Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 373 - 382: Figures

Chapter 373: Chapter 382: Figures

September 2, Wednesday.

Sky Against Heaven Game Experience Store.

"Huh? Manager! What a rare visitor!"

Gu Fan had barely stepped into the experience store when he heard Sui Tao’s voice, filled with surprise.

He waved his hand, "Hey, what do you mean ’rare visitor’? Keep it down, keep it down. I was just assigned to a more important position for a while, and now that things have mostly settled over there, I can come back and check on the experience store."

"How’s everything going here?"

Sui Tao hurriedly nodded, "All good, all good! It’s all thanks to the manager’s brilliant leadership, our experience store is thriving!"

Gu Fan almost choked on his cough and quickly gestured for Sui Tao to shut up, "Alright, I get what you mean, but it’s best not to use that term too often."

Sui Tao didn’t understand, "Huh? Why not?"

Gu Fan didn’t bother explaining and instead took a moment to survey the current state of the experience store.

It had to be said that the place was indeed getting busier and busier; the occupancy rate on the first floor was now reaching over seventy percent, and although he couldn’t see the other floors for the time being, judging from the keycards being picked up at the front desk, the occupancy rates there should also be over fifty percent.

This occupancy rate might not be considered high for internet cafés, but for experience stores or console game shops, it was pretty impressive.

After all, their business models and pricing standards were different.

Players in the hall were all intently playing various games.

Gu Fan noticed that games subsequently released by Heavenly Games, such as "Shadow World" version 70, had also been updated here at the experience store, with some players engaging in those at the moment.

However, those in the hall playing "Shadow World" were mostly lone wolves—if they needed to use voice chat, they would usually go to the dedicated rooms on the second floor.

It was clear that many of the players in the hall were quite familiar with each other; they would chat when they got tired of gaming, and even help themselves to some of the store’s equipment, such as the coffee machine.

"Anyone know how to use the coffee machine? Help me make a coffee, thanks!"

"I do. You want a latte or Americano?"

"Iced Americano! I’m going head-to-head with this boss today, I’ve gotta take it down!"

"Done, come get it yourself."

"Okay, thanks bro."

This was the unique business model of Sky Against Heaven Game Experience Store: customer self-service.

Of course, the experience store had a coffee machine, as well as ice cream, drinks, and snacks. But what it didn’t have were baristas and salespersons.

Because Gu Fan didn’t hire any.

So far, Sui Tao was the manager of this store, and apart from him, there were five other staff members.

Initially, there were three staff members, but that rotation was somewhat strenuous, so they later expanded to five to barely ensure that at least one staff member was always present during normal working hours.

Of course, they had cleaning staff, which didn’t count as part of the regular staff members.

By the standards of a typical shop, even a similar number of staff members couldn’t possibly meet the needs of so many customers.

A typical shop would opt to hire an additional barista to make coffee for the customers and have at least one or two staff members on each floor, ready to meet customers’ needs at all times.

But this experience store implemented Gu Fan’s philosophy from the start, aiming to minimize the number of staff and let the customers manage themselves.

As a result, customers made their own coffee using the coffee machine and self-served their selection of drinks and snacks.

At present, the store clerks merely played a simple supervisory role. When players were too busy to handle everything themselves, they could also opt for a little assistance.

Gu Fan’s ultimate goal was to achieve complete self-care for the players, ideally even enabling full self-service for opening and closing the store. Of course, this goal was rather distant and might require a multitude of technological means to accomplish, but it was still a general direction.

"So, Manager, what brings you here this time?"

Sui Tao had been quite proactive in his recent work, as the business at the Sky Against Heaven Game Experience Store was visibly improving, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

Gu Fan smiled slightly, "Of course, it’s to promote Sky Against Heaven’s key product for the upcoming period!"

"Just wait a moment, the items should arrive soon."

After Gu Fan finished speaking, he checked the shipping information on his phone, and sure enough, the courier arrived within minutes.

What arrived were several large cardboard boxes. Upon opening them, there were rectangular boxes inside. Through the packaging and the transparent part of the shell, it could be determined that these were well-crafted figurines.

Sui Tao dragged the large cardboard boxes into the storeroom to lock them up temporarily, leaving a few for display at the front desk.

Soon, curious customers began to gather around.

"Wow! This side-slit cheongsam is really something!"

All the figurines represented the same character, but with different poses and designs, there were three distinct types.

This character was, of course, Elios, the first female character from "Heartbeat Dream." Her appearance was just as previously designed, with smooth blonde hair adorned with a gold hairpin and red tassels. She wore a tight gold-threaded high-slit cheongsam, with slightly puffed sleeves on her forearms, and semi-transparent black gauze on her upper arms and thighs.

The first was a standard standing pose figurine, looking straight ahead, her figure imposing and her demeanor impressive.

The second was a seated pose figurine, holding a book and reading it, appearing gentle and cultivated.

The third was a dynamic pose figurine, seemingly casting some kind of spell, with colorful spell effects circling around her.

The postures of these three figurines had their unique charm, and the texture of the skin and clothing was meticulously detailed, making them quite exquisite within the realm of figurines.

Hou Ji was already an old customer of the store, and along with Zhuge Jun and other students, they had been upgraded to veteran players of the Sky Against Heaven Game Experience Store. As frequent visitors, they were entitled to noticeable discounts.

Moreover, Gu Fan had also introduced a "Work-Study Plan" in the store, which allowed customers to help out with odd jobs in the store, such as making coffee, simple cleaning, maintaining equipment, or guiding and introducing other customers, all of which could be exchanged for a certain amount of compensation.

So Hou Ji and Zhuge Jun, as college students with no particular commitments, would often make their way here.

Now seeing these well-made figurines, the group of college students found it hard to take their eyes off them.

"Are these figurines made by Sky Against Heaven themselves? I haven’t seen them before."

"Which game are they from?" Hou Ji asked curiously.

"Obviously not from any of the previous games. Could it be a new game? Is Sky Against Heaven going to make an anime-style game?"

Zhuge Jun was a loyal player of Sky Against Heaven’s games, having played almost all of them. He recognized at a glance that this figurine was not a character from any previous game.

Gu Fan nodded, "It’s from Sky Against Heaven’s new game, but whether or not it’s an anime-style game is hard to say. Probably not quite."

So far, the production of the figurines was basically complete, and Elios’s desktop program was also finished. The pre-marketing for "Heartbeat Dream" would soon begin, so most of the information could now be disclosed.

The only thing left a secret was the specific type of game "Heartbeat Dream" was, as that was a surprise to be left for the players.

Zhuge Jun paused for a moment, "Oh? It’s not an anime-style game? But looking at this figurine, and the feel of this character..."

"Oh, I get it. Manager, you mean to say that the style of this character is closer to three-dimensional realism, so it doesn’t count as an anime-style game. But the gameplay is basically similar, right?"

Gu Fan just smiled slightly, noncommittal, "All I can say is, stay tuned."

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