Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 558 - 541 President Li’s Request

Chapter 558: Chapter 541 President Li’s Request

"Okay, before we officially start the meeting, let’s give a warm welcome to the new producer of the game, Gan Di. Everyone, welcome!!"

Lilith finished speaking and started clapping.

Everyone else clapped too.

Gan Di was somewhat flattered and quickly stood up from his seat. "Thank you, thank you, everyone, I actually..."

Lilith waved her hand to signal him to sit down. "Alright, you don’t need to stand up, just getting the gesture is enough. We don’t have so many strict rules here.

"Remember, your only task is to ensure the game is implemented 100% according to our plan. Got it?"

Gan Di could only nod, "Okay."

Feeling confused, he stood up and then confusedly sat down again, Gan Di’s brain was a bit short-circuited. He always felt that President Li seemed to be in a superposition of two states towards him.

It seemed like she valued him, but it seemed unlikely that she really did.

This kind of value, well, didn’t seem like the eager kind of valuing talent, but more like a reckoning in autumn.

From the moment he stepped in, Gan Di felt something was off. If President Li truly valued him, how could she possibly not know his real name? But hearing "Gan Di," President Li displayed a very curious enthusiasm.

Including during the meeting too, while President Li warmly welcomed him, she neither detailed what exactly he should do, nor explained the reason for finding him, nor did she introduce the other members’ identities, roles, and responsibilities.

It was like...

A sort of valuing him as a tool.

"Ah well, maybe I’m just overthinking it. After all, the gaming industry itself is full of weird people, and I must appear odd to others too, a slightly strange behavior is nothing inconceivable."

Gan Di quickly found a way to console himself.

The game industry isn’t like traditional fields that have too many strict rules; the atmosphere within the company is generally very egalitarian, and actions are usually straightforward.

Furthermore, both President Li and President Gu are quite young, so their way of doing things is not too surprising.

He still put himself in the position of a novice, attending the meeting with a humble attitude mainly to listen to what others had to say.

Lilith coughed twice, "Okay, to save time, let’s get straight to the point.

"Concerning the development details of the new game, ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2.’"

Upon hearing the name of the game, Gan Di’s eyes instantly lit up.

Endless Fantasy Legend?

Cool, they found the right person for this. I know this game inside out!

Gan Di used to be an expert player of ’Endless Fantasy Legend,’ mastering tricky maneuvers like Fire Bullet, retaining muscle memory even now.

He was also intimately familiar with various gameplay mechanics and systems of ’Endless Fantasy Legend.’

He could even recite many of the game’s puzzle stages by heart.

If he had to develop a new game or IP from scratch, Gan Di might have been a bit nervous, but for developing a sequel to ’Endless Fantasy Legend,’ he felt far more confident.

The others in the room, except for President Gu, also seemed to learn about this for the first time, showing varying degrees of surprise.

Or maybe they knew bits and pieces about the new game, but didn’t know it was actually a sequel to ’Endless Fantasy Legend.’

Lilith continued, "Now the important part! What follows is very important, everyone take good notes!"

Everyone hastily picked up their pens.

And Gan Di quickly grabbed the pen in front of him, ready to record in his notebook.

"’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’ is a multi-platform gacha game!

"First, its gacha system is more likely to draw more as you play, see the specific rules in the document I sent you.

"Second, we provide players 100 free draws each month, and for every UP character, you expect to fully max out at 666 draws. For details on upgrading character stars or lives, refer to the document I sent you.

"Third, we need to prepare all characters’ strength ratings and balance adjustments in advance, ensuring that even hoarder players won’t stumble upon the strongest characters.

"Fourth, we’re expanding the original mechanics of wind, earth, water, fire, + time to include nine elements: wind, earth, water, fire, wood, metal, thunder, ice + time. However, we’ll eliminate Earth Tunneling, wall-passing, water control, and other high-end skills involving multiple elements. We’ll keep only the most fundamental functions and stacked damage mechanics.

"Each character will have one main and one secondary element.

"Fifth, the storyline cannot be skipped, but it can be revisited. It is specifically divided into ’Story Restoration’ and ’Story Revisiting.’ We must ensure every story segment follows a ’good, bad, good, bad’ pattern.

"For the specifics, see the document I sent you.

"Sixth, and lastly, the game’s worldview design.

"There are nine elements corresponding to nine different tribes or forces. However, these nine forces need not necessarily be nations; they could also appear as nomadic tribes or as pure antagonists.

"Another important point, the regions we open currently, and the characters’ attributes available should not match; ideally, the area’s monsters should counter the players’ attributes.

"That’s about it for now!

"When designing, be sure to take heed, you can be creative with other content but these specifications must be strictly followed as written, without any modifications!"

"After all, these contents were the best solutions that President Gu and I came up with after racking our brains, relating to the entire game’s fundamental structure, and absolutely correct."

"Now, you guys take some time to comprehend it on your own."

Lilith’s statement completely baffled Gan Di.

The joy he felt upon hearing the name of the game had vanished completely.

Just the type of this new game almost caused his brain to crash.

What? A sequel to Legend of Infinity Fantasy that’s a pay-to-win gacha mobile game?

You’ve got to be kidding!

Although all are games, there’s a significant difference between them, and there’s an undisputed hierarchy of disdain across different platform players.

And pay-once single-player gamers do hold some prejudices against pay-to-win gacha mobile games to an extent.

Gan Di himself mainly played pay-once single-player games, including AAA or indie games, and wasn’t particularly fond of online or pay-to-win games.

Though Gan Di had no major prejudices against other types of games, just a personal preference not to play them, he knew that many in the single-player gaming community held extreme contempt for pay-to-win mobile games, some even to the extent of desiring their elimination.

Legend of Infinity Fantasy, though slightly cartoonish and considered an all-ages game from a production standpoint, was an outright pay-once AAA title, and it was highly acclaimed in that player community.

And then the sequel changes to a pay-to-win mobile game?

Isn’t that just slapping all the loyal players in the face?

Of course, to be more precise, Gan Di knew he was coming to work on a pay-to-win mobile game, but he hadn’t expected this pay-to-win mobile game to be a sequel to Endless Fantasy Legend.

Couldn’t you start a new IP instead?

And making a pay-to-win mobile game is one thing, but what’s with your payment and gacha systems?

This kind of more you pull, worse it gets system, could a person really come up with such a thing?

Even if Gan Di himself didn’t play much of pay-to-win mobile games, he knew how much flak this gacha system would catch.

The other content was also full of flaws, like chopping the Element Series from Endless Fantasy Legend, although superficially increasing the types of elements, but greatly reducing the complexity of elemental reactions.

Most sequels add new mechanics on top of the existing ones. Here, on the other hand, they just cut mechanics outright.

And the plot design is absurd; what’s with this "one good, one bad"? Must a good plot segment be followed immediately by a bad one?

I’ve heard of poor writing getting criticized for lousy scenes, but setting out to produce crap from the get-go?

Gan Di was thoroughly confused, he recorded everything and then reviewed the document Lilith had sent earlier, which indeed clearly outlined some specific rules.

Like the gacha, on a cycle of 1000 pulls, then what the basic pull probability was, what the combined pull probability was, it was all clearly written.

However, after reading it, the huge rock in his heart didn’t settle but hung even higher.

He already understood it was pretty bleak, and now, great, reality was even bleaker than his understanding!

Gan Di secretly looked up at the others.

Most of them were seriously reading the document, not a single person showing any sign of surprise or confusion on their faces.

They were as calm as if sedated.

"Hey, no matter how you put it, this is weird! Is there really no one who will even slightly question it?!"

Gan Di was internally roaring but couldn’t show it because that would make him appear to be the only odd one out.

Lilith looked around at everyone: "No objections? If there are none, then we’ll do it this way, meeting adjourned!"

Gan Di widened his eyes, almost thinking he had heard wrong.

Wait a minute!

How can there be no objections, I have objections!

Hey, you guys at least say something. You can’t expect me, the newcomer, to be the one to speak out, right?

Or do you think it doesn’t concern you because I am the main planner?

That’s not how it should be! I haven’t even been officially appointed as the main planner yet, is Nitiandang’s work process really okay?

Even a makeshift setup should have its limits!

Seeing that President Li was about to leave and the others still had no reaction, Gan Di couldn’t hold back anymore.

He hurriedly asked, "Wait a moment, President Li, I want to confirm, what is my job?"

Lilith looked at him somewhat surprised. "Eh, didn’t Guo Zhao Sheng tell you before you came?

"Main planner, don’t you know what a main planner should do?

"In any case, it’s to lead all the designers under you to complete detailed designs, then decide on the project’s development time and deadline, and lastly, ensure the project is developed on schedule.

"You are, after all, a seasoned person in the gaming industry; you shouldn’t need me to teach you this sort of thing, not that it would be of any use if I did, because I wouldn’t know how."