Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 389 - 398 What is Nitiandang up to?

Chapter 389: Chapter 398 What is Nitiandang up to?

"Okay, since there’s such a glitch, I’m sorry, not really! Who needs to play fair?"

"If other games had this kind of glitch, using it might make one feel a bit guilty, but not this game!"

"Time to exploit it shamelessly!"

Instructor Ding once again opened "Heartbeat Dream," but this time he was smarter. He kept his hand on alt+F4, ready to shut down the game at the speed of light if anything went wrong!

If it were any other game, quitting the game could skip some challenges and Instructor Ding would feel somewhat guilty because that’s not just skipping classes, it’s like skipping school entirely.

But "Heartbeat Dream" never did preach integrity, mixing horror elements into a romance game, so don’t blame players for not having integrity either!

The motivation for Instructor Ding to continue playing was very simple: the rewards!

Clearly, every time a player completed a horror level, the system would dish out extremely generous rewards. In other games, such rewards would typically require a long time grinding or finishing many difficult levels.

Some companies might even turn these rewards into pay-to-win content.

But in "Heartbeat Dream," just skipping the horror part could directly grant the rewards. This setup, though lacking in scruples, was nevertheless considerate.

Even as he played, Instructor Ding found himself looking forward to the horror content appearing quickly.

After all, once it showed up, it meant new swimsuits were about to be unlocked!

As for dating the girls in the game, of course, that was still going on as usual.

Instructor Ding discovered that after re-entering the game, he could still date the girls normally, and he could even two-time or multi-time without issues.

In the official version, the first girl Instructor Ding romanced was Yarvette. After successfully confessing to her, he quickly used an invitation to invite other girls to the island.

To his surprise, these girls managed to get along harmoniously from start to finish!

This harmony wasn’t the kind where they didn’t see or interact with each other; it was the kind where a Shura Field seemed imminent but just didn’t happen!

When there were multiple girls in Eden, it was very easy for them to bump into each other when arranging activities.

Although each girl preferred her own activities and places, the island was only so big, and with more and more girls, running into each other was highly likely.

By now, Instructor Ding had established a relationship with Yarvette. If it were a realistic setting, he shouldn’t be allowed to pursue other girls.

But what about the outcome? This game had absolutely no restrictions!

Instructor Ding could continue to give gifts to other girls, arrange activities, and even normally advance romantic relationships.

And even if Yarvette saw all this, she basically wouldn’t mind.

Although these characters occasionally had some in-character tart dialogue — like a loli might act tsundere and a mature lady might throw some sarcastic remarks — overall, it felt more like flirtation that didn’t actually impact the content of the game.

Players could even invite two ambivalent characters to play together, such as having both of them play beach volleyball while he acted as the referee.

This convinced Instructor Ding even more: this wasn’t just a love game; it was definitely a science fiction game!

It must be said, if this game were without the horror content, even just the science fiction part was actually quite fun.

What’s fun about it?

Anyway, with those breasts, those legs, such a pretty girl taking the initiative to ask you out, whispering sweet nothings to you, even confessing her feelings to you—how could that not be fun?

It’s a bit sci-fi, but we’re all getting older, and the ultra-realistic games are too much to chew on now; we just love some sci-fi content.

As for the horror aspects of the game, Instructor Ding would instantly hit alt+F4 whenever he saw signs that things were turning south, and then log back in to collect the rewards.

At first, Instructor Ding was rather pleased with himself: Look at my quick hand speed!

The ghosts hadn’t even shown up yet, and I’d already closed the game!

But soon, Instructor Ding realized something was off because, although his hand speed was fast, the scares he was meant to encounter didn’t seem to decrease at all!

In the game, the horror content is actually quite scary at the beginning, but when it really comes to ghosts chasing players, it gets less scary and shifts into normal horror game content.

And when Instructor Ding thought about closing the game, it was typically after he’d already been scared by the introduction.

He did try to anticipate it, but such predictions were prone to error.

For instance, several times, Instructor Ding saw the surroundings turn red and immediately closed the game, but upon logging back in, the save didn’t jump ahead, nor did any rewards pop up.

Clearly, it was just a normal sunset scene with no horror elements, so quitting the game was useless.

Sometimes, Instructor Ding saw the scene turning red but hesitated over whether to close the game or not, and the next second, a giant ghost face would jump out, scaring him out of his wits.

Clearly, what’s most terrifying isn’t the visual, but the unknown!

With such sudden scares in horror games, nobody can stand it!

Instructor Ding played for a while longer, continuing to develop a relationship with the female characters in the game, but soon, he started to feel it was becoming rather dull, and the shocks he received from the game began to far outweigh the pleasure.

After all, the romance content is just that much, feeling great during the first round, even better pursuing two girls and experiencing sweet stories simultaneously, but after that, consuming something sweet too much can become tiresome, even downright bland.

But the occasional horror scenes that popped up were consistently frightening.

So as this waxed and waned, players like Instructor Ding also began to feel more irritated and increasingly realized that they were being duped!

But how exactly were they duped? It seemed somewhat unclear.

Surely Nitiandang wouldn’t go to such lengths just to occasionally throw some horror elements into the game to scare us. What’s their angle?

"Alright, guys, that’s it for today’s live stream."

Instructor Ding yawned, it was already quite late, and he also felt somewhat listless.

He never imagined that after playing the demo of "Heartbeat Dream" for several days, he would start feeling bored with the full release so soon...

As for whether he will pick up this game again tomorrow?

Hard to say!

However, just then, Instructor Ding saw another comment.

"Instructor! I discovered that if you can clear the horror levels, the rewards are much richer! Plus, there are many exclusive storylines for the characters that get unlocked!"