This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 81: An Unconventional Plot

An RPG game can’t be without a storyline.

Even though we underestimated this aspect, thinking the plot wasn’t important, it is, after all, an RPG game, and it would be inappropriate without a fitting storyline.

So, in the following days, Chen Ba stayed up late with Zhong Shengwei and Lu to finish reading a series of Western fantasy hero novels and wrote a basic story synopsis based on the game’s needs.

Yes, a story synopsis!

Calling it an outline isn’t wrong either, as it’s merely a brief introduction to the story’s origin, development, and conclusion.

As for the detailed content of the story, we’ll have to hire a specialized author to write it.

The reason for hiring someone to write the game script is partly because Chen Ba and the others don’t have time to ponder the story, as there’s still a bunch of things to do for the game’s development!

Another reason is that the "ghostwriter" hired by the studio is of high quality; he has been involved in the creation of plots for several RPG games with a fantasy style and has a deep understanding of this type of story.

The plot is mainly divided into three parts.

That is, the Human Kingdom, the Beastman Empire, and the Elf Kingdom, each with an independent main storyline.

The main storyline of the Human Kingdom serves as the game’s origin: The princess is kidnapped, and the Holy Hall Mage finds the method to summon the Hero through long-buried ancient texts.

The King takes this seriously, but when the news leaks, it attracts the Demon King’s attention, so he sends his minions to destroy the capital and search for the Hero’s whereabouts...

The Hero’s experience in the Human Kingdom can be summed up in one sentence: Hide everywhere, quietly grow stronger, and eventually expel the Demon King’s minions!

Then comes the rescue from the Elf Kingdom.

The Demon King wreaks havoc, and amid internal and external troubles, the ambitious Beastman Empire disregards everything and initiates a war with the Elf Kingdom. The noble Hero decides to help the Elf Kingdom and persuades the Beastman Empire to set aside their dispute and unite against the outside threat.

Within the Beastman Empire, the Demon King’s minions infiltrate, the royal family is assassinated, leaving only a fox-blooded princess to live among the commoners. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

As everyone knows, a hero saving a damsel in distress is a traditional cultural experience in the Otherworld, and the Hero cannot escape this custom.

So, by chance, the Hero rescues the beastman princess, who has nine tails and furry ears, and helps her reclaim the throne to become the Beastman Empress.

After the Beastman Empress ascends to the throne, the Beastman Empire declares a ceasefire with the Elf Kingdom, and humans, elves, and beastmen join forces with the remnants of the annihilated Dwarves to launch an all-out attack on the Demon King Army.

"The ending of the story might surprise many players."

As the main planner, Chen Ba had long thought about the game’s conclusion and confidently guaranteed that this ending would definitely astonish many.

The true identity of the Demon King turns out to be the kidnapped princess!

In other words, there was never any princess kidnapped by the Demon King; it was all a grand play orchestrated by the Demon King from start to finish.

Everyone was kept in the dark.

"When the Demon King is finally defeated, the Demon King will revert to the princess’s form and reveal a cruel truth to the Hero."

Chen Ba articulated, "This is a predetermined world. The old Demon King dies, the Hero leaves, and a new Demon King and Hero will be born, continuously cycling."

"People will forget what has happened in the past; they won’t remember the previous Hero, only wait for the new Hero to come and save them, living forever in a cycle..."

"A tragic ending?"

Yang Dong pondered, "Hearing you say it this way, our game seems to have a bit of a deep core?"

"That’s right."

Chen Ba nodded and said, "Using the storyline as a metaphor for the game itself, with every new playthrough by a player, the world is reset for these NPCs, forgetting the past and falling into an endless loop."

How to break the cycle?

As long as the player isn’t foolish, they’ll know by now.

When the Hero disappears, a new Demon King will be born, at which point a new Hero will emerge to continue challenging the Demon King...

There’s only one way to break the cycle, and that’s for the Hero to choose to stay on the Divine Grace Continent after knowing the truth, rather than returning to their original world.

"Ingenious!"

Yang Dong praised, "This way, the players who are deeply engaged and have a strong emotional attachment to a particular NPC will often log back into the game even after finishing it to take a look."

"On Retaining Players"

The core of this ending is to let the player, as the Hero, realize what impact their departure or starting a new game will have on these NPCs.

Commonly known as: moral coercion!

Hero! Can you bear to abandon your loving wife and partners to leave alone? Can you bear to see your former comrades forget your existence?

If you can’t bear it, then keep this save file and check in on everyone from time to time!

Although moral coercion is shameful, it might work wonders for players who feel nostalgic.

At least when this ending is released, some players might be reluctant to uninstall Divine Grace Continent.

Even if they’ve finished the game, they’ll log in occasionally, even if they do nothing, just to see an old mate or a beloved woman...

This is a trick Chen Ba learned from a simulation game, which is to leverage the bond between NPCs and players to increase the quitting cost for players.

That’s right!

The simulation game Chen Ba referred to is none other than the hit Stardew Valley.

Players who have played this game should know that while it’s simple and seemingly highly free, without much restrictions...

But once you get involved, you’ll subtly grow fond of that small town and the NPCs in it, and your quitting cost will become very high.

Even when you feel it’s not fun anymore and don’t want to play, after a while, you’ll still itch to log in and take a look at your "wife," at the townsfolk, at your farm...

In ordinary people’s eyes, "quitting cost" might mean how much money they’ve spent on a game or how much time they’ve played.

But many overlook that the emotional investment in the game is also a kind of cost and one that’s higher than just the cost of spending money, making it even harder to let go.

A game in which one’s spent ten thousand, one might lose interest one day and never find the motivation to play again.

But if they encounter a particularly beloved game NPC, even if they haven’t played the game for a long time, they’ll still have the impulse to "check back in."

This is the power of emotion!

While it might sound absurd to invest emotions into NPCs in a game, it’s real, and many games have this effect.

Chen Ba hopes that Divine Grace Continent can also have this emotional anchoring effect, allowing many players to genuinely enjoy the NPC partners in the game.

Many years later, when they hear of Divine Grace Continent by chance, images of fighting the Demon King alongside their companions and loved ones will surface in their minds...

If this can be achieved, then the game can be deemed successful.