The inspiration came from a domestic game similar to one Lu Zhixing had played in his past life, which had been removed from shelves due to various problems. Moreover, the development team had insufficient funds, inadequate skills, and an improper attitude, resulting in significant flaws in gameplay and content.
Lu Zhixing felt this was a pity, as the players had shown great enthusiasm and support, but the developers failed to reciprocate that support and spoiled a good idea instead.
Therefore, based on his current role-playing targets and the materials he could obtain, Lu Zhixing decided to start with the idea of "displaying ordinary life" to provide a more perfect solution.
Of course, since Lu Zhixing couldn't predict the future or determine exactly what materials he would receive after completing the role-play, this amounted to a kind of prediction.
It shouldn't be too far off, he thought.
As for the materials that the role-play as a Paralytic Patient might bring, Lu Zhixing had no clue, so he hadn't included it in the planning for this game. He would wait and see if the materials could be integrated once he had them, or else he'd have to create a separate game.
...
Once he had a general direction, Lu Zhixing immediately began writing the concept draft for the game's design.
Having worked as a feature planner in his past life for several years, writing concept drafts was something he could do with ease.
Lu Zhixing's fingers flew across the keyboard as the clear ideas in his mind quickly turned into the content of the draft, and he had outlined a rough framework in just four or five hours.
But at that moment, Lu Zhixing suddenly thought of a problem.
"When it comes to grading the assignments, will Professor He Cheng account for production costs?"
Although Professor He claimed that the design could be of any type, any theme, with no restrictions, cost control is the first lesson for a game designer.
The truly great game designs were always the result of compromising with objective conditions.
Take the ancient pixelated games, for example, where designers had to depict different game characters with just a few simple pixels, and needed to load as much diverse content as possible onto cartridges with very limited capacity.
Since its inception, game design has been an art form dancing with shackles—its content forever limited by hardware capabilities.
While hardware conditions gradually improved and many big budget games cost hundreds of millions to produce, the gaming industry has always been lukewarm towards this "stacking of materials" approach.
During annual game awards, juries tend to favor smaller games with massive gameplay innovations over large productions merely stacked with content.
For designers, the real test of skill lies in how to achieve design goals using fewer resources and deliver greater enjoyment to players.
This realization made it clear that production cost must also be an important factor in Professor He Cheng's evaluation of the game.
Therefore, a large production like "Ordinary Life" that sought to encompass the entirety of Jinghai University and the surrounding streets would surely lose points in this regard.
After all, such a resource demand would overwhelm a typical game development team; only someone like Lu Zhixing, with his cheats, could be so reckless.
What to do, then?
Deal with it!
Lu Zhixing knew this might be an issue, but he didn't plan to make any changes. Because this design scheme was synchronized with "Life Role-Playing Game," as long as he completed the role-play successfully, he would have all the materials at his disposal and wouldn't need to worry about production costs like others.
Changing to a different design might earn a higher evaluation from Professor He, but it would leave a lot of materials unused.
That would be a serious waste, something Lu Zhixing would never allow.
Moreover, Lu Zhixing was confident that even if this design plan lost some points on cost control, it was still outstanding enough to stand out from all the other proposals.
...
...
The next morning.
Lu Zhixing gave the design draft for "Ordinary Life" a final tweak, pressed Ctrl+S a few times, and then picked up his "happy fat house water" from the desk, gulping down several mouthfuls.
All set!
Just as he was about to take a break, the doorbell rang.
"Hello, anyone home? The delivery's here!"
"Eh? It's arrived already?"
Lu Zhixing was somewhat surprised. He opened the door of his rental and, together with the courier, hefted the huge cardboard box inside.
"Young man, you've just moved in recently, haven't you? I've never seen you before."
The Jingxi Express courier was quite chatty.
Not many couriers are willing to deliver to your door nowadays, but Jingxi Express is one of the few. This courier service is a local industry in Jinghai, named for its headquarters and largest warehouse located to the west of Jinghai.
Of course, "Jingxi" sounds like "surprise" in Chinese, and the couriers all dress in bright red, which is quite festive, so the express business in Jinghai is booming more and more.
Jingxi Express couriers are well-compensated; they usually deliver to a fixed area all year round. This courier was evidently responsible for this neighborhood and came every day to deliver parcels. He had never seen Lu Zhixing before, hence his guess that he was a new tenant.
Lu Zhixing nodded, "Yes, I've just moved in. What's your name, master? Here, have some water."
As he spoke, he handed over an unopened bottle of mineral water.
"Thank you, but I'm good. My name is Qian Ziqiang. If there are any issues with the deliveries, just find me," the courier pushed the mineral water back.
"Master Qian, let's exchange contact information. Who knows, I might have to follow you and help with the deliveries someday," Lu Zhixing said as he took out his phone to add him as a contact.
Then he grabbed a box cutter, ready to unbox.
Although Qian Ziqiang had just exchanged contact details, he waved his hands in protest when he heard what Lu Zhixing said, "Hey, don't joke about that. You look polished and educated, probably a university student, right? A student should focus on studies, don't think about making money so early. Look at us; we earn our money through hard work, out in the wind and sun every day, regretting not studying hard enough back in the day."
"Oh, by the way, what's in this box? It's so heavy; let me help you open it."
Lu Zhixing was startled and hurriedly said, "No, no, that's not necessary..."
However, before he could finish his sentence, the courier had already enthusiastically started to take out the contents of the box.
Faced with the wheelchair in front of him, Qian Ziqiang was momentarily stunned.
The room that was just lively quieted down in an instant.
They looked at each other, lost for words.
Lu Zhixing felt awkward: "If I say this wheelchair is for a friend of mine, you would believe me, right? After all, with my legs in such good shape, I don't look like I need to use a wheelchair."