A Game Unlike Any Before (Part 1)

Xiang Kun's decision to make games wasn't actually a spur-of-the-moment decision he made a week ago in Tongshi Town.

He had considered it even earlier.

In the beginning, his research and exploration of his mutation were relatively conservative, and he didn't have any long-term plans. After all, the information he had was too limited. He basically took it one step at a time and didn't have any need for large sums of money. Survival and self-preservation were his primary concerns.

However, after encountering several Mutated Creature, and especially after learning that "Shenxing Technology" was paying attention to Mutated Creature and that they might be controlled by "vampires," he felt a stronger sense of urgency and began to have more ideas, all of which required substantial financial support.

Xiang Kun had many ideas on how to make money.

With his current abilities, he could achieve something and earn a lot of money no matter what he does, given enough time.

However, he also needs to consider factors such as the time and energy required, whether his special abilities will be exposed, and whether he can generate a sustainable income.

After careful consideration, the best way to "monetize one's abilities" is through Alice.

Of course, he didn't release Alice directly—although doing so would certainly generate media buzz and bring in a lot of funding. But the excessive attention it would bring was something he wanted to avoid as much as possible. Besides, he always felt that Alice had far more and stronger potential for development than she had shown so far, and many possibilities remained untapped. These "possibilities" could become his biggest trump card when facing crises in the future, or one of the keys to unlocking the cause of the mutation.

There are many other ways to monetize "Alice".

After Xiang Kun consideration, Xiang Kun decided that having Alice integrate existing functions and create a game at his request was the most efficient approach.

Since the birth of "Alice", under Xiang Kun's guidance, she has developed many functions, which can be separated to a certain extent and implemented independently of Alice.

Promoting and selling these "features" one by one to the public or investors is too slow and inefficient.

Moreover, when those functions are taken out of context and viewed individually, they don't offer a significant advantage over existing related applications. They don't immediately catch the eye or overwhelm competitors.

Therefore, in Xiang Kun's view, this game needs to demonstrate two key points: one is its playability, which can attract and retain users, generate word-of-mouth, and bring profits; the other is to showcase the features he wants to demonstrate, so that the public and investors can notice and experience these stronger features and understand where their strengths lie.

Ultimately, Xiang Kun's idea was to create a game that uses sound as its medium.

"Alice" has already created a basic game framework, and as required by Xiang Kun, has "studied" dozens of classic martial arts novels online, incorporating their plots for free combination.

Originally, Xiang Kun planned to make it more complete, with more functions, to better reflect the core gameplay, and then invite Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, Lao Xia, Zhang Qian, Chang Bin, Zi Cheng, Yang Zhuo and others to do internal testing together, and then discuss the details of investment and subsequent research and development and promotion.

But after hearing what Tang Baona said today, and learning that she was planning to change jobs, Xiang Kun changed his mind and directly suggested that they try it out tonight.

He wanted to give Tang Baona more options.

After using Lao Xia's computer for a while with all four of them on their phones, Xiang Kun returned the phones to them and they all went back to the living room.

"And then? How do I play?" Yang Zhen'er asked impatiently as she opened the game. The interface was very rudimentary; the few buttons looked more like a music player, with no text labels or character images, leaving her unsure of where to begin.

"Wait a minute, let me introduce this game to you first."

Xiang Kun, holding his phone, stood in the middle of the living room and spoke to Yang Zhen'er, Tang Baona, and Lao Xia, who were sitting on the sofa:

"The only medium for this game is sound. It will create a story based on the style you choose and the settings of your own characters, and then use a voice engine to tell the story."

"As the story unfolds, you will become involved. When your characters are involved, you can influence the story's direction through your choices. You can directly interact with characters in the story or other players, and these interactions will also determine the story's progression."

The three people on the sofa listened to his introduction with wide eyes and curious expressions. At this point, Tang Baona couldn't help but raise her hand and ask, "Is it like a 'radio drama'?"

"Yes, that's roughly the idea, but you are all participants in it," Xiang Kun said.

Yang Zhen'er asked, "Does that mean... the game will provide a script, and then we'll 'perform' according to the script?"

Xiang Kun said, "No, there's no fixed script. The background and backstory will be explained to you, but what happens next is up to you."

Yang Zhen'er immediately said, "I understand. It's like that domestic game, <Invisible Guardian>. At a certain stage, you can make several action choices, and different choices will trigger different plots."

"No, it's still different." Xiang Kun laughed. "The kind of interactive narrative game you're talking about has many pre-arranged routes and storylines, and then it unfolds according to your different choices. The subsequent paths in their games are already laid out; you just choose the crossroads. But my game is different. It lets you decide how to build the subsequent paths. Before you make specific choices, even I, the creator, don't know how things will develop."

Hearing this, Xia Libing frowned and said, "You mean, when the game progresses to a certain point, it will rearrange the subsequent plot according to our choices?"

"That's roughly the idea." Xiang Kun nodded. "Play one game first, and you'll see. For now, there's only one type of story: fictional martial arts. So you can only choose characters that fit this background. Uh, but I should remind you that the game's built-in voice acting only includes Nana's and my voices for now, so you can only choose those two voices..."

As Xiang Kun requested, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er took out their phone earphones from their bags and put them on. One stayed in the living room, while the other sat in the dining room to avoid interfering with each other's sounds. Xia Libing also took out her earphones and gave Xiang Kun a pair of computer headphones.

However, Xiang Kun said that the three of them could use headphones, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't participate in the first game, but would instead assist them from the sidelines.

"You will experience a story set in a martial arts world. Next, please set the character you will be playing in the story. Within ten seconds, speak the name you have chosen for your character into the microphone or other sound recording device, and then form a word with it, ending with 'OK'. For example: 'Li Hong, Li as in luggage, Hong as in red, OK'."

Listening to her own voice coming through the headphones, Tang Baona felt a little strange, yet also a little amused. She would occasionally use the voice-over engine that Xiang Kun had given her, which was indeed quite fun.

Following the instructions Xiang Kun had given her, she selected another audio source on the game's simple interface. This time, it was Xiang Kun's voice. "Please state the character's name and end with 'Confirm'."

After considering for a few seconds, Tang Baona said, "Tang Ying, Tang as in the Tang Dynasty, Ying as in hero, confirmed."

Next, following the voice prompts, Tang Baona set up multiple character conditions. When she finally finished setting them up and received the message "A total of three players are participating. Two have completed their information entry, and one is still entering information. Please wait a moment," nearly half an hour had passed without her realizing it. However, Tang Baona didn't feel that it was too time-consuming at all. On the contrary, she was very interested and looking forward to it. She was very curious about what kind of experience this voice game would be.

The tone of voice in the notification was so realistic, it felt like Xiang Kun was really talking to her. Of course, because she had a lot of contact with Xiang Kun in daily life and was familiar with Xiang Kun tone and rhythm of speech, she could still notice some differences, but the smoothness of the sound was already quite realistic, which made her even more excited about the game.

After another five minutes or so, all three "players" had finally finished recording, and a notification sound came through their headsets, "Generating the first stage script, please wait."

This time, the wait was much shorter than she expected; in less than thirty seconds, the notification sounded, "Heroine Tang Ying, your adventure will begin in ten seconds. Please prepare."

Ten seconds later, the sound of whistling wind filled the headphones, followed by a noticeably slower background sound that seemed to carry a heavier, more melancholic tone.

"You dragged your battered body through the desert with great difficulty, your mouth dry, your body weak, stumbling and your vision blurred, on the verge of collapse, barely holding on with only your willpower."

"Last night, you failed to assassinate Xia Libing, the leader of the Blood Hand Gang, in an inn. You were wounded by her and her men, and barely escaped thanks to the hidden weapon, the Heaven- Heaven-Shattering Thunder. Although you released all the horses in the inn when you fled, preventing them from catching up for the time being, you know that the great demon Xia Libing will not let you go. She is definitely behind you right now, relentlessly pursuing you. Before the next sandstorm arrives and covers up the traces, the Blood Hand Gang, who are extremely skilled at tracking, will find it difficult to shake you off."

"Your horse has died of exhaustion. Because of the haste of your escape, you didn't bring any water, and your injuries are worsening; you're on the verge of death..."

Tang Baona listened intently to the "story" told in the background audio. When she heard "Xia Libing, the leader of the Blood Hand Gang," she couldn't help but find it amusing. She hadn't expected Lao Xia to be the "villain," and with his real name being used for the role?

However, she was also curious. The tone and manner of the voice telling the story seemed to be directed only at her. So, what Lao Xia and Yang Zhen'er heard couldn't be these words, right? Could it be that the story was being told from different perspectives simultaneously?