She became a heartthrob among internet celebrities.

The next morning, after washing up, Jiang Lai ate the breakfast Shen Yi had bought for her, and then waited with them in the lobby. Once all the participating teams had arrived, everyone followed the person in charge to the lecture hall of Imperial University of Science and Technology.

Shen Yi was the team leader, and he walked at the front. Because Jiang Lai was a girl, the boys took care of her and let her walk second.

They followed the other groups and sat down in their designated seats in the auditorium.

There were also teams from other schools around. Everyone had gathered together because they liked the game. Although they were competitors, the atmosphere was still good, with people chatting and laughing.

Jiang Lai dressed very casually today. As an artist, she couldn't be of much use for much at the moment, so she chose to relax as much as possible.

The participating teams quickly entered the venue, followed by the judges, who included independent game developers, game company executives, and of course, teachers, experts, and scholars in the field.

When the time came, the host first gave a speech, thanking the sponsors and praising the organizers, before introducing the fifteen participating teams, encouraging the contestants, and then letting the judges take the stage.

He was a man in a suit and tie, who said, "The theme for this limited edition is 'mystery'."

Participating teams need to create a game demo that fits the theme within 48 hours. Although it's said to be 48 hours, the actual time is even shorter, as the judging is the afternoon after tomorrow, and everyone needs to rest tonight. Of course, teams can also choose to work through the night in the studio.

The competition will generally involve everyone creating a demo today and before tomorrow afternoon, followed by on-site setup, game testing, and discussions and demonstrations in the afternoon.

During the judging phase, the order of presentation was determined by drawing lots on-site. First, representatives presented their game demos, and the judging panel scored them. The core gameplay accounted for 50% of the scoring criteria, followed by art style, market potential, and overall completion, which each accounted for 50%.

After the top five are selected, a second round of discussion will be held, where the main creators of the game will take the stage to present their answers to the judges' questions. Then, the top three will be selected and awards will be presented.

After explaining the rules, the male judge smiled and said, "Now, let the volunteers take each participating team to their designated room!"

-

Shen Yi and his team were assigned to Studio 6, which had a large blackboard, paper and pens, a high-end computer, and a digital drawing tablet.

"Alright, the supplies are pretty complete." Jiang Sen casually pulled out a chair and sat down.

Shen Yi wrote the word "mystery" on the blackboard and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Jiang Sen: "I think we need to determine the game genre first. Is it a puzzle game or something else? Actually, that's a very broad range."

"Agreed, this is a trap. If you choose wrong, you can easily fall into it." Ye Minglong was also a little confused.

Sun Zhengyang: "Hey, if we can't figure it out, others might be just as confused as we are! Let's go out and ask around!"

Game jams do not prohibit communication and discussion between players.

As Sun Zhengyang was about to leave, he called out to Jiang Lai, "Junior, want to come along?"

Jiang Lai glanced at Shen Yi, somewhat eager to try.

Shen Yi saw through her thoughts and said, "It's alright, you can go."

Jiang Lai and Sun Zhengyang went out alone.

"Senior, is it inappropriate for us to come out like this?"

“What’s wrong with that? Let them think about these brain-teasing things; we’ll just follow orders.” Sun Zhengyang said furtively, “Let’s go find out about the other teams and see how good our chances of winning are!”

"Ok!"

So the two of them openly strolled around outside the various rooms, sometimes even joining in the fun and discussing the questions with others.

Regarding the theme of "mystery," the other teams actually faced similar problems, with most preferring text-based puzzle games.

"It seems everyone is on the same starting line," Sun Zhengyang said.

"agree."

"Then let's go back!"

"I'm going to the restroom, you can go back first, senior."

"it is good."

Jiang Lai went to the restroom alone. When she came out after washing her hands, she almost bumped into someone at the corner. The person was wearing a black and white checkered jacket over a gray sweatshirt. He was very tall, about 1.85 meters, and looked quite good.

"I'm sorry," Jiang Lai said.

"It's nothing," the man smiled.

Jiang Lai walked away.

001: "That was a romanceable character, but I guess you don't care."

"Yes, I need to learn from the Sea King and release some potential targets."

"6. So they used to be in your fishpond? That makes sense, considering you only fished sporadically."

"Okay, stop talking."

-

When they returned from their trip, Shen Yi and his team had basically finalized the direction of the game.

“There are two options. One is a story-driven puzzle game. These text-based narrative games either need an engaging story or innovative gameplay.” Shen Yi wrote two points on the blackboard.

"It's a bit difficult to make the story engaging. We have too little time, and it's quite challenging to make the story novel and interesting." Jiang Sen prefers to make a breakthrough in gameplay.

“That makes sense.” Shen Yi continued, “In addition, we will do a similar game to the one we submitted in the preliminary round. Last time it was a Rubik’s Cube, this time we will change it to a moving obstacle course.”

“Doing something similar would be much faster, but the judges might get visually fatigued,” Ye Minglong said. “Then I think it’s better to choose a text decryption type.”

Sun Zhengyang: "In short, we need to control our workload and not try to be perfect, otherwise we might not get any results at all."

“Zhengyang is right. Our top priority is to ensure the game runs smoothly before considering anything else.” Shen Yi nodded. “So, there are five of us. Let’s vote on which direction to take, and then we can discuss other things.”

Jiang Lai chose a text-based puzzle game. "One reason is that a story-driven puzzle game will definitely stay on theme. Another reason is the art style. I'm the only one drawing. If it were a level-based game, it would require more frames, and I might not be able to finish within the time limit. With puzzle games, most scenes can be reused, which will make it easier for me. My seniors are all programmers, so it might be easier for them to innovate in terms of mechanics and gameplay?"

Jiang Sen and Ye Minglong also chose the plot-based decryption option. Regardless of what Shen Yi and Sun Zhengyang chose, the theme was already determined.

Shen Yi: "Then let's solve the plot mystery..."

-

After a morning of discussion, the story was basically finalized. Shen Yi tentatively named it "White Fall".

The story is about the death of a girl in the class. Whether it was suicide or homicide is currently uncertain. Players need to unravel the mystery and find clues and the truth in different places.

Each time you enter the game, your assigned identity is random; you could be a detective or a suspect. Once in the game, you have complete freedom of action. If you believe you are the murderer, you can even hide clues. These clues will affect the story's development. Players need to determine whether the girl committed suicide or was murdered. If it was murder, you need to find evidence to prove the killer. Successfully identifying any character completes the game, but only by successfully identifying the true culprit can you trigger the true ending.

The game's innovation lies in adding two perspectives: the surface world is the player's view after the girl's death, while the hidden world is the girl's perspective. Players need to discern the differences between the same information in the two worlds, unraveling the mystery to uncover the truth.

Jiang Lai only needs to draw some common scenes in university life, such as dormitories, classrooms, and forums, which is not very difficult.

Because the story is quite depressing, everyone opted for a more cartoonish art style.

"Junior, because time is tight this time, just do your best." Shen Yi said to her, "It's okay, don't put too much pressure on yourself."

"I just need to draw. The main thing is to see how innovative you guys are in how you play. I'm fine, but you need to work harder, senior!"

Shen Yi: "We will do our best."

-

Imperial College London is actually quite generous; they provide lunch and other meals. The set meals are placed in the lecture hall, and you can go and get them if you want. In addition to lunch, there are also afternoon tea snacks.

Shen Yi and the others ate quickly and then continued working, with Jiang Lai joining them in working on the deadline.

Perhaps knowing that the competition would be a significant drain on the players' mental and physical strength, the food in the hall was almost always available, with a plentiful dinner and milk tea and barbecue for late-night snacks.

They could have chosen to go back to the hotel to rest, but due to time constraints, most people opted to stay up all night.

Jiang Lai was the first of the five to finish her work, but it was already past midnight when she finished.

"Seniors, do you think there's anything that needs improvement?" Jiang Lai finished drawing the diagram according to their requirements.

Once all four of them felt that there were no more problems, Jiang Lai finally relaxed.

Seeing her yawning repeatedly, Shen Yi asked, "Do you want me to take you back to your hotel to rest?"

"Forget it, I'll just take a nap here. Going back would be a waste of time," Jiang Lai said, indicating her refusal.

"Alright," Shen Yi didn't insist. "Then you can rest over there?"

"Mmm!" Jiang Lai went to a corner, leaned against a chair, and fell asleep.

Jiang Sen said, "This junior is quite fast. Is she really not studying art?"

“A genuine bigwig in the finance industry,” Sun Zhengyang replied.

"Damn." Ye Minglong glanced at Shen Yi, who was covering Jiang Lai with a coat. "What's going on, Master?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sun Zhengyang said smugly, "Turns out I'm the only one who's truly clear-headed!"

"Come on, hurry up and get things done. Is the UI and all that stuff finished?"

While Jiang Lai was asleep, Shen Yi and the other three were still working hard on writing code.