This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 78: Gentle Embrace, Hero’s Grave

Exclusivity has its pros and cons.

For a first-party platform, exclusivity is a no-brainer. After all, if your studio team has been bought by the console company, could you still release games on other platforms?

For a second-party studio, which is hired or commissioned by a console platform to develop games and has signed an agreement, exclusivity is a given since they’re funding you for your efforts.

Tianba Studio is a third-party entity.

The studio hasn’t been acquired, nor has it signed a hired development agreement, so exclusivity becomes a matter of "money talks".

If the money is sufficient, the resources top-notch, and there’s various technical cooperation, then exclusivity isn’t a problem.

If the money isn’t enough, and there are no resource and technology exchange collaborations, then exclusivity is unfavorable.

After all, once you go exclusive, you lose the massive player base of other platforms, which is quite a big loss.

Chen Ba is still hesitating.

The usually generous Giant Hard Company might have taken a shine to Tianba Studio and the game "Divine Grace Continent" because of Old Huang.

So, Giant Hard sent a representative from the Third Party Group to discuss exclusivity-related matters.

The sincerity is there.

If "Divine Grace Continent" chooses to be exclusive to the XBOX platform, they will open part of the XBOX platform’s technology sharing, while also offering a certain base guarantee clause.

The so-called base guarantee means that when the exclusive sales of the game don’t reach XX million copies, the shortfall in income will be covered by Giant Hard Company, so developers have no worries.

"No way, it’s too low."

The representative from Giant Hard Company believes "Divine Grace Continent" has an outdated theme and lacks playability, predicting a maximum of 500,000 sales.

This is unacceptable for Chen Ba.

Going console-exclusive only to get such a low base guarantee; even just the PC platform sales might exceed that.

"Who do they look down on? ’Divine Grace Continent’ should have a starting sales count of at least one million copies, I assure you!"

After sending away the Giant Hard Company’s representative, Chen Ba told everyone in the studio, "They look down on us, so we must rise to the challenge and strive to create a game that sells over a million copies."

Yes, a hit game!

One million in sales is a hurdle; only by crossing it can a game be considered a hit. As for reaching even higher ten million sales, Chen Ba doesn’t dare dream that, it’s just too unlikely.

So far, Tianba Studio doesn’t have a game that has sold over a million copies. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

There’s hope for "Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator", but unless you break your bones, it’s hard to break this barrier since the player base is already saturated.

Let’s not even mention "Star Emperor".

That thing is destined to be only a niche game and cannot become a huge hit.

But to say "Star Emperor" is dead cold, that’s not accurate either; player activity remains high with new players coming in constantly, so it won’t cool down anytime soon.

Chen Ba places his hope in Divine Grace Continent.

The background of the game is Western fantasy, meaning "Divine Grace Continent" won’t be as unfriendly to foreign players as previous games.

This is one guarantee for sales!

Besides, the unique developmental adventure gameplay of "Divine Grace Continent" is somewhat interesting among many RPG Games, and it won’t be completely ignored.

As long as there are no bugs, everything will be fine.

Thinking of this, Chen Ba suddenly turned his head and asked Yang Dong beside him: "Dong, the NPC generation test should be fine, right?"

"No problem!"

Yang Dong smiled: "The program-generated NPCs all act according to the preset logic with no serious bugs."

"What about interaction and dialogue?"

"There was a minor bug with interactions; if you click too fast, it would swallow the dialogue, but that’s already been resolved," Yang Dong explained.

"Then that’s good!"

Chen Ba nodded and continued: "Since the NPC generation test has passed, let’s discuss the affinity system for the game’s various NPCs."

"Firstly, regarding affinity acquisition, due to each NPC’s different background and status, I think the acquisition method should vary accordingly..."

"I agree!"

Lu raised his hand and said: "The design of gaining favor simply through gift-giving and chatting is too monotonous and boring."

"Here’s what we do, regular NPCs can be ignored, but for those with special status, the difficulty of gaining favor increases, requiring side quests to enhance it."

After saying this, Chen Ba seemed to think of something, then added: "There are five levels of affinity, right?"

Indifferent, Neutral, Friendly, Follower, and Beloved.

Reaching Friendly isn’t hard, but moving from Friendly to higher levels requires extra effort. The main idea is the higher the affinity level, the harder it is to increase.

Once an NPC reaches the Follower Level, the basic method of increasing affinity is to develop them and take them to slay monsters...

This is the basic framework, but Chen Ba felt perhaps a special design could be added: Initial Affinity!

The player has the identity of a "Hero".

This identity could have perks in the eyes of certain NPCs, where even without deliberately raising affinity, the initial affinity could be quite high.

"For example, Kings and Royal Palace Guards would start at Friendly."

Chen Ba mused: "Whereas some commoners in the capital, particularly naive young girls, might start at Follower or even Beloved levels towards the Hero."

"That makes sense!"

Lu chuckled: "He is the legendary Hero after all! High status and strong power, maybe even handsome; it’s not strange for young girls to yearn to marry him."

To put it bluntly.

With the Hero’s identity, to charm a few clueless girls is just a piece of cake, right?

Is there even a need to raise affinity?

What a joke! The Hero just has to beckon, and there are plenty of girls willing to follow him, madly in love and everything.

"Exactly, but affinity isn’t just about going up."

Chen Ba remembered the terror of the fourth calamity and said: "If affinity only goes up, what if the Hero becomes indulgent and neglects fighting the Demon King?"

Hero, pull yourself together!

Gentle comforts are also the graves of heroes. You are the man tasked with saving the world. How can you let yourself be dragged down by romance?

To prevent some players from getting lost in comforts and forgetting the Demon King’s terror, Chen Ba decided to add a hidden "Disappointment Value" system in the affinity system.

When a player’s actions trigger certain conditions, it will cause NPCs to be disappointed, and the affinity will plummet, causing them to leave the Hero.

Having a harem in the Otherworld is okay, but as a Hero, you ought to at least do something proper, right? The King summoned the Hero to save the princess, not to harm the populace!

An irresponsible Hero will certainly be despised.

After all, "Divine Grace Continent" is fundamentally a "Hero vs. Demon King" game, not "Dragon King’s Otherworld Adventures".

If you don’t push the main storyline, how awkward would it be for the Demon King?