At the end of April, the members of Yangfan Studio’s QA testing team found themselves buried in work once again.

Xie Yunfan handed them an early version of the game’s Demo, which included the first chapter of the main plot—Spring and Autumn & Warring States—along with over twenty completed character designs.

Since the real-time synchronization on the holographic end had not yet been solved, this test was conducted purely on the mobile end.

The QA team had to thoroughly play through the storyline to check if the pacing was appropriate. At the same time, they needed to test the combat system to uncover any bugs in skill design.

Huo Minghui had been playing games for over a decade and was intimately familiar with all genres. Upon receiving the Demo, he immediately picked up the specialized smartphone issued by the company to the testing team, created a character, and began testing.

The early Demo lacked loading animations and voice acting, featuring only text and static visuals.

Right at the start, the player transmigrated to an alternate world. The system NPC introduced the general world background as well as the player’s special ability to “Enter Dreams.”

Following that, the main storyline opened its first dreamscape—Sleeping on Brushwood and Tasting Gall.

The plot within the dream was intriguing. The player observed the narrative unfold from a god’s-eye view: The Yue State was destroyed, and King Goujian of Yue was forced to surrender to King Fuchai of Wu, enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens as a slave to the King of Wu.

As the story progressed, a combat stage titled “Defeat the Wu Servants” appeared. A tutorial pop-up emerged, teaching the player how to control characters, unleash skills, and utilize battle formations.

After playing for a bit, Huo Minghui felt that the initial tutorial was far too tedious and lengthy, shoving too much information onto the player all at once, making it difficult to fully digest. Splitting the information across several stages to introduce it gradually would yield much better results.

He documented his thoughts while playing.

The new game’s plot was as captivating as ever, the card illustrations were gorgeous, the character models were exquisite, and the combat effects alongside the skill designs were brimming with innovation.

The gameplay of this game was genuinely fun. Having only played through the very first dream of Chapter 1, he was already thoroughly drawn in by the lore and the combat mechanics.

Once the first dream concluded, the “Recruitment System”—in other words, the gacha—unlocked.

For the internal test build, the system directly granted “Infinite Pulls” to the QA staff, allowing them to pull cards to their heart’s content while simultaneously testing the gacha drop rates and pity algorithm for bugs.

Huo Minghui enjoyed a massive pulling spree, collecting every single character from the Spring and Autumn Chapter.

After carefully reading through each character’s skills, he attempted to assemble a lineup to tackle the main story stages.

At that moment, Hu Fei, another member of the QA team, was also playing intently. As he played, he suddenly called out to the team leader, “Brother Huo, the healing output on this Fan Li doesn’t match the multipliers described in his skill description!”

Huo Minghui replied, “Note down the issue. We’ll aggregate everything and submit it to the boss at the end.”

Hu Fei nodded excitedly, “Got it!”

After carefully completing the main story, the team members headed to the PVP Arena to battle one another using different team compositions. There, they discovered a bug during the resolution of the player’s “Military Manual” skills. Additionally, they ran into various odd bugs where skill cast effects didn’t match their descriptions, or status effects on characters failed to apply.

The more content they tested, the more bugs they uncovered.

Three days later, Huo Minghui compiled all the bugs into a summary and sent it to Xie Yunfan.

Fixing bugs was a routine part of the game development process. Some bugs were purely software bugs on the programming team’s end, while others stemmed from a lack of alignment between the Level Design and Data teams during the design phase.

Xie Yunfan convened a meeting with them to confirm: “As the main commander in Arena battles, the player’s Military Manual System skills should have the absolute highest priority. Resolve the Military Manual skill first, then resolve the character skills.”

Skill priority was crucial in turn-based games, and the order of resolution had to be meticulously structured.

The Thirty-Six Stratagems of the Military Manual System were hard-earned by players grinding through high-difficulty Abyssal dungeons. Since they were manually triggered by players at any time, placing their priority at the top was much more logical.

Ji Yan asked, “What if two players cast a Military Manual skill at the exact same second?”

Xie Yunfan answered, “The probability of casting a Military Manual skill in the exact same second is extremely low. If that edge case actually happens, the order of resolution will be determined by whichever character acts next. Whoever’s character takes the turn first gets their Military Manual resolved first.”

Ji Yan hurriedly lowered his head to write that down.

Beyond carefully arranging skill priorities, the QA team raised many other design flaws—such as the tutorial being too tedious and the combat experience lacking fluidity. Furthermore, some skill multipliers were unbalanced and required tweaking. The Data Team certainly had their hands full for the coming days.

Xie Yunfan assigned the respective teams to squash the bugs.

He had personally played the test build for two days. As a mobile game, fixing these bugs would already make it a polished, qualified product. However, if it were to achieve dual-end cross-play with the holographic platform in the future, it was missing a vital piece of gameplay—character interaction.

Once players went through the trouble of pulling a character and raising them to max level, what came next?

Players who enjoyed PVP could head to the Arena to swap lineups, battle, and experiment with tactical synergies. But what about casual players who didn’t care for PVP? Were they supposed to just leave their characters sitting in the warehouse to look at?

If players could meet these characters and interact with them in the holographic world, casual players would have far more fun in the game.

After giving it some thought, Xie Yunfan drafted an initial proposal for an Interaction System.

As the protagonist of the game, the player held the identity of a “Lord” in an alternate world. Once a week, they could host a “Heroes’ Assembly,” inviting their favorite characters over to chat and drink tea—just like an ancient lord summoning civil officials and military generals for a council. All characters participating in the assembly would gain trust points.

Simultaneously, players could actively “visit” the characters they had recruited.

A manor system would be created for players, divided into numerous rooms. After recruiting characters, players could assign them quarters and visit them whenever they had free time.

During visits, unique daily dialogues would trigger based on each character’s history and personality.

Players would be able to chat face-to-face with these characters in the holographic world.

For example, taking a stroll along the lake with Xi Shi, chatting about the daily life of doing business and making money with Fan Li, watching Yu Ji perform a sword dance, or visiting Han Xin’s quarters to watch him drill his troops…

With lifelike character modeling paired with dialogue that fit their personalities, players would feel like these were living, breathing individuals rather than just a pile of digital paper cutouts.

These characters could even become the player’s friends in the holographic world. For casual players, going into the game during their downtime to drink tea and chat with these historical figures was a delightful form of entertainment in itself.

Once he had finalized the concept, Xie Yunfan called the Writing Team over to have them draft scene dialogues.

The Visit System remained a largely single-player feature, focusing on the interaction between players and the characters they cultivated. However, as an online multiplayer game, interaction between players was indispensable.

Aside from system-matched Arena battles, how would players communicate when they weren’t in the Arena? A World Chat Channel was essential—newbies could ask about team compositions and character build guides in the world channel, allowing players to exchange tips and avoid unnecessary pitfalls.

Additionally, Xie Yunfan decided to create an Alliance System.

Players could create alliances or join ones founded by others.

Alliances would feature daily welfare missions and an Alliance Shop. Later, once the game’s live service matured, Alliance vs. Alliance PVP could also be introduced.

Socially inclined players could join alliances to make plenty of friends.

Naturally, players who disliked socializing could continue to entertain themselves solo. The rewards from the Alliance System wouldn’t be mandatory items, so no one would be forced to join.

With the addition of these interactive systems, the workloads for every department grew even heavier.

The writing team had to write massive amounts of character lines, the art team had to paint numerous background scenes, and the programming team faced an even bigger headache, as the chat channels and alliance tasks required building from scratch.

Fortunately, the employees had no complaints. Everyone deeply aligned with the boss’s design philosophy and wanted to make this game the best it could be.

…

Time flew by. By late May, the second chapter of the main storyline was completed, the Interaction System was halfway done, and the skill resolution order had reached an optimal state after repeated testing.

What made Xie Yunfan even happier was good news from Luo Hang—the issue of real-time synchronization between the holographic and mobile ends had been solved.

However, it could currently only be tested on a small scale, as large-scale online synchronization wasn’t feasible just yet.

Xie Yunfan was in no rush—a strategy combat game was not something to be careless with.

Even after completing the entire main storyline and character roster, several rounds of closed beta testing would still be required. If a game-breaking skill bug appeared or the combat balance in the Arena fell apart, players who loved PVP would abandon the game in a heartbeat.

Back then, the reason his older brother’s game, Fighter Master, was forced off the app store within a week of launching was precisely due to combat stat imbalances and arena bugs. Xie Yunfan had no intention of repeating those mistakes.

The QA team was extraordinarily busy during this period. To ensure the depth and playability of the combat, Xie Yunfan handed every completed character over to them for detailed skill testing and power scaling analysis.

Every single character was meticulously polished, striving to ensure that skill designs were completely bug-free.

At the same time, team composition synergies had to be carefully evaluated. For instance, in a counter-attack team built around Goujian as a tank, which teammates would make the squad even stronger? For an AoE team centered around Bai Qi as the main DPS, what was the most optimal lineup?

There were also Burn teams, Crowd-Control teams, Lightning-Damage teams, Bleed teams, Summoner teams, and more.

As more and more characters entered the gacha pool, team synergies became increasingly rich. The QA team alone built over a dozen viable lineups. Combined with various battle formations and military manuals, the tactics in the Arena became incredibly dynamic and unpredictable—sometimes a team with a massive early-game advantage could get completely turned around by the opponent in the end game.

No single lineup possessed an absolute dominance; the player’s tactical execution mattered far more.

Combat filled with suspense was the only way to deliver true excitement.

Character rarity tiers also required careful calibration—which figures deserved to be designed as the rarest “Sun-tier” cards, which belonged in the “Moon” tier, and which were “Star” tier cards.

After careful consideration, Xie Yunfan decided to assign the most legendary figures in history to the Sun tier.

For example, during the Spring and Autumn & Warring States period, the undisputed God of War, Bai Qi, naturally deserved the “Sun” emblem. Likewise, Bian Que, the founder of pulse diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine, was designed as the game’s strongest single-target healer.

For the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, went without saying—the ultimate battle engine who swept across the six states.

For the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, and Han Xin could all serve as Sun-tier characters…

There were far too many figures in history. For the first public beta card pool, the roster was set at 80 characters: 16 Sun-tier, 24 Moon-tier, and 40 Star-tier. As the main storyline updated in the future, the card pool would continue to expand.

For pure DPS cards, power scaling naturally followed Sun > Moon > Star.

However, support cards couldn’t be evaluated purely by rarity; unique utility mechanics would also be given to select Moon-tier and Star-tier cards.

By late June, Xie Yunfan finalized all 80 characters for the public beta launch.

The main plot was complete, and the real-time cross-play issue between holographic and mobile platforms was finally resolved. With that, Yangfan Qihang ushered in its first small-scale, closed internal test.

This test was conducted internally within the company, involving nearly a hundred staff members.

After urgently fixing the bugs uncovered during testing, Xie Yunfan decided to move toward a public test. Luo Hang’s side also prepared the servers to welcome the first online test.

On July 15th, Yangfan Qihang jointly released a recruitment announcement:

“The strategy combat game Turbulent Spring and Autumn, co-developed by Yangfan Studio and Qihang Games, has completed its closed testing and is about to enter its second round of data-wipe beta testing.

This test is limited to 20,000 participants. Players who wish to join can head to the official Turbulent Spring and Autumn website to fill out their information and draw for a beta slot. All participants in the beta test will receive an official merchandise gift pack.

Thank you for your support ^^

We look forward to meeting everyone in the new game!”

This announcement set off a massive wave of excitement. Players engaged in fervent discussions, while game streamers and review content creators eagerly rushed to the official website to draw for a beta slot.

Yangfan Qihang’s previous game, Millennium Love, was a single-player title with staggering achievements. Since its release, it had consistently remained in the top 20 sales charts, surging into the top 10 with every event banner.

That game had precisely captured the female-oriented market, allowing the developers to practically roll in money.

However, Millennium Love was a single-player romance game that never underwent a large-scale public test, only a few closed tests.

This 20,000-player data-wipe beta test had no gender restrictions, making it clear that it was not a female-oriented title.

What genre of game would it be this time?

Following the release of the beta news, the official Weibo account for Turbulent Spring and Autumn gained hundreds of thousands of followers in a single day, proving just how much attention games produced by Yangfan Studio commanded.

In recent years, among all the games where Xie Yunfan served as chief producer, not a single one was a flop. Every single title was hit after hit, elevating his studio into an industry benchmark.

This time, what new creation would Little Sailboat bring to the table?

Everyone was filled with immense anticipation.

The next day, the official Weibo of Turbulent Spring and Autumn dropped a promotional trailer.

In the video, the player transmigrated to an alternate world, experiencing legendary story after legendary story.

A man sitting on a pile of straw clenched his fists, sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall day after day.

A valiant general clad in armor held a longsword, declaring his intent to sweep away all obstacles for the Great Qin.

Someone washed silk by a stream; someone plucked a zither in a bamboo grove; someone stood atop a city wall gazing into the distance; and someone sat in a thatched cottage in the mountains, feather fan in hand, lost in deep thought.

Exquisitely modeled characters flashed rapidly across the screen one after another.

Just then, the background music took a sharp, dramatic turn, becoming intensely thrilling and heroic.

Countless soldiers charged into battle, slaying enemies and conquering cities.

In an era consumed by the flames of war and thick smoke, how many fulfilled their life’s ambitions, and how many passed away filled with regret? The souls of these historical figures were all drawn into a parallel space. People from different eras were finally able to reunite within this realm.

A deep system voiceover resounded: “In an era of chaos, who is the true victor?”

“Countless civil officials, military generals, and legendary talents gather here—waiting for your recruitment.”

“Jointly produced by Yangfan Studio & Qihang Games, the data-wipe beta test for Turbulent Spring and Autumn is starting soon. Stay tuned!”

After watching the concept trailer, many players cheered in excitement.

“The character models are as handsome as ever. Just from one trailer, I’ve already fallen for several handsome guys~”

“It’s an all-ages game, not 18+! As a high school student, I’m thrilled!”

“Seeing so many characters makes me, a story-lover, so happy! Hope the writing stays top-tier.”

“Couldn’t tell how the game plays from the trailer. But I love the art style, looking forward to the release.”

“Can the player benefits match Millennium Love?”

“The players next door are eating so well! Hope the live operations for this new game are just as generous!”

The comment section buzzed with intense discussion.

The beta trailer didn’t reveal specific gameplay mechanics—after all, many elements might still be tweaked after testing—but judging by the players’ reactions, the art style had successfully established a strong foothold.

Xie Yunfan was equally confident in the game’s quality.

A week later, the data-wipe beta test for Turbulent Spring and Autumn officially commenced.

Players who received test notifications followed the instructions to download the mobile installation package, registering and logging in with their ID numbers. However, some players logged in through their holographic gaming pods.

Only then did everyone realize—Holy crap, this was actually real-time dual-end cross-play?!

Qihang Games was insane! They actually solved the technical nightmare of real-time synchronization across mobile and holographic platforms? From now on, mobile and holographic players could run dungeons and play games together in real time?!

The biggest drawback of holographic gaming was that it “wasn’t convenient enough.” After all, players couldn’t lug a multi-hundred-pound gaming pod everywhere they went, unlike a smartphone that could be opened anytime, anywhere.

Yet, the immersive experience of a holographic game was something a mobile game simply couldn’t match. No matter how exquisite a mobile model was, it was ultimately trapped behind a smartphone screen—untouchable and unfelt.

If true cross-play and real-time synchronization could be achieved, then in the future, if a player was busy or couldn’t access their holographic pod during a dungeon run, they could just log in on their phone to play with friends!

When they had time to hop into their holographic pod, they could head into the virtual world and enjoy the fun of chatting face-to-face with fellow players.

This essentially combined the strengths of both platforms—holographic and mobile!

Qihang must have poured an insane amount of money into conquering this technical obstacle.

No wonder there was nearly a year-long gap between this game and Yangfan Qihang’s previous release. They had spared no expense to pull off a monumental technological breakthrough!

Truly worthy of praise!

The players participating in the beta were left with stunned expressions.

Of course, a portion of the Millennium Love player base had already experienced the joy of cross-platform play and raising their virtual husbands in a holographic world.

However, that was a single-player game, whereas this time, they could play online with other players, doubling the fun.

After recovering from their shock over the incredible “dual-end sync” technology…

Players began to be shocked by the gameplay itself.

—This was actually a turn-based game?!

What the hell? Little Sailboat, what came over you to make a turn-based game?!

After the data-wipe beta test concluded, a wave of player reviews surfaced online.

The first thing to send shockwaves through the industry was Qihang Group solving the real-time dual-end synchronization problem. According to beta testers, the network speed was buttery smooth, matchmaking was lightning-fast, and online play didn’t lag in the slightest.

Competitors were at a total loss for words.

With a technology like this, Luo Hang had undoubtedly filed for patents! If other companies wanted to use it in the future, they would have to pay licensing fees to Qihang, allowing Luo Hang to make money lying down…

Who could blame him when he had the determination and willingness to pour massive capital into technical R&D?

Qihang was a step ahead after all, establishing itself as the industry leader.

The second aspect that baffled the industry was the gameplay itself.

Due to NDAs, beta players were forbidden from disclosing specific mechanics. However, online rumors were spreading that the game was a strategic combat title centered around one key phrase—turn-based.

The moment the news dropped, competitors and countless players pushed it straight to the top of the trending topics.

#TurbulentSpringAndAutumn Turn-Based#

When Xie Yunfan opened Weibo early in the morning, he saw this topic sitting right at the top of the trending list. Clicking into the hashtag, the read count had already surpassed a hundred million, with tens of thousands of original posts.

“I was super excited at first, but seeing ‘turn-based’ instantly made me flaccid. Who understands?”

“Reminds me of the terror of being controlled by turn-based games back in the day…”

“Turn-based? So when someone hits me, I just have to stand there and watch? What era is this, making such a boring stand-and-slug game?”

“Did the developers run out of inspiration and couldn’t make a good game, so they tossed out a turn-based title to pad their numbers?”

“As high as my expectations were before, that’s how disappointed I am now.”

“The art style looks okay. But turn-based? I genuinely don’t see what’s fun about that…”

“@LittleSailboat, if you don’t know how to make games anymore, don’t make them. How did your design thinking regress instead?”

Players in this alternate world had never experienced the golden age of single-player turn-based PC titles.

During the explosive growth of mobile games, the few turn-based titles produced by various studios were poorly made cash grabs, resembling cheap web games designed to make a quick buck and run.

As a result, players held the deep impression that “turn-based” meant boring, “standing still and taking hits.”

It was completely understandable that many players online expressed doubt and disappointment.

Naturally, competitors were also seizing the opportunity to fan the flames.

Yet, Xie Yunfan wasn’t anxious in the slightest. He firmly believed that a fun game would never be buried.

As the beta test came to a close, Xie Yunfan issued a system survey, asking all beta participants to rate the game and offer feedback for improvements.

A staggering 90% of players gave it a 9 out of 10, while the rest gave it 7s and 8s. This proved that players who had actually played the game were immensely satisfied with its quality.

Online, doom-and-gloom commentary continued to escalate.

That very afternoon, public opinion suddenly underwent a dramatic reversal.

It all started when the famous streamer “Xiakucao” posted a comment under the #Turn-Based# hashtag on Weibo:

“A lot of players haven’t actually played Turbulent Spring and Autumn, so don’t be so quick to doom-say and dismiss it. Turn-based games aren’t inherently synonymous with bad games—the key lies in how you design them.

For this data-wipe beta, I was honored to secure a test slot. In my opinion, Turbulent Spring and Autumn is exceptionally fun and the best strategy combat game I’ve ever played. Everyone can experience it for themselves during the public beta; don’t let people manipulate your opinion.

You only have a right to speak after you’ve experienced it yourself, right?”

This review left many netizens stunned.

Xiakucao was the visual face of the streaming world. He originally blew up because he played through numerous character routes in Royal Turbulence, achieving an S+ ending on every single line. With his sharp mind and clear logic, he had conquered countless fans through sheer intellect and handsome looks.

By now, he had leapt into the ranks of top-tier streamers.

However, he wasn’t a full-time streamer, and his streaming schedule was fairly casual.

Many netizens left comments under his Weibo post:

“How much did the devs pay you? How did you turn into a shill?”

“Xiao Cao, quick, tell us you weren’t bought out! Is this game really that fun?”

“Vanishing for so long only to pop up and praise Turbulent Spring and Autumn feels super sketchy.”

While some expressed doubt, others chose to trust him. After all, he was famous for playing strategy games. If he said it was fun, it couldn’t be that bad, right?

They’d give it a shot when it launched; if it wasn’t fun, they could always flame it then!

Following Xiakucao, more and more beta testers stepped forward. Some even posted screenshots of their beta access passes, affirming that the game was incredible.

Just as public opinion was reversing, the official website for Turbulent Spring and Autumn finally published an announcement:

“The turn-based strategy game Turbulent Spring and Autumn is officially set to release on August 25th! As the world’s first real-time cross-platform online game bridging mobile and holographic devices, players can freely log in via mobile or holographic platforms. We look forward to everyone experiencing this brand-new combat gameplay!”