16 16 - New Update!

"As you intend to continue the development of Residual Devil, what I want to wish you most is success, son. I hope your art can reach more and more people. The future of humanity depends on people like you," Mr. Brown said with a satisfied smile, but he soon added, "Unfortunately, it's not all good news. We've received some warnings from the city government that while your game is bringing many benefits, novice players are getting a little desperate playing this and a bit of fear is rising among them, fear that has slightly affected the amount of F-Rank players willing to undertake missions in recent days."

Gabe raised an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn't thought about that, considering that he imagined that the players' emotion could help in developing their skills. Gabe dedicated himself to the maximum to be able to make the game extremely challenging and scary, trying to extract the maximum emotion of fear from the players. But he hadn't considered that it might traumatize some players with a fragile heart to the point where those players felt that if the game was so scary, how scary would it be to go on quests against real monsters?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Brown," Gabe sincerely apologized.

Hearing this, Mr. Brown was even more pleased with this kid, as he was concerned that Howard might not have cared about these rookie, weaker players, feeling that they didn't deserve to play his game, but seeing the sincerity in this young man's apology, Mr. Brown smiled as he continued.

"Don't worry, this is not your fault. To be honest, this is more the University's fault than your fault as a Developer. Usually games from Rank E and above go through a review criteria so that they have a limit on the difficulty for players, so players who just became Rank E wouldn't experience the hardest games of Rank E at first, thus affecting their mindset. However, no one imagined that one day this would be necessary for Rank F games."

Hearing this explanation, Gabe felt that it really made sense, and soon an idea of ​​how to deal with it popped into his mind. "Mr. Brown, I think I have an idea of ​​how I can handle this…"

Mr. Brown was curious what idea this young man could come up with, as up until now, every idea he had come up with had been revolutionary for the game development industry. And when he heard Howard's idea, Mr. Brown was even more delighted, thinking that for a young man to be willing to spend Mana from his game to do something like that was incredible, especially not knowing that the University intended to limit which players could play his game. But with this idea, Mr. Brown knew he could go back to the Headmistress and tell her that her involvement wouldn't be necessary…

"Very well, Howard, with your idea we can be more relaxed. But although your idea is very good, we will still carry out some tests with your game and ensure that it does not affect new players so much, ok?" Mr. Brown said with a smile.

Gabe smiled back and nodded. "I also hope for that, professor. I hope that my game will bring happiness to mankind, not sadness or mental problems."

After saying goodbye to Mr. Brown, Gabe returned home as he worked out the idea he had for solving the game's problem.

Initially Gabe had not considered this point and just made the game with a unique difficulty, but listening to the considerations of the University and even the city government, Gabe understood that this was very important and understood that it was his duty, as a Developer, to guarantee the quality of the game and the mental health of the players so as soon as he got back home he started to develop other difficulties for Residual Devil.

Just like the version of the game he played in his other life, Gabe decided to split the game into 3 difficulty levels.

[Casual:

A mode for those who prefer less action.

The player will be given an aim aid to familiarize them with the weapon in hand.

Enemies are weaker than on other difficulties.]

[Standard:

The game's normal difficulty before the update. If the game is too difficult, you can opt for Casual difficulty on the YOU DIED screen.

Note: This can only be done on Standard difficulty.]

[Intense:

A mode for those who like challenges and who like the skills learned in the game to increase as quickly as possible.

Monsters will be more resistant and will deal more damage to players, making it more likely that players will die from a mistake.

The player only has one life in this mode. If the player dies the progress will be erased and the player will have to start all over again, just like in real life.

Note: It is only possible to enable 'intense' difficulty after the player has completed the current chapters on standard difficulty or the player's rank is at least Peak Rank F.]

With these three difficulty levels, not only would Gabe be able to help players who were less skilled, but he could also amplify the difficulty even further for experienced players, further increasing their skill gain when playing the game and making it possible for more players to have more chances to reach Rank E. Not to mention the part about the player having only a single life meant that players would have to play the game for even longer, as they would have to start all over again, which would further increase the replayability of the game in the long run!

With all that planned, Gabe set about developing this game update. The amount of Mana he spent to change the difficulty of the monsters was high, requiring 1,000 Mana Units to change the entire difficulty of the game, since he needed to simulate the monsters with more or less power. But considering that he had more than 15,000 Mana Units stored in the game, that was no problem for Gabe.

There was actually one problem, however. He had gotten so focused on redeveloping the game that he only realized he was starving when it was already 2:30 am, and as there was no restaurant open for him to order food, Gabe was a little disappointed when looking in the fridge reminded him that he still hadn't stocked it. He only had some instant noodles and leftover food that was practically spoiled.

'Wait, games aren't something that just let the player absorb combat skills, right? What if I added something like an Easter Egg where the player could find a kitchen, and in that kitchen the player could use the herbs they accumulated during the game to develop more medicine, but coincidentally there would also be a village woman who could teach the player cooking skills. Or if the player is in the castle, there is a cook that was enslaved who can also teach the player how to cook… So then players can learn how to make medicine and also how to cook… Of course, everything for the players!' Gabe thought excitedly.

Gabe's cooking skill was not very high, both in this world and in the other world, so he normally had difficulty cooking really tasty food, which made him prefer to order food from restaurants rather than using his own kitchen. But if he simulated a character with good cooking skills, this would not be impossible!

Of course, his current hunger couldn't be ignored, so Gabe ate a pot of instant noodles despite feeling guilty that the nutrition in it was terrible, and with a full belly he went back to his room and started to develop the setting for the cook and the kitchen that players could use.

His creativity was very good and in a short time everything was ready, so with satisfaction he clicked the button to release the update to the players and tried to use the game's Mana to learn the cooking skill that he simulated for the cook in the game.

'Only 100 Mana Units?'

Gabe was surprised to see how cheap this was, considering the game's Peak Rank F shooting skill only cost 200 Mana Units, but he soon understood that the cooking difficulty was more a matter of practice, something that didn't require as much effort physique and hand-eye coordination, so he soon learned that. But of course, with the problem that he could only use his own Mana instead of the game's Mana to learn the skills, upon learning the skill he felt his body getting weak.

This wasn't just because of the single skill, though. He had also learned the shooting skill, despite not having a weapon yet, as that could come in handy at some point. Plus, he had a lot of Mana available to use, so before going to sleep, Gabe bought some ingredients since dawn was already breaking and he used his newly learned cooking skill and made the most delicious breakfast he had ever prepared in either of his lives.

It still wasn't the tastiest food he had eaten in his life, as he didn't make the cook in the game a 3 Michelin star cook. That, though, would have completely broken the immersion of the game, and he was already quite satisfied with what he had.

'Perhaps in the future I can add a more developed character in this aspect, so I can learn better skills, but for now I must focus on my priorities, as the development of Chapter 02 was slightly delayed by a day, and I will have to spend more Mana to develop each of the monsters in the future into different difficulties. I must stay focused,' Gabe thought contentedly as he lay down comfortably on his bed and finally fell asleep.

While Gabe was entering the dream realm, some players were complaining on the Sandstone Bay players forum.

[After watching so many Residual Devil livestreams, I was so excited to play. Who knew I couldn't even kill the first zombie?]

[It's not just you, friend. I became a player last week and also went to try out the game after seeing Amoura playing, but when I died twice in a row to the zombie, a fear crept into me, preventing me from further advancing in the story …]

[Fear? I've almost given up on becoming a player, if just playing Residual Devil is so hard, imagine dealing with monsters in real life? When my finger was ripped off, I immediately closed the game… I've never been so grateful to have all 5 fingers on my hand.]

[Stop the drama, you are novice players, your place is playing easy games for novices, leave Residual Devil to professional players like me!]

[Yes, go back to your easy game and leave Residual Devil to the professionals!]

[Professionals?! I just saw from your profile that you are only a Mid Rank F player! Stop talking nonsense and mind your own business! I doubt you made it all the way to the castle!]

[Hahaha, F-Rank players are so cute, this game is so easy, I don't know why you guys are having so much trouble playing this.]

[Hey, my Residual Devil just got updated, is Chapter 02 here?]

[Mine too! Too bad I haven't reached the castle yet and I can't play Chapter 02…]

[I just read the patch notes and found out, chapter 02 has not arrived…]

[What changed then?]

[Apparently now players can choose the difficulty of the game, there's a 'Casual' game, for novice players who struggle and need a little help learning to aim, in addition to enemies getting weaker, there's a 'Standard' mode ', which is the difficulty we're used to, but apparently the 'Intense' difficulty also appeared, where the player only has one life, if he dies he has to start all over again, besides the fact that the monsters are stronger!]

[Hey, this intense mode looks interesting for Rank E players.]

[Rank E? I'm a Peak Rank F and I think I'm going to try this insane mode already, it looks a lot more fun!]

[You're lucky, only Peak Rank F players can experience the insane difficulty without having to complete the current chapters…]

[This Casual difficulty looks cool, should I try playing the game again?]

[Are you the friend who recently became a player? Livestream yourself playing the game, if you can play it maybe I'll try that again too.]

[Heck, I want to see it too, I was so scared to try the game, if you can play being an F-Rank just a little while ago, maybe I can too!]

[Does anyone understand what EA meant by 'There's a new Easter Egg in the game?']

[Easter Egg? Is it Easter, by any chance?]

[I don't know, I'll try the new difficulty.]

Residual Devil's new update didn't bring any new content, but despite the game's story not progressing, players who had already played Chapter 01 more than once felt that it sounded interesting and decided to try playing the game in 'Insane' mode. ', while players who were scared of the difficulty also decided to give the game another chance and try it out in 'Casual' mode.

It could have been said that Residual Devil was practically still the same game, but the attention the game was receiving after the newest update was as great as if the game had received more chapters, making the game even more viral in Sandstone Bay!

//NunuNote//

Mass Release Target XD:

Based on weekly powerstone rankings!

Top30 = 1 Bonus Chapter

Top20 = 2 Bonus Chapter

Top10 = 3 Bonus Chapter

Top5 = ? Bonus Chapter

...

Bonus Chapters will be released on Sunday, based on preceding performance of the novel. Don't forget to vote for more chapters!

Current Rank: 8!!

(Thank you all for the gifts!!)