Alpha 0.4 Update! Night System Launches!

Official Website: [Wasteland OL Closed Beta Server Alpha 0.4 Patch Notes] [Major Updates: 1. Closed beta player cap increased to 90. 2. "Night" system officially launched. ] [Optimizations: 1. Enriched NPC facial expressions. 2. Optimized snowflake texture details. 3. Fixed minor bugs. ... ] As usual. After the announcement was posted, Chu Guang, continuing in his role as game designer, clicked send on the post he had drafted. "Developer Log: Alpha 0.4" "Hello everyone, this is your dearest game designer! After sacrificing one programmer, we have finally completed the development of version Alpha 0.4!" "Previously, some buddies kept complaining that they could only enter the game after 6:00 PM, and during the day they could only lurk and shoot the breeze on the official site." "Now, this 'bug' has finally been fixed. Everyone can punch in normally even during the day! Surprised? Shocked? Happy?" "If you are, congratulations—you're celebrating way too early!" "Because in Wasteland OL's setting, the characters players control not only have biological needs like eating, drinking, and relieving themselves, but also a hidden fatigue stat. In other words, your character in the game needs sleep too!" "High fatigue will cause a 1% to 33% attribute debuff. Extreme fatigue will even cause trance, hallucinations, or unconsciousness, and trigger a forced logout. If you want to step into the wasteland in peak condition, please ensure you spend at least eight hours offline resting each day, spending time with family and friends." "This mechanic isn't just about hardcore realism; it's mostly out of concern for our players' health. You can think of it as an anti-addiction system." "The nighttime login feature will open today at 12:00, which corresponds precisely to 0:00 Wasteland time. By the way, because Wasteland OL's setting makes the night full of danger, even if you log on, you will only be allowed to move around inside the base. Please keep this in mind." "Once again, let us reiterate: we are a respectable company, and Wasteland OL is a casual, relaxing game at heart." "We do not advocate intense grinding, nor do we encourage rat races." "Game in moderation, keep healthy routines, manage your playtime reasonably, and enjoy your life!" Once the post went live, the comment section exploded without fail. Makka Pakka: "Wait, casual?!" Construction Boy and Bricks: "No grinding?!" Yaya: "Hello, 110? There's someone engaging in false advertising here!" Scavenger Lv99: "??? Wait, now everyone can work the night shift? Damn it! Then what advantage does a lizardman have left?!" Spare the Life Under the Blade: "Hahaha, epic nerf for Scavenger bro! Truly demoted to bottom-tier dog of the patch!" Scavenger Lv99: "I'm crying!" Quitting Smoking: "Damn it, this is too much! You guys can be online 24/7 now, and I still haven't drawn a beta slot! T.T" Elaina: "I just checked, pre-registrations have topped six hundred. Only 40 slots were released this time, meaning... your odds of getting picked are under 6%. (Funny)" Quitting Smoking: "凸(艹皿艹)!" Proud Grandpa What Can You Do: "Lmao, only idiots pre-register!" Chu Guang chuckled when he saw this line, nearly giving him a closed-beta slot on impulse. Close call. Must resist! Early-access tickets were precious and couldn't be wasted on forum mascots. Candidates had to be vetted with utmost caution; now wasn't the time to fool around. Sending site PMs to the chosen children, Chu Guang closed the forum, rose from his chair, walked over to the corner, and nudged Xia Yan's arm. "Hey, wake up." Perhaps life had been too comfortable over the past few days, dulling her guard—she had actually fallen asleep while memorizing lines. Not only that, she was muttering sleep talk about "chocolate," "wine," and "can't eat another bite." Her sweet dream disturbed, Xia Yan groggily opened her eyes. When she saw Chu Guang clearly before her, she jumped like a startled hamster, sleepiness instantly vanishing as she clamped her knees and arms tightly together. "What do you want?" Chu Guang jerked his chin toward next door. "Reminding you to go back to your room. Don't sleep here." Relieved, Xia Yan grumbled as she leaned on her crutches, stood up, and hobbled back to her room. Looking like that, she clearly wasn't fully awake. Figuring he couldn't count on her anytime soon anyway, Chu Guang left her be and turned to Xiao Qi beside him. "Xiao Qi, I'm going to take a nap. Remember to wake me at 23:55." The camera overhead bobbed lightly, and Xiao Qi said energetically, "Right away, Master!" ... Wasteland time: 0:00. In reality, it should be 12:00 noon. As Chu Guang lifted the login restrictions through the system, a total of 27 players logged into the game. Honestly, Chu Guang was quite surprised. Who knew there were so many slackers with no day jobs? Of course, maybe there just happened to be that many today. Facing the players whose faces were plastered with excitement, eager to run outside and gaze at the stars and moon, Chu Guang quieted them down with a commanding look. Next came the lines he had improvised while daydreaming. "Winter is coming, and danger draws near." "With our days of exploration and hunting, our presence has already disturbed the surrounding neighbors. For us, this represents opportunity, but it also spells danger." "Now, I need eight brave warriors to step forward—" Before Chu Guang could finish, a collective rustle rang out as twenty-seven pairs of legs stepped forward in unison, leaving him momentarily speechless. "Ahem, wait for me to finish." Clearing his throat, Chu Guang reset his composure. Facing those expectant gazes, he picked up his pace. "I need eight warriors to shoulder the heavy responsibility of night defense and serve as guards for the outpost." "During duty, your equipment will be provided by the shelter, and you will receive an hourly wage of 15 copper coins and 10 contribution points." "The maximum shift per night is eight hours, with a rotation after six. If you die in the line of duty, all death penalties except the respawn cooldown will be waived, and you will receive a pension of 1 to 10 silver coins depending on the circumstances." Pausing, Chu Guang continued. "You have twenty seconds to consider whether you truly need this job..." "Now, those who want it, please raise your hands." The last sentence was completely superfluous. For hardcore grinders who wished they could stay online 24 hours a day, this lucrative gig was simply too tempting! From midnight to 6:00 AM was six hours. At 1.5 silver and 10 contribution points an hour, that came out to 9 silver and 60 contribution points! Aside from the slight drawback that the contribution was a bit low for night shifts, the cash earnings over six hours practically rivaled what casual players earned in an entire day! Almost the second Chu Guang finished speaking, twenty-seven pairs of hands shot up without hesitation in the resident hall, looking very much like a collective surrender. To be fair, it was also Chu Guang's fault for not clarifying that raising two hands was the same as raising one. Still, minor details like that didn't matter. Chu Guang had Xiao Qi register the first eight players who raised their hands, then went to the lockers in the airlock, took out the weapons stored inside, and distributed them. The eight shared four 7mm revolver rifles, divided into four two-man teams. Each team was responsible for one wall of the base, one holding the rifle and the other the ammunition. In addition, each person carried a wooden bow, nine arrows, a Molotov cocktail, and an improvised hand grenade made of black powder and an aluminum can. Chu Guang specifically instructed them that if mutants approached, they should shoot or drive them off with bows. No firing guns unless they approached the wall, and no throwing incendiaries or explosives. If unidentified survivors appeared, drive them off with bows past thirty meters. If the other party didn't know what was good for them and continued to approach, or even showed hostile intent, they were cleared to fire at will. If they were mutants, fire immediately without hesitation. They'd do the same anyway... ... Under the envious gazes of the other players, the eight guards stood tall with chests puffed out as they rode the elevator, the first batch returning to the surface. As the four teams reached their posts along the walls, the rest of the players were led up to the surface by Chu Guang. Outside the sanatorium, the river of stars blazed like fire. Having never seen such a crystal-clear night sky, the players stared wide-eyed, trying to etch the sight before them permanently into memory. "So beautiful..." "Is this really the wasteland?" "Turns out you really can see clouds at night!" "You're actually taking game visual effects seriously?" "It'd be pretty nice if we could live in this world forever." "Heh, keep dreaming. If you really transmigrated to this hellhole, would you survive past episode two?" "Uh, forget it then." "..." The ban on using open-flame facilities such as cement kilns and blast furnaces at night was lifted. With the players' area of activity expanding, hiding their presence was pointless; continuing to conceal themselves was merely fooling themselves. Besides, the dozen or so rifles in the base weren't just for show. Chu Guang needed all these production facilities running, ideally non-stop around the clock, pushing output to the limit to produce weapons, armor, tools, parts, and construction materials needed to build the outpost. Besides, these hardcore grinders had finally won the chance to log in at night; he couldn't just leave them up here playing in the mud, could he? For them, having nothing to do was far more torturous than working! Atop the three-meter-tall concrete wall. Elven King Fugui and Elaina were responsible for keeping watch along the southern section of the wall. According to the distribution of factions around the shelter, south and west should be the safest: one bordered the scavenger settlement and the other the lake, so there was no need to be overly nervous. Even if mutants or marauders attacked, they would have to come from the east or north. Unless they tactically flanked around. But was there really any need for that? The two players stood behind cover fashioned from scrapped car doors, looking out at the pitch-black forest twenty meters away, chatting to pass the time. Elaina: "If only this game had a built-in browser, so we could at least watch anime. Making AFK questers camp the game in person is just ridiculous!" Elven King Fugui: "A built-in browser? Heh, I'd be happy if they added a visible stat menu before open beta! But honestly, Boss Mole predicted right again. Alpha 0.4 brought in the defense concept. I just wonder when those green-skinned muscleheads are gonna attack." Elaina: "How do you know that dog designer didn't just slap this together after reading the post? Manual doge." Elven King Fugui: "How the hell do you change that on the fly? Do you have any concept of game development, bro? You think a massive project costing tens of billions can be modified just by rubbing an eraser on paper? Didn't you hear the designer say they held meetings for three days and three nights just to work out the currency system?!" Elaina: "Of course I know. They even sacrificed a programmer just to let us log on at night. But being so serious just makes you look silly—" "Shh!" Elven King Fugui suddenly grew alert, making a quiet gesture. "Don't make a sound... there's movement outside." "Holy shit... for real?!" Speak of the devil?! The two players pressed tensely against the cover to conceal themselves. While carefully peering outward, their fingers locked tightly around bowstrings, arrows already nocked. Was it human? Or a mutant? An eerie chill lingered in their hearts. Yet outside was pitch black; nothing could be seen. Elven King Fugui's eyes were nearly bloodshot from straining as Thermal Vision swept along the tree line. But this was his first time using an active skill, and completely unskilled with it, he found nothing. Elaina couldn't help urging, "Did you see anything or not, brother?" "See what, a ghost?! You think my eyes are binoculars?" Elven King Fugui cursed under his breath, thinking if only he were Perception-type. Pity he was Agility. What a waste of talent. Elaina comforted himself in his mind that with this scrap metal as cover, the other side couldn't see them either. In fact, his assessment was correct. The other party indeed couldn't see them, and thus made no hasty moves. In the forest, a pair of sharp pupils stared fixedly at the wall, tracking along its outline as if weighing the pros and cons. Inside the wall, the faint sound of metal forging and a clamor of voices could be heard. Ten people? No, a settlement of at least twenty or even thirty people. The conversation atop the wall had abruptly stopped; they had probably noticed him. Which meant the guards here were quite alert! A flicker of wariness crept into those pupils. Without a sound, they melted back into the darkness behind, concluding this round of probing... His mission was only to escort the tribute back; better not cause unnecessary trouble.