Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 145, Sections 0 and 1
Wang Jiayi got out of bed, skillfully turned on his computer, opened his browser, and typed "Doll Level 6 Walkthrough" into the search box.

Press Enter.

Once the webpage is refreshed, a full list of search results appears.

Wang Jiayi smiled confidently, thinking to himself, "Here it comes."

Escape is shameful but useful.

However, when he looked closely, the smile on his face gradually froze.

How do I pass level 6 of the doll puzzle game? I need help urgently, I'm waiting online!

"[A Tearful Accusation] You have no heart, doll maker! Why are there only fifteen hints for level six?! I can still share this!! Let me share it!!"

Anyone who's passed level 6? Need some pointers!

Here are a few guesses about the sixth level, "That Child." They might not be correct, so just enjoy them for fun.

The search results were all questions, complaints, speculations, and groans; not a single title dared to call itself a "guide" or "tutorial".

"What's going on? Has no one cleared the game yet?"

Wang Jiayi frowned, sensing that things were not so simple.

Unconvinced, he opened Bilibili again.

As the largest gathering place for young people in China, the content creators in the Bilibili gaming section are always incredibly resourceful. They can provide you with "exclusive guides" for games that have just been released, or even games that haven't been officially released yet.

It's perfectly normal for AAA games to release "full walkthroughs" and "complete walkthroughs" on their first day of release, let alone a simple game like "Doll".

It should be available on Bilibili.

Sure enough, a search for "Star Tap Level 6" yields countless videos, some with tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of views.

Wang Jiayi's spirits lifted, and he randomly clicked on the most viewed video, titled "First Release on the Entire Internet! A Walkthrough of Level 6 on Xingchen Tap! Experience God-Level Design in Three Minutes!"

Wow, with such a powerful title, it looks like it's a sure thing.

Click play, the video starts, and the voice of a male content creator appears.

"Brothers, after working myself to the bone all night yesterday, I finally found this clock!"

On the screen, the uploader pointed confidently at the clock that Wang Jiayi had found that afternoon.

"..."

Wang Jiayi dragged the progress bar backwards expressionlessly.

Halfway through the video, the uploader was showing a mutated version of the "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" scroll, passionately analyzing the origins and stories of each ghost and monster in it.

Wang Jiayi continued fast forward.

The last thirty seconds of the video.

"Alright guys, that's all for this video. All the clues point to this painting, but I haven't figured out how to solve it yet."

"But don't worry, everyone, I'll let you all know as soon as I make any progress! So please don't hesitate to like, comment, and share!"

The video ends.

Wang Jiayi's lips twitched.

"No way!!! Are you kidding me!?"

He felt both his intelligence and emotions had been insulted. Wasn't this just replaying the progress that had him stuck exactly as it was? And it was the first release on the entire internet? And it was supposedly a god-level design?

He suppressed the urge to curse, exited the video, and opened the comments section.

Scrolling down, sure enough, the entire comment section was filled with curses. It seemed that there were quite a few people like him who came looking for a guide. Wang Jiayi also cursed a few times.

After he finished cursing, he suddenly understood why the video had such a high number of views.
Undeterred, Wang Jiayi turned to various gaming forums. The result was exactly the same.

The entire internet is like a giant echo chamber.

Everyone was asking, "How do I pass level six?", while those who answered them asked even louder, "So how exactly do I pass level six?"

There are quite a few posts offering theoretical analysis.

Some people have analyzed what deity this shrine actually enshrines and who the worshippers outside are.

Some people have analyzed the order of the ghosts in the "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" from the perspective of Japanese folklore, trying to find patterns.

Some people are time management masters who claim to have set dozens of alarms and log into the game at every hour and special time point of the next 24 hours in an attempt to trigger new changes.

There were even metaphysical masters who began to analyze the shrine's orientation and feng shui, and to calculate the "auspicious time" when the "anomaly" would occur.

But no matter how elaborate the process, the final conclusion is always "I'm stuck".

“This is weird…”

Wang Jiayi muttered to himself, having been in the gaming industry for so many years, he had never seen anything like this before.

It's normal for some less popular games to lack walkthroughs, since fewer people play them and there's little discussion about them.

It's illogical that a game with such high popularity wouldn't even have a decent strategy guide two days after its release.
Keep in mind that with this level of discussion, at least hundreds of thousands of people across the internet are playing it simultaneously.
Even if it's an exhaustive search, someone should have already completed this game by now...
With his last glimmer of hope, he reopened the game.

While searching for this guide, he discovered that the game had been updated this morning.

The update didn't add any new content; it simply added a leaderboard showing the number of players who cleared the game. Wang Jiayi had previously overlooked this feature, so after seeing the news, he immediately returned to the game and checked the leaderboard.

A simple global data statistics page popped up.

[Number of players who cleared the first level: 2228401]

[Number of players who cleared the second level: 1908401]

Wang Jiayi's gaze jumped directly to the last two lines.

[Number of players who cleared level 5: 12335]

[Number of players who cleared level 6: 0]

0!! ! ?
"Holy crap!!! It really is 0!?"

"No one has actually cleared the game??"

When the number 0 appeared, Wang Jiayi found it hard to describe his feelings. He stared at the "0" for a full half minute.

At this moment, he finally believed that it wasn't the search engine playing tricks on him, nor was it the Bilibili content creators collectively underperforming; rather, it was this game, with its insane sixth level, that had truly pinned hundreds of thousands of players worldwide to the ground.

Surprisingly, no one has actually completed the game!

Looking at the zero, Wang Jiayi's frustration from not being able to find a strategy guide slowly dissipated, replaced by an indescribable excitement.

This is no longer just a simple game.

This is a global intellectual storm, an open challenge for all players.

And that bright red "0" is the highest, most precipitous, and most alluring mountain peak in front of all challengers.

in case……

What if I could become the first person in the world to reach the top of the mountain?

What if the "0" on that leaderboard becomes a "1" because of me?

Once this thought popped into his head, it spread like wildfire, instantly engulfing his entire body.

(End of this chapter)