Game designers held a significant position in society second only to doctors in terms of prestige.
In this era, becoming a game designer wasn't just a creative career; it was a respected profession with real influence.
With how advanced technology had become, most people's daily lives took place in holographic or virtual environments.
Since she had already downloaded the game, she immediately started it before the comments could start arguing again.
An animated sequence played background rails rolled by, followed by a vibrant animation of Jake spray painting the entire screen.
The game's title appeared alongside the logo "Tierra Entertainment," then the screen faded to black.
Moments later, she entered the main menu of Subway Surfer.
She skipped over the menu and was stunned by the visuals.
Her viewers were too.
[What the… Is this really a free to play game??]
[The unique art style and visuals — I wasn't expecting a game like this to be free!!]
[I'm downloading it immediately!]
[Are you sure you're gonna play it now, or keep watching Cecily?]
[Of course, I'm watching Cecily!!]
She looked at the menu, which had a third person perspective view.
There, she saw a young teenager with brown hair and eyes, a mischievous grin on his face as he spray painted a train with colorful graffiti.
The words "Subway Surfer" were painted boldly on the train.
The menu had a blue color theme, with keys, coins, and a hoverboard icon displayed clearly in the top corner.
At the bottom, there was a spray painted section in black featuring a large yellow star labeled「 Mission」Nearby, there was an image of Jake—still uncolored — pointing at himself with one arm under the 「 Me 」 label while the other options were 「Shop」 and 「Events」
She clicked on「 Me 」and swiped through the available characters.
Only two were unlocked, so she immediately switched to the blonde girl with twin ponytails, a cap on her head, a nice figure, and thick black glasses.
[The characters look nice, it's really pleasing to the eyes]
[I want to get the one wearing the bunny mask]
[I'll get the cute robot one!]
Seeing the fresh game and its unique gameplay, viewer numbers rapidly increased.
The platform's algorithm was already giving it traction.
She was stunned by the viewer count, this was the first time she had so many people watching her stream.
She felt genuinely happy.
With the chat urging her to hurry and try the game, she didn't hesitate and tapped Play.
Immediately, an animation played.
Jake was startled by the sound of a whistle and took off running.
From a third person perspective, a guard like man began chasing him, followed closely by a dog.
At first, she didn't know what to do, but the system automatically guided her character to start running, and she quickly got the hang of it.
A tutorial followed soon after, walking her through the basics.
As she ran forward, a trail of shiny coins floated just above the ground.
She instinctively moved toward them, the cheerful ding ding sound ringing in her ears each time she collected one.
It was oddly satisfying.
Up ahead, a low obstacle appeared, and a glowing arrow hovered above it, pointing upward.
The tutorial prompted her to jump.
She obeyed, and she leapt smoothly over it, landing back in stride.
All she needed to do was jump over barriers, roll under low objects, and move left or right to dodge or collect coins.
Just three directions to keep track of — simple and intuitive.
But even with such simplicity, she found herself quickly drawn in.
It wasn't hard to learn — even a kindergarten aged child could pick it up.
She was immediately immersed in the game.
[You only need to do that?]
[It's basic, but the content feels fresh]
[The character design is great too]
[Didn't you already say that twice?]
Inside the shared virtual space, viewers gathered in real time to watch Cecily play.
At first, many tried to watch in first perspective, seeing through her eyes as she ran through narrow lanes, leapt over barriers, and rolled beneath obstacles.
But it didn't take long before complaints began to roll in.
The constant motion, the rushing tracks, and sudden turns made a few feel lightheaded.
Thankfully, the system offered multiple viewing modes.
With a simple voice command or hand gesture, most switched to third person view.
Now they could see Cecily's avatar clearly — a young girl darting between trains with smooth movements, her figure small but agile, framed by the colorful chaos of the subway world.
From this angle, the action was easier to follow and more cinematic, letting the viewers feel like spectators at a live show rather than passengers on a rollercoaster.
This allowed them to clearly see how Cecily's character moved, which made it easier and more fun to watch.
Inside the vivid world of virtual reality, Cecilia sprinted down the subway tracks, her senses fully immersed in the game's fast paced rhythm.
The air around her felt cool, the rush of wind brushing past her skin as her avatar ran at full speed.
She stayed in the middle lane, her gaze locked ahead.
But up ahead, she spotted an obstacle low and solid, blocking her path.
An instinct kicked in, and she prepared to roll under it. It looked manageable, but her mind wandered. To her right, the lane looked clearer, almost like an easier path.
She glanced from side to side.
She wasn't moving too fast yet, giving her just enough time to assess her options.
With the motion of her real body translating directly into the game, she felt a surreal connection her every glance, shift, and reaction echoed within this lifelike simulation.
The other lanes remained visible, untouched by heavy obstacles.
If she needed to switch, now was the time.
Felix had adjusted the early gameplay to make it easier, as he didn't have much experience creating virtual reality games.
He had tested the game many times before publishing it.
Cecilia glanced at the left lane and saw a shiny object she couldn't quite identify.
[ What's that in the upper corner of the left lane?]
[ I think it's an item you can collect while playing. ]
[ Cecily, you should try to get it!]
Cecilia immediately agreed, "Okay!" She hummed happily while running — by now, she was used to it.
As she kept running, the soft ding ding sounds from collecting coins were soothing to her ears. In the top right corner, her coin count reached 46.
She still didn't know what the glowing object was, so she moved to the left lane and saw it up close. It was glowing red and yellow, floating in mid air.
When she grabbed it, she was surprised to see all the nearby coins, from the top and bottom suddenly pull toward her.
Her coin count quickly shot up.
Felix had finished eating dinner and was now sitting on the couch, waiting for his dessert to finish cooking inside a futuristic oven.
The appliance was a mix between an air fryer and a high tech multi cooker, equipped with advanced settings and features.
He checked the Subway Surfer page and saw that someone was already streaming it.
Curious, he eagerly clicked to see who it was.
A girl with violet hair named Cecily had already completed the tutorial.
Felix watched as she obsessively collected coins.
He couldn't help but smile. He had been the same way when he first played Subway Surfer.
Now, seeing the game come to life in virtual reality made it all the more exciting.
He remembered how development took so long because he kept playing it nonstop.
Then he noticed something on the stream: up ahead, another train was approaching.
While Cecily could simply drop down and enter through the right path, there was also the option to jump across.
Felix wasn't sure if she knew that jumping between trains was even possible.
Since that might be the case, he decided to help her out.
He sent her a donation with a message.
A pop-up appeared on her screen:
[Try jumping onto the other train]
Until now, she had been running along the same train, which was stationary and had plenty of coins.
But up ahead, the train track was cut off, and another train was in front of her.
She had to jump across to keep going.
She was hesitant at first since she didn't know all the game mechanics yet, but because the game felt easy to get used to and someone had donated with the suggestion she decided to comply.
Her curiosity got the better of her anyway.
As she kept running, she could almost feel a breeze and the rush of fresh air.
The soft jingling sounds of the coins as she passed through them added to the atmosphere.
Up ahead, the end of her current train approached. Another train ran parallel beside it, slightly higher.
She took a breath and jumped.
For a moment, it felt like time slowed.
Her character soared through the air, arms slightly raised, hair and jacket fluttering from the momentum.
Below her, the gap between the two trains looked farther than she expected — but still reachable.
Then—thud.
She landed smoothly on the next train.
"What? It worked?" she said in surprise, blinking stunned that she had actually made it.
She hadn't expected to be able to jump between trains so easily, but now she was excited to keep going.
The viewers were cheering her on.
Cecilia looked ahead — and suddenly, a wall appeared just four centimeters from her face.
Boom!
"Ugh!" she flinched as the screen shifted.
A game over screen popped up:
[ You Died ]
「Try Again」
「Menu」
A countdown began ticking down.
She stared at the screen, shocked that she had died like that.
She had only jumped!
She got distracted by the excitement and the auto-run mechanic didn't stop to wait for her.
That split-second delay had cost her.
And that donation message — whoever sent it must have known what was up ahead and told her to jump at just the right time to throw her off.
That message never showed up again.
[HAHAHA Cecily died! she look furious]
[So this is how this new game works? Interesting. I'll check it out later]
[The one who donated told her to jump—and she actually did it LOL]
[Yeah LMAO and the one who donated vanished right after!]
Meanwhile, Felix was watching the stream while eating the dessert he made.
He was the one who sent the donation.
He hadn't actually expected her to get distracted and die in the game…
Oops?