After doing some searching, William gained a deeper understanding of this world.
They called their planet Blue Star, and to William, it felt like a parallel world to Earth — both developed in extremely similar ways, but after entering the 20th century, human civilization in each went down different paths.
There were once some smaller cultural zones that tried to challenge the six main ones, but without exception, all of them were either absorbed or faded away over time.
It turned out that building a cultural zone was even harder than building a new nation. Beneath the peaceful surface of these cultural wars, there were likely still hidden battles tied to life and death happening out of sight.
He also discovered that when using Earth's network, downloading certain resources required something called "Reputation Points." Still, all resources on Earth's internet — even internal tools from tech companies — were publicly available and free to download.
After learning enough about Blue Star, William came up with an idea for his first game.
[Newbie Developer]
[Task: Make a game — any theme, any type]
[Reward: 1 Bronze Chest]
"Bronze Chest?"
Just as William was about to name a new folder, the system's mission prompt caught his attention.
'The chest contains items related to game development.'
"Is there only this one type of chest?"
'There are four more: Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Crystal.'
"What's the difference between them?"
'Bronze chests give basic items. Silver gives more rewards than bronze. Starting from gold, you can get high-tier items.'
"Got it."
From what William had figured out about the system so far, even if he asked more, it probably wouldn't say anything else. No point wasting time. He figured once he got the chests, he'd learn the differences on his own.
He tapped on the keyboard and created a new folder: "Piano Tiles."
This was going to be his first game — a project chosen after carefully studying Blue Star's market. It was meant to be his way in.
The game had another, more familiar name: "Don't Tap the White Tile."
It was a highly addictive music game, super easy to pick up but surprisingly challenging. It didn't rely on graphics, story, or rhythm like most games. Instead, it focused purely on gameplay — once you started, it was hard to stop.
He named it "Piano Tiles" because people on Blue Star didn't have much awareness of gaming, and names related to musical instruments were more likely to catch people's attention.
Plus, the game's visuals were already designed around a black-and-white piano keyboard, so William thought this name actually fit better than the original.
Using "piano" to ride the trend was just step one. Step two — the real trick — was making it look like an educational app.
Since games had lost their status as the backbone of the app market, "learning apps" had become the new king of mobile platforms on Blue Star.
Each instrument, each art form — behind them were massive user bases. That's why developers here loved to create all kinds of learning apps.
That said, the market didn't turn into a cutthroat battlefield. The authorities had strict rules in place to prevent dirty competition.
But that also made it harder for new apps to get noticed by users. So some clever folks came up with a workaround — "accidental free release."
What is "accidental free release"? It's when an "intern worker" forgets to set a price while uploading an app. In a market where everything usually costs money, the moment a free app shows up, users don't even think — they just download it immediately.
These free apps usually stay online for less than a minute, but don't underestimate what a minute can do.
According to Blue Star's rules, once an app is downloaded, users can't be blocked from using it — even if the app is taken down after going live for free. That means the first batch of users who download it during that window get full access, even to paid content.
If the app gets re-uploaded later with a price tag, that first batch still gets to use all its features for free — including things like premium courses.
It might sound just like piracy, but piracy on Blue Star is a serious crime. That's why nearly all digital resources here require payment — just like how William needs to spend Reputation Points to download stuff from Earth's network.
One minute is more than enough for bargain hunters to spread the word across social media. In just a few seconds, the search volume might shoot into the tens of millions. But no app developer would risk their whole company just for some quick promotion. Add in the server limits of the app store, and usually, only a small number of users are lucky enough to grab the free version.
So imagine this — if William uploads his game disguised as a free learning app, it would work. That's because the app store doesn't even have a "games" category. He can list the app under anything that makes sense on the surface.
Before knowing what Blue Star users like, William can't guarantee his game will be a hit. But this method guarantees one thing — it'll get noticed.
And traffic means money.
Putting ads aside, William learned about a "traffic bonus" system while studying market rules.
Basically, if a free app is downloaded, the developer gets a payout from the network provider — kind of like a subsidy for offering a free product.
But if an app goes offline and later comes back as paid — including any kind of in-app purchases — then all the money earned before gets taken back.
Some people online have analyzed this payout system. At a rate of 0.001 dollar, the money from free downloads often ends up being more than what you'd make from charging users directly. But there's a catch: if you get caught using the free model to do shady competition, you have to pay back all earnings and a fine on top.
Even though William was planning to disguise his game as a "learning app," technically speaking, he wasn't trying to compete unfairly with actual learning apps — because his wasn't one.
Now that the plan was in place, William opened Cocos2dx. He didn't jump straight into Photoshop to design visuals or Visual Studio to write code. The reason was simple.
A game engine exists to make development easier. It provides the basic tools needed to build a game — and that includes tons of built-in resources.
He opened the built-in asset store and couldn't help but smile.
Once downloaded, they're free forever.
All the game assets were completely free to download. Apparently, the developers hadn't figured out a way to charge for them yet. But there was one thing William didn't quite get — why did the engine have a 3-day trial period?
"The engine disappears after the trial?"
'That's right.'
He thought this was going to be a smooth start — he was even a little proud of his clever marketing plan. But turns out, even a mission with no clear conditions came with a hidden time limit.
Good thing the system splashed some cold water on him just in time. If he didn't finish the game in three days, he'd probably starve all over again — and he had no idea how long this new body could last.