She became a heartthrob among internet celebrities.

Jiang Lai got up early in the morning. It was Saturday, and she was going to the Arts Building at eight o'clock to participate in an English vocabulary competition.

When she left, her roommates were still asleep. Jiang Lai sent a message in the group chat: "Going to take an exam. Call me if you need anything when you come back."

When Jiang Lai arrived at the lecture hall, she realized that there were quite a few people participating. She went to her seat and waited for the exam to begin.

When the bell rang and the exam officially began, Jiang Lai glanced at the exam papers and gave 001 a thumbs up.

"I found that I know most of them, and I've memorized them all."

"Congratulations."

"As expected, this 'Knowledgeable and Knowledgeable' buff is somewhat useful!"

Jiang Lai spent forty-five minutes completing all the questions, checked them again, and then chose to hand in her paper early and leave the examination room.

As soon as Jiang Lai arrived outside the examination hall and picked up her silent phone, she saw a lot of messages.

Future Game Producer (5)

Sun Zhengyang: Aaaaaaah! Why is this code wrong?!

Sun Zhengyang: I refuse to accept this!!! The mistake can't be mine! It's the world's fault!!

Sun Zhengyang: My hair is in grave danger!!

Jiang Sen: You're so noisy

Ye Minglong: Can the group owner kick him out?

Sun Zhengyang: Is there no roommate friendship or teammate affection left?

Sun Zhengyang: I am the group owner! I would never kick myself out, no matter who else I kick out!

Sun Zhengyang: No, we can't kick the junior out either! We'll kick you bunch of stinky men out!

Sun Zhengyang: Where's my junior? Waaaaah! I need her comfort!

Shen Yi: I've checked your code for you.

Sun Zhengyang: Thank you so much, expert!

Sun Zhengyang: Where's the junior?

Jiang Lai: Just finished the exam!

Jiang Lai: @Sun Zhengyang, is there something you need, senior?

Jiang Sen: It's okay, junior, don't mind him, he's just acting crazy.

Sun Zhengyang: [The cat is angry]

Jiang Lai had previously promised Sun Zhengyang that she would help with the art for their game, and Sun Zhengyang added her to the group chat. That's how she met Shen Yi's other two roommates. Everyone was actually quite easy to get along with, especially Sun Zhengyang, who was really funny. Sometimes Jiang Lai would chat and joke around with him in the group chat.

Shenyi's team was called "Unnamed Yet," a name chosen by Sun Zhengyang and Jiang Lai, with no objections from the others. For the preliminary round, the topic was open to all, and Shenyi decided to create a 3D puzzle-solving Rubik's Cube game called "Dreamscape."

The name is very cute and refreshing. The concept is that a little person enters a dream after falling asleep, and rotates, translates, and moves a Rubik's Cube in the dream to successfully reach the destination.

Each level has a different mechanism, and the blocks will change accordingly, including various small mechanisms.

Based on the characteristics of their game, Jiang Lai drew several rough drafts for them. The boys unanimously chose a cartoon style, with bright colors, which was quite healing and cute.

The organizers stipulated that the competition format is divided into PC and mobile versions. The mobile version should be a game demo that can be run on a mobile phone, and level-based games should have no less than 2-3 levels.

In other words, for the initial selection, they only need to design two levels.

Future Game Producer (5)

Shenyi: Junior, are you free today? We're planning to have a meeting to discuss the competition.

Jiang Lai: I'm free! When?

Sun Zhengming: Now! Junior, come to the coffee shop! We're all here!

Jiang Lai checked the dormitory group chat and saw that there were no messages yet. She guessed that her roommates were still asleep, so she wasn't in a hurry to go back and replied: "I'll be right there!"

Shenyi: No need to rush

Sun Zhengyang: I ordered a cake for my junior! And a caramel macchiato too!

Sun Zhengyang: It's really delicious! My junior will definitely love it!

Jiang Sen: This person is really noisy. Can we create another group without him?

Sun Zhengyang: [Angry]

Ye Minglong: Junior, remember to come up to the second floor to find us.

Jiang Lai: OK, OK!

-

When Jiang Lai arrived at the coffee shop, she ran into Shen Yi.

"Why isn't the senior going up yet?"

"I've been waiting for you, let's go." Shen Yi led the way for her.

Jiang Lai followed closely behind him.

"Junior!" Sun Zhengyang spotted her immediately and waved to her, "Come sit here!"

Jiang Lai sat down next to him, and Sun Zhengyang pushed the cake and drinks in front of her, saying, "The master ordered these for you. Junior, you eat first and listen to our discussion."

"Uh-huh."

Shen Yi succinctly stated: "The preliminary selection process wasn't too difficult. It mainly required a game demo that could run completely on a mobile device, a gameplay explanation video, and a presentation slide."

"We'll leave the game commentary to Zhengyang; he's quick-witted. Then there's the PowerPoint presentation—" Shen Yi looked around, "Who among you will take on that?"

“We can’t come; running and testing this code would exhaust our brain cells.” Ye Minglong shook his head firmly, and Jiang Sen also refused.

Jiang Lai raised her hand: "Then I'll do it? Anyway, I'm drawing the game graphics, so I can use them in the PowerPoint presentation."

Shen Yi: "Alright, then I'll leave it to you."

He then explained the game's visual requirements to her, and only then did the small gathering end.

-

In the days that followed, Jiang Lai spent her time drawing except for attending classes. Shen Yi seemed to trust her completely, and no matter what drawing she sent him, he would always say, "Okay, great."

This put a lot of pressure on Jiang Lai, who was afraid that her drawing would be a waste of their game.

Jiang Lai was drawing in her dormitory and getting worried.

Tang Li: "Ah Jiang, you've been so busy lately! Are you still drawing for that senior's team?"

"Yeah, it's giving me a lot of headaches. I'm afraid I won't be able to draw well."

Zhao Ying leaned over and took a look. "It's so cute! What are you afraid of!"

"Exactly! Just draw boldly and confidently!" Tang Li also affirmed.

Lee Sang-yeol said, "If you feel annoyed, try doing something else!"

"Sigh, fine." Jiang Lai stopped what she was doing, turned on her phone, and suddenly realized that she hadn't done any live streams recently, so she decided to start one.

Title: Drawing.

—Why are you suddenly going live again?

—Why am I drawing today? It's weird, I'm balding.

—This drawing style is different from before! You always drew sketches before, this one is kind of cute?

—A throwback to my youth? It reminds me of a video the streamer posted a long time ago.

—The drawing is quite unique, but the colors are actually quite soothing.

—Have you been very busy lately? It seems like you haven't been out and about doing business!

Jiang Lai answered questions from the live stream while drawing.

"I'm very busy, busy studying and participating in competitions."

"It was drawn for someone else; it's useful."

"I'll consider doing live streams when I have some free time. The studio is pretty free right now, but Bai Lu and the others are probably quite busy."

After chatting with everyone in the live stream, she felt much better, and her hand movements became smoother. She did a pretty good job drawing today.

After ending the live stream, I sent the artwork to Ye Minglong, who was responsible for processing the source images.

The rest of the time went very smoothly. Jiang Lai had no problems, and the others didn't make any mistakes either.

The week after Shen Yi and his team submitted their game demo to the judging panel, the list of teams participating in the semi-finals was published on the official competition website.

Future Game Producer (5)

Sun Zhengyang: [Screenshot]!!!

Sun Zhengyang: Let's see which team has made it to the finals?

Sun Zhengyang: Oh~ it's us!

Jiang Lai: [Sprinkling flowers]

Jiang Lai: Congratulations to the seniors!

Jiang Sen: Congratulations! Congratulations!

Ye Minglong: That's great!

Shenyi: Very good.

Shenyi: Keep up the good work!

Shenyi: We have received an email from the organizer. The final will be held at Imperial University of Science and Technology, a 48-hour game jam.

Jiang Lai: ??? You didn't tell me the final was like this.

Shen Yi: Sorry, I didn't know that before either.

Sun Zhengyang: This is outrageous! It's never been like this before! We just upload the game, go through the judging process, and that's it. Are we going to go this far this year?

Jiang Sen: It's alright. Now that we've been selected, we can just relax.

Ye Minglong: It's alright, we'll do our best.

Jiang Lai felt utterly hopeless; this was no ordinary difficulty.

Game Jam is an activity that explores and develops the core gameplay of games to the extreme. The rules require participants to develop a game demo within 48 hours based on a specified theme, covering aspects such as product planning and project initiation, art design, and numerical settings, and to do so under numerous constraints.

"Never mind," Jiang Lai comforted herself. Anyway, she was just going to draw, and other things weren't her concern. She just needed to complete the drawing according to the requirements given by Shen Yi and the others.

-

The final round was scheduled very quickly, just one week after the preliminary results were announced.

Jiang Lai had to set off for Imperial University of Science and Technology with Shen Yi and the others on Friday. The organizers had booked hotels for all participating teams and required them to check in. There was also a dedicated space for game development, complete with all the digital tools such as computers and graphics tablets. As long as everyone arrived, there would be no problem.

Therefore, Jiang Lai only brought toiletries and a change of clothes, and nothing else.

"It's not easy for five people to get a taxi, so how about we just take the subway? It's quite close anyway," Sun Zhengyang suggested. "What do you guys think?"

“Sure!” Jiang Lai also thought that taking the subway was faster than taking a taxi.

"Waaaaah, junior, you're so supportive of me! How can I not love you!"

Jiang Lai politely declined, "Then there's no need!"

In the end, everyone took the subway to Imperial College London, contacted the person in charge there, and then went to the hotel that the official had booked.

"How strange! It's only a 45-minute subway ride from the school, yet I'm staying in a hotel." Sun Zhengyang stood in the hotel lobby, looking around with his things in hand.

"No, you look like a mongrel!" Jiang Sen slapped him on the shoulder. "Don't embarrass Imperial University!"

"I know, I know!"

Shen Yi and Ye Minglong went to check in, while Jiang Lai, Sun Zhengyang, and Jiang Sen waited for them.

The two returned shortly afterward.

Shen Yi: "We'll share a room, junior, you'll have a room all to yourself."

"Ok."

“Don’t worry, all three of our rooms are on the same floor. You can come to us directly if you need anything,” Shen Yi said. “Zhengyang and I are next to you.”

"Okay, I see."

Jiang Lai followed them back to her room, then closed the door to rest.