Chapter 30: This Is the Map in Your Game!?

You Were Told to Lose Money By Making Games, and You Actually Did It? 

Chapter 30: This Is the Map in Your Game!?

January 21

In an office hall that resembled an internet café, Li Xiang placed his phone in a locker for safekeeping before heading to his workstation. Taking a sip from his thermos filled with goji berry tea, he looked around at the colleagues gradually arriving and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

As a member of a company specializing in game testing, Li Xiang had entered the industry simply because he loved playing games.

Getting to play unreleased games ahead of everyone else—and getting paid for it?

What a dream job.

At least, that was what he had thought.

But after actually starting work, he discovered that the profession was nothing like he had imagined.

It was dull, repetitive, and had even left him suffering from gaming burnout.

The imagined version of game testing:

Receive an unreleased AAA title and happily binge-play it for a week.

The reality of game testing:

Replay the same level a hundred times using different methods, or spend hours running into the same wall from every possible angle.

That was everyday game testing.

Playing games with the sole purpose of finding bugs wasn't enjoyable.

Compared to the mind-numbing "wall collision tests," progression testing was even more likely to result in what testers jokingly called occupational injuries.

After all, how many genuinely good games could there be in a year?

Forget masterpieces, even games that were merely average, with no obvious strengths, were hard to come by.

And don't think that "average with no strengths" is an insult.

For many games, if they could achieve that level while keeping development costs under control, they might not make a fortune, but they certainly wouldn't lose money.

The reality, however, was that most of the games Li Xiang encountered were complete disasters.

And to make matters worse, the versions they tested weren't even the polished releases that players would eventually see.

Sometimes a final release seemed perfectly ordinary—nothing offensive, something players might even enjoy during a game drought.

But why didn't the final version smell like garbage?

Because testers like them had already cleaned it all up during development.

That was their job.

To take a game covered in crap and scrape as much of it off as possible.

So whenever Li Xiang started testing a game, he never hoped for anything extraordinary.

He only hoped he would have to eat a little less crap.

. . .

"Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice? This is the new game we're testing?" Li Xiang asked while looking at the game files on his desktop.

He chatted with a colleague beside him.

Might as well talk while he still could.

Once the game started shoveling crap into his mouth, he probably wouldn't be in the mood.

"Yeah. It's that new title from Morning Star Games—the company that hired Hyakukin Studio for outsourcing. Seriously, they must be loaded. Not only did they hire Hyakukin, but they also contracted three separate QA companies working in shifts around the clock. They've even sent staff from headquarters to supervise the testing."

His colleague sounded impressed.

"They're that well-funded?"

Li Xiang was surprised.

At the same time, he felt a little anticipation for the upcoming test.

After spending that much money and bringing in Hyakukin Studio, the game's quality shouldn't be too bad, right?

He launched the game.

A cinematic cutscene began.

Li Xiang skipped it immediately.

Story testing wasn't part of his assignment, so there was no reason to waste time.

"Whoa~ the graphics, the character models, the voice acting—they've got something here."

As the game began and Sekiro appeared in the abandoned well, Li Xiang was genuinely surprised.

Judging by the presentation alone, this was easily one of the best-looking games he had tested all year.

Still, he didn't dwell on it.

He picked up the letter in-game.

Couldn't be bothered reading it.

Skip.

Following the tutorial prompts displayed on the left side of the screen, he controlled the character and started exploring.

Story?

Who gives a damn about the story?

He was a game tester, not a game reviewer.

If it could be skipped, he'd skip it.

Just tell him where to go and who to kill.

‘Forget the debug console for now. I'll test ten playthroughs like a normal player first, then switch on invincibility and speed through the rest.’

After thinking it over, Li Xiang decided not to use the testing cheats and console commands that Morning Star Games had provided.

After all, judging from the graphics, character models, and voice acting. This game didn't seem like one of those garbage-tier titles that existed only to torture QA testers.

He felt that this way he could test the game more thoroughly.

‘A ninja-themed game, huh? So it's a stealth-focused game?’

‘Still, Hyakukin's technical skills are definitely there. Crawling through holes, wall-kicking for a double jump, climbing—all the animations feel really smooth. I don't have a weapon yet in this early section, but once I encounter enemies later, I can test their aggro system.’

As Li Xiang followed the tutorial prompts, he made notes of potential areas where bugs might appear.

The aggro system was one of them.

Bugs in aggro mechanics were rare, but when they did occur, they could severely impact the player experience.

For example, an enemy that chased you endlessly across the entire map.

That would qualify as a serious gameplay bug.

After noting down the key points he needed to test, Li Xiang controlled Sekiro through a hole in the wall near the cliffside and entered a building.

Inside, he spoke with a little boy.

Too lazy to read the dialogue, he skipped everything.

He received a katana and a gourd flask.

Then, just as he was about to remove a door bar and continue progressing—

‘Wait a second! Where's the quest log? Where's the minimap? Why aren't there any indicators?’

Li Xiang suddenly noticed something and widened his eyes.

Skipping the story and going straight to killing enemies was perfectly normal for him.

But surely the game should at least provide a minimap to point him toward the main quest NPCs and bosses, right?

Why wasn't there any guidance at all?

And the game didn't seem like a traditional stage-based action game either.

"Um... can I ask a few questions about the game?"

Thinking of this, Li Xiang quickly called out to the two employees sent by Morning Star Games.

"Is there a problem with the game?"

The two employees immediately became nervous when they heard someone calling for them.

A bug already!?

"Does the minimap and quest log unlock later in the game?" Li Xiang asked.

"Oh, that!"

Upon hearing the question, the two employees visibly relaxed, their serious expressions turning into smiles.

"That's actually one of our game's features. There isn't a minimap or quest log. Though there is a world map," one of them explained with a grin.

"Huh!?"

Li Xiang was completely dumbfounded.

No minimap.

No quest log.

No guidance.

Then how was he supposed to find people to kill and progress through the main story?

"Oh right, I almost forgot! No wonder something felt missing!"

The other employee suddenly slapped his forehead and hurried off.

A minute later, he returned carrying a thick stack of papers.

"What's this?"

Li Xiang's expression became increasingly strange.

"Your minimap and quest log."

"These are detailed maps of the game world. We figured electronic versions would be inconvenient while you were testing, so you can use these to navigate by matching them to the in-game environments."

"And we've also compiled the main story and various side-quest progression paths into a manual. Just follow this while you're testing."

"Oh, and one more thing—you're not allowed to take these home. We'll be checking and collecting them after testing is finished."

"You can damage them, but you absolutely can't lose them."

Li Xiang watched as the two employees handed out maps and quest manuals to everyone in the room.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the materials piled beside him.

Stacks upon stacks of printed maps.

Stacks upon stacks of quest manuals.

He was speechless.

Are you kidding me?

This is your game's minimap and quest log!?

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Tn: I updated the story once a day, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.

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