Mei Fang came back from practicing guitar outside alone, and it was already evening.
He found that Lin Youxi and Xia Yuan were rarely sitting together playing games, and the two of them were typing on the keyboards, which was very lively.
"Oh my, Youxi, I'm dying, save me, help me! Help me to attract some hatred!"
Xia Yuan was shouting loudly while playing the game, while Lin Youxi remained calm and collected the whole time, showing the demeanor of an expert.
Mei Fang looked at the two people happily, and asked them while changing shoes:
"Are you two playing poison milk powder or Dragon Nest?"
"Those games you mentioned are too tiring to play. This is Rainbow Island!"
"You're actually playing this! Have you forgotten all about the time you were cheated when playing MapleStory?"
Xia Yuan used to play MapleStory with Mei Fang and Lin Youxi. She loved it so much that she asked her father to help her top up her card.
It was the Spring Festival at that time, and the next day there was a small loudspeaker on the public screen saying that 5E adventure coins would be given away. Silly Xia Yuan happily ran to the website to claim the reward, and then his account was stolen.
Then Xia Yuan uninstalled "MapleStory" in a fit of anger, and Mei Fang and Lin Youxi did not continue to play together.
The overall art style of "Rainbow Island" is very similar to "MapleStory", and the gameplay is also a 2D horizontal scrolling battle.
However, the gameplay in its initial stage of operation was very conscientious. The props sold in the mall basically did not affect the balance of the game, and everyone could only obtain equipment by killing monsters and completing dungeons.
Mei Fang stood behind Xia Yuan and watched them play for a while. He missed the youthful days when he played MMO with Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi, and suddenly he became addicted to the game.
"I want to play too. Which zone are you in?"
"Zone 3, but it's too late for you to start playing now, we have already completed the novice mission!"
"What's the big deal... I'll catch up with you guys in a minute."
While Mei Fang was registering an account, he turned on his kidney phone and started dialing the payment number.
Mobile payment was just emerging in 2011, so online game recharges often still rely on point cards and phone payments.
In order to save trouble, Mei Fang topped up his mobile phone with thousands of dollars in credit, and he didn't hesitate to spend money on playing games.
"Do you want me to give you some Rainbow Coins to get you through the novice period?"
Lin Youxi raised his head and asked Mei Fang, but Mei Fang shook his head.
"No, I'll just go to the market and buy it."
Xia Yuan seemed to understand something and quickly got up from his seat to watch Mei Fang's operation.
"Ah Fang, you little baby, why are you charging money right away?"
"How can you play this kind of game without spending money? You are still stupidly leveling up and killing monsters, but I can do it all in one go. We are game developers, how can we be played around by other game developers and become toys for krypton gold tycoons?"
Xia Yuan pushed Mei Fang's shoulders and shook him left and right, "Fang, this is too boring. You can't experience the real fun of the game at all."
"Fuck, this guy is selling the top-grade Snow Maiden Ice Bow. Now it's only 5000W Rainbow Coins. Yuanyuan, I remember you're an archer, right? Do you want this weapon? I have over 1 billion on me right now."
When Xia Yuan heard that it was his own exclusive weapon, his eyes immediately lit up with excitement.
"Let me see! Wow... these attributes are too good! I spent the whole afternoon grinding and still couldn't get a Snow Maiden Ice Bow!"
"Do you want it or not? If not, I will close the transaction."
"Yes, yes, yes, Ah Fang! Buy it for me! Please! I'll give you a back massage tonight!"
Xia Yuan hugged Mei Fang's arm and kept acting coquettishly, but Mei Fang couldn't stand it.
"Okay, okay, I'll buy it for you... Youxi, do you want to take a look at the equipment in the market to see if there's anything missing?"
"I'll go to the market and pick some myself. Just give me the money."
In the early days of MMOs, you could really have fun playing them if you had money.
Players who work hard on the game are also happy, and rich guys also have fun playing. Everyone trades and sets prices with each other and enjoys the joy of socializing.
Until later on, developers always liked to cut off the opportunities for free players to get props for free and directly mark the prices in the mall.
It was at this time that the game slowly began to change.
All players have become slaves of the developers and gold-earning machines.
Xia Yuanmei and Lin Youxi played until around seven in the evening before they started to think about cooking.
The three of them had clear division of labor: Mei Fang washed the rice, Xia Yuan selected the vegetables, and Lin Youxi was the cook.
During this time, Xia Yuan kept sighing: "It would be great if we could also make a fun PC game like this."
Mei Fang had never thought about making PC games. After all, PC game development requires huge investment, long team running-in period, high maintenance cost, and easy to be criticized. After the last breathing PC game was released in 2018, there were really few people on the market making MMO PC games.
"That thing looks elegant, but it's actually quite painful, right?"
"I'm just saying that. After all, it's really fulfilling to develop such a large-scale game by myself."
Xia Yuan muttered as he picked vegetables, "If we made a game like this ourselves, I would be the GM in the game, charging money every day to bully the big guys, charging money to bully the big guys, charging as much as I want, how cool it would be!"
"Look at your lack of talent, you're making a game just for this..."
"Hmm... No, when the planners were developing the games themselves, they must have imagined themselves being the boss in the game."
"However, planners generally don't play the games they develop themselves."
"Ah, is that true? I don't believe it."
Xia Yuan frowned and said, "If that's true, then it only means that the game he made is really rubbish."
"But if you don't even like playing the game you developed, how can you expect players to like it? By the way, what is the purpose of such a planner making a game? Are you looking for trouble?"
"Stop talking, stop talking, don't talk anymore..."
Xia Yuan's unintentional words triggered Mei Fang's painful memories, and the memories of his deceased past life attacked him frantically.
When he was the chief planner, he was always making crappy pay-to-win games that he didn't even like to play for a meager salary.
This is very different from his childhood dream of becoming a top producer like Kojima X-sensei, Sakurai X-hiro, and Miyazaki X-taka.
"I, I didn't say that the games made by Fang are not fun. I have played all the small games you made, including the ones we wrote ourselves. My "Kingdom" has the longest survival period among my friends! If you don't believe me, look at my phone, look, look..."
Mei Fang patted Xia Yuan's shoulder with a firm and resolute expression.
"One day, we will definitely try to make a PC game."
"We make a conscientious online game that everyone likes to play and will never be criticized as a rubbish pay-to-win game."
Mei Fang wants to make up for his long-standing regret in this area. "As long as we put aside the psychological burden of making money and develop and design games for fun, it will surely awaken everyone's love for large-scale role-playing games and protect their own paradise!"
Lin Youxi asked in confusion: "Awakening? Don't people like playing MMOs nowadays..."
"Later! I'm talking about the future!"
"Fang is really foresighted. I'm starting to get itchy from what he said! Fang, grow up quickly and make games for me to play!"
Everyone finished their meal together. Mei Fang was responsible for washing the dishes, and Xia Yuan cut the apples into small pieces and shared them with everyone.
She first fed Lin Youxi an apple in the living room, and then ran to the kitchen to feed Mei Fang an apple.
"Okay, okay... stop stuffing it in my mouth."
"Hehe... You need to eat more fruits."
Xia Yuan reached out and stuffed the apple into Mei Fang's mouth.
"By the way, Yuanyuan, what song are you planning to sing at this Golden Autumn Arts Festival?"
Xia Yuan made a gesture to Mei Fang to keep quiet.
"This time... it's a secret. I can't tell you for now."
"Still mysterious..."
"Tsk, Ah Fang, you are still the same."
Xia Yuan stuck out her tongue at Mei Fang, "You said you were preparing a program for the Golden Autumn Arts Festival, but I still don't know what you're going to sing, and I haven't even seen the lyrics."
"This..."
Mei Fang scratched his head. "Actually, I'm almost ready. I can play it for you tonight. If you don't think it's ok, I won't sign up."
"Yeah, yeah!"
Xia Yuan held Mei Fang's arm excitedly, "Now that you're ready, let Youxi and I listen to it. We've been looking forward to it for a long time!"
There will be an update on the underworld later, and I still owe the leader an extra update.
I recommend a new book, Young Seedling, a Tokyo supernatural novel, which contains a guide to super cute foreign mothers.
(End of this chapter)