All the players could be said to both love and hate him!
"Wu Wei, you Old Thief! Pay for my keyboard!"
Some audience member below jokingly shouted.
Then, a tidal wave of cheers surged forth!
"Die, Old Thief!"
"Pay for my console!"
"Pay for my keyboard!"
"Old Thief, I support shady deals!"
"Hahahaha..."
The audience burst into laughter!
Of course.
How could the audience actually lay a hand on Wu Wei?
After all, he was a rare genius game designer.
If the success of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy had been a coincidence,
then Dance of Ice and Fire completely disproved that speculation.
Excellent level editing, thoughtful reward design, and innovative control optimization.
Players might always love to talk big,
but they knew perfectly well whether a designer had truly put effort into making a game.
For a long time, no game company had ever specifically designed a control calibration system for rhythm games, such a niche and low-profit genre.
Even if designers at major companies had thought of it, they had selectively ignored it because rhythm games simply did not generate much revenue.
But Wu Wei and Platinum Studio had done it.
Justice lived in the hearts of the people.
Players knew best who was seriously making games.
"Wu Wei! So you're Wu Wei!"
In the exhibition hall, Dai Xiaomei abruptly stood up and marched "menacingly" over to Wu Wei, showing him the comments in her livestream.
Good lord!
The entire screen was filled with "Die, Old Thief!"
"Tell me yourself: should I comply with the demands of the masses, or should you cough up some benefits for the audience here and all the players you've tormented for so long?"
Wu Wei smiled and gave Dai Xiaomei a grateful look.
He knew that Dai Xiaomei was deliberately giving him a way out.
"Platinum Studio is deeply honored that four veteran seniors of the gaming world could come and play our game today."
As he spoke, Wu Wei turned to the audience and gave a slight bow.
"At the same time, thank you all very much for your 'love' for our game."
As Wu Wei said "love," he made quotation marks with his fingers.
The audience smiled knowingly.
"To make up for everyone's emotional trauma, I've decided that in addition to the signed art mouse pads, we'll be giving away another two hundred Dance of Ice and Fire custom keyboards through a Weibo lottery."
"Of course!"
As he spoke, Wu Wei turned toward the four streamers.
"If the four of you are willing, Platinum Studio hopes you can sign the keyboards as well. What do you think?"
Upon hearing Wu Wei's words, Old Zhang and the others exchanged looks, all revealing astonished expressions!
Wu Wei was practically a born marketing king!
This was essentially a three-way collaboration!
The game was one party, the streamers were another, and the keyboard manufacturer was the third!
There was a saying in both the gaming world and anime circles. Though it was a joke, it was also true.
"Players' money—and anime fans' money—is so easy to make."
For example, an ordinary wallet might cost twenty yuan, but slap EVA's maple leaf logo on it and the price would at least double, right?
Or take an ordinary metal keychain. If it were made in the shape of Garen's Greatsword, wouldn't it cost far more than a two-yuan keychain?
Because whether it was anime or games,
as long as it was a collaboration—especially an official collaboration—it gave buyers more than just the practical value of the product. It gave them emotional value.
So, to the players present, a collaborative keyboard might not be treated like a priceless treasure, but it was still quite meaningful as a memento.
At Wu Wei's suggestion, the four streamers looked at one another and smiled.
They were Shark's top streamers.
According to their contracts, they were technically the weaker party bound by the terms.
But once streamers reached their level, their relationship with the platform was no longer that simple. Sometimes, even the platform had to cater to the four of them.
Just a personal signature.
No big deal.
"Cousin and I have no problem with it. Liu Liu, what about you?"
"Of course we have no problem either!"
After getting Liu Liu's agreement with a look, Dai Xiaomei rushed to say.
Whoosh—
The four top streamers all nodded at once!
Collaborative keyboards! A free giveaway!
The entire audience instantly erupted in cheers!
"OLD! THIEF! YOU! ROCK!"
(Today's seven chapters are complete! Happy Saturday, everyone! If you readers think it's not bad, please spare a little of your lucky hand and send this author some flowers, rating votes, monthly tickets, and tips! If there are any games you think are fun, feel free to mention them in the comments! Thank you, dear readers!)
.
Wu Wei became famous!
Not just at the venue.
Online, it also instantly sparked heated discussion!
Because many media outlets were present at this Game Expo,
the news that Wu Wei was the designer of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy was almost immediately posted online.
"Holy shit, the designer of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is actually such a young college student?"
"Damn impressive. According to friends at the venue, this guy's new rhythm game perfectly solved the control-feel issue."
"Seriously? Isn't that insane?"
"It's real! Didn't you watch Shark's stream? Ah Yin, Liu Liu, and the others all used it. They all said the calibration was perfect!"
"Holy shit, that's a technological innovation! That hardcore?"
"To be fair, even though we keep calling him Old Thief, he really puts a lot of effort into his games."
"Indeed. He went so far as to make an entirely new system just to optimize the controls. He really cares."
"I heard the illustrator for Old Thief's rhythm game is Liu Liu's usual artist, and she's a gorgeous beauty."
"I've already seen the photos. It's not like I'm drooling over the artist's looks or anything—I mainly just like rhythm games."
"Feels like Old Thief might get poached for a huge price."
"I'm kind of torn. I want Old Thief to have enough funding and a proper platform, but I also don't want those rigid big companies to tie him down."
"That's why it's hard for new game designers to make a name for themselves. Either they lack money and can't make big games, or they get pulled into big companies and become assimilated."
"Hopefully, no matter where Old Thief goes, he can stay true to his original aspirations and make games with strong gameplay."
"Guys, does this bastard's family run a blood pressure medicine factory? Why does he keep making these kinds of games?"
"Or maybe they run a keyboard factory. /smirk"
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