Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 7

Seeing A-Yin totally lose it, the livestream viewers were dying of laughter—

"Hahahahaha what the h*ll is this trap, it’s cursed!"

"The in-game bullet comments are just pure chaos."

"Click to check the designer's mental state."

"You’re not beating this level, not a chance hahahahaha!"

"The monkey’s lost his mind!"

"This is insane, dying once every minute—who can take that?!"

"I've never been this mad in an hour as I am now, more than the whole year combined!"

"LOL I thought the stream was just for show, then I bought the game myself."

"My only advice? Don’t play this with a new controller or keyboard."

"Otherwise it’ll hurt when you smash it, right...?"

"Get off my computer—I’m dying here!"

"Absolute banger of a game!!!"

"I’m literally laughing my way to riches here..."

Looking at the barrage of laughter filling the screen.

And then at A-Yin, panting and clearly furious.

Shen Miaomiao silently raised a question mark in her heart.

There’s a saying online: "When I type a question mark, it’s not that I have a question—it’s that I think you have one."

She just couldn’t get it. The game clearly looked downright hostile, like it was designed specifically to stop players from passing.

Why were there still people willing to burn through sixty-plus lives trying to clear it? And if not for getting completely tilted at the end, they’d still want to keep playing?

Are gamers really all masochists?

Shen Miaomiao didn’t get it.

So she decided to seek truth through action.

Getting out of bed and turning on her computer, it didn’t take long for Shen Miaomiao to buy and install Gu Sheng’s Cat Mario.

It had already sold so many copies—what’s two more yuan at this point? Like they say, when you’ve got enough lice, what’s one more?

Once in the game, Shen Miaomiao skimmed the controls.

They were super simple: move left/right, dash, and jump.

"Doesn’t seem that hard. Might even be easier than Defend the Carrots..."

Muttering to herself, she started the game.

Ten minutes later—

“...Gu Sheng, you motherf***er!!!”

At that moment, Shen Miaomiao had completely lost any semblance of a sweet and gentle girl. Gripping the two halves of her broken keyboard, she bared her teeth, her temple veins bulging, looking every bit the violent gremlin!

This man needs to be arrested!

Dragged out and shot for ten minutes straight!

She finally understood why A-Yin lost it so hard!

Because this game isn’t just “difficult”!

Shen Miaomiao had played some tough games before.

But unlike those which artificially ramp up difficulty with mobs or obstacles...

Cat Mario was Gu Sheng’s full-on, high-IQ ambush—a total dimensionality reduction strike on the player’s intelligence!

Only after playing it do you realize, the seemingly random, funny traps are all deeply calculated!

They’re intricately linked!

Take a simple example—

In the middle of level one, there’s a small downward staircase.

Follow it and walk ahead a bit, and you reach a pipe. The whole layout forms a "U" shape.

It looks peaceful. No enemies, no threats.

But it’s a trap.

Once you go down and try to jump onto the pipe, you realize—Gu Sheng, that little sh*t, placed an entire row of invisible blocks right above your head.

Once you step down, you can’t jump up anymore. You’re soft-locked and forced to restart!

But that’s not even the worst part.

Even someone as clueless at games as Shen Miaomiao could figure it out after falling in twice.

So on her third attempt, she got smart:

"I just won’t go down the stairs!"

"It’s not far anyway. I’ll just do a full-speed long jump straight to the pipe!"

Great idea.

Except she underestimated just how cursed Gu Sheng really is.

She thought a long jump would do it—but Gu Sheng had already set up a second row of invisible blocks, waiting right in position!

So as soon as Shen Miaomiao committed to the jump—

WHAM—slammed right back down!

The second hidden block smacked her out of the air and back into that cursed pit of despair!

Shen Miaomiao was fully broken.

This designer shouldn’t be learning code—he should be studying military strategy!

Every move she made, every decision about the level, was all within Gu Sheng’s grasp!

He’s like a brilliant but totally insane tactician, mocking the players’ innocence from his intellectual high ground while flaunting his own brainpower.

Gu Sheng should really thank our country for having a solid criminal code.

That’s how Shen Miaomiao summed it up.

Cat Mario blew up.

As the top streamer in Shark Live’s gaming section, there was no denying A-Yin’s massive influence.

Combined with his explosive on-stream reactions...

In just one night, Cat Mario took over the whole game streaming scene.

It brought suffering to countless streamers, laughter to countless viewers, and endless content to countless gaming influencers.

"And of course, our game’s sales are soaring too."

Inside the Golden Wind Game Technology Co., Ltd. meeting room.

Executive Assistant Chu Qingzhou sat beside Shen Miaomiao, reporting the sales numbers with high enthusiasm:

“As of now, our company’s first game Cat Mario has sold 7,822 copies, bringing in a total of 15,644 yuan.”

“On launch day alone, we broke 5,000 copies—meaning we recouped development costs within 24 hours! Let’s give it up!”

Clap clap—

Applause echoed.

Golden Wind was still in its early stages.

Aside from the cleaning staff, the only employees were Chu Qingzhou, Director Gu Sheng, and a female finance director.

So the clapping was a bit sparse.

Chu Qingzhou and the finance director were clapping hard, but Gu Sheng, being the lead developer, couldn’t really applaud himself too wildly.

As for Shen Miaomiao...

Listening to the numbers, she felt a heart attack coming on.

Plus, Gu Sheng had cost her a keyboard.

How could she be in the mood to clap for that b*stard?

That was money!!!

Shen Miaomiao let out a wail in her heart, totally deflated.

Originally, her profit margins should’ve been way higher than a measly 10,000 yuan!

Who’d have thought this stupid game would break even overnight and completely kill her system?!

But clearly, no one noticed the boss’s low mood. Chu Qingzhou, still riding the high, even twisted the knife further:

“So based on our projections, by this Sunday, Cat Mario’s first-week sales should hit 29,000 copies, with a total revenue of 58,000 yuan—an estimated six-fold profit!”

Urgh—please shut up, lady—

Shen Miaomiao clutched her chest, nearly coughing up blood.

I was supposed to earn tenfold in one day…

Feeling like she might actually have a heart attack if she kept listening, Shen Miaomiao quickly grabbed Chu Qingzhou’s hand.

“Okay, Chu-chu, let’s put a pin in Cat Mario’s profit talk for now.”

She tried hard to keep her face from going pitch-black:

“A strong debut is great and all, but we shouldn’t get too full of ourselves.”

“This little game’s success is only our first step toward the top of the gaming world. So for today’s meeting, let’s focus on our next project direction.”

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other.

Technically, it should be Gu Sheng calling the shots here, since he was the Director.

But considering how bizarre his new idea was, he hesitated to speak up.

So Chu Qingzhou raised her hand and said:

“Alright, Boss Shen. As for our next development plan, I’ll offer a humble suggestion to get things rolling.”

“Given how hot Cat Mario is right now, I personally think the best route would be... a sequel.”

However—

Before Chu Qingzhou could even finish her sentence, two voices echoed from both ends of the table:

“Nope.”

“Bad idea.”