A Mario-like game?

"Oh! Got it, Sis! It's showing up for me now!"

Shark Live Platform, the stream room for Great Zhou Empress Shi Liuliu and Prince Zhuang Zhuang.

The two were siblings who often streamed together when they had free time, and today was no exception.

Hearing her brother's alert in the channel, Liuliu quickly refreshed the interface.

Immediately, she saw that the homepage of the Yiyou Platform had been updated with a gaudy banner for the Mini-Game Development Festival event.

"It's showing up for me too!"

"Whoa—"

Looking at the dazzling main interface, Liuliu felt a bit overwhelmed:

"There are so many games, my indecisiveness is kicking in."

"They say there are nearly six hundred games participating,"

Zhuang Zhuang said:

"It's really hard to know which one to play first."

"How about we look for one with multiplayer first? We can play together for a bit."

Liuliu suggested.

"Sure,"

Zhuang Zhuang agreed. Then, in just a moment, he found what he was looking for:

"Hey Sis, search for Xingmang Games. It looks like they have a multiplayer game out this time."

"Xingmang?"

Liuliu sounded surprised:

"Isn't Xingmang a pretty established game company? I didn't expect them to participate in this event..."

As she spoke, Liuliu typed "Xingmang Games" into the search bar.

The search results immediately popped up.

Indeed, under Xingmang Games, a title called "Brother's Big Adventure" was listed as a participant in the event.

"I've downloaded it."

The game wasn't large, and in a short while, Liuliu finished the installation.

"OK, I'm inviting you to the room."

Over on his end, Zhuang Zhuang had also created a room and invited his sister into the game.

As soon as she entered the game, Liuliu felt a familiar sensation wash over her.

The crude, stick-figure art style, two little figures, one black and one white, with frozen expressions, question-mark blocks suspended in mid-air, and malevolent clouds drifting overhead.

Everything about it was so familiar.

"This... is it a sequel to Mario Bros.?"

It was clear that Mario Bros. had left quite a psychological scar on Liuliu, causing her to feel a bit of PTSD at this art style:

"It looks so familiar."

"No,"

Zhuang Zhuang said:

"Mario Bros. isn't by Xingmang. This should... just have a similar art style to Mario Bros."

As he said that!

The two entered the game.

On a brief black screen, behind a little white figure, the text "x3" appeared.

Then, the game's official screen loaded.

The little white figure, controlled by Zhuang Zhuang, stood beneath a row of question-mark blocks, with two slow-moving monsters approaching.

"Uh, this..."

In the voice channel, Zhuang Zhuang's voice sounded hesitant:

"So, the multiplayer aspect means that, like Mario, each person gets three lives and you take turns playing..."

"It looks like it," Liuliu said, a little disappointed, with a wry smile: "Go ahead and show me what you've got, little brother."

"What's there to show off?"

Zhuang Zhuang chuckled:

"I bet as soon as I jump and hit that question-mark block, I'll die."

As he spoke, Zhuang Zhuang's little white figure leaped up, precisely hitting the block.

Bang—

The brick exploded on the spot, killing Zhuang Zhuang as he had predicted.

"See?"

Zhuang Zhuang wasn't annoyed at all, he even felt like laughing:

"I saw right through it!"

"Tch, impressive you,"

Liuliu chuckled:

"You say that like you can predict everything every time, like how you died over forty times on the first level of Mario Bros.?"

"Tsk, Sis, the way you put it,"

Facing his sister's doubt, Zhuang Zhuang clicked his tongue:

"I'm battle-hardened now, watch this. If I say there's a trap, there's definitely a trap!"

Saying that!

Zhuang Zhuang leaped forward, precisely predicting every step of the way—

"Monsters are going to fly out of this pipe..."

"Can't hit this question mark..."

"A row of monsters will fall from the sky..."

"Touching the clouds means death..."

Soon!

Under Zhuang Zhuang's commentary, all three of his lives were used up.

The viewers felt bored.

'This feels a bit boring'

'Yeah, why didn't I feel this way watching Mario Bros. before?'

'Indeed, even though the graphics and gameplay are identical to Mario Bros., something feels missing'

'It's like it's missing that special something'

'Is it difficult? It doesn't seem that hard'

'It doesn't have the same entertainment value as Mario Bros. did'

'Is it because Prince Zhuang has been hardened?'

'Report playing...'

Seeing the audience's lively discussion in the comments, Liuliu was also quite puzzled.

This game looked no different from Mario Bros.

Why didn't it feel as fun as Mario Bros.?

She just felt like... something was missing.

Zhuang Zhuang was more perceptive.

"I'll tell you what's missing,"

Seeing the questions in the comments, Zhuang Zhuang explained:

"Although this game looks similar in format to Mario Bros.,"

"Its obstacle design is nowhere near Mario Bros.'s."

As a streamer who had beaten Mario Bros. with over two hundred lives, Zhuang Zhuang had absolute authority when it came to that game.

"Mario Bros.'s obstacle design is very logical,"

"The designer would usually use a decoy to lure the player in,"

"Then, they would trap or kill you with the real obstacle."

"You could say that almost every prediction the player made was anticipated by the designer, which is why they could make you die over and over again."

Saying this, Zhuang Zhuang changed the subject and pointed to the "Brother's Big Adventure" in front of him:

"But this game, to put it bluntly, is just piling up obstacles."

"There's little to no connection between each obstacle, you could even say there's no connection at all."

"The reason you feel it's not fun and lacks entertainment value is ultimately because the designer of this game has been predicted by me."

"When the designer's traps can be easily seen through by the player, this type of game loses its fun."

This explanation!

It was like a sudden enlightenment!

The comments section woke up one after another—

"Truly, a Prince Zhuang who secretly played games since childhood."

"What he said is absolutely right..."

"His understanding of games has always been a bit... peculiar."

"Profound to the point of being heartbreaking."

"No wonder he's the man who once smashed a keyboard; his game comprehension is top-notch!"

"Indeed, the obstacle design in this game is far too superficial."

"It shows the designer's skill level is the same as mine – they only saw that Mario Bros. is difficult, but didn't understand why Mario Bros. is both difficult and fun."

"Take it away, take it away."

"Next, Sis..."

After Zhuang Zhuang's explanation, the viewers in the live chat finally realized that Mario Bros., which seemed ordinary and was marketed as a game that would break players, was actually far more complex than it appeared.

Liu Liu also nodded:

"It seems designers who can create that kind of game logic aren't common."

"Not common at all,"

Zhuang Zhuang said with a grin:

"Think about it, Sis. I've been playing games since I was seven. If he could make me feel so frustrated, he must have some skill."

Pfft—

Zhuang Zhuang's words made Liu Liu burst into laughter.

Then, her eyes lit up: "Oh, right, speaking of Mario Bros., did their company participate in this development festival? I remember that company is also a newly established game company."

This reminder made Zhuang Zhuang slap his palm:

"Oh, right, how could I forget them."

You have to know!

He had thoroughly enjoyed both games released by Golden Wind.

With that thought, Zhuang Zhuang closed "Brother's Big Adventure" produced by Xingmang Games and reopened the Yiyou Platform homepage, clicking on the search bar—

"Uh... that company's name was Golden Wind, I think..."

"Oh! Found it!"

Under the search bar, a game labeled with the "Development Festival" event appeared—

"Vampire Survivors"