He couldn't help but chuckle as he read those names aloud.
The employees below burst into laughter, clapping as they laughed.
Several employees who came up with such names immediately covered their faces with their hands, pretending that they hadn't done it.
"The demo map itself is boring; we just randomly placed two mountains, an inland river, and a randomly generated mineral vein..."
The deputy chief engineer continued,
"But the players' participation suddenly brought this map to life. The city lord 'Who Took All the Pudding' used water attacks and breached the dam, so the inland river was diverted, and the original fields were completely changed, with the ruins of the watchtower still remaining. The city lord 'My Cat Wet the Bed Again' spent a huge amount of resources to build a 'Great Wall' to repel the enemy in order to completely occupy the copper mine veins..."
"All these changes are recorded on the map and in the game's history. This demo map is now a fully-fledged map, full of stories, and perfectly suited for filming the promotional video for 'Iron Horse and Ice River'."
The camera quickly zoomed in, and the entire demo map did indeed appear very deep.
Xia Cheng looked up with great interest and heard the deputy chief designer say, "The core principle of 'Iron Horse and Ice River' is this kind of freedom in a groundbreaking sense."
"We will not restrict any player behavior, we will not force them to build cities in a certain place, or to accept NPC quests to attack monsters, nor will we require players to socialize, take on apprentices, or join a guild that has no real presence..."
"What will happen here is a highly free and primal competition. To ensure their cities survive and grow stronger, players will spontaneously explore, engage in diplomacy, and decide whether to ally with or oppose other players. Then, according to their own desires, they will alter the map, create history, and create stories—some terrifying, some romantic—on our entire world map..."
"We don't know what kind of kingdoms our players will create."
172. The Age of Great Contention
The game concept of "Iron Horse and Ice River" is Mingyan's first attempt, and it is already amazing enough for the Dragon Slayer Studio, let alone for outsiders.
Those listening in this conference room were all from outside the studio, including technical partners and the marketing team.
They were all people who could be said to have seen a lot, but after one meeting, they were still stunned.
This is why the Dragon Slayer Sword Studio held this internal lecture.
This design by the God of Wealth has truly challenged too many industry norms.
Even after leaving the meeting room, Xia Cheng was still deep in thought.
He also overheard several marketers chatting as they walked out.
"Will this really work? We've had many fee collection points before, but we've never set such a high ceiling..."
"It's not just an upper limit! There's practically no upper limit for new games! Spending 10,000 is nothing, and spending a hundred or two hundred thousand to start a business would still feel stingy."
"Don't underestimate the spending power of wealthy players. Have you forgotten the financial reports we saw for 'Against the Heavens'?"
"...That's true. Anyway, my legs went weak just watching. This time, the God of Wealth is really going all out."
"Just trust the boss. Ugh... my legs are a little weak too. I'll have some ice cream to warm myself up later."
For them, many of the novel concepts were groundbreaking; they had never imagined that games could be done this way before.
For example, many games have implemented PvP systems, such as opening battlegrounds at 8 PM every night and letting players participate in a few matches.
At most, we can hold a few more scheduled leagues or guild battles.
Attention everyone: A has declared war on B! The system has determined that the battle will begin at 8 PM in three days!
The process of the battle can be disregarded.
However, after the battle, everyone's strength is completely intact; at most, they lose some resources, which can be recovered by spending time and effort.
The winner receives a system reward, while the loser simply goes back to grinding.
Well, it's like someone passing by and playing chess out of boredom. Both parties involved are very polite, with at most a minor verbal argument.
It can't be called a war, or even a battle; it should just be called a "sparring match."
But "Iron Horse and Ice River" is different.
The God of Wealth said: We don't play the gentleman's game of fair play, nor do we engage in any kind of peaceful competition where participation is valued. If we're going to fight, it has to be for real!
"Iron Horse and Ice River" allows players to use the most insidious tactics and wage the most despicable wars.
Players can attack their unsuspecting neighbors silently, in the dead of night;
You can also turn a member of an enemy alliance to defect, so that the traitor can breach the city wall and work from the inside. There is no punishment for the traitor, and he can even get a share of the spoils.
They can also form alliances, rallying the largest guilds to bully the weak, and extorting protection money from disadvantaged players and guilds...
Rather, this game encourages players to scheme and bully the weak!
The God of Wealth is practically writing "survival of the fittest" on the first page of the design draft.
The studio staff read his design drafts carefully, and the more they looked, the more terrified they became. It was as if they could see a deadly sword hidden in those few plain and straightforward concept descriptions.
The Dragon-Slaying Saber is terrifyingly powerful!
Iron Horse and Ice River is a game that doesn't set any rules for players.
What's even more terrifying is that its war is a zero-sum game.
There are no system rewards for winning or losing between players; nothing in this world is given away from the sky.
The development team even lets the players create the maps themselves, so they basically don't interfere with almost anything that happens among the players.
All soldiers, weapons, food, resources, and even destroyed buildings lost by players in battle will not be automatically restored after the battle.
This means that the victor must seize all the plunderable resources from the loser for the war to be truly over, and only then can the victor continue his normal game progression of "slowly getting stronger".