With Lin Xia gone, the office felt like a ship missing a sail. The narrative design—the soul of the game—was now a gaping hole in the schedule.
Zhong Ming sat at his desk, a stack of printed character bios in front of him. He hadn't gone home in two days. His eyes were gritty, and his hand trembled slightly as he reached for a cup of cold tea.
"He's going to burn out," Su Qing whispered to Li Wei in the corner of the room. "Look at him. He's writing code, managing the team, and now he's trying to write all the dialogue for twelve NPCs?"
"He doesn't have a choice," Li Wei replied, typing quietly. "If we miss the demo deadline, Zhou Kai wins. He'll take the holiday slot by default."
Zhong Ming heard them, but he didn't have the energy to reassure them. He looked at the dialogue script for the "Fishing" mini-game.
*Player catches a Carp.*
*Old Man NPC: "That's a small one. Keep trying."*
It was dry. It was functional. It was dead.
"In a farming game, the text isn't just information," Zhong Ming muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. "It's a conversation."
He needed to tap into something deeper. He needed to write from the heart, not from a spreadsheet.
He closed his eyes, thinking back to his previous life. He remembered the long hours in the hospital, the loneliness, and how a simple message from a friend or a kind nurse could change his entire day. That was the emotion he needed to capture.
He opened the document and began to type.
*Player catches a Carp.*
*Old Man NPC (Willy): "Ah, a Carp! A bit slimy, but a classic fighter. You know, my late wife used to fry these up with lemon butter on rainy days... Thanks for reminding me, kid. Here, take this tackle box."*
He added a prompt.
**[You received: Old Tackle Box.]**
**[Your relationship with Willy has increased!]**
The "reward" wasn't just an item; it was a memory shared. That was the key.
"Li Wei," Zhong Ming called out, his voice hoarse.
"Yeah, boss?"
"I need a new text box UI. The current one is too sterile. I want a semi-transparent black box with rounded edges. And when the text appears, I want it to make a soft 'typewriter' sound. *Tap-tap-tap*."
"Typewriter sound?"
"It slows the player down," Zhong Ming explained. "It forces them to read. It gives the text weight. It makes the silence between the lines audible."
...
**Three Days Later – The Internal Playtest**
The demo build for *Green Valley* was ready. It was rough around the edges, but the core loop—Farm, Forage, Socialize—was intact.
Zhong Ming needed a guinea pig. Not a gamer, but a regular person.
He walked into the break room and found a young woman named Xiao Ya, an administrative assistant from the HR department. She was the perfect target audience: stressed, overworked, and not a hardcore gamer.
"Xiao Ya," Zhong Ming said. "I need ten minutes of your time."
"Director Zhong?" She looked up from her paperwork. "Is this about the... farming game?"
"Yes. I need you to play it. Don't hold back. Tell me if you're bored."
She followed him to the testing station. The screen lit up, showing the title: **Green Valley**.
Xiao Ya picked up the controller. "Okay... what do I do?"
"Just follow the on-screen prompts," Zhong Ming said, standing behind her.
The game started. The character woke up in a small, messy cottage. The first objective was to clear weeds.
Xiao Ya walked the character around. *Swish. Swish.*
"This sounds nice," she murmured, her shoulders dropping slightly as the ambient music—a soft, acoustic guitar track Zhong Ming had composed—began to play.
She cleared the farm patch, planted parsnips, and watered them.
"It's... repetitive," she said, furrowing her brow. "But in a good way? Like popping bubble wrap."
Then, she walked into town.
The pixelated village was quiet. A few NPCs walked their scripted paths. Xiao Ya approached a young girl named Penny standing by the river.
She pressed the interact button.
*Text Box: "Oh! Good morning. It's such a nice day... I was just thinking about the book I read yesterday. The hero was so brave... Sometimes I wish I could be brave like that."*
Xiao Ya paused. "She... she's talking to me?"
"Yes."
"Usually, NPCs just say 'Welcome to the shop' or 'Beware the monsters'," Xiao Ya said. "She sounds... lonely."
She walked away, then hesitated. She turned back and pressed the button again.
*Text Box: "Are you still here? I... I'm glad. It's nice to have someone to talk to."*
Xiao Ya smiled. A small, genuine smile. "She's sweet."
Zhong Ming watched her closely. That was the hook. The "Validation" loop.
Xiao Ya continued. She found a fishing rod near the pier. She tried to fish.
*Cast. Wait... Splash!*
A rhythm game popped up—a simple bar with a moving fish icon and a green box. She had to keep the fish inside the box.
"Wait... it's too fast!" she panicked. She tapped the button frantically.
*Failure.*
*Text: "The fish got away..."*
"Ugh!" Xiao Ya groaned. "I almost had it!"
She immediately cast again. This time, she focused. Her brow furrowed in concentration. She tapped rhythmically, keeping the green bar steady.
*Success!*
*Text: "You caught a Shad!"*
*Sound Effect: A triumphant, bright jingle.*
"Yes!" Xiao Ya whispered, clenching her fist. "I did it!"
She played for twenty minutes. Then thirty. Then an hour.
Zhong Ming looked at the clock. "Xiao Ya, your break is over."
"Oh!" She jumped, looking at the time. "I... I need to go back to work?"
She looked at the screen, where her character was standing next to a crab pot she had just crafted.
"Can I save?" she asked. "I want to check if the crab is caught tomorrow."
Zhong Ming smiled. The addiction loop was closed. It wasn't the addiction of 'winning'; it was the addiction of 'caring'.
"You can save," Zhong Ming said. "But you have to wait for the full release to see if the crab is there."
Xiao Ya pouted—a look entirely unbecoming of a professional HR assistant. "That's cruel, Director. Can't you just give me a copy?"
"Not yet. But thank you, Xiao Ya. You've been a big help."
As she left, Li Wei leaned over. "Boss, did you see her face? She was hooked on the fishing mechanic."
"Fishing is the perfect filler," Zhong Ming said, sitting down at the terminal. "It requires focus, reflexes, and luck. It breaks the monotony of farming. And the sound design..."
He pulled up the audio file. The sound of the water splashing and the reel clicking was crisp.
"We need more of that," Zhong Ming said. "We need to polish the 'micro-interactions'. When you walk through tall grass, it should rustle and part. When you step on stone, it should sound different than dirt."
He opened his bracelet. He had accumulated enough points.
**[System Interface]**
**[Current Balance: 150 Culture Points]**
**[Available Item: Environmental Physics Engine (Lightweight).]**
**[Cost: 150 Points]**
It was a risk. Spending all his points. But if the "feel" of the game wasn't right, the graphics wouldn't matter.
**[Purchase Confirmed.]**
The knowledge flowed into him. It wasn't a full physics engine—that would crash mobile devices. It was a 'fake' physics system. A way to calculate displacement without heavy processing. The grass wouldn't just be a flat texture; it would be a layer that reacted to the player's hitbox.
"Li Wei," Zhong Ming called. "I have a new algorithm for the grass tiles. It uses a vertex shader trick..."
...
**The Eve of the Presentation**
The night before the holiday slot review, the office was silent. Zhong Ming was the only one left.
He played through the demo one last time.
The sun set in the game, turning the sky a soft purple. The crickets started chirping (an audio loop Li Wei had perfected). The character stood on a cliff overlooking the valley.
Zhong Ming opened the menu.
**[Farm Name: Green Valley]**
**[Money: 500G]**
**[Inventory: Parsnip Seeds, Copper Ore, Old Tackle Box.]**
It wasn't a grand adventure. It wasn't a war to save the universe. It was a Tuesday.
But looking at the screen, Zhong Ming felt a profound sense of peace. He realized he hadn't thought about his cancer, or his past life, or the pressure of Zhou Kai's sabotage for hours. He had just been... living.
He checked the **[Community Sentiment Analysis]** tool, though the game wasn't released yet. It was greyed out, but a small text notification appeared at the bottom.
**[Internal Evaluation: "Charming." "Relaxing." "Addictive."]**
He saved the build and labeled it: **Version 1.0 Demo.**
He stood up, his joints cracking. He walked to the window. The city lights were blinding, a sea of neon aggression. Tomorrow, he would introduce a tiny patch of green into that concrete jungle.
He looked at his reflection in the glass.
"Tomorrow, we fight," he whispered. "But not with guns. With parsnips."
He grabbed his coat and headed for the door. The presentation was at 9:00 AM. And he knew Zhou Kai was preparing a massacre. Zhong Ming had to be ready to counter the "Boring" accusation with a demonstration of pure, distilled "Joy."
The final battle for the holiday slot was about to begin.