Zai Zong's popularity and streaming performance quickly pushed his stream to the top of the gaming category.
It attracted tens of thousands of viewers!
He even surpassed the anime streamer Xin Xin.
Tonight, thanks to this game, he had briefly risen from his long-standing second-place position to first!
Besides that, some streamers had cleared Story Mode through sheer luck, only to discover that there was also a Challenge Mode!
In this mode, players had to play deadly card games against four opponents other than Hoffman.
As for the punishment mechanics, in addition to the finger-cutting, electrocution, and meat grinding from Story Mode, three new tortures had been added: branding iron, strong acid, and liquid nitrogen, along with a large number of new text lines.
This once again terrified the players, yet made them want to keep trying.
They were scared, but they still wanted to play.
At that moment, nearly half the streamers in Danmu Network's gaming category were playing "21 Points."
Meanwhile, some small streamers who had previously had little popularity gained huge numbers of followers after screaming in fright while playing "21 Points."
These clever streamers quickly figured out how to please their viewers.
By screaming!
The craftier ones simply changed their stream titles to things like "Screaming Tenor," "Passionate Scream," and "Moaning Scream."
They had truly found the secret to traffic.
Because "21 Points" was being played so widely on Danmu Network,
some people who did not usually play games, or did not have much time for them, thought it was some new movie.
They clicked in out of curiosity.
Only after looking closely did they realize it was a game—a VR Game, and free to download!
That immediately shocked them.
What!
It was free!?
Holy shit!
Who didn't have a VR headset at home these days!?
So another large wave of people rushed to IGame to download and experience it.
As a result, after just one night, "21 Points" had reached an unimaginable 4.1 million downloads!
That figure completely blew the game up! Its popularity even sent it onto Weibo Trending!
More people learned about it!
At that moment, there were already over a thousand discussion posts about the game in Weibo's topic section.
"I was planning to watch a stream of this game before bed last night, but after watching for a bit, I was wide awake."
"This game has given all the major streamers countless reaction memes."
"I tried it, and I was so scared I could barely play cards properly. VR is just too immersive—it really felt like I was sitting in there myself."
"This game made me realize how precious life is. That Masked Man never showed his face after that, but every time he spoke, I got chills."
"This game is fucking amazing! It's the most realistic and terrifying survival game I've played in years!"
"I just wanted to play some cards. Why did I have to suffer like this?"
"What a shame. You can't play a round against the Masked Man."
"Shuo Guang is awesome!"
On Danmu Network, many content creators also uploaded their own gameplay videos.
Some of them even posted their videos on YouTube, the largest video site overseas, leaving foreign viewers utterly stunned!
"Holy shit! Holy shit! Is this a VR game!? Please tell me what's in the video is a game, not a movie! Please!"
"Is this really a VR game? My God, I can hardly believe a VR game of this quality exists!"
"Where can I buy this '21 Points'? I couldn't find any information about it on the Cyber Platform. Please reply, Thank you!"
"This is simply astonishing! Even the famous company's 'VR StarCraft' doesn't have this level of detail and quality! My hands are itching just watching it—I want to play it so badly! I have to ask my friend in Huaxia to help me get it!"
"I can't imagine that such a high-quality VR game truly exists in this era! It looks so perfect, and it even has a story! Oh my God, I can't resist wanting to experience it!"
"It's just a low-quality game that doesn't even look very good. Its developer is also a newly established small company with no credibility at all. Technologically, it is far inferior to our Sminida."
"Sminida people never admit their shamelessness and ignorance. That's what I like about them."
"(Poor Chinese) Friends in Huaxia, please contact me. I pay 300 dollars to buy Game, thank you."
Thus, with its free price and VR gimmick, "21 Points" successfully entered the public eye, attracting countless players, making a considerable impact domestically, and sparking heated discussion overseas.
Riding this wave of popularity, "Dark Forest" also saw a huge surge in sales, almost all of them from overseas buyers who had come because of its reputation.
It even topped the online player rankings that day!
At the same time, Only Game, the developer, and Shuo Guang, its producer, became the brightest gold in domestic gaming!
At that moment, that very piece of gold was in his office, speaking on the phone with the person in charge of Infinite Network Entertainment.
[Shuo Guang... President Meng, your game is truly incredible! Not only are our company's internal staff stunned, but people throughout the industry find it unbelievable as well. With technology at this level, they all want to hire you for outsourced game development.]
Meng Shu sat before his computer, tidying up his desk. Hearing this, he smiled faintly.
"You're flattering me. I'm only a game developer. It's not that exaggerated."
The person on the other end laughed heartily before speaking again.
[President Meng, you're too modest. But I have to say, the quality of your "21 Points" is already far beyond anything overseas. Calling it the pinnacle of this era would be no exaggeration. The hottest topic online right now is comparing your game with the foreign "VR StarCraft." Even people overseas want to experience your VR game.]
"Is that so? Then for the next game, I can consider finding some distributors to handle overseas localization and translation."
Meng Shu picked up his water cup, tilted his head back for a sip, then leaned into his reclined chair.
It was lunchtime, and he was beginning to feel a little sleepy.
When the person on the other end heard that, his eyes immediately lit up.
[As for localization, President Meng, you can leave it to Infinite Network Entertainment without worry. We also have departments and business operations handling overseas publishing. It would be much less troublesome for us to do it than for you to find someone yourself, and our rates are very favorable!]
Meng Shu yawned when he heard that, without giving it much thought.
"If it can save me a lot of trouble, then I can indeed ask your company for help."
Laughter immediately came from the other end of the call.
[Thank you for your trust. By the way, President Meng, "21 Points" has now achieved its purpose as promotional material. Do you have any plans for what comes next? Our support funding can be adjusted based on your future development plans.]
After a pause, the person on the other end seemed somewhat uneasy, so he added,
[But one thing is certain: "21 Points" has already fully proven both your capabilities and your understanding of the market. The support funding from Infinite Network Entertainment will be no less than 15 million and no more than 40 million. If you want to increase the amount, we'll need to understand your follow-up development plans before we can apply for it.]
Between 15 million and 40 million?
Meng Shu thought about it and grinned.
Enough. More than enough.
There would even be some left over.
For him, the main expenses in developing a game were employee salaries and hiring voice actors and composers.
Later, he might hire actors for motion capture and facial capture, which would also cost money.
There were also the full-network promotion costs advanced by Infinite Network Entertainment, along with all sorts of miscellaneous paperwork and processing.
After all, those costs would all be deducted from the later 5% of sales revenue.
So there was actually not much money truly spent on game development.
Whether it was special effects or CG, the game development engine that even a monkey like him could use allowed him to do everything himself.
It was practically getting it for free.
There was no need to hire a dedicated team at all.
The only thing he lacked was actors for motion capture and facial capture.
If Infinite Network Entertainment really approved tens of millions,
then he
would probably make quite a bit of money from it.
At the thought, the corners of Meng Shu's mouth could not help but rise.
"At the moment, I do have a game project, but it is still at the stage of creating a new folder."
The person on the other end immediately understood.
[That's fine, President Meng. Having an idea simply means it hasn't been put into action yet. Would it be convenient for you to tell me roughly what you're thinking? That way, I can have some idea of what to expect.]
"Of course. It's not a secret."
Meng Shu replied with a faint smile.
At the same time, he closed his eyes, connected to the system, and quickly located a game.
"This is another horror game, but it will be somewhat different from the previous two."
[Another horror game? All right, but what do you mean by different?]
Meng Shu pondered for a moment, organizing his thoughts before slowly speaking.
"Although 'Dark Forest' is a horror game, its enemies are monsters, and the protagonist can fight back. In '21 Points,' the enemy is a murderer, and the protagonist can only sit there and wait, making things extremely passive. So, I want to break away from the influence of those two games and create another form of horror game."
After a pause, Meng Shu opened his eyes and continued.
"A psychological horror VR game where players cannot fight back, can only turn around and run when danger comes, and learn the game's story through exploration and puzzle-solving."
Then, in his heart, he named the game that the person in charge could not hear.
("Visage")
Thanks to Little Troll Fake for the 5,000 tip! Thanks to Little Troll Fake for the monthly vote! Thanks to Sakura Loli for the monthly vote! Thanks to Kidd for the monthly vote! Thanks to Promoted Book Fan for the monthly vote! Thank you all!! Thank you, thank you!! Your support gave me the only motivation not to look at my social media feed and to keep writing hard on this 520 day! Thank you!
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