Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 565 - 548: The Plan Named After You

Chapter 565: Chapter 548: The Plan Named After You

Lilith pondered seriously, "Hmm, it does sound like this could save a lot of time.

"And it could also better deceive the previous players of Nitiandang into joining.

"However, I am a bit worried. Can we really harvest negative emotions steadily?

"If something goes wrong with this game, it’s not just about not gaining negative emotions, I’m afraid there might be consequences I dare not even think about..."

President Gu spread his hands, "Of course, it’s still up to you, President Li, to make the final decision. After all, I’m just the one suggesting ideas; I can’t guarantee that every idea will work."

Lilith fell into thought. Clearly, she was also hesitant.

Linking the IP of the previous games of Nitiandang could indeed attract a lot of attention initially and is more likely to provoke criticism, but if it fails, it could also lead to even more severe consequences.

"So, the risks and returns can be seen as offsetting each other for now, but the time savings in development are genuine."

After much consideration, Lilith finally decided, "Alright, let’s go with this plan! Try to incorporate the previous art resources as much as possible.

"Go and inform everyone else. We need the design plans and various details out quickly. The only requirement is speed! Do you understand?"

President Gu nodded, "No problem, President Li, task will be completed!"

...

The next morning, Gan Di sat at his workstation, continuing to scratch his head.

It must be said, the designers of Nitiandang are all quite talented. After he had distributed the tasks, the progress on the planning of various functional modules was promising.

Of course, part of the reason was that Nitiandang’s previous game content included a diverse array of mechanics, and most of the systems in Endless Fantasy Legend could find past parallels—just take and modify slightly.

Even for some previously non-existent features, they tended to be relatively simple and quick to write.

Thus, these designers completed their work much faster than Gan Di had anticipated.

However, this made Gan Di even more anxious because once these designers had completed the basic function designs, he would have to assign new tasks.

And he hadn’t even constructed the major framework of Endless Fantasy Legend yet!

Of course, Gan Di had made some gains during this time scratching his head; he at least unravelled the secret behind Nitiandang’s bugs and thought of some possibilities that could turn the tide.

The only problem was whether these methods would work and how to sneak them into the game unnoticed.

As he puzzled over this, President Gu entered from outside.

"Ah? President Gu!"

Gan Di was like someone who had met his savior. He had been thinking about asking for help over the past few days but hadn’t made up his mind.

Since the other three producers had been dispatched right away, and the only one left, President Gu, was of such a high level, Gan Di felt awkward about showing up, as if he were a student unable to complete his homework independently.

Now that President Gu was here, it was a good opportunity to ask a few more questions.

However, Gan Di was shocked that President Gu actually came with a design proposal.

"Gan Di, I’m sorry, but President Li just issued new directions yesterday.

"This is about some changes to Endless Fantasy Legend 2, take a look."

As he spoke, President Gu handed over the design concept draft.

"I don’t know how far along your original designs are, but if they are mostly complete, I’m sorry, you’ll need to make some slight adjustments to fit this new framework," said President Gu.

Gan Di took the design concept draft and quickly flipped through it.

Then an uncontrollable expression of joy appeared on his face.

"Eh?

"Whoa?

"Such good news!

"Great, President Gu, I was completely clueless before! At least now there is an existing framework!

"Wait, are we using the original IP?

"No, President Gu, does your company value me that much?"

Gan Di’s expression went through a rapid cycle from cloudy to clear and then turned cloudy again.

When he originally received this design draft, Gan Di was very happy because he saw that it outlined many basic structures for Endless Fantasy Legend, including planning and distribution of the world map and so on.

And these were exactly the issues he had been struggling with before.

Such a high-level world-building framework is a massive project, definitely not something that could be accomplished in a few days.

Even a preliminary plan often requires repeated consideration and research.

Previously, without any related work experience, Gan Di dared not finalize anything.

It just so happened that he had no plans in mind before, and now both President Li and President Gu provided a non-changeable plan, so why not use it? This was like being delivered a pillow when drowsy.

But as he looked closer, something was wrong.

Why were IP and resources from other classic games also used?

A brief scan revealed that these were all previously successful games from Nitiandang, each a household name.

With heavyweight titles like "Ascension" and "Blood of Lies" thrown in, Gan Di felt a tremor in his liver.

Well, now "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" really went all out!

Originally, Gan Di only had the IP for "Endless Fantasy Legend 1" on his shoulders. If the game turned out to be a flop and got criticized, it would just be the fans of "Endless Fantasy Legend 1" scolding him.

But if it flopped now, it would likely indiscriminately splatter onto all fans of Heavenly Games.

At that time, fans of "Ascension", "Blood of Lies", "Shadow World", "City of the Abandoned Gods", "Heartbeat Dream"... and so on would all scold him together!

Gan Di felt he was still a baby, this had completely exceeded his capacity to bear.

"President Gu, it’s not that I undervalue myself, but I really know what I am!

"Was ’Endless Fantasy Legend 2’ supposed to start off as something like ’Heavenly Games All-Star Brawl’? Then you shouldn’t have picked me from the start!

"I neither have the capability, nor the reputation, nor the resilience!"

Gan Di was utterly speechless, thinking it was all the world’s fault, he was innocent.

Gu Fan coughed lightly, "It’s okay if you have no ability, having the ability to take the blame is enough."

Gan Di: "What?"

Gu Fan quickly explained, "I mean, courage, the courage to take responsibility!

"Actually, in such an extremely mature development team like Heavenly Games, being the lead designer doesn’t depend on ability alone, nor on prestige."

Gan Di was puzzled, "Then, what is most important?"

Gu Fan seriously said, "Love for the game! The spirit to make decisions! And closeness to the fans! These are the most important.

"Let’s go through this one by one, Gan Di, do you truly love the previous games from Heavenly Games?"

Gan Di vaguely nodded, "Yes."

"And are you someone who dares to make decisions?"

"...I guess so."

"And most importantly, are you the person closest to the players and fans of all the people in Heavenly Games?"

This question made Gan Di pause, but after some serious thought, he came up with a pretty definitive answer.

"This is probably the only thing without question, I think it is."

When it comes to being close to the players, Gan Di indeed was the closest.

Because other employees of Heavenly Games aren’t even debating the issue of getting close to the players, they are trying to distance themselves!

Whenever players angrily wanted to confront Heavenly Games, they could never find anyone.

Any employee of Heavenly Games never opened a social media account online, nor exposed their identity.

In short, the entire company of Heavenly Games and all its employees, seemed to exist outside the whole gaming circle.

They didn’t answer players’ questions, didn’t interact with players, nor did they participate in any industry events.

And Gan Di?

After all, he was a loyal fan of Heavenly Games and also a streamer, naturally much closer to the players than anyone else at Heavenly Games.

So from this point, Gan Di indeed had a unique advantage within Heavenly Games.

"But the problem is... President Gu, what do these three points have to do with my being the lead planner?"

Gan Di wasn’t so easily fooled, and he quickly caught up with the implications.

Gu Fan eagerly continued, "Of course they are related, you will see if you keep working on it.

"Anyway, I hope we can work closely together, as our projects need to be developed in sync."

The project Gu Fan was responsible for was obviously "Fantasy Book".

"Fantasy Book" needed to be very closely linked to the game content, including matching perfectly with each Chapter of the game, so planning was always integrated.

Gan Di quickly nodded, "No problem, President Gu, just tell me what to do, I will fully cooperate with you!"

Gu Fan hurriedly corrected, "No no no, how can you say you’re cooperating with me?

"You’re the lead planner, I’m just a product manager for the physical product, it should be me cooperating with you, understand?

"I can also act as a consultant, though, and when you have any doubts, you can ask me at any time.

"Also, if you have any plan that you really can’t finish writing, I can write it for you, but you just have to revise it a little and then put your name on it."

Gan Di felt a bit embarrassed, "How can that be? President Gu, is it appropriate for me to put my name on a plan you wrote? It must be a joint authorship, you are the first author."

Gu Fan’s lips twitched slightly, "Why are you being polite with me! If I say you put your name on it, you put your name on it! Do I, a CEO, need to compete with you for this bit of credit?"

Gan Di felt somewhat embarrassed, "Yeah, okay, then I’ll listen to you, President Gu."

Gu Fan was finally satisfied, "That’s settled.

"Okay, President Li has already issued a strict order, our first phase of development time is one whole year, and the target is to finish developing the game’s main body, completing at least 80% of the content and carrying out overall testing, ensuring there aren’t too many bugs.

"After that, we’ll use two months to finish developing the rest of the content, and to optimize the game.

"During these two months, we can also do internal testing and begin early promotional activities.

"That’s about it, let’s start the intense work now!"