Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 374 - 383 Elios Desktop Companion

Chapter 374: Chapter 383 Elios Desktop Companion

Clearly, Zhuge Jun, who thought he understood Nitiandang quite well, had completely guessed wrong and failed to grasp the true meaning behind Gu Fan’s words.

But one couldn’t blame him, after all, this was nothing short of a shameful deception, and Gu Fan, in his words and between the lines, not only failed to give the correct hints but deliberately led him astray.

It wasn’t just Zhuge Jun, nearly all the players present believed that Nitiandang’s next game would be a second-generation game.

It was just that the art style was a bit different.

Of course, what most players now commonly think of as second-generation games is no longer a broad concept, but a narrow one.

Broadly speaking, any game with a second-generation style can be considered a second-gen game, abbreviated as 2D games. Therefore, action games derived from popular anime IPs or text-adventure love games with cartoonish art styles would also be categorized as broad 2D games.

In the narrow sense, 2D games are often specifically referred to as mobile games, mainly characterized by various forms of combat (either real-time or turn-based) to advance the main storyline, character gacha systems, and various daily activities as filler.

Why think of 2D games when seeing figurines?

Because, as far as the current market is concerned, the most mature derivatives of second-generation games are figurines, which also sell the best.

While other games, such as MOBA games or action games, also have a huge player base and a fairly mature figurine industry, they truly fall short in terms of intellectual property derivatives compared to 2D games.

Since Nitiandang had made such exquisite figurines and planned to use them as an important part of the initial game promotion, producing a multi-device interoperable 2D game for PC and mobile was the best choice.

At least from a business model perspective, this was the most profitable approach.

If the art style were also second-gen, it would be a coup de grâce. It’s just unclear why Nitiandang still insisted on making three-dimensional, realistic art styles.

Looking at the style of this figurine, the artistry is as excellent as ever, just lacking a bit of that nebulous beauty typical of the second-gen style.

"How much is this figurine selling for?"

Some players at the event were figurine enthusiasts, and although Elios’s figurine didn’t have any IP value at the moment, the fine craftsmanship and the beautiful design were already tempting enough for their wallets.

Gu Fan explained, "The figurine is not sold separately but as part of a bundle.

"After purchasing the figurine, an official game activation code is automatically provided. The total price is 598."

Zhuge Jun speculated, "An official platform game activation code? So, the next game is still a pay-to-play model, not a free game with a gacha mechanism?"

Gu Fan nodded, "Yes, it’s still a pay-to-play model. Although there are some characters you can draw, drawing these characters doesn’t require top-ups.

"Players can use in-game currency to draw these characters, and the time and effort it takes to obtain all characters are roughly the same, it’s just a matter of order."

This statement made everyone even more convinced that this was indeed a three-dimensional game with 2D elements.

After all, it involved character drawing!

It’s just that the payment model was a little different.

Traditional 2D games sell characters, and if players want to quickly obtain a favorite character, they either play persistently or make short-term top-ups to draw.

Free-to-play gamers spend time, while paying gamers spend money.

But Nitiandang’s pricing model seemed more conscientious. A pure pay-to-play charge would inevitably reduce Nitiandang’s income, but if the game itself was hot enough, it should still be sufficient to recoup costs.

Zhuge Jun did some quick mental math: "The total price is 598, so if the game has a normal volume, the standard selling price is about 198, which means this figurine alone would be priced at roughly 400 yuan? 399?"

Gu Fan nodded, "Yes, more or less."

Zhuge Jun couldn’t help but feel pleasantly surprised, "Then this price isn’t expensive at all, for this quality of figurine to sell at 399, that’s relatively cheap."

"Huh, boss, why are you wearing that strange smile? Could it be that I’m wrong?"

Gu Fan struggled to maintain his smile, "Generally speaking, there’s no problem."

In reality, the cost of producing this figurine isn’t low, especially since Nitiandang can’t yet mass produce it to offset the costs. If we really calculate it, the cost should be higher than 399.

However, these costs are all considered part of the marketing expenses, so it’s not a big issue.

What’s more important is that in the game’s actual price of 198, it should also include a charge for the mental distress it brings to players, so the current price of 598 is just right.

Previously, Lilith had mentioned that the game would adopt a one-off payment model, and there would be no special or deluxe editions released.

Therefore, whether one purchases the figurine or not doesn’t affect the game content; this can only be considered a type of bundle sale which players voluntarily choose, different from special or deluxe editions of games.

Everyone carefully picked up the figurine and observed it in detail, full of praise.

Some people were even ready to scan and pay immediately, after all, they are old players of Nitiandang games and have a lot of trust in the quality of new Nitiandang games.

"You guys don’t need to rush to place your orders now, we have prepared a series of promotional activities to hype up the new game.

"It won’t be too late to decide after everyone has participated in the activities," Gu Fan advised with feigned sincerity.

"There are promotional activities? It seems that Nitiandang is really putting a lot of emphasis on this new game!"

Everyone was somewhat surprised, because although Nitiandang had also promoted new games before and had some marketing campaigns that broke the mold, on the whole such activities were not very frequent.

Gu Fan turned on the computer and entered a web address.

Everyone crowded around to look, only to see that the webpage that opened was a download page for some program, with different download channels for phones, computers, etc.

And on the background of the webpage, there was actually a dynamic video of Elios.

She was sitting lazily in a chair just like the figurine, reading a book, occasionally flipping a page, stretching, or looking up in the direction of the screen, with a faint smile on her lips.

The room instantly fell somewhat quiet. It was undeniable that when a very beautiful virtual character transitions from an immobile figurine to a moving image, the initial impact it has is very strong.

"Is this a... dynamic wallpaper?" Hou Ji asked.

"No," Zhuge Jun corrected, "it’s a desktop... oh, companion!"

In truth, his first reaction was to say "desktop pet," since desktop pet programs have a longer history, but after all, this is a person, not a pet, so it would be inappropriate to call it that.

Calling it a "desktop Elf" or "desktop companion" is more fitting.

But the functions of these are more or less the same.

All add an animated character to the desktop that responds to some user actions and can even engage in limited interaction.

According to the official page, this desktop application of Elios seems to be quite powerful.

Of course, such a program requires a lot of resources to run.

So when she is running on the computer, there may be certain system requirements, and it may cause the computer to lag. On a phone, it requires entering a separate app.