"Wow, is this my new invitation?" Little Superman excitedly picked up the invitation in front of him, flipping it over and over, "With this, I can enter that super cool playground?"
"You've come at the right time," Greed said, "In the early days, Battleworld had many imperfections, and there were few instances. But after so much time, the game system has become more stable, and the game library is richer."
"So can I enter now?" Little Superman asked.
"Of course," Greed nodded and said, "Have you decided what type of instance you want to play?"
"Not at all," Little Superman said, "It's my first time playing, there are sure to be many things I don't understand, how about we go together?"
Greed was taken aback: "Didn't you arrange to meet someone else?"
"Yes, that Superman from the Fusion Universe also invited me to play, but I feel I should go through the beginner's tutorial first, otherwise if I make a mistake in front of him, I'll be embarrassed."
"There's no such thing as a beginner's tutorial," Greed said, "Each instance has different rules and you'll need to readapt once you enter."
"But I just want to play a game with you," Little Superman began to act spoiled, "You had the time to personally deliver my invitation, doesn't seem like you have much else going on, come play a round with me?"
"I have plenty of things to do," Greed said, "Deep in the stars, there's an Iron Man waiting for me to fish out, but... okay, let's go check it out first."
Little Superman and Greed arrived at Battleworld together. As soon as Little Superman entered, he was dazzled by the plethora of interfaces. After so many years of iteration, Battleworld's systems were already very rich, but of course, the first to pop up was the Battle Order, and the rewards looked very tempting.
Closing the pop-up, he saw the "Beginner's Recommended Instances" column. When he clicked it open, there were some notes, roughly saying that instances were divided into two types, one without ability restrictions and one with ability restrictions, and beginners are advised to play the former first, then select some with less strict restrictions, gradually transitioning to difficult instances.
"No ability restrictions?" Little Superman pouted, "Then I can do whatever I want? Isn't that the same as the real world? What's fun about that?"
Greed, hearing Little Superman speak in the team channel, felt a bit helpless. In the real world, many superheroes actually suppress their negative emotions, so when entering the virtual game system, they can do things they don't dare to do or can't do in the real world, like a thrilling spree of mowing down enemies. Hence, instances without ability restrictions are very popular.
On the contrary, those with strict ability restrictions frequently get negative reviews, saying it's too hard to play and losing superpowers makes them feel uncomfortable.
But Little Superman's situation is the opposite of theirs. He can't really be considered a superhero, as he never managed to see himself as a comic character, always feeling like a spectator. And because he feels everyone around him are comic characters, he has no burden when it comes to killing—he doesn't just kill villains.
It's safe to say he entirely treats the real world as a virtual game, doing whatever he wants, but unless he's zoning out, just focusing on raking in victories, with his idealist power far exceeding that of most supermen, he wouldn't be hung up on the wall, imprisoned.
So, in the game, he actually prefers instances with restricted abilities, just like playing Three Kingdoms Warriors for too long, occasionally wanting to spar with the Tree Guard.
But the problem is, Greed doesn't want to play Soul Games.
Although Greed designed many high difficulty instances that make players cry for help, he never plays them himself, at least not as a player. In his view, games are for relaxation, not suffering, why put himself through that?
Very unfortunately, the last season was just a high difficulty season known as the "Dark Season," and the hot play list was filled with high difficulty instances. Little Superman couldn't ignore them even if he tried, and he eagerly researched the rankings.
Greed really wanted to suggest, how about taking a look at the leisure vacation instances beside? Or maybe we can join a Blocks building competition in the Lego Universe?
At this time, Little Superman had already started critiquing. Based on the reviews for each instance, he began deducing what strengths and weaknesses these games have, whether they're worth playing.
"This instance's cover looks so dark, I'm sure most scenes are at night, pitch black where nothing is visible. This kind is just typical mystification where most of the time is spent finding the way."
"This one looks like it's luring people in with spectacular shots, such seemingly thrilling large-scale battles could easily be CG animations, actually requiring little operation, with most of the time spent fighting reskinned monsters."
"And this, just looking at these long words, I know, once again we have folklorists and historians bravely entering the horror game circle, the whole game is full of puzzles only Saxons can solve, and when the plot can't be tied up at the end, it's all blamed on God."
"This cover looks artsy at first glance, but you need to be on high alert at this point. These types of games require you to really tune in to enjoy them; otherwise, it's just inexplicable nonsense where you feel like it's a bunch of people moaning and acting crazy."
"And there's this one. This is your quintessential canned game: it appears well-made, but the gameplay's just a few basic types — low-level weapons for low-level monsters, high-level weapons for high-level monsters, and throw in some collectibles. One or two of these is okay, but play too many and you'll want to puke."
"This one looks decent, and it's got a lot of positive reviews, but I doubt it'll be to my taste. I mean, there are many highly praised comics I don't like, yet some of those niche, bizarre ones people bash — I can finish one in a night."
"Games found in the positive reviews column are bound to be dull." Little Superman said as he opened the reverse order of the positive reviews list, "It's the games swimming in negative reviews that are worth examining."
Greed was speechless. Seeking high difficulty was one thing, but to insist on playing ones with all negative reviews... it looks like he wasn't hanging long enough on the Origin Wall. Finally out, and he's looking for a new cell to sit in.
But after looking around, Little Superman was slightly disappointed. He said, "The negative reviews for these games are quite reasonable. Most of them point out specific flaws or bugs in the game, which means overall quality isn't bad; it's just got a shortcoming that's heavily criticized. That's not what I'm looking for."
"Then what kind of game are you looking for?" Greed asked. To him, eating too much food and wanting to eat garbage isn't entirely incomprehensible, but Little Superman is clearly the type who would be picky about the shape of the garbage he eats.
Little Superman rubbed his chin and thought, "From what I observe, these game production teams tend to be conservative. The game's ceiling might not be high, but the floor is okay. Even the worst games are still playable. This way, it ensures overall production quality but inevitably lacks in creativity."
"Well, that's for sure," Greed said. "Battleworld has a payment system. If you make a game too lousy, players will definitely complain, and might even demand refunds. But if it's just dull, they might leave a negative review at most."
"That's not acceptable," Little Superman said. "For new players, wasting time is no big deal, but for a seasoned player like me, dullness is scarier than crap."
After saying that, Little Superman noticed a "Creation Mode" floating at the top left of the interface. Seeing the tagline "You can be a creator too," he clicked on it at once.
Then he realized it's actually a game development simulator, allowing you to use the Doujie System to develop your own game instances, inviting other players to try them out. A lot of independent developers have already joined, with the highest ranked being Iron Man and Batman.
It's not that the two are particularly good at making games, but they've put a lot of effort into it, spending most of their time researching game systems, naturally gaining a deeper understanding than others.
These two have already launched several instances, covering all kinds of types. Batman makes a lot of box garden explorations, involving puzzle-solving and action elements. Of course, there are plenty of mystery narrative instances. Iron Man is grappling with open worlds, but since making a real open world is difficult, he cleverly turned it into a big box garden packed with various tasks, which seems to work just fine.
Little Superman was not interested in the types of games these two made. He had no desire to drive a cab in a cyberpunk city or solve a murder case involving 200 people, all of whom are relatives. He was looking for some more unique and thrilling instances.
Aside from these two, many others have also uploaded their games, though they're not as well-known. Their games are played by fewer people, mostly sunk to the bottom, unnoticed.
Soon enough, Little Superman found a target that piqued his interest. He said to Greed, "Let's play this one, it looks good."
"Send me the link," Greed said.
Once he saw it, the link Little Superman sent was a game from Creation Mode. Greed sighed deeply. Creation Mode hasn't been online for long, most people are still exploring, making games of every strange kind imaginable; no wonder Little Superman is interested.
Greed's been busy lately and hadn't paid much attention to Battleworld affairs, but he's heard that both Iron Man and Batman have made significant contributions to this mode. Opening the link Little Superman provided, he immediately saw a bat symbol, suggesting it's a game by Batman.
Greed has trust in Batman's capability. His games should be solidly made, although they might be a bit challenging. As long as the difficulty curve is well-designed, they won't be unbearable. And in terms of number balancing, Batman shouldn't be lacking.
But to be safe, Greed still read the description. It mostly emphasized the difficulty of the instance, stating that using superpowers is strictly prohibited, the risk of death is high, and every decision impacts the outcome.
Considering Batman's cautious nature, providing such warnings isn't surprising. But for Batman to label a scenario as difficult, how challenging could it be?
Greed felt a bit hesitant immediately, wondering if the game would demand decoding the mysteries of the cosmos in the very first stage. He could almost hear himself finishing with, "Batman, are you asleep? I can't sleep."
Still, Little Superman was full of enthusiasm, seemingly convinced the game matched his tastes. Greed couldn't refuse him, so he agreed to join the game.
But to be safe, just the two of them wouldn't be enough. Thinking it over, Greed decided to involve an agent.