Lu Xiu had previously known absolutely nothing about game development. Or, more accurately, she knew a little, but most of it came from hearsay.
So there were many things she could never quite see the full picture of.
She had always been especially curious about the testing stage that came after a game was completed.
But she had never experienced it herself... All she could do was imagine what the workflow might be like.
Until now.
Only after she personally began testing the 'game' did she finally gain a concrete understanding.
So... this was how it worked.
Strictly speaking, what Lu Xiu was doing now wasn't exactly the same as the conventional testing process used in game development, but the objective was essentially identical: to confirm whether the game's functions, experience, and overall quality met the required standards.
After all, no one wanted a game to launch while still containing bugs that ruined the experience.
And Lu Xiu had no idea what kinds of problems might appear after she deployed this instance build.
So, somewhat worried, she pushed Ethan Winters—the core interactive character—through the story while testing the core gameplay, quests, combat, items, and various other systems. At the same time, she also checked every corner of the map.
There was nothing wrong with the map.
She didn't know whether the Visual Mental Image construction function was simply that powerful, or whether Visual Mental Image itself really was Lu Xiu's Golden Finger.
Either way.
Lu Xiu simply couldn't find anything in the environment that needed changing.
But the core gameplay, quests, combat, items, and so on were a different matter.
Scenes were static, and with Visual Mental Image, Lu Xiu only needed to recall the corresponding locations in her mind.
The dynamic parts of the instance, however, were far more troublesome.
This involved the process of constructing an instance. Once the entire environment had been built, the Dungeon Architect needed to convert the core gameplay, quests, combat, items, instance progression, and so on into text, essentially creating something similar to a game design document.
After that design document was submitted to the System, the System would automatically generate the complete game flow based on the environment and the planned content.
And that was where the problems began.
Although Lu Xiu's initial design document wasn't terrible—after all, she had the finished game as a reference—she had still overlooked quite a few details.
As a result, all sorts of problems kept appearing whenever she ran through the instance generated by the System.
And unlike the environments, where she could fix things simply by thinking about them, problems with the game flow involved all kinds of subsystems. Visual Mental Image could assist her, but actually modifying the flow was still complicated.
Lu Xiu could only progress through the game while checking tutorials, using Visual Mental Image to help her make adjustments at the same time.
The entire process was maddening.
The experience felt remarkably similar to the early days of AI: even when she clearly told it to go east, the AI stubbornly insisted on heading west no matter how much she tried to reason with it.
It would seem like it finally understood, but then she would look again... and discover that it had gone straight north instead.
At the same time, Lu Xiu finally understood why encountering bugs during the late stages of game testing could drive people to breakdowns.
Who wouldn't break down?!
"Wait, where's the recording? Play the recording! That's supposed to guide the player! Why is it gone?!"
"The corpse is supposed to float up! Not grab people's legs underwater! Stop improvising! Let go!"
"Wait! Where are my bolt cutters?"
"Mia... thank goodness Mia's head isn't pointy."
"..."
Lu Xiu was running around in a panic, muttering to herself as she constantly paused the instance to fix whatever problems appeared during progression.
Eventually, the flow reached the part Lu Xiu was most worried about.
Once Ethan Winters rescued his wife Mia, the instance would gain another interactive character.
If players entered the instance and started saying bizarre things, how was the NPC supposed to respond?
Looking at Mia lying in front of her, Lu Xiu had only just begun worrying about this when—
【Interactive object detected.】
【NPC will provide dynamic feedback based on player reactions.】
【Dungeon Architect may preset certain fixed lines and actions.】
【The System will automatically generate responses based on the background story, instance flow, emotional nodes, the character's experiences within the instance, personality, and other information provided by the Dungeon Architect.】
【Warning: NPC personality will depend on the text provided by the Dungeon Architect.】
"...I see. This really is better than preset dialogue."
Looking at the prompt that appeared before her, Lu Xiu fell into thought. "But can this System actually handle it?"
She had every reason to doubt it.
Although the game flow she submitted—the design document—had this problem and that problem...
She hadn't even thought of adding extra scenes, yet this damn System had already started adding them on its own.
For example, in the flooded corridor, the corpse was only supposed to float up and scare Ethan Winters. That should have been the end of it.
But the System insisted on making the corpse grab Ethan Winters by the leg.
Then, when it actually needed to add something—like just now, when Mia was locked inside the cell—Ethan Winters should have been able to find bolt cutters nearby, cut through the chains, and quickly reach Mia. Lu Xiu had forgotten to include that detail, but the System hadn't generated the bolt cutters either.
What exactly was it doing?
Was it planning to make the player controlling Ethan Winters rub through the chains with their bare hands?
Or was it expecting the player to figure out some other way to get Mia out?
Would it really have been so unreasonable to place a pair of bolt cutters beside the cell?
Was this supposed to increase the difficulty?
Lu Xiu even began to suspect that the System might be doing it deliberately... Maybe the System's AI simply thought this would make things more immersive!
Under circumstances like these, could she really trust the System to dynamically generate NPC responses based on player reactions without causing even more problems?
Lu Xiu was deeply concerned.
But after thinking about it for a while, she still couldn't come up with a better solution. In the end, she could only suppress her worries for now and continue pushing the flow forward.
She controlled Ethan Winters and had him wake the sleeping Mia, then began setting up the fixed dialogue.
They were the original lines from the game.
Like an observer standing off to the side, she had the couple communicate step by step, then made Mia lead Ethan Winters away.
As for the interaction details between the two of them, Lu Xiu followed the original game's performance exactly.
Next came Mia suddenly going berserk, pinning Ethan Winters down, and driving a knife straight through his left hand.
This was an event that would inevitably be triggered.
Which meant...
Any player who reached this point would definitely experience real physical pain.
Lu Xiu felt her own hand ache just watching from the side.
The players were going to suffer.
Lu Xiu sighed. Finding no problems, she continued pushing forward.
Perhaps her streak of bad luck had finally run out... because the following combat sequence went perfectly, without a single issue.
Mia fell to the ground first, only to suddenly rise again. Then, with monstrous strength, she hurled Ethan Winters into the room.
Ethan Winters picked up a hand axe, dodged Mia's attacks, and began hacking at her.
The legendary scene of "mutual respect."
When Ethan Winters finally buried the axe in Mia's neck, she collapsed.
Ethan Winters thought it was finally over and went to retrieve the fuse...
Then Mia came back to life.
At first, she was gentle and affectionate.
Then, without warning, she pulled out a screwdriver, nailed Ethan Winters' left hand to the wall, picked up a chainsaw, and charged at him.
She sawed Ethan Winters' left hand clean off.
This was another event that would inevitably be triggered.
And that wasn't all.
Afterward, once he reached the attic, Ethan Winters had yet another major battle with Mia.
In this fight, which could only be described as full of twists and turns, Ethan Winters finally managed to win.
But immediately afterward, his father-in-law appeared.
Lu Xiu pushed the sequence forward until Ethan Winters finally managed to bring Mia down.
Then his father-in-law suddenly appeared like Superman and knocked Ethan Winters unconscious with a single punch.
Watching the scene unfold, the same thought surfaced in Lu Xiu's mind once again...
The players were going to suffer.
She had to admit.
The opening chapter of Resident Evil 7 really was incredibly intense.
And at this moment...
Lu Xiu merely sighed.
She still hadn't realized the severity of the problem.