Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 375 - 384: No Chat Box?

Chapter 375: Chapter 384: No Chat Box?

"Alright, let me meet this Elios and see what makes her so divine!"

Everyone returned to their places and downloaded the desktop program.

Although some people were instantly attracted to the Elios figurine and rushed to buy it, most chose to wait and see. After all, the item was quite pricey, and not many were willing to make an impulsive purchase, especially with so much stock still in the store.

Hou Ji returned to his station and quickly installed Elios’s desktop companion program.

Of course, all the equipment in the Sky Against Heaven Game Experience Store was uniformly updated and maintained, and after the system update, Elios’s desktop companion program would be automatically installed, so players wouldn’t need to install it manually again.

Soon, the download and installation were complete.

Hou Ji was surprised to find that the desktop companion program was over 800MB, a size that could even compete with some medium-sized games.

However, after the installation was complete, Hou Ji felt that the 800MB was well worth it, as the quality of the resources was indeed high!

Once installed on a computer, the entire desktop transformed into a specific background.

The setting seemed to be a rather simple study or reception room with minimal furnishings.

In the center of the screen was a place resembling a reception desk with a long counter and a work computer.

In each of the four corners of the screen, there were different areas of varying sizes and distances from view.

The top left corner featured an outdoor scene with a glimpse of a beach, lounge chairs, a section of a beach volleyball court, coconut trees, and clear blue skies.

The top right corner had a simple rest area with a massage chair, sofa, and coffee table.

The bottom left and right corners, perhaps due to perspective, seemed closer to the camera and occupied larger areas.

The bottom left corner had a large screen displaying random content, a sizable yoga mat, and some basic gym equipment.

The elements in the bottom right corner were the most complex, encompassing a desk and various books. A laptop sat on the desk; it looked smaller than the one at the reception but more artistic.

Although the scene’s viewpoint was fixed and couldn’t be dragged, the layout still gave players a sense of immersion.

At first, Hou Ji was puzzled why there were so many cluttered elements in one scene.

While it looked more realistic and like a scene that could exist in reality, it also made the desktop appear somewhat chaotic.

Moreover, whether it’s desktop pets or Elves, most only had very limited interaction options. Even with the complex scenes, players were unlikely to use them.

However, Hou Ji soon understood that there was some unique planning behind this design of the desktop Elf!

Firstly, players could choose to block any of the five areas. Once blocked, they would turn into a gradient solid color background.

If players found it too messy, they could keep just part of the areas and block out the rest for placing desktop icons.

From the current layout, the top left and top right corners were obviously suitable for blocking off and placing icons.

In this scene, Elios would randomly move between the scenes, sometimes going to the front desk to handle tasks, sometimes to the top left beach to sunbathe or play, or to the bottom left to practice yoga.

Every time she switched scenes, she would first leave the screen, change clothes, and then move to the corresponding scene.

The scenes Elios spent the most time in were the bottom right and then the bottom left.

Clearly, if players wanted a "pure mode" to keep their computer desktops clean and simple, then just keeping the bottom right desk area would suffice.

When Elios was reading at the bottom right desk, her AI would be fully activated, and she would talk to the player.

When Elios spoke, there would be both audio and text options, and players could choose to turn off the voice or text, adjust the frequency of Elios’s interactions, or even ask her to completely shut up and say nothing.

These features were not very complicated, and Hou Ji quickly figured them out.

"Feels kind of interesting, should I try it?"

Hou Ji put on his headphones and quickly adjusted the settings, ready to start.

Elios was initially reading at the desk, looking serene, natural, and lovely.

Soon, Hou Ji ran into the first problem: "But... there’s no chat input box!"

Hou Ji had thought that the desktop Elf would be like smart speakers or various online AIs, capable of free communication.

This wasn’t actually hard to achieve, as there were already templates for fake-AIs that could implement typing interaction. Not to mention, Sky Against Heaven had already achieved this feature in City of the Abandoned Gods.

Yet, there was no input box on the desktop Elf, meaning players couldn’t proactively chat with Elios.

They could type in text documents or browsers, but these wouldn’t trigger any response from Elios.

She continued to read quietly, and at that moment, Hou Ji and she were like two strangers in a study room, feeling close in distance but each minding their own business.

Hou Ji was a bit disappointed, "Strange, why are they regressing with this feature? Did they cut out the existing functionality of the fake-AI as well?

"I thought this time Sky Against Heaven would have created another powerful AI.

"Manager, will there be a chat box added later?"

Hou Ji looked at Gu Fan with a pleading gaze, but Gu Fan just smiled and shook his head, "A desktop Elf? No."

Gu Fan’s straightforward response left Hou Ji somewhat disappointed.

Zhuge Jun then said, "The manager only said the desktop Elf wouldn’t have a chat box, not that the games wouldn’t have one. I think there’s some reasoning behind this design; after all, a desktop Elf shouldn’t be too dominant, maybe there was some special consideration in the initial design."

Hou Ji grudgingly accepted this explanation, trying to click on Elios a few times, but the other party didn’t respond.

It was like the two of them were separated by thick soundproof glass, and no matter whether pounding on it or shouting, there was no way to attract the other’s attention.

"So how exactly do you trigger it?"

Hou Ji was puzzled; he tried a few methods, but none worked.

"Just randomly click on any game on the desktop." Zhuge Jun seemed to have noticed something earlier and pointed it out.

Dubiously, Hou Ji clicked on a desktop game icon, and sure enough, Elios temporarily put down her book and looked towards the screen.

"Huh? Are you a player of Sky Against Heaven games too?"