After a few seconds, James Green's somewhat agitated emotions finally calmed down a bit.
Having plans and goals was a good thing, but for his current self, to realize and achieve such goals, he had to walk forward one step at a time, keeping his feet on the ground.
He quickly sorted out the current situation.
Now that Pokémon: Emerald had been successfully released, although it was only a beta version, it was his most important game at the moment, as well as his starting point and beginning.
How fast he could accumulate popularity, reputation, and increase the number of players depended entirely on this game.
And the place where Pokémon: Emerald was released was a special website opened by the League called the "New Game Festival."
Within the first half of this year, all newly developed games would join this website and compete over a period of four months.
The final winner who fought their way out of the siege to take first place would receive the title of "Golden Globe Award" and obtain massive promotion from the League officially.
Like the previously popular game Angry Stones; although it didn't participate in this year's New Game Festival, the fact that it could become popular across the entire internet so quickly was partly due to the League's strong promotion.
——That game had also participated in a League-specialized racing game competition back then and won the championship.
So, if he wanted to make a name for himself and gain more Emotional Points, Pokémon: Emerald had to win the championship of this New Game Festival!
This was by no means a simple task.
On one hand, the competition had already been running for three months, and there was only one month left before it ended.
And Pokémon: Emerald had just been made and officially launched, so it was lagging behind others in terms of time.
Not to mention, Dream Factory had already officially announced in this last month that they would launch a new game, debuting as the grand finale in the last two weeks!
Some said this was for the sake of fairness. After all, if a game made by such a big company were launched on the first day of the New Game Festival, it would suck away all the traffic, leaving basically no way for other games to survive.
Others said this was a manifestation of Dream Factory's confidence. Even if they only used two weeks to absorb players, they believed no one could compete with their game.
Although they hadn't even released a trailer for their game yet, everyone believed that the one to win the Golden Globe Award in the end would definitely be "Dream Factory."
Although Dream Factory was lazy and had a bad attitude, their team strength and abundant funding were indeed undeniable facts.
Their game quality naturally wasn't something those small workshops could touch.
And James knew clearly that if he wanted to make his fame big next, even if he didn't clash with them this time, he would definitely have to confront Dream Factory head-on eventually!
But to be honest, he really didn't think Dream Factory could beat him.
One month, although the time was tight.
But on the System panel, there were still hundreds of tech modules waiting for him to unlock.
He glanced at the module panel, where there was a module he had bookmarked.
After obtaining the System, he found that he had currently only unlocked the Intermediate and Low-level modules; the High-level ones were all blacked out.
But the Intermediate modules were already enough to shock him—
[Intermediate Module: Brain-Computer Interface — Virtual Reality Technology Module]
[Description: Allows for the mass production of Virtual Reality experience equipment and the application of VR technology to games, allowing players to experience game content firsthand while greatly accelerating the speed and quality of VR game production.]
[Points required for purchase: 5000 points.]
That's right, even technology like Virtual Reality was only worthy of being an Intermediate Module in the System panel!
James didn't even dare to imagine what the content of the High-level modules would be!
Closing the panel, James's thoughts returned to the New Game Festival competition.
The "Golden Globe Award" was determined based on the comprehensive performance of the games over these few months.
Besides the game's popularity, player ratings, and playability, the game's completion rate was also very important.
In other words, within this one month, James not only needed to perfect some content of Pokémon: Emerald, but he also needed to completely finish producing this game.
Then now, let's further advance the main storyline...
Relying on the assistance of the System modules, he had already written the underlying code and programs for the game last night. At the same time, he had produced the map up to the entrance of the first Gym, the "Petalburg Gym."
According to the plot, after the player successfully defeats the rival, they can officially embark on the Trainer's journey and arrive at the nearest city, "Petalburg City."
But the Gym in this city cannot be challenged initially because it is the Normal-type Gym run by the protagonist's father, "Norman." It is ranked later among all Gyms, and the player does not yet possess enough strength to challenge it.
So the first Gym battle in the true sense actually takes place in the next city, Rustboro City, at the Rock-type Gym presided over by Roxanne!
In Ultra Emerald, this was the beginning of a nightmare for countless players. The powerful Pokémon Roxanne possessed would teach every player who didn't know how to build a reasonable team a lesson in humility.
When James played it for the first time back in the day, he was successfully swept 1v3 by that Cradily, beaten until he doubted life itself.
And James's plan was naturally to further elaborate on this Gym.
Not only that, but the newly unlocked "Artificial Intelligence Module" should also be put to use.
He took a deep breath, opened the desktop folder, and began to operate rapidly.
One day passed in the blink of an eye.
The next morning.
On a livestreaming platform called "Skitty," many livestreams quietly started one after another.
In this world, although entertainment industries like games and movies weren't very developed, correspondingly, since many people chose to kill time by watching streams, livestreaming platforms could be said to be flourishing.
This "Skitty" was one of the giants of the livestreaming world. It was on equal footing with the "Psyduck" platform, and in recent years, there was even a trend of it vaguely surpassing the latter.
At this moment, inside a livestream room titled "Bringing Joy to Everyone with 10 Million Volts."
A girl with pink hair, cute tiger teeth, and dressed in yellow, pink, black, and blue stretched her back and flashed a vibrant smile at the screen.
"Ciao~ Good morning to everyone in the stream! Did you miss me?"
In the next moment, on the screen, bullet comments instantly flew everywhere.
[Iono! Iono!]
[Ahhhhh I'm here baby, I missed you to death!]
[What activity is it today? Looking forward to it owo]
[[Reincarnating as a Bellibolt in the Next Life] sent a gift: Heart-throb Rose x100!]
[[Iono Simp]: Sent a gift: Super Sports Car x10!]
That's right, the owner of this livestream room was none other than the Electric-type Gym Leader of Levincia in the Paldea region—Iono!
Unlike Cynthia, she could be said to be a professional streamer. The booming popularity of the Levincia Gym was largely due to her livestream promotion!
Placed in the entire "Skitty" platform, she was undeniably a top-tier streamer with explosive popularity!
Streaming for less than a minute, the popularity of the room had already broken through 500,000!
At this moment, Iono said with a beaming smile:
"Hehe, thank you everyone for the support and gifts~"
"Oh my, according to the original plan, we were supposed to do an outdoor hiking stream today,"
Saying this, she turned and glanced out the window. It was currently overcast with dark clouds; clearly, the outdoor hiking stream couldn't happen.
But for Iono, this wasn't a problem.
There was a reason she could become a super-popular streamer: her greatest strength was mobilizing the audience's emotions.
During a stream, once she felt that the interaction with the audience didn't meet her expectations, she would immediately adjust the content of the stream's activities to bring the atmosphere to a fever pitch!
She leaned her face close to the screen, revealing a mysterious smile.
"Since today's weather isn't suitable for hiking, why don't we launch a special event?"
"Bellibolt, please give me that~"
She waved to a Pokémon beside her with a green body and a bulging brownish belly.
This was the Electric-type Pokémon, Bellibolt, and also one of Iono's best partners!
"Belli~"
Bellibolt swayed its body, carried a cardboard box over from the side, and placed it on Iono's desk.
"Thanks~"
Iono picked up the cardboard box and shook it.
"Everyone! There are many interesting interactive game options in this box. Next, I will draw one from inside as today's special activity~"
This cardboard box could be considered an old friend of Iono's stream. Whenever Iono wasn't satisfied with the interactive projects in the stream or when unexpected changes occurred, she would randomly draw a slip of paper from this box as the next interaction with the audience.
And in each interaction, she would also draw a lucky viewer to specify the specific content of the activity, such as requesting Iono to sing a certain song, or watching a certain movie together...
Sure enough, the atmosphere in the stream was instantly heated up by Iono's actions, and the viewers all got excited.
[Yay! Another special event!]
[Will there be any new projects this time? Looking forward to it.]
[Hope I get picked!!]
"Then, I'll start!"
She reached her hand into the box, felt around a few times, took out a paper ball, and unfolded it in front of the screen.
[Fan Recommended Video Game!]
"Eh! It's the Game Order segment!"
Iono smiled and operated on the screen.
"The lucky viewer who matched my wavelength this time is User E5763. I'm going to initiate the connection."
Bullet comments floated by:
[Damn it, why isn't it me!]
[Let us congratulate this B-tier user.]
The next moment, in the livestream, a viewer named "Stardust" was connected to the mic.
His voice was trembling a bit, obviously very excited.
"Hello Iono, I... I've been a fan of yours for many years... didn't expect to actually connect with you! I want to say, you are really amazing! I love watching your streams!"
Iono smiled sweetly.
"Wow, that's some heartfelt praise. I will definitely keep these words in my heart. It's precisely because of support like yours that I can bring everyone better streams!"
"So, Stardust, today you can specify a game for me to play for everyone! what game do you want to specify?"
The voice on the other end hesitated for a few seconds before quickly replying.
"About that... yesterday my friend told me that he saw a game in Cynthia's livestream that seemed very interesting."
"Even Cynthia played it very seriously at the time, looking like she got addicted directly..."
"It seems to be called... Pokémon... Emerald?"
"If possible, Iono, could you help me experience it?"
As soon as these words came out, Iono froze for a moment.
"Emerald Pokémon? What a novel name."
She was also pondering in her heart.
——A game Cynthia streamed?
She certainly knew that the Champion also had her own livestream room, but according to her impression, aside from Battle Road, Cynthia shouldn't really like playing games, right?
Now she couldn't help but feel a bit interested. Opening the browser, she quickly found the interface for Pokémon: Emerald on the New Game Festival's official website.
In the next moment, she was undoubtedly stunned too.
₽288?
Pixel game??
And it's a Beta Version?
The bullet comments in the livestream also spoke up one after another.
[Holy crap, big bro, what game did you pick? A ₽288 pixel game? You really got some nerve.]
[Why does this look so unreliable? Are you sure your friend didn't trick you?]
[Iono-chan, why don't we switch games? Even playing Angry Stones would be better than this, right?]
Facing these comments, the connected viewer named "Stardust" also seemed to hesitate.
"Um... Iono, how about we change it? I didn't expect this game to sell for so much..."
Just then, another batch of new comments surged in.
[Don't talk nonsense if you didn't watch yesterday's stream. This game is way more awesome than Angry Stones. It's definitely worth the money.]
[Exactly. I watched Cynthia's entire stream yesterday. She even forgot to interact with the chat while playing. I guarantee this game is definitely fun!]
The number of these comments was small, so they were quickly drowned out by the previous ones.
[Heh, talk it up all you want, how amazing can a pixel game be? And selling for ₽288, are you guys shills hired by the manufacturer?]
[Exactly. What good stuff can come from this kind of indie workshop game, especially a beta version? If you're going to make things up, make it believable. Careful that Cynthia finds out and holds you accountable!]
Seeing the atmosphere in the chat going wrong, Iono made a decision without hesitation. She clicked to buy the game directly and said:
"Although I see everyone is thinking of me and afraid I'll lose out, I still hope everyone can be harmonious and not quarrel!"
"As for this game... I believe this fan named 'Stardust' recommended it to me out of good intentions. Besides, ordering any game is within the rules!"
"Next, I'll test the poison for everyone~"
"Let's see if this game is truly worth this price, or if it's just eyeing everyone's wallets?"
As she spoke, she clicked the download button while pondering in her heart.
A pixel game of a few hundred MB... if it's to be worth this price, I don't even know what it would take to match it.
——Looking at it this way, it's likely that my fan was tricked by someone, right?
But in this situation, I have to play it.
Amidst her thoughts, the game finished launching. As a professional gamer, she followed the prompt and double-clicked the X key, skipping the opening animation.
But in the next moment, a window suddenly popped up before her eyes.
[Update Announcement]
[Current Game Version: 0.1]
[Latest Update Content Below]
[1. Added "Skip Opening Animation" function.]
[2. Implemented Full AI Intelligence Coverage for Pokémon and NPCs. Players can now interact intelligently with them via voice or text input. Simultaneously, NPC battle command capabilities have been increased by a "small margin."]
[3. Updated Main Story Map to the first Gym City: Rustboro City. Players can now engage in their first Gym Battle!]
At this moment, Iono's gaze was fixed dead on the second line of information.
Full AI Coverage? Intelligent interaction???
Impossible, right?!
Actually, her reaction couldn't be blamed.
——Even a massive, top-tier tech game like Battle Road, which was hundreds of gigabytes, had only implemented a small portion of AI intelligence coverage... and it was full of bugs, claiming to be "under full development."
Now a pixel game of a few hundred megabytes dares to say it implemented Full AI Coverage?!
A thought couldn't help but rise in Iono's heart.
Oh no.
This game... is probably really here to scam people out of their money, right?
(End of Chapter)
--
Patreon.com/AHumanMadeMOFO to read till chapter 15.
100 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter.