The storyline might seem a bit awkward, but it perfectly matched the game type of “Fitness Battle,” so players wouldn’t find it strange or uncomfortable.

“Fitness Battle” was a casual game with a cartoon-style art direction, so the overall tone was just like that.

This opening plot personified fat as a demon and transformed eight fitness enthusiasts into warriors, using a traditional warrior-versus-demon story background. While very conventional, when combined with fitness, it felt quite innovative.

Moreover, this type of storyline also came across as rather humorous, with a kind of dry wit that helped players feel more relaxed and less serious.

The opening animation was all done with real-time rendering, but because of the game’s art style, it didn’t look crude at all. Instead, it had a uniquely cute appeal.

Next came the formal storyline progression of the game.

In the story, players would take on the role of the “Chosen One.” According to prophecy, the “Chosen One” was the key to resealing the Fat Demon. Only by working together with the “Chosen One” could the warriors persevere, successfully drive away the Fat Demon’s avatars from their bodies, and finally confront the Fat Demon with perfect physiques.

The game was played from a first-person perspective. As the “Chosen One,” players would accompany the eight warriors to different locations like glaciers and deserts. After driving away the Fat Demon’s avatars parasitizing their bodies, they would defeat the rulers of these different regions who had also been parasitized by the Fat Demon’s avatars, and finally defeat the Fat Demon through a sealing ritual.

Characters were unlocked in a specific order. At the beginning, players needed to choose one of two initial characters. After training this character to meet certain conditions, they would choose one from three more characters, then one from another three, and so on.

Players didn’t need to train all eight characters to complete the story mode—completing four was enough. However, after finishing the story mode, there were more challenging difficulties, and to get characters to their perfect physique state required even more training.

Qiao Liang decided to follow the storyline first, progressing through the chapters one by one.

The first chapter was more of a tutorial level, set on a verdant plain where players fought relatively simple fat monsters.

During combat, the character would guide players to perform various fitness moves while explaining the essentials of these movements.

Most of these exercises were performed on a yoga mat, such as high leg raises, squats, push-ups, crunches, and some more difficult moves like burpees or other strange-looking exercises.

It was evident that these movements were designed by professionals and would genuinely help with fitness.

Qiao Liang pulled out his long-neglected yoga mat and laid it in the living room. He cast his tablet screen to the TV, then followed the instructions to prop up his tablet with a stand so the camera was pointing at him, and began exercising.

“Strange, how does it detect my movements?”

Qiao Liang was somewhat curious. Although the game did indeed use the tablet’s camera and required players to always stay within its field of view, could a camera of this quality and sensitivity really determine whether a player’s movements were correct?

Out of curiosity, Qiao Liang deliberately slacked off a bit, doing a few particularly incorrect movements.

He discovered that, clearly, it couldn’t.

As long as he was moving, regardless of whether his form was correct, the system would count it as completing the movement. Only if he left the camera’s view or stood completely still would the system detect it and pause to wait for him.

“This seems a bit half-baked…”

“But it’s quite reasonable, actually.”

At first, Qiao Liang felt disappointed that his carefully executed movements and just randomly moving around had the same effect—what was the point?

But now he was no longer thinking purely from a player’s perspective. From a game designer’s standpoint, this design was likely a necessary compromise.

First, this was a mobile game. Players would be using various devices, from flagship phones costing several thousand yuan to those costing just a thousand or even a few hundred. To ensure the game could run on most phones, they had to accommodate the performance of the lowest-end devices.

Some phones had such low-resolution front cameras that it would be extremely difficult to precisely track player movements.

Besides, while technology for accurately tracking player movements through cameras did exist, it required professional cameras. Whether a phone camera could achieve this level of precision was still unknown.

It was possible that they had invested significant effort in developing such technology without success, which would have seriously delayed the game’s release date.

So this design relied entirely on players’ self-discipline. If players were lazy and wanted to cheat, they could; if they wanted to train seriously, they could certainly see results.

Judged by mobile game standards, this was actually passable, barely acceptable.

Qiao Liang followed the movements in the game for a while and was soon drenched in sweat.

Although they were all very simple exercises, like planks, crunches, or kneeling on the ground with elbows and knees touching the floor while extending arms and legs, after doing them for ten-plus minutes at the game’s pace and timing, he felt quite fatigued.

“It seems easier to stick with than apps, or is that just my imagination?”

Qiao Liang had bought the yoga mat because he wanted to exercise at home in his living room, but after trying a few times, the mat had gathered dust ever since.

The reason was simple: he couldn’t stick with it.

The Tenda Life APP actually had a Tuoguan Fitness module with videos from professional trainers that users could follow, and the AiLiDao website had even more courses like aerobic fitness, but Qiao Liang had tried them all and invariably gave up halfway.

In contrast, with “Fitness Battle,” although the exercises were broadly similar to those in fitness apps, Qiao Liang had persisted for quite a while and still felt engaged, thinking he could handle another chapter.

Reflecting on this, Qiao Liang realized it was clearly the special effect of the “game” as a medium.

Games were an interactive art form that emphasized player feedback.

With a video, apart from fast-forwarding or rewinding, you couldn’t do anything else, and there was no clear goal accumulation after completing one round of exercise.

Games were different. They had colorful visuals and flashy attack effects. Every time players defeated a monster, cleared a level, beat a chapter, or watched a cutscene, they gained a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

So compared to exercising with videos, it was easier to stick with.

“Completing the first chapter rewards some token currency, and it seems I can also get a free lottery chance.”

“Just two more small levels to go.”

“Hmm, better rest first.”

Qiao Liang wanted to continue, but his long-inactive arms and legs couldn’t keep up.

The game also imposed limits on exercise duration. First, it reminded players to hydrate, then to rest, and the third time it would lock them out completely, forcing a break before they could continue challenging.

This was clearly to prevent some players from getting too into it and overexerting themselves.

Qiao Liang exited the story chapter and returned to the game’s main interface.

Interestingly, after finishing a workout, the game character would summarize the day’s exercise, such as how many sets of each movement were completed, then convert this into calories burned.

Afterward, transparent bubbles could be seen flying out from the character’s body, and the character’s physique changed slightly, representing a small portion of the Fat Demon’s avatar being expelled.

“This game is quite interesting,” Qiao Liang couldn’t help but remark.

While the idea of combining gaming and fitness was innovative, like all other games, the idea was just a foundation. What mattered more were the details needed to realize this concept.

“Fitness Battle” excelled in every detail, from the art style, character design, modeling, and movements to the detailed explanations and guidance for various fitness exercises, and finally to the storyline packaging and gameplay design. Everything reflected a meticulous attitude.

“Hm? What’s this?”

Qiao Liang suddenly noticed an inconspicuous button in the bottom right corner of the main interface: Upgrade to Professional Version.

“There’s a professional version? What makes it professional?”

Intrigued, Qiao Liang immediately clicked to check.

After clicking, an information page popped up.

“Purchase the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack and connect it to your phone via Bluetooth to upgrade to the Professional Version content.”

“In the Professional Version of ‘Fitness Battle,’ you will get:”

“Dozens of professional fitness exercises matched with the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack;”

“Precise detection of movement range by the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack, correction of incorrect postures, and better movement guidance;”

“Double Calorie Coin acquisition;”

“Professional Version Gift Package, including ten random rare items.”

“Click the button below to jump to the purchase page.”

Qiao Liang was momentarily stunned, then suddenly understood: “Ah? So this is what they were planning!”

“The game that Manager Chang mentioned at the launch event, the one that comes with the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack, really is ‘Fitness Battle’!”

Qiao Liang instantly understood the game’s strategy.

The regular version of “Fitness Battle” was designed to attract as many players as possible, even if they were all free players, to increase the game’s popularity.

Ordinary players could just do a few random exercises on their yoga mats each day, collect some in-game items, and that would be it.

But for those with higher demands, those professional users who wanted to experience the best effects of this game, they would need to get the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack.

According to the description, the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack could detect player movements and clearly know how much weight players were using, how long it took to complete a set of movements, and whether the movements were getting slower, so it could more accurately track the player’s training status.

Additionally, the Professional Version would also gift extra packages and offer the advantage of double Calorie Coin acquisition.

This double Calorie Coin acquisition was clearly designed to prevent people from deliberately farming tokens with the phone version.

Calorie Coins were earned through exercise. In the phone version, movements didn’t need to be so precise—just moving around a bit would count as completing an exercise. If both versions earned Calorie Coins at the same rate, many people might choose not to connect the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack and just play the basic version to grind for characters or items.

This would obviously go against the design philosophy of encouraging players to exercise.

Farming tokens wasn’t really an issue, but if it affected the fitness experience, that would defeat the purpose.

So, while limiting players’ exercise time to prevent overexertion, allowing the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack to earn double Calorie Coins could prevent people from casually exercising just to farm Calorie Coins. It also served as a benefit for players who purchased the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack, promoting sales more effectively.

Qiao Liang had watched the launch event and knew about the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack.

But at that time, he wasn’t particularly interested, assuming it was just an ordinary home fitness equipment not much different from what was sold online, so he hadn’t considered buying it.

But now, with the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack integrated with “Fitness Battle,” it suddenly became something entirely different!

Qiao Liang was suddenly very curious about what the experience of playing “Fitness Battle” with the Smart Fitness Clothing Rack would be like.