Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 97: Investors Are Coming for Inspection (Please subscribe, asking for monthly votes!)

Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Investors Are Coming for Inspection (Please subscribe, asking for monthly votes!)

As everyone knows, the construction system in this game is very well-developed, but it uses a ready-made template. Although it costs a pricey 750,000, there are quite a few companies that can afford it.

If it were just this system alone, it actually wouldn’t entice players to purchase.

Yet, on top of this refined construction system, "Prometheus" added two key elements—"Lost Ones laboring" and "Divine Realm team adventures"—which genuinely caused a wonderful chemical reaction with the construction gameplay, rendering the players unable to stop!

In fact, the original Divine Realm adventure itself was also a fairly interesting gameplay.

Players teamed up to steal things and avoid monsters, especially with the unique voice system, it was quite showworthy.

However, the problem with the original gameplay was that it was too difficult, and the pressure to steal materials was immense!

The distribution of monsters was too dense, leading to a high death rate for players.

In normal adventures, aside from those particularly skilled workers, ordinary players simply couldn’t keep up with the external consumption of materials when stealing them.

But now, players can control Heaven’s Guardians, which ironically became a sort of "game balance mechanism."

For less skilled players, they could completely transform five people into Heaven’s Guardians and then directly enter the Divine Realm, crashing through and looting wildly.

If they wanted to maintain some of the thrill of adventure, they could bring just one Heaven’s Guardian, playing "coordinated assaults" just like Instructor Ding and his team.

If they wanted to up the ante, they could challenge themselves by not bringing any Heaven’s Guardians, experiencing the original and more difficult taste of the game.

All in all, after a series of bugs appeared, Zhou Yang was surprised to find that "Prometheus," originally with fatal flaws in both the "survival" and "construction" domains, not only inexplicably fixed its weaknesses but even extended them into strengths!

Especially when playing as a team, the fun was off the charts, and it was perfect for making video clips!

These factors caused the popularity of "Prometheus" to soar with the help of various streamers and uploaders, virtually reversing its public perception overnight!

Feng Hui had a complex expression, "So our game encountered a lot of bugs, but none of these bugs are malignant? Instead, they’re all beneficial for the gameplay?"

Zhou Yang thought for a moment, "This... well, it depends on how we define a malignant bug.

"If we go by the standards of a general game, our design document clearly stated players shouldn’t be able to climb over walls, but they did, and that would definitely be considered a malicious bug.

"But who’s to blame when our design document was unreasonable from the beginning... So from the player’s perspective, this is actually a very benign bug, and without it, the game would’ve been completely unplayable."

Just then, he suddenly noticed Gu Fan walking up to the second floor with a coffee in hand.

"President Gu, don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying there’s a problem with the design document, it’s just..."

He scratched his head, momentarily at a loss for words.

Up to now, Gu Fan had not publicly disclosed the source of these design documents, so everyone had assumed that they were entirely his own creation.

Zhou Yang had inadvertently spoken ill of President Gu in front of the whole company, and even though it was unintentional, it was enough to get him in trouble.

However, Gu Fan didn’t care, thinking, The design documents are Lilith’s, what does it have to do with me?

Moreover, he had laid so much groundwork previously just waiting for this day.

With this in mind, Gu Fan approached everyone, raised his hand lightly to signal for silence.

"Everyone, please quiet down, I have something important to announce.

"Tonight I need everyone to work overtime until 9 PM because a very important investor in our company will be visiting, and they might ask some of you questions."

Upon hearing this, everyone was surprised.

Working overtime wasn’t an issue, as the game had mysteriously come back to life and was likely to continue heating up in the upcoming month, but working until nine was nothing.

They would be okay with pulling an all-nighter!

But... what’s this about an investor?

Did we even have investors in our company?

Until now, all employees had believed that Nitiandang Games was a company wholly funded by Gu Fan.

Zhou Yang instinctively looked at Su Tong.

Su Tong nodded, "Indeed, our company does have an investor, and she has visited before. However... I don’t have a very good impression of her."

Once again, everyone’s attention turned toward Gu Fan, sensing something unusual in the atmosphere.

Gu Fan cleared his throat, "I apologize for not explaining earlier, but the circumstances of our company are indeed very unique.

"At the very beginning of the company’s establishment, even before the launch of our first game, I signed a very demanding investment agreement with this investor.

"So technically, this investor has absolute control over Nitiandang Games, and I, strictly speaking, am just a senior employee.

"It’s just that she’s usually busy with other matters, so she doesn’t appear very often."

Gu Fan paused briefly, then continued, "What you see now, all the creative ideas for our company’s games, they all come from this investor."

"Regarding game design, she has her own distinct set of philosophies and ideas and seldom accepts others’ opinions."

"Even for me, I can only give her very limited suggestions, and there’s no guarantee they will be adopted."

"She’s extremely confident in her own ideas and doesn’t allow for alterations."

"So once our design drafts are finalized, we cannot make any changes. Especially when it comes to the core concept of the game, there must be no deviations whatsoever."

"This time she comes to the company, she will talk to you individually and ask about some issues related to the project development. Of course, it’s also possible that she will ask some questions about me."

"Currently, no one has any work at hand, so you have one day to think about how to answer properly."

"Okay, that’s all I have to say. Everyone is free to do what you wish."

After Gu Fan finished speaking, he returned to his seat and casually started browsing the web.

Everyone looked at each other, utterly confused about the purpose behind Gu Fan’s remarks.

Are all the designs so far from this investor?

Is President Gu just a tool?

What questions does the investor want to ask us? And why do we need a whole day to think about how to respond?

Strange.

President Gu’s words on first hearing them seemed uneventful, but on closer examination, they seemed to be laced with mystery.

Everyone continued with their tasks but were somewhat distracted, subconsciously pondering over Gu Fan’s questions.

...

Noon.

Zhou Yang and Zhao Haiquan went to lunch together.

The situation with "Prometheus" had improved and its popularity continued to rise. The initial sales were already good, and now there was hope to reach new heights, so naturally everyone’s concerns had dissipated.

But the words Gu Fan had said still lingered in everyone’s mind, impossible to dispel.

"What do you think... what exactly did President Gu mean by those remarks?

"I could tell that President Gu took the matter of the investor coming to question us very seriously, but what exactly does the investor want to ask? And what does President Gu hope we would respond?" Zhao Haiquan said with a look of bafflement.

If anyone in the company was most devoted to Gu Fan, it was probably Zhao Haiquan.

Who wouldn’t be confused by such a hefty bonus?

They must shed blood and sweat for President Gu! If they couldn’t even handle his problem, then did they even deserve to eat the rice that President Gu rewarded them with?

But Zhao Haiquan himself really couldn’t make sense of it, so he wanted to ask Zhou Yang if he had any thoughts.

Zhou Yang took a bite of the pickles provided for free by the restaurant and said quite seriously, "I actually have a guess, but I’m not sure if it’s correct."

Zhao Haiquan’s eyebrows rose: "Hmm? Tell me about it."

Zhou Yang thought for a moment and then said, "Don’t you think it’s weird? Five games. Five! Each one had all sorts of problems upon release, getting harshly criticized by players, but each one also had a bug or several bugs."

"Surely they were all design flaws, all unexpected situations, but in the end, they became core gameplay features that brought the games back to life!

"If it were one or two games that had this problem, it could be said to be pure luck. After all, who doesn’t win five bucks from a scratch ticket? It’s not strange that there are Whales in the world.

"But the same bugs in five consecutive games? How do you explain that? There’s simply no explanation!

"If I’m to believe these are all bugs, then I’m a dope!"

Zhao Haiquan’s eyes held some confusion: "This... Purely from a code and probability perspective, this is indeed outrageous, but besides bugs, is there any other more logical explanation?"

Zhou Yang nodded: "This issue has troubled me for a long time, and since the first day I joined the company, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

"Anyway, I feel that wherever there’s something abnormal, there must be demons at work, something going against the grain. What demons? Obviously someone is messing with us behind the scenes!

"These bugs, most likely, are deliberately written and inserted into the game’s code.

"With so much game code, as long as it’s hidden carefully, it’s quite normal that our few testers wouldn’t find it. With millions of players playing our games, the probability of finding bugs naturally increases significantly."

Zhao Haiquan was even more surprised: "Someone is deliberately inserting bugs into the code?

"That’s impossible, right? Our company only has two front-end programmers, one is Big Brother Da Hui and the other is President Gu! Big Brother Da Hui joined midway, so it can’t be him, leaving only President Gu, right?

"But that would be pointless for President Gu. He’s the boss; why wouldn’t he just openly develop these mechanics anyway?"

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