Chapter 139: Lottery
Over time, the popularity of Dark Souls' random mode remained incredibly high. After all, this random gameplay was incredibly novel for players.
However, the most anticipated news in the video game world is, naturally, the launch of two major VR titles from Aether Games and NetDragon.
NetDragon's "Star God" was launched at the previous Game Expo. The plot and setting are very traditional. The world once had gods, but for unknown reasons, they suddenly disappeared, giving rise to countless monsters. Humanity lives in a desperate situation.
A young man with a strange lineage emerges from the mountains and embarks on an adventure to discover his origins.
The plot itself is nothing out of the ordinary; its template could easily be applied to any other ARPG. NetDragon probably avoided risk.
While it won't be a revelation for players, at least it won't present any major problems. Combined with the strengths of a major virtual reality title and NetDragon's aggressive promotion, the game has achieved immense popularity.
However, Alex was not concerned about the rivalries between Aether Games and NetDragon in the video game industry. After all, Dark Souls had been online for almost two months and its international sales were comparable to those in the United States. Any confrontation between Aether Games and NetDragon would not affect Nebula Games.
Currently, Alex was working at a city company dedicated to artificial intelligence research. Of course, this company, Galaxy Intelligent Technology, had been wholly acquired by Alex. The negotiations were simple, and the company's professionals handled them. After the negotiations concluded, Alex took over the company for $22 million.
"Alex, these are our current areas of focus, including the large database," Ethan, who was responsible for the entire project, told Alex with some uneasiness in the lab. Not only Ethan; the rest of the company's employees also felt a little uncomfortable. After all, with the company acquired, no one could predict what would happen next.
"For now, I understand. I believe Dr. Ethan and everyone else know Nebula Games' main focus, so the company's internal research will be reoriented and will focus mainly on the interaction between AI and game applications," Alex briefly explained.
"In addition, we will continue to invest $4 million in the company, deposited in installments, for research in this area," Alex added.
Hearing Alex's words, everyone's anxiety was calmed. As for the focus, they didn't care. They knew the company wouldn't go bankrupt and that new funds were available for research. That alone was enough.
After a brief tour of the company, including some of the current patents and related research, and after the legal department confirmed confidentiality and non-compete agreements with all new employees, Alex left.
Returning to Nebula Games' office, Alex opened the system's inventory interface. The item card he had drawn before was now ready to use.
"Ready?"
Alex muttered to himself as he watched it disintegrate into a cloud of golden dust and dissipate into the air after use. At that moment, Alex noticed a small progress bar below the system's lottery interface. A line of numbers on the progress bar was constantly changing. 31536000, 31535999...
'Countdown? 31536000 seconds?'
Alex paused, and instantly understood the meaning of the progress bar and the numbers. Just like clicking on the technology tree and building a house in a business simulation game, there was a waiting time.
After studying it for a while, finding nothing to show, Alex put it aside for the moment. The true impact of the golden item would only be known after the countdown, a date that seemed distant.
Putting aside the effects of the golden item for the moment, Alex refocused on his current points. With the international launch of Dark Souls and the introduction of new modes, his points had soared, reaching 200. Previously, Alex had resisted the urge to draw, intending to accumulate more. Now, with this amount, he felt he could go shopping at the mall.
Decisively, he started drawing immediately. There was no ritual music or hand washing as before. His previous experience as a loser had taught him that all of that was pure nonsense!
[Common-Class Skill Book], [Common-Class Skill Book], [Common-Class Skill Book]... [Rare-Class Skill Book], [Memory Capsule]...
He drew 30 points in a row. Upon seeing the items that appeared, Alex couldn't help but feel a pang of pain. The golden special effects are quite good, but upon opening the box, it's all white clouds, with only occasional flashes of blue sky. 'This lottery experience is too real, isn't it?'
More [Memory Capsules] would also be fine. He had already used most of them during the development of Dark Souls.
Sighing, Alex continued to draw.
[Professional Skill Book: Psychology Knowledge (Elementary)]
[Professional Skill Book: Cinematography Knowledge (Elementary)]
"Delivered? New skill books?"
Alex was excited to see the two new skill books in front of him, but then he was a little disappointed to see the elementary level on the back. After all, although it was a purple item, just like the [Fear Converter] from the previous Outlast game, the elementary level didn't seem like a good deal.
After using it, Alex understood that it was mainly due to the extension of the content, which is why the current theme was at a basic level. And as for video game development, these two aspects are closely related.
For example, the manifestation of psychology in games goes beyond malicious intent, such as the placement of traps in Dark Souls. This includes positive reward mechanisms, such as how to arrange rewards after defeating a boss, and how to create a rhythm within the game to keep players more excited. All these elements are closely related to psychology.
As for cinematics, they are even more important. Previous games like God of War, The Last of Us, and Metal Gear Solid used many cinematics. For example, the single-take sequence in God of War, the camera language in The Last of Us, and the famous wide shots in Metal Gear Solid.
He used 200 skills in a row, most of which were common skill books. There were also some rare ones, but he got a lot of memory capsules.
As for professional skill books, Alex obtained a total of 4 Psychology Knowledge (Beginner), 6 Cinematography Knowledge (Beginner), 3 Architecture Knowledge (Beginner), and 5 Martial Arts Knowledge (Beginner).
Although he did not get the same golden quality items as before, at least now they are very useful to him. Therefore, Alex is quite satisfied overall.
- - - - - - - - - -
Hello everyone!
Thanks for reading this chapter.
This week, we'll have 3 daily chapters for you to enjoy. This is possible thanks to all your support with Power Stones.
To keep increasing our chapters, I'm asking for your support. For every 150 Power Stones we collect across all novels this week, I'll add an extra daily chapter for next week.
If you want to catch up and read even more, you can find over 150 advanced chapters of my novels on my Patreon.
Your comments and Power Stones are what make this possible. Thanks!
@Patreon/iLikeeMikee