Chapter 1 Slightly Calming Down

After calming down a little, Pei Qian clicked on the promotional CG for *Shui Mo Yun Yan*.

The entire CG was in the traditional Chinese ink wash style.

A touch of ink spread out on the light yellow rice paper, transforming into black clouds and mist. As they gathered and dispersed, a ferocious-looking mythical beast was born, circling in the sky with its fangs bared and claws outstretched. Patches of dark clouds enveloped the ancient Chinese city in the distance…

At the same time, an old, deep voice narrated.

“Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a ferocious beast in China formed from resentment, called a Yan. Rumor has it that the Yan beast can weave dreams and feed on people’s negative emotions such as fear, hatred, despair, and resentment, growing stronger day by day…”

Accompanied by the narration, the screen of the game CG began to change constantly. The Yan beast hid behind patches of dark clouds in the sky, and countless strange monsters were derived, wreaking havoc on the world.

A scholar realized that he was trapped in a dream. Holding a painting scroll in his left hand and a brush in his right, he began to use the power of his calligraphy and painting to defeat the monsters in the dream, trying to find the Yan beast hidden in the dream. The Yan beast was also constantly spawning demons to stop the scholar.

Countless demons rushed towards the scholar. The scholar waved his brush and ink, drawing a huge rock on the scroll. Then, with a light wave of the brush, the boulder instantly appeared above the monsters and crashed down, smashing them into wisps of black smoke.

The monsters also raised rocks and giant trees from the cliffs and threw them at the scholar, but the scholar waved his brush and erased these foreign objects out of thin air.

Brushstrokes crisscrossed, black mist scattered, and the scholar and the monsters began to fight fiercely. The narration also told the story background of the entire game…

This promotional CG was not complicated. It was not the kind of CG that was so detailed that you could see every hair and pore. It was not even comparable to the promotional video for the GPL Spring Split.

But the beauty of this video was that it perfectly matched the game itself.

*Shui Mo Yun Yan* is a horizontal 2D game, not a large-investment 3A masterpiece. Moreover, it is a Chinese-style game related to calligraphy and painting elements, so it can be said that using this ink wash style CG to display it is just right.

It can not only highlight the characteristics of the game itself, but also reduce the difficulty of production.

In the updated trial demo, although there were only two small levels in the game, and the game time was only about ten minutes, the core gameplay of the game was displayed.

Based on the traditional 2D horizontal scrolling game operation mode, there are operations such as movement, jumping, double jumping, attacking, and defending, as well as calligraphy and painting skills.

After clicking on the painting skill, the game screen enters a stagnant state, and time passes at an extremely slow speed. Players can choose scene elements in the game to erase, or create props by drawing specific shapes, such as drawing a circle to create a large stone, and drawing a broken line to create lightning, and so on.

However, this also determines that the game cannot be played with a gamepad, but only with a keyboard and mouse or a touch screen.

The official obviously intends to use computers and mobile phones as the main battlefields, promising that players will first release the computer version, and then the mobile version.

Logically speaking, the mobile version would be more comfortable to operate, but after all, there are more independent game players on the computer version and it is easier to develop, so the computer version will be released first.

…

After watching the promotional video and the trial part of the game content, Pei Qian looked serious, as if facing a formidable enemy.

No wonder so many people are pre-ordering it, it looks really reliable!

The domestic independent game player group is originally one of the groups that most supports domestic games. *Shui Mo Yun Yan* is a Chinese-style game that combines traditional cultural elements such as calligraphy and painting with the game, which is obviously more pleasing.

But… can this game’s demo have such a good promotional effect?

This is not scientific, right?

With some confusion, Pei Qian clicked on the Poor Road Plan promotional video on the game details page.

…

The video begins in a dimly lit room.

A child wearing shorts and a white suspender vest is hiding under the covers, using the dim light of a flashlight to read a game magazine.

Suddenly, footsteps came from outside the door. The child quickly turned off the flashlight, lay down instantly, hid the magazine under the pillow, and pretended to be asleep.

The scene changes to daytime.

With both parents away from home, the child carefully turned on the computer. The screen showed a domestic single-player game with a strong mosaic style.

The child put the game magazine aside and seriously started playing according to the strategy on it.

Suddenly, the clock on the wall began to chime. The child quickly shut down the computer, then took a wet towel and covered the big head of the computer monitor, and quickly returned to his room, opened his schoolbag and took out his homework, and finally put away the wet towel.

After a while, the security door opened, the child’s father came back, touched the computer monitor, and then looked at the child who was studying hard, turned around and went to do his own thing.

The scene changes again, the elementary school student has become a high school student. Although different actors were used, it was still possible to recognize that this was the same person through the clothing.

In a smoky Internet cafe, some peers were playing various online games, but he was still playing domestic single-player games. However, it was still the same game he played when he was in elementary school, without any changes.

Someone laughed at him for still playing this outdated game, but he just smiled and said nothing.

The scene changed again, and the high school student became an adult. It was late at night, and in a dilapidated, messy rental house, he was seriously making games with the game editor in front of the computer screen.

The messy room and the clutter piled up everywhere all hinted at his impoverished state, but he was still working enthusiastically in front of the computer.

However, in the daytime, a violent knock on the door woke him up.

After returning to the room with the rent and utility bills, he was silent for a long time.

Finally, he glanced at the computer screen with some reluctance, closed the unfinished game project in the game editor, and then opened his resume.

After sending his resume to several companies, he habitually moved the mouse to the game editor, but after hesitating again and again, he still couldn’t click it.

The scene changes, he opened the closet, found the suit he hadn’t worn for a while, and then stood in front of the dressing mirror to look at himself.

In front of the camera, he was wearing a neat suit, his hairstyle was proper, but his eyes were a little dull, and he just looked at the image in the mirror blankly.

In the mirror, he was still wearing a white suspender vest, wearing shorts and flip-flops, his hair was messy, but his face was full of smiles, and his eyes were also full of hope.

The two images formed a sharp contrast, suggesting that he still wanted to be an independent game developer.

Finally, he sighed softly, picked up the printed resume on the table, and prepared to go out to look for a job.

However, at this moment, he found a golden invitation letter in the mailbox at the door, with the four characters “Poor Road Plan” written on it.

His face finally showed a hopeful smile.

…

The promotional video ended here. Although it did not introduce the Poor Road Plan in detail, it had already pointed out the meaning of the Poor Road Plan.

As for the plot behind the video, most people can imagine it: this independent game developer got the money, was able to continue to stick to his dream, complete the unfinished game project, and add bricks and tiles to the development of domestic independent games.

This game promotional video was shot and edited in a very short period of time.

There are many old buildings in the style of the last century in the Imperial Capital. Many arcade shops in the alleys also preserve game consoles and big-headed computers. In addition, with the filter with a sense of the times, it directly evoked many people’s childhood memories.

The content of the video is also full of details.

In the era when home computers were just beginning to become popular, domestic single-player games were also developing rapidly.

Newspapers and magazines next to the school would sell many game magazines. At that time, for many students who did not have much time to play games, buying a game magazine could be read over and over again. Even if they had never played or bought the games in it, they still read it with relish.

Taking advantage of the fact that their parents had not returned home from get off work, they secretly turned on the computer to play games, but they must remember to cool down with a wet towel in advance, otherwise, when their parents came home and touched it, they would be exposed, and they would inevitably have to meet a storm.

With the rise of Internet cafes, online games have also developed rapidly, but at this time, domestic single-player games have begun to decline.

The protagonist in the video likes domestic single-player games, but domestic single-player games have been discontinued. When other students are playing online games, he is still stubbornly playing domestic single-player games from a few years ago.

Finally, he became an independent game developer, wanting to fulfill his dream. But because of his financial constraints, he had to make difficult choices between his ideals and reality…

All of this content gave the people who watched this video a strong resonance!

After searching on the Internet a little, Pei Qian instantly understood why the game *Shui Mo Yun Yan* had received so much attention in such a short period of time.

The fact that its demo is fun and relatively pleasing is only one aspect. More importantly, the promotional videos of *Shui Mo Yun Yan* and the Poor Road Plan have been uploaded to the Aili Island website, causing a warm response!

On the Aili Island website and other video platforms, the promotional video of the Poor Road Plan has been pushed to the front of the game area, and the heat is still rising.

In the barrage and comment area, many lurking independent game players were all blown out.

“This video made me tear up! Isn’t this kid me? It’s just that I’ve given up on the road to making games…”

“Parents go home from get off work and touch the computer as soon as possible, this is too real! Is it unified across the country?”

“Alas, the scene in the Internet cafe is really heartbreaking. We who like single-player games have become aliens. Domestic single-player games were still flourishing when I was a child, but before long, there were only online games on the market. Alas.”

“Actually, it’s okay, it’s slowed down a bit now, and independent games have become more numerous again.”

“Compared with foreign countries, it’s still far behind!”

“Is this ‘Poor Road Plan’ specifically to fund domestic independent games? That’s really immeasurable merit! Looking at this, we must give it our full support!”