Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 224: Caught Off Guard

Is this card game?
At the same time.
The audience was also wondering about this...
Because this wasn't quite what they imagined a card game would look like!
They had of course heard Tang Yao's earlier explanations and buildup.
When they heard "card game,"
They felt somewhat disappointed.
Because they subconsciously associated Hearthstone with games like Dou Dizhu, which didn't seem particularly exciting.
They never expected to see such beautifully crafted game visuals.
"As you can see,"
"This is the game's battle interface. Of course... you might not fully grasp the gameplay yet, but that's okay."
"This game is very simple."
Meanwhile,
Tang Yao began explaining: "First, here at the bottom left are the mana crystals. Every action requires consuming an equivalent amount of mana crystals. Take this card for example."
Tang Yao moved her mouse to select a 1-cost minion from her hand: "The number in the top left corner represents the mana crystal cost. Each turn, your mana crystals refresh and increase by one, up to a maximum of ten... As the match progresses, you'll be able to play more cards."
"For example, if I play this 1-cost minion now..."
Tang Yao placed the card from her hand onto the board, causing the mana crystals to dim as they were consumed: "Mana will be spent. After summoning a minion, unless it has special keywords, it can't attack immediately - it must wait until the next turn."
"When attacking, you can target either the opponent's hero (whose health is displayed below them) or their minions. During minion trades, both minions deal damage to each other based on their attack values. The two numbers below each minion represent attack and health respectively."
"For instance, if my 2/2 minion (2 health, 2 attack) attacks their 2/3 minion, it would deal 2 damage while dying itself, leaving their minion with 1 health... Proper minion trading is crucial for controlling the match."
"......"
Tang Yao, along with the Innkeeper character, began explaining the game rules to the live audience.
Truth be told, ignoring the various keywords, Hearthstone's basic rules were extremely simple.
Almost intuitive to understand.
At least the live audience seemed to grasp it immediately.
Soon, they weren't so much listening to the rules as they were marveling at the game's high production quality.
This... was incredibly polished!
The game exuded refinement in every aspect!
From minion summoning animations to attack feedback, even the dense voice lines - all were top-notch.
Oh... and the card artwork too.
While Tang Yao personally found the anime-style Hearthstone somewhat strange,
For these local viewers without any preconceptions, it wasn't strange at all.
Take Jaina, whom Tang Yao was currently controlling - her artwork depicted her as a classic magical girl, vibrant and colorful, embodying that anime fantasy aesthetic.
Absolutely gorgeous.
Such luxury!
Is this card game?
"?"
The audience began spamming question marks in real-time.
As for the gameplay itself,
Players found it... quite simple.
But just as this thought occurred to them,
Tang Yao drew a Fireball spell, and with the fiery projectile smashing into the opponent's face,
...some viewers immediately sensed something was off.
Many who had played TCGs or similar games had already begun suspecting something earlier.
Now seeing this,
Their eyes lit up as they realized what Tang Yao meant by "card game."
This... was interesting!!
During the livestream,
As Tang Yao continued explaining while playing through the tutorial, more game features were revealed.
Minion interactions, board combos, card rarities, minion types, spell schools, keywords, decks...
These rules weren't complicated, especially combined with the game's spectacular presentation!
Take Taunt for example - not only was there a sound effect, but when a minion with Taunt was played, it created a wall-like visual effect.
With this effect alone, even without the "You must attack minions with Taunt" reminder, viewers instantly understood the mechanic!
Others were equally intuitive - Charge meant no summoning sickness, allowing immediate attacks.
Battlecries had different entry effects depending on their abilities, helping players understand their functions.
And spells were even more straightforward!
Combined with the cards' clear descriptions, the learning curve wasn't steep at all!
The whole package was incredibly engaging!
The system had depth without being complicated!
"TCG!? Wait no!! It seems significantly simplified! But it really resembles one!!!! Am I dreaming? A company actually made this type of game! And it's this good!?"
"Holy shit! This looks fun! Seems really enjoyable!"
"Is this a mobile game? The evolution seems too fast! FGO still has us drawing command cards for combinations, and suddenly we jump to gameplay this deep? That quick of an advancement?"
"Probably not mobile? But gotta admit, Avalon's talented... They don't seem that big, yet their game design feels incredibly polished. Not sure how it plays yet, but every mechanic they reveal is so appealing."
"The art style remains top-notch as always. First Essence was amazing, now Hearthstone shows another style of excellence."
"Want to play! Release it now!!!"
"......"
As the introduction progressed,
The barrage discussions... gradually shifted focus to Hearthstone.
Because this game looked incredibly fun too!
Soon, this excitement reached its peak,
When Tang Yao, after completing the tutorial, played a match against Li Xue.
Truth be told, Li Xue wasn't much of a gamer.
Can't be helped.
Avalon kept her too busy normally to play games much.
But after trying Hearthstone for the stream, she found it quite interesting, so in the two weeks before the stream, she made time to play with Tang Yao and learned the basics of gameplay and deckbuilding.
For this exhibition match, Tang Yao carefully selected three deck matchups:
Control vs Aggro
Aggro vs Aggro
Midrange vs Control
During the matches, Tang Yao didn't explain much, focusing instead on showcasing the gameplay... because now was the time to demonstrate the fun of competition, not the rules.
She hadn't forgotten the stream's purpose.
And the rules had been covered enough already.
She only briefly mentioned some potentially confusing mechanics,
Like the pure mechanic card "Doomsayer," or certain Secrets.
Combined with the earlier tutorial, most viewers... could easily follow their matches from the start.
When Aggro faced Aggro, it was all about board flooding, minion trading, and going face... pure speed.
When Control faced Aggro, it became a struggle for the Control deck to clear the board while the Aggro deck relentlessly attacked - the classic spear vs shield dynamic.
By the final Midrange vs Control match,
The live audience was practically itching to play themselves!!
Especially when Li Xue missed lethal damage.
She didn't even realize,
But the audience went crazy with frustration!!
"Miss Black Stockings! That was lethal! Your board damage plus hero power was exactly 8! Argh! How did you miss that!!!"
"Let me play! Let me play! The streamer doesn't know how!!! Give it to me! Let me play!!"
"That was wrong!!! Take my money! Just release the game already! My blood pressure's spiking! I need to play this myself!"
"Haha... makes me want to play too. But isn't Hunter's Savannah Highmane's Deathrattle a bit OP?"
"And Priest's Mind Control isn't?"
"Want to play! When's the release!?"
"......"
The barrage became a chorus of anguish,
Interspersed with game discussions,
Exploding instantly.
Clearly, players had fully experienced the game's appeal! They were desperate to play!
Behind the scenes,
Li Xue was startled and instinctively looked at Tang Yao.
Tang Yao signaled her to relax, then decisively ended the match and announced: "That was our second game tonight - Hearthstone."
"This game is already available on ANF's gaming section, with testing opening next week. You can make reservations now~ Also, this is a cross-platform game."
"That concludes our advertisement."
"Now let's move to our third game—"
She immediately began switching games.
But this time,
The audience protested even more!!
The barrage count suddenly tripled!
An overwhelming flood!
"Huh??"
"One more match! One more match!!"
"No!!!"
"What does cross-platform mean!? Nevermind that! One more match!"
"Ahhh, at least let us watch more if we can't play!"
But Tang Yao ignored them this time, letting the audience vent.
Viewers were going crazy.
Like Jian Yinghua, who'd been watching all along.
Coincidentally,
He had TCG experience, so this game particularly interested him...
At least initially.
After watching the matches! It wasn't just interest anymore!
He thought the designer... was an absolute genius!
TCGs could work like this!?
And the production quality! So high!!
Even the standalone artwork was on par with FGO! Not to mention all the clever design and presentation!
He wanted to play so badly!!
At least let me watch one more match!
Jian Yinghua suddenly realized attending this stream was a mistake!
Damn it! Teasing us with this amazing game we can't play... now we can't even watch! Shouldn't have come!
One more match please!
But.
Tang Yao remained merciless, closing the game directly.
Jian Yinghua's hopes were utterly crushed... After a silent moment, he suddenly thought of something, grabbed his mouse, opened a new window, navigated to ANF's main site, and accessed the gaming section that previously only had FGO.
Sure enough,
The entire section had transformed!
The previously introduced Essence was there.
And Hearthstone too!
Seeing this,
Jian Yinghua's eyes lit up as he immediately clicked in.
Indeed,
Hearthstone's page was live, with beta sign-ups open!
Click!
Without hesitation, Jian Yinghua began furiously clicking the reservation button!
After a brief lag,
A notification popped up:
[Congratulations! Reservation successful! Please wait for further notifications!]
[Current reservations: 40,392]
......
Meanwhile,
Shen Lun stared blankly at the stream.
This was a card game?
No.
This wasn't right.
TCGs didn't look like this.
This was completely different from what he imagined!
He even thought... it looked rather fun.
And cross-platform? Did that mean what he thought it meant?
An online game?... Available on both mobile and PC?
If true.
Then this was a huge problem!
At this moment,
Shen Lun couldn't deceive himself anymore, suddenly realizing things were spiraling out of control.
No.
They already had!
What was wrong with this company?
As he pondered,
Shen Lun suddenly snapped to attention and, like Jian Yinghua, thought of something. He too opened ANF's gaming section... his first time ever doing so.
And received a shock.
On another webpage,
The stream continued.
Tang Yao's voice introduced the third game.
But Shen Lun couldn't care less now... He stared frozen at the reservation numbers.
In just these few minutes,
Hearthstone's reservations had surpassed 80,000.
Yes.
Straight-up doubled!
......
Inside Avalon,
Li Xue and Tang Yao were streaming from a conference room, while other staff monitored outside, ready to provide technical support.
But after seeing Tang Yao conclude Hearthstone's segment,
Si Jinliang couldn't stay seated.
He approached Cai Quan, who had come to oversee operations at Avalon's offices, and asked: "...How many reservations?"
"One hundred thousand..."
Cai Quan looked up in surprise: "And still climbing steadily, increasing every minute."
"!"
Hearing this number, Si Jinliang's eyes widened.
Then immediately,
He practically jumped up, nearly shouting: "Seriously!?"
"......"
Cai Quan ignored him, turning back to the screen and recalling what Tang Yao had said days earlier:
"With conventional game promotion... releasing games one by one on ANF's gaming section would work, but by the time we build reputation, competitors would catch on."
"I doubt they'll just watch us grow - certainly not Jiuxiao, whose ambitions exceed ours and are already targeting us."
"So I changed my mind. Rather than conventional methods, why not leverage the anime girl livestream gimmick to reveal multiple games at once? Not through trailers requiring player speculation, but by directly showcasing gameplay, letting all ANF users experience our games' quality!"
"This bypasses traditional promotion channels to avoid Jiuxiao's interference, while using quantity and quality to establish ANF's gaming section in mobile gaming overnight!"
"I refuse to believe anime girl streaming plus three simultaneous game reveals won't make waves."
"Honestly... I'm quite confident in leveraging livestreaming's interactive nature, content presentation, and transforming content consumption into a communal social event."
"So the stream isn't the focus - it's just to gather attention. What matters is ANF afterward... Here's the streaming plan."
"Yes, no more warm-up. This time we'll catch the industry completely off guard."
"......"
Remembering this,
Cai Quan watched the ever-climbing reservation numbers and murmured: "It actually worked..."
ANF's gaming section... just took off?
What sorcery was this?
And this was with FGO being targeted by Jiuxiao.
If the gaming section succeeded now,
Then all that FGO targeting would be for nothing?