Instructor Ding continued forward, his thoughts drifting.
Indeed, after finding the "correct way to play" the game, the challenges of the single-player mode seemed a lot more normal.
In the subsequent gameplay, Instructor Ding started to encounter different scenarios. The Gate of Hell in his field of view drew increasingly near, and the traces of corruption by demons became ever more apparent.
The demons he faced also began to grow stronger, not only in size and health but also in the quality of their weapons.
Initially, Instructor Ding could rely on the unique skill "Bullet Bending" to eliminate most enemies, but soon, as the difficulty of the levels continued to rise, he had no choice but to refine his technique, improving the accuracy of "Bullet Bending," while also employing various tactics commonly used in FPS games.
Flanking, encirclement, guerrilla tactics, and flexible use of different firearms...
At first, Instructor Ding was just trying to fulfill a mission, but as the game progressed, he found it becoming increasingly fun!
Just a simple "Bullet Bending" skill had almost completely overturned the game's basic gameplay, making it endlessly enjoyable!
Meanwhile, Instructor Ding's fans also began testing the game.
Those with better talent quickly mastered the core technique of "Bullet Bending."
They were astonished to find that they seemed able to fight against demons!
Though these demons had vast health pools and strong firepower, they were only three, and they moved slowly.
The Apocalypse Cannon, once deployed, could no longer be moved, while the Hellfire Gatling, though mobile, was extremely slow, making it an easy target.
As for why...
Obviously, because Lilith had never considered the possibility of "demons getting beaten up."
Of course, players impersonating demons had the option to choose other demon characters or more agile firearms, but these kinds of demons would also have reduced health and other attributes.
Human players were pleasantly surprised to find that when demons chose heavy firepower and static positioning, they could use the "Bullet Bending" method to attack from behind distant cover; and when demons opted for highly mobile bodies and weapons, they could take advantage of their numerical superiority to focus fire.
The combat power of demons and humans had actually achieved a strange balance!
...
At this moment, in the rental room,
the values of negative emotions in Gu Fan's vision were still rapidly fluctuating, but the increase had clearly slowed down.
It wasn't that fewer players were entering the game. On the contrary, the game was just approaching the peak period of player influx.
The key was that many people's attitudes towards the game had changed.
From initially generating negative emotions, they were now reducing negative emotions!
[Negative emotions from Ding Qiang -95!]
[Negative emotions from Ding Qiang -332!]
Clearly, among the many players, Instructor Ding was particularly thrilled.
When he declared "The solution is in the puzzle itself" and unlocked the "secret" of "Infernal Trajectory," he instantly experienced joy and happiness, resulting in -332 negative emotions.
This value even surpassed the happiness originally generated by players impersonating demons and randomly killing others in network mode.
This showed that Gu Fan's plan had worked!
He had successfully used a small bug to change the game's core gameplay, turning a game with no fun at all, purely designed to torment players, into a well-balanced, innovative, excellent game.
Looking at the data backend, sales also began to increase!
Originally, after two hours of suffering, the vast majority of players wouldn't make a purchase, but after discovering this hidden mechanism, they generously parted with their money.
18 yuan, you can't buy a loss, you can't be cheated!
Who wouldn't want to try the joy of "Bullet Bending" for just 18 yuan?
As for Lilith, her hand holding the chips was suspended in mid-air, and she, well, the entire demon, was completely frozen.
What was going on??
She felt like her CPU was overheating: the game had a BUG, and as a result, the players who were supposed to be dissuaded were having more and more fun?
Watching the negative emotions she could collect rapidly diminish, Lilith instantly became furious. She angrily threw the empty chips packet to the floor and demanded, "What the hell is going on!"
Facing the furious Lilith, Gu Fan was panic-stricken, "I have no idea!"
Lilith grew angrier, "You made the game, how could you not know!"
Gu Fan claimed injustice, "The design of this game was all your doing. I know you demons have no conscience, but can you honestly say, did I not program strictly according to your demands?
"I haven't changed any of your designs at all, right?
"Is it the same as those internet giants in the Human World, where when there's a problem, you kill a few programmers to appease the heavens? Is there no sense or reason anymore!"
Lilith was stunned for a moment, she furrowed her brows in thought, it seemed there was some truth to what Gu Fan said.
Indeed, the game was made strictly according to her design plan.
But quickly, she responded, "But how do you explain this BUG?"
Gu Fan felt utterly baffled, "Isn't it completely normal for a game program to have bugs?"
"If you expect a game without bugs, you're really overestimating me. Not just me, no programmer could achieve that!"
"I think that kind of thing can only be handled by God Himself. Why don't you go and ask for His help?"
"Besides, even if anyone between the two of us should be responsible for the bugs, it should be you!"
Lilith was stunned, "Why?"
Gu Fan went on the offensive, speaking with conviction, "I said at the time that a game of this size should be tested for at least a week, or even a month if we want to be extra careful.
"It was you who said to put it on the shelf after testing for three days. It's very normal that some bugs were not detected, can you blame me for that?"
Lilith's mouth twitched slightly, "But you fixed most of the bugs after testing for three days and only left this most fatal one! It's hard for me to believe that you didn't do it on purpose!"
Gu Fan was unyielding, "My fixing most of the bugs in three days shows that I'm competent!
"And when I used the testing tool to search for bugs, you saw it. How could I fix the bugs that the testing tool didn't detect?"
As a programmer, blame-shifting was clearly an essential skill, and Gu Fan had mastered it to perfection.
He was insistent; come hell or high water, today's issue was a bug! An unexpected glitch!
Lilith's voice weakened, evidently feeling she was in the wrong.
As long as Gu Fan hadn't breached the contract, Lilith had no ground to pick fault.
"Well, then it seems it really isn't your fault..."
"But I'm still puzzled! This game was clearly made using a game template. Why didn't any of the many games that used this template have problems, yet only our game had bullet bending occur?"
Gu Fan lapsed into silence for a moment, then sighed, "All right, I'll go over the code and check."
With that said, Gu Fan moved his laptop to the living room, sat on a small stool, opened the game editor, and began to examine the underlying code of "Infernal Trajectory."
Even though the game utilized a specific template, accessing the template's underlying code was not an issue.
Lilith stood by, watching the black and white code flash across the screen. She observed Gu Fan busily operating something, even searching for information online, and it gave her a sense of vague admiration.
She couldn't say much, only patiently waiting.
After more than an hour, Gu Fan finally showed an expression of realization.
He pointed at a line of code and said, "All right, I've figured it out; the problem is here."
Lilith furrowed her brow, looking intently, but obviously, she was bewildered and didn't understand.
Gu Fan explained, "This template was modified by officials from an old game, 'Counter-Terrorism Operation.' That game itself once had a similar bug, but it was quickly fixed, and so it didn't attract much attention."
Lilith's frown deepened, "'Counter-Terrorism Operation'?"
She hadn't heard of this name, but Gu Fan had already found the information online in advance.
From the information, it appeared to be a game from over a decade ago.
Because the game was so ancient and carried significant sentimental value, the officials had purchased the rights and code and turned it into a template for the use of independent game developers.
The dossier also showed that the game did have a very special bug, known as the "Quick-Scope" bug!
It caused damage to the entire trajectory line when players quick-scoped, which was indeed sensational at the time.
However, this serious balance-breaking bug was fixed promptly, so as of now, unless one specifically searched for that historical information, most players wouldn't remember it.
But this clearly wasn't enough to convince Lilith.
"No, that's not right, wasn't that bug fixed a long time ago? Why would it be triggered again? Besides, this bug doesn't seem like the same one we have in our game!"
Gu Fan sighed, "It was fixed, but you need to know, we programmers, when fixing bugs, can never 'resolve the issue from the root,' we can only 'make it seem like the bug disappeared.' However, whether other parts of the underlying code still have the potential to cause bugs, that can't be certain.
"Like a doctor treating an illness, we can only ensure the patient seems well at the moment, but as for whether they'll relapse in the future? That's not guaranteed.
"Obviously, this hidden danger has always been lurking in the underlying code.
"Coincidentally, a particular inducement appeared in our game."
Lilith asked, "What's the inducement?"
Gu Fan glanced at her, "It's your game design note about using realistic ballistics in the game."
Lilith looked puzzled, "What's wrong with realistic ballistics? I just wanted to simulate bullet drop, which should be a normal and reasonable request, right?"
Gu Fan nodded, "Yes, it is a normal and reasonable request.
"Realistic ballistics just means that bullets will be affected by gravity, altering their trajectory, and I did indeed program it that way. But evidently, this seems to have triggered a vulnerability in the original underlying code, causing the game to make a wrongful determination, and mysteriously applying an external force to the bullet when a player quick-scopes, making it 'curved by gravity'...
"Anyway, that's the situation, and that's the problem.
"After all, I'm just a programmer, not a god."
Gu Fan spread his hands, deftly deflecting any blame.