My game is depressing worldwide.

Back in the studio.

Upon seeing Chen Xuan return, the two, each busy with their own work, immediately surrounded him.

"Brother Xuan, how is it? Is DeepVision Technology satisfied with our demo?" Zhou Qian asked expectantly.

Chen Xuan recalled the disastrous scene in Cheng Shuo's office and thought for a moment before saying, "I would say it was unexpectedly satisfactory."

"Whoosh!" Zhou Qian cheered excitedly. "Brother Xuan, I didn't waste your idea, did I? To be honest, I never thought that modifying a children's game could have such a good horror effect."

The studio's previous games were either platformers, story-driven RPGs, or live-action interactive games.

They didn't give Zhou Qian a chance to perform.

Now that he finally has the opportunity to showcase his talents, he is the most excited one.

"Oh, I can't wait to hear the players praise me."

"As a level designer, is there a possibility that players might vent their frustration from being scared on you?" Shen Qingtu asked with a smile.

"Uh... probably not, the players are still quite rational."

Chen Xuan looked around: "Where's Yu Xiaoming?"

"He's been busy with the studio's expansion lately, and he said there's a eccentric genius out there today. You can't tell much from his resume, so he wants to meet him in person."

Chen Xuan nodded: "Then let's not wait for him. Let me talk about the multiplayer mode that was developed with Outlast – Outlast: Trials."

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingtu and Zhou Qian exchanged bewildered glances.

A horror game's... multiplayer mode?

How do I do this?

Chen Xuan didn't keep them waiting long and immediately began his explanation.

The original Outlast: Trials is reminiscent of Dead by Daylight, but aside from both being four-player co-op games where players evade killers and escape, their design philosophies differ quite a bit.

First of all, Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical competitive game. Even if you are scared to death when you first see it, after playing it more, you will find that it is more like a niche competitive game that tests your skills. When the human player is kiting the killer, there is no horror element except for the comical scene.

Outlast: Trials is a cooperative survival PVE game where players team up to fight against a computer-controlled killer.

While the latter boasts a superior mission system, multiplayer co-op mode, more gory and cult elements, an American B-movie style, and an interesting array of features like a sanity system, it still suffers from numerous fundamental shortcomings.

Sometimes, when a group of savages team up, three newbies are still nervously dodging a killer.

The expert player had already completed the task at high speed, while the remaining three people watched helplessly as the task kept ticking "completed".

Although there are elements of seasons and skill grinding, they are not enough to support long-term gameplay because there is no equipment system, and loot cannot be used as the core to support long-term grinding.

Therefore, Chen Xuan planned to make some changes to it.

Completely abandon the design concept of continuous operation and change it to a horror game version of "two" players, or a four-player version of "A Way Out".

This means enhancing the multiplayer cooperative gameplay in the game.

In the ingeniously designed miniature garden maps, more than 8% of the levels and tasks require players to cooperate to complete.

For example, teammate #1 needs to distract the killer, teammate #2 needs to weaken the killer to protect teammates, and teammate #3 needs to obtain clues to solve the puzzle and communicate them to teammate #4 via voice to open a path to survival.

For example, players might need to engage in a game where they hurt each other.

Players 1 and 2 need to play a death game. They must communicate with each other to ensure that neither of them dies.

Number 3 and Number 4 need to stop the mechanism to rescue their teammates. Number 3 is responsible for monitoring the surveillance and directing Number 4 to reach the destination in complete darkness and a dangerous environment and stop the mechanism.

The skill system will be retained, but it will no longer be a grind-heavy game mode. Players can choose according to their own preferences, and the skill system will be reset at the start of each game.

In Normal difficulty, the locations of the traps and the AI ​​of the killers are relatively simple, mainly providing players with a cooperative experience to fight against horror.

In higher difficulty levels, there will be random elements such as the location of mechanisms, mission clues, and some roads. There will also be more difficult killer AIs, and players will need to match their skills with the different random elements in each game.

This level of difficulty will test players' understanding of the game and their teamwork.

In the highest difficulty level, "Purgatory," players will face a fully-equipped AI killer. The killer will not only have performance that completely surpasses that of the player, but will also have a more cunning behavior pattern.

It's not unreasonable for a killer operating on his home turf to make good use of the terrain and traps, right?

It's normal to dabble in Sun Tzu's Art of War, isn't it?

They're all mentally unstable serial killers, so it's not unreasonable for them to do some bizarre and frightening things, right?

After explaining these points, Chen Xuan took a sip of water: "If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to speak up. Brainstorming is indispensable for game development."

"I don't have any suggestions or inspirations, but..." Zhou Qian's expression was complicated. "Brother Xuan, I really suggest you see a psychologist. This is too creepy."

Chen Xuan nodded: "I've taken your suggestion into consideration, so I'm assigning you a challenging task that only you can handle."

"Oh? Brother Xuan, you say so, I'll definitely do my best."

"Watch all the cult, horror, thriller, and supernatural movies that have been wildly popular in the last twenty years." Chen Xuan looked at him with a loving expression. "You also need to take notes and watch them several times. These are all to be incorporated into the game, a love letter to B-movie enthusiasts."

[Zhou Qian's defense penetration value detected +1]

"Isn't that unnecessary?"

"Of course it's necessary. You don't think players of horror games wouldn't watch horror movies, do you? This is work, Zhou Qian, please get your attitude right."

[Zhou Qian's defense penetration value detected +1]

Zhou Qian, his face gloomy and with a bitter expression, sat back down in front of his computer, opened a rating website, and began searching for a ranking list of horror movies.

At this moment, Yu Xiaoming, who had disappeared for a while, returned, followed by a person.

Upon seeing this person, Chen Xuan's first reaction was... Is this a bear?

He is over 190cm tall and weighs over 200kg.

Going to the short drama filming base in Mingcheng is definitely the perfect opportunity to play a security guard role.

However, his unconventional style of dressing somewhat diluted his inherently intimidating aura.

He wore ordinary blue jeans and sneakers, with a white t-shirt printed with anime girls.

Zhou Qian's expression was strange as he asked, "Isn't this Nagisa Furukawa from 'The Great Dumpling Family'?"

It's still the same original artwork from when it first appeared.

Xiong Xuewen nodded: "Brother, you have good taste! You like this book too? Let me tell you, it's a masterpiece! It's just a pity it's limited by the medium of text. If some scenes were shown in animated form, it would be absolutely divine!"

"You don't know this book... uh, never mind." Zhou Qian saw Yu Xiaoming subtly shake his head, but didn't finish his sentence. "What's your name, buddy?"

"I forgot to introduce myself. Hello everyone, my name is Xiong Xuewen, and I'm here for an interview."

This was the first time Chen Xuan had found a book offline, but he still declined, saying, "Yes, we are recruiting, but our studio doesn't need security guards right now, sorry."

Yu Xiaoming quickly stepped forward to explain, "Brother Xuan, it's like this. Da Xiong is a famous art blogger on Pixiong, ID: Xiong Er's Bald Qiang. His fan art is very famous, you should have heard of him, right, Brother Xuan?"

Prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain, and Chen Xuan silently reflected on himself.

He had indeed heard of this ID.

He's a renowned art genius, the kind of person who's practically blessed with natural talent.

If you can really fool them into buying it, then you've gotten a great deal.

"So, you're here to apply for the art position?"

"right!"