Chapter 39 jump scare
In the early hours of the morning, Yu Nan opened the door and saw Lang Xi and Zhu Yao huddled together on the living room sofa, seemingly looking at something—an iPad?
Yu Nan, who was still in a "dejected" state after being frightened by "Layers of Fear", suddenly perked up and rushed downstairs, squeezing herself between the two of them.
Because Zhu Yao and Lang Xi were sitting very close together, Yu Nan sat between them, with Zhu Yao and Lang Xi each on one of their legs. Feeling slightly unsteady, Yu Nan simply put her arms around their shoulders.
"I was just showing Miss Zhu how to disassemble the game," Lang Xi said speechlessly, showing Yu Nan the content on the tablet, which was Lang Dao'er's explanation of "Layers of Fear".
"I'm not here to break you up," Yu Nan said, separating the two and squeezing a gap between them to sit down between Zhu Yao and Lang Xi.
Zhu Yao silently made some space to the side, and Lang Xi shrugged, seemingly speechless at Yu Nan's childish behavior.
“I’m here to join you, and I want to hear too.”
"Okay, we just talked about jump scare."
Jump scare originated from the 1976 film "Carrie" and is a common technique used in horror works to create a scary atmosphere. It can be understood as a sudden scare, a close-up scare, or a jump scare.
Jump scare is a common technique in horror games, but it's only the most basic form of scare.
Truly excellent horror games possess a certain depth.
“Jump scare is the most basic technique in horror games,” Lang Xi paused, then gave Yu Nan a meaningful look, “but it is surprisingly effective for some people.”
Yu Nan: ? ? ? What do you mean?
Do you find Layers of Fear scary?
Zhu Yao: "It's not scary."
Yu Nan: "Terrifying!"
Lang Xi nodded. "You can each share your feelings."
"It's absolutely terrifying!" Yu Nan clenched her fists into claws, the veins on the back of her hands bulging from the force. "Those things often suddenly 'click' and start moving... The background music is creepy too! The atmosphere is so eerie! Don't you guys get startled all of a sudden?!"
Zhu Yao/Lang Xi: "No."
Yu Nan let out a long sigh, then slumped back on the sofa in a relaxed, reclining position. "Fine, so only I'm scared. I'm the most cowardly piece of trash in the world..."
"Where is Miss Zhu?" Lang Xi ignored Yu Nan's resentful mutterings and turned to look at Zhu Yao.
"Me?" Zhu Yao stared at the void in front of her, as if recalling something. "I'm not easily frightened, and when I play games, I can guess where the high-energy parts are, so I'm naturally not scared. I appreciate it more than horror."
Appreciate the artistic level design; after all, Layers of Fear has outstanding art design, perfectly rendered music, and a profound storyline—of course, if you don't play with full attention, you might mistakenly think that Layers of Fear has a weak storyline.
"So, Miss Zhu can see hints about the game levels?"
Zhu Yao nodded. "It's quite obvious that the red bottle, the reflection, and the words on the wall can all provide clues about what will happen."
"Furthermore, the game has a rhythm that controls my emotions while playing, preventing me from being too relaxed or too tense all the time, so I can predict when it will scare me."
Lang Xi poked Yu Nan, who was sprawled on the sofa, full of resentment, with her finger. "And you, Miss Zhu gave you a hint while she was playing, didn't she?"
“Telling me won’t help,” Yu Nan said, having somehow gotten a cushion and burying her head in it like an ostrich. “Zhu Yao gives me a heads-up almost every time before something exciting happens, but I’m still scared. Even when I’m lying on her lap listening to her read the game, I still get creeped out when the background music suddenly starts playing.”
Lang Xi: "You two are really good at this..."
Yu Nan moved the cushion away and made a face at Lang Xi, trying to scare her, but it only made Lang Xi chuckle.
Yu Nan simply hugged her pillow and lay straight between the two of them, staring at the familiar ceiling in the living room.
Before Zhu Yao arrived, the living room was always empty, and the entire villa was always empty. Yu Nan usually stayed in the study playing games, and would go downstairs to play games when she needed to refer to something; most of the time, she would lie in the living room, lost in thought.
In the empty house, surrounded by silence, being all alone allowed her thoughts to wander far away, and inspiration would gradually emerge, chattering away in her mind.
When she's daydreaming and has accumulated enough inspiration, Yu Nan goes to her study to write it down and incorporate it into the game. Her fans and players are full of praise for her imaginative game demo clips.
And so, even without completing the game, she became a "game producer," attracting players with sporadic fragments of her creative ideas.
At that time, she was still at Tanuki, and with her inspiration, she brought many refreshing gameplay elements to Tanuki's games. Many people said that it was a waste of her talents for her to stay at Tanuki and repackage pay-to-win games, and they wanted her to go out and work independently.
Overwhelmed by the praise from players, Yu Nan left Li Ji and rejected Lang Xi's offer of help, determined to create an independent game based on her passion.
After rejecting Lang Xi's offer to join, Lang Xi said something that left a deep impression on Yu Nan: "You can't make a game on your own."
Lang Xi always poured cold water on her, but Yu Nan never gave in back then.
So what if Lang Xi graduated from the world's number one ranked university for game design? Game design is an emerging industry, and game design programs haven't been around for many years.
So she designed Lost Garden, a story about a boy entering a hidden world. When the trailer was first released, players were excited, and some even praised Lost Garden as a shining example of Chinese games.
However, the result of fanaticism is often blind obedience with no benefit whatsoever. Those who praised Yu Miao calmed down and raised countless questions.
Faced with those doubts, Yu Nan was speechless. The words Lang Xi had said to her resonated in her heart like a golden bell: "Yu Nan, you can't make a game on your own."
"Because you don't have the ability to design a complete game."
The resentment and unwillingness to accept defeat had long been worn away by time and overwhelming doubts. Lang Xi's words were like a "tightening headband" on Yu Nan's head, constantly reminding her—you can't do it. The passion she once had had long been hammered and bruised by the iron fist of reality.
"Hey, stop daydreaming," Lang Xi wagged her finger, pulling Yu Nan back to reality. "What are you thinking about?"
Yu Nan was annoyed and opened her mouth to bite Lang Xi's finger that was waving in front of her. Lang Xi reacted quickly and withdrew her hand. Yu Nan clenched her teeth hard, making a very obvious "crunching" sound.
"Are you... born in the Year of the Dog?" Lang Xi looked at her hands with a slight tremor. "Luckily, I reacted quickly, otherwise I would have had to go out and get a rabies vaccine."
"Go ahead and make the call, and take your luggage with you!" Yu Nan rolled over and lay face down on the sofa, her voice muffled through the fabric. "Weren't you praising Zhu Yao? You two continue, don't poke me if you have nothing to do."
"Miss Lang was just praising you," Zhu Yao said, placing her hand on Yu Nan's back and stroking it like she was petting a cat. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Zhu Yao's voice instantly soothed Yu Nan's agitation, and Yu Nan really wanted to pounce on her immediately.
You need to be reserved, Yu Nan. Lang Xi is right here! Even if Lang Xi wasn't there, you're not that close to Zhu Yao.
Wait, Lang Xi praised her?
Yu Nan sprang to her feet with a somersault, looking at Lang Xi with a look of utter disbelief.
Lang Xi was suppressing a laugh when he turned to face her.
Without hesitation, Yu Nan stretched out her hands and frantically tore at Lang Xi's face, pretending to be wrestling with Lang Xi: "Tell me, who exactly are you? Why are you wearing Lang Xi's clothes! And wearing Lang Xi's skin!"
Lang Xi grabbed Yu Nan's hands and pressed her down onto the sofa. "I don't fight with kids!"
Yu Nan nodded. "That's right, it really is Lang Xi."
Lang Xi rolled her eyes in annoyance. "If you weren't capable, I wouldn't have suggested coming with you in the first place, and I wouldn't be here now."
Yu Nan felt particularly wronged. "Didn't you say I couldn't make games? That I didn't have the ability to design complete games?"
Yu Nan lowered her head and stared at her toes. "You're right, I really can't do it."
Seeing that Yu Nan was starting to look down again, Lang Xi gave Yu Nan a hard tap on the head. Yu Nan let out a "yelp" and hugged her head, glaring angrily at Lang Xi.
"Let me finish what I have to say," Lang Xi said, speechless. "Back then, you were the same. You made some threats and ran away, not even wanting to listen to my explanation."
"Otherwise what?" Yu Nan hugged her knees and turned her head away, not wanting to look Lang Xi in the eye.
Yu Nan knew, of course, that Lang Xi hadn't finished speaking, but she was holding back her anger and didn't want to see the truth.
Lang Xi knew that dealing with Yu Nan, who was like a primary school student, required a combination of forceful pressure and patient guidance. Over the past few years, she had also come to realize another truth—when teaching children, you shouldn't criticize them, but rather praise them more.
“That’s right,” Lang Xi began to praise Yu Nan, “You have a natural advantage in game design, an advantage that many people, including myself, Ms. Zhu, and Yu Hua, do not possess. This is also the fundamental reason why your previous demos had a large audience.”
Yu Nan was flattered and asked, "What advantages do I have?"
"This touches on the essence of games," Lang Xi said with a mysterious smile. "What do you think is the purpose of creating games?"
Zhu Yao: "I guess... a game is a world in itself, and the ninth art is about telling a good story within a complete worldview..."
"You can tell he's a novelist," Lang Xi shrugged. "He's partly right, but it's too one-sided. Games are about storytelling and narration, but many games don't need a plot, such as first-person shooters and simulation games."
Zhu Yao's inner thoughts: Please don't reveal that I write novels!
Yu Nan: "Creating a large environment and then guiding the player's emotions through interaction?"
"Your answer is too broad and applies to all artistic creations, but you've hit the nail on the head with 'guiding emotions'."
Lang Xi took out a pen and paper and wrote two words on it: "Experience".
"The purpose of creating games is not to tell a story, but to create something specific that allows players to have an experience through interaction."
Chapter 40 You Were Eavesdropping
"Experience?"
Lang Xi nodded: "Games are just a means to achieve the experience. What really attracts players is the experience of playing the game, such as a good script, brain-teasing gameplay, a special atmosphere, and so on."
“Take ‘Layers of Fear’ as an example,” Lang Xi said, adjusting the video’s progress on her iPad before placing the tablet on Yu Nan’s lap. “You two take a close look at this high-energy part.”
Three heads were huddled together, staring at the screen.
This is a high-energy scene that Zhu Yao and Yu Nan happened to play before going to sleep—the painter walked into a long corridor with many large windows with curtains. At the end of the corridor, the window was open, the curtains swayed in the wind, and the shadow of a monster was reflected on the wall.
"Now think back, what was the first thing you saw or thought of?"
Zhu Yao: "There was a red bottle at the door of the room just now, indicating that there was high energy ahead. Pushing open the door, there was a long corridor. The window at the very end of the corridor was open, and all the curtains were blown by the wind. Moonlight shone through the undrawn curtains onto the wall, and you could see a dark shadow. Judging from the shadow, it was at the end of the corridor. It was obviously a trap. Going over it would trigger death."
Yu Nan: "The room, which was warm in color just now, suddenly turned cold. The crackling sound of the fireplace turned into the sound of rain, wind, and crying. With the window that was not closed, it felt like the surroundings had become colder... The window at the farthest point suddenly closed with a loud noise that startled me. Then it opened by itself, as if it was a sign that there was something unseen there. A dark shadow appeared on the wall and gradually grew bigger, as if it was growing. The shadow on the wall seemed to be about to spread over and devour me in the next second."
Lang Xi nodded: "Can you tell the difference yourselves?"
Yu Nan was frustrated. "Zhu Yao predicted all the high-energy moments in the game; she almost guessed the levels the producer designed, while all I noticed were the scary things..."
Lang Xi was exasperated and smacked Yu Nan on the head.
Zhu Yao quickly grasped the point, and she said thoughtfully, "I'm more focused on logic, while Yu Nan experienced the atmosphere of the game."
Just like a newborn observing the world, let go of all emotions and desires, abandon all criticism and opinions, and observe everything with a calm mind full of expectation and open-mindedness.
Yu Nan shrugged, making a "helpless" gesture with her hands: "Just say I'm a coward, that I get scared easily."
Lang Xi almost gritted her teeth: "I'm praising you, can't you tell?"
Yu Nan belatedly realized: "Huh? What did you praise me for? My keen observation skills?"
Lang Xi was deflated. She was about to continue showering Yu Nan with compliments, but now she was stuck in her throat, unable to say anything more.
"Ms. Lang is praising your ability to control the atmosphere."
Just now, Lang Xi patted Yu Nan's forehead, and a strand of hair was sticking to her forehead, making her eyelids itchy. Zhu Yao reached out and picked up the strand of hair, tucking it behind Yu Nan's ear.