Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 435 - 422: The Cover-Up of Plot Mode_2

Chapter 435: Chapter 422: The Cover-Up of Plot Mode_2

However, as highly professional actors, they would of course not have any superfluous exchanges, only performing the script according to their own interpretations.

Zhou Yang was the first to speak, "President Li, this Lying System is, strictly speaking, part of the Dynamic Difficulty System, isn’t it?"

"Players can actively adjust the dynamic difficulty by lying."

"However, once a lie is exposed, the difficulty strikes back with a vengeance."

"I believe this mechanism must be disguised with narrative mode; otherwise, mere binary choices are not complex enough, and players will see through them quickly."

"We must introduce some other rewards to increase the deceptive nature of this system."

Lilith raised an eyebrow; she hadn’t expected one of the suspected traitors to come up with such a constructive suggestion right off the bat.

Indeed!

When Qin Fengliang proposed this system, he hadn’t realized this point.

The Lying System is binary, meaning there is always one truth and one lie. There’s no need for unnecessary entities; it’s not meaningful to set more than two options.

But the binary nature also leads to the Lying System not being confusing enough for the players.

If the players are even slightly savvy, they will soon realize: telling the truth has no benefits, unable to reduce the combat difficulty nor grant extra rewards. Although lying appears beneficial, it could be exposed, and once exposed, the game difficulty reverts back.

So, the players will quickly catch on to the deception.

At this point, it’s necessary to introduce another variable for rewards.

To make telling the truth have its own benefits, the more varied the rewards, the more factors players must consider, which can significantly slow their progress in realizing Nitiandang’s true intent.

"What other rewards, for example?" Lilith inquired further.

Zhou Yang thought for a moment, "For an action game, the truly useful rewards boil down to two types: one is linked to combat strength, and the other is linked to the narrative."

"Let’s talk about the narrative first."

"An intuitive setting is that telling lies frequently will make NPCs distrustful and increase the likelihood of being questioned and exposed. Conversely, telling the truth more often should increase NPC trust, making lies at certain critical points more effective."

"At the same time, a game like this will inevitably have multiple endings, so ’a certain number of truths’ should be a prerequisite for some of the better endings."

"Regarding rewards linked to combat strength, I have thought of some traits affected by lying mentioned in the concept drafts."

"Puppets are naturally poor liars, possessing higher defensive power, more health, and faster healing or regeneration. As they lie more often, they become more like humans, with lower defense and less health."

"If humans lie too much, they suffer side effects, such as enhanced Spiritual Vision."

"In the Cthulhu setting, Spiritual Vision is the inner eye. To put it plainly, it’s the ability to see the Unclean Blood of Ancient Gods."

"In similar themes, there’s often the saying, ’All that’s spoken shall be known,’ so lying and increasing Spiritual Vision to see unclean things is a reasonably logical setting."

"Thus, telling the truth can reduce Spiritual Vision, which in itself is a form of reward. After all, the world appears more normal without so many terrifying monsters, which is akin to a hidden way of reducing game difficulty."

"Overall, I think we can’t allow players to mindlessly choose lies or truths but have them make judgments based on multiple factors."

"First, we need to see what the current state of the game’s Dynamic Difficulty is."

"Next, we need to consider whether the player prefers a quick but less rewarding gameplay process, or a cumbersome one with more rewards."

"Finally, we must consider the player’s attitude towards the game’s narrative and NPC side quests."

"Combining these factors to create a chaotic system can further enhance its perplexity, forcing the players to endure discomfort and continue playing."

Lilith nodded frequently as she listened, "Hmm, makes sense!"

After Zhou Yang’s modifications, indeed, the deceptiveness had significantly increased.

When a player decides to lie, there are many issues they need to consider:

Firstly, players need to consider changes in difficulty. If the player’s current difficulty is too high, they can temporarily reduce it by lying; alternatively, they might decide to "save up interest" by telling the truth, making it easier to lie in the future without getting caught.

However, they cannot lie indefinitely because once a certain threshold is breached, causing an excessive Spiritual Vision, it could lead to a series of uncontrollable adverse effects.

Secondly, whether they lie or not, players can directly skip certain processes in the game.

For instance, in some stages, telling the truth means entering through the main gate, but lying allows for side entry. Conversely, in other stages, lying may facilitate progression, but honesty results in being captured and thrown into jail.

If players follow the normal process, they must engage in numerous battles, but they might also encounter some valuable rewards during the process.

The decision of whether to skip or not also needs consideration.

Last comes the storyline aspect, as various NPC side quests exist within the game, and player decisions to tell the truth or lie will, to a certain extent, determine their fates.

For example, if a benevolent NPC is misled by the player’s lie, they might perish at that location.

Players must judge whether the NPC is good, whether they feel morally aligned, and also consider whether keeping the NPC alive would lead to more substantial rewards later. If not, they might as well dispose of the NPC straight away, taking their clothes and weapons.

When all these factors are intertwined and well-designed, they can overwhelm the player’s mind.

With so many factors affecting rewards, each decision the player makes requires careful thought and cannot be easily discerned as the best solution at a glance.

This way, their resilience greatly increases after making their own decisions.

Even if this leads to a more challenging game or yields some hard-to-accept consequences, players will feel the primary responsibility lies with themselves for making the wrong choice.

As a result, they are more likely to persevere.

Wei Chengjie remarked, "However, this makes designing the game’s storyline even more challenging."

Obviously, the storyline is like a parcel’s packaging; the more content there is to send, the larger the box must be.

Previously, the storyline didn’t need to be too complex to satisfy the original mechanisms. But to meet Zhou Yang’s requirements, the story will inevitably need to be much larger in scope.

Lilith looked at Wei Chengjie: "So, regarding the storyline, do you have any ideas?"

Wei Chengjie pondered for a moment, "I haven’t thought of much yet, but to string together all of the current content, we need to come up with a plausible explanation for many existences within the game.

"For instance, this world can simultaneously host Ancient Gods, humans, puppets, and beastified zombies, and they may even transform into one another. This demands some logical consistency in the narrative.

"Here’s what I think: the story backdrop can center on a large-scale experiment to become gods, which is humanity’s research on Ancient God creatures.

"Puppets, undead, and the disease that turns humans into beasts are all essentially byproducts of this god-making experiment.

"Humans injected themselves with the Blood of the Ancient Gods, but over time, human blood turns into Unclean Blood. Unclean Blood is blood that gradually solidifies, ceasing to flow. Within this blood, unclean beings are bred, which slowly parasitize and erode humanity, affecting their consciousness.

"After the death of humans, this blood will congeal into crystals. These crystals contain the power of the Ancient Gods, and because they hold human memories and life essence, they become a dangerous but utilizable resource.

"When humans use these special crystals as a power source, the driven puppets come into being.

"Puppets, by constantly absorbing crystals, can gradually enhance their humanity, becoming more and more like humans.

"Of course, the reverse is also true. Humans can transform their bodies and their way of thinking to become more like puppets, although the process is more complex and cumbersome compared to puppets becoming human," he said.