America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 257 I feel uncomfortable if I don't hang up for a day

Each task seems very simple.

All Linus had to do was press the button, and then all he had to do was wait for the loading bar to finish.

Yet these seemingly simple things are intertwined to form an extremely complex network of actions.

Each seemingly simple task often requires him to put in a lot of effort to complete.

Moreover, there is a lot of content that requires a lot of grinding to complete.

Take agriculture, for example.

The gameplay seems very simple; you just need to select the seeds you have and plant them in the field, and Linus doesn't need to do anything else.

But it takes a full 120 minutes for the seeds, such as potatoes, to be harvested.

This is simply absurd for a video game.

Although Linus had never actually played the game "Story of Seasons" back then, he did know something about it.

In that game, the game would start the next day as soon as the protagonist went to bed.

Crops also grow on a daily basis.

This makes crop growth in Story of Seasons seem time-consuming, but not tedious.

Spend in-game time to save real-world time.

However, this game is not designed that way.

Linus stared at the countdown for a long time.

This thing actually counts according to real time.

In other words, you really have to hang it up for two hours to harvest it.

Isn't this ridiculous?

Linus smacked his lips, suddenly feeling a bit bored.

It seems I'm not suited for video games.

He had thought that GAMENOVA might actually have the power to make him fall in love with video games.

But now it seems I was overthinking it.

Shaking his head, he simply clicked on the "Lumberjacking" tab and let the game run in the background to automatically chop down trees.

He himself went straight back to the PC and continued what he hadn't finished.

tinkering with development is a very time-consuming process.

Linus sat there for the entire afternoon.

Between each small task, he would casually pick up the controller and tap it.

Once the wood was almost chopped up, I switched to the "Start a Fire" tab and burned some wood.

Alternatively, you could change it to "Mining" to allow it to collect more bronze materials.

Linus would tap it every now and then, and otherwise treat it as a music player.

While glancing at the constantly looping progress bar out of the corner of his eye, he also used the game's excellent background music to assist his development tasks.

After an afternoon of this, Linus suddenly realized—

This game—

There's actually some truth to that.

It wasn't exactly fun, but it gave him a very strange feeling.

For some reason, he really wanted it to hang there.

Although Linus wasn't playing it.

It wasn't until evening, after he had finished a full day's work, that he casually turned off the game and went to bed.

During the Christmas holidays, Linus does not have any university classes to attend on weekdays.

Aside from necessary social outings, he spends most of his time indoors doing development work that interests him.

The next morning.

Linus got up as usual, washed up, had breakfast, and then sat down at the PC.

But just as development was about to begin, Linus's actions suddenly came to a halt.

He actually felt a little uncomfortable.

I feel terrible all over!

It's like something's not quite right if ZorkIDLE isn't hanging next to me.

Without the game that was constantly reading the progress bar beside him, Linus suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over his body.

"That's strange."

-

He found it difficult to describe the feeling.

This is a very complex emotion.

There are unconscious needs formed by habit, and there is also the brainwashing effect of the amazing background music of "ZorkIDLE".

But there was one more thing that even he found somewhat inexplicable.

Linus felt that if he didn't leave the game running during his free time, he would be wasting all that precious time.

I casually opened NovaXeno.

[Loading your offline progress, please wait ————]

[Calculated remaining offline time: 6h41m29s (maximum: 8h)]

"ha?"

Linus was momentarily stunned to see a large lump of wood suddenly appear in his warehouse.

"Offline time? I play this game even when I'm not playing it?"

This game not only doesn't require you to play it yourself, it even plays automatically when you're not playing it!

It's outrageous.

"Will equipping the [Astrology] skill increase the skill experience for [Lumberjacking] and [Farming]? Not bad, I'll equip that today."

Seeing that this tab didn't require any materials, Linus simply added it.

Then, naturally, they plunged headfirst into today's development work.

With "ZorkIDLE" hanging next to it, that subtle sense of incongruity definitely disappeared.

Everything returned to the smooth, flowing state it was in yesterday.

Linus enjoyed the process.

He breaks down complex development work into small tasks, and in the intervals between each task, he would casually tap the game a couple of times.

It's perfect!

The more Linus delved into the game, the more surprised he became.

This is a game designed for a busy person like him; it's a genius idea!

Rather than calling him a player, it's more accurate to call him a commander.

He only needs to develop an action plan, and the game itself will handle everything else for him.

All I have to do is nothing.

As time passes naturally, the game will progress.

He can even turn off the game while he's sleeping, and the game will save his offline time and include it in the rewards.

The maximum offline time of eight hours is just enough for him to get a good night's sleep.

How thoughtful of you!

Just leave it hanging; there's nothing else to do.

As another day passed, Linus suddenly realized that he seemed to have become somewhat addicted to the game.

During the day, I'd leave the game running, listening to background music and working on development. Before going to sleep, I'd review the day's achievements, clear a couple of monsters to clean up the map, and finally apply the necessary skills before shutting down and going to bed.

The longer he kept hanging, the deeper Linus felt his bond with the game became.

But what truly terrified him was the game's ceiling.

-

He can't see it.

Even though he had been hanging there for two whole days, his progress in various skills was still very limited.

As I watched helplessly as the supplies in my backpack increased and the number of zeros grew, just when I thought the length of the characters was about to exceed the grid, the game suddenly changed the unit.

Thousand, million, billion, trillion..——

More and more, yet never-ending.

Linus suddenly understood what this large number chip was used for.

A game with rapidly increasing numerical values ​​that becomes more and more exaggerated and exciting definitely needs a chip like this.

Watching those numbers grow increasingly alarming, I don't know why—

Linus suddenly felt a bit good.

No, it's not just a little bit enjoyable.

It was so awesome, so incredibly awesome!

It was so good it made my brain tremble!

Absolutely right, that's exactly the feeling of numerical inflation we've been looking for!