Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 446 - 429 Outsourcing Company

Chapter 446: Chapter 429 Outsourcing Company

Soon, the large conference room was filled with people.

Wei Chengjie had already installed the demo of "Blood of Lies" on the computer and connected it to the projector screen in the conference room, and the selected tester was none other than Qiu Qinghong, originally a vice president of Chuangda Technology.

Chuangda Technology, as an outsourcing company, primarily obtains its outsourcing business from domestic game companies. Although there are a handful of outsourcing works from overseas or non-game related, they are not the mainstream.

Thus, the majority of individuals within Chuangda Technology are essentially professionals in the gaming industry and have a good understanding of games.

Although Qiu Qinghong was only the vice president, he was actually responsible for most of the company’s affairs, while the actual boss wasn’t very involved.

When discussing the details of in-depth cooperation, Wei Chengjie had talked quite a bit with the boss, but after formally settling in Chuangda Technology to start working, he seldom saw him, and most of the work was coordinated with President Qiu.

Moreover, Qiu Qinghong himself was also a game enthusiast. He had played some of Nitiandang’s previous games, which is why he was considered the best candidate to showcase the demo.

By now, Qiu Qinghong was holding the controller and eager to try it.

"Being an internal staff member has its perks, getting to play Nitiandang’s new game so soon.

"President Wei, I must tell you, I was already fired up just seeing the name and promotional images of the game. I’m truly looking forward to it!"

Soon, the game screen appeared on the projector.

Since it was merely a trial play demo, there was no fancy opening CG, just simple characters, scenes, and enemies, which were all the essence of the game.

The first thing one noticed was the style of clothing of the player-controlled character.

At first glance, it resembled a mix of Victorian and Gothic styles, which are quite famous and distinct.

For instance, the game character wore a long black coat with smooth lines and a simple style, but while being crisp and clean, it was also full of details, such as metal buttons or silver ornaments on the coat’s hem, cuffs, or other parts, giving it a layered and aesthetic look.

In addition, the character wore a triangular hat and leather gloves, which also had buckles and carved designs, and one could vaguely see other accessories like a pocket watch on the character, giving him a gentlemen’s flair.

Of course, what was seen now was just one set of standard attire first made in the game, and players could actually choose from many different clothes in the game, although they were not yet produced.

Passing the character’s sight forward, one could see a specially designed gas lamp.

This was the game’s equivalent of a "Bonfire" or "Buddha Statue".

In similar games, such elements can be seen as individual nodes in the game, where players can respawn after dying, and also upgrade or teleport.

Typically, functions like these were achieved through "Save" and "Function Menu" in similar games, but designs like these "Bonfires" are better for adjusting the players’ pace, providing appropriate difficulty challenges, and have advantages in level design, so gradually it became a "known science" accepted by players and designers alike.

However, the gas lamp in "Blood of Lies" did have a particularly unique design.

In fact, even today, places like London still maintain some old gas lamps that date back to the early 19th century and are still regularly maintained.

Their sizes and designs vary, some are square and inverted, some are hollow cylinders, and while some are only about the height of a person, others could be about 3 meters tall.

In "Blood of Lies", depending on the scene, the gas lamps accessible to players vary in height and design; in smaller scenes, the size of the gas lamps is reduced, and in larger scenes, their size increases accordingly.

Unactivated gas lamps are by default turned off, some by the roadside, and some in the middle of the square, although they blend cunningly into the scene, a subtle dark effect surrounds them, drawing the player’s attention.

When players light the gas lamps, the light dispels the darkness and also significantly increases the visibility of the surrounding scene.

For players, this provides a certain degree of psychological comfort.

Of course, there are other light sources in the game as well, such as some outdoor scenes with light from cloudy skies or the moon, and also other light sources like torches, streetlights, and lights inside rooms.

Actually, 200 years before the Victorian era, during the Louis XIV era, a city lighting ordinance was enacted that not only set up streetlights on the streets but also required residents to install outdoor lights, which is why this era is also known as the "Era of Brightness".

"Blood of Lies" clearly extends this setting somewhat, besides the conspicuous gas lamps that can serve as storage points, one can see a lot of lighting equipment on the town’s exterior walls.

However, due to the game’s ambiance needs, most of these wall lamps are in a damaged state, only lit in places where the designers needed to provide light.

Besides the scene lighting, players can also use lanterns or torches for lighting, and if the puppetry is severe, even specially modified Puppet Prostheses can achieve night vision effects.

Qiu Qinghong controlled the character to the gas lamp ahead and lit it.

At that moment, he noticed a tool bench nearby where weapons and prostheses could be modified.

Wei Chengjie explained, "Actually, in the official game, the modification of weapons and prostheses will be done on different tool benches, but this, after all, is a demo."

Qiu Qinghong nodded, then looked forward at the scene before him.

The demo displayed a basic town scene completely in the Victorian style, only the streets were chaotically littered with many discarded remnants of carriages or purposely stacked debris blocking some entrances.

The first enemy ahead was a puppet.

She appeared to be of normal human height, with a crown on her head, pale skin, distinctive and unnatural red blush on her cheeks, bright red lips, and pitch-black eyes. Her attire was a luxurious off-shoulder long gown, adorned with several strands of intricate necklaces, each bead framed with gold plating and enamel, still dazzling even under the dim night light.

However, upon closer inspection, her gown was stained with blood and somewhat damaged.

Next to her were the shattered windows of a clothing store and the corpse of an unidentified person.

Qiu Qinghong knew that this puppet was probably the first enemy he was about to encounter.

According to the plot, this puppet was actually a "dress dummy," in other words, a mannequin used in clothing stores.

In the 19th century, the mannequin industry in Europe was thriving, with professional painters and textile workers joining the industry to produce luxurious, costly mannequins used to display a range of luxury items including hats, shoes, headpieces, jewelry, and clothing, attracting the nobility to spend on them.

It was clear that this setting was also adopted in the game, with many clothing stores in this town, and no shortage of similar dress dummies.

However, clearly, after the events of the game took place, these mannequins, like other puppets, began to revolt and turned into dangerous killing tools.

According to the settings in "Blood of Lies", although these mannequins were produced for various purposes, such as dress dummies merely being clothes racks, due to the level of craftsmanship and world setting, all the puppets had equal strength and upgrading opportunities, all capable of killing humans.

For instance, the weapon of the dress dummy was a sharp metal candelabra, seemingly taken from nearby.

Having identified the enemy, Qiu Qinghong began to examine the character he controlled.

At this moment, he should be controlling the standard human form, with clear human characteristics except for the puppet prosthesis on the left hand.

The difference between humans and puppets was quite obvious; human clothes were worn on the body and looked light and flowing, whereas puppet clothes were literally painted on the body, indistinguishable from a distance but clearly revealing joints upon closer inspection, and if the camera zoomed in, one could even see mechanical structures such as springs.

"This is to attack, this is to dodge, this is to jump...

"Oh? Holding down attack results in a heavy or thrust attack, seems to vary based on the weapon action model? Then what’s a heavy attack? Oh, Transform Slash!

"These two shoulder buttons on the left are for defense and prosthetic abilities, including combo keys; after combining the defense button, it can turn into a special martial technique, and combining prosthetic abilities can turn into different prosthetic skills. Transform Slash also seems to allow forming different variations by pressing the combo key during use...

"It’s quite complicated."

Qiu Qinghong was somewhat surprised because the action system of "Blood of Lies" was obviously much more complex than he had anticipated.

Since it was a demo, the character he controlled at this moment was already in a fully unlocked state.

Be it weapons or prostheses, players could carry three to four different skills, to be released through combination keys.

Whether carrying three or four depends on the rarity of the skills; some powerful special skills would occupy two slots.

If it were a regular game progression, these slots would be unlocked gradually.

At this moment, the character held a special broadsword in his hands.

Its blade was broad and heavy, apparently engraved with sacred inscriptions. However, its size seemed strange: its length was shorter than the typical broadsword, and its attacking motions were primarily slashing, not very agile, yet its width was comparable to that of a greatsword, obviously much wider than both straight and broad swords.

However, after using Transform Slash, Qiu Qinghong quickly understood the essence behind this design.

During the Transform Slash process, the character seemed to press a mechanism on the cylindrical hilt, and during the swing, the broadsword instantly extended, turning into a spear.

At this moment, the character held it with both hands, and the attack motion shifted towards that of a spear’s action model.

If Transform Slash was used again, the character would still use the inertia from the swing to retract the spear’s shaft back into a broadsword.

In both instances of Transform Slash, there were clearly visible Invincibility Frames. In those brief moments, the inscriptions on the blade would flicker. The precise timing was just before the broадsword was swung out to extend into a spear and hit the enemy, or just as the spear thrust and shortened the shaft to strike the enemy.

The timing of the Invincibility Frames during the two kinds of Transform Slash was not consistent.

As for the weapon’s martial techniques, there were three different kinds: a thrust after charging up, a downward slash after lifting high, and a somewhat fancy continuous slashing.

After transformation, the martial technique actions were generally consistent, but details such as charging time, rushing distance, and buffering differed.

For the prosthetic worn by the character, it was a flame-shooting puppet arm.

When used normally, the puppet arm would continuously spit fire towards enemies ahead. If combined with combination keys, it could also enchant the weapon or spin and spray flames around or even embed Flame Bombs into the ground.

"Good, I’ve fully mastered it!"

Qiu Qinghong confidently walked towards the puppet in front of him.

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