Chapter 213: Playtest Experience (Fifth Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 213: Playtest Experience (Fifth Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Inside the Nebula Games office.

Most of the previously planned buildings had already been completed, with only a few minor ones still undergoing final touches.

"Mr. Chen, look—TengHua just announced the launch date for Voyage! It's set for January 21st!" Qin Yi said, a bit nervously.

"Don't worry about it. Remember our plan—the follow-up promotion for Minecraft is already taken care of. I've arranged everything with the Operations Department," Chen Xu said with a cheerful smile.

"As for Voyage, it's completely different from Minecraft in terms of genre. And honestly, I think that launch date will make things pretty awkward for them," Chen Xu added confidently.

With only Don't Starve as a reference—and Don't Starve being a rather special case among sandbox games due to its strong goal-oriented survival mechanics—many game designers had focused solely on the survival aspect.

As a result, they overemphasized survival elements and completely overlooked the most defining feature of sandbox games: creation.

Take Meng Zuo's Wasteland (Game), for example.

And now TengHua's newly announced Voyage—just from the promotional videos and materials—Chen Xu could clearly see that they had gone astray.

They had completely ignored the creative aspect, violating the core characteristics of a sandbox game.

If he had to describe it, based on the content they'd released so far, Chen Xu felt it leaned more toward a box garden game like Shenmue, aiming to craft an exquisite game world for players to explore.

Still, despite this misstep, Chen Xu believed these games would likely sell well.

One reason was their quality; the other was that even though their direction was off, they had incorporated some sandbox elements and combined them with solid gameplay, giving them a certain appeal.

But going viral? That probability was quite low.

Now, if Voyage had launched after Minecraft officially launched, or even synchronized its release with Minecraft's playtest, Chen Xu wouldn't have seen much impact.

Because again, the Gaming Industry isn't zero-sum. Although Voyage was marketing itself as a sandbox game, its gameplay was entirely different from Minecraft's.

As for now? Chen Xu could only say: "Good luck."

………………

On January 3rd, Minecraft officially opened its playtest download.

It would last five days.

Players who had been closely following the game began downloading it en masse, eager to dive in.

Wang Han sat in front of her computer, her face lighting up as the game screen unlocked. She happily pulled out her phone and took a photo.

What? Use the in-game screenshot button?

No way. She was going to use her phone to take the picture—and upside down, with the focus slightly off, just to be different.

After snapping the photo, Wang Han sent it to Zhang Yi: "When do you get off work!? I've already started playing!"

Almost instantly, Zhang Yi replied from the other end: "Soon. About thirty minutes. I'll be home in over an hour. Want me to bring you something to eat?"

That was exactly what she was waiting for. Seeing the message, Wang Han contentedly typed back: "Grab a roasted duck rice meal from downstairs when you come back. And make sure the duck bones are with cumin, not chili powder."

After a brief chat with Zhang Yi, Wang Han wasted no time clicking the Minecraft icon.

She couldn't deny it—Don't Starve had truly amazed her.

The last time she'd been this hooked on a game was Fall Guys and It Takes Two.

In between, she'd glanced at other game developers' sandbox titles, but most were uninteresting.

As for Minecraft, she'd been eagerly anticipating it for a long time.

Sure, it had a pixel style, and the earlier promotional trailer hadn't revealed much, but she still held high hopes.

After all, Don't Starve hadn't even had a trailer—just a text post from Chen Xu on his official Weibo account.

After launching the game, the Nebula Games Logo skipped past.

Then came a scene resembling a grassland—but rendered in pixel art.

Fluffy white clouds drifted across the distant sky, with sunlight piercing through them and illuminating the ground.

The clouds in the sky formed the game's title and Logo: Minecraft.

The sunlight cast distinct shadows onto the terrain, clearly reflected on the ground.

The loading screen was also unusually engaging—not a standard flat UI interface, but an interactive game-like UI.

In this interface, the player controlled Steve, standing on a small, isolated island.

The island wasn't large, surrounded by invisible walls on all sides.

Beyond it stretched an endless sea, with a rising sun slowly climbing into the sky.

On the island stood several small structures, each labeled with text: 'Exit Game', 'Options Settings', 'MOD modules', and 'Start Game'.

Everything was constructed from individual blocks.

Wang Han had initially worried the pixel style might be unpleasant to look at.

But now, having entered the game, she realized it was just like the promotional video Chen Xu had posted on his official Weibo account.

Despite being pixel-based, the combination of high-definition materials and lighting and shadows gave the pixel blocks a unique charm.

"It's a bit different from what I imagined. The trailer footage must've been real after all."

Staring at this inventive UI interface, Wang Han couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

After learning Minecraft was a pixel game, her biggest concern had been the visuals.

She wasn't exactly a graphics enthusiast, but she still preferred games with better visuals.

Yet although Minecraft used pixel art, Chen Xu had meticulously refined its artistic presentation.

Beyond high-definition materials and lighting and shadows effects, he'd made subtle adjustments to details.

In Minecraft, players could clearly perceive changes in lighting and shadows. Moreover, the game featured a weather system.

The visual effect of rainbows and mist after rainfall, interacting with lighting and shadows, was particularly impressive.

Especially in this loading screen, which directly showcased the game's graphical quality to players.

Without overthinking, Wang Han first checked the MOD modules—just like in Don't Starve, there wasn't much content yet.

Then she entered the 'Start Game' building.

There were four selectable modes in total.

The first was 'Single-Player Mode', the second 'Multiplayer Mode', the third 'LAN game', allowing players on the same network to play together online.

The fourth was 'Community Game', where players could use their own console as a server to host their game Saves.

However, since this was Early Access mode, only Single-Player Mode and LAN game were currently available.

Of course, even in single-player, players could invite friends through the Nebula Games Platform to join their server.

It might seem like the LAN mode was useless.

But this mode was primarily designed for mobile players in the future. Although PC players rarely needed it, the general sentiment was: "I might not use it, but you must have it." And since it didn't add much complexity, they'd developed it together from the start.

"Guess I'll just play Single-Player Mode for now," Wang Han murmured to herself, selecting the mode and entering the game.

(End of Chapter) <>