Chapter 31: The Honorary Certificate of Cosmic Technology!
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Chapter 31: A Certificate of Honor from Universe Technology!
Although Legend remained the dominant trend in Chinese online gaming, Great Earth Network’s Battle of Warcraft was undeniably growing stronger by the day.
It was also a time-card game, but Battle of Warcraft had far more beautiful graphics, while cheating tools and related issues were rare. Within just a few months, it had swept through more than half of China’s Internet cafés.
Moreover…
Battle of Warcraft was the first large-scale, massively multiplayer role-playing 3D game with an exceptionally rich storyline to be introduced into China.
Many Legend players were drawn in by its visuals the moment they encountered Battle of Warcraft. In every respect, the overall sensory experience was countless times better than that of Legend.
According to figures released by Great Earth at the end of June, Battle of Warcraft had surpassed six hundred thousand registered users within a few months, while the number of paying users online simultaneously had already exceeded one hundred and fifty thousand.
In 2005, that was an astonishing figure.
One had to understand that Legend now had only three hundred thousand players online at the same time. Even that figure had more or less reached saturation, and it seemed that a great many players were beginning to leave every day.
Nomad Technology’s other game, Dragon Online, had actually been released in March of that year. Having sensed the threat posed by Battle of Warcraft, they had deliberately seized upon the concept of 3D, boldly proclaiming it to be China’s first 3D game.
The launch had been greeted with tremendous excitement, but by June, its traffic had declined instead of increasing.
Many users found the idea novel when they saw the word “3D,” but after actually entering the game, they were bitterly disappointed.
What a damn scam!
It was nothing more than moving the mouse and watching a few maps shift along with it…
3D?
What kind of 3D was this? Was this really the best technology domestic developers could offer?
What left Nomad Technology even more speechless was that less than a month after Dragon Online entered open beta, Prosperity Technology released a game called Dragon Cave Online. Without so much as a word, they plunged straight into the fray. Their publicity campaign was even more aggressive than that of the original Dragon Online, dragging Nomad Technology directly into a lawsuit that would last for more than a year…
The morning of July 3.
“Every era seems to have its own chat-service overlord. This era is truly interesting…”
Sunlight fell across Zhang Yang’s face as he studied information on the major game companies around the world and stroked his chin.
This was a world similar to the one he had known, yet not quite the same.
After thinking for a while, Zhang Yang lowered his head and glanced at the liquid funds currently at his disposal.
After paying out all the various prizes, he had roughly thirty thousand yuan left to use.
Over the past few days…
Ever since Desert Bicycle surpassed fifty thousand users, it had begun to decline steadily. Downloads of the accompanying cheat-assistance software were decreasing as well.
It had probably reached its bottleneck.
At first, the incentive had been money. But after the grand prizes had been awarded, that incentive had vanished completely. In truth, not many players were interested in enjoying the single-player game itself.
That was simply reality…
Everyone had come for the money.
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Now that you were no longer giving out money, people still had to pay five yuan to download the game…
Who would be willing to do that?
They might as well play a couple of rounds of Legend. That was far more satisfying.
Although no one had yet claimed the hidden task worth twenty thousand yuan, for some reason, everyone’s enthusiasm had begun to wane.
Up to this point, apart from that inexplicable busybody who was forever sticking his nose into matters that did not concern him, no one had managed to complete all the hidden tasks.
The game’s decline was inevitable.
After looking at the balance in his account, Zhang Yang felt no sense of crisis, even knowing that twenty thousand of it consisted of the unpaid prize money from Desert Bicycle. Instead, he remained remarkably calm.
He had started with nothing.
Although his current balance might seem insignificant compared with that of other companies, he did not mind in the slightest.
Zhang Yang left the office and looked toward Zhong Chongwen and the others, who had worked through the night and were now testing Beat the Grass-Mud Horse Mercilessly with dark circles under their eyes.
They looked exhausted, but their eyes were filled with excitement.
The two newest members of the content department, Qian Cai and the bespectacled young man, were especially absorbed. They repeatedly tested the sensations the game offered, constantly pondering every possible detail…
In another day, the game would officially launch on the Universe Technology platform.
Everyone hoped that it would offer a better sensory experience and stir the player’s emotions more powerfully.
“Boss Zhang!”
“Boss Zhang…”
“Boss Zhang!”
“…”
The moment they saw Zhang Yang come downstairs, everyone greeted him one after another.
Zhang Yang nodded to them. When he reached Wu Zhuang from the marketing department, Wu Zhuang rose excitedly before Zhang Yang had even spoken.
“Boss Zhang, good news! We’ve broken through another milestone. The number of people who have preordered our game has exceeded five thousand… The discussion on the Tieba forum is incredibly lively!”
“No, wait—it’s already six thousand. In the short span of the past hour, another thousand people have joined!”
“And there’s more, Boss Zhang. The Tieba forum for Beat the Grass-Mud Horse Mercilessly is doing amazingly well. It already has sixty thousand followers…”
“The current discussion volume has even risen into the top twenty of Tieba’s real-time popularity rankings! We’ve made the list!”
“Our new game might be even more impressive than Desert Bicycle!”
“…”
Wu Zhuang held a report in his hands. His voice was feverishly excited, his face flushed, and his exhilaration was nearly impossible to contain.
Zhang Yang glanced at the Q-Dog chat window on his computer. The Q-Dog chat group had long since exploded with activity.
“Take it easy, Old Wu. We’re people who do great things. We must remain calm even when Mount Tai collapses before us… Just continue according to plan.”
“Understood!”
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“Boss Zhang, are you heading out?”
“Yes.”
“What for?”
“I heard there’s a Mendeleev art exhibition in Yanjing. I’d like to go take a look…”
“Boss Zhang, do you understand art?”
“I know a little. I’ve always been very fond of art, actually… Mendeleev looks so refined and scholarly, and his paintings are so distinctive, filled with philosophy and childlike charm. I feel we ought to have plenty in common…”
“Oh! Damn, Boss Zhang, don’t tell me you’re planning to take advantage of this great artist?”
“…”
Wu Zhuang’s eyes widened in shock.
Recalling Zhang Yang’s habit of stripping every goose that flew past—
His pupils instantly contracted.
Zhang Yang merely shook his head, straightened his suit, and left him with the sight of his upright, confident back.
……………………………………
“Have you heard? Boss Zhang seems to have handed out another round of prizes. The awards for the top three entries in the script-writing competition have all been distributed…”
“Seriously?”
“It’s true. I came in twenty-eighth, and I even received a hundred yuan!”
“Damn! That’s incredible!”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Wait, I just got a notification too. This time it came by text message, telling me to add a QQ account?”
“Holy crap! I drew a picture according to the requirements, and I actually received a three-hundred-yuan prize!”
“Me too. All I did was draw a house, and I got two hundred…”
“I got one too. Has Boss Zhang started another round of handing out money?”
“Brothers, did any of you receive a certificate of honor? I seem to have gotten five hundred yuan, along with a certificate of honor specially awarded by Universe Technology! It looks like it’s being mailed now. I think this is a screenshot of mine…”
“What? Seriously? Why didn’t I get one?”
“I got one too!”
“…”
“…”
The evening of July 3.
More and more people were gathering in the Beat the Grass-Mud Horse Mercilessly Tieba forum.
It seemed that the forum was on the verge of exploding…
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