Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 57: Another Design Flaw?!

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Another Design Flaw?!

"There are small prizes for completing the game? Nitiandang is actually this generous??"

Chen Tingquan was very surprised; such game companies were rare.

He switched to the live streaming software interface, obscured the game screen for a moment, then entered his contact information and address.

Of course, this was optional, and many people wouldn’t fill it in to protect their privacy.

But Chen Tingquan was also curious about what kind of small gift the company would prepare, and besides, you had to fill in this information during giveaway streams anyway, so it was no big deal.

After filling it in, he took the time to read and savor the textual information on the completion screen.

"The officials of this game really know how to create an effect.

""All of this is unbelievable; how did you manage to achieve it in an environment ravaged by demons and fraught with danger?""

"Look at this, they make it sound so real, as if I didn’t just beat a game, but actually completed the incredible feat of supporting the Han Dynasty.

"Good review!

"Even though this completion interface seems a bit simplistic and not very polished, these words still resonate with me.

"Alright, my treasures, it’s just past 12 o’clock, let’s start another round!"

Originally, when it was not even 11 o’clock, Chen Tingquan had said it would be the last round, and regardless of the outcome, he would go treasure-hunting afterward.

But unexpectedly, after stumbling upon the "Brocade Bag" + "Observing Stars" combo, the game underwent a drastic transformation!

And so, he completely pushed the idea of treasure-hunting to the back of his mind.

"My treasures, I originally thought this game was just that, but now I realize the content seems to have expanded several times over!

"I’ve even had a few sudden thoughts:

"What do you think, if Lord Guan saw the attributes of those two traitors, Fu Shiren and Mi Fang, during his northern expedition, what would happen?

"What if, during Lü Meng’s crossing of the river in white, someone noticed a merchant with such high combat and command attributes, what would they think?

"Or before the meeting of heroes, Jiang Gan went to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender, and Cao Cao saw his seven-dimensional attributes; or during the Battle of Red Cliffs, when Huang Gai came to surrender, if Cao Cao saw Huang Gai’s loyalty value of 99...

"What would happen then?

"Ah, just thinking about it is so interesting!

"Take it easy, my treasures, we’ll try them one by one!"

Chen Tingquan hadn’t even started playing, and just by throwing out these questions, he had the live chat audience boiling with excitement again.

"Good lord, Lord Guan would probably give up on the northern expedition right there."

"Give up on the northern expedition? Deal with those two fools first before heading north!"

"Lü Meng has something to say too, ’I’m a traveling merchant, I deal all over, it’s normal to encounter highway robbers, so having a high combat value makes sense, right? With so many people in my trading company, to expand the business, understanding team management is crucial, so a high command value is reasonable and normal, isn’t it?’"

"Ah, yes, exactly, as a merchant afraid of being robbed on the road, it’s perfectly logical to load your boat full of armor and weapons. You believe in my Green Dragon Crescent Blade?"

"So Jiang Gan suggests going to persuade Zhou Yu, and Cao Cao looks at his attributes: ’Scram quickly, and don’t embarrass me!’"

"Then it would’ve been simple for the Prime Minister to berate Wang Lang to death, no need for so much talking, just say: ’Look at your loyalty value; I’ve never seen such shameless behavior!’"

"Hurry and start, I can’t wait anymore!"

Urged by the live audience, Chen Tingquan quickly started a new game.

Right when he first discovered the "Brocade Bag" + "Observing Stars" clever strategy, the viewers in the live stream had already turned into "gossip eunuchs," running to different live streams and forums to spread the news.

Clearly, this outrageous tactic was soon going to be known throughout the entire net!

...

In Gu Fan’s rental house, Lilith was looking at the screen of Chen Tingquan’s live broadcast, seemingly petrified.

After a brief but suffocating silence, Gu Fan said in a low voice, "Just now, our game collected the first player’s completion information."

Lilith’s face darkened, "I saw it!"

Gu Fan coughed awkwardly twice, "It was you who said before, as long as you get information on the first player to clear the game, you wanted to be informed immediately..."

Lilith’s face turned even darker, "I know! Can you shut up now?"

Gu Fan obediently closed his mouth, then silently turned up the massage chair to stop himself from laughing out loud.

In fact, the scene that Chen Tingquan saw after clearing the game was not a "game clear screen," but a "player information collection screen!"

That was, of course, also something Lilith considered one of her "genius designs."

When she designed it, she realized that the difficulty of Destiny of the Sleeping Dragon was ridiculously high, and under the various game mechanism restrictions, it was virtually impossible for players to occupy all the cities on the map and support the Han Dynasty.

She even thought at that time, since no one could possibly win, why bother making a victory screen at all?

But she quickly dismissed the idea. What if not creating a clear screen led to bugs?

So, Lilith had an inspired idea.

Although she ended up creating an end-game interface, she added a data entry segment to it.

Lilith thought, if a player could actually clear this game despite the severe difficulties, that person must not be overlooked!

The words written on the clear screen were indeed her true thoughts, as she genuinely wanted to know how these players managed to clear the game.

Lilith believed that only a small number of players would manage to clear the game, perhaps a few dozen nationwide?

With that in mind, giving them some small gifts while obtaining their personal information to focus on monitoring them seemed like a good idea. Whether through threats or inducements, she could have more control over the situation moving forward.

What Lilith didn’t anticipate, however, was that the game would bug out!

Now, although each game session was different, other players could also exploit this bug to easily clear the game.

If everyone could clear the game, what use was collecting their information? She couldn’t possibly keep an eye on everyone!

She even had to give out gifts to these people, truly a loss of both a wife and soldiers!

Gu Fan quietly waited for Lilith to erupt in anger as she had on several previous occasions.

However, to his surprise, this time Lilith gradually calmed down and merely said, "So... there’s another bug in the game, right?

"Go check and find out what’s going on."

Could this be the so-called ’a grief beyond despair’? It seemed President Li was slowly getting used to this bug-ridden world.

Gu Fan nodded hastily, "Yes, of course."

He picked up the computer and scrutinized the game’s code carefully.

The bug itself was quite simple; Chen Tingquan had demonstrated the entire process of triggering the bug in great detail, so Gu Fan didn’t dare delay too long and quickly got results.

"Found it!

"This bug is mainly because the ’Wolong Strategy’ and ’Basic Strategy’ were not distinctly categorized; Wolong Strategy’s stratagem codes range from 001 to 007, while other strategies start from 008 onwards.

"The function of the ’Brocade Bag,’ a Wolong Strategy element, is to grant a targeted general a specific strategy effect by directly invoking the corresponding strategy code from the strategy library and implementing it on the target.

"That’s why the ’Strategic Dragon Synergy’ exploit occurred..."

Lilith’s face was grim, "Then why didn’t you make a distinction?"

Gu Fan looked baffled, "The design document didn’t say we needed to distinguish!

"If we were to make a distinction, the design document should have stated: Wolong Strategy is a ’primary strategy,’ while all other schemes are ’secondary strategies.’ With the ’Brocade Bag’ as a primary strategy, it could only embed secondary strategies, then this wouldn’t have happened.

"Or even simpler, if the design had clearly stated that when a player clicks on the ’Brocade Bag’ and a secondary interface pops up, all other Wolong Strategies should turn gray and become non-interactive, then this kind of bug wouldn’t have occurred."

Looking shell-shocked, Lilith pointed at herself, "Are you saying that the bug was caused by a flaw in my design?"

Gu Fan nodded silently, "This... As a programmer who did not realize there was a flaw in the design and who did not accurately grasp your design intent, I do bear some responsibility as well. And there’s also some responsibility on the part of the company’s testers, they should also take some blame.

"But strictly speaking, since the design document did not state ’Wolong Strategy could not be nested,’ my code is not technically flawed..."