In terms of layout, the experience store is a bit like an internet café, but its functions are different.

The experience store is actually not for profit. First, it serves as a studio for designers; second, it acts as a platform for communication with players.

Players who come to the experience store can communicate face-to-face with designers, give feedback, and also try out the designers’ latest games. When a designer feels that a game is more or less finished, they will release it for official operation.

Of course, if it were just for testing, designers could easily release a beta version online for players to try. However, designers in this world generally prefer the experience store format, because the players in the store are all real, living people, and face-to-face communication is more helpful for them to gather inspiration.

As a result, the experience store has gradually become a symbol of a game designer’s status. If a designer doesn’t have their own experience store, they’ll be looked down upon.

Adam Brooks also understands how valuable an experience store is. If he were to open one himself, just the rent alone would cost a lot every month, not to mention all the equipment he’d have to buy. Right now, Adam Brooks absolutely can’t afford it.

So, this time, Adam Brooks has to seize this opportunity!

Chapter 4 Competition Rules

After sitting down, Adam Brooks began to observe the situation at the competition venue.

The audience had all entered, about seven hundred people in total, chatting and laughing or playing on their phones.

The communication technology in this world is very advanced. A regular SIM card comes with hundreds of gigabytes of data per month, and the signal is excellent. Plus, with widespread wireless network coverage, you can watch videos and live streams on your phone as much as you want, and the data is more than enough.

Adam Brooks feels that this is probably one of the reasons why mobile games aren’t very popular in this world. Most people play VR games at home, and mobile games are just something to pass the time when they’re bored, and even then, they have to compete with movies, TV dramas, variety shows, live streams, news, social media, and other activities.

You have to know, entertainment in this parallel world is extremely developed, and there are plenty of alternatives to games. Plus, data is basically free, so people can watch movies and TV shows as much as they want, and many just don’t bother with mobile games.

Of course, most of the audience here should be game lovers, especially mobile game enthusiasts.

Only mobile game fans would come to watch this kind of competition.

After all, this game design competition is pretty basic. There aren’t even a few D-level game designers among the contestants—what kind of games could they possibly make?

At most, they might come up with a few simple casual mobile games.

Most of these audience members probably came with free tickets and didn’t have high expectations for how exciting the competition would be.

There were also three judges who had just entered.

Each judge’s table had a nameplate. Adam Brooks quickly searched their identities on his phone.

William Clark, 47 years old, B-level game designer. Used to work as a designer at Emperor Entertainment, now retired, currently a game review expert.

Henry Green, 39 years old, B-level game designer. Designer at Zen Entertainment, now in management and no longer involved in game development. Game review expert.

Brian Cooper, 27 years old, B-level game designer. Founder of Hengyou Network.

The ages of these three people form an arithmetic sequence: in their twenties, thirties, and forties, basically covering the golden age range for game designers.

Although they all appear to be B-level designers on the surface, their actual abilities still differ.

Emperor Entertainment and Zen Entertainment are currently the two best game development companies in the country, basically splitting over 80% of the domestic game market. A large number of game designers like to go there to build their résumés.

However, that doesn’t mean everyone who comes out of these two companies is necessarily talented. Take William Clark, for example—although he worked at Emperor Entertainment and has one or two decent works, he doesn’t really have much true skill; he just stuck around long enough to get where he is.

As for Henry Green, his design skills are much better than William Clark’s, but since he chose to move into management and is no longer on the front lines of development, his skills have definitely declined.

Looking at it this way, it’s actually the 27-year-old Brian Cooper who is the most skilled. He became a B-level designer at such a young age and is also the founder of Hengyou Network. His future is much brighter than the other two.

“Hopefully these three big shots will go easy on me, and at least one of them will let my game pass…” Adam Brooks silently prayed in his heart.

The other contestants were also quite nervous. There were a total of twenty contestants this time, but the top prize only goes to the champion.

Although the D-level designer qualification is also pretty important, it’s obvious that everyone is here for the 300,000 yuan and the experience store. If you don’t win the championship, the competition doesn’t mean much.

Soon, the competition officially began.

The host warmed up the crowd.

The leaders gave speeches.

The judges were introduced.

The judges gave remarks.

……

After a string of lengthy preliminaries, they finally got to the main event.

The host looked at the drowsy audience—out of seven hundred people, four hundred were playing on their phones, more than two hundred were whispering to each other, and some were even dozing off in their seats.

There’s nothing to be done about it. For official events, these steps can’t be skipped.