3: Chapter 3 marks the start of the first game production.

Jiang Yuan was in no hurry to start.

She first opened a search engine to check the state of the game industry in this world.

NetEase and Tencent were still there, still the two giants, and still the subjects of players' daily greetings and confiscations of parents and family members.

STEAM was also there, almost exactly the same as in her previous life.

Same logo, same interface layout, same game library, community, and workshop.

However, the games online were somewhat different; many of the indie masterpieces she was familiar with didn't exist, replaced by unfamiliar names instead.

The domestic indie game circle was still very small. The Chinese games on STEAM were either ancient-style dating sims, martial arts RPGs, or various crudely made borderline-NSFW titles; those that were actually competitive were few and far between.

Jiang Yuan leaned back in her chair, hands behind her head, staring blankly at the ceiling.

With STEAM, a golden finger, and complete game information in her head...

If she still couldn't make it, she might as well find a block of tofu to bash her head against.

But the problem now was that her predecessor's project, "Chef Fights Monsters to Pay Debts," had to be dealt with first.

Jiang Yuan glanced at the screen, saved a document, and decisively clicked delete.

Sorry, predecessor. Though I feel bad for you, this thing of yours really doesn't look like it'll work. Keeping it would just be a waste of time.

Next up was making "Vampire Survivors."

With the information provided by the system, she didn't even need to design it herself; she just had to copy it over.

The core gameplay: the player controls a character that attacks automatically and must survive for thirty minutes amidst a tide of monsters.

As for the controls, only the directional keys for movement were needed.

The upgrade system: with each level up, one can choose a weapon or a passive skill.

Weapons: Garlic, Whip, King Bible, Knife, Axe, Holy Water...

Passives: Armor, Attack Speed, Area, Experience Bonus, Move Speed, Cooldown...

There was only one map for now, but more could be added later.

Monster types progressed from basic zombies to the eventual Reaper.

The numerical tables were all ready—how many monsters should be at each level, how the experience curve should go, and how to balance weapon damage were all clearly presented in her mind.

The more Jiang Yuan looked at it, the more she felt it was worth it.

Three thousand five hundred yuan in exchange for a guaranteed hit game, plus saving the time of racking her brain.

This deal was a total steal.

But...

Jiang Yuan looked at her current self, then at the time.

It was already noon. When Lin Xi came earlier, she said that her predecessor had pulled another all-nighter last night.

In other words, this body had been pulling all-nighters for an unknown number of consecutive days.

Jiang Yuan sighed, stood up, and stretched.

Sleep first.

The body is the foundation of any endeavor; she didn't want to die before the game was even finished.

With curtains drawn and her phone on silent, Jiang Yuan lay back on the bed and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When she woke up again, it was dark outside.

Jiang Yuan rubbed her bleary eyes and checked the time: 8:00 PM.

She had slept for over six hours, which was decent.

She climbed out of bed, washed her face to refresh herself, ordered takeout, and sat back down in front of the computer.

By the time the takeout arrived, she had already organized the massive amount of information in her head twice more.

She ate while reviewing and digesting it.

After finishing her meal, work officially began!

Jiang Yuan opened the drawing software and started creating assets.

Pixel art was actually very simple.

The character was just a little person, monsters were moving shadows, and weapons were various small icons.

With the art resources from the system as a reference, she drew with ease, barely needing to think, just tracing along.

As she drew, Jiang Yuan suddenly smiled.

In her previous life, she had led a team of dozens to create AAA-level graphics, where a single character model took weeks of agonizing refinement.

Now, here she was, drawing pixelated little people by herself, yet she was having a blast.

Strangely enough, she quite enjoyed it.

No investors meddling, no publishers forcing in microtransactions, no pile of nonsense to deal with.

Just her, quietly making a game.

Wasn't this the state she had wanted most during the final period of her previous life?

Though the circumstances were unexpected...

It could be considered indirectly achieved?

Jiang Yuan shook her head and continued drawing.

By 1:00 AM, the most basic assets were finished.

Next was the programming.

With the source code from the system as a reference, she didn't even need to figure out the logic; she just had to type it out once and adapt it to this world's programming languages.

Movement, attacking, monster spawning, collision detection, leveling up, skill selection...

She coded the functional modules one by one, testing, fixing bugs, testing again, and fixing more bugs.

She ate when hungry, slept when tired, and wrote when awake.

In between, Lin Xi came to knock on the door a few times to bring food, chat, and make sure she hadn't dropped dead.

Each time, Jiang Yuan would open the door, take the food, chat for a bit, then send her off and continue writing.

"Have you gone crazy?"

Lin Xi couldn't help but ask her once:

"You haven't even stepped out of the house for days. You won't go shopping when I ask, just huddling at home working on whatever game?"

"Almost, I'm almost finished."

Jiang Yuan said with a yawn.

"And then what?"

"Then I'll put it on STEAM."

Lin Xi's eyes lit up:

"STEAM? Not bad, Xiao Yuan, you've got ambition! Tell me when it's listed, and I'll help promote it. After all, I'm a small streamer with a few thousand followers."

The corners of Jiang Yuan's lips curled up as she smiled:

"Sure, I'll let you play it first. You can be my first player."

Day fifteen.

Jiang Yuan stretched her arms wide, looking at the initial demo running on the screen, and let out a long breath, her heart filled with relief.

Finally, freaking finished.

Five days faster than expected.

With the information from the system, the entire process was incredibly smooth.

She was like someone building with blocks according to a blueprint; she didn't need to think about the structure or design, just place each block where it belonged.

Opening the finished initial version of the game, Jiang Yuan controlled the little person to move across the map. Surrounded by dense crowds of monsters, the Whip lashed out again and again, and experience points flew everywhere.

Level up, choose Whip +1.

Level up again, choose Spinach to increase attack power.

Level up again, choose cooldown reduction.

Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes...

More and more monsters appeared until the screen was almost filled. Jiang Yuan's slender, pale fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard, maneuvering the little person through the gaps between monsters.

Twenty-five minutes.

Twenty-nine minutes.

At the thirtieth minute, the screen flashed, and the Reaper appeared.

Jiang Yuan's reaction was half a beat slow; she didn't dodge and was insta-killed.

But she didn't mind; instead, she smiled happily.

This was the feeling, the same flavor as in her previous life.

She started another run, this time trying a Garlic start.

Another thirty minutes. This time she lasted until the Reaper appeared, but she still couldn't beat him.

Again.

Before she knew it, the sky had brightened.

Jiang Yuan glanced at the time: 6:00 AM.

She had actually... played her own game all night long?

Between laughter and tears, Jiang Yuan turned off the game and lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

Her mind was still racing.

In the information from the system, there were actually more detailed optimization plans, including subsequent update content, new characters, new maps, hidden achievements, and so on.

But there was no rush now. She would release the basic version first and see the reaction of the players in this world.