I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 565 - 180: The Game that Interpreted Joy to the Extreme!_2

Chapter 565: Chapter 180: The Game that Interpreted Joy to the Extreme!_2

Having control of 30% of the European and American market for distribution rights means that, out of all the games produced in Europe and America every year,

three tenths of them have to go through Hope Flute for proxy distribution.

And under Hope Flute’s banner is DFgame, the biggest gaming platform in the entire European and American market.

Which is to say, Hope Flute earns both the distribution and platform money.

In recent years, it even continuously sets up production lines, beginning to produce its own games.

For such a behemoth in the European and American game market,

targeting a mere top player is something that Kate simply couldn’t comprehend no matter how hard she tried.

Having worked at Hope Flute for over a decade, now sitting in the position of game director for the third design department, Kate viewed the top player as if they were an insect that could be squashed effortlessly.

Such a small company with this kind of mass...

What could they possibly achieve?

Kate also couldn’t fathom why the senior management treated it with such high regard.

Initially, they had her lead a team to sweep all the awards in the top player’s official game design competition.

After the failure, they began an all-out media blitz, relentlessly pushing the issue.

To the point where in all of Europe and America, the top player had become universally detested.

And now, learning that the top player had publicized three game works for the competing designers to reference,

they even tasked her with spending money to find some review-type streamers to spread all kinds of bad talk about the top player.

At first, Kate found it somewhat satisfying.

From her perspective, after being looked down upon, having her company step in and slap the opponent’s face for her definitely gave Kate a vindictive relief.

But as the situation developed to the present, Kate felt it was a bit...

Over the top.

Was a small company really worth Hope Flute expending such huge costs to target so relentlessly...

What exactly were the higher-ups afraid of?

"I don’t understand," Kate shook her head and turned her attention back to the computer screen.

Since it was an assignment from the company’s higher-ups, she had no choice but to comply.

She found one Twitch streamer under contract, who specialized in sarcastically critiquing various games – Josiah.

And she promised a compensation of $100,000 to him.

He easily and happily accepted the job.

Before the trial play even began, Kate thought the top player’s work was fragile.

Nothing can withstand scrutiny.

A game, during its obscure phase, might have a high approval rate.

But the same game, once hyped up to the sky and garnering a lot of attention, would lead to more voices saying, ’This isn’t fun at all.’

Moreover, the intention behind the top player’s three public works this time was for educational purposes.

This would naturally set everyone’s threshold to a very high level.

Put simply,

if under normal circumstances, your work achieved a score of six or seven out of ten, players would think positively of you, and deem it to be a good game.

But if you claim your game is very fun while releasing it, the player’s threshold might rise to seven or eight out of ten, and then, upon trying it out, if they find it to be just six or seven points in quality, they will start to feel disappointed.

And when you release a work and call it a ’textbook example,’ the player’s expectation will rise to nine or even a perfect score!

At that point, if it’s still only a six or seven, you’re going to be universally criticized online.

What Kate never expected was...

Josiah’s first game review of the game "Space-time Illusion"

made an explosive impression right from the start.

The setting of time reversal even astonished Kate, who was watching the live stream, so much that she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows in amazement.

And the subsequent combination of ’time reversal’ gameplay, spawning many bold and innovative ideas, left Kate continually astounded.

Once she returned to her senses and looked closely at its premise,

it perfectly matched the theme of ’Platform Jump’ and interpreted ’how to make platform jumping interesting.’

"This is not just comparable to a textbook, this is simply an impeccable textbook... If only its graphics, music, and scene details could be improved a bit more, it would almost get a perfect score," Kate, being a game developer herself, knew better than anyone what the emergence of this game meant.

But...

’The top player’s new games are indeed strong’ was definitely not the result that Hope Flute’s senior management wanted to see.

As a result, Kate began to add more pressure and raise the stakes, urging Josiah to stop playing "Space-time Illusion."

If he kept playing it for another hour, all those viewers who came to the stream to curse the top player would become avid fans...

"Hmph, I’ll just accept that ’Space-time Illusion’ meets the theme of Platform Jump."

"Then for the next two themes, ’Horizontal Invasion’ and ’Death Cells’, how will you, the top player, respond?"

"Keep in mind, especially after ’Space-time Illusion,’ if the subsequent works do not reach a certain height, they are likely to be overshadowed by the brilliance of ’Space-time Illusion.’" Kate crossed her arms and fixed her gaze on the next game that Josiah had already launched on the computer screen.

"Death Cells"

Perhaps it was rushed in production time, or perhaps they thought that making an overly refined game would not allow a vast number of designers to emulate it adequately within just a month.

Therefore, this game still featured pixel-art graphics.

In the game’s UI interface, a headless warrior stood atop a mountain, gazing towards a castle in the distance.

A mist of black fog emanated from the warrior’s severed neck, with light shining from the eyes like that of a supernova.

And when Josiah launched the game,

a dirty, seaweed-like slime oozed from a dark and damp dungeon pipe.