William was woken up.
After staying up all night, all he wanted was to sleep forever, but reality wasn't going to let that happen.
Today was Lunar New Year's Day.
The culprit was his alarm clock. He needed to put the game on the online server before people could download it, so that one hundred players could enjoy a half-hour trial of the new game.
The server setup had already been arranged by Cynthia before she left. Given their agreement with WeChat Games, and Cynthia's past connections with Tencent, letting her handle it didn't require William to lift a finger.
After a short server test, everything was ready.
Even a test version needed to be reviewed by the platform, but with Earth Games' strong reputation, if William set a time, the platform would be happy to finish the review early.
The time was set for 8 p.m., right during the family Spring Festival Gala broadcast.
The Gala on Blue Star was far better than Earth's, since it was made for more than three billion viewers. It was truly a gathering of the best performers.
Trying to compete with a show like that was pure wishful thinking.
But William had never planned to target people sitting on the couch with their families. He was looking for the lonely ones.
They might be far from home, or for some reason unable to enjoy reunion and warmth. Even if they turned on the same TV at the same time, they couldn't feel any joy from it.
He explained this idea to Merry, so even if she picked people at random, she still had to filter a bit. After all, he didn't want to give out a hundred spots and end up with only twenty or thirty people actually showing up.
"Looking forward to traveling with you."
Merry ran the official Earth Games account, while William used the name "Earth Games William." He didn't bother writing "producer" or anything — anyone following him would understand what he meant from his posts.
Once he posted, he went back to sleep.
Elsewhere.
Marcus had been pulled aside more than once by his cousin, asking if he could use his connections to get a test spot for the new game. She really wanted to play Earth Games' latest title — even a demo — and William had already stated the trial length: only three or four minutes. This was to avoid problems later.
If players opened the game expecting to spend the whole night with it, only to find it ended in a few minutes, they'd be furious.
So all the conditions were made clear. While it reduced some mystery, the biggest mystery was the game itself. Better to be upfront than play word games.
William had even offered Merry a spot so she could experience it deeply and better understand Earth Games.
Merry was happy about it but turned him down — she was spending that time with her family watching the Gala. That was the one thing work could never take away from her.
Cynthia gave the same answer. Clearly, they had their own place to belong, while William was the lone outsider in a foreign land.
After those rejections, William simply forgot about Marcus. Otherwise, this number one fan would gladly ditch the Gala to enjoy a precious thirty minutes of game time.
Now Marcus could only hope he'd be picked.
He tried messaging William, but William was still asleep. By the time William woke up, the spots had already been finalized.
Another person, Jayden, wanted the test spot just as much as Marcus did.
William didn't know his name, but if you mentioned another handle, he'd know right away.
"They're closely related."
He was the player who once wrote a long comment in the Piano Tiles review section — and left lengthy reviews under every Earth Games title, each getting plenty of likes.
These comments brought him huge popularity, and now he had hundreds of thousands of followers across major media platforms, thanks in part to the game guide videos he posted.
Yes, he was also a skilled gamer, but he had never applied to be a tester.
If he had, he would have been Marcus's biggest rival — and most likely, he would have won.
Even though he wasn't part of Earth Games, Jayden was still tied to it. Since he became famous through the games, his path was already set.
In a way, he couldn't miss this test.
What's more, this was the first demo test in gaming history — a moment of historical significance.
As excitement, tension, and nerves filled the air, Earth Games' official account released the player list and sent each of them a unique link by email. Clicking it would let them download the Journey of the Wind demo directly from the app store.
Luckily, both Marcus and Jayden got in.
Of course, it wasn't just luck.
After that, Merry could finally shut down her computer and join her family on the couch to enjoy the Gala.
The Journey of the Wind icon showed a small red figure standing in the desert, gazing at a distant mountain.
A traveler is someone who heads toward a faraway place.
The cloth strips fluttering from the little red figure show the element of wind.
Journey — what a poetic name.
The game begins with the Earth Games logo. A sun rises over the planet's surface, lighting up the world and bringing it to life.
Even though people on Blue Star don't know what Earth is, they can guess a little just by looking at this logo.
It was the first time Marcus saw this image outside the studio.
Somehow, he had a feeling — William was serious this time.
Serious about making a game?
He's always serious.
Maybe what's coming is a real game.
Putting aside his guesses, Marcus started the game.
In front of him was a golden desert.
The little red figure was sitting in the sand. The camera slowly turned behind him and zoomed in. He stood up, and a control hint appeared on Marcus's phone screen.
Swipe on the left side to move. Hold for two seconds before swiping to run. Swipe on the right side to move the camera.
The hints disappear after you follow them, leaving behind a clean, peaceful screen.
Marcus's first impression was simple: beauty.
The game was incredibly beautiful.
He had never seen anything like it, even though it was just a desert.
But the texture of the sand, the lighting, the way the clothes moved — everything was perfect.
He knew he needed to go uphill, because there was something floating up there.
But his cousin couldn't wait any longer and grabbed the phone from him.
She didn't want to just sit and watch Marcus play.
After reaching the first save point and unlocking a new strip of cloth, the game starts forced matchmaking.
At this point, two players who don't know each other share the same goal:
To pass through a forest of gravestones and reach the building in the desert ahead.
When they arrive, they watch a short cutscene together.
It gives a simple explanation of the game's story.
That's the end — but not really.
Players get 30 minutes of playtime.
So over 90% of them choose to replay it again and again,
until the 30 minutes are up.
Until this short journey ends.
---
Read +30 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---