Chapter 12 Thursday, January 12th

Shanyang Games.

Wang Xiaobin stood in front of Lin Wan’s office door and knocked gently.

“Director Lin, the remaining two games’ DLCs are ready for official release, assuming there are no issues. Do we still need to inform Ye Zhizhou?”

Lin Wan considered it for a moment and said, “No need. He's in Los Angeles right now, dealing with the time difference, and he's also busy with tactical analysis for the FV team. Let's not bother him. Besides, he already reviewed the development content of these two DLCs when it was finalized. There shouldn't be any major problems, so just release them.”

“You led the design and development of several old games’ DLCs this time, thank you for your hard work. Take a good rest for the next two weeks.”

Wang Xiaobin was a little embarrassed by the praise and said, “Hey, I was just thrown in at the deep end. If President Pei hadn't forced these tasks on me, I never would have thought I could develop these DLCs myself.”

“The *Sea Fortress* DLC is basically all Huang Ge's ideas; I just cooperated with him.”

Lin Wan smiled slightly, “Don't be too modest. While humility is a virtue, it can also greatly affect confidence.”

“President Pei clearly hopes to cultivate everyone into multi-faceted talents, so that any individual can stand alone, rather than just being a replaceable cog.”

“Summarize your experience this time, and President Pei may give you more similar tasks in the future.”

Wang Xiaobin nodded, "Okay, I'll get to it then."

He returned to his workstation, did one last check, and officially updated the new versions of *Turning Back is the Shore* and *Sea Fortress*.

This old game update plan was divided into two parts: *Lonely Desert Road* and *Game Producer* were updated earlier because they had less content. *Turning Back is the Shore* and *Sea Fortress* had more update content, so they were delayed until this month.

Especially *Sea Fortress*, which almost completely remade an entire new story mode.

This DLC tells the story of Qin Yi, before he became a commander, when he was the captain of a special forces team delving deep into a Zerg nest. The synopsis was entirely provided by Huang Sibao, and it is said to be closely related to the game story of *Mission and Choice*.

Wang Xiaobin didn't know the specifics of the *Mission and Choice* game story. He just followed Huang Sibao's requirements and the provided materials, conscientiously organized his team to develop this DLC for early promotion.

Now that all the DLCs have been developed, Wang Xiaobin has successfully completed the task given to him by President Pei, and can finally relax.

“I wonder how Ye Zhizhou is doing over there. Is he really going to wait until he wins the championship to come back?”

Wang Xiaobin had been quite critical of President Pei's decision to transfer Ye Zhizhou to Los Angeles as a tactical analyst.

The head of Shanyang Games and the head of global operations for GoG being sent all the way to Los Angeles to do tactical analysis was a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Originally, Wang Xiaobin had many questions to ask Ye Zhizhou during the development of the DLC, but he couldn't ask them because of the time difference, and Ye Zhizhou seemed very busy over there.

But Wang Xiaobin didn't dare to complain too much, after all, this was personally requested by President Pei.

“It's just an e-sports competition held by IOI. I don't understand why President Pei is paying so much attention to it. Could there be some special consideration?”

“Forget it, I'd better focus on my own work.”

Wang Xiaobin released the two games' DLCs and then closely monitored player feedback.

…

Meanwhile, at Sloth Apartment.

Qiao Liang had just woken up, eating the lazy takeout that was delivered on time, and browsing his phone with nothing better to do.

“The GPL competition doesn't start until 5:00 PM, so this afternoon, should I play games or make a video?”

“Hmm, I think I'll play games.”

“But it seems like there haven't been any good games to play for a long time.”

“The IOI Global Finals only have the FV team's competition on Sunday morning, it's really making me impatient.”

It took Qiao Liang only half a second to reject the idea of making a new video and happily decided to slack off.

But even when slacking off, there weren't many good options, because there really hadn't been any particularly noteworthy masterpieces released recently.

At times like this, Qiao Liang really wanted to just take a taxi to Tenda Games headquarters, hold a knife to his own neck, and threaten President Pei: If you don't make a new game, I'll die for you to see!

Of course, that was just a passing thought; he would never actually do it.

Qiao Liang knew very well that President Pei was actually a very strict person who demanded a lot of himself. Every new game he made not only had to be a different genre, but also had to make a breakthrough compared to the previous game.

He wouldn't be like many game companies, who, after having a successful game, would start endlessly copying themselves, changing the skin and continuing to rake in money.

President Pei's development habit did allow him to continuously improve in the field of game design, and he was able to bring players a refreshing experience every time, but it also meant that the investment was getting bigger and bigger, and the time was getting longer and longer.

In fact, the new DLCs for *Lonely Desert Road* and *Game Producer* had already hinted that the next game would be a science fiction game, and the various Easter eggs and details buried within had made Qiao Liang's heart itch.

As a result, after waiting for so long, President Pei's new game was still nowhere to be seen, and his previous enthusiasm had basically flown to the back of his mind.

Qiao Liang boredly browsed the Aili Island website for a while, and then opened his fan group.

"Hmm? *Turning Back is the Shore* and *Sea Fortress* also updated their DLCs?"

"...Are you kidding me!"

"Why are these old games updating endlessly? Wouldn't it be better to concentrate all your manpower and quickly make a new game?"

"Hey, forget it, as long as the DLC can maintain its usual level, I won't complain."

Qiao Liang grumbled a few words, but he knew in his heart that his idea was still relatively unreasonable.

Although he wanted to play the new game as soon as possible, the development time for this kind of large-scale game was inherently long. And game development wasn't something that got faster with more people; what one programmer could do in 100 days, 100 programmers couldn't do in one day.

What's more, updating DLC for old games was something only conscientious developers would do, and there was nothing to criticize.

Qiao Liang immediately opened the two games to check the update announcements.

Compared to the DLC for *Lonely Desert Road*, which was five times more expensive than the main game, the DLCs for these two games were very conscientious.

The *Turning Back is the Shore* DLC was priced at 18 RMB, while the *Sea Fortress* DLC was still a free update, but it added a new epic weapon.

Qiao Liang paid first before reading the update announcements for the two games.

After all, most old players had absolute trust in Tenda. Tenda's pricing for games would definitely be at a price that was absolutely worth the money.

The update content for *Turning Back is the Shore* mainly focused on gameplay, adding a "Reincarnation Mode", mainly for hardcore players who had already cleared the game many times and could clear this perilous game as easily as strolling through their own backyard.

In "Reincarnation Mode", a new reincarnation will be opened every month, with the natural month as the unit.

After entering the Reincarnation Mode, the character's state returns to the initial state, but all the monsters, drops, etc. in the map will be random within certain rules, which means that it is possible to encounter relatively powerful monsters in the early stage, and drop relatively powerful equipment.

Of course, there are certain rules for randomness to prevent unknown bugs from appearing.

In addition, players can choose to adjust the game difficulty at the Buddha statue, or regenerate the entire world (unchallenged parts) randomly, with a limit of seven times within a month.

If you clear the "Reincarnation Mode" within one month, you will be provided with a permanent character appearance, including a full set of clothing and weapons.

As for the DLC content of *Sea Fortress*, it is said to be a brand new story mode and a brand new epic weapon. There are no further detailed explanations, probably waiting for players to experience it in the game.

“It seems that the *Turning Back is the Shore* DLC is more interesting. Even if the *Sea Fortress* updates the story mode, it may only take an hour or two. This game is so old, it can't make four or five hours of story, right? That's a waste of money, isn't it?”

Qiao Liang first opened *Turning Back is the Shore* to experience it.

As an old player who has suffered many times, Qiao Liang knew the content of *Turning Back is the Shore* like the back of his hand. He remembered exactly where the monsters were and what they dropped.

Not because he had a good memory, but simply because he had been abused too many times.

Anyone who dies dozens of times in the same place will have a deep impression of that place.

Although this DLC does not have a substantial game content update, it can still be seen that the designer put a lot of effort into making this new mode, and it does improve the game's playability and fun.

Although it is a random mode, different monsters, bosses, and props may cause game bugs when randomly assigned to specific locations, or get the entire game process stuck. In order to avoid these problems, the development team obviously considered a lot and tried to avoid this situation as much as possible by setting rules.

Although it is still the same map, the monster positions and dropped items have changed. The previous speedrun route is naturally not easy to use. Old players can refreshingly push the entire map from scratch again, and the process is full of surprises.

Considering the price of only 18 RMB, it can be said that you can't buy a loss and you can't be fooled.

It is conceivable that clearing the reincarnation mode of *Turning Back is the Shore* once a month will become a monthly task for old players in the future, and getting a few more commemorative weapons and appearances can better reflect their status as old players.

Qiao Liang played for a while and was very satisfied with the reincarnation mode updated this time in *Turning Back is the Shore*. He temporarily saved his progress and waited to play it slowly.

Then, he opened *Sea Fortress* again to check the DLC content of this game.

Although *Sea Fortress* is well-known for its 888 Huolin and rich battle modes, the game's story is definitely not bad.

When the game first came out, many players were hooked because of the unique story of *Sea Fortress* in domestic FPS games.

Strictly speaking, the plot of *Sea Fortress* is very simple. In addition to shooting, the player interacts with a silent little girl throughout the whole process. But even such a simple plot is still very good after adding enough details.

As early as that time, President Pei's talent in game story design had been fully revealed.

Qiao Liang was thinking, how could the story of this DLC be more than the story content of the original?

If you consider the original plot scale and shrink it a bit... then the game process should be quite short, and it will be over in a while.

While thinking, Qiao Liang entered the story mode of *Sea Fortress*.