148: New promotion for the competition, Season 1: The Great Jiang Dynasty

Reality.

Illusion Dream Game Studio.

With the surge in popularity of the Xuanhuan World, Illusion Dream Game Studio’s income soared, and bank loans became readily available. Jiang Feng, with a grand gesture, directly rented the entire office building and began preparations to construct his own commercial building.

On this day, he still sat with his legs crossed in his boss’s chair, leisurely watching videos and comments from players on the screen, a smirk on his face as he let out a cackling laugh.

“Evil Cultivation is the correct way to play? Heh heh, naive, too naive… Oh, this player is secretly recording his teammates’ trump cards, what’s he trying to do?”

“Tsk tsk, Righteous Path players are really miserable…”

Jiang Feng laughed as he watched.

The current development within the Xuanhuan World was completely within his expectations.

He knew from the start that if players were directly thrown into the Xuanhuan World and taught easily mastered Evil Cultivation Techniques, only a very small fraction would be able to resist the temptation.

If this situation were allowed to develop unchecked, the Xuanhuan World might truly become a place where Evil Cultivators were rampant. In-game problems would be minor; attracting attention from higher-ups would lead to much greater trouble.

To address this, Jiang Feng also had a solution. The “protagonists” he introduced earlier were the biggest ballast. No matter how much the players stirred things up at this stage, the protagonists would always have the chance to sweep everything away. If players truly managed to overpower a protagonist… then a second protagonist would appear.

Besides this, Jiang Feng also designed the Dao Heart mechanism. Most players are currently in Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment, with few having an Immortal Foundation. But as long as they want to advance further, they will inevitably encounter a series of mechanisms like Dao Heart and Heart Demon.

Once players encounter mechanisms like the Dao Heart, it will no longer be a simple matter of good versus evil. Different players will naturally embark on different paths, bringing out what they most deeply desire. Perhaps it’s to be a hero, or an emperor, or perhaps still an Evil Cultivator… In short, players will be diversified, and it will no longer be a situation where Evil Cultivators dominate. Players of any alignment can play freely, truly immersing themselves in the Xuanhuan World.

And beyond these systematic mechanisms, Jiang Feng also left an “interesting” trap for these Evil Cultivators, which they would naturally encounter later.

Thump thump!

At this moment, a knock came from outside the office.

“Boss Jiang, the committee leaders are here.”

His secretary, Liu Meiqin, sounded a bit nervous.

The Xuanhuan World’s recent performance was getting better and better, leaving other games so far behind that their taillights couldn’t even be seen.

Naturally, there was no longer any suspense for the Ancient Style Game Development Competition. The Xuanhuan World successfully won the championship and would receive even stronger promotional support.

However, before the official global promotion, the competition required Illusion Dream Game Studio to provide a complete official version.

“I’ll be right there.”

Jiang Feng tidied his appearance, opened the door, and headed to the reception room.

The money tree was well-maintained, and sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Several smiling leaders sat on the sofa. Despite being high-ranking officials who had long held positions of power, they appeared very amiable towards Jiang Feng.

“Boss Jiang, you are young and promising.”

The leading official smiled at Jiang Feng.

The two parties exchanged pleasantries for a while, then got straight to the point.

Previous Ancient Style Game Development Competitions all went through three stages: warm-up, selection, and promotion. The most eye-catching was naturally the promotion stage, and most players would only focus on the winning game of this stage.

However, to promote a game extensively on a global scale, the game needed to move beyond the demo stage and enter a complete official version.

“Leaders, our Xuanhuan World is an online game and will continue to be updated in the future. This is somewhat different from the official version of a single-player game…”

Jiang Feng sighed a little.

The winners of previous competitions were all single-player games, largely because the higher-ups were afraid that subsequent updates to online games would cause problems, so they required the game to be complete.

Jiang Feng felt that he might have to bid farewell to global promotion. Although it was a bit regrettable, given the Xuanhuan World’s inherent strength, it would continue to attract players in the future, so the long-term impact wouldn’t be too great.

“That’s not an issue.”

However, the leader smiled and said, “The quality of Xuanhuan World is evident to all, and it fits our competition theme very well. We have sufficient trust in Huan Meng’s future updates, so Xuanhuan World doesn’t need to release a complete official version. As long as you can package the first season for us to easily promote, that will suffice.”

Jiang Feng relaxed: “No problem. The Xuanhuan World has just updated to its first major storyline, and the map also features a relatively independent area, which can be perfectly used as content for the first season’s promotional announcement.”

He had decided that the name of the first season would be “Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty.” Its main focus would naturally be the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty, which was about to fall into turmoil and offered infinite Opportunities. The other three nations would also be major content of the first season.

When players encounter the world beyond the Great Desert and the great mountains, and new map areas are opened, they will enter Season Two. By then, some players should have achieved Golden Core.

“Besides that, there’s one more thing.”

The leading official still smiled amiably, but with a hint of seriousness: “Recently, there have been many Evil Cultivators in the Xuanhuan World. We’ve received quite a few complaints that the Xuanhuan World is glorifying evil. How do you, Huan Meng, plan to address this?”

Jiang Feng replied, “The Xuanhuan World is an open-world game. Under its systematic mechanisms, players have their own choices, and where they end up is entirely up to them. But at the same time, the various Opportunities and underlying mechanisms of the Xuanhuan World itself will create a unique Xuanhuan societal core. This core will constantly clash with players’ ideas.”

The leading official nodded: “It’s good that you have it under control.”

The Xuanhuan World is extremely popular now, with an astonishing number of players. Abruptly shutting it down would cause social unrest, and the authorities cannot act rashly before a major incident occurs.

In a sense, in this era where everyone is immersed in virtual worlds, the Xuanhuan World has gradually become a second world for many people. It cannot be shut down until a new, superior alternative appears.

The leading official finished speaking and was about to leave. A younger staff member continued to discuss promotional matters with Jiang Feng:

“CEO Jiang, for the convenience of subsequent promotion, for this first season, you need to submit relevant art assets, as well as new CGs and gameplay demonstrations to us.”

Jiang Feng nodded: “Of course.”

After seeing off the official personnel from the committee, Jiang Feng returned to his office and began preparing the new CG.

Having developed to this point, the Xuanhuan World had transformed from its initial simple single-player demo into a large-scale online game, and it had officially entered its first season, with relatively complete gameplay, world-building, and a major storyline affecting everyone.

For this, a new CG would definitely need to be released.

“Well then, I’ll make a CG like this…”