133: Chapter 133 Happy Match Progress

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and it was Monday.

It was past nine in the morning when Chen Fan arrived at the company.

He was here today to check on the progress of "happy elimination." Last Friday, Zhang Tao had mentioned that the first demo was ready, so he had specifically set aside time to come and see how far it had come.

Upon arriving at the conference room, he found that Zhang Tao had already turned on the projector, and the screen was displaying the game interface for "happy elimination."

"Boss Chen, the first demo is ready." Zhang Tao handed him the remote, his tone tinged with anticipation. "The core gameplay, basic UI, and the numerical configuration for the first 20 levels are all done. The art assets are currently temporary; they will be replaced uniformly in the official version."

Chen Fan took the mouse and clicked on the first level.

On the screen was an 8x8 board filled with animal icons of various colors—yellow chickens, green frogs, red foxes, blue hippos... The art style was rounded and cute, with high saturation; at a glance, it was clearly aimed at casual players.

He clicked the screen with the mouse, swapping a yellow chicken with another one next to it. Three of them lined up, "pop" they exploded, the score ticked up, and new icons fell from above.

The feel was decent, the animations were smooth, and there was a slight vibration feedback when eliminating, without any lag.

"The physics collisions and elimination logic have all been tuned," Zhang Tao explained from the side. "The combo effects for consecutive eliminations are also done. It currently supports up to a five-combo, and there will be special effects for anything higher."

Chen Fan didn't say anything and played through a few more levels.

Ice obstacles began to appear in the third level, which required eliminating adjacent animals to break. In the fifth level, a row of fences appeared, blocking animals from falling in, forcing them to go around the sides. The difficulty curve was quite smooth; there were no sudden, cliff-like spikes, nor any points so frustrating that one would want to throw their phone.

He put down the mouse and asked, "Has the billing interface been integrated?"

"It has." Zhang Tao switched the interface to the shop page. "We've currently implemented three types of items: +5 Moves, Force Swap, and Small Wooden Hammer. The prices are as we decided last time: +5 Moves is two yuan, Force Swap is 1.5 yuan, and the Small Wooden Hammer is one yuan. The monthly card hasn't been done yet; we're planning to add that in the official version."

Chen Fan scrolled through the shop page and pointed to an empty slot. "Add a first-charge gift pack here for six yuan. It should include twenty +5 Moves and five Small Wooden Hammers."

"Understood." Zhang Tao noted it down in his notebook.

"Give me an estimate: when can the official version go live? Also, how many levels are you planning to launch with?"

Zhang Tao put down his pen and thought for a moment. "For the official version, considering level testing, channel integration, and debugging the payment interfaces for the first-charge and monthly card... it will take about three weeks at the earliest. We can launch in mid-to-late November."

Chen Fan nodded.

"What about the levels? How many will we launch with?"

"Based on the difficulty curve we previously established, the first 50 levels will serve as the tutorial and initial experience, so the difficulty will be relatively smooth." Zhang Tao flipped through the design document, pointing things out to Chen Fan page by page. "After level 50, we'll gradually introduce obstacles like ice, fences, and conveyor belts. I plan to launch with about 120 levels in the first version. The first 50 levels will be the Vine Area, and the next 70 will be the Snow Theme, with a new area unlocking every 15 levels."

Chen Fan thought for a moment and asked, "How long will 120 levels keep players occupied?"

"At a normal pace, playing for ten to twenty minutes a day, they should be able to play for about a month. If they get stuck on levels, it will take even longer." Zhang Tao smiled. "Besides, 120 levels is just the first version; we can continue to update it later. After the official launch, we'll add a new batch of levels every week or two to keep it fresh."

"Alright, let's do it just as you said."

Zhang Tao nodded and closed his notebook, preparing to leave, but Chen Fan called out to him.

"Engineer Zhang, "defend the carrot" is already a success. We will definitely give you all a satisfactory bonus at the end of the year."

Upon hearing this, a simple, honest smile appeared on Zhang Tao's face, and his eyes brightened a little.

"Thank you, Boss."

He didn't say anything else, but his steps were noticeably lighter as he left the conference room.

After Zhang Tao left, Chen Fan went to the front desk again.

Qiao Linlin was sitting at her workstation, her eyes fixed on the computer screen, her fingers occasionally tapping the keyboard. She was so focused that she didn't even notice someone approaching.

Chen Fan tapped on the desk.

Hearing the noise, Qiao Linlin immediately looked up. When she saw it was Chen Fan, a sweet smile instantly appeared on her face.

"Boss."

"What are you looking at so intently?"

"I'm preparing the materials needed for the software enterprise certification." Qiao Linlin turned the computer screen toward him. It showed a checklist, and most of the items were already ticked off.

"Is anything still missing?"

"I'm still missing the copy of the software sales invoice for October. Sister Fang is already working on that; once she gives it to me, I'll go apply."

"Good. How are things going with the office in the Software Park?"

Qiao Linlin flipped through the notebook at her side to confirm the progress. "We already submitted the materials needed for moving in last week, and it's currently being filed with the Software Park. Once the filing is complete, the handover with the property management will take another day or two, so it should be officially delivered in about a week. However, after delivery, we still need to purchase office desks, chairs, and computers, as well as decorate the storefront. It'll take about a month to get all of that done."

Chen Fan thought about it; a month wasn't a long time. They could make do with the current office for now, and it wouldn't delay the launch progress of "happy elimination."

"Alright, keep following up on these two matters. Just contact me if there are any issues."

"Understood, Boss." Qiao Linlin nodded, her tone crisp and efficient.

At one in the afternoon, Chen Fan left the company and went straight to school.

The first major class was English. That was the only class in the afternoon, so once it was over, it would be just in time for the Freshman Cup basketball game.

When he arrived at the classroom, he scanned it—there were seats in the back row this time. Wang Lei and the others were sitting in the last row, and Zhang Yuhang was sitting on the very end, with an empty seat right next to him.

Chen Fan walked over and sat down next to Zhang Yuhang.

"You're here?" Zhang Yuhang didn't even look up; he was busy scrolling through his phone.

"Yeah."

Soon, the bell for class rang. The English teacher, English Teacher Sun Wanru, walked in right as the bell sounded.

Her outfit today was, as always, exquisite and appropriate—a light-colored shirt tucked into a high-waisted skirt, with her hair loosely tied behind her head. Her face wasn't stunning, but it was clean and pleasant to look at. Combined with that calm temperament unique to a young married woman, it made all the boys in the class unable to resist taking a few extra looks.

Chen Fan was not among them. While young married women were nice, he still preferred beautiful young girls.

He turned his head to look at Zhang Yuhang and found that the kid wasn't staring at the teacher like the others. He had actually thought Zhang Yuhang was quite serious.

But then, with an inadvertent glance, he discovered that this guy was secretly peeking under the podium—at English Teacher Sun Wanru's calves, which were clad in nude-colored stockings. He would peek for a second, then quickly look away, pretending to read his textbook, only to be unable to resist peeking again after a while.

Chen Fan's mouth twitched.

He had thought this kid was a decent guy; he hadn't expected him to be the repressed, lecherous type.