11: Chapter 11, Second Game: Slay the Spire!

Ever since the initial team size had taken shape.

Although the recruitment process hadn't stopped.

Jiang Yuan focused more of her energy on the new game.

And the first thing she did for the new game was—

Gacha!

Jiang Yuan opened the system panel and glanced at her point balance.

70 points.

This number hadn't budged since she last exchanged points for the update suggestions.

She was still 8,930 points away from the 9,000 needed to redeem [Slay the Spire]!

She then checked her bank account balance.

1.1 million.

STEAM in this world settled payments once a month, which was generally quite good.

Of course.

If it could settle at any time every day, she certainly wouldn't object.

But if that were the case, the scum who were purely out to scam money would probably be overjoyed...

Top up.

Thirty thousand yuan, topped up.

[Recharge successful, obtained 300 gacha attempts]

Jiang Yuan flexed her fingers and clicked start.

The wheel began to spin.

[10 Points]

[10 Points]

[10 Points]

[20 Points]

[10 Points]

...

The first hundred pulls yielded 1,150 points.

Jiang Yuan's expression remained as calm as water, showing no change.

She was someone with a net worth of over a million now; this little bit of money was just a drop in the bucket!

Continue.

On the 151st pull, a golden light flashed.

[Congratulations: Obtained 500 Points (Super Critical)]

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow.

Again.

On the 200th pull, another golden light appeared.

[Congratulations: Obtained 1,000 Points (Epic Critical)]

Jiang Yuan stared at the screen for two seconds.

One thousand? A thousand from a single pull?

Interesting.

She continued through the final hundred pulls.

In the end, thirty thousand yuan had been exchanged for 6,320 points.

Her luck was decent.

But it still wasn't enough.

She topped up another thirty thousand and pulled 5,220 points.

Jiang Yuan opened the shop, found Slay the Spire, and clicked redeem.

[Confirm redemption of full information for Slay the Spire for 9,000 points?]

Confirmed.

In the next second, information flooded into her mind.

The four classes: Ironclad, Silent, Defect, and Watcher.

Card attacks, skills, powers, the effect of every card, their costs, and their changes after upgrading.

Then there were the relics, categorized as Common, Rare, Epic, and Boss, as well as the acquisition methods, effects, and synergies for each.

Monsters: The enemies on each floor, their move sets, HP, and attack power.

Maps: The structure of each floor, the ratio of event rooms, and the probability of shops appearing.

Values: Growth curves, difficulty gradients, and balance adjustment plans.

Jiang Yuan kept her eyes closed, digesting it for a long time.

When she opened her eyes again, the corners of her mouth curled up, and her eyes were filled with unmistakable joy.

...

On the third day after the full team had assembled, Jiang Yuan called everyone into the living room.

Zhou Ming sat on the sofa, holding a laptop with a bunch of code on the screen.

Su Meng leaned by the window with a sketchbook in hand, which had a few rough character sketches drawn on it.

As for Chen Yu, he had pulled up a chair in the corner, phone in hand, ready to reply to messages from the game community and official groups at any moment.

“New project.”

Glancing at everyone, Jiang Yuan got straight to the point.

Zhou Ming's eyes lit up: “Finally!”

Su Meng closed her laptop:

“What genre? Is it the one you mentioned before?”

Chen Yu seemed busy replying to someone's message, but from the excited look he gave whenever he looked up, he was clearly looking forward to this moment as well.

Or rather.

Was it because of this expectation that he joined Spark Studio in the first place?

“Roguelike, card game, tower climbing.”

Jiang Yuan handed the printed documents to everyone:

“Here's the summary.”

Zhou Ming took it and flipped through. The expression on his face went from excitement to confusion, then from confusion to a subtle... hesitation.

“Boss.”

He looked up:

“When did you write this stuff?”

“These past few days.”

“These past few days?”

Zhou Ming stared at the dense settings in the document—four classes, nearly two hundred cards, over a hundred relics, dozens of monsters, a three-floor map structure, an event system, a shop system, and an Ascension Mode—and fell into a long silence.

“Boss, are you serious?”

Is this even human?!

He muttered to himself inwardly.

Ignoring him, Jiang Yuan looked at Su Meng:

“For the art style, I want to use a hand-drawn look. A bit retro, but not too pixelated.”

Su Meng flipped through the document, her eyes growing brighter and brighter:

“This Watcher... this design is interesting, and these relics—the icons will need some serious thought.”

“Draw the concept art first.”

Jiang Yuan said:

“Class portraits, monster designs, card borders—take it one step at a time.”

Su Meng nodded excitedly, already unable to stop herself from sketching in her mind.

Chen Yu raised his hand:

“Boss, what about me?”

“The community.”

Jiang Yuan said:

“Continue to keep an eye on Vampire Survivors, collect feedback, and organize requirements. If foreign players ask for other languages, you can reply that the studio is already preparing them. You don't need to worry about the new project for now, but you'll be busy once we start testing.”

Chen Yu made an OK gesture.

Zhou Ming was still flipping through the document. As he flipped, he suddenly looked up:

“Boss, this value system...”

“What about it?”

“It's too detailed.”

He pointed to one of the pages:

“Look at this Ironclad. Initial HP is 80, and the growth curve is supported by relics and events, not simple level-ups for health. And this Burning Blood—it restores 6 HP at the end of every combat. Combined with this Barricade power card, you can keep your Block for the next turn... How long did you spend thinking about this stuff?”

Jiang Yuan was Silent for a few seconds.

She couldn't say the system gave it to her.

“Quite a long time.”

She said solemnly.

Zhou Ming stared at her for a few seconds, then gave a thumbs up and shook his head:

“Boss, President Jiang, you're the best. You're a real freak!”

Jiang Yuan didn't respond.

Others didn't know the specifics, so they could praise all they wanted.

If she used their praise to get full of herself, that would be a bit too shameless.

In the afternoon, work officially began.

Zhou Ming was responsible for the underlying architecture, first setting up the card system and combat logic.

Su Meng began drawing concept sketches, starting with the Ironclad.

Jiang Yuan herself kept an eye on the value tables and the relic system, going through them line by line.

The living room grew quiet, with only the sound of typing and the rustle of pencils on paper.

After two hours, Zhou Ming suddenly spoke up:

“Boss.”

“Yeah?”

“This randomization algorithm...” He stared at the screen. “Did you write it?”

Jiang Yuan walked over to take a look.

It was a snippet of code she had casually typed out in the morning to handle the shuffling logic for the draw and discard piles.

“Is there a problem?”

“No problem.”

Zhou Ming's mouth twitched slightly as he said:

“It's just too clean. In five years of doing this, I've never seen an underlying architecture written with this kind of logic.”

Jiang Yuan smiled:

“As long as it works.”

Zhou Ming didn't say anything, but the way he looked at her completely changed.

It was the look of someone who considered themselves an industry veteran, now completely awestruck and full of admiration after seeing a true industry giant.

Jiang Yuan had similar experiences in her past life.

Of course.

It was her looking at others that way.

A few more hours passed, and Su Meng handed over her sketchbook.

“The first version of the Ironclad. Want to take a look?”

Jiang Yuan took it and looked.

The lines were rough, the design was heavy, the armor bore traces of battle damage, he held a greatsword, and his eyes were weary but fierce, looking like he had just walked off a battlefield.

“Not bad.”

Jiang Yuan pondered:

“But change the helmet a bit; it looks too much like a European knight. I want that... wandering swordsman feel. A bit more worn out, a bit more weathered.”

Su Meng nodded and took the sketchbook back.

Half an hour later, she handed over the second version.

Jiang Yuan took one look and nodded:

“This is it. You really get me!”

The corners of Su Meng's mouth curled up. She didn't say anything, but her pen moved noticeably faster, her cheerful mood evident.