain isn’t sharp enough, you really can’t play with such high-level tactics!

While demonstrating the technique, Jonas said, "So far, I’ve found that the T block is the easiest to achieve this kind of elimination with, other blocks can do it too, but the conditions are much stricter and harder to pull off in actual combat.

"That’s why I said, I haven’t fully understood this new mechanism yet.

"However, one thing is certain: it is because of this mechanism that ’Angel’s Descent’ has now become a positive incentive!"