Chapter 13 New Game "Sisyphus"


    9 o''clock in the morning the next day.


    ?Gu Fan came to the cafe and found that Su Tong had already arrived.


    “Don’t come so early in the future. Our company’s working hours are from nine to five. There is no need to arrive early or leave late.


    “After all, the company belongs to the boss. We are just working as workers to earn a dead salary. We can fish when we need to fish.”


    Su Tong was confused by these words.


    At first glance, this sounds like the heartfelt words of the company''s seniors to their juniors, but the problem is...


    ??Isn’t Gu Fan himself the boss of the company?


    He behaves like a working man no matter what.


    But seeing that Gu Fan''s attitude was so sincere, it didn''t seem like he was being sarcastic.


    Can''t understand.


    Su Tong felt that this company seemed to have a certain evil spirit, as if its style was completely different from the game companies she had interviewed before.


    “The new game our company will develop next is called “Sisyphus”, and this is the design draft of the game.


    “You don’t need to be responsible for the development of the game. If you have nothing to do, you can just take a look at the design draft of the game, or play our company’s previous game “Hell Tracks”.”


    ??Gu Fan said, placing another plan printed in advance on Su Tong''s desk.


    The design plan for this game was of course provided by Lilith last night.


    ?Gu Fan still has to develop the game honestly as before without making any changes.


    Soon, Gu Fan and Su Tong began to read the game design drafts in their hands, and the second floor of the cafe became quiet again.


    ?As the name suggests, this game is based on the Greek mythology "Sisyphus".


    ?In mythology, Sisyphus was originally a king, but he offended the gods. So, the gods banished him to **** and punished him by pushing a huge boulder to the top of a mountain. But this boulder is too heavy. Every time it doesn''t reach the top of the mountain, it will roll down and all the efforts will be wasted.


    ?So Sisyphus kept doing this thing over and over again, never ending. The gods believed that there was no more severe punishment than such futile and hopeless labor.


    Sisyphus is quite well-known in the world, and many people have put forward their own interpretations of this mythical story, either using it to describe a hopeless life day after day, or using this tragic figure to express a sense of Fighting spirit.


    ??But in any case, "Sisyphus''s stone" itself is a very famous punishment.


    “As expected, she is the one who knows the game best among the devils in hell. Lilith is also very smart. She has learned to use local materials and copy standard answers.” Gu Fan couldn’t help but sigh.


    In this game, what the player has to do is to play Sisyphus and push the big boulder that can never reach the top of the mountain.


    It’s just that in the game, the “mountain” has more details.


    ? It is no longer a simple hilltop with a fixed slope, but a huge mountain range made of countless materials, with extremely complex terrain and astonishing height.


    ? And if you look closely at the details of this mountain, you will find that this is not a "mountain" that exists in hell, but "purgatory" itself.


    Hell and purgatory are two completely different concepts. Hell is a place where guilty people are punished, while purgatory is a place where sinners atone for their sins.


    Obviously, in the design of the game "Sisyphus", Lilith combined the legend of Sisyphus and the setting of purgatory atonement, which together formed the underlying structure of the world view of the game.


    ?Coincidentally, the appearance of purgatory is exactly that of a mountain.


    ?In Dante''s "Divine Comedy", Purgatory is also called the "Pure Realm". It floats in the sea in the southern hemisphere. It is a huge mountain range divided into twelve layers, each layer corresponding to a sin.


    There is a huge original painting in the design plan, which depicts the structure very clearly.


    ?At the bottom are the sea and the beach. The dead souls wandering on the beach symbolize those who were expelled, repented on their deathbed and were forgiven by God.


    The road twists and turns upward between the cliffs, and the next three levels correspond to: those who are late to repent on their deathbed due to laziness, those who repent on their deathbed due to violent death, and those who are late to repent on their deathbed due to being busy with worldly affairs.


    This place is collectively called the "periphery of purgatory". Then go through the "Purgatory Gate", and then go up to the place where the truly guilty people atone for their sins. From bottom to top, they are "Pride", "Jealousy", "Wrath", "Sloth", "Love of Money", and "Gluttony" , "Greedy".


    ?Each floor has a corresponding representative figure, such as Guiniceli, Belacqua, Beatrice, etc.


    Each level also has a different style and theme. For example, on the level of "Gluttony", the description in "The Divine Comedy" is: The souls of gluttons are very thin, because they have indulged in their appetites throughout their lives. Now, Hungry.


    The scene layout of each floor also directly corresponds to the style of this floor.


    ?For example, on the "Gluttony" level, most of the scenes are made up of huge delicacies, and players need to push boulders on these delicacies.


    In the same way, the level of "greed for money" contains all kinds of rare treasures, while the level of "greed for sex"... ahem, I can''t go into details, because it would be too much to review.


    In short, after reaching the top of the entire purgatory is the paradise on earth, also known as the "Garden of Eden".


    In the "Divine Comedy", when Dante walked through the gate of Purgatory, the guardian angel carved seven letters P (the first letter of sin in Latin) on his forehead. Then every time he climbed to a level of Purgatory, one of them was washed away from his forehead. The letters also represent the cleansing of a sin.


    "Climbing to the highest level of the Garden of Purgatory" and "Sisyphus pushing the stone up the mountain" happen to have a lot in common. Obviously, these have become the two biggest sources of inspiration for the game "Sisyphus".


    ?What the player has to do is to play Sisyphus and push the boulder up the mountain, from the bottom seaside to the top of Purgatory, the Garden of Eden.


    ?In the process, you will encounter various winding routes. If you are not careful, the boulder will roll down the foot of the mountain and everything will start from scratch.


    ?Hmm, it’s indeed a good way to torture people.


    As for the specific operation of this game, it is relatively simple.


    There are only three operations that players can perform, namely "move", "move stones" and "jump". Of course, these three operations will have different interactions with the boulders.


    From the appearance point of view, this is a spherical stone, but it is not as smooth as a pure ball. Instead, it still retains some edges and corners to ensure that it will not roll down easily at a gentler angle and still retains the ability to push. The hope of reaching the top of the mountain.


    ?Its size is considerable, so when Sisyphus pushed this boulder forward, the visual effect was quite stunning.


    ?But Sisyphus is a mythical character after all. His strength is far beyond that of ordinary people. Under special circumstances, he can even lift this huge stone with difficulty and carry it on his shoulders.


    ?This operation won''t last long, but it can allow him to jump over some obstacles or ravines.


    ?Of course, these are all representations of the screen. Players do not need to control Sisyphus to perform specific operations on the boulder, they only need to complete basic operations.


    ?However, compared with the "move", "carry" and "jump" of conventional games, the actions of this game are obviously different.


    Because you are pushing a big boulder, the movement in this game will be affected by the inertia of the boulder. The specific manifestations are as follows: you can only turn in a small amount (somewhat similar to driving), and the steering has a certain lag; the **** when going uphill The bigger it is, the slower it moves; when passing through some small ridges, although you can push it directly, it will take a certain amount of time, and there is a risk of the boulder falling off.


    Players can move and carry boulders briefly, but they cannot hold on for long.


    Because Sisyphus was carrying a huge boulder on his back, jumping was more dangerous than ordinary jumping. Once he stepped on the edge and failed to stand firm, he might lose his balance and fall directly.


    In short, the basic gameplay of this game is very simple. It is a bit like the "jumping music" in some games. The biggest difference is that players need to push a stone throughout the entire process to complete these operations, and it is more difficult.


    What’s even more terrifying is that there are even monsters in the game that will attack Sisyphus!


    ?Lilith did not design a large number of mobs in the game. She went even further and directly threw in a giant dragon.


    This giant dragon is called the "Purgatory Dragon". Its appearance is quite terrifying. Not only does it have a huge body and huge wings that are common in Western fantasy worlds, but its scales are also full of cracks, burning with the flames of hell.


    ?It will not actively attack Sisyphus, but it will circle around Purgatory over and over again, and when Sisyphus reaches a specific location, it will appear at a nearby spawn point and pass by Sisyphus.


    Sometimes they will stay in a random place, spitting the flames of **** on the ground and burning sinners.


    ??If the **** dragon flies over and the player is moving or jumping, he or she may be blown off balance by the strong wind caused by the dragon''s wings, causing boulders to roll down and all previous efforts will be wasted.


    ?Standing still can protect you from the strong wind, but you may also be rubbed by the dragon''s wings or unlucky enough to be sprayed by the flames of hell. In the end, the boulder will roll down and all your efforts will be wasted.


    In short, Gu Fan has never seen the real Sisyphus and does not know the specific difficulty of his challenge.


    ??But one thing is certain, the difficulty of this game is probably even higher than the real difficulty of the Myth of Sisyphus!


    (End of this chapter)