Chapter Summaries

Wang Han’s Wilson was killed by Hunting Dogs after she ignored his warning, prompting her to tell Zhang Yi to try the game. As new players explored Don’t Starve, they shared their many unexpected deaths and joked that its real name should be Wilson’s Hundred Ways to Die.

• Wang Han told Zhang Yi that Don’t Starve was fun because of its collecting, building, and survival gameplay.
• A rumbling sound prompted Wilson to warn Wang Han that he sensed danger, but she waited and then went looking for resources.
• Two Hunting Dogs suddenly attacked Wang Han’s Wilson and killed him, earning her the warning-related achievement.
• Wang Han reflected that she should have made armor and weapons before exploring, then urged Zhang Yi to download the game.
• Players shared stories and survival tips on community forums, with Hunting Dogs and other hazards causing many of their deaths.
• Players joked that Don’t Starve should be called Wilson’s Hundred Ways to Die because they were more likely to die from accidents than hunger.

Don't Starve drew growing praise as players discovered its survival systems, changing seasons, varied combat, and mod support. As sales and word of mouth picked up, game designers began studying the game and comparing its impact to Chen Xu's earlier breakthrough with Undertale.

• Chen Xu monitored Don't Starve's modest first-day sales but remained confident as its 9.6 player rating and lack of other platform releases shaped its reception.
• Players praised the game and became absorbed in its clear survival goals, crafting, exploration, seasons, and dangerous world.
• Don't Starve's varied monster-fighting strategies, randomly generated maps, and planned official mods helped expand its replayability.
• Game designers recognized that Dark Souls succeeded through its combined design rather than difficulty alone, and reacted strongly to Don't Starve's arrival.

Game designers debated what made Don't Starve and sandbox games successful, while Chen Xu argued that creation was the genre’s core. After Ruan Ningxue’s base burned down, Chen Xu announced that Nebula Games would begin work on a larger new project before the New Year.

• Industry designers discussed Don't Starve’s sandbox design and proposed adapting its survival goals, open exploration, and progression systems to other themes.
• Ruan Ningxue’s base, built up over more than sixty days, caught fire after red Hunting Dogs died and spread flames through her traps and fire extinguisher setup.
• Ruan Ningxue quit the game after the fire destroyed much of her base, and Chen Xu joked that its accidents were like life.
• Chen Xu told the Nebula Games staff that creation was the core of sandbox games, with exploration emerging as players used what they made to venture farther.
• Chen Xu said the team would focus on a new game before the New Year while continuing to support Don't Starve with MODs and DLC.

Chen Xu decided to make Minecraft Nebula Games’ next major release and use it to expand Nebula Game Platform’s reach. After finishing the first draft of the game’s design concept, he called Qin Yi, Ruan Ningxue, and the others to a meeting.

• Chen Xu reviewed Nebula Game Platform’s user and activity figures and concluded that it was time to push the platform forward.
• Chen Xu chose Minecraft as Nebula Games’ next major title because of its success, creative gameplay, and suitability for MODs and multiplayer features.
• Chen Xu spent about two days writing Minecraft’s design concept draft.
• Chen Xu called Qin Yi, Ruan Ningxue, and the others into a meeting after confirming there were no issues with the draft.

Chen Xu explained to Nebula Games’ team that Minecraft centered on creation and freedom rather than survival, and that its block-based world made pixelation essential to its gameplay. The team began to understand the concept, though whether players would accept the game remained uncertain.

• Yang Xin asked whether Minecraft was going to be a building block game, while Qin Yi, Zhang Yida, and Ruan Ningxue raised concerns about its simple design, competition, and pixel art.
• Chen Xu said creation was the core of Sandbox Games and that copying Don't Starve’s survival-focused approach would lead developers away from the genre’s potential.
• Qin Yi recognized that Minecraft treated creation and freedom as its foundation, and Chen Xu explained that its world needed to be divided into blocks for players to shape.
• Ruan Ningxue understood that Minecraft’s pixelation served its construction gameplay rather than nostalgia, and Chen Xu added that modern techniques could make pixel art visually sophisticated.

Chen Xu refined Minecraft’s design, planning multiple game modes, server protections, clearer crafting guidance, and built-in technological progression. He also considered how to keep the game open to MODs through dedicated interfaces and tools, a challenging task he still needed to solve.

• Chen Xu planned single-player Creative and Survival modes, player-run servers with custom rules and MODs, and official servers for up to two thousand players.
• Chen Xu designed server settings to let owners protect buildings and restrict permissions, while leaving playtesting and adjustments until after the initial version was complete.
• Chen Xu expanded Minecraft’s crafting plans with clearer recipe guides and built-in technological content such as functional cars, aircraft, and rockets.
• Chen Xu considered Minecraft’s progression from basic survival to advanced Redstone creations, including in-game computers.
• Chen Xu identified MOD support as a major challenge and planned to build open interfaces and tools for players and creators.

Chen Xu oversaw Minecraft’s early development and tested a crude PC demo, reviewing its world generation and outlining visual improvements. He left the story with Qin Yi tasked with prototyping the crafting and technology systems.

• The Don't Starve DLCs Giant Country and Sea Disaster were completed, bringing new creatures and gameplay that renewed players’ interest.
• Game companies announced many sandbox projects, and players debated the growing trend while several games attracted attention.
• Chen Xu tested Minecraft’s stripped-down demo and repeatedly checked its randomly generated terrain for major problems.
• Chen Xu told Ruan Ningxue to improve block textures and lighting effects while keeping special materials consistent with ordinary blocks.
• Chen Xu asked Qin Yi to stay and build a demo prototype for Minecraft’s crafting and technology systems.

Chen Xu discussed Minecraft’s crafting and technology systems, emphasizing that players would gradually discover the game’s creative possibilities. As development neared completion, he watched the team test the game and saw Yang Xin defend her crude house as a fitting “beta-version house”; a small-scale test was planned after New Year’s Day.

• Chen Xu explained to Qin Yi that Minecraft’s crafting systems could support complex creations such as cars, but those features would not all appear in the first player-facing version.
• Chen Xu and the developers gradually overcame challenges in making MOD creation convenient, and Minecraft’s content mostly took shape by late November.
• Chen Xu discussed future promotion with Zhang Yida’s Macro Play team, then went to the break area and found employees testing Minecraft.
• Ruan Ningxue, Qin Yi, Lin Tao, and others teased Yang Xin about her box-shaped wooden house, and Yang Xin defended it as sturdy and appropriate for a game still in beta.
• Chen Xu said Yang Xin’s building made him doubt whether she should join a planned construction project, and Yang Xin quickly closed the game and asked when it would launch.
• Chen Xu said Minecraft was nearly ready and that a small-scale test would likely begin after New Year’s Day to gather player feedback.

Chen Xu and his team prepared Minecraft for testing and launch while a wave of Sandbox Games, including Voyage and Wasteland, drew industry attention. The chapter ended with Chen Xu, Qin Yi, Ruan Ningxue, and the Nebula Games team building houses in the office.

• Chen Xu planned a limited Minecraft test after New Year's Day to collect feedback on its controls, tutorials, and content before its early-February launch.
• Voyage from Tenghua and Wasteland from NetDragon gained attention for their nautical adventure and post-apocalyptic survival settings.
• Players criticized several smaller publishers' trend-chasing Sandbox Games, while industry discussions weighed the genre's promise against its uncertain core and crowded release schedule.
• Industry members wondered whether Chen Xu was developing a new game after he finished Don't Starve.
• Chen Xu, Qin Yi, Ruan Ningxue, and the Nebula Games team built houses in their office.

Chen Xu prepared Minecraft’s promotional builds while his employees struggled to recreate the Musée d'Orsay. After Chen built a Sphinx to tease them, Yang Xin suggested they turn their failed building into a pyramid.

• Chen Xu finalized Minecraft’s single-player test for January 3 and its full release for February 1, planning to promote it with impressive builds and simple Redstone demonstrations.
• Chen Xu used Galaxy Smart Technology’s AI to develop a rapid construction tool and went to check on the employees’ first day of building.
• Yang Xin and the others claimed their rough structure was based on the Musée d'Orsay, but Chen Xu thought it resembled an ancient tomb.
• Chen Xu built a lifelike Sphinx beside their structure, prompting the employees to recognize the joke and see their build as a burial mound.
• Yang Xin suggested changing the structure into a pyramid, and Ruan Ningxue told her to stop making excuses.

Chen Xu released a trailer for Minecraft, leaving players and game designers puzzled by its block-building gameplay and pixel graphics. Uncertain about how the game would compare with Wasteland, Meng Zuo paused its promotion and arranged to meet Chen Xu to learn more.

• Chen Xu posted a Minecraft trailer showing block-based building, exploration, combat, multiplayer, and a release date and price.
• Players and industry designers debated Minecraft’s pixel style and struggled to identify what set it apart from Don’t Starve.
• Meng Zuo watched the trailer and suspected that Chen Xu’s new game had more to it than its footage revealed.
• After seeing that Wasteland’s promotion and release dates nearly overlapped with Minecraft, Meng Zuo told his assistant to pause the promotion.
• Meng Zuo asked his assistant to book a restaurant and contacted Chen Xu to probe Minecraft’s gameplay.

Chen Xu oversaw Minecraft’s construction and arranged a five-day preorder early access test, while assessing Meng Zuo’s Wasteland as a strong survival strategy game rather than a true sandbox. He declared Minecraft the game that best represented the sandbox genre, and Meng Zuo decided to delay Wasteland to avoid competing with it.

• Chen Xu had Qin Yi and Lin Tao build a railway through a mountain while he continued constructing the Nebula Games Museum in Minecraft.
• Chen Xu announced that preorder players could join Minecraft’s five-day early access test and request refunds during the test period.
• Chen Xu played Meng Zuo’s Wasteland and judged its resource management, camp building, and NPC systems to make it primarily a survival strategy game.
• Meng Zuo asked Chen Xu to compare Wasteland with Minecraft, and Chen Xu said the games were incomparable and that Minecraft best represented sandbox games.
• After hearing Chen Xu’s claim, Meng Zuo messaged his assistant to publicly announce a delay for Wasteland so it would avoid Minecraft’s release window.

Chen Xu expected Tenghua’s Voyage to struggle against Minecraft’s upcoming launch, while Wang Han eagerly began Minecraft’s five-day trial and explored its opening menus. The chapter left her ready to start a single-player game.

• Qin Yi told Chen Xu that Tenghua had set Voyage’s release date for January 21, and Chen Xu said he had arranged Minecraft’s promotion and expected Voyage to suffer from the timing.
• Minecraft opened for trial downloads on January 3, and Wang Han took a photo of the unlocked game screen before messaging Zhang Yi.
• Wang Han launched Minecraft and admired its pixel-art opening screen, lighting, textures, and interactive menu.
• Wang Han checked the MODs menu, found it empty, and saw that the early-access version offered Singleplayer and LAN Game, with other modes unavailable.
• Wang Han selected Singleplayer and entered the game.

Wang Han began her first Minecraft Survival Mode game, learned the basics of gathering and crafting, and prepared to build a home before nightfall. She ended the chapter enthusiastically chopping wood while imagining what style of house to make.

• Wang Han created a customized character named Builder Master, chose Survival Mode, and started the tutorial.
• Wang Han learned to gather wood by punching trees and discovered that blocks could be placed to build.
• Wang Han crafted Wood Planks, a Crafting Table, a Wooden Axe, and a Wooden Pickaxe.
• Wang Han learned that monsters would appear at night and that she needed a house and a bed to stay safe.
• Wang Han killed several Pink Piggies for meat, then began chopping trees and dreaming about her future house.

Wang Han tried to survive Minecraft’s first night, then built a wooden house with Zhang Yi watching. The rain and darkness exposed the house’s flaws, and Zhang Yi told her to change her Builder Master name because her construction was embarrassing.

• As night fell, Wang Han fled from monsters, dug herself into the ground, and waited until morning to emerge safely.
• Zhang Yi arrived with roast duck rice, and Wang Han explained Survival Mode while she dug a tunnel to avoid the monsters.
• Wang Han gathered materials and built a wooden house near a lake, planning to add glass windows and decorations later.
• When dusk and rain arrived, Wang Han plugged the open roof, leaving the house dark and prison-like.
• Zhang Yi looked at Wang Han’s house and told her to change her name because Builder Master was embarrassing.

Wang Han blamed her ugly wooden house on a lack of materials and restarted in Creative Mode to prove her building skill to Zhang Yi. After constructing a grand, symmetrical residence, she found that the finished house looked strange and unlike what she had imagined.

• Wang Han argued that her wooden Prison Room looked bad because she lacked materials, then deleted the Builder Master World save.
• Wang Han started a Creative Mode world under the name Zi Qing and discovered she had unlimited building materials and could fly.
• Wang Han chose a scenic location and built a large, symmetrical house using stone, pillars, glass, Glowstone, and other decorative blocks.
• Wang Han admired her finished house and realized its sparkling ceiling and water channel looked strange rather than elegant.

Wang Han and Zhang Yi struggled to build houses in Minecraft and laughed at other players’ similarly boxy creations. Song Ren impressed the group with a prepared wooden-house design, then got volunteered to build their shared base.

• Wang Han teased Zhang Yi’s boxy house, and Zhang Yi accepted her challenge but built an equally unimpressive one.
• Wang Han and Zhang Yi browsed forum posts and found that many Minecraft players also made awkward houses or dug shelters for the night.
• Song Ren joined the voice channel and shared a polished screenshot of a two-story wooden house he had planned in advance.
• Zhang Yi, Wang Han, Qiao Yi, and Wang Yifan praised Song Ren and appointed him to build their shared base.

As Minecraft's early access attracted only lukewarm attention, players experimented with building and survival while industry designers doubted its appeal. Chen Xu remained confident that the game's growing playtime and a planned second promotion would reveal its true charm.

• Players praised Minecraft's pixel visuals but mostly built crude houses or dug shelters into mountains to survive.
• Game designers wondered whether Minecraft had deeper gameplay as its popularity and ratings remained modest.
• Meng Zuo watched footage and questioned whether Minecraft had more content to reveal.
• Zhu Yi felt relieved that Minecraft seemed unlikely to threaten Voyage and expected sales to surge after Wasteland's delay.
• Qin Yi and Ruan Ningxue worried about Minecraft's 810,000 pre-orders, but Chen Xu said its popularity was rising and another promotion would showcase its gameplay.

After Minecraft received mixed reactions from players who struggled to see its purpose, Chen Xu promoted the game with a video showcasing a detailed recreation of Bianjing inspired by Along the River During the Qingming Festival. The demonstration astonished players and featured Galaxy Smart Technology’s new AI performance technology, which still needed further optimization.

• Players debated Minecraft’s appeal, finding its survival gameplay easier and its goals less clear than Don’t Starve’s.
• Chen Xu and Nebula Games launched a media campaign announcing that players could recreate Bianjing and Along the River During the Qingming Festival in Minecraft.
• Players watched a video that showed a richly detailed Bianjing changing from rainy daylight to a lively night along the Bian River.
• The video’s behind-the-scenes segment showed the city being built piece by piece and demonstrated Minecraft’s lighting effects.
• Chen Xu used Galaxy Smart Technology’s new AI performance technology in the demonstration, while Qin Yi and the others continued optimizing it for high-end hardware.

Chen Xu’s Minecraft promotions showcased recreations of Along the River During the Qingming Festival and the Forbidden City, driving the game’s popularity far beyond the gaming community. Zhu Yi remained uncertain about Voyage’s prospects until Chen Xu released another video three days later, shattering his hopes.

• Players and game designers were stunned by Minecraft’s recreation of Along the River During the Qingming Festival, and the promotional video reached fifteen million views in one day.
• Chen Xu uploaded a video showcasing Minecraft’s recreation of the Forbidden City, causing the game’s popularity to surge further.
• Meng Zuo realized Chen Xu’s promotion gave Minecraft an advantage competitors could not imitate.
• Zhu Yi weighed whether to continue promoting Voyage as Minecraft’s popularity overshadowed its launch.
• Chen Xu released another video three days later, shattering Zhu Yi’s confidence that Voyage’s content could still compete.