Chapter 3

Generally, online games of game companies are divided into development servers and external servers. Development servers are used for testing by developers, while external servers are where players are located.

When Lin Yao was testing other games, she had also played on the development server before, as a new employee with nothing to do, she could only play the game and write game experience reports and daily work reports.

So she could be considered to have some understanding of testing games.

This time when she entered the game,

She originally planned to spend ten minutes to fully understand this game.

But in the end...

She sat in her seat for more than an hour without letting go of the mouse.

It wasn't that the game was particularly fun.

Rather, the game was too abstract.

In ten minutes, she not only failed to understand the game but also almost couldn't even leave the beginner village...

It was really... too difficult to play.

Turn-based online games, a genre that was just beginning to rise and was still popular in this world,

Had once been popular in her country as well.

When it came to turn-based online games in her country at that time, most people would think of the game "Menghua Xiyou" (Dream of the West), which was released in 2003 and became extremely popular afterward. Although there were other works like "Dahua" and "Shiqi Shidai" (Stone Age), the one that left the deepest impression on most people was still "Menghua Xiyou."

This type of turn-based online game, which originated from tabletop games, can be considered a prototype of computer games and indeed had its glorious days.

However, this type of game has a fatal flaw: players take turns, and you can only perform actions when it's your turn.

The pace is very slow.

This inevitably leads to the decline of this genre because it's really too slow.

Newer generations of players find this type of game really boring.

For example, a relatively famous and popular single-player turn-based game, "Octopath Traveler," is a JRPG that does an excellent job with its turn-based combat system.

What is the completion rate for this game?

...4.8%.

Before Lin Yao's穿越 (time travel), in the era when short videos were booming, this type of turn-based online game was basically a living fossil. At that time, the only ones that were still doing relatively well in the market were "Menghua Xiyou," "Shenwu," and at most, "Wendao."

There were smaller-scale ones, but most were obscure, and even players who liked this genre hadn't heard of them, or they had once been glorious but had long since declined, such as "Mengxiang Shijie" (Dream World), which was the predecessor of "Shenwu," and "Shuihu Qzhuan," which was contemporary with "Menghua Xiyou."

Of course... this type of game is slow and time-consuming.

But it's not without its merits; there are quite a few redeeming qualities, and the killer feature of this genre is—cultivation and social interaction.

Cultivation aside,

Social interaction is the biggest killer feature of this type of online game.

At least in Lin Yao's view, this is the biggest killer feature.

To put it bluntly,

The players who are still playing turn-based online games, the true players, continue to play because of the emotional connection.

This emotional connection comes from the establishment of relationships, the core of which is people, and the interaction between people is social interaction.

This is the killer feature of turn-based online games.

After the memories of playing with friends settle, it's hard to let go. Who doesn't know that "PUBG," "LOL," and mobile games are fun, but it's the memories that make it hard to quit.

However,

The game "Fantasy OL" that Lin Yao is playing now, apart from its art style and UI, has none of the advantages of turn-based games.

All the systems are done terribly.

Can you believe it?

Lin Yao had to circle around a few times to find the quest system, and after completing a quest, there wasn't even a proper feedback.

The basic quest system and daily system are like this, so don't even mention the social system.

There isn't one at all.

Moreover, the game has very few gameplay elements. After Lin Yao completed the daily quests with her character, the next tasks were monotonous and extremely boring.

Even more ridiculous,

After Lin Yao toured the development server and checked the forums, she found that players were complaining and criticizing the company because the in-game economy had collapsed.

Merchants were monopolizing items, and now players couldn't even play the game normally!

This broken game even has merchants! And they're monopolizing! Because apparently selling in-game currency is quite profitable...

This game, really...

Even a dog would shake its head.

Lin Yao let go of the mouse, looked at the game icon on the desktop, and shook her head.

It's hopeless, just wait for it to die.

Revive it?

You might as well get an old lady to redo it; it would be much easier than reviving this game...

Lin Yao rubbed her cheeks and looked up at the ceiling.

After a while,

She managed to pull herself together.

...Forget it.

Since she knows where the problems lie, she should think of ways to solve them.

After all, she has already played it and spent time on it.

Lin Yao took out a sheet of A4 paper, picked up a pencil, and quietly started writing.

Hmm, first, to save this game, a major version update is needed.

This major update needs to comprehensively optimize the existing systems and add a bunch of subsystems. How to design the version and how to increase player retention and revenue... but these are not the most important.

The first and most urgent problem is—how to convince the higher-ups to do a major update for this dying game. She is just a scapegoat, and the game is already being discussed for shutdown. At this point, talking about a major overhaul is like walking into a firing line, with little hope.

This is the first difficulty.

Second, even if the higher-ups agree to update the game, how can she deceive... the programmers to come back and convince the art department to put effort into this dying game.

The original project's lead artist and lead programmer have already left. Now, there are no programmers, and if she goes to the internal queue for art, the game's grave would be overgrown by then.

This is the second difficulty.

Third, even if Lin Yao overcomes all the above difficulties, updates the game, and makes it fun, ensuring that players who have played it will have high stickiness.

How can she convince the operations department to invest resources such as marketing to attract players and increase DAU (Daily Active Users)?

This is the hardest part because no matter how good the game is, it's useless if no one plays it.

And the operations department decides whether the game's quality can be converted into actual money. After all, for a commercial company, making a game is for selling it, which means operations always outweigh planning.

As a nobody, convincing them to invest resources in such a game, given her current status, is almost impossible... or rather, there's no chance at all.

Hmm, this is the third difficulty...

Lin Yao slowly stopped writing.

She looked at the difficulties she had written on the paper, remained silent for a while, then threw the pen and looked up at the ceiling again.

Indeed, this game is hopeless.

...Give up!