Shao Yichen, at the other end of the internet, had no idea that her casually mentioned three requirements had prompted Li Xingyu to think so deeply.
Seeing Li Xingyu's message, she thanked her junior, closed WeChat, and pondered a bit, feeling that this Dulu Dulu livestreaming platform did indeed seem to meet her requirements.
As a video website, she was somewhat familiar with Dulu Dulu, occasionally watching funny videos from comedic content creators there to relax.
But she really hadn't known that Dulu Dulu had also separately developed a livestreaming platform, which had become another independent app.
If even she, a deep internet addict, didn't know about it, then surely this platform wouldn't have many users, solving the readership problem.
Those using this platform were mostly young students, who would probably not spend money to watch a suspense film with neither reputation nor publicity, and suspense films also had little relevance to these students, so the second problem was also solved.
Finally, regarding the issue of the advertisement itself—
At this point, Shao Yichen stretched her neck and waist.
She would take care of the advertisement herself!
She opened the web version of MeituXX, full of confidence.
She could absolutely create an unprecedented, absolutely garbage advertisement!
She would definitely ensure that these 300,000 yuan used for advertising would make no splash whatsoever!
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One week later, Saturday evening at 6:30 PM.
Tacitus, a virtual streamer on Dulu Dulu Live, posted a message in his feed.
[Meeting in half an hour! Don't miss it! {Livestream link}]
Seeing this message, Tacitus's fans rushed to check in with comments like "I'm here," "Looking forward to the stream," and "What songs will Tata sing today?" making the comment section quite lively.
Although Tacitus couldn't compare in fame with popular streamers on major platforms, on the small Dulu Dulu livestreaming platform with its limited active users, he was already one of the streamers with a relatively large fan base.
If there was anything that set him apart from other streamers, it was that Tacitus was a virtual streamer.
Virtual streamers, also known as VUPs, use facial capture technology with a 2D animated (or not-so-animated) virtual avatar to stream. Tacitus had such a virtual avatar—a white-haired male character with cat ears that would move on their own during streams, which looked quite interesting—at least he thought it was more interesting than his actual appearance.
With this handsome yet cute virtual avatar, Tacitus attracted a wave of fans drawn to his virtual appearance. Combined with his pleasant voice and commendable singing skills, his daily interactive singing streams had accumulated a stable fan base. Due to his identity as a male streamer, these fans were naturally predominantly female.
But today when his fans entered his livestream room to wait for his broadcast, they found something unusual. The standby screen clearly showed a game interface that appeared to be somewhere between a horror game and a detective game.
The fans were confused.
What was going on? Was their brother not singing today but playing a game instead?
But wasn't Tacitus, the virtual streamer, famously uncoordinated? Hadn't he tried horror games before, not only getting endlessly stuck but also showing minimal reaction to jump scares, turning the whole thing into a sleep-inducing stream?
Why hadn't he given up on horror games yet?
Indeed, when Tacitus first heard that game streamers received good donations, he had considered transitioning to become a gaming streamer. After all, singing every day would eventually bore the audience; even if they didn't get bored, he himself would.
But the first step of his transition met a major obstacle.
Because Tacitus discovered he was uncoordinated.
In competitive games, he would be eliminated in the first round.
In detective games, he would get stuck immediately.
Even in horror mini-games that required no skill, his reactions were disappointing—because he simply wouldn't get scared. What's the essence of horror mini-games? Of course, it's seeing those normally gentle, calm streamers scream when faced with horror!
But Tacitus, facing games that should make people scream, was disappointingly calm. Not only did he not scream, but even when encountering the most terrifying monsters, he would only make his virtual character widen its eyes.
Not even a sound.
Such reactions naturally failed to excite viewers, directly causing his viewership to plummet whenever he attempted to play games, leaving only a small core of loyal fans standing by.
Therefore, fans were confused to see him apparently planning to play a game today.
Bro! Haven't you realized yet that you have absolutely no talent for gaming?
But looking at the title of the livestream room, these fans suddenly understood.
The title of the livestream room prominently displayed two words: Sponsored Stream.
Oh, so that was it. It was an advertisement.
So it wasn't that Tacitus lacked self-awareness; it was that the people who hired him for the advertisement lacked understanding of him.
Tacitus's viewers, realizing this, were somewhat reassured. But seeing the prominent word "Advertisement" in the stream title, they fell into new concerns.
Under normal circumstances, who would clearly write "Advertisement" in the title of a sponsored stream? Most would disguise it as if it were a normal gaming stream, precisely to lure unsuspecting viewers into the stream before killing... no, before promoting to them.
Making the word "Advertisement" so obvious—was that really okay? Wouldn't the sponsoring party have objections?
These viewers concerned for Tacitus didn't know that Tacitus himself was also very puzzled about this collaboration.
Initially, when told he would be accepting an advertisement that required him to play a horror detective game, Tacitus's inner response was rejection.
After all, his shortcomings in coordination and slow reactions were well-known; having him play a game was definitely a lose-lose choice.
Moreover, he really had no feeling for horror—he couldn't help it; he'd been brave since childhood. Did he have to pretend to be scared just to play a game?
With this mindset, Tacitus was ready to give up on this collaboration. But just as he was about to refuse, he saw the price offered by the sponsoring party.
...They were offering too much money.
200,000 yuan! A full 200,000 yuan!
Just for streaming this little game, he would earn 200,000 yuan!
On the small Dulu Dulu livestreaming platform, his total donations over three months might not even reach 200,000 yuan!
Tacitus immediately changed his tune, humbly asking the client about their requirements. As long as they paid, everything was negotiable; not only would he stream the game once, he'd even call the game characters "daddy" if necessary.
Then he received several more peculiar requirements.
He must clearly write "Advertisement" in the stream title.
There were no restrictions on editing this stream.
He could only livestream this game once, meaning he couldn't repeat a stream of this game.
Looking over these requirements, Tacitus felt that this client didn't seem like they wanted to make money through this advertisement; rather, they seemed to want to lose money.
But since the client, apart from having strange requirements, was very straightforward in other respects and had paid the full advertising fee into his account in advance, Tacitus, though puzzled, still complied with the client's requirements.
After all, no one would turn down money. Tacitus reassured himself and began this unique livestream.
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"Good evening, everyone, meow. This is Tacitus."
Facing his audience, Tacitus greeted them as usual, his ears automatically swaying with his movements. As for why he added a "meow" after "good evening," it was because he had been in a chuunibyou phase when conceptualizing his character and had added cat ears to his virtual avatar, occasionally requiring him to add such flourishes. Fortunately, this habit of adding "meow" at the end of sentences was generally only done when greeting, so he could barely tolerate the embarrassment of this performance.
"As you can see, what we're streaming today is this advertisement—or rather, this game." Tacitus didn't waste time with small talk, quickly getting to the point, ignoring some disappointed comments like "So we're really not singing today?" and "I'm leaving, I'll come back tomorrow to hear Tata sing." He continued on his own, "According to our sponsor, they've made their advertisement into a game with very simple controls."
"The name of this game, let me see—it's called 'The Web.'"
Although the viewership dropped sharply after confirming he wouldn't be singing today, some loyal fans were still actively posting comments.
[I've never heard of this game; searching online doesn't yield any useful information.]
[Looking at the cover image of the stream, it seems like this game uses real-life footage? All the props and scenes look like photographs? That's an approach I haven't heard of before.]
[The handwritten text in the diary on the cover has nice handwriting.]
Seeing these comments, Tacitus specifically paid attention to the cover image and found that it was indeed as the viewers had said—the cover appeared to be a blurred photograph that looked like a diary.
Free materials? Or props specially made for this game?
Curiously, Tacitus clicked the game start button, and the game officially began.
The game opened with a black screen, and as it played, the sound of a school dismissal bell rang eerily, actually creating a somewhat creepy atmosphere.
But for Tacitus, who had never been sensitive to horror, this performance was like winking at a blind person. During the brief wait for the bell to stop, he even opened a bag of potato chips and began crunching away.
It wasn't that he wasn't professional; this behavior was explicitly allowed in the contract—while streaming, he could freely eat snacks, drink beverages, and was even encouraged to do so! Moreover, he could stop the stream halfway through and leave if he wanted!
Tacitus still had a basic sense of responsibility, so he didn't plan to abandon the stream halfway. But streaming while eating snacks sounded really nice...
Accompanied by the crunching sound of biting potato chips, the screen gradually brightened. In the frame, a youth in school uniform stood sideways in a corridor, with the sunset outside blazing like blood.
Tacitus perked up—the game had begun!
Judging solely from the interface, this game seemed to belong to the puzzle-solving AVG game genre. This type of game is currently the simplest to produce on the market; with materials, many fool-proof game editors can allow people to quickly learn to create such a text-based AVG.
And the scenery in the game was indeed as he had initially guessed, all actual photographs. The corridor was real, and the character was extracted from photographs of real people.
But Tacitus waited and waited, yet the game instructions that would normally appear didn't show up.
What was going on? No operation instructions, expecting me to guess how to proceed?
While interacting with viewers in the chat saying, "I don't know why the game isn't giving me any further instructions, let me try to figure out how to operate it," he tried clicking on the youth in the center of the screen who appeared to be the controllable character.
No response.
He then pressed the space bar.
Still no response.
Enter.
The scene remained motionless.
Shift key.
All that changed was the input method icon outside the game.
Finally, Tacitus ran out of options. In a desperate move, he resorted to the face-roll keyboard method, pressing every key on the keyboard one by one!
Then, to his delight, he discovered—when he pressed the right arrow "→" button, the youth on the screen moved!
He took one step to the right!
Tacitus tried the button again.
Only when pressing the right arrow did the youth take another step forward.
Tacitus stared at the screen, wearing a confused expression.
What was going on?
Was this game a... walking simulator?
Author's Note: Actually, it's not a walking simulator
Has anyone played a game called "The Next Day" where you just keep walking left? It's kind of like that feeling (gesturing)
It seems like we can write about the film release tonight!
The author herself is somewhat excited too (?)
Thank you to the little angels who cast sovereign votes or watered with nutrient solution during the period from 2020-08-30 20:08:10 to 2020-08-31 11:11:22~
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Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!