Thanks to little painter Shen Yunshi's hard work and overtime, the manuscript was submitted on time.
With less than a week remaining before the Game Expo,
Platinum Studio's first game, the rhythm game "Dance of Ice and Fire," led by Wu Wei, was officially complete!
"Phew—"
Having finished the final round of testing, Zhang Zhiyuan let out a long breath and slumped back in his chair.
It hadn't been easy.
It might have looked like nothing more than a small rhythm game.
But it was far from simple!
On the surface, it was just two little balls hopping across tiles to the beat.
Whether it was the visuals or the overall effects, none of it seemed particularly demanding.
But in reality, rhythm games involved a great many subtleties!
For a music game, the most important thing wasn't how good the songs sounded, how distinct the rhythm was, or how impressive the visuals were!
The key often lay in the tiniest details.
Note timing, hit feedback, rhythm calibration.
Those three points were the true core of a rhythm game!
Human reactions were far slower than computers.
When people heard a musical accent, their brains needed a fraction of a second to command their fingers to react.
Then, when their fingers struck the keyboard, it took more time for the signal to reach the game and be processed.
Added together, that physical delay became the most fatal issue in rhythm games.
While developing "Dance of Ice and Fire" in this world, Wu Wei had also tried many rhythm games already on the market.
The results disappointed him greatly.
The rhythm calibration in those games was all lacking.
Although it seemed that their development teams had tried their best to overcome the delay,
not a single company had proposed the simple and convenient solution of letting players calibrate the delay themselves.
Perhaps they felt such a small game did not need a dedicated calibration system.
Or perhaps they had simply ignored that minuscule delay of a few hundredths of a second.
Different people had different needs.
Every rhythm game developer worked hard to make its calibration conform to an average standard.
But they had forgotten that every player was an independent individual.
Every game, once purchased by a player, should become a one-of-a-kind work of art in their hands.
Not a homogenized product.
"We have to be responsible to our players."
That was what Wu Wei said.
And because of those words, the brothers had worked day and night.
They had forcibly created a personal delay calibration system accurate to the millisecond.
At the same time, they truly came to understand what kind of designer Wu Wei was.
Yes, there was something a little twisted about him. He enjoyed tormenting players.
But he wasn't force-feeding them garbage.
On the contrary, he strove to eliminate every source of discomfort.
Then he would let players immerse themselves completely in the game.
Only to be tortured half to death by him.
While Wu Wei's side prepared calibration, testing, and the pre-opening arrangements,
Xiang Dahai and his son were not idle either.
"Son, no outsiders can find out about this, understand?"
Xiang Dahai handed a hard drive to Xiang Tianming and carefully instructed him:
"This contains all the development data and the finished game for our 'Music Master,'"
"So if anyone investigates later, you'll have something to say."
After saying that, Xiang Dahai patted Xiang Tianming on the shoulder.
"As long as we don't say anything ourselves, no one will ever know."
"Understood."
Xiang Tianming nodded heavily.
Father and son exchanged a glance, both revealing smug smiles.
Tomorrow, the Game Expo would officially open.
And it would also be the day they completely kicked Wu Wei out of the game development industry!
"Don't worry. Your father has already arranged everything,"
Xiang Dahai said with a sinister smile.
"At this game expo, I'll make sure he can't sell a single game!"
Xiang Dahai was indeed vicious.
Although the event jointly organized by the three universities was called a game expo,
at its core, it was a stage for newcomers in the gaming industry to showcase themselves.
When the time came, every game company would focus its attention on this grand university student game expo.
It was a cradle for them to cultivate the next generation of talent.
If a designer truly failed to sell even a single game at the expo,
it would no longer be merely a matter of public humiliation.
They would likely become the laughingstock of the entire gaming industry!
There would no longer be a place for them in the entire game design circle!
"Dear guests and students, good morning, everyone!"
Inside the thousand-square-meter exhibition hall of Binhai University's Science and Technology Museum, a grand expo for the game design world was about to begin!
"Today, one hundred outstanding young designers from Binhai University, Zhongjing Institute of Science and Technology, and Shenzhou Institute of Science and Technology have gathered here,"
"Along with eighteen media outlets from Pingjin, Zhongjing, Shenzhou, Guangzhou, and other places,"
"And more than thirty Lead Designers from major game companies, all here to join in this grand occasion!"
"Thank you all for coming!"
"I hereby declare the first Zhiyou Cup University Student Game Design Expo officially open!"
Applause erupted like crashing waves!
"Next, please allow me to introduce the guests attending this opening ceremony. They are..."
The host onstage spoke with great enthusiasm.
Below the stage, the brothers from Platinum Studio were whispering among themselves.
"Old Wu, I checked. Our location isn't very good."
Looking at the booth layout map in his hands, Zhang Zhiyuan spoke anxiously.
This was an expo.
Every game had its own booth.
The organizers had arranged the entire exhibition hall in a square-ring layout.
The inner ring contained one hundred game booths, while the outer ring served as pathways for visitors to play and experience the games.
And this design created a problem—
Before you continue