Today was Liu Shiwan's sixth day living in the stardew valley world.
Early in the morning, the sky was clear.
The parsnip seeds Liu Shiwan had personally planted had finally matured, yielding tender, radish-like fruits. The quality of the crops wasn't exceptionally high, so the selling price was naturally a bit lower.
But as a new farmer, and for the first pot of gold she earned in this world, Liu Shiwan was already filled with pride and a sense of accomplishment.
From weeding to reclaiming barren land, to planting, to frequent failures due to lack of experience at first, then to summarizing experience, starting anew, taking extra care, and finally to the current harvest.
The more arduous the process, the sweeter the taste of success.
In the morning, she planted the apple tree saplings and wheat seeds she had bought earlier, her heart filled with anticipation for those two delicious ingredients.
In the afternoon, she once again met up with Robin at the beach to fish.
After several days of interaction, Liu Shiwan had come to regard Robin as a close friend. A few days ago, her farm hadn't even started, she was unfamiliar with many tasks, and she had no money in her pockets, couldn't even afford to eat. If it weren't for Robin's constant care, she would have starved to death countless times already.
She also learned that although Robin looked young, she was actually married with children. She had already met her daughter Maru and son Sebastian.
At this moment, Liu Shiwan was lying on a beach chair by the sea, savoring fragrant milk tea and delicious cookies, while enjoying the comfortable sea breeze and fishing, all while chatting happily with Robin beside her.
She planned to spend a sunny afternoon leisurely like this.
The Internet Cafe is about to close. Players, please exit the game voluntarily.
But suddenly, the system's voice pulled her back to reality from her completely immersed gaming experience.
After a moment of astonishment, Liu Shiwan felt a deep reluctance in her heart—for the farm she had managed, for the friends she treated sincerely, and for everything in that world.
There, she felt every day was so fulfilling and happy, it almost made her forget the passage of time.
So she didn't rush to exit the game, but continued to lie on the chair. Even as system prompts kept popping up, she tried to cling to every last bit of time in that world.
Until finally, the screen went black, and she was completely kicked out of the game world.
"I'm back?"
Liu Shiwan took off the virtual reality headset, but she didn't get up, seemingly still a bit disoriented.
"What do you think of this game? Is it fun?"
But just then, a questioning voice came from behind her.
"Is the game fun?"
Liu Shiwan was slightly stunned when she heard this. Aside from the initial unadaptability, Liu Shiwan hadn't considered this question at all later on, because she no longer felt like she was playing a game. She felt it was another real world, where she was living a new life, a new existence.
But now that she came to her senses and heard such words, she naturally nodded very affirmatively: "It's fun, this game is really too much fun!"
At this point, Liu Shiwan turned her head and noticed Su Ran behind her, and also noticed that the surroundings were empty: "You are… the owner of this Internet Cafe? Is it already closing time?"
"Yes!"
Liu Shiwan hesitated for two seconds, then couldn't help but ask: "Can I play a little longer?"
"Sorry, this Internet Cafe is only open until ten o'clock. If you want to play more, come back tomorrow!"
Liu Shiwan still said, somewhat unwillingly: "I can pay extra!"
Su Ran shook his head and replied calmly: "Many customers have said that, but no means no. This is the rule of this Internet Cafe, and it won't be easily changed!"
"Sigh, well… okay then!"
Liu Shiwan sighed lightly, feeling a bit regretful and disappointed, but she wasn't an unreasonable person, so she had to give up. Before leaving, she said again: "I'll come back tomorrow!"
After speaking, she left.
Su Ran watched Liu Shiwan's receding back, thoughtfully: "It seems there isn't no one who likes to play stardew valley!"
Actually, it's normal to think about such things. After all, every game has its audience, and there are people who like it and people who don't.
Just like monster hunter, there are those who like it, but there are also customers who can't accept it as soon as they play it.
However, among the current customers of the Internet Cafe, more people like monster hunter, while Stardew Valley is more niche.
This is the problem Su Ran is currently facing. He already thought it would be difficult to sell five hundred copies of the game within a month, and now, he feels the difficulty has doubled.
"It looks like I have to try it myself!"
Currently, Su Ran hasn't finished the main story of monster hunter yet, but it's almost done, just a matter of these few days. He originally thought similarly to other veteran players, wanting to finish monster hunter before starting to play Stardew Valley.
However, it seems that the sales situation of this game is not very optimistic, and there's a time limit. Just passively waiting for players to discover it themselves definitely won't work.
He must take the initiative.
Since there are customers like Liu Shiwan who are so addicted to Stardew Valley, it means that this game definitely has many advantages.
But if you ask him now what the advantages are?
Su Ran certainly couldn't say, because he didn't know himself, having never played it personally.
As for why he played the original game before, it was because after playing too many fighting games, he wanted to relax, so he found great enjoyment in playing such a relatively casual and relaxing game.
However, while it's truly casual, it's also quite 'cultivation-like' in a sense. From a certain perspective, Stardew Valley can be even more demanding on one's liver than monster hunter.
Of course, that was just the original game. As for what this enhanced and virtual reality version is like now, he doesn't know. He has to play it himself.
At least he needs to thoroughly understand all the gameplay elements and features of this game, and then be able to extract selling points.
Take monster hunter for example, not everyone who plays monster hunter necessarily likes hunting monsters; some play to enhance their cultivation strength, which is also a reason for them to play monster hunter.
So if the current players don't like farming, then he has to find a way to get them interested in farming or other gameplay aspects.
And the premise for this, of course, is that Su Ran himself has a sufficient understanding of the game.
So this time, in addition to enjoying the fun brought by the game itself, Su Ran also needs to approach it more with the mindset of observing and testing the game. Things like his previous practice of playing monster hunter with no equipment and no damage, which severely slowed down game progress, are not advisable.
At this moment, he finally somewhat understood what the system meant when it told him to focus on testing the game and providing players with a better gaming experience.
If even he, the owner of this Internet Cafe, doesn't know what makes this game fun, then how can he recommend it to customers?
So from now on, not only does this game need to be tested, but it seems he also needs to try every new game as soon as possible.
Having made up his mind, Su Ran put on the virtual reality headset and started the game.