Chapter 49: Why the Outrage?
Rage Interference Device: Use it on others (excluding oneself). The target will enter a rage state and likely act irrationally for 15 minutes.
Super Accelerator: Use it on yourself to triple work efficiency for 8 hours. To alleviate fatigue symptoms, you need more than 10 hours of sleep afterward. It can be used once every three days at most.
"Super Accelerator? That's useful for meeting deadlines. As for the Rage Interference Device, what's its use? Make someone angry enough to hit me so I can sue them?"
"Forget it; I'll keep it for now."
Alex Parker couldn't use these special items immediately, but the stack of Memory Replay Potions was critical. No more struggling to recall details like last time.
He didn't bother examining the designer skill books individually and consumed them all.
Afterward, he estimated that his previously weak areas—Numerical and Level Design—should now be around 70, and System Design should be about 90.
His Plotting ability was likely near perfect.
Of course, this was Alex's own rough estimate.
Upon consuming the last Plotting Skill Book, a dialogue box popped up on the virtual screen: "Your actual Plotting ability has reached the maximum value. Would you like to unlock the second stage?"
Alex was taken aback. What did this mean?
He clicked confirm.
The screen indicated: "Plotting ability second stage achieved, pending activation."
A small note below read: "Maxing out the first stage of Plotting ability only means your skills meet the needs of game plot design. Keep working hard!"
Alex read the note three times before he vaguely understood it.
"It seems the system's language teacher wasn't very thorough..."
He muttered to himself.
The message implied that while Alex's Plotting ability was maxed out for now, it only meant he could handle general game plot design.
For example, if he were to develop a text adventure game with an outline and script, he could effectively complete in-game dialogues and plot descriptions.
However, writing a classic game script from scratch? Impossible.
The second stage of Plotting ability would enhance this skill.
Alex sighed, "It's a long road ahead. I thought I could max out all abilities with a few million points, but that was naive..."
He finished his grumbling and consumed the special skill books.
Now, his skills in original art, 3D art, and music/sound effects have improved.
Next, the virtual screen popped up another dialogue box.
"One of your abilities has reached the second stage. You can now preview your real abilities."
Alex was surprised: "Is this a new feature?"
The virtual screen displayed exact scores for each of Alex's abilities. Previously, these were not shown, and he had to estimate. Now, the precise numbers were revealed.
[System: 93]
[Numerical: 72]
[Level Design: 71]
[Plotting: 100] (Second Stage Unlocked)
[Original Art: 53]
[3D Art: 35]
[Art Animation: 10]
[Music/Sound Effects: 20]
[Storyboard Techniques: 13]
These numbers represent Alex's actual abilities, which he accumulated from his previous life and was boosted by spending points in this world.
In the Fantasy Editor, Alex's ratings were as follows.
[Alex Parker: Game Designer (C-level)]
[Creativity: 49]
[System: 30]
[Numerical: 48]
[Level Design: 53]
[Plotting: 15]
[Original Art: 36]
[3D Art: 1]
[Monthly Resource Limit: 0GB/1.6GB]
These were the editor system scores, representing Alex's displayed capabilities.
After developing "Plants vs. Zombies," Alex's ratings improved significantly, especially in creativity, numerical, and level design.
With the success of "Plants vs. Zombies," Alex advanced from a D-level designer to a C-level designer.
As for the monthly resource limit, it wasn't essential to Alex anymore, but he could still use the editor's free resources as substitutes.
Feeling refreshed after spending his points, Alex saw many potential games to develop. However, the vast number of choices was also a hassle. By evening, he still hadn't decided which game to make and decided to sleep on it.
...
At 8:30 the next morning, Alex was awakened by his phone ringing.
Opening his sleepy eyes, he saw the call was from Amy Johnson.
"Hello? What's up? Are you taking a day off?" Alex asked.
Amy's anxious voice came through, "No, I'm not taking a day off. Manager, check online quickly. Generation Entertainment is developing a game called Guardians of the Holy Spring that seems to be copying Plants vs. Zombies!"
Alex rolled over in bed, finding a comfortable position, "Yeah, I know. Didn't a demo video come out a couple of days ago? I watched it last night."
Amy continued, "It's not just that. Our players flamed the designer of 'Guardians of the Holy Spring' on his blog. Now, a bunch of Generation Entertainment fans are retaliating and attacking you, too! Check your blog quickly."
"What?" Alex sat up abruptly.
How could all this happen just from a night's sleep?
After getting up and washing, Alex turned on his computer.
Indeed, his blog had been bombarded by Generation Entertainment fans. His latest post had thousands of comments, with two groups fiercely arguing.
Alex took twenty minutes to sort out the whole situation.
It all started with the video he saw last night.
A player at Generation Entertainment's experience store secretly recorded "Guardians of the Holy Spring" and uploaded it online.
The video had been up for two or three days before being discovered by some loyal "Plants vs. Zombies" players last night. These justice-minded players found Ben Quinn's blog and harshly criticized him, using strong language.
"Ha, I knew Generation Entertainment couldn't resist copying. A dog can't change its habit of eating shit."
"Sure enough, a knock-off of 'Plants vs. Zombies' came out so quickly. Impressive efficiency."
"Copycat, and he's a B-level designer? Really sold his face for money!"
These comments quickly gained attention.
Ben Quinn himself said nothing, but as a B-level designer and a leading designer at Generation Entertainment, he had many fans, including diehard ones.
Seeing Quinn being insulted, they immediately retaliated.