Chapter 15

 Chapter Fifteen: Game Title: "Ordinary Life"

Professor He Cheng's assignment had a rather tight deadline.

In two weeks, the first screening would take place, and it would directly eliminate two-thirds of the students.

Even though those who were eliminated could still team up with the remaining students, it would essentially mean working on someone else's design concept, acting as a supporting role without much say in the matter.

At the beginning of the semester, students mostly stuck together in their dorm rooms and had limited interaction with others. If the entire dorm room was eliminated, it could complicate things.

Lu Zhixing was determined to ensure that his design concept was among the top third.

Completing a design concept in just two weeks was quite pressing, even for experienced game planners. Furthermore, Professor He Cheng had added that a random check of several students would take place this Friday to evaluate their progress.

This added even more pressure to the students.

The reason Professor He Cheng set such a tight schedule was probably a stress test to assess the students' ability to quickly draft game concepts. After all, everyone had limited time, and competition was fair.

Lu Zhixing had been busy dealing with internet cafe and rental property matters, and now there were only three days left until Professor He's random check.

However, for someone as skilled as him in game planning, two or three days were more than enough to create a design concept.

"So, what kind of game should I design using the materials I can acquire in the future?"

Lu Zhixing fell into deep thought.

After completing the role-playing tasks, he would undoubtedly need to utilize all the materials he obtained to create a game.

Professor He Cheng's assignment had to be completed on time as well.

Writing two different design concepts was too exhausting for Lu Zhixing, and time was clearly insufficient. Even if he managed to write them, the subsequent development would be extremely hectic.

Therefore, it would be best to design a game that could achieve both objectives.

"If I can obtain that special reward, which allows unlimited gathering within an hour, I can have access to all the resources within Jinghai University and the surrounding streets."

"Combine this with the materials I might receive from the 'Part-Timer' and 'Campus Superstar' role-playing identities..."

"Hmm, I've got it!"

After considering for a while, Lu Zhixing wrote down the name of the game in the document.

"Ordinary Life."

This could be seen as a simulation game set in and around Jinghai University.

In the game, players would experience a rich variety of content:

- They could take on various part-time jobs to earn money, such as construction work, sorting packages, working as a security guard, setting up a street stall, and more.

- They could enjoy food, games, and various mini-games, like ring tossing, balloon popping, street chess, or even visiting an internet cafe.

- They could participate in various training activities to enhance their professional skills, unlocking more job opportunities.

In the game, there will be elements of simulated survival, including hunger, health, and cleanliness concepts. These will affect the character's status, and players will need to regularly eat, bathe, do laundry, and rest to recover.

The game will have several different ways to complete it:

1. Wealth Completion: Players can complete the game by earning a certain amount of money through their abilities.

2. Cultural Completion: Achieve a certain level of professional skills, or advance in academic studies to complete this objective.

3. Identity Completion: Players can complete the game by owning their own business through their efforts or by becoming outstanding student leaders through organizing activities.

Additionally, the game will offer different difficulty levels: "Game Difficulty," "Simulation Difficulty," and "Real Difficulty." Higher difficulties will cause the player's hunger, health, cleanliness, and other attributes to deplete faster, increase the difficulty of earning money, and introduce more risks.

Players can choose from three different roles: "Part-Timer," "College Student," and a hidden identity, "Rich Second Generation." Initially, players can select the Part-Timer and College Student roles, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

Part-Timers have more energy, greater endurance for physical activities, and strong mental toughness. They can handle low cleanliness, eat instant noodles every day, and engage in heavy physical labor without accumulating too much psychological pressure. Part-Timers also have complete control over their time and don't have academic pressure.

On the other hand, College Students have weaker physical fitness, are mentally fragile, and need to allocate time for their studies. However, College Students can reside in dormitories, eat in the school cafeteria, and participate in exclusive college activities, such as organizing events, participating in debates, and more. These activities not only provide bonus points for identity completion but also allow them to improve their skills without joining training programs.

Additionally, there's a hidden identity called "Rich Second Generation," which can be activated when players complete any of the "Real Difficulty" completion methods using both the Part-Timer and College Student identities. The Rich Second Generation starts with an exaggerated amount of initial money, and their sole goal is to spend all of it before the end of the game.

The game is called "Ordinary Life" because it focuses on the Part-Time Worker and College Student demographics, and it portrays real-life scenarios rather than opulent lifestyles. The game draws inspiration from a similar domestic game that Lu Zhixing played in his previous life. However, this game was taken offline due to various issues, including insufficient funding, inadequate development team abilities, and improper attitudes. The game had significant flaws in its gameplay and content.

To Lu Zhixing, this was a missed opportunity. Players had shown enthusiasm and support, but the game developer failed to respond adequately and instead squandered the potential of this great idea. Therefore, Lu Zhixing, considering his current role-playing objectives and the materials he can obtain, has decided to take the idea of "portraying ordinary life" and provide a more perfect answer.

Of course, since Lu Zhixing cannot predict the future or determine the exact materials he will receive after role-playing, this can be seen as a form of anticipation. Nevertheless, it is unlikely to deviate significantly from his expectations.

As for the materials that the role-playing identity of a paraplegic might provide, Lu Zhixing has no way of guessing. Therefore, he hasn't included it in the planning of this game for now. When he obtains the materials later, he will try to incorporate them if possible. If they can't fit into this game, he may have to create another game using those materials.

……

With a clear direction in mind, Lu Zhixing immediately began writing the game design concept.

Having spent several years as a functional planner in his previous life, drafting design documents was a breeze for him.

Lu Zhixing's hands rapidly tapped away at the keyboard, and his thoughts quickly transformed into the content of the design document. In just four or five hours, he had already outlined a rough framework.

However, at this moment, Lu Zhixing suddenly had a thought.

"Come to think of it, when Professor He Cheng grades the assignments, will he consider production costs?"

While Professor He Cheng verbally stated that the designed game could be of any type or theme without limitations, for a game designer, controlling costs was the first lesson in game development.

The truly great game designs were results that compromised with objective conditions. Take very old pixel-art games, for instance; designers needed to portray various game characters with just a few simple pixels. They had to fit as much rich game content as possible into cartridges with very limited capacity.

It could be said that game design, from its inception, was an art form that danced with shackles. Game content had always been constrained by hardware capabilities.

Although hardware conditions gradually improved over time, with some blockbuster games having budgets reaching hundreds of millions, the gaming industry generally didn't favor this "piling up" approach.

During annual game awards, the judging panels often didn't like these large productions that relied solely on sheer quantity. Instead, they favored smaller projects with substantial gameplay innovations.

For a designer, the real skill lay in achieving design goals with fewer resources, delivering more fun to players, and that's where true expertise shone.

With this in mind, the production cost of the game itself was undoubtedly an important factor in Professor He Cheng's evaluation of the game.

So, a large-scale production like "Ordinary Life," which almost encompassed the entire Jinghai University and its surrounding streets, would definitely lose points in this regard.

After all, the amount of resources used was off the charts for an ordinary game development team. Only someone like Lu Zhixing, who had some "cheats," could act so recklessly.

But what could he do?

He decided to let it go!

While Lu Zhixing realized this might be a problem, he had no intention of making changes. This design proposal was tailored for the "Life Role-Playing Game." As long as he successfully completed the role-play, he could obtain all these materials without having to consider the game's production costs like other people.

If he switched to a different design proposal, even if it earned higher praise from Professor He Cheng, many of the materials would pile up unused. That was a severe waste, something Lu Zhixing wouldn't allow.

Moreover, Lu Zhixing was confident that even if this design proposal incurred some deductions in terms of cost control, it was still excellent enough to stand out among all the design documents.

……

……

The next morning,

Lu Zhixing gave the design concept for "Ordinary Life" one final revision, pressed Ctrl+S several times, and then picked up the bottle of Fat Otaku Joy Water on his desk, taking a few sips.

All set!

Just as he was about to take a break, the doorbell rang.

"Hello, is anyone home? Delivery for you!"

"Oh? It arrived so quickly?"

Lu Zhixing was somewhat surprised. He opened the door to his rented apartment and, together with the delivery person, moved in a massive cardboard box.

"Young man, you just moved in recently, right? I haven't seen you around before."

This delivery guy was quite talkative.

These days, there aren't many delivery services that bring packages to your door, but Jingxi Express is one of them. This delivery service was a local industry in Jinghai, named after its headquarters and largest warehouse located to the west of Jinghai.

Of course, the homonym for "Jingxi" is "pleasant surprise," and the delivery personnel all wore bright red uniforms, giving off a festive vibe. So, the delivery business in Jinghai had been booming.

Jingxi Express offered good working conditions for its delivery personnel, with most of them handling deliveries in a fixed area year-round. This particular delivery guy was clearly responsible for this residential area and came to deliver packages every day. Since he hadn't seen Lu Zhixing before, he guessed that Lu Zhixing was a new tenant.

Lu Zhixing nodded, "Yes, I just moved in. What should I call you, sir? Here, have some water."

As he spoke, Lu Zhixing handed over an unopened bottle of mineral water.

"Thank you, I don't need it. My name is Qian Ziqiang. If you have any questions about deliveries in the future, just look for me."

The delivery guy, Qian Ziqiang, politely declined the water.

"Qian, let's exchange contact information. Maybe I'll end up working with you in the future, delivering packages together."

Lu Zhixing took out his phone and scanned a QR code to add him as a friend.

However, upon hearing Lu Zhixing's words, Qian Ziqiang waved his hand repeatedly, "Oh, don't joke around like that. You seem like a university student, right? Focus on your studies. Don't think about making money so early. Look at us; we earn our keep through hard work, exposed to the elements every day. We regret not studying harder back in the day."

"Oh, by the way, what's inside this box? It's so heavy. Let me help you open it."

Lu Zhixing was taken aback and hastily said, "No, no..."

But before he could finish his sentence, the delivery guy had already eagerly started unpacking the contents of the box.

Upon seeing the wheelchair, Qian Ziqiang was momentarily stunned.

The room, which had just been bustling moments ago, fell silent in an instant.

The two of them locked eyes, speechless.

Lu Zhixing felt a bit awkward. "If I say this wheelchair is for a friend of mine, would you believe me? After all, with my legs in such good shape, it doesn't look like I need a wheelchair, does it?"