Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 556 - 539: Where did you pop up from?

Chapter 556: Chapter 539: Where did you pop up from?

Given the multitude of characters and storylines, multiple countries or regions became necessary; otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough structure to support such an expansive universe.

However, if you continue to develop along the lines of multiple countries, it’s easy to make the game exciting.

Each country could be characterized by a representative element, from which themes and architectural styles could be designed, providing a wide range of materials for inspiration.

Furthermore, the alignment of characters with elements enhanced character recognition.

In this respect, if done well, it could actually hinder the collection of players’ negative emotions.

At this point, Qin Fengliang’s cunning idea emerged.

"President Li, here’s what I’m thinking.

"Firstly, we don’t have to strictly design the countries and regions according to the elements; not all elements need to have an equal standing.

"There’s no need to design exactly nine different countries, for example. Some elements could exist in the form of tribes or nomadic groups without any issue.

"The relationships between countries could also be more chaotic. For instance, we could set it up that the original Fire Country was invaded and occupied by the Water Kingdom. As a result, the statues of the Fire God were toppled, resistance groups were suppressed, and all citizens of Fire Country became second-class citizens.

"And the Wind Country, it was wiped out by a coalition of several countries, becoming a massive relic in the sky. Citizens of Wind Country were forced into exile across the world and faced discrimination everywhere.

"The most important point is this: When we open up a certain kingdom’s story, players won’t be playing characters from that kingdom!

"For example, when we introduce the Water Kingdom, we provide all the new mechanics of the Water Kingdom, but the UP pool of characters we release are all Fire Element characters.

"Then, since Fire Element characters are restrained by Water Element, players who draw these characters will be directly targeted, and the more they play, the more angry they’ll get!"

Lilith’s eyes lit up, "Hmm? That makes some sense."

If we just methodically open one country after another, then decide the available characters for drawing based on the country, it would be hard to generate much negative emotion in the players.

Because the monsters and the characters played by the players would be of the same attribute, it wouldn’t be easy to create differentiation when the mechanics are nerfed.

But what if the monsters and the players’ characters are not the same attribute?

That opens up many more opportunities for manipulation behind the scenes!

"Alright, then let’s confirm this general direction, and next we’ll work on the specific world view and character design.

"I’ll go assign the tasks to the Nitiandang staff right away."

Lilith was pleased; she felt this visit had been worth it.

Indeed, by synthesizing the perspectives of both Gu Fan and Qin Fengliang, she often came to the most satisfactory conclusion.

Since Nitiandang couldn’t modify the game after release, they had to continue using the Shadow World model, completing all the game’s content at the start and then progressively introducing new mechanics and regions over time.

To other game companies, this seemed like an impossible fairytale, utterly unimaginable.

In short, it was an issue of project management and development capabilities.

The Endless Fantasy Legend 2 that Nitiandang had planned was an exceptionally massive game in and of itself.

If other companies were to develop it, they might spend a year or two just on the first two major regions, and then several more months to gradually update each subsequent region.

And don’t mind the slowness, because that’s already testament to top-tier project management abilities.

Of course, due to the existence of Myriad Editor, many development processes could be significantly shortened. Yet even so, the number of companies that could skillfully manage such projects remained very few.

Nitiandang had previously been trying to reduce game development time by searching for outsourcing companies across the country, laying a solid foundation for development of this scale.

After all, money makes the world go round!

Lilith decided on the spot that the promotion for Endless Fantasy Legend 2 must go even further ahead of schedule!

It would be best to spark widespread interest from the moment the new folder was created, because the more attention it attracted, the more negative emotions it would generate when the time came.

With her ambition fueled, she left.

...

The next day.

Gan Di stepped off the train at the Imperial City South Station, eagerly taking in a deep breath of the sweet air.

Well, it wasn’t exactly sweet.

Even so, his mood was one of excitement.

After receiving an offer from Nitiandang, Gan Di had immediately packed his bags and hurried over, believing that even a second of hesitation was disrespectful to the potential profit-sharing.

Of course, his heart was still somewhat uncertain; he wasn’t sure if he was truly up to the task of being the main planner.

But then again, even if not as the main planner, surely being a regular functional planner would be fine, right?

Or, stepping back further, being a consultant was still within reach.

Although he didn’t have experience with pork, Gan Di had seen plenty of pigs run, and he did indeed have good technical skills. Plus, with President Gu’s appreciation, there shouldn’t be a big problem.

Even if the final share of the prize money was less than 1%, 0.1% was still considerable!

Guo Zhao Sheng was returning with him, and they happily took a taxi back to the company.

The ride seemed interminably long; Gan Di felt that the time spent in a taxi in Capital City felt even longer than the time he’d spent on the high-speed train, and as he sat, he began to drift off to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep until he felt Guo Zhao Sheng calling him.

"Wake up, we’ve arrived."

Gan Di groggily opened his eyes and got out of the car, then instantly snapped to full alertness.

What the heck is this place?

Is this still within the country?

In truth, Gan Di had no clear idea what Nitiandang’s office location actually looked like; he just subconsciously assumed that such a profitable game company, one so generous to its employees, would surely have a very posh office space, right?

Normally, owning an entire building would make sense.

Even if not a whole building, at least they should be in one of the core business districts of Capital City, working inside a high-end office building, right?

At first glance, it should be a place bustling with professionals.

But where was this?

In a suburban villa area...

Well, the environment was indeed quiet, and the scenery wasn’t too bad, living here should be nice.

Though Capital City has the typical northern climate—very dry and with average air quality—this community was still considered nice in Capital City, even possessing a sanatorium-like quality.

But how could this be the headquarters of a game company?

Gan Di instantly speculated, had he been kidnapped?

Could it be that next they would lock him in one of these villas, then start a "sleep on the floor today, become the boss tomorrow" routine?

"Wait, does Nitiandang also arrange accommodations?

"Are they going to let me stay here first, then go to work?"

Gan Di logically concluded as much.

Guo Zhao Sheng looked at him: "That’s partly correct and partly incorrect.

"Indeed, they will arrange accommodation for you, that is, living here. But you’ll also work here, in the same community, just a walk away. Nice, right?

"See that building? That’s where our design team one works every day.

"That building is design team two. And over there are the groups one to five for the programmers."

Guo Zhao Sheng casually pointed at several buildings, and Gan Di stood with his mouth slightly open, his expression a bit dazed.

The occupancy rate of this villa area was already not very high, but as Nitiandang expanded, they accumulated more and more funds on their balance sheets, so they rented all the nearby villas.

Later, when there were no more to rent, they even bought a few.

Though the prices weren’t cheap, they were still much more affordable than the office buildings in the popular business districts.

"Wait, with the design teams split into several groups, what if everyone needs to have a meeting together?" Gan Di asked curiously.

Guo Zhao Sheng naturally said: "Telephone conference or video conference.

"What’s so strange about that?

"Nitiandang has always advocated decentralized work concepts, and it’s actually not a practice worth promoting that all these teams are in the same villa community.

"If President Gu were to make the decision, he would even like to split these teams across various cities.

"But the employees resisted, feeling more secure living closer together, which is why we stayed in this villa community.

"In fact, with the current working state at Nitiandang, even if all employees switched to remote work, it wouldn’t cause too many issues.

"Besides, we have also acquired some studios and outsourcing companies in other cities, and sent people over to give guidance and management.

"If you’re interested, we can arrange a visit later."

Gan Di quickly shook his head: "No need for that!"

He was feeling somewhat conflicted inside; this discrepancy was just too great!

From a high-end business office to a suburban villa, the lofty image of a game company seemed to have collapsed thunderously.

Yet, on the other hand, maintaining such development efficiency while not working together felt quite sci-fi.

The former seemed like a makeshift operation, while the latter resembled alien technology.

Nitiandang gave off such a paradoxical impression.