This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 297 - 194: Kuafu Chasing the Sun? Sun Chasing Kuafu!_2
The abstract analogy here is kind of like comparing a manual to an automatic car.
Other engines are like manual cars, while the Tianba Engine is automatic, and also features some "driving assistance" capabilities.
"No wonder that expert said the Tianba Engine is very reliable at maintaining a base level of quality! With these features, even an elementary school student could make a game."
Huang Wenjun found himself getting more and more hooked.
The surprises brought by the Tianba Engine were just overwhelming! After experiencing its core functions a few times, he suddenly felt a strong urge to work at Tianba Studio.
If the 1.0 version of the Tianba Engine is already this powerful, what kind of development would it be like at Tianba Studio, where they hold an even stronger version and the core technology?
Could it really be like, inputting a few keyword commands and the engine would automatically generate a game?
Haha, just kidding!
Huang Wenjun knew very well that such a guess was not realistic.
Even though Tianba Studio controlled a more advanced engine version than 1.0, it probably wasn’t that advanced. At most, it might be based on the 1.0 version with a few iterations of function upgrades.
Version 1.0 was already very formidable.
Major game studios or companies probably wouldn’t be interested in the 1.0 version of the Tianba Engine.
But for independent developers like Huang Wenjun, the 1.0 version of the Tianba Engine was more than sufficient, even beyond their expectations.
"Let’s use the Tianba Engine for the new game!"
Huang Wenjun thought about it; his new game wasn’t one of those priced in the hundreds or seventy to eighty bucks, it was just some small game.
Since it’s a small game, does it matter which engine is used for development? The Tianba Engine is so convenient, why not use it?
...
Huang Wenjun’s new game is called "Kuafu Legend," a rather unique side-scrolling RPG adventure game.
Players control a character named "Kuafu," navigating through numerous obstacles, defeating enemies along the way, collecting various treasures and weapons, ultimately reaching the place where the sun resides.
This game, thanks to a fairly mature framework template and the AI support features of the Tianba Engine, progressed very quickly in development.
In just a month, Huang Wenjun completed the core development of the game and uploaded it to both the Nobug Platform and the Steam Platform for "early access" testing.
Don’t ask why it’s so fast!
On one hand, the AI assistance of the Tianba Engine was really handy, saving him a lot of time and effort.
On the other hand, "Kuafu Legend" wasn’t a vast game, it only had 21 levels, and the gameplay lasted about two hours.
Because this was the first commercial game created using the engine after the public beta of the Tianba Engine version 1.0, Tianba Studio was very attentive and expectant.
They not only provided various forms of assistance to Huang Wenjun but also gave him an entire set of promotional resources for free, generating substantial traffic for "Kuafu Legend."
Not only that.
To show his support for developers, Chen Ba even logged onto his Weibo account, which he hadn’t accessed in a while, to recommend the game to his 769,000 "Ba Fans."
Huang Wenjun was very grateful to Ba.
Even though he knew that Tianba Studio was showering him with support mostly in hopes that he would perform excellently and attract more developers to use the Tianba Engine.
Regardless of the reason, Ba indeed did a lot for him, providing significant resources and promotion.
Unfortunately...
"Kuafu Legend" was ultimately priced under 20 yuan and not very enjoyable. Even with Ba’s heartfelt recommendation, the player numbers remained mediocre.
What can be done!
Games developed in a month cannot be masterpieces, and with only 21 levels, it gets boring after an hour of play, making it hard to retain players.
The "mostly negative" ratings also proved that this game was even less polished than the last rough-and-ready mini-game developed by Huang Wenjun.
This isn’t the engine’s fault.
Ultimately, poorly designed gameplay and lackluster level design have little to do with the engine used.
Even if it was developed using the Dream Builder 6 engine, "Kuafu Legend" would still be criticized.
"Sorry, Ba!"
Huang Wenjun felt very guilty, as Ba had made him an exemplar, hoping he would boost the Tianba Engine’s reputation and attract more developers.
In the end, not only did he fail Ba’s goodwill, but he almost tarnished the reputation of the newly born Tianba Engine.
Should I just apologize?
It’s said that Ba is notoriously petty, and if he bears a grudge, would Huang still have good days ahead?
"It’s okay, this isn’t your fault!"
"’Kuafu Legend’ is pretty good, I think it’s fine for its price, and..."
In his reply, Chen Ba clearly stated it wasn’t Huang Wenjun’s fault and told him not to worry about it.
A 14 yuan game can’t be expected to wow the world, can it? Given what it accomplished, he deemed it already quite okay!
Furthermore, there’s another point.
Chen Ba suspected there might be a twist, though he wasn’t sure what it might be exactly.
Question first, then believe!
The Tianba Engine was developed by the Iron Fool System, and given Iron Fool’s nature, it would likely affect the game "Kuafu Legend."
Thus, this game probably also had a rather quirky bug...
Only this bug hadn’t been found yet, so he didn’t know whether its impact was good or bad, nor whether Huang Wenjun should laugh or cry when the time came.
Truth proved him right!
On the afternoon of the third day after "Kuafu Legend" launched, while Chen Ba was still discussing with Huang Qing how to expand the Tianba Engine’s influence, the game bug emerged.
Fun fact!
The game’s setting was inspired by the ancient myth "Kuafu Chasing the Sun."
So in the game, each map and each level has a "sun" hanging in the sky.
When players control the character Kuafu, the sun moves from east to west, and if Kuafu falls too far behind, it’s game over!
This was actually a design meant to match the story’s background and increase the difficulty, not giving players too much time to think.
Since the sun keeps setting west, players must hustle past obstacles or beat enemies head-on.
And then...
Perhaps the level design didn’t anticipate players moving faster than the sunset, resulting in a bug.
When players outran the sun and completed two levels within a single sun cycle, the game’s level countdown, a bug would be triggered.
The bug’s outcome was straightforward: from that point on, the game wasn’t about Kuafu chasing the sun, but the sun chasing Kuafu.
Kuafu would run ahead while the sun pursued from behind, and the sun didn’t float above but moved along the ground, with surrounding traps and monsters capable of damaging the sun.
Moreover, the game levels would cycle endlessly at this point.
Either Kuafu would be caught by the sun, resulting in a game over, or the sun would be worn down by the traps and monsters, leading to a victorious game end—no third option!
But the second option was almost impossible.
Because although the sun wasn’t invincible, it had a formidable health of 999,999, making it almost impossible to be worn down by these creatures and traps, so Kuafu could only run and run, stopping meant death...
"Help! I’m being chased by the sun!"
"Why is it chasing me? I don’t have any red sugary syrup on me!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, wasn’t this supposed to be Kuafu chasing the sun? How did it turn into Kuafu being chased by the sun?"
"I don’t know, try asking Ba?"
"What’s to ask Ba for? This game wasn’t even developed by him... Oh! It actually has something to do with him?"
When browsing these comments from netizens, Huang Wenjun felt rather speechless.
How did this turn into blaming Ba?
Although the Tianba Engine was his creation, "Kuafu Legend" wasn’t his work, so how could this be blamed on him?
It’s just a minor game bug, let me fix it... Hey! How come I can’t fix it?
