Chapter 18: Ten Consecutive Draws

The next day, Alex Parker woke up at nine, took a shower, and went downstairs to buy breakfast.

Alex woke up late for two reasons. One, he enjoyed sleeping and felt his mind was clearer when fully rested. Two, it was a habit from his previous life. The gaming industry often required late nights, so morning working hours were generally late, and Alex's schedule hadn't fully adjusted to a more scientific routine.

After breakfast, Alex returned to his studio to start thinking about his first game.

Alex had countless games in mind, but deciding which to make required careful consideration.

In this world, the cost of developing games is low. There was no need to rent office space or hire programmers, saving a significant portion of the development cost.

However, this didn't mean that developing games in this world was without costs or limitations.

One significant limitation was art resources.

Game music could be outsourced, and as long as one had the money, quality wouldn't be an issue since players weren't overly picky. But game art was different. If Alex wanted to develop large-scale games, original artwork and models would need to be created from scratch, as the free resources in the editor might not be suitable.

Moreover, these resources were expensive.

For example, a card illustration for an ordinary mobile game could cost between $100 and $1,000, with higher-quality artwork being even more expensive. Just the artwork alone would be a considerable expense.

Not to mention models, animations, and effects, which wouldn't be cheaper and would be more complex to create.

Although the game editor provided many free resources, these were generally of mediocre quality.

"Flappy Bird" could use public art resources because its materials were elementary. After Alex hand-drew the bird, he could find similar art resources for the rest.

However, if Alex wanted to recreate a large-scale game from his previous life faithfully, the art resources would need to match the original, which was more complicated.

Why must the art match the original? Because a game is a relatively intricate piece, like a precisely running watch. Changing any component could cause malfunctions.

Of course, poorly made reskin games weren't considered. Those games could never become blockbusters.

Every blockbuster game's gameplay, art, and music were perfectly matched and meticulously chosen by designers from dozens of options.

Alex had to be careful when modifying any part, or it would be like casually altering a timeless poem. Even changing one word could reduce it to a mediocre piece.

Thus, Alex must faithfully recreate every detail of these classic games, including their art.

Another major limitation was Alex's own abilities.

Although Alex was a chief planner in his previous life, he wasn't skilled at everything.

He understood values and level design but couldn't claim expertise.

Some games seemed simple but were actually very demanding. For example, "Candy Crush Saga" had straightforward rules and seemed easy, but its level design was highly sophisticated, with difficulty increasing progressively to maintain the game pace. Alex couldn't design levels to that standard.

Additionally, many domestic games that seemed low-tech had most of their technical depth in their values.

For example, how should VIP levels be set? What should be the power gap between different VIP players? How much should spending increase power? How far should players progress in the story, and by which day? How should the game pace be controlled?

These were all value-related issues that Alex understood but couldn't guarantee precision.

"Flappy Bird" was an extremely simple game that didn't require considerations of values or levels. However, such a game's viral success couldn't be replicated. For long-term success, Alex needed to be versatile, raising all his attributes to at least 80 points to recreate some classic masterpieces from his previous life perfectly.

So, how to solve these problems?

By spending money! What other choice was there? Spending money changes destiny!

"If you encounter an unsolvable problem, it's because you haven't spent enough money." Alex joked to himself as he opened the virtual screen on his bracelet.

Alex had received $30,000 in development funds and planned to spend $20,000 on the lottery. The remaining $10,000 was reserved for contingencies.

One thing that annoyed Alex was that "Flappy Bird" had to be accessible for players to experience for three months as part of the game design competition's requirements. During these three months, it wouldn't generate any revenue.

Alex knew this from the start of the competition. He didn't know how well "Flappy Bird" would be received in this world or how popular it could become. He also really wanted the experience store, and with extremely limited resources, "Flappy Bird" was his only option.

Although he anticipated some loss, Alex chose to enter "Flappy Bird" in the competition.

But now, thinking about how "Flappy Bird" earned its creator nearly $30,000 a day in his previous life made Alex feel he was missing out on millions.

At least for these three months, Alex couldn't count on "Flappy Bird" to make money. Developing the next game quickly was the right path.

Opening the recharge interface, Alex deposited $20,000 into his bracelet. The balance on the bracelet showed 2,097,340 points. After a moment, Alex added a bit more to round it up to 2,100,000 points.

Having already spent $20,000, he didn't mind an extra $300 to satisfy his mild OCD by rounding the number.

Two million one hundred thousand points, 100,000 points per draw, enough for 21 draws.

At this point, Alex noticed a new option on the virtual screen's wheel: [Ten Consecutive Draws].

"…How considerate! The [Ten Consecutive Draws] option only appeared now because I finally have enough points?" Alex complained.

[Ten Consecutive Draws] also had a note: "Guaranteed rare item."

Just like the pay-to-win games in his previous life, they used every trick to encourage players to spend more money.

Alex knew that ten consecutive draws were more cost-effective than single draws in 99% of games, so his best choice was to go for ten consecutive draws.

Alex walked around his studio and washed his hands and face.

Before ten consecutive draws, proper preparation was necessary.

After calming himself, Alex decided to try one draw first to test his luck.

Swish, swish, swish...

The wheel spun rapidly, then clicked to a stop in the blue area: [Rare Skill Book].

"Hmm? Not bad."

Alex was excited. It was his first time drawing a blue skill book, and it seemed that washing his hands and face had worked.

Alex clicked on the blue skill book and found a prompt: "Special Skill Book: Music and Sound Effects Skill +10."