"Knock knock knock"
A large hand pounded hard on the partition wall.
The man peered into his head and looked at the several brand-new arcade machines neatly arranged inside.
"Hey Henry, I was wondering where you were. What were you doing here?"
His gaze fell on the machines, and he saw the "Beat Hazard" sign at the top.
"Hey, isn't this ' Beat Hazard '? It arrived so quickly, no wonder."
" Wade, you've come at the perfect time."
Henry smiled, checked the machine's operation again, and then ejected his card.
Wade was a regular at his arcade, and a long-time customer who had been playing there for a long time.
"I have a mild case of... well, what's the term again? Photo... yes, Photosensitive Epilepsy."
He blurted out the extremely difficult-to-pronounce word that was causing him considerable distress, and then made a pleading gesture towards Wade.
"Could you help me test the machine? I'll reimburse you for the game coins." Although Henry really wanted to try out this exciting new game himself.
But my health simply won't allow it.
By the time we got to the song selection stage, that was already the limit.
Once the light effects start to explode completely and recklessly, I'll definitely pass out.
"Hey, you're all buddies, no need to be so polite with me."
Wade laughed and shook the small basket he was holding.
The sound of metal game coins clanging together came from inside.
"I've already bought it from the young man at the front desk."
He walked into the newly renovated area, which wasn't fully finished yet, and marveled at the several new machines.
"I've heard from others that this thing is incredibly awesome, they say it's 'the most thrilling flight shooting game I've ever played in my life.'"
"Don't you even know who made it?"
Henry puffed out his chest, looking as proud as if he were the one being praised. As a loyal shopkeeper who had followed Gamenova since its early days before it became famous, Henry was definitely one of the people who benefited the most from the era's boom.
If it's a Gamenova product, just buy it without hesitation.
If Gamenova wants to implement any new plan, just agree without hesitation; it's bound to be reliable.
It was this strategy of absolute loyalty, completely abandoning any thought process, that allowed Henry to grow his business from a tiny, run-down garage shop into the large regional arcade it is today.
"It's like I'm praising you. Never mind."
Wade patted him on the shoulder helplessly, then stepped forward and onto the arcade machine.
The metal platform was clearly sophisticated; Wade could feel it as soon as he stepped onto it.
It is not completely fixed; there is a very slight wobble and damping sensation.
This means that this thing is definitely an active item.
"Alright, you can play with it. I don't even dare to look at this thing for more than a second."
Henry waved his hand, giving him all the space.
"Hey, hey, don't rush off! Can I borrow your brother's card for a second?" "You idiot, can't you buy it yourself?"
Henry cursed and tossed the card at him.
"I'll definitely do it next time!"
Wade laughed, caught it, and immediately inserted it into the machine.
As the machine finished loading, music began to play.
According to Lin Lixin's design, it looks like a large music player.
It will randomly select a song from its existing local music library as the currently playing track.
Just like in the real " Beat Hazard ", players can choose to start directly with the current song, which is simple and convenient, and is very suitable for players who are not very familiar with the music scene and just want to have fun.
Of course, it also supports playing the game with user-selected songs.
The random result was "Painkiller" by the Judas Priest.
The intense double-stomp drum beats and frenetic dual guitars give this uniquely styled "thrash metal" an extremely exaggerated sense of rhythm.
Just hearing the noise made Wade feel his blood boiling. Just like the machine's appearance, the arcade machine's design was filled with a lot of metal and punk style, making no attempt to hide its almost piercing rebelliousness.
Feeling the low-frequency vibrations coming from under his feet and the almost blinding lighting effects, Wade nodded in satisfaction.
His favorite thing is arcade games.
This perfect integration of hardware and software is something that other gaming platforms can hardly match.
With its powerful functionality and mechanical structure that allows for free expression of imagination, it's practically perfect, except for being less convenient than other platforms!
Of course, amidst his excitement, Wade also understood why Henry had escaped so quickly.
Good heavens, this light pollution is so intense that even a normal person might not be able to withstand it, let alone someone with Photosensitive Epilepsy.
But rock music has to be a bit wild.
However, aside from these physical sensations, Wade's attention was quickly drawn to the game itself.
Beat Hazard
Apart from the title, the entire background of the main interface is a Starfield universe.
This design isn't new; it appears in many space-themed works. This is because rendering Starfield is very resource-efficient, allowing for excellent results with minimal performance overhead.
But " Beat Hazard " is a completely different story.
The entire nebula was constantly moving and changing in rhythm with the music.
Even on the beat of each accented note, all the stars in the background twinkle in sync.
It's as if... as if the entire universe is in sync with this music.
There aren't many options, after all, it's an arcade game, and the design is very WYSIWYG, without the learning curve of games like Stars!.
[Start Game]
[Play the game using the current track]
[Party Mode]
[Hangar]
Aside from the music elements specifically incorporated into the game, it is indeed a very standard flight shooting game design.
Wade didn't rush to start the game; instead, he opened the hangar to take a look. Normally, there would be some different aircraft models available for unlocking here.
As players level up or collect in-game currency, they can gradually unlock new machine types.
but...
[Spaceship Editor]
Welcome to the Spaceship Editor
[You can design spaceships here and share your creations with players worldwide.]
Wade was stunned, completely unexpected to witness this scene.
At a glance, [basic], [launch angle], [turret position], [spaceship flame]...
If he wanted, he could even completely customize and handcraft a fighter jet to his own specifications.
The most outrageous thing is that even the appearance of the spaceship can be completely customized.
Wade tried adjusting the turret's position, and sure enough, in the preview on the right, the trajectory of the bullets fired by the spaceship immediately changed. That was incredibly awesome!
Okay, actually, this spaceship design isn't exactly a new technology.
Lin Lixin had already laid out the foundation for the previous "Stars!" project and had already applied it to "Stars!".
However, this game is so sensitive to certain types of people that even though it's completely free, there aren't actually that many players willing to spend time and effort on it.
Moreover, although you can design your own spaceship in Stars!, that only affects the final spaceship's parameters; visually, it's just a vector graphic, so you can't really tell anything about it.
When it was moved to " Beat Hazard ", Lin Lixin simply perfected it and made it into this truly customized spaceship gameplay.
Of course, design is design, but it is still limited by [edit points].
It's basically the same gameplay as cars in RPGs; the stronger the engine, the fewer points you get allocated to weapons.
A weaker engine means more points can be allocated to other areas.
It's all the same old stuff.
Should you choose the highly maneuverable super-flying behemoth, or the super heavy ship that, while slower, boasts formidable firepower?
"That's a pretty interesting design that adds depth to the strategy," Wade nodded silently.
Let's close the spaceship editor for now.
After all, he hadn't played it himself, and hadn't even tried the original spaceship. Even if he were asked to design it, he wouldn't know where to start.
but...
Before leaving, Wade looked at the preview screen next to him.
"I was wondering about that bullet earlier."
The spaceship fired bullets like water being poured, unleashing several dense bursts of bullets in a fan-shaped pattern.
What puzzled Wade was why the bullets were so disjointed.
They come in bursts, sometimes dense, sometimes sparse.
In its most intense moments, the entire bullet can resemble a large light bulb.
When it's weak, you can't even see it unless you look closely.
They seem to be changing in intensity in a regular pattern. "Hmm?"
Wade focused his attention on his feet.
Suddenly, I realized that the changes in these bullets seemed to be related to the music.
With this guess in mind, he quickly focused intently on listening to "Painkiller" in the background.
Sure enough, the bullet was perfectly synchronized with the music.
The louder the music, especially towards the climax, the more intense the spaceship's firepower will be.
"What? There's such a design?"
Wade's voice carried a hint of uncertainty as he tried to adjust the music to a gentler tune.
Sure enough, the bullet, which had originally resembled a world-destroying planet-destroying cannon, suddenly deflated and became four water guns.
"Hiss... this is interesting."
Wade's eyes lit up.
Doesn't this mean that as long as the music he chooses is exciting and explosive enough, his firepower will be super-amplified, allowing him to have a blast? Having figured this out, Wade no longer hesitated and switched back to "Painkiller" to start the game.
From the very beginning, it featured the signature high-speed, dense drumbeats.
The drumbeats, approaching 200 bpm, pounded wildly against the subwoofer.
Wade's face lit up with joy.
As everything unfolded as he had predicted, the firepower of his spaceship fluctuated constantly in response to the intense noise.
It's already this powerful at the very beginning; what will it be like at the climax? It'll be world-destroying!
Damn, just thinking about it is so exciting.
Can...
The moment the main theme started playing, Wade's expression changed immediately.
This is bad!
Accompanied by the rapid beat, purple halos were frantically generated around the entire screen.
Then, hordes of enemies swept in. The dense space fleet instantly surrounded him.