Chapter 343: Chapter 343: An Unprecedented Game (Part 1)
Translator: 549690339
Xiang Kunâs decision to make a game was not something he whimsically decided upon a week ago in Tongshi Town.
He had considered it much earlier.
In the beginning, his research and exploration of his own mutation were relatively conservative and lacked any long-term plans, as he had very little information to go on. He was essentially taking things one step at a time. He did not require a large amount of funds. Survival and self-protection were his first priorities.
However, when he encountered several mutants, especially when he learned that âDivine Technologyâ was paying attention to mutant creatures and that there may be vampires controlling things behind the scenes, he sensed a stronger urgency. He started to think of many more ideas â ideas that required a large amount of capital to support.
Xiang Kun had several schemes on how to make money.
With his current abilities, no matter what he decided to do and given enough time, he would achieve a certain level of success and earn a bit of money.
However, he also needed to consider factors such as time expenditure, effort required, whether it would expose his special abilities, and whether it could generate a continuous income.
After careful consideration, the best way to monetize his abilities was through Alice.
Of course, he didnât mean to release Alice directly â even though doing so would certainly cause a media sensation and bring in a lot of money. The excessive attention he would garner was something he wanted to avoid as much as possible. Moreover, he always believed that Alice has much more potential and room for development than what is currently showing. These âpossibilitiesâ might be his biggest trump card when facing crisis in the future, or one of the keys to unlock the cause of the mutation.
If he wanted to monetize using âAliceâ, there were many other methods.
After Xiang Kunâs deliberation, tasking Alice, under his directives, to integrate existing functions and create a game was deemed the most efficient way to do so.
Since Aliceâs inception, she had already developed many features under Xiang Kunâs guidance. These features could be detached from Alice and independently implemented to a certain extent.
To promote or sell these âfeaturesâ, showcasing them individually to the public or investors would be too slow and inefficient.
Besides, these features, when detached and viewed individually, are not significantly different from the related contemporary application features already available. They werenât capable of instantly lighting up peopleâs eyes to outshine any competition.
So, in Xiang Kunâs view, this game needed to demonstrate two key points: one was that the game itself needed to be fun so it could attract and retain users, create word-of-mouth, and generate profit. The other was to be able to showcase the features he wanted to reveal, allowing the public and investors to notice and experience these stronger features, and comprehend their strong points.
Ultimately, Xiang Kunâs idea was to create a voice-driven game.
Alice had already made a basic game framework and, according to Xiang Kunâs requirements, âlearnedâ stories from dozens of classic martial arts novels on the internet for free composition.
Originally, Xiang Kun planned to make the game more comprehensive, to add more features that could show off the gameâs core mechanics. Then, heâd ask Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, Old Xia, Zhang Qian, Chang Bin, Zi Cheng, and Yang Zhuo to join in for beta-testing, and further discuss about investment, detailed research and development, and promotional strategies.
But after he learnt about Tang Baonaâs job change today, Xiang Kun changed his mind and immediately suggested a test play this evening.
He wanted to give Tang Baona more options.
After fiddling with four mobiles on Xiaâs computer for a while, Kun returned them to their owners and led everyone back to the living room.
âSo, how do we play this?â Yang Zhen Er, having opened the app immediately, found the interface rudimentary. The few keys looked more like a music player. There were no textual labels or character images, leaving one clueless about how to proceed.
âHang on, let me explain the game first.â
Taking out his mobile phone, Kun stood in the centre of the living room and described the rules to Yang Zhen Er, Tang Baona, and old Xia who were sitting on the sofa:
âThe medium of this game is solely voice. Based on your chosen style and the setup of your own characters, it will compose a story, then use a voice engine to tell this story.
âThroughout the course of the story, you will be involved. When it comes to your respective characters, you can shape the direction of the story through your own choices. You can directly interact and dialogue with characters in the story or with other players. These dialogues will also determine the development of the story.â
The three on the couch were all wide-eyed, listening curiously to his introduction. Upon hearing this, Tang Baona couldnât help but raise her hand and ask, âIs it like a âradio dramaâ?â
âYes, the format is somewhat like that, but you are all participants,â Xiang Kun replied.
Yang Zhenâer asked, âYou mean⊠the game gives us a script, and then we âperformâ according to the script?â
Xiang Kun replied, âNo, there is no fixed script. The backstory and pre-established events of the story will be narrated to you, but the following development is up for you to decide.â
Yang Zhenâer immediately said, âI get it, just like that domestic game, âInvisible Guardianâ. At a certain stage, you can choose from several actions, and different choices will trigger different storylines.â
âNo, itâs still not the same,â Xiang Kun smiled, âIn the interactive narrative game you mentioned, many plotlines are already arranged, and you proceed according to your choices. The roads you take are already well laid out for you, and you simply choose the crossroads. But my game is different. It allows you to decide how the road will be built. Before you make specific choices, even I, as the developer, donât know how the story will develop.â
Hearing this, Xia Libing frowned, âYou mean, when the game progresses to a certain point, it will rearrange the storyline according to our choices?â
âThatâs the general idea,â Xiang Kun nodded, âYouâll understand once you play it. At the moment, there is only one type of story available, an alternative martial arts world, so you can only choose character setups suitable for this context. Hmm, I should note, the gameâs built-in voice-over only has Nana and my voice for now, so you can only choose between these two voicesâŠâ
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As asked by Xiang Kun, Tang Baona and Yang Zhenâer both took out their earphones from their bags and put them in, then one stayed in the living room, and the other went to the dining room to prevent any interferences in sound. Xia Libing also found her earphones and handed Xiang Kun a headset suitable for computer use.
However, Xiang Kun said that it was enough for the three of them to use earphones while he didnât need to. He would not participate in the first round of the game but would assist them from the side.
âYou will experience a story that occurs in a martial arts world. Next, please set up the character youâll be playing in the story. Please speak into the microphone or other sound recording device the name you have chosen for your character, spell it out, and end with âconfirmedâ. For example: âLi Hong, Li as in the word for âtravelâ, Hong as in the color red, confirmedâ.â
Hearing her own voice through the earphone, Tang Baona felt it was a bit strange yet amusing. She had occasionally used the reading engine previously created by Xiang Kun with her voice, and it was indeed quite fun.
According to the previous explanation by Xiang Kun, she selected another audio source on the simple game interface. This time it was Xiang Kunâs voice, âPlease state your characterâs name, and end with âconfirmedâ.â
After deliberating for about ten seconds, Tang Baona said, âTang Ying, Tang as in Tang Dynasty, Ying as in hero, confirmed.â
Next, following the voice prompts, Tang Baona set multiple character conditions. When she finally finished and received the prompt âA total of three players will participate, two have completed their information input, one is still inputting, please wait for a moment,â she realized almost half an hour had passed. However, Tang Baona didnât feel like the time was wasted at all. She was instead very excited and anticipative about the game. She was curious about what the experience of this voice game would be like.
The tone of the prompt was so lifelike, just like the real Xiang Kun talking to her. Of course, she was familiar with Xiang Kunâs speaking tone and rhythm because they interact quite often. Despite slight differences, the smoothness was impressively real, giving her even higher expectations for this game.
After another five minutes or so, all three âplayersâ had completed their input. A message came through her earphone: âGenerating the first-stage script, please wait.â
This time, the wait was much shorter than she had expected. In less than thirty seconds, the prompt sounded: âHeroine Tang Ying, your adventure will begin in ten seconds, please be ready.â
After ten seconds, the sound of a gust of wind sounded in her earphones, followed by a slower and noticeably heavy and worn-out background voice.
âYou struggle to move forward in the desert dragging a badly wounded body, your mouth dry and parched, your body weak. Stumbling, your vision starts to blur and you are on the verge of collapsing any moment. You are barely holding on with your willpower.
âLast night, your assassination attempt on the leader of the Blood Hand Group, Xia Libing, failed in an inn. You were injured by her and her subordinates, managed to escape thanks to a hidden weapon, the Sky Crasher. You released all the horses in the inn when escaping, temporarily stopping them from chasing you. But you know, the big villain Xia Libing will not let you go and must be hot on your heels. Since the Blood Hand Group are great trackers, it is tough to shake them off before the next sandstorm comes and covers your tracks.
âYour horse died from exhaustion. You escaped in such a rush that you didnât bring any water. Coupled with worsening injuries, you are indeed on the verge of a crisisâŠâ
Tang Baona widened her eyes, listening to the âstoryâ narrated by the background voice. When she heard âthe leader of the Blood Hand Group Xia Libing,â she couldnât help but chuckle. Who would have thought that Old Xia was a âvillainâ? And they used her real name for the character?
But then she was curious. The voice narrating the story seemed to be telling a tale only to her. So what were Xia Libing and Yang Zhenâer hearing? Werenât these words? Could it be that this story is carried out from different perspectives at the same time?freeđ€ebnovel.com