Capítulo 5: Chapter 5: Competition Rules
After settling into his seat, Alex Parker began to observe the competition venue.
The audience had all arrived, numbering around seven hundred, chatting and playing on their phones.
In this world, communication technology was advanced, with ordinary phone plans offering hundreds of gigabytes of data each month and excellent signal coverage. With widespread wireless networks, people could watch videos and live streams on their phones without worrying about data limits.
Alex Parker thought this might be one reason why mobile games weren't as developed in this world. Most people played VR games at home, and mobile games were just a casual pastime, competing with movies, TV shows, variety shows, live streams, news, and social media.
In this parallel world, entertainment was highly developed, with many game alternatives. With almost free data, people could watch movies and TV shows as much as they wanted, so many didn't play mobile games.
However, most of the audience here were likely game enthusiasts, especially mobile game fans.
Only mobile game fans would attend such a competition as spectators.
After all, this game design competition was relatively basic, with few D-level game designers among the contestants. What kind of games could they design?
At best, they could create a few simple casual mobile games.
Many of these spectators were probably holding free tickets, not expecting much from the competition.
Three judges had just entered.
Each judge's table had a nameplate, and Alex Parker quickly searched for their identities on his phone.
Steven Harris, 47, B-level game designer. Former designer at Generation Entertainment now retired and a game review expert.
Simon Dominic, 39, B-level game designer. Designer at Infinite Entertainment, now in management and no longer involved in game development. Game review expert.
Daniel Cooper, 27, B-level game designer. Founder of Cooper Network.
Their ages formed an arithmetic sequence, covering the golden age range of game designers.
Although they were all B-level designers on the surface, their actual abilities varied.
Generation Entertainment and Infinite Entertainment were the country's top two game development companies, accounting for over 80% of the domestic market. Many game designers aspired to work there.
However, not everyone from these companies was necessarily skilled. Steven Harris, for instance, had worked at Generation Entertainment and had a few decent works, but he mostly relied on seniority.
Simon Dominic was more skilled than Steven Harris, but his development skills have likely declined since transitioning to management.
In contrast, the 27-year-old Daniel Cooper seemed to be the most capable, having become a B-level designer at a young age and founding Cooper Network, with a much brighter future than the other two.
"Hopefully, at least one of these judges will approve my game..." Alex Parker silently prayed.
The other contestants were also anxious. There were twenty contestants, but only the champion would receive the top prize.
While the D-level designer qualification was necessary, everyone aimed for the 300,000 dollars and the experience store. Without winning, the competition had little meaning.
Soon, the competition officially began.
The host warmed up the audience.
Leaders gave speeches.
Judges were introduced.
Judges gave speeches.
...
After a series of lengthy preliminaries, they finally got to the main event.
The host looked at the exhausted audience; out of seven hundred people, four hundred were playing on their phones, two hundred were chatting, and some were even sleeping in their seats.
No choice; these steps couldn't be skipped in an official event.
"Ahem."
The host cleared his throat, signalling the audience to wake up as the main event was about to start.
"Alright, we are now entering the highlight of this competition, the evaluation segment. Let me reiterate the rules."
"Each of you has a tablet for evaluation purposes, with the games from the twenty contestants pre-installed."
Alex Parker noticed a tablet fixed to the desk in front of each audience member. As the host spoke, the tablets automatically powered on.
"You can choose any game on the tablet to play, with a one-hour limit. Meanwhile, brief introductions of each game will be displayed on the big screen."
"When exiting a game, you can choose [Recommend] or [Not Recommend]. Recommending means you'd like to share the game with your friends."
"Our three judges will also play the twenty games during this period."
"After one hour, we will tally the total playtime and recommendations for each game and rank them accordingly."
"Afterward, the judges will give their feedback. Following the feedback, the audience will have another chance to vote for [Recommend] or [Not Recommend] for each game."
"Finally, the game with the highest combined playtime and recommendations will have its designer crowned the champion of this competition!"
The host emphasized: "However, please note that if the judges unanimously disapprove of the winning game, it will be disqualified, and the runner-up will take its place, and so on."
"Is everyone clear on the rules?"
"Good, the one-hour playtime starts now!"
Even before the host's announcement, the audience was already eagerly playing.
Alex Parker was well aware of the rules, which is why he was concerned about the three judges.
In this evaluation system, the audience's role was crucial as their playtime and recommendations determined the game's ranking.
However, the judges played an even more critical role.
First, they had the feedback session, which influenced the audience's second round of voting.
Second, they had the ultimate veto power. If the judges unanimously deemed a game unqualified, it would be disqualified even if it ranked first.
This likely reflected the world's respect for the professionalism of game design, though Alex Parker found the rule pointless and foolish.
But as a contestant, he had to follow the rules.
At that moment, the big screen introduced Alex Parker's game.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder