Restart life

Chapter 294 0291 [A high-quality game consisting solely of the starting village was completed in one year and eight months]

My roommate, Tong Zhihong, is from Chancheng in Lingnan.

It's the scene where Huang Fei Feng kicks the Shadowless Kick.

He went home and lay in bed for a day, then met with several familiar old classmates.

But you only have one true best friend.

"Ah Hong, let's go to the internet cafe and play Warcraft!"

"not going."

"You can play at home too."

"I want to play 'Future Era'."

"what?"

"I even did odd jobs at Youke's new game during my summer internship. The closed beta test starts today."

"Damn, I'm coming to your house right now!"

It's been said that "Future Era" only had three dungeons, but that's not entirely accurate. It actually had three levels in the first chapter, for a total of five dungeons.

This is similar to the beginner village map. After completing these three levels, you can travel from the survivor camp to the town.

When Chen Yongliang, Tong Zhihong's best friend, arrived at Tong Zhihong's house, Tong Zhihong had already downloaded the game and was installing it.

"Is this game comparable to World of Warcraft?" Chen Yongliang sat idly to the side.

Tong Zhihong said, "It can't compare to World of Warcraft, but it definitely took a lot of effort. In a year and a half, we only completed the first chapter, which consisted of three levels and five dungeons. The first chapter was just the beginner's area. Do you understand how meticulous we were in our pursuit of perfection?"

"Has You Ke gone mad?" Chen Yongliang complained.

Tong Zhihong explained in detail: "At the beginning, we also had to develop the game engine at the same time. The fighting system, equipment system, art style, game story... all of these have been adjusted several times, and now everything is finalized."

"The speed can be increased from now on. Small dungeons can be completed in two or three weeks, medium-sized dungeons in four or five weeks, and large dungeons in six or seven weeks. On average, one chapter can be completed in three months."

"I estimate we can finish Chapter 4 during the summer vacation. We started working on Chapter 2 at the end of last year, and it's been more than two months. The last dungeon in Chapter 4 corresponds to a character level of 45. We'll then launch an open beta test without data wipe."

Chen Yongliang laughed and said, "No matter how exquisite it is, I'll still play World of Warcraft."

The game was installed while the two chatted and laughed.

Tong Zhihong logged in with his Youke account and quickly entered the career selection interface.

There are currently six core professions.

Iron-Blooded Ranger: A melee class that uses swords or clubs.

Mystic Cultivator: A melee fighter who uses spiritual energy to temper their body or technological equipment to fight.

Construct Craftsmen: Eastern Puppet Masters, Western Summoners.

Psychic mage: Eastern Taoist priest, Western magician.

Wilderness Hunter: A ranged class specializing in guns and bows.

Future Guardians: Clerics from both the East and West. Commonly known as wet nurses.

"Wow, these professional characters are drawn quite beautifully."

Chen Yongliang gave a compliment, but inwardly he was thinking: "They're way better looking than the characters in World of Warcraft. Damn it, can't Blizzard make their characters prettier?"
Tong Zhihong has always preferred playing melee classes, so he first moved his mouse over the Ironblood Ranger.

First, click on the stick/bat item. The game character will swing the stick and suddenly say the professional line: "If your bones are broken, you'll use iron to fix them!"

Then, clicking on the swords category causes the game character to perform a slashing motion while uttering their signature line: "If humanity has no way out, then I will use my sword to cleave a path!"

Chen Yongliang said, "The lines are really cool."

Tong Zhihong said, "The moves are cool too."

Character Introduction: The Iron-Blooded Rangers were the original pioneers of the post-apocalyptic world. When humanity faced annihilation, they took up the crudest weapons and charged into danger with their own flesh and blood. Forged in the crucible of iron and blood, they developed their own unique fighting style… New generation humans, we should not forget them who risked their lives to clear the path for humanity.

Tong Zhihong didn't check the other professions and directly entered the game.

Opening animation.

In the midst of a dark scene, a deep, reverberant narration begins: "I don't remember which year it was, but humanity buried itself with nuclear fire... but accidentally awakened the calamity deep within the earth's veins."

The pitch-black screen was suddenly illuminated by a bright light.

The light was so bright it was blinding, illuminating the entire screen.

After the light faded, only ruins remained, where countless people had perished from hunger, disease, and strife. Trees, vines, and fungi grew rampant, engulfing cities, roads, and villages.

Various animals mutated into monsters, attacking the poor survivors.

A group of brave warriors stepped forward, picking up clubs and scraps of metal, and charging fearlessly towards the monster to protect their loved ones and friends. People fell one after another, but more rose up, growing ever stronger.

Later, they became known as the Ironblood Rangers.

The scene shifts to someone finding guns and bullets in the ruins, while others make their own primitive crossbows. They cooperate with the Ironblood Ranger in battle, gradually becoming capable of fighting independently.

Later, they became known as the Wilderness Hunters.

The scene shifts again, showing someone on the verge of death after being mauled by a monster while clearing through ruins. Suddenly, a surge of spiritual energy bursts forth from a crack in the ground, rapidly repairing his mangled body.

He and his teammates believed it to be a miracle. After killing the monster, they knelt down and prayed, and from then on, they had a firm faith.

They can indeed fight on faith and take it upon themselves to save all of humanity. They are known as the Guardians of the Future.

More and more people are heading to the fissures where spiritual energy is emerging. Some are using this energy and the technology they find in the ruins to create all sorts of combat dolls. They are called construct craftsmen.

Some people use spiritual energy to temper their bodies, allowing them to fight monsters with just their fists, without the need for swords or clubs. They call themselves Xuanji cultivators.

Some people awaken their magic by approaching spiritual energy; they are called psychic mages.

The final scene shows an Eastern cultivator from the psychic magic world drawing runes amidst torrential radioactive rain. Golden runes blast away hordes of mutated beasts… A craftsman uses a wrench to strike tank wreckage, and scrap metal golems burst from the ground… The psychic magician plants his wand in the ground, and a raging inferno engulfs the giant vines that coil towards humanity…

The opening animation also provides the source of the professional lines they use.

For example, the Iron-Blooded Ranger's line, "If your bones are broken, use iron to fix them," comes from the pioneering battles in the early post-apocalyptic world. A hero had a broken arm and could no longer hold his staff. He was rescued by his companions and taken to the rear, where someone tied an iron rod to his broken arm. He then charged at the monster once again without hesitation.

In the end, he was torn to pieces by the monster.

The Iron-Blooded Ranger, who uses swords and similar weapons, has the line, "If humanity has no way out, then I will use my sword to cut a path."

A group of brave warriors were cornered, with a survivor camp behind them containing many elderly, weak, women, and children. A man covered in blood, brandishing a rusty machete, shouted those words.

They followed each other to the death, rushing into the mutated rat horde like moths to a flame. They created a miracle, managing to hold out until reinforcements arrived when only two or three remained!

It was just a game opening animation, but it shocked Chen Yongliang so much that he kept exclaiming, "Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!"

Tong Zhihong said, "This opening animation took half a year to make. It was done by an outsourced team, but Mr. Chen was never satisfied with it. It went through several drafts. In the end, Mr. Chen acquired the animation studio and sent two artists from Youke Art Studio to oversee the work."

Chen Yongliang said, "I'm not just talking about how awesome the graphics are, but also the game's settings. The world view and class settings are awesome! The lines for each class are so cool, so stylish, and so exciting."

Tong Zhihong said, "The novel of the same name has been serialized for a year and a half. The characters who say these lines are all from the novel."

Then, Tong Zhihong arrived at the beginner village.

This is a newly established survivor camp, and due to the large number of homeless survivors it has taken in, the existing clean water source is no longer sufficient.

Therefore, we need to recruit warriors to develop the water purification plant on the outskirts of the ruined city.

First level: Outer Ruins. Two instances. Eliminate the radiated rat swarm, then face the mutated rat king boss. Repair the water purification pipes, then face the sludge devourer boss.

The second stage: the contaminated factory area. Two instances. Purify the air, boss: Spore Sprayer. Repair the power system, boss: Transformer Golem.

The third stage, the core battlefield. Protect the engineer to restart the central system; the final boss of the beginner village, the Rusty Colossus—the mutated water purification plant guard robot.

Chen Yongliang had never seen "DNF" before, he had only played "MapleStory".

But MapleStory is too childish. He thinks that side-scrolling fighting online games like Future Era are much more interesting: "Ah Hong, I remember playing Double Dragon when I was in elementary school."

"This is much more fun than Double Dragon, and it even has an arena system where players can fight each other," Tong Zhihong boasted.

As they were talking, he was killed by the second boss of the first level...

Back at the campsite, Tong Zhihong felt it was too much trouble to fight alone, but then he found many people calling out to team up.

There were also quite a few people chatting while standing in the camp.

Only 1000 people were allowed to participate in the closed beta test, but the game was unusually lively.

Apart from those with connections like Tong Zhihong, the vast majority of players who participated in the closed beta were netizens who filled out registration forms.

Because Shuxia Yehou made a comment while updating a chapter of his novel, a large number of fans of the novel "Future Era" came to sign up.

The application form also requires information such as age, gender, and current occupation. Youke considers all aspects during the screening process.

At that moment, Tong Zhihong saw several players who had just entered the game chatting in the survivor camp while wearing beginner outfits.

"Damn it. The game's opening animation made me cry. I already cried once when 'Iron Rod' died in the novel, and now I cried again while playing the game."

"Don't call me Iron Rod, address me respectfully as Brother Stick. If your bones break, we'll fix them with iron!"

"What are those cultivators who draw talismans? They haven't appeared in the novel yet. Will the novel end up with everyone cultivating immortality?"

What novel are you talking about?

"The Future Era!"

"Is this game adapted from a novel?"

"We did it together. The novelist is also the game's text designer. I've been looking forward to this game for over a year."

"I'm going to read the novel. The opening animation is so exciting, the novel must be great too."

"..."

Many beta testers, before even completing all the levels in the beginner village, took screenshots and went to various forums and online communities to brag.

In fact, the official website of "Future Era" has already released the game's opening animation and the cutscene of the water purification plant.

Some people posted the video link on forums and online communities, attracting a large number of netizens to watch.

The most classic comment is this one: Is Youke trying to copy Blizzard? It doesn't matter how fast or slow the game is made, let the players see the movie first.

One beta tester, who had actually played the Korean version of *DNF*, posted: "*Future Era* and the Korean game *DNF* seem very similar. I strongly suspect plagiarism or borrowing. However, I checked the initial release date of the *Future Era* novel, and it was released in Korea earlier than *DNF*. Is this just a coincidence?"

A group of netizens attacked him.

The person replied, "Don't accuse me of being a Western worshipper. I'm just saying that the two games have similar gameplay, but their storylines and worldviews are completely different. Moreover, 'Future Era' is more exquisitely made, and in terms of game quality, it can easily beat 'DNF'."

At this point, "DNF" was particularly rough around the edges, after all, it was made by a small company, and every month they were fixing bugs and adjusting data. Moreover, the art style was not good, and they had not yet changed the art director.

The heated discussion about "Future Era" initially only occurred within a small circle, but it spread rapidly within a few days.

Chen Guiliang's fans, fans of "Three Kingdoms Kill" and book lovers of Shuxia Yehou contributed the main force in the entire dissemination process.

Several editors at 17173 collectively gave "Future Era" high scores, propelling it to 18th place on the weekly online game chart and to number one on the new game chart!

The editor's review was: A domestically produced game with core gameplay similar to "DNF" (Dungeon Fighter Online). However, its quality far surpasses "DNF," and Youke (the game developer) has clearly put a lot of effort into its development. From the game's inception to now, a year and eight months have passed, and they've only completed the beginner's village section.

This truly left its peers speechless. In a year and eight months, any other game would have been launched and making money long ago. Yet, Youke only finished the beginner's area. Even if slow and meticulous work is the best approach, this is still far too slow.

It's not that strange; the project initiation time is not the same as the development time.

Even when Shuxia Yehou was uploading the novel, the game was still in the early stages of preparation, and the development team had not yet been fully recruited.

The actual development only took a year, mainly because the game engine, fighting system, and high-quality art consumed a lot of time.

Game fans who weren't interested in "Future Era" all came to check it out because of the phrase "newbie village".

After watching the opening and cutscene videos, they were immediately eager to play the game but couldn't get a beta test code. So they turned to reading the novel of the same name instead.

Finally, the Chinese companies that were in talks with the Korean side about distributing "DNF" were alerted.

(End of this chapter)