Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 487 - 470: Are there any experts left?

Chapter 487: Chapter 470: Are there any experts left?

Gu Fan continued to explain, "So how exactly does a computer store decimals?

"This is what I previously mentioned as ’floating point numbers.’ The term ’floating’ means that the decimal point can move.

"For example, the binary number 1000.101 can be represented as 1.000101 x 2^3, which is somewhat similar to scientific notation in mathematics.

"In programs, to use scientific notation in binary and standardize it, we ensure that there is only one digit to the left of the decimal point and it must be 1. Most computers currently use floating-point numbers established by the IEEE international standard, which adopts the format of sign bit + exponent bit + mantissa.

"In short, due to the conversion between decimal and binary, computing in this way means that 0.1 + 0.2 does not equal a complete 0.3 because many decimals cannot be completely represented in binary in computers. Thus, they are stored as approximate values, and the sum of two approximate values is also an approximation.

"Converting from decimal to binary for calculation and then converting back to decimal for output results in the two numbers not being equal."

Lilith furrowed her brows, "Then why can’t we use decimal for precise calculations!"

Gu Fan cleared his throat, "About that... if I have to explain from scratch ’why computers use binary,’ it’s too complicated and would take too long to clarify.

"However, regarding this issue, I can explain from another angle why everyone tolerates this kind of error, because the error itself is ineliminable.

"Even in decimal, many numbers can’t be divided exactly. Decimal can precisely represent numbers that 2 and 5 can divide exactly, but for fractions like 1/3, 1/7, decimal is also powerless and similarly produces errors.

"So, regardless of the numeral system used, errors are inevitable."

Lilith felt her brain was smoking, "Okay, I get it, in computers 0.1 + 0.2 ≠ 0.3, but what about this bug?"

Gu Fan sighed in relief, "President Li, if you can understand this point, then explaining this bug becomes a bit easier.

"Simply put, when the programmers were writing the code for Dynamic Difficulty, they did not consider such extreme special cases with 999 followed by decimals and did not write a specific judgment for such exceptions. Therefore, in the process of value conversion, the program could not determine the specific difficulty range of the number and directly reduced it to the lowest difficulty.

"From a human perspective, 4999.99 certainly still falls within the 5000 range, but not for the program. That is to say, 0.1 + 0.2 = 0.30000000000000004, which has overflowed the normal range of 0.3."

Lilith was utterly dumbfounded. Although she still couldn’t accept it, from the program’s perspective, the occurrence of this bug was actually logical.

Moreover, Gu Fan wasn’t just making this up; other games had also encountered similar bugs.

Lilith quickly realized a new problem, "But assuming what you say is true, this special case should be hard to trigger, right? It would only trigger when entering a boss room if the difficulty value happens to be stuck at 999 with decimals. But why, in the game, can everyone trigger it!!"

Gu Fan cleared his throat, "Let me check this."

He opened the program of "Blood of Lies" and carefully reviewed the code related to "Fanatics."

"President Li, it’s because of the Fanatic’s special skill-set.

"This skill requires players to break free manually. According to the Dynamic Difficulty setting, the slower a player breaks free, the more unskilled they are, hence the Dynamic Difficulty increases with the duration of the skill. That makes sense, doesn’t it?"

Lilith thought for a moment, "Hmm... that’s reasonable."

Dynamic Difficulty is a fundamental setting of "Blood of Lies." Simply put, the less skilled a player, the higher their difficulty.

Therefore, from the perspective of the skill, a player caught in the skill is certainly unskilled, and a.player who is slow to break free is even less skilled. Thus, dynamically increasing the difficulty during the skill’s duration is a very rational design.

Gu Fan continued, "However, continually increasing Dynamic Difficulty doesn’t seem reasonable for a skill.

"For a skill, such a punitive measure is perhaps a bit too harsh.

"So, to align with the original intent of Dynamic Difficulty and to avoid some bizarre bugs, the program limited the Dynamic Difficulty value of this skill to a maximum of 4999.99 under the current difficulty level, preventing it from increasing to the next level.

"Only when a player is hit again by another monster can they surpass this value and reach the next Dynamic Difficulty level.

"That is also considered a reasonable setting."

Lilith nodded slightly, "Hmm... it seems..."

Gu Fan continued, "But when these two issues overlap, a new problem arises.

"That is, when a player keeps this value and directly enters a boss battle, the system will re-evaluate the current Dynamic Difficulty, and then... there’s nothing after that."

Lilith was dumbstruck, temporarily lost for words.

In principle, she had reluctantly accepted the bug.

But from the results, she couldn’t accept it at all!

Because of the emergence of this bug, it greatly reduced the difficulty for players to achieve the Divine Ending!

Normally, for players to lower the Dynamic Difficulty to the minimum, it was a long process. They had to carefully collect items, avoid being hit, and try to cause massive damage to the monsters. Any small mistake during this period could likely ruin all their previous efforts.

After being hit several times in succession and having the Dynamic Difficulty increase, trying to lower it again was nearly impossible.

Many players could only restart.

In this process, naturally a lot of negative emotions would arise.

But now? Players don’t need that hassle. They just need to find a Fanatic to hug before entering the boss room, get the Dynamic Difficulty stuck at 4999.99, then enter the boss room, and the Dynamic Difficulty immediately becomes the lowest!

From the online reviews of the "Fanatic" monster, it’s apparent how significant this bug is.

Before this, Fanatics had almost become the top monster of "Blood of Lies" in the game, or you could say it was the first on the birth list.

At that time, players absolutely loathed it to the point of gnashing their teeth, some even wanted to take a taxi to Nitiandang’s headquarters, holding a knife to the developers’ throats and demanding they delete this little monster.

Because its throwing skill had a wide range and broad judgement, once hit by it not only would the in-game characters suffer a mental blow, but the players outside the game would also be severely impacted visually.

Especially those speedrun players, they particularly hated it.

Because even if they pressed buttons quickly to break free, it still took about three or four seconds. For speedrun players who count every second, those three to four seconds were simply unbearable.

But now?

Both regular players and speedrun players have fallen in love with this monster!

For regular players, if they find the game too difficult, they just go to the boss room and hug it, directly lowering the difficulty to the minimum, making the boss fight much easier.

For speedrun players, it was even more satisfying. They could maintain low difficulty throughout by using this method, significantly reducing the chances of a messed-up boss fight!

For players aiming for the Divine Ending, it was even more of a blessing.

Dynamic Difficulty was originally intended to frustrate players, but due to some mistakes, it became a kind of official tool for skipping difficulty.

Players even wanted to worship the Fanatic as their own beloved father.

"Fanatic! Big-headed doll! Avid fan! Simply the first good guy in ’Blood of Lies’!"

"Fanatic Bro helped you lower the game difficulty to the minimum, are you not going to thank Fanatic Bro?"

"’Blood of Lies’ could be missing anyone, but it just can’t be without Fanatic Bro. Charlton City without Fanatic Bro is incomplete!"

"Can the officials enlarge the range of Fanatic Bro’s throwing skill a bit more? I want him to hug me faster, thanks!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Is there any pro who can develop a beautiful girl mod for Fanatic Bro? No other reason, purely for practical purposes."

Lilith scratched her head in anger, "Damn it!!"

Although she was furious, it was clear this time she had no strong ground to stand on since Gu Fan hadn’t even participated in the game’s development; blaming him clearly wasn’t quite right, was it?

But to say there were other traitors...

That would be troublesome to deal with.

Gu Fan quickly tried to soothe her, "President Li, think positively. At least for now, the complaints from players about this Divine Ending have grown louder."

Lilith was stunned for a moment, "Oh? Is it?"

She casually opened a forum and saw that it was indeed the case.

The number of players criticizing the Divine Ending was the same as before or even slightly more.

Why was that?

Because though this bug improved player experience, the fact that a bug improved it only proved further that the Divine Ending was initially designed to annoy players.

If a particular ending of a game needs a bug to reach a normal gaming experience, doesn’t it clearly suggest from the start that it was deliberate?

In this regard, the bug faction and Mechanism faction unusually came to an agreement.

This time no one said it was a mechanic, clearly, it was purely a bug!

After all, the floating-point operation bug is also a classic bug in the gaming realm, and anyone with even a little computer knowledge could see that.

So, what benefits did this hold for Lilith in collecting negative emotions?

Of course, there were benefits.

If players thought this was some special mechanic, the negative emotions produced during gameplay would be relatively less, as they were more likely to accept such settings.

But if it’s a bug, even if using the bug made the game experience somewhat normal, players would still generate lots of negative emotions.

Because a bug generally isn’t considered part of the overall gaming experience.

Lilith sighed, "Well, this is also sort of a silver lining amidst misfortune..."

However, as she was reflecting on this, she suddenly stumbled upon a video.

"Breaking News! ’Blood of Lies’ also has a way to use the Master Sword? Step-by-step guide on how to double the GP’s judgement frame!"

Seeing this title, Lilith’s eyes widened, and she almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"What the hell!!"

There are still experts?