79: Chapter 79 Game Progress

"Let's try this one in XXL."

"Certainly, one moment please."

The male sales assistant quickly brought one over, and Chen Fan took it and went into the fitting room.

After changing and stepping out, he stood in front of the mirror and looked—the fit was perfect, neither too loose nor too tight, and the shoulder seams sat right at the edge of his shoulders.

The black fabric accentuated the lines of his arms; it was simple, clean, and understated.

"Sir, this T-shirt is our top recommendation for the summer. It's 100% cotton, treated with a special washing process, and it's very comfortable to wear," the male sales assistant introduced from the side. "Plus, this style is very versatile; it goes well with both casual pants and shorts."

Chen Fan turned around to check the sides and the back, then nodded. "I'll take this one. Are there any other colors?"

"We have it in white and dark grey."

"I'll take one of each."

The male sales assistant paused for a moment, then his smile deepened. "Certainly, sir."

With the three T-shirts set aside, Chen Fan began looking at shorts.

He picked out two dark-colored ones—one khaki and one navy blue. Both were knee-length, with lightweight, breathable fabric suitable for summer. After a moment of thought, he added a black one as well.

"I'll take these three pairs of shorts."

"Certainly, sir."

The male sales assistant held the clothes and asked, "Would you like to look at some shoes?"

Chen Fan looked down at the shoes he was wearing.

A pair of Nike sneakers.

Since he was already buying clothes, he might as well get a full set.

"Where are the shoes?"

"Please, this way."

The male sales assistant led him to the footwear section. Chen Fan looked around and selected a pair of white casual sneakers and a pair of white athletic shoes.

"Just these two pairs."

"Certainly, sir."

The male sales assistant organized everything and placed it on the counter to ring it up.

"Sir, three T-shirts at 4,800 each comes to 14,400; three pairs of shorts at 3,200 each comes to 9,600; and two pairs of shoes, one at 5,600 and one at 6,800, comes to 12,400. The total is 36,400."

Chen Fan nodded and pulled out his card to hand it over.

The male sales assistant took the card, swiped it efficiently, and handed the card and receipt back.

"Sir, please sign here."

After Chen Fan signed, the male sales assistant had already packed everything into several dark-colored paper bags, the LV logo on the bags gleaming with a subtle luster under the lights.

"Sir, the clothes and shoes are packed in the sizes you selected. If the fit isn't right when you try them on at home, feel free to bring them back for an exchange," the male sales assistant said, handing over the bags with a respectful tone. "This is our store's business card. It has our contact information, so please call if you have any questions."

Chen Fan took the bags and then headed into the Gucci store next door.

The style at Gucci was slightly flashier than LV, with the shelves filled with classic double-G logo items. Chen Fan strolled around and picked out a white T-shirt and a pair of dark beige shorts—the clothes had a small logo that was barely noticeable unless you looked closely.

The Gucci sales assistant was a young woman whose attitude was even more enthusiastic than the male assistant at LV; she started introducing items the moment Chen Fan walked in, recommending this and that. After listening to her for a bit, Chen Fan added a baseball cap to his purchase.

He spent just over 10,000 at Gucci, which, combined with the 36,400 from LV, brought the total bill for both stores to over 40,000, just under 50,000.

A few tens of thousands of dollars didn't mean much to Chen Fan anymore.

Spending it casually didn't cause a ripple in his heart.

In the days that followed, Chen Fan either went to the company to check on the game's progress or went to the clubhouse for gym sessions and spa treatments.

He was living a very fulfilling life.

In the blink of an eye, a week passed.

In the conference room, Zhang Tao turned his laptop around to face Chen Fan.

"Mr. Chen, we've mainly built the core framework this week. Take a look."

He tapped the spacebar, and a rudimentary game window popped up on the screen—a grey background with a few curved paths drawn on it, and several dots representing monsters moving slowly along the path. At the end of the path was a larger dot with two characters written crookedly on it: 'Carrot'.

"The pathfinding is already working," Zhang Tao pointed to the screen. "The monsters will travel from the starting point along the path to the 'Carrot' position. Currently, there are five per wave, and it automatically refreshes the next wave after one is finished."

He operated the mouse and clicked next to the path, and a block-shaped 'turret' appeared on the screen.

"This is the Bottle Turret. We haven't added the art assets yet, so we're using blocks as placeholders for now." He clicked on the block, then clicked on a nearby monster. "The attack logic works too—the turret will automatically search for the nearest monster within its range, fire a bullet, the monster loses health, and it disappears when its health bar is empty."

On the screen, the small dots were hit by the 'bullets' from the blocks and disappeared one by one.

Chen Fan stared at the screen without speaking.

Zhang Tao performed a few more operations, letting the monsters continue for another wave. One of the monsters reached the end and touched the 'Carrot' dot, and the number next to the carrot changed from '5' to '4'.

"The damage logic is also correct. The carrot starts with 5 health, loses 1 when bitten, and the game ends when it hits zero." Zhang Tao paused. "Of course, it's all hard-coded for now; the level data hasn't been integrated yet."

Chen Fan nodded and then looked at Liu Yuan.

"What about the art?"

Liu Yuan leaned over, connected his laptop to the projector, and opened a folder.

"On the art side, we mainly finalized the art style this week." He double-clicked to open an image. "We went through three versions of the carrot, and we finally chose this one."

A round, chubby carrot appeared on the screen, with big, round eyes and a goofy, adorable expression, and two green leaves drooping on top of its head—it really did have that 'make people want to protect it' feel.

Chen Fan looked at it; it wasn't much different from what he remembered from his past life.

"The line art for the monsters is also done." He pulled up a few more images. "We've designed three types so far: normal monster, speed monster, and health monster. The style follows your requirements, Mr. Chen, to make them look this cute."

Liu Yuan opened another image: "This is the line art for the Bottle Turret and the Fan. We just started coloring this week. Zhang Tao and I are still unifying our styles, but we should have the finished products by next week."

Chen Fan compared the two images and nodded.

Zhang Tao picked up the conversation: "The first draft of the level design is also done. The monster waves and paths for the first level are all set. We've also filled out one version of the numerical table, including the damage, attack speed, and upgrade curves for the Bottle Turret, though we haven't tested them in practice yet."

He paused: "We haven't started integrating the in-app purchase system yet; this week was mainly about getting the core gameplay running. Starting next week, we'll build the UI and level loading, and we can push the in-app purchase system forward simultaneously."

Chen Fan was silent for a few seconds, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the game screen and the art drafts.

"Can you have a playable version by this time next week? The kind with the art assets included?"