Chapter 16: Making a new game and Popularity of Pokemon!
After lunch, John returned to his room, eager to begin designing the Happy Farm game.
Entering the virtual space, the environment was no longer sterile. In a pure white expanse, John set up an area identical to his real-world room. Elsewhere, the Pokémon he designed moved like lively sprites, injecting vitality into the space.
"The virtual farm space needs to be set up first."
John rubbed his forehead. While designing games for others often involved handling various creative and technical challenges, constructing the virtual world itself posed the greatest difficulty for him.
Although Happy Farm was a small game, it still required its own virtual world to function properly.
According to the system, John could design a basic virtual world. This time, he opted not to copy the pre-made world from "Second World" but instead practice his skills by building one from scratch.
With the virtual world framework in place, John proceeded to set up various functionalities and hundreds of plant varieties for the farm.
After contemplating, John spent another 200 points to acquire ranch and fishery information, aiming to integrate both pastoral and fishing elements into the game.
"Let's get started!"
Organizing his thoughts, John concentrated, and the surrounding environment dissolved like bubbles. Countless symbolic codes sprang to life under his command.
Before him, a swirling vortex of space began forming quietly, with countless codes integrating into the space according to John's instructions. This was the virtual world that would host Happy Farm.
His current task was to establish the rules of this virtual world, tailoring it to best suit a farming game setting.
Next to this nascent virtual world was the copy of "Second World" that John had made earlier.
Time seemed to blur in the virtual space, where day and night held no distinction. By the time John realized it was evening in the real world, he was still deeply engrossed in constructing the virtual world, until Grace's arrival interrupted him with concern.
"John, why were you so hard to wake up? I knocked on the door for so long."
Emerging from the virtual space, John saw his mother looking at him with a mix of worry and relief, her hand on his forehead.
"Why are you sweating so much? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Mom, I'm fine, just lost in game design thoughts."
John forced a smile, wiping the sweat from his brow. He stood up and stretched, saying, "See, I'm perfectly healthy. Let's go downstairs for dinner, Mom."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Why would I joke about my health?"
As they descended the stairs together, John marvelled at the challenges of constructing a virtual world.
Reflecting on how he could design dozens of Pokémon in an afternoon, yet a small game's virtual world construction had consumed his entire day, John estimated he needed at least another three or four hours to complete it.
Meanwhile, the others had finished their day's work and appeared in high spirits.
"Brother, come see!" Lily waved enthusiastically as John approached.
"What's up?"
Curious, John peered at the screen displayed on Lily's phone.
Upon closer inspection, it showed the top trending searches on Weibo. "Seaside City Pokémon" was leading as a surprise hit, with topics related to it firmly holding the top positions. Notably, Lily's battle video and Pokémon information uploads followed closely behind.
Top three in trending searches in just one afternoon?
This momentum is incredible.
John marveled inwardly, glancing at the system panel, where he froze in astonishment.
"Haha, scared you, huh? Pokémon's popularity is growing faster than I expected." Lily teased, thinking John was surprised by the game's sudden fame.
Little did they know, John was actually taken aback by the numbers on the system panel: Points: 31,527.
Over 10,000 points!!!
Though a mere fraction compared to "Second World's" player base, these loyal fans were generating significant points for John!
Upon reflection, there were likely hundreds of thousands of players with Pokémon already in hand.
The internet buzz, coupled with coordinated promotional efforts with "Second World", had already brought John over 30,000 points—proof of Pokémon's initial success!
As the game continued to gain traction, John's points were bound to skyrocket.
"Brother? You okay?"
After a moment, John snapped out of his daze, suppressing his excitement and focusing on Bai Ziyue's screen.
"Hey, there are loads of Pokémon battle videos on Weibo now. None can top my little Dratini though." Bai Ziyue grinned proudly.
"True. If they could match your dragon type with normal Pokemon, I'd be handing them out like candy." John smirked, regaining his composure.
After dinner, Bai Ziyue returned to "Second World" to hone her skills as a Pokémon trainer while Michael and Adam busied themselves with Pokémon's burgeoning popularity.
Currently, the Pokémon Center and Alliance functions in "Second World" were still in preparation. Once the situation stabilized in a few days, recruitment for both would begin.
Grace was also gearing up for Pokémon-related activities.
Returning to his room, John re-entered the virtual space.
"Exchange for proficient virtual game design ability."
Opening the redemption page, John promptly upgraded to proficient level in virtual game design.
After a short while, the system completed the enhancement.
John could feel the difference—designing a Pokémon now was much quicker than before.
In fact, he was already quite proficient.
"This feels good. I should be able to finish designing the farm world tonight!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone