Hacker System - Chapter 11 Im Sorry Mom

Ting spent 4 months to complete the game. During this time he completed multiple HackersNetwork assignments and brought his reputation and ranking from the 900s to the high 800s.

He earned almost 3000 USD. He needed to do assignments in order to pay his bills. He got good reviews from his contractors for the assignments he had done. They commented that he was quick and efficient.

It was good for Ting to build his hacker reputation. But that was secondary for now. Right now he had just finished coding the game and graphical user interface with all of the effects. Ting wanted to test the game out himself.

Ting took out his phone. It was a older generation of a smartphone. Ting made it so that his game will be compatible with any phone and will run smoothly.

He opened the app on his phone called Kingdom Ruler. When he opened it it had a nice loading screen. The loading bar at the bottom was made up of citizens running from wolves. When they reach the edge of the loading bar they disappear and after the wolves catch up and disappear the people reappear back at the beginning again and keeps on repeating.

The background was that of a small kingdom. When it loaded he was greeted by create an account and login screen. He already had an account so he logged in. After logging in he was greeted by the tutorial for his game.

It told him how to play the game and the basics. It also indicated the goal of the game, which was to survived as long as you can and build a successful kingdom.

After playing for a couple of minutes he closed his game. He programmed it so it will automatically save his progress. He decided now to tell his mom what happened.

He went and dialed his moms phone number. It rang a few times and the call was picked up.

“Ting! I miss you, when are you going to come home and visit?”

“Not sure… I just called so I could apologize. Sorry… Mom.” Ting said.

“Don’t do it! It’s not too late to change! Don’t DIE!” His mom screamed afraid she’ll lose her only son after the loss of her husband.

“Mom you’re overreacting, I want to apologize for getting expelled from university. I just want to let you know that I’m doing fine now. I just started a company, and I just finished my game I designed and programmed. I want you to be the first, other than me to play it. Please tell me what you think.”

“Son, It’s okay if you get expelled out of university just don’t take your own life. I’ll be glad to be the first to play your game.” Ting’s mom said as she was a bit sad that he got expelled but that wasn’t the end of the world. Her son was still alive and well. She only had her son left. What was she gonna do if Ting commit suicide?

“I want to apologize again for not reaching your expectations mom.” Ting replied. “Ill send the game over the email. My game is for mobile phones. Once you download it create an account and you can go through the tutorial.”

“Okay son, I’ll play and tell you how it is.” Ting’s mom said.

“Alright, I’ll find time to come visit you. Bye.” Ting ended the call. After Ting ended the call he decided to look through his game again.

–

After a couple of hours passed, Ting’s mom called back. The first thing she said was “Did you really make this?” Ting didn’t know what to say, he laughed and didn’t deny it. “Mom, is it fun? I created it all by myself, are you proud? Ting wanted to hear his mother’s compliments.

“Son, it’s very fun. It’s wonderful to pass time. I want my co workers to also play this.” His Mom complimented. Ting had a huge smile plastered on his face. He felt really warm by his mothers love and compliments. He wanted his mom to be able to say: “Hey look. This is my son. Isn’t he great?”

“Then I’m glad, I’ll take a few more weeks and check if there are any bugs.” Ting replied.

“Bugs? How can bugs come out of your phone?” She said.

“It’s not the insect bugs, it’s the bugs when the code for something doesn’t do the intended purpose.” Ting corrected her.

“Oh, okay it’s computer terms then. Alright, I’ll tell my friends about your game. I’m sure they’ll love it.” Ting and his mom exchanges to each other before ending the call.

Ting opened his computer to his game program and started to check for any bugs.

For the next week and so he sent the game to some of his friends which he doesn’t really talk to much anymore. He also gave the game to Yao Chen, the receptionist at his apartment. He wanted people to find any bugs, if any.

When he made sure there wasn’t any more bugs he decided to release the game. The game will sent to iOS App Store and the android App Store for review. If they don’t find anything that goes against their ToS (Terms of Service) then it will be released onto the App Store. Ting made his game worth 20 Yuan. (3 USD)

However, Ting knew that his game wouldn’t go against the ToS. Why? Because he decided every part of the game, coded every event that happened.

–

After a couple of business days, Ting got confirmation that his game will be released on their app stores. It also stated the amount of money they will take for each person who buys his game. They will take 30% of the revenue. However this wasn’t a big deal to Ting. If his game was popular then he’ll get profit. If not then he could say he gained more experience from it. It wasn’t the end of the world.

It was July 7th, 2010. This was the moment that Ting’s mobile game ‘Kingdom Ruler’ was official released to the public.