Chapter Nineteen: Journey Through Science Fiction

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Shocking News! "My Little World" Turns Out to Be the Most Conscientious Game Ever Made by Qiyou!

This game was the first time I realized that not only do you not have to pay to play, you can even make money! As soon as the community feature launched, I found out you could create your own mods and put them up for sale. I immediately designed an immortal-cultivation style skin and listed it in the community marketplace.

Although my skin can't compare to those made by the real pros, it has still brought in over a thousand yuan in revenue so far.

I want to thank Teacher "Force Me"—it was thanks to him that, for the first time, I was able to buy a gift for my mother with my own ability.

—

[Long Life Unwasted]: I thought this was just some self-promoting show-off, but I never expected such a heartwarming story behind it.

[Everyone’s on the Move]: Teacher "Force Me" is a paragon of the industry. Every other designer is scheming to squeeze money out of players. Only he swims against the current, not for profit, but to benefit those who truly love games!

[Godfall]: All this positivity makes me feel that the world is beautiful again. "Force Me," you’re forever the best! Looking forward to your next games.

—

“Snap!”

Yin Jian slammed the comment section closed.

If he kept reading, even someone as levelheaded as him would start getting carried away.

“What kind of corporate-level comprehension is this? It almost makes me want to make a truly free game.”

Yin Jian was at a loss for words.

He decided it was best to read fewer comments in the future, or else he’d end up being led astray by this crowd of eccentric players.

Suppressing the sudden surge of passion in his chest, he opened the developer backend in the game assistant, preparing to start work on his next game.

“Hm? What’s this?”

As soon as he opened the creation page, Yin Jian noticed a sleek, futuristic banner at the top.

Qiyou Baiqiao Branch – Sci-Fi Quest

“What does ‘Quest’ mean?” He frowned in confusion and clicked on it.

The page shifted, and the details of the Sci-Fi Quest appeared before him.

"Science is the source of human progress."

"The advance and innovation of science are utterly transforming our lives."

"For this event, Qiyou is holding a Sci-Fi Quest competition with the theme: ‘Technology Changes the World, Evolution is Adaptation.’"

...

"Designers are required to base their creations on the Quest’s theme, but are not constrained by genre; let your imagination run wild, open your mind, and set yourself free!"

Awards:

First Place:

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50,000 yuan cash prize

Free use of up to 100,000 yuan worth of assets in your next game

Second Place:

30,000 yuan cash prize

Free use of up to 50,000 yuan worth of assets in your next game

Third Place:

10,000 yuan cash prize

Free use of up to 10,000 yuan worth of assets in your next game

(Currently, 12,739 participants)

After reviewing all the details of the Sci-Fi Quest, Yin Jian’s eyes locked onto the prizes at the bottom.

The cash was a nice bonus, but the real prize was the free asset usage.

Although it wasn’t a tangible reward, winning it would save him an unimaginable amount on his next game.

Even without aiming for first place’s 100,000 yuan asset package, just the 10,000 yuan one for third place could save him, by his calculations, upwards of several tens of thousands on development costs.

Was there any reason to hesitate?

He signed up on the spot!

“If I can get first place, I’ll soar straight to the top!”

As long as he could secure that free 100,000 yuan asset package, poverty would no longer hold back his development.

Of course, Yin Jian’s eagerness to enter wasn’t just about the generous rewards.

His next game idea fit the Quest’s theme perfectly.

In fact, the inspiration came to him while playing "Zerg War."

His next project would be a game that starts at the microscopic level and gradually evolves into the macroscopic—a game about evolution, perfectly matching the Quest’s theme: “Evolution is adaptation.”

Yin Jian clicked to join the Quest, and the page jumped directly to the game naming interface.

Since it was for the Sci-Fi Quest, the category was already locked in.

After a moment of thought, he typed into the name field:

“Spore Evolution”

He hit confirm.

Name accepted!

The page jumped again, this time to the game engine selection screen.

Gazing at the long string of zeroes behind the top engines, Yin Jian quickly scrolled straight to the bottom.

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His finger hovered over the “Little Trash” engine for half a second, then moved away.

The difficulty of making “Spore Evolution” would be leagues beyond “My Little World.”

If he stuck with the Little Trash engine, not only would the workload be overwhelming, but the time required would be prohibitive.

The Sci-Fi Quest competition and judging period lasted only three months.

With Little Trash, it would take him at least half a year to finish “Spore Evolution”—by then, it would be far too late.

For the sake of efficiency, Yin Jian gritted his teeth and scrolled to the 10,000-yuan tier engines.

“Kiddo (Semi-Automatic): 10,000 yuan”

After a brief consideration, he settled on the engine called “Kiddo.”

The reason was simple: among the semi-automatic engines, it was the cheapest.

He only had 80,000 yuan for the development of “Spore Evolution,” so he had to be frugal.

After purchasing the engine, he clicked to begin development. As for other assets, he’d pick them out slowly after the game was finished.

With funds tight, he had to calculate every penny and spend only where it mattered.

Upon launching the Kiddo engine, he didn’t dive straight into development.

Instead, he first familiarized himself with its operations.

After all, every engine is different; its controls would certainly differ greatly from Little Trash.

After several attempts, Yin Jian realized his money had been well spent.

In Kiddo, once you build a model and specify its type—animal, plant, or mineral—the engine would automatically generate various dynamic animations.

No more painstaking frame-by-frame work like with Little Trash; the workload was reduced many times over.

After further testing, Yin Jian discovered another feature of Kiddo:

You could enter a text description, and it would automatically generate a model!

Although the models it produced were rough and needed further refinement, it was still far easier than crafting everything from scratch.

“If only I’d had this engine before, I could’ve finished ‘My Little World’ in half a day.”

With some emotion, Yin Jian found himself even more curious about those top-tier engines. If a 10,000-yuan engine was this powerful, what could the million-yuan ones do?

“Still too poor,” Yin Jian muttered, pulling himself out of his thoughts and fully devoting himself to game development.

When he got that prize, he too would experience what it was like to be a big-spending game designer.

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