This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature

Chapter 330 - 211: Bounty Cheat Plugin (Part 2)

"A bounty for hackers?"

Upon learning about Chen Ba’s idea, Huang Qing couldn’t help but click his tongue and said, "Isn’t this a bit too flashy and high-profile? Doing this will definitely attract the attention of all those hidden black hats and red hats, right?"

"Isn’t that a good thing?"

Chen Ba retorted, "If we offer a hefty bounty and no one manages to create a hack for ’Space-Time Reconnaissance,’ the reputation of the Tianba Engine will undoubtedly skyrocket."

Of course!

One shouldn’t be too arrogant, lest the ship capsizes in a ditch.

Although he had confidence in the Tianba Engine developed by the Iron Fool System, believing that it left no opportunity for hacks, Chen Ba was still concerned about encountering a world-class genius.

Therefore, he planned to set a few detailed conditions.

During the beta testing phase of ’Space-Time Reconnaissance,’ a global bounty would be offered for hacks. The targeted hacks would mainly involve attacking the game client, modifying local game files, or reading game process data.

Using technical means to directly hack the game server, that obviously doesn’t count!

To put it simply.

This targets common violent hacks in FPS games, like aim-bots, auto-aim, and wallhacks.

Anyone who could create such a hack for ’Space-Time Reconnaissance,’ Tianba Studio would not only refrain from punishment but would also reward them with a hundred thousand yuan.

...

"Rewarding for hacks?"

After the official release of the so-called hacker bounty order from Tianba Studio, both ordinary players and some tech gurus focused their attention on the game ’Space-Time Reconnaissance.’

Guo Mo was no exception.

He was betting with his livestream audience, because FPS games always had hacks, so his audience was convinced that this bounty announcement would be retracted in two or three days at most.

But Guo Mo believed that you couldn’t view Ba with common sense, nor could you see games produced by Tianba Studio in the usual way.

Things that seem unscientific or illogical elsewhere, when they happen at Tianba Studio or to Ba, suddenly make perfect sense...

So what if there are no hacks?

"Believe in Ba! Ba is our pride. Since he dared to issue the bounty, it proves that this game can’t have any hacks!"

Guo Mo expressed his stance, "Bros, an FPS game without hacks, I have to give it a try!"

Fun fact: Guo Mo started as an Apex streamer!

For those who’ve played APEX, the rampant hacks are well-known. Because of his past experiences, Guo Mo couldn’t resist the allure of ’Space-Time Reconnaissance.’

No longer would his mom have to worry that, mid-gunfight in the game, he’d be instantly wiped out by a belt of magic bullets!

Hooray!

An FPS game without hacks sounded like a dream come true, especially for an old player like Guo Mo who loved FPS games. It was simply irresistible.

But, that said...

Although Ba claimed no hacks could invade the game, leaving no room for cheats that affect fair competition, many factors determine whether a game is fun.

If it’s fun, then without hesitation, Guo Mo would definitely livestream ’Space-Time Reconnaissance’ more often, and ’Star Emperor’ would take a slight backseat.

If it’s not fun...

Then there’s no choice! Even if the game excels at maintaining fairness and is the best at fighting hacks, if it’s not fun, he can’t bring himself to play it doggedly.

A game being fun is the premise!

To determine whether it’s fun, Guo Mo decided to experience it firsthand.

"Space-Time Reconnaissance, here I come..."

As it was a test version and not the official release, the UI interface Guo Mo saw upon entering the game was quite simple and rough.

There were only a handful of features.

Players could choose to team up or match solo. The only mode was [Reincarnation Deathmatch], with random maps.

Characters? Weapons?

These were also random...

Upon a successful match, 12 players would randomly spawn in different corners of the map, each with their own "identity" and "starting weapon."

Each map had exclusive weapons, and some weapons could only be purchased from specific weapon merchants on particular maps.

"Start with a small pistol..."

In the first game, Guo Mo found himself on a snowfield map, given the identity of an intel agent.

This identity served two purposes.

The first was a special ability: the intel agent identity allowed him to sense enemies within 50 meters. Essentially, it acted as a mini radar.

The second was that if an intel agent killed another intel agent, they could earn a hefty bounty.

Each identity had different special abilities and "bounty" targets, which was a unique game mechanic.

In a game of twelve people.

Guo Mo wasn’t yet sure where the other eleven were, nor did he know who was also an intel agent, so there was no rush to collect bounties.

Find people first!

If needed, he could first locate a weapon merchant and upgrade his small pistol to a rifle or submachine gun.

The ’Space-Time Reconnaissance’ map was quite small.

Because, with only 12 players in a game, if the map was too large, players might not encounter anyone for a long time, making wild battles impossible.

Because of this, Guo Mo soon encountered someone after wandering a bit in the upper left corner of the map.

Bang bang bang!

Based on the game’s "personal combat" rules, once you see someone, just shoot without worrying about anything else.

After all, you can revive if you die.

However, the small pistol was indeed lackluster, and the bullet trajectory of this crappy pistol was so abstract. After emptying a clip, Guo Mo found, quite awkwardly, that he hadn’t hit a single shot.

This was despite using the intel agent’s special ability to launch a surprise attack first.

What an embarrassment!

Hiding behind cover, having nimbly changed clips, Guo Mo saw the chat mocking him for his sunset red tracing shots and couldn’t help but retort, "Come on, it’s the game’s fault."

"The recoil of the handguns in this game is ridiculously high, and you can’t aim down sights or use a reticule pre-aim, relying completely on feel."

The gun mechanics were absolutely shitty!

Though he had only experienced the small pistol and hadn’t used any other firearms, Guo Mo could confidently say that the gun feel in this game was by far the worst among all FPS games he’d ever played.

But, it wasn’t without merits.

One merit was the game’s high freedom of action, allowing players to perform all sorts of agile and varied moves.

This was commendable. At least compared to those FPS games where characters walk like zombies and have no action beyond laying down and crouching, ’Space-Time Reconnaissance’ was far more interesting.

Bang bang bang!

After another firefight, Guo Mo managed to hit his target, but unfortunately, it was a leg shot, not a killing headshot.

The other guy was cunning, retreating behind cover after taking a hit.

Because there was some distance between them, with a large flat area in between, Guo Mo realized that approaching would put him at risk.

But if he didn’t go after him, and both sides stayed behind cover, it would create a stalemate. If a third party showed up, it could end in both being taken out.

"I might give it a try..."

Remembering the movement mechanics he’d experimented with, Guo Mo thought he might take a gamble.

The gun mechanics might be poor, but the movement flexibility was undeniably excellent. He believed that if he moved swiftly enough, he could close in with a slide and ghost jump.

The idea was great.

The move was executed, but at the moment of a sliding jump, he accidentally hit the left mouse button.

As we all know, in FPS games, tapping the left mouse button 99.9% of the time results in firing!

Whatever the case in other games, at least in ’Space-Time Reconnaissance,’ firing causes a very noticeable character freeze.

This freeze doesn’t matter during a gunfight, as it’s not really noticeable.

But at this moment, while Guo Mo was sliding and jumping mid-air, the freeze caused his character’s right hand holding the gun to spasm and twist as if cramping.

"What rubber... huh?"

Just as Guo Mo was about to complain about his character’s arm twisting like a pretzel, he saw a kill notification pop up in the top right corner, and his expression froze instantly.

What just happened?

Where did this kill come from?