When discussing the game ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ many people fell into a misconception, believing that skipping challenges was definitely wrong.

In that game, this was indeed the case, because if you skipped challenges, you’d have to make up for them later—suffering was inevitable sooner or later.

But when applied to the broader category of action games, this assertion doesn’t hold.

Is skipping challenges definitely wrong? Of course not.

Games, after all, are a form of entertainment, and everyone derives pleasure from games in different ways.

Some people want to constantly refine their skills in games, enjoying the sense of achievement that comes from defeating bosses with pure ability. Others are naturally less dexterous with slower reactions, but they still find joy in winning by making clever use of game mechanics.

Overemphasizing any single type of enjoyment is actually one-sided.

‘Turn Back to Shore’ could be said to have reached the pinnacle in the first aspect, but that doesn’t mean there’s only one approach.

Yan Qi felt he could dig deeper into the second point.

This also perfectly aligned with what Li Yada had said earlier: “Mr. Pei believes that one shouldn’t always cater to players’ superficial habits and ideas, but should strive to discover their deeper desires.”

Skipping challenges was itself one of players’ deeper desires. Making good challenge-skipping mechanisms could also be a worthwhile innovation.

“Next comes the game’s story background.”

“To showcase the different characteristics of the four systems, they must be able to target different monsters. So, besides human enemies, there should also be demons, fiends, and ghosts.”

“Demons, fiends, and ghosts are three different types of monsters, and in terms of capturing demons, subduing fiends, and exorcising ghosts, Daoist arts, Buddhist dharma, Confucian arts, and military strategy would definitely have different approaches and emphases.”

“A purely fictional world setting could work, or choosing an appropriate historical period would also be fine.”

“But the overall story background must certainly be an era of rampant monsters and frequent warfare, and definitely a time when all four schools—Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Military Strategy—are flourishing and in fierce competition.”

“Hmm…”

“If I were to choose a historical prototype, the Wei-Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties period seems most suitable!”

Although Yan Qi hadn’t specifically studied history, this historical knowledge was common sense.

The Wei-Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties period was a historically prolonged era of division and continual warfare.

Major events during this period included the Five Barbarians’ invasion of China and the suppression of Buddhism, among other landmark events, which aligned perfectly with Yan Qi’s conception of the coexistence of the four schools: Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Military Strategy.

And in a world of frequent warfare, the prevalence of various demons, fiends, and ghosts also became very reasonable.

“However, choosing this historical period as the story background presents a problem in selecting a slice of time.”

“Recognizable historical figures can’t string together a cohesive story, while figures who could connect the narrative aren’t well-known.”

“How should the plot be constructed?”

“I’ll have to create an original story background.”

Yan Qi quickly encountered a new problem.

The saying goes that troubled times produce heroes, but sometimes troubled times just produce trouble.

The reason the Three Kingdoms period has been repeatedly adapted in various literary works and productions is because this historical period is rich in storylines with distinctive character personalities, making the subject inherently suitable.

But historical periods like the Wei-Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms lack many landmark events and famous heroic figures, making them less suitable for romanticized adaptations.

If Yan Qi were to choose this historical period for his game’s story background, should he include historical figures from this era?

If he did include them, should he strictly adhere to historical accuracy?

If he followed history, these figures lacked distinctive images and were difficult to differentiate. Expending great effort to research historical materials might ultimately be wasted, as players might not appreciate it.

Moreover, historically speaking, these warring periods lasted too long. If the plot didn’t progress to unification, it would seem strange, making it appear that the protagonist’s efforts were fruitless and leaving the whole story without a proper conclusion. If the plot did progress to unification, the time frame might shift inappropriately toward the Sui-Tang era.

If he didn’t follow history and made substantial modifications and recreations…

Then he might be criticized for not respecting history—why not just create something original?

After much consideration, Yan Qi felt that directly creating a fictional history would be better.

Of course, this historical period wasn’t entirely useless—it could serve as material for original creation.

Starting from scratch would make it troublesome to develop many landmark events and details of the social environment in the game.

But by referencing this historical period and incorporating many key elements into the game, the entire story background could become more substantial.

There could be many core conflicts in this story, such as:

Multiple fragmented countries in constant warfare, with people unable to make a living;

Border invasions by foreign tribes, pillaging and killing, creating both internal and external crises;

Hatreds and resentments spawned by war, leading to rampant demons, fiends, and ghosts;

Competition among the four schools of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Military Strategy, their subjugation of supernatural creatures and participation in wars between nations having profound influences on events;

The excessive prosperity of Buddhism triggering a series of anti-Buddhist movements;

Among the four schools, there would be truly enlightened masters who want to save the common people from suffering, but also degenerates who incite warfare, seize power, and pursue hidden agendas.

In short, it was all about one thing: chaos!

In this chaotic world, the protagonist would be an ordinary person determined to slay demons and monsters, continuously learning combat abilities from all four schools, honing martial skills, eliminating supernatural threats, and becoming involved in wars between nations and against foreign tribes, getting caught up in a series of major events.

Based on the player’s choices throughout the story, the narrative would lead to many different endings.

‘Turn Back to Shore’ had a relatively clear story background, so it had fewer endings. But for the game Yan Qi was conceiving with its complex background, two or three endings clearly wouldn’t be enough.

He considered separating different aspects and then combining them.

First, the state of national unification, with three possibilities: a wise emperor achieving great unification; an ambitious figure achieving great unification; or unification failing just when it seemed imminent, plunging the world back into division.

Second, the state of foreign tribes, with two possibilities: successfully repelling the tribes and driving them away; or failing to repel them, resulting in vast territories being lost and many civilians massacred.

Third, the state of the four schools: possibly one school flourishing and dominating, or some declining while others coexisted.

Finally, the protagonist’s fate, with four possibilities: becoming an emperor or the true ruler behind the throne; becoming a wandering warrior hunting demons and monsters; becoming an incarnation of demons and the lord of the dark world; or becoming a buddha, immortal, or sage of one of the four schools, expanding its influence.

Based on the player’s journey through the game, choices at key points, and whether they completed ultimate challenge quests for various factions, the ending would be a combination of these possibilities.

The game would encourage players to play through multiple times. Simultaneously, it would feature different equipment affixes, set bonuses, secret teachings from the four schools, and fortune systems, allowing players to farm equipment and create custom builds in the late game, giving them different goals to strive for.

Of course, to better facilitate farming, an endless mode for repeatedly challenging bosses would also be essential.

As Yan Qi developed his ideas and recorded them, he suddenly realized he had already written so much content.

Moreover, the game’s overall framework was already completely established!

Starting from difficulty, trying to change the approach of ‘Turn Back to Shore’ and taking a different path, Yan Qi was surprised to find that the derived combat system, story background, and other content all fell into place naturally and smoothly!

Looking back and reviewing this design plan, Yan Qi was somewhat surprised and could hardly believe he had designed it himself.

This game gave him a feeling of enlightenment, just like when he first saw ‘Turn Back to Shore’ and ‘Eternal Cycle’!

“Sister Li wasn’t lying to me—this method really works!”

“Looking at the problem from a different angle, naturally sparked inspiration when I worked through it this way.”

Upon reflection, Yan Qi realized that Li Yada hadn’t actually told him specific design methods, but had provided a correct general direction.

This general direction was: not to imitate ‘Turn Back to Shore,’ but to forge a spiraling upward path that both retained strengths and created differences.

Finding different entry points, working to uncover players’ deeper inner pleasures, making good use of traditional Chinese culture as a story background…

Yan Qi had applied every one of these points mentioned by Li Yada in his game design, and the effect was excellent!

By letting his thoughts expand slightly in this direction, Yan Qi naturally produced a game design document.

Now Yan Qi could say with certainty that this game was completely different from ‘Turn Back to Shore.’ Whether it succeeded or not, it would at least be a very special game.

However, the difficulty of developing such a game was also foreseeable.

Different weapons, the four auxiliary systems of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Military Strategy, various enemies including demons, fiends, ghosts, and humans, different scenes designed around key events…

These all represented substantial workload.

Compared to the mobile game ‘Blade of Empire’ he had developed before, the difficulty had increased many times over.

How many people would be needed, how much development funding would be required—these were all headaches for Yan Qi.

Despite anticipating these problems, Yan Qi’s attitude had become even more determined than before. He was extremely eager to create this game, even if it meant going broke—it had to be made!

Because when he imagined the state of the game after completion, Yan Qi felt very excited.

Even if players didn’t appreciate it, he felt that as a game developer, being able to create such a game would be worth it, even if it meant financial ruin!

What if he couldn’t make it in the end?

Then he would beg investors. In any case, Yan Qi couldn’t possibly write such a proposal and then set it aside, remaining indifferent.

“Never mind, I’m going to make this new game!”

“Hmm… there’s another question: what would be a good name for this game?” Yan Qi fell into deep thought again.