Almighty Video Game Designer - Chapter 233
Chapter 233: Thousand Hells Beta Test
Chen Mo and Lin Xue went through a simple tutorial before they officially entered the gates of hell.
There were a few low level demons that had to be defeated to save a few villagers to complete the quest.
After saving the blacksmith and shopkeeper, these functions were unlocked. Of course, there weren’t many functions available, most likely unlocked in the future.
As they entered the gates of hell, countless illusions surrounded the two of them as if they were transmigrating to a new world. This was just actually just a loading screen.
However, a large group of demons charged towards them the moment they finished loading.
There were tiny baby skeletons, skeletal birds flying in the sky, demon snakes with many teeth, giant scorpions with their stingers held high…
Chen Mo used his Volley ability to rain down arrows from the sky at the monsters.
And to be honest, VR and PC felt completely different.
In VR, Chen Mo’s field of view was identical in real life. Combined with the sounds, smells and haptic feedback, he felt more immersed into the game than PC games. He could still feel that it was a game, but many aspects of the game strongly resemble real life.
Of course, the smells weren’t completely disgusting, and were just there to add to the atmosphere.
Using his bow and arrows and various abilities, the monsters in front of him fell one after another.
His character would use abilities the moment Chen MO thought of it. Chen Mo could feel the bow in his left hand and the string on his right. He could even feel the vibrations from letting go of the arrow.
The groans from the monsters came from all directions, as the players become more and more immersed under such a tense atmosphere.
OF course, the players could turn, move, and jump with everything mirrored in the game, making it feel incredibly realistic.
Lin Xue’s Heavens character let out a range of different spells. Lightning rained down from the heavens turning monsters into ash; pouring rain turning the ground into mud, trapping and slowing down these monsters.
Soon, the monsters ahead of them were all gone as their corpses disappeared.
The two of them collected the equipment and monster shards that were dropped.
The monster shards were the currency in this game. They could be used in trading, changed into coins, or used as a crafting ingredient.
Chen Mo used Shadow Walk and rushed towards a small group of monsters.
Chen Mo aggroed the mobs before the two of them used their abilities. Both of them were long range characters, and both were quite good at the game and had great synergy without the need to communicate their thoughts.
After nearly an hour, the two of them cleared out all the monsters in the first floor and the miniboss guarding the first floor. This meant they fully cleared the level, allowing the sun to shine again.
At the same time, the entrance for the second floor appeared.
The two of them were level seven after an hour of battling. They unlocked two new abilities, making five combined with the three they started with.
Chen Mo found out that all classes have a limit of twenty abilities, but were only allowed to carry seven at any time. This was perhaps an attempt of reducing strain on the players.
Chen Mo guessed that this ability system was identical to Diablo. They could pick and choose seven abilities and unique builds with their equipment, with no strong or weak abilities.
The first floor was quite easy as it was just to help players get the hang of the game.
Lin Xue looked at Chen Mo and asked, “Manager, you still playing?”
Chen Mo shook his head, “Not for now. I just wanted to check out what the game was like. You go ahead, I’ll need to go back to working on the new game.”
“Then I’ll stop too, let’s play together when we are free,” said Lin Xue.
Chen Mo laughed, “Perhaps you’ll never play it again as I’m almost done with the new game.”
“Really?” asked Lin Xue, “What genre is the new game manager? I heard it’s a VR game?”
Chen Mo nodded, “Yeah. You’ll know soon enough, I’ll make sure to get you to playtest.”
Lin Xue exclaimed, “Alright! But manager, I have a question.”
“Hmm?”
Lin Xue was a bit hesitant, “Uhh, manager, many said Thousand Hells copied Diablo, and said that you were making a VR game as a cover to hit back at Emperor Dynasty Entertainment, is that true?”
“Hitting back? No.”
Lin Xue nodded, “Oh, I thought so too. You’ve never made a VR game after all and lacked experience in many areas, there’s no need to go head to head with Emperor Dynasty Entertainment in that regard.”
Chen Mo said, “The reason I made a VR game wasn’t to hit back at the Emperor Dynasty game, but to destroy them.”
Lin Xue was shocked, “What?”
“Obviously the reason I made a game to release the same time as Thousand Hells was to teach them a lesson, what’s there to question there?”
Lin Xue was shocked, “Uhh, how are you feeling after playing Thousand Hells?”
“I was about seventy percent confident before, but now…”
“Fifty percent?” asked Lin Xue.
“A hundred percent,” answered Chen Mo.
“…Manager, you’re bluffing. I think Thousand Hells did well in many aspects. This theme is quite refreshing too, are you really that confident?”
Chen Mo laughed, “You’ll now when the new game gets released. I’ll be going, bye!”
Chen Mo’s character disappeared.
Lin Xue was still confused.
“Did he start telling tall tales daily now? But he doesn’t seem to be bluffing based on his tone…”
—
After checking out Thousand Hells, Chen Mo had a good idea of what the final game would look like.
It would be a very mature VR game, even if it wasn’t hugely popular, it’d be slightly popular at the very least.
There was nothing much to complain about the gameplay. It wasn’t any worse than a successful VR game like Tale of the Sword, and could compete on the same grounds as some overseas VR game.
Yan Zhenyuan’s idea of a hack and slash VR game was really well thought out, and was something that was executed particularly well.
