booktalesy Chapter 497 - 302: As an RPG Player, Is It Wrong to Search Through an NPC’s Home?
Chapter 497 - 302: As an RPG Player, Is It Wrong to Search Through an NPC’s Home?
After the movement speed anomaly bug was detected, the entire studio was shocked.
Luckily, because it was discovered in time, and the cause of the bug was relatively clear, the issue was relatively simple to resolve.
Chen Ba’s solution wasn’t to manipulate the original values and code but to add a new line of code.
The specific approach was to lock the upper limit of the character’s "movement speed" within the game!
In this way, even if the bug still exists, the game’s values are locked at the upper limit, rendering the stacking effect of the values useless, effectively solving the bug.
"Curing the symptoms, not the cause!"
Lu was indifferent to this, pointing out that doing so might have unknown risks, and it would be better to solve the bug fundamentally.
"The best solution is definitely to solve the problem from the root, but..."
"Time waits for no one! To eradicate this bug from its roots would require revisiting many things, which is too time-consuming."
Chen Ba shook his head and said, "As long as the problem is solved and the code can run smoothly, then there are no issues. As for what you’re worried about, it’s not something we should be considering."
That’s how programming is.
A pile of seemingly makeshift code can run smoothly, do programmers not know it’s a mountain of crap code?
They know!
But knowing is one thing, sometimes the best outcome after writing code is that it runs, optimizing a mountain of crap code to a perfect state would increase the workload significantly.
And can you guarantee that the optimized code will run as smoothly as it did before?
The same goes for game development.
Sometimes when a game encounters a bug or another issue, the general solution developers use isn’t to patch the existing code but to add a new string of code into it.
Who doesn’t know that starting from scratch is the best solution? But the question is, do you have that much time, money, and energy?
Take a few popular online games as examples, CF and LOL are typical "mountains of crap code."
These two games are so popular, with so many players, yet their developers never thought of remaking them from scratch, instead continuing to add new makeshift code on top of the mountain of crap code.
So it’s really not a big deal.
A mountain of crap code is just that, as long as the game runs and the players’ gaming experience is guaranteed, potential risks really aren’t worth mentioning.
Moreover...
With the premise of locking the game’s numerical upper limit, Chen Ba doesn’t think this "value stacking" bug would present any risks.
"Alright, it’s up to you."
Lu nodded and said, "Now that the issue is resolved, can the game be released for sale?"
"Of course it can!"
As December was approaching, if it’s not released, do we not want to have a good New Year?
Before Lu could continue to inquire, Chen Ba made arrangements: "Next weekend, the game will launch on platforms like Nobug, Steam, WeGame, E-Shop, starting the early pre-sale."
PC version first, console version later.
This is Tianba Studio’s consistent strategy, and a standard new game release process.
The only difference might be that this time, no real promotional activities were done for "Abab’s True Story," and not many people even knew about this game, so the hype might be very low.
But it’s not a big problem!
This game wasn’t expected to recoup development costs through sales, nor was it made with profit in mind, whether it sells 10 million copies or 1 million, both are acceptable to Chen Ba.
Of course!
Chen Ba hasn’t done any publicity for "Abab’s True Story," but that doesn’t mean this game has no fame at all.
In the Tianba Community, where information is widespread and gossip abounds, one can sometimes see scattered discussions about "Abab’s True Story."
In addition, several game media outlets, who received "Abab’s True Story" Cdkeys from Chen Ba, after a simple playthrough, also published special reports introducing this game.
Among them, "Game Starry Sky" is definitely the most dedicated game information website.
On the same day as the official release of "Abab’s True Story," Game Starry Sky opened a special section on their website for players to browse basic strategies and download purchase links.
Meanwhile, thanks to their long-standing partnership, though Tianba Studio hadn’t given prior notice this time, Game Starry Sky arranged for their "top editor" Jiang Bin to write a playthrough report.
Other websites, such as the foreign Game Detective, did likewise.
However, with the progression of the times, the influence of these game media and information websites isn’t as significant anymore.
Thus, their spontaneous promotion looked grand, but in reality, barely helped with game sales.
By the afternoon of the 12th.
Across all platforms, "Abab’s True Story" was sold for 6 hours, with cumulative sales barely breaking 50,000 copies. For the Tianba Studio, known for its hit games, this performance was clearly not ideal.
...
"Ba’s new game?"
Upon opening the Steam Platform, Liang Xuan, who was planning to browse the leaderboard to see what discount games were available, suddenly saw a familiar "developer" name.
Jiangning Tianba Game?
Isn’t this the company that developed several games like "Cultivation Fantasy" and "Speeding Frenzy"?
Liang Xuan had heard of Tianba Studio and played their games, knowing this company is probably the most famous game company in the country right now.
However... they released a new game, and why hasn’t there been any buzz about it? And its performance...