Chapter Seventy-Nine: Completion

Staring at the message from Stone, Lu Guo was momentarily dazed before replying.

Afro of Joy: Boss, how much is the game discounted? Can it really boost sales?

Lu Guo’s eyes were fixed on the virtual reality window of his light-brain. He was desperately short of money right now; if this could really increase sales, he was willing to give it a try.

Stone: There have already been several rounds of testing, and the lowest increase in sales has been over 200%, with the highest reaching 800%. As for the discount, that’s up to you.

Stone: [Image] These are the test data from previous rounds. Your game is priced at fifty yuan, and among games at the same price point, the best sales boost came from a 60% off discount.

Lu Guo opened the image.

The picture showed a comparison of game sales before and after being featured in the discount recommendation.

The numbers were just as Stone said—sales had surged dramatically.

One game, for example, had daily sales of only about 800 before, but after the promotion, it soared to nearly 7,000.

Lu Guo swallowed hard at the sight.

Without further hesitation, he replied to Stone.

Afro of Joy: Let’s go with 60% off, then. By the way, how long does the promotion last?

Stone: Seven days.

After reading the reply, Lu Guo closed his light-brain and let out a long sigh.

“With the money I make from my part-time jobs, I should have enough funds for my next game next month.”

Lu Guo clenched his fist, then relaxed and returned to his work.

He was also gathering material for his new game.

The theme of his upcoming game was related to exhibitions and amusement parks, so recently he’d been taking part-time jobs tied to those places in one way or another.

…

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

It was now February first.

“All right, Brother Zhou, just run it a few more times to see if there are any logical errors, and we’re done.”

Yin Jian applied the last patch and, looking rather weary, spoke to Zhou Shun, who sat beside the table.

After more than half a month of intense work, both of them were exhausted. Heavy dark circles hung under Zhou Shun’s eyes as well.

However, unlike Yin Jian, Zhou Shun’s spirits were high.

During the time spent making “Mystic Seeker,” constant discussion of the story and the arrangement of various characters with Yin Jian had brought him great inspiration.

Ideas had been erupting in his mind like a fountain.

All he lacked now was a way to link these fragments together into a cohesive whole.

Simply put, the game was just one step away from completion.

Noticing Zhou Shun’s silence, Yin Jian turned his head to look at him.

He saw Zhou Shun staring off blankly, and assumed it was due to exhaustion.

Immediately, he felt a little guilty—it was, after all, his own project.

“Brother Zhou, you should head home and get some rest. You’ve worked hard enough. I can handle the rest—it’s not much work.”

Hearing Yin Jian call him again, Zhou Shun finally snapped out of his thoughts.

He rubbed his dry eyes and said, “All right, I’ll head back then.”

Without further delay, he grabbed his computer and shuffled toward the door.

Watching Zhou Shun’s drained figure, Yin Jian felt even more apologetic and spoke up again, “Brother Zhou, if you need my help with your new game, just say the word. Don’t be polite.”

“Got it.”

Zhou Shun waved, then turned the brim of his baseball cap from the back of his head to his forehead, closed the door, and headed home.

Right now, all he could think about was finishing his own game. As for what Yin Jian had just said...

“What did Brother Yin just say?”

…

After Zhou Shun left, Yin Jian turned his attention back to the computer screen.

Though physically exhausted, he wanted to finish the fight in one go.

Once the game had been fully tested and no logical errors or critical bugs remained, he would truly be free.

But as soon as he dropped out of work mode, he found it difficult to refocus.

In the end, he had to leave it for tomorrow.

There was still plenty of time left, after all.

“I’ll check the data before I rest.”

Rubbing his throbbing temples, Yin Jian opened the game assistant’s backend.

He’d been so absorbed in development lately that he hadn’t been paying much attention to the game’s data and had no idea how things were going.

Player comments:

[Ahhh! Why isn’t it released yet? I’m going crazy…] 9999+

Recommendation votes:

[One minute ago, ‘Golden Abyss Titan’ voted for “Mystic Seeker”] 99999+

Monthly tickets:

[Three minutes ago, ‘Dear Guest’ voted two monthly tickets for “My Little World”] 999+

Recommendation notices:

[On January 30th, 1203 at 14:00:00, you received the Shu Chuan Series Hot Games Recommendation…]

Designer consultation:

[After last year’s sales review, your designer level has been recalculated. Your current level is “Senior.”…]

Staring at the backend info, Yin Jian was stunned for a few seconds, then clicked into the comments.

There, he saw an endless stream of readers urging for more updates.

Comments like:

Mo Qi Sen: Do you think I care about the money? If you dare release it, I’ll buy them all!

Han Shu You: The story ended here—it’s like taking your first love to a hotel for the first time and not being able to find the place. Infuriating.

Neverending Life: Little Designer, you keep cutting off the story! I’ll grab your ears, cut your arteries and veins—so still and cute.

…

“Damn! These players even want to cut my arteries and veins! Muted for a day!”

Yin Jian immediately muted “Neverending Life” for a day.

He would never allow such toxic behavior to spread among the players.

Better safe than sorry.

If someone really took it seriously, wouldn’t that be the end of him?

After scanning the comments and muting a few more, Yin Jian finally exited and looked at the other information.

New game overall recommendation vote ranking: 112

New game overall monthly ticket ranking: 363

These rankings might seem a bit low, but considering his game hadn’t even made it to the homepage yet—only the star system region—these numbers already put him leagues ahead of ninety percent of games with similar recommendations.

Yin Jian was very satisfied.

This proved that, despite the cliffhangers that left players cursing more furiously each time, no one was actually turned off by it.

“Just like those who say ‘no’ with their mouths but their bodies are honest—players, heh.”

He chuckled, then quickly browsed the remaining messages.

If the data this week could beat out other games released at the same time, next week he’d get homepage New Star Recommendation.

That was the highest honor for a new game.

With that recommendation, even the worst-case scenario would make him a top-tier designer.

It was easy to imagine how powerful this recommendation was.

Without even looking at his favorites, just by the recommendation and monthly ticket numbers, Yin Jian knew he was bound to advance.

Only one word came to mind—

Wuhu, take off!