Chapter 10: The Whole Crowd Ignites!

《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》

Along with the upgrades to audio and art, Su Cheng had also added the online multiplayer feature that so many players longed for.

Since the game was not officially launched yet, Su Cheng and Li Lei connected over a local area network.

For the live demo, Su Cheng picked a few characters he was best with to face off against Li Lei.

After he chained together a gorgeous combo, a massive “K.O.” flashed onto the screen.

Combined with the explosive audio effects, it drew cheers from the entire crowd.

Excitement for 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 set virtually the entire venue ablaze.

The six judges looked at one another in disbelief.

Was this damn game really made in seven days?

And it was this popular with the youth?

Old Tang^[1], in particular, frowned harder than anyone.

Next was the formal review and scoring phase from the judges.

The host invited the game creators up to the stage, where they stood in a row.

The judges dismissed the other games with just a couple of perfunctory remarks, placing all their focus on 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 and 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》.

“《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 very cleverly borrows an established narrative framework. It’s an enduring, classic theme in the market, and very few people manage to put this much depth into it. I think it was done quite well, especially the gameplay mechanics, which are a major highlight.”

“Making a fighting game this fun is actually quite challenging. It’s clear that student Su put genuine effort into it. But what I admire even more is his original storyline. The plot construction and detailing are an inspired touch, vastly enhancing player immersion and the overall experience.”

Tang Zhengfeng scoffed coldly, saying nothing.

Shi Xiaoqiang borrowed the story of the Three Kingdoms.

Su Cheng created his from scratch.

Since when did an original story deserve praise?

If you liked writing stories, writing novels was probably a better fit; why make games?

Next came the evaluations from the two judges representing gaming companies.

They would offer professional opinions from a commercial perspective.

“My initial impression of 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 is that it carries a rich atmosphere of war. The gameplay and mechanics genuinely transport players back to that era, greatly enhancing player interaction.”

The two gaming company executives could tell at a glance that the mechanics of 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 weren’t just designed to boost realism.

Although it was free to play, it was primarily a vehicle to drive player microtransactions.

On the other hand, 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 was a pay-to-play, premium buy-to-own title.

Given the climate of the gaming market, sales wouldn’t be great, and the problem of piracy was impossible to solve.

Of course.

Both games were well above the bar of excellence; the developers had simply approached them from different angles and motivations.

The two judges certainly knew Shi Xiaoqiang’s background, and neither wanted to offend Old Shi.

So while they showered 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 with endless praise, when it came to scoring, they gave both games equal marks.

The two executives just wanted to play both sides and avoid conflict.

Their stance was clear.

Whatever your academy chooses to do is your business; we aren’t getting involved.

For a moment,

the score was deadlocked.

The judges’ scores accounted for only ninety percent of the final tally.

The school’s students held the remaining ten percent.

Old Zhang and Old Tang started bickering endlessly again over rallying votes.

In this situation, the representative for the academy would come down to a choice between Shi Xiaoqiang and Su Cheng.

The other game developers on stage wore awkward looks.

Knowing full well this had nothing to do with them, yet still being forced to stand on stage as mere decorative foliage^[2] felt awful.

But some didn’t see it that way.

Standing on the front lines of the drama and watching two faculty advisors duke it out at point-blank range was exhilarating beyond words.

Shi Xiaoqiang casually sized up Su Cheng.

Deep doubts crept into his mind.

Seriously?

A game like 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 can even compare to mine?

To top it off,

those two judges from the gaming companies had actually given them the exact same score.

Wasn’t that total bullshit?

From every single angle, 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 completely blew 《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 out of the water.

Wang Yuting, Shen Manman, and Li Lei were sweating bullets for the two of them.

Tang Zhengfeng relentlessly attacked Su Cheng’s game to ensure 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 would represent the academy.

Zhang Shunping countered with sound, well-reasoned arguments.

Exquisite visuals.

Electrifying sound effects.

A fleshed-out plot and compelling character designs.

How did any of that make it a garbage game?

Neither side would yield.

In the end, Old Zhang was the one to deliver the final word.

Zhang Shunping picked up the microphone. “Student Shi Xiaoqiang, I have just one question for you.”

“Please go ahead, Professor,” Shi Xiaoqiang replied politely.

“Who is on your development team?”

“My team includes…” Shi Xiaoqiang introduced the classmates beside him one by one.

Old Tang was a little bewildered.

Only Su Cheng and Li Lei had developed 《King of Fighters》.

Shi Xiaoqiang had nine people standing beside him.

What was the meaning of this?

Was he trying to win sympathy with numbers?

“Since the planning and art were handled by this group, my question is: who wrote the code?”

Shi Xiaoqiang never expected Zhang Shunping to ask that.

“Because the workload was too immense, I actually brought in an outsourced team,” Shi Xiaoqiang answered.

Tang Zhengfeng chimed in at that moment. “Professor Zhang, the rules don’t forbid outsourcing, do they? The sound effects and art for 《King of Fighters》 were outsourced as well.”

Old Zhang had already investigated everything beforehand.

Ignoring Tang Zhengfeng, he continued questioning Shi Xiaoqiang: “From what I’ve learned, the team you brought in was actually pulled straight from one of your father’s project divisions, wasn’t it?”

The moment those words left his mouth, the entire hall erupted into an uproar.

Outsourcing was indeed permitted under the rules.

However, there was another rule: the main codebase had to be developed by the entrants themselves.

Shi Xiaoqiang had brought in elite programmers from his own father’s company as outside help while barely writing a few lines of code himself. How could that be justified?

He had hardly written any code on his own.

Shi Xiaoqiang’s background was already high-profile, and it stirred up no small amount of controversy in the room.

The father was a gaming tycoon, and when the son entered a competition, he mobilized troops straight from his father’s company, every one of them an industry elite.

What they built was the backbone, the absolute core of the game.

Could this still even be called a competition?

“According to the regulations, Shi Xiaoqiang’s team should be disqualified. He lacks the competence to compete and cannot represent the highest caliber of our academy.”

“We cannot send a game like this to compete nationally. We would become a laughingstock!”

“And those of us advisors who selected 《Romance of the Three Kingdoms》 would leave behind a legacy of shame, forever plagued by suspicion!”

Who could have guessed that the card Old Zhang pulled out would turn out to be an unbeatable trump card^[3]!

You want to mess with me? Then I can dig up dirt and take you down too!

The tide in the room turned in an instant, and votes poured in to support Su Cheng.

“You… you…”

Tang Zhengfeng was so furious his face turned green.

“Old Zhang, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“How did I do anything on purpose? I’m simply sticking to the facts.”

“Professor Tang, what are you implying, then?”

Tang Zhengfeng wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t find a single viable point to stand on.

The students cheered. It wasn’t entirely because they thought Su Cheng’s game was great; plenty of them were just thrilled to see a big shot like Shi Xiaoqiang eat dirt.

The other two faculty judges thought to themselves, This isn’t what Old Tang told us!

If they still gave Shi Xiaoqiang high marks, people would genuinely suspect them of taking some kind of under-the-table payoff.

They had to give Su Cheng high marks as well.

In the end.

《King of Fighters: The Gathering of Clouds》 emerged victorious and was set to represent Yezhou University in the “Supernova”!