"So," Zhu Yao asked, "is the underground world finished?"
"No..." Yu Nan felt guilty instantly, "But the map is still there, it's just that there's no further plot after entering it."
No wonder…
Zhu Yao then entered the world of trees.
"The World of Trees"
The little boy came to a forest.
Something red flashed by at the edge of the forest.
Zhu Yao began walking towards the end of the screen.
Zhu Yao remembered that Lang Dao had said that a young man could find a fox companion.
That was his only companion in the world of the gods.
"Do you want to see fireworks?" Yu Nan suddenly asked.
fireworks?
Zhu Yao nodded.
Yu Nan took the controller and followed a predetermined route to a rock. Although there was no prompt on the screen, she clicked the interaction button.
In an instant, the little boy found himself in a dark space.
Immediately afterwards, fireworks appeared on the screen.
Unlike the crudely made fireworks in the previous worlds, the fireworks here are exquisite.
As the fireworks exploded, Zhu Yao noticed the little boy sitting by the water. The fireworks were reflected on the shimmering lake, creating a particularly exquisite composition.
"This is the most meticulously crafted world I've ever created."
Yu Nan began, "Back then, in order to simulate the fireworks of this world, I started studying the code day and night... and then I ended up in the hospital."
"Fortunately, it's finished..." Yu Nan looked at the fireworks blooming on the screen. "Although it's not related to the main storyline, I wanted to show it to you."
Chapter 24: Meeting My Friends
"Thank you," Zhu Yao suddenly said.
"The fireworks were beautiful; I haven't seen fireworks in a long time."
Yu Nan looked at Zhu Yao with some surprise.
Zhu Yao seemed to suddenly start talking.
“When I was a child, my mother would take me to watch fireworks every Chinese New Year, but I haven’t had the chance to watch them since.”
Yu Nan sensed that Zhu Yao was a little disappointed.
Let's watch fireworks together sometime.
"Um."
Zhu Yao withdrew from the world of fireworks and returned to the world of the forest.
The fiery red figure was gone, but fortunately Zhu Yao still remembered the fox's location.
She followed her memory and found a set of animal footprints, which she could investigate.
Following the fox's tracks, the little boy came to a fork in the road, and it seemed that a new option had appeared.
Zhu Yao decided to immediately choose an intersection and walk in; she chose the left fork in the road.
At first, it was a forest, but then the path became steep, and the little boy climbed to the top as if he were climbing a mountain.
At this moment, the sun set, and Zhu Yao quickly turned on the oil lamp and adjusted the progress bar to speed up the night.
However, the mountain was bare, and there weren't many dark figures to be seen.
"Want to guess what the shadowy figure is?" Yu Nan suddenly asked.
"Is it the human soul?" Zhu Yao asked casually.
"That's about right." Yu Nan fell into deep thought; in fact, she was someone who had entered the hidden world earlier.
“If you increase the number of shadows that have entered the little boy’s body, the little boy will also become a shadow. This is another route I’m talking about.”
"However, once it becomes a shadow, it is no longer human."
Yu Nan sighed, "Becoming a shadow will be more convenient and lively, but it also means giving up 'hope' forever, and never being able to meet your companions or go home again."
Zhu Yao asked thoughtfully, "So, has this system been completed yet?"
"No..." Yu Nan almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Then I'm starting to look forward to it," Zhu Yao said with a sly smile. "It feels like a horror game in the dark, it's going to be really fun!"
Yu Nan was a little annoyed; as the lead planner, she didn't want players to take the dark route.
And she doesn't really want to make horror games right now, nor is she very brave enough to do so.
"Actually, the Dark Route has another layer of meaning." Yu Nan bluntly spoiled it for Zhu Yao, "The Dark Route not only turns you into a shadow, but also prevents you from helping other new hidden gods. It can only assimilate them and drag them into the quagmire of the night."
Zhu Yao seemed thoughtful. "So, will it be made into an online game in the future?"
"Probably," Yu Nan sighed. "If the game can't be played online, there will be fewer players. So I plan to make the game playable both offline and online."
"That's great," Zhu Yao said half-jokingly. "We can watch the fireworks together online."
“Yes.” Yu Nan began to dream, “I will find the best modelers, the best artists, etc., to make the scenes exceptionally good.”
"Even a travel simulator will attract a lot of buyers."
Zhu Yao suddenly smiled.
"What are you laughing at?" Yu Nan asked, inexplicably feeling a bit embarrassed and angry.
"No." Zhu Yao surrendered. "I just feel that there are too few creators who can reconcile with commercialization."
“You’re right,” Yu Nan said with a wry smile, “but I haven’t made peace.”
"Then what you said..."
"It's just a reasonable way to retain players. I don't want it to be like this, but I also don't want to have no one playing my game. I'm just a normal person, and I need positive feedback."
As a writer, Zhu Yao wholeheartedly agrees.
Positive feedback is so important; without readers' collections and comments every time she wrote, she would have given up long ago.
However, she did not reconcile with commercialization.
"At least you'll have me as a player to back you up in the future," Zhu Yao said, half-jokingly and half-seriously. "I'll play all the games you make, so please take care of your health first before continuing to make games!"
In the game, dawn broke, and a red sun rose.
"This was originally a tourist attraction, but it's not finished yet," Yu Nan shrugged. "Do you like sunrises?"
“I like it,” Zhu Yao replied. “But I prefer it a little later in the day; I like the feeling of dusk.”
"Unfortunately, if you had just taken the other road, it would have been dusk."
Zhu Yao was a little annoyed.
"Then I'll ask you next time I make a choice."
"Welcome, it's my honor, my dear player." Yu Nan bowed.
Zhu Yao looked at the screen. Since she had chosen the left path, she might as well enjoy the sunrise for now.
Although Yu Nan's modeling was subpar, she captured the essence of sunrise: the sun emerges little by little, and its light bursts forth all at once, not little by little.
"I think you have a talent for making movies," Zhu Yao praised.
"You know what, I used to be involved in filming movies."
"Has she had such a wealth of experience?"
"It's a club!"
Soon, the sunrise ended.
A line of text appeared on the screen.
"Whether to enter the world of the sun."
"So this is a selection?" Zhu Yao tilted her head and looked at Yu Nan.
“That’s right.” Yu Nan nodded. “You still have the opportunity to go down another fork in the road, and you’ll have a different experience than if you had chosen that path from the beginning.”
Zhu Yao realized that the forest world was connected to four other worlds.
"So what would you choose?" Zhu Yao decided to ask the game producer directly.
Being able to play a game and talk to the game developer at the same time is a wonderful feeling.
"As for me..." Yu Nan fell into deep thought, "I can only say that not hesitating is my best solution."
"Of course, there are also wonderful views along other routes."
Zhu Yao nodded thoughtfully and entered the World of the Sun.
Since Yu Nan wanted her not to hesitate, then she should just keep moving forward.
To Zhu Yao's surprise, the world of the sun was not a 3D open world, but a traditional Chinese ink painting.
The little boy becomes a tiny figure in ink painting, sitting on a lone ink painting boat, drifting among the ink painting landscape.
In the entire scene, only the sun is red.
“If you take the other path, you'll find yourself in the world of oil painting,” Yu Nan added.
Oil painting...twilight...
Zhu Yao had a vague idea in her mind.
"Is that Van Gogh's Starry Night on the other side?" Zhu Yao voiced her guess.
Yu Nan nodded approvingly.