Alien game producer

[The role of Po Meng]

At 1 o'clock in the morning, in the New Dream Power Leveling Studio, several power levelers stared at their phones with serious expressions and continued to test this unique game.

Having their heads cut off, hung up on an iron tree, steamed in a steamer, scorched by copper pillars... After experiencing all kinds of strange ways of death, everyone has adapted to the terrifying environment of the underworld labyrinth.

Needless to say, the more times you die, the more you want to get up and continue living.

Especially when being ridiculed by Hei Wuchang, everyone's fighting spirit soared!
Hu Fei made the fastest progress.He plans to clear the 18-layer maze first, figure out the scene features and gameplay of each layer, and then go through it in detail to test bugs.

At present, he has walked through the first seven floors and has not encountered "Meng Po" as his colleagues call him. Maybe he only takes the correct path and Meng Po will appear on other side roads?
Just as Hu Fei was thinking about it, an aerial view of the eighth floor scene appeared on the screen.

Ice hell.

The painting style of this floor is different from the previous floors. The entire maze is in an icy blue tone. The ground and walls are all covered with ice, and there is a hint of coldness in the air.

After entering the maze, the voice of the player's teeth chattering from the cold was heard in his ears, coupled with the realistic rendering of ice and snow scenes, making Hu Fei immersed in the scene, as if the temperature in reality had suddenly dropped.

The eighth floor, if he remembered correctly, was the "Hui" maze, which was connected by countless "hui" characters. If you took the wrong step, you could easily return to the starting point.To pass this level, you must draw a picture and identify the direction anytime and anywhere.

Hu Fei had walked through it before, so of course he was familiar with the path.

He found that the floor of the maze was divided into squares, and many ice cubes had cracks.Maybe these cracked ice cubes are stepping machines?Will it break if stepped on?
Hu Fei was extra careful and quickly avoided cracked ice when he saw it.

Just after taking a few steps, his feet suddenly sank, and with a shrill scream, the player fell into a bottomless ice cave, and his body was instantly frozen into an "ice sculpture."

Hei Wuchang immediately jumped out and taunted: "How do you walk so carelessly?"

Hu Fei complained in a low voice: "I'm damn careful enough!"

Bai Wuchang: "He will freeze to death. How pitiful."

Hei Wuchang: "Want to try again?"

Hu Fei hurriedly pressed "Do it again".

Did you step on the wrong thing just now?If you step on a complete ice block, it will fall, so is it the other way around? Is cracked ice the correct path?
He stepped tentatively onto the cracked ice - and fell into the ice hole again!
Hei Wuchang: "Are your eyes used for decoration?"

Hei Wuchang: "As clumsy as you are, I advise you to give up."

Hu Fei: "..."

I don't!
Without hesitation he pressed start again.Observing carefully this time, I finally discovered the pattern of ice cracking - it has nothing to do with cracks, but with the color of the ice.

Darker ice is thicker and will not break when stepped on; conversely, lighter-colored thin ice is easier to break, causing players to fall into ice holes.

The cracks on the ice are just "distractions" that are deliberately misleading players.

After Hu Fei figured out the pattern, he specially picked the dark-colored ice cubes to walk on. The whole journey was smooth, and he quickly walked through more than half of the maze according to the path in his memory.

Since entering the Ice Hell, an ice symbol has appeared around his avatar, marking the "cold" debuff negative status.

As the cold value continues to increase, the player's actions will become slower and slower.

At this moment, an old voice suddenly came from the distance: "Is it very cold here? Do you need something to drink to warm yourself up?"

The player's hands and feet were frozen, and his walking speed was almost as fast as a snail's crawl.

Is the NPC going to give out props to help him clear his cold value?

Hu Fei walked in the direction of the sound, and at the end of the fork in the road, he saw an old woman on crutches, holding a bowl of soup, and a strangely kind smile.

The NPC's name is written above its head: Po Meng.

Hu Fei remembered that his colleague had just mentioned "meeting Po Meng on the seventh floor" and couldn't help but curiously asked: "Old Xu, what is the effect of drinking the soup given by Po Meng?"

Lao Xu smiled and said, "It tastes good. You'll know it after you drink it."

Hu Fei whispered softly: "I also met her on the eighth floor. Is there an NPC in this maze that distributes props?"

System: Meng Po gave you a bowl of "Meng Po Soup". Do you want to drink it immediately?

Hu Fei chose "yes" without hesitation.

The screen suddenly went black, and then a large row of bright red text appeared.

[You drank Meng Po soup]
[Your mind suddenly goes blank]
【You forgot everything】
[I don’t know who I am, I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what I should do]
[You have become a lonely ghost, wandering aimlessly in the underworld]
【Until black and white impermanence finds you again】

Hu Fei: "????"

Bai Wuchang looked at him with a smile. Why did this scene look so like the beginning of the game?
Hu Fei had a premonition that something was not going to happen and immediately opened the system menu in the upper right corner - he was shocked to find that all the archived records from floors 1 to 7 that he had passed before had disappeared.

Hu Fei was stunned: "What the hell?!"

Is this being kicked back to the start of the game and forced to roll back? !

He had been working on the maze for 7 hours in a row, all in vain, and he had to shuffle the cards and start again?

Drink Meng Po soup and forget everything... Is there such an operation?
Lao Xu, who tricked him into drinking Meng Po soup next to him, smiled very proudly: "Isn't it delicious?"

Hu Fei said expressionlessly: "Well, it tastes super delicious... Brothers, when you see Po Meng in the maze, remember to drink the soup!"

The training guy next to me said, "Really? I just walked to the eighth level of ice hell."

Hu Fei leaned over to take a look, and kindly reminded: "Don't worry when stepping on the dark-colored ice cubes, the light-colored ice cubes will break. Come on, you can see Granny Meng soon."

The training guy who was fooled followed his instructions and completed half of the maze.

Then happily drank Meng Po soup. 【You forgot everything】

Acting coach: "Fuck%￥#%!"

Full of foul language.

Hu Fei laughed so hard that he punched the table: "Does it taste good?"

The power leveling brother secretly glanced at the other people around him who were focusing on the game, gritted his teeth and said: "It tastes so good. After drinking Meng Po soup, my whole body has been sublimated!"

So, under the chain effect of one deceiving the other...

The six testers collectively drank Meng Po Soup and were sent back to the first level to restart the game.

The faces of the group of people were all strange.

After playing for 7 hours, I was sent back to the first level to restart...

The maze actually has a perverted design like "forced return"?
Are you not afraid of players sending you blades?

It is foreseeable that after the game is launched, Po Meng will become the most hated NPC among players.

It is currently known that Meng Po will appear on the seventh and eighth floors. After drinking Meng Po soup, you will forget everything and return to the beginning.If Po Meng appeared in a deeper maze, for example, on the [-]th floor, and the player was forced to backtrack when he was about to clear the level... he would probably be so angry that he vomited blood!

The planning won't be that excessive, right?

Several power coaches looked at each other dumbfounded.

Remembering that this was a paid closed beta, and they were the first batch of players, everyone cheered up and started over again with thick dark circles under their eyes!

***
In the afternoon of the next day, Xie Yunfan received a message from Xiao Hu: "Boss, everyone stayed up all night last night and just cleared the level for the first time. So far, no bugs have been found on the correct path. Let's catch up on some sleep first and wake up at night. Open it again, carefully explore every corner of the maze, and look for bugs."

Xie Yunfan said: "Thank you for your hard work. How long does it take on average to clear the customs?"

Hu Fei said: "Without drinking Meng Po Soup, if you know the correct path, it will take about 10 hours to complete the level. If you are a novice, it may take three times more time."

It would be boring to complete a single-player game too quickly.Veteran players and players who have read the guide will need 10 to 15 hours to clear the level; novice players who slowly explore the game will need about 30 hours.

Play for 3 to 4 hours a day, and it will take more than a week to complete the game.The Gan Emperor who stayed up late could finish the simple mode in 2 days.This customs clearance time is also in line with Xie Yunfan’s expectations.

Xie Yunfan said: "It seems that there is no need to change the difficulty of the level. We will add a nightmare mode later."

Hu Fei was stunned: "Nightmare mode? What are we testing now?"

Xie Yunfan: "What you are testing is the simple mode."

Hu Fei: "..."

Is this called "simple mode"?Do you have any misunderstandings about "simple"?
Hu Fei asked curiously: "What's so difficult about nightmare mode?"

Xie Yunfan said: "For example, in the steamer hell and ice hell, the heat and cold values ​​double, and you can pass the level within a time limit. If you can't pass within the specified time, you will be steamed or frozen to death."

"Time limit? In other words, once you go the wrong way, even if you don't trigger the scene trap, you will be heated or frozen to death as soon as the time is up?"

"Yes."

The time limit will increase the tension and require players to set a time limit to pass the level. If the countdown is always on the screen, players will be more likely to make mistakes.

Xie Yunfan continued: "There are also oil pot hell and blood pool hell. In nightmare mode, you cannot jump directly through them. Players have to build their own roads."

Hu Fei was confused: "Make a way by yourself?"

Xie Yunfan: "I will add some props to play. After clearing a certain level of the maze, you will get props that can be used flexibly in subsequent mazes."

Hu Fei rubbed his hands expectantly: "This seems to be more interesting!"

Compared with jumping over blood pools and oil pans, the areas of blood pools and oil pans are expanded several times, allowing players to find ways to build a path above them. It is really thrilling and exciting.

If you step on the wrong foot, you will either be fried or corrupted by the blood pool.

He has to constantly accept the ridicule of Hei Wuchang.

It is conceivable that the Hell of Oil Pot and the Hell of Blood Pool will become difficult for the handicapped party to overcome!
Hu Fei asked curiously: "Has there been any change to Meng Po Soup in nightmare mode?"

This is what he cares about the most. After being cheated once, whenever Po Meng asked him to drink soup, he would decisively press "I don't want to drink it".

Xie Yunfan said: "The nightmare mode of Po Meng has a higher refresh frequency and will force the player to drink soup and go back to the game immediately. When encountering Po Meng, the game will be restarted, so be careful to dodge... Isn't it a bit difficult?"

Hu Fei was very speechless: "Not only is it a bit difficult, you are a boss that will make players crazy!"

Xie Yunfan said: "My game is not a casual maze that can be easily cleared. The more difficult it is, the more challenging it will be, right^^"

Hu Fei: "...that makes sense!"

Xie Yunfan said: "For the final version, you will test it again when the time comes to see if there are any bugs such as prop lags and characters passing through the mold. Once the review is passed and there are no problems with the test, it can be released on the market."

Hu Fei hurriedly assured: "Don't worry, boss, we will test it carefully."

After being a trainer for so many years, this was the first time he was looking forward to the release of a new game.

When "Maze of the Underworld" is officially launched and a nightmare mode is added, I don't know how many players will cry in the maze and be tortured to death.

Friendly reminder: Play the easy mode first to familiarize yourself with the maze path.

Don't be stubborn and choose nightmare mode as soon as you get started - that will really give you nightmares!
The author has something to say:
There are also many rich ways to play, which will be revealed after launch.See you tomorrow~