Almighty Video Game Designer

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Translated by Coldtaco

Edited by Aelryinth

During the afternoon, Wen Lingwei and Chang Xiuya brought a few of their own friends to the store.

The store that was normally half-full was now quite lively. Some of them went to the computers while others sat on the massage chairs to play on their phone, but they all were playing Plants vs Zombies.

Wen Lingwei and Chang Xiuya came to the front of the bar and asked, "I heard the game went online today. How did it go?"

Jia Peng said, "Too well. Just take a look; it reached the top of the new games leaderboards in the first leaderboards update, completely destroying the other games!"

Chang Xiuya said, "Wow! The manager's so good!"

Wen Lingwei clicked her tongue, "Yo yo yo! That's good luck if I've ever seen it. So, is the game going viral?"

Chen Mo replied, "For now, not necessarily. It depends on the next round of recommendations, and there's also the statistics that happen after that…"

Wen Lingwei shot a glance at Chen Mo and said, "Can you speak like a normal person?"

Chen Mo replied, "Yup, it's going viral."

Jia Peng and Chang Xiuya both let out a snicker and barely held back their laughter.

Wen Lingwei said, "Alright, since it's going viral, there's no need to keep looking at the app store. It doesn't make you seem confident."

Chen Mo said, " I'll just check out the player discussions, I have nothing else to do for now anyways."

Wen Lingwei pointed at her screen and demanded, "Teach me how to go beyond level one hundred on endless mode."

Chen Mo was speechless.

Jia Peng cried out, "Senior, you can't do that, that's cheating!"

Chang Xiuya was also protesting, "Yeah, you're already in first place anyways!"

Wen Lingwei rolled her eyes and said, "You guys don't know jack. This game is about to get a bunch of players. It's just a matter of time! In two days, some genius-level player is going to surpass me in endless mode. I'm just preparing for the inevitable, understand?"

Another guy who stood beside Jia Peng poked him and whispered, "Are you stupid? Any secrets that the manager gives to Senior Wen will be passed down to us eventually."

Jia Peng and Chang Xiuya were stunned and realized, "Oh, yeah!"

"Manager, secret to beating the levels, please!"

The students in the experience store banded together soon after, urging Chen Mo to leak some tips for getting through Endless Mode.

Wen Lingwe waved her hand to present the crowd, "Do you see this, manager? This is what the people want."

Chen Mo was speechless. "If this is what the people want, you must be the dictator…"

Wen Lingwei said, "Hurry up! I came all the way here to support you today, can't you just give us a hint?"

Chen Mo said, "If I remember correctly, it takes less than ten minutes for you guys to get here from the University…"

Chang Xiuya said, "Yeah, manager. We are basically your most loyal fans, can't you give us a tiny edge over the others?"

Everyone started joining in…

Taking turns to voice their support…

Pestering…

Chen Mo had nothing to say. He didn't want to give out any strategies, as a big part of puzzle games like these was finding out your own solution. He could spoil it, but wouldn't that ruin it? It would also inhibit the exploration processes of the others.

However, if he doesn't let out anything today, these people likely wouldn't give up.

"Alright, I'll demonstrate the hint. It'll depend on you guys as to how much you can get out of it,"

Chen Mo said as he turned on his laptop.

"Yay! It worked!" Chang Xiuya quickly moved closer to Chen Mo. The others dropped their games and surrounded the bar table, wanting to find out what Chen Mo was about to show.

Was there a strategy that was able to clear endless mode infinitely? Or as Chen Mo said, the real game started beyond level one hundred! What strategy would be used to get past the hundredth level?

Soon after, the bar table was completely surrounded.

Wen Lingwei let out a cough, and two of the guys gave her some space seemingly naturally.

"Alright, let's start," said Wen Lingwei.

Chen Mo rolled his eyes. Was it you or me who is the owner?

Ten or so people had their eyes wide, staring at Chen Mo's screen.

Chen Mo launched Plants vs Zombies and then launched another program window, typing in some code, and changed a number to 2012.

The audience were curious about what had happened.

"Manager, what are you doing right now?"

"Uhh… cheating?"

"Manager, you're the designer. Is that still cheating? That's just changing the game."

"Bullshit! You can't do that, manager!"…

A few of the guys protested.

Wen Lingwei snapped coldly, "Stop talking, the manager was just adjusting the level."

The audience looked closer. It appeared that Chen Mo had entered the two thousand and twelfth level in endless mode.

"What the? Two thousand and twelve? Are you crazy, manager? How difficult is that?"

"I was already struggling at eighty-something, and you're gonna start from two thousand and twelve?"

"If you beat this level is the record going to be two thousand and twelve?"

"I think your 'if' is a bit hard to achieve!"

"Is this actually playable? Are you sure you didn't make it too difficult?"

"Is the manager that guy? Sigh, it seems like he is that guy."

The corner of Chen Mo's mouth started twitching. After entering endless mode, he placed a bunch of plants using the game engine.

If it was a normal playthrough, this step would be done in the previous levels. However, Chen Mo didn't have the time, so he did it using the game engine.

Chen Mo was on the pool level, placing four Cob Cannons in the pool, four Twin Sunflowers, and six Gloom Shrooms.

From left to right, the first row had Winter-melon, Gloom Shroom, two Winter-melons, Cob Cannon, Spikeweed. The second row had an Umbrella Lead, Gloom Shroom, Winter-melon, Umbrella leaf, Cob Cannon, Spikeweed.

The top and bottom lanes of the pool were reflected, and any plants that could fit a Pumpkin had one.

The others whispered amongst themselves.

"This strategy by the manager seems quite comprehensive. It feels like something is about to go down."

"Indeed, the positioning of the Umbrella Leafs and Gloom Shroom seem quite intentional."

"However, aren't there too many Cob Cannons?" There's one, two, three, four… eight of them!"

"It is quite a lot. I don't think the Cob Cannon is that great. I think it's too squishy, and you can't put it in a Pumpkin; it's gone after a few nibbles from the zombies."

"But this layout that the manager has… there's no way the zombies can get to it, right?"

"Shhh… Stop talking, let's watch. It's about to start!"

Chen Mo gave himself three thousand suns and started picking his plants.

Ice-shroom, Cherry Bomb, Mimic Cherry Bomb, Doom-shroom, Chilly Pepper, Squash, Pumpkin, Puff-shroom, Sun-shroom, and Coffee Bean.

The others were trying hard to memorize it, and a few of the girls even brought out their notebooks.

"I think I understand what the manager is trying to do. Start with plants that do higher damage and keep them into the later levels, only bringing one-time use explosive-type plants.

"That's a plan alright."

"But… this feels extremely risky!"

Moreover, why would you mimic the Cherry Bomb, but not the Ice-shroom or Doom-shroom? As one reduces speed and the other does huge damage, those two should make better choices?"

"Don't know, let's see how the manager plays this."

Everyone in the store was holding their breath as they looked forward to seeing how Chen Mo would play it out.