Chapter 2  : Chapter 1: The World with a Misclicked Tech Tree

Translated by Coldtaco

 Edited by Aelryinth

The Imperial Capital…

Chen Mo woke up.

 “I feel like I might die any moment now…

 “No more, I must go to bed earlier tomorrow…”

 While heading his temples to soothe an intense headache, Chen Mo sat up on his bed.

“I’m so sleep-deprived that I’m hallucinating. I was fine with daydreaming, but dreaming like that during my sleep? Stop messing with my sleep quality, please…”

 Chen Mo hadn’t gotten over his terrible rest. But the next moment, he was stunned, and unable to recover his wits for a long time.

 “What the! Where am I? Did I transmigrate?”

Chen Mo looked around his surroundings.

 He was in an unfamiliar room, which looked like a twin room in a hotel. However, his twin room didn’t look like the luxurious type. Other than being barely considered clean, nothing else was noteworthy.

There was a large luggage bag next to the table in the room. There was a strange laptop on the table. It was as thick as a brick and had a massive screen. It looked heavy but intricate, like nothing he had seen before.

Chen Mo had never seen a laptop like this in his previous world, but after a reality check he noticed it looked expensive.

 Chen Mo proceeded to enter the bathroom to wash his face. Looking into the mirror, he saw that his appearance was the same, but just slightly younger.. He looked like himself four to five years ago, just after he had graduated from university.

 Slowly but surely, Chen Mo gained memories about this parallel world.

 This world was ninety percent similar to the one Chen Mo was used to. The only difference was that the gaming industry he was ever so familiar with was vastly different.

All this stemmed from the difference in technology.

 In this world, a string of technological booms had happened for some reason. Perhaps it was the doings of aliens, or even a transmigrator like Chen Mo, but the speed of the advancements in computing were beyond belief. The changes happened very rapidly, faster than a rocket..

Before personal computers were even common, top researchers had already invented supercomputers that could make trillions of calculations a second. Halfway through the development of computer technology, VR technology experienced a huge breakthrough. The dream of a virtual world was achieved using personal gaming pods.

In three to five years, this world had achieved what Chen Mo’s previous world had only achieved half of in over seventy years.

 Of course, the technological boom was beneficial, but it had directly resulted in the stalling of the gaming industry in this world.

 Before PC games were invented, they had entered the VR era. Of course, the gaming companies spent all their resources on VR game development.

 As a result of that, the gaming industry didn’t have the experience of making PC games. Although VR games had great engines, theories in video game design felt like they were stuck in the Stone Age.

 However, there was an upside to all this: this world viewed the gaming industry very highly!

 Video games here weren’t viewed as plagues on society or an online drug, but viewed as the ninth art form, respected and even promoted by certain governments.

Furthermore, video game designers weren’t the IT workers of Chen Mo’s previous world. As it was considered a highly technical job, video game designers had gained respect similar to doctors, lawyers, or even a culturally impactful artist!

As for the original Chen Mo of this world, he was just an ordinary fresh graduate who was ready to devote himself to the gaming industry.

 Oddly enough, this world’s method of ‘devoting oneself to the gaming industry’ also differed from his previous world

 ——

 Chen Mo wiped his face down with a towel, then went to the windows and opened the blinds.

Bright sun, clear skies…

 The Imperial Capital was usually quite hot during August. Seeing the sun made him feel like he was melting, despite being in an air-conditioned room.

 Chen Mo had a feeling that the people walking by would turn into human-shaped pools of liquid, slowly evaporating in the sun like they were candy.

 He stepped over to the table.

 The massive laptop was the highest specced laptop in this world, starting at twenty thousand RMB.

Being a poor fresh graduate and not coming from a rich family, why did he choose to starve himself for the better half of a year to buy such an expensive laptop?

It was because Chen Mo wanted to use this laptop to design games!

 That’s right. That was another difference in this world. Here, a programmer wasn’t required when a video game designer designed a game!

 Then… who did the coding?

 Answer: There wasn’t a need for coding! This world had the best video game engines. All a videogame designer had to do was to storyboard the game and assemble it using the engines according to the documentation. Viola, the idea can now become a reality!

From minigames, that were just a couple megabytes, to VR games that required tens of terabytes, everything could be done using a game engine. Of course, the time and effort required were definitely different!

 Unlike his previous world, where video game designers were just workers in the production line, the video game designers here were extremely rich with great personal charisma, having status similar to successful artists.

Another difference was that in Chen Mo’s previous world, video game designers would be assigned different parts of the game: coding, storyboarding, levels, etc. However, in this world, one had to know everything. A game designer that only understood the system, but not the plot would be disdained by others within their circles.

 It was to the point where some video game designers were also top-notch writers and artists, masters of all trades, just like how Michaelangelo was a sculptor, artist, architect, and poet!

Of course, for large scale VR games, the main designers would also hire assistants. However, the words of the main designers were absolute, controlling every detail of the game. The assistants were less like co-workers than interns.

As mentioned previously, Chen Mo was a young man who wanted to devote his life to the gaming industry.

 However, the way to devote oneself wasn’t to apply for jobs at video game companies, but through other means.

 All video game engines in this world were open to the public though rights and accessibility may differ, depending on the designer . Entering the video game industry required one to design a complete game. It also had to pass through a board of professionals for review.

The Chen Mo of this world was already qualified to be an entry-level video game designer. He just needed to design a simple mini-game to become a D-grade video game designer.

 As for the reason Chen Mo was staying in a hotel, he had registered himself for a video game design contest in the Imperial Capital. He needed a quiet environment for two days to finalize his designs.

 Unfortunately, perhaps because of stress or too many late nights, he suddenly died!

“Pulling two late nights and suddenly dying? Man, my body is weak despite being so young,” muttered Chen Mo.

Perhaps it was normal to have so much stress. Even in this world, the road of a video game designer wasn’t easy.

It had been almost a year since the Chen Mo of this world graduated, and yet he hadn’t gotten off on the right foot. None of the games he made got past the review. Despite being entry-level in every aspect, he was unable to break through to being a D-grade video game designer.

 If this continued, Chen Mo would be out of money. He’d be left with three choices: starve, go back and depend on his parents, or change career paths.

 Hence, Chen Mo had done his best, hoping he could get a good ranking in this video game designing competition. However, before he could finish his product, it seems that he had been ‘finished’ first!

After sulking for a couple more seconds, Chen Mo calmed down.

 ‘Isn’t it just designing video games? That’s right up my alley! If I don’t make waves in the current video game industry, I would really be a waste of resources.’

Chen Mo turned on the laptop. However, before he did anything, he decided to order some food.

 Chen Mo’s stomach was growling. Not wanting to be the first transmigrator who died of starvation after the original’s sudden death, Chen Mo picked up his phone.

Indeed, the lifestyle apps were largely similar. Chen Mo noticed that other than the higher specs, mobile phones were largely similar to those of his previous world.

 After ordering a rice bowl and milk tea on an app called “Hungry?”, Chen Mo fully calmed down, and opened the game engine on his laptop.