Interstellar Travel: Becoming a Dress-Up Game Designer

Chapter 108

Unexpectedly, this approach improved the resource supply capacity of each district, which in turn increased the population cap of each district. The increased population cap led to a reduction in the number of districts and lower maintenance costs...

It's not too cost-effective.

She then allocated all the vacated zones to residential areas. While reducing costs was good, improving game quality was even better. At this moment, she began to understand the mindset of those game designers in her past life who relentlessly pursued high quality regardless of players' devices. Designers with dreams truly loved bringing their ideas to life!

Reduce the number of players in each residential area, expand the buildable area, and increase the number of bamboo forests to be explored.

When the design area is fixed, the number of game zones varies depending on the number of players it can accommodate. The more zones that need to be maintained each day, the higher the fees and the higher the game operation costs.

Lin Shuying's side budgets for each event update, and Lin Qiaoqiao provides the accounts. It's a chain of processes that can't be separated, which is a bit troublesome.

Lin Shuying hadn't considered this issue at all when she made it herself, because the game platform would calculate and deduct the cost automatically.

However, as the company grew larger, the nature of the business changed, including taxes, advertising fees, and preferential policies. All revenue was handed over to Qingfengyi for processing, and Qingfengyi then deducted fees from the game platform.

The planet owner offers Qingfengyi significant discounts, including lower taxes, making it more cost-effective to use Qingfengyi's platform.

These are matters for the staff below; Lin Shuying doesn't need to worry about them. She just needs to be aware of them and have the authority to stop them at any time.

Although the various safeguards in the interstellar space are excellent, Lin Shuying is used to having a complete grasp of everything and being able to dictate everything, which is why she does not accept other capital investment.

Because the residential area is sparsely populated, it can feel deserted. Lin Shuying designed many interactive gameplay elements to attract more players and liven up the residential area.

For example, you can give a thumbs up to your home, or go to other areas to find various types of bamboo, uniquely shaped bamboo, bamboo rice, bamboo shoots, bamboo fungus, fragrant bamboo leaves, and so on.

The materials area is mostly filled with moso bamboo, purple bamboo, and early-maturing bamboo, which are the main materials for making items. Moso bamboo, in particular, can grow to a height of over 20 meters and a diameter of 30 to 40 centimeters.

There are also small moso bamboos, mixed in with other types of bamboo. Different items require different types of bamboo to make. Moso bamboo, after being split into suckers, is softer and more malleable. For the same length, it has fewer nodes, making it suitable for creating many intricately detailed works of art.

Varieties like purple bamboo, early-maturing bamboo, and green bamboo are hard, small, and can be arranged in greater numbers within the same area, resulting in greater load-bearing capacity. They are suitable for building houses, constructing bamboo houses, and flooring.

There are also many other garden bamboo varieties: Luohan bamboo, Xiangfei bamboo, water bamboo, four-season bamboo, purple bamboo, black bamboo, etc.

All the gardening, bamboo groves, and books should be placed in the residential area. These are explorable resources that require searching to obtain. They can be redeemed and taken home, and like the plum blossoms in the decorations, they are excellent for landscaping.

These bamboos are still in seedling stage, and are used to cultivate potted plants.

This is a point of interaction between the various districts.

The residential area also has bamboo rice, which, unlike bamboo flowers which cover the entire bamboo grove, is extremely rare and scattered throughout the bamboo forest. The bamboo that produces bamboo rice is withered and old; bamboo rice is the essence of bamboo.

Collecting them can accelerate bamboo growth and make them suitable for creating bamboo bonsai.

Bamboo is a major genre in the bonsai world, with some growers spending three to five years cultivating it. It's impossible to spend that much time cultivating bamboo in a game, but simply speeding up the process makes it inconvenient for players to customize the shape.

Bamboo rice solves this problem perfectly. Adding one grain makes it grow a little bigger, and as long as there are enough, it can both fix the shape and allow the bamboo to grow.

Once bamboo is selected as the bonsai, it will only grow after being fed bamboo shoots and will not wither. After it has been properly cultivated, click the "Fix" option next to it, and a beautiful bonsai will be created.

You can also dig up bamboo shoots in residential areas, and bamboo shoots have a chance to drop various artwork blueprints.

From simple items like chopsticks, spoons, and bowls, to complex creations like palace fans, double-sided bamboo woven painted fans, cowherds, and magnificent palaces, players can choose to create their own items step by step, with instructions provided in the blueprints.

You can also choose automatic crafting, but the two options have different material requirements. If you're crafting it yourself, the materials need to be simple, just bamboo will do.

Automatic synthesis requires finding many types of bamboo materials; for example, a pair of chopsticks requires at least two types of bamboo.

There are several designs for chopsticks. The simplest design, with its round top and square bottom, represents the concept of "heaven is round and earth is square," a small and essential item that encapsulates the spirit of Chinese civilization. The round top and square bottom symbolize the concept of "heaven is round and earth is square," the seven inches and six fen (approximately 1.3 inches) symbolize the seven emotions and six desires, and the round side placed in the mouth signifies that food is of paramount importance to the people. The two chopsticks represent the union of yin and yang.

A small pair of chopsticks encapsulates the core of the Chinese people's belief in heaven, earth, and humanity, which is truly remarkable.

There are also auspicious jade chopsticks, whose basic shape remains unchanged, but the chopsticks are engraved with patterns and inlaid with gold, silver and jade.

There are also chopsticks made of ivory, rhinoceros horn, and jade. Originally, Lin Shuying didn't want to make chopsticks made of animal materials, after all, she had a pretty good awareness of protecting animals in her previous life.

But StarCraft has nothing but the Zerg, so it should be able to create some animal-themed luxury areas.

Animal materials do not fall from the animals; instead, the corresponding bamboo falls.

For example, there are ivory bamboo, rhinoceros horn bamboo, white jade bamboo, and jade bamboo, etc. You can even find amber and bamboo worms inside bamboo shoots that have worms growing in them. Adult bamboo worms also exist; you can catch them in the bamboo forest...

The most popular activity in the game right now is bug catching, and every area is packed with people, while the material area is almost deserted. People from the material area have all moved to the residential area, making it quite overcrowded.

Wherever there's a bug, a swarm of people rushes there. Many big shots spend money to reserve a specific area and hire people to find the bug.

Once found, you can't move it; only the rich can catch it themselves, because you can't gain the favorability points from someone else catching it.

"Qingfengyi, I shouldn't have given you a brief five-star review. I'm going to give you a bad review! What kind of guest elder does that require 50,000 favorability points? I'm going crazy!"

"I'm terrified of bugs! Aaaaaah!"

"I'm also afraid of bugs. Why do we have to use catching bamboo worms to increase favorability? A single bug only gives 1 to 10 favorability points. That's outrageous."

"I'm really curious just how powerful that Bamboo Fairy is. She's probably Qingfengyi's most difficult guest to deal with right now, isn't she?"

Even the most expensive Flower Fairy game wasn't this grindy. Planting flowers is just a matter of planting them, waiting for them to mature, and then collecting them. At most, it's a matter of luck; some flowers might drop fewer points, but they won't be scattered all over the place.

This time, the bug-catching operation was truly widespread, with bugs running rampant across various areas. If there were too many people in one area, you had to run away immediately.

Fortunately, there are many residential areas this time, and the land is sparsely populated. If you keep refreshing, you can catch a lot of bugs.

At this time, an elderly farming player discovered a new way to play!

This player is from the game "Soul of the Beginners," a very kind old man in his seventies. He's devoted to farming, building houses, raising pets, and occasionally fishing and drinking tea.

Both the "Decorated with Lanterns" and "Huaxia Jianghu" instances have fishing areas, but instead of goldfish, you can catch edible fish like grass carp, crucian carp, and silver carp.

Goldfish are a limited-edition item, and Lin Shuying wouldn't allow Qingfengyi's limited-edition status to depreciate. The newly updated bamboo forest dungeon is practically my favorite place in my old home besides Xiaoyi Residence; once I entered, I was completely captivated.

The player's home in the "Decorated with Lanterns and Celebrations" instance cannot compare. The exterior of the home in "Decorated with Lanterns and Celebrations" is fixed, and players can only decorate the interior and arrange the garden. It lacks the freedom of "Little Home." In addition, "Little Home" is the true player's home.

However, the bamboo forest is different from all the player home areas we've seen before. Here, players have to prepare all the houses and even the land themselves. Then they have to collect materials to build the houses; everything is done by the players themselves.

Nothing makes you love it more than something you make yourself!

After the elderly and young family members entered, they signed their names on the plot of land they had chosen.

There are many areas in the bamboo forest that are covered with bamboo and grass all year round, which are significantly different from the surrounding bamboo forest. They are square and about 500 square meters in size.

There is a blank plaque at the very front.

If a player selects an unoccupied area and signs their nickname on it, that area becomes their home.

Clear away the weeds and bamboo on the site, and use the collected materials to build it according to the blueprints.

You can make it yourself or have the system make it automatically. However, if the system makes it automatically, it will require more types of materials.

This veteran player created it himself, so the progress of other tasks was extremely slow.

But as he got older, he stopped liking to join in the fun and came here with the goal of planting bamboo, gardening, and growing bonsai.

However, a phenomenon occurred when planting bamboo: the more precious and rarer the bamboo, the more prone it was to insect infestation. He particularly liked precious bamboos like the Luohan bamboo, and spent his days catching insects in the yard.

While searching for bamboo that day, he overheard other players talking. They discovered that the points earned from catching insects were actually valuable, and many players were worried about not having enough insects to catch.

So he posted in the chat channel: "I have a lot of bugs at home, anyone who needs them can go and catch them."

"???"

"???"

"???"

"What? There are bugs in the house?"

Many players rushed to the residential area, hastily built houses using the system's design, and then waited for the bugs to spawn. But no bugs appeared!

"Hey sir, where are the bugs in your house?"

"I had the same question, but I've already built the house and there are no bugs."

The elderly couple planted the newly found bamboo, but were troubled to find that the other bamboo plants were infested with insects.

Didn't someone say that some players need these bugs?

No one came.

So I went to the chat channel to ask again, "Isn't someone looking for bugs? Come to my place and catch some, district 358."

"Are there really bugs? Why don't I have any in my house?"

"Coming, coming! I'll run over and take a look right now."

In a short while, a large group of players crowded outside the gate of the old man's home.

His home was enclosed by a waist-high bamboo fence, allowing a clear view of everything inside. It was a thatched hut, very simple, without even walls—just a straw shed.

Below is a tea table and several stools, with a teapot on the table. Other areas have numerous shelves displaying various tools, such as scissors, small hoes, sickles, and gloves—items that many players don't care about. They sit untouched in Qingfengyi's shop, only being browsed when needed.

Dungeons that require farming usually provide initial tools, which are sufficient for most tasks.

However, no initial tools were provided for this event; they were all placed in the store and you had to buy them yourself.

Of course, if you don't want to spend money, you can use the props in the garden.

The thatched hut in Lao Mai's small house is clearly a standard feature for farming enthusiasts!

Nine-tenths of the land was used for planting bamboo, divided into three areas. The largest area consisted of strips of black soil already planted with bamboo, which was knee-high without any bamboo seed.

The second largest area has many ceramic, stone, and wooden basins, all filled with bamboo. The basins are placed on shelves, arranged neatly in rows, and look quite nice.

Especially the two potted Podocarpus macrophyllus plants that were used for landscaping.

There are five bamboo stalks, short, round, and emerald green. The roots are tightly packed together, but they separate at the top to form a ball, and the branches are perfectly pruned.

The bamboo leaves are left just right, so they don't look sprawling or messy, and they don't make the bamboo stalks look short and stunted.

The bamboo roots grew in a very interesting way, with seven or eight sprouting out and their tips sticking inward, which was quite artistic. They were coiled on the stone basin, the side of which resembled a rockery, with a little mud in the middle.

Players were mesmerized; the design was simply stunning.

When a player's homestead is not open to others, no one else can enter. The old man looked up and was startled by the dense crowd of players around him. He then opened his homestead to allow more than a dozen people in.

"My territory is relatively small. You few can come in, and the rest of you can leave."

The dense crowd in the yard would also affect his work; a gardening enthusiast doesn't like being disturbed.

Fifteen people came in and indeed saw many insects crawling on the potted plants and small bamboo shoots. Everyone was busy looking at the old man's gardening creations, their eyes shining as they searched for insects in the yard.

The players outside also joined the search, and whenever they saw a bug, they would excitedly shout, "Over there, over there! What a huge bug!"

"Hurry up and arrest him! Your eyesight is really bad, old man! Let me in, I have the best eyesight!"

You missed it, you missed it!

They were chattering and shouting incoherently, while the person inside looked around, asking, "Where? Where?"

"On your left, under the leaf!"

"Where can I find it? No, I don't."

........

After making a scene for over ten minutes, the players realized belatedly why they were wasting their time here.

Grow it yourself!!

So the players rushed home and planted bamboo.

A large portion of wealthy players purchased super-luxury bamboo houses, three stories high, with a romantic curved staircase leading upstairs. Above the staircase was a covered walkway roof, covered with morning glories and roses.

Now, if we want to plant bamboo, we have to tear it down with tears in our eyes. It's so heartbreaking!

This bamboo house system is so beautifully designed, I don't want to tear it down...

"I can't bear to part with my mansion, sob sob sob."

"Looking to buy land. Who's willing to rent their bamboo grove to me? I'll give 50,000 Star Coins for the entire game, and the grove owner will be allowed to catch bugs inside."