Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

10 o’clock the next morning, in a commercial building in the Capital City.

Matters concerning the lease were settled, and Chen Xu was sitting down for a chat with Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue. 

“So… how much is the rent here? Is it expensive?” Yang Xin asked while her eyes darted around the office. 

“Not bad, but it’s a three month contract so we might not be here for long. The real kicker was the tech and the office equipment, those cost a pretty penny.”

5 yuan per square meter daily. There were 2 rooms with a total of 160 square meters, so it added up to 24,000 yuan per month. 

There were also property fees of 20 yuan per square meter monthly. 

Of course, if you were willing to move to a smaller town or city, the costs might only reach a tenth of those numbers. 

But that would also stifle the future growth of his company. After all, talented people tend to favor large cities. 

“No problem. My company happens to be shutting down anyway. We have all kinds of development prototypes and machines just sitting there wasting away.

When the time comes, we can just grab whatever we need, I’ll send you a list.” Yang Xin waved her small hand magnanimously. 

“But I have to ask, are we the only two main developers in this company? She added with some slight worry. 

Currently, there were a total of four employees in the company, including himself.

Yang Xin would be working with him directly, while the other two were former employees of her company who decided to tag along. 

One would be in charge of finance and administration, and the other would handle operations.

After a short interview and a few minor tests, Chen Xu agreed to hire them.

“Right now? Yes. It’ll just be the two of us. Which reminds me, our core team still has room for an artist.” Chen Xu turned to look at Ruan Ningxue, who was struggling with a rapidly melting ice cream. 

While he could produce art if needed, having someone on the team with an above average level of artistic talent would play a pivotal role in his plans. 

And his target is Ruan Ningxue. 

He looked at her thoughtfully, idly counting the number of drops of ice cream that had escaped her grasp and fallen onto the sofa. Someone would have to clean that up later.

As for having only three people in the core team? Chen Xu wasn’t worried. 

After all, the industry and technology in this world is different. A small, agile and talented team would suffice. 

The number crunching, level design, and core concepts can be handled by Chen Xu himself. 

Non-technical minutia could be outsourced, as they would eat up too much time. 

Sure, it would cost more money than the time invested, but Chen Xu valued time over money. 

All that remained was to see if they could somehow “trick” Ruan Ningxue into joining the party.

In fact, Chen Xu had his sights on her ever since he witnessed her in action during the development of  ‘Mirror’. 

“That’s right Ningxue, why not join us!” Yang Xin excitedly hovered around her friend. But paused with a sudden thought, “By the way, what’s the name of this company?”

“Nebula Games,” Chen Xu replied helplessly, he would have to step in. 

“Senior sister,” Chen Xu leaned forward in his seat and fixed her eyes with an earnest gaze. “In my opinion, there isn’t much difference between comics and games. Both can be used to tell compelling stories to readers and players alike.”

“And my ambitions aren’t small, sister. I do not intend to remain as just Nebula Games, but instead, Nebula Entertainment. Where we will be able to expand into other forms of media around our IP.”

“We can have a comic division, releasing comics to accompany our games. When the time comes, and if you still remain interested, you can be in charge of this content.”

What Chen Xu is saying is not unrealistic. Having a game expand on the story of a comic, or having a comic adapted into a game, these are logical steps. 

Unlike his previous world, where comic book games were essentially produced as money-making machines, this parallel world had undergone a different process. 

In this world where the design concepts of most games lagged behind those of his previous life, comic book games reigned at the top. 

Chen Xu held back a grin as he saw his words hit home. Ruan Ningxue’s eyes lit up and her face revealed an excited smile. She gave a big nod and said, “Then I will call you Mr Chen, my lovely junior!”

“Those are just titles, senior sister, you may call me whatever you like.” he said as he shook her hand. 

Next to them, Yang Xin had her cheeks puffed in a mighty pout. 

“Oi, why did you agree so easily? I offered you pretty much the same thing, too!”

She was happy that Ningxue had joined the team, but she was also a bit annoyed that after spending so much effort trying to persuade Ruan Ningxue to join her company, how could she watch such a simple negotiation? Wait, there wasn’t even much negotiating going on!

“Sister Xin, your promises were way over the top. I wouldn’t have joined you even if you had made a successful game.” Yang Xin was left speechless. 

“Chen Xu here at least has ‘Mirror’ as a guarantee, and he has shown us a very clear direction of where he plans to take the company. And besides, your company somehow got smaller with every game you release.”

Perhaps sensing that Yang Xin might burst into tears at any moment, Chen Xu decided to interrupt. 

“Alright, in celebration of my senior sister’s joining, let’s get down to business and talk about our next project.” he said as he looked at both people. 

Hearing his words, both Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue settled down with serious and expectant looks, even though they had just joined the company and had not even received any office equipment.

After all, they were here to get results, not let the days pass them by.

“For our next step, we will be developing a new type of game. A meta-game, if you will.”

The two ladies were confused and expressed their doubts. 

“Meta-game… meta-game…?” Yang Xin chewed on the word, finding it unfamiliar. 

“Were we not going to keep making 18R games? We have a foothold in this genre, why not build up the fanbase?” Ruan Ningxue spoke her mind. 

“No, that was never going to happen. The 18R game was made to generate our capital.” Chen Xu shook his head. 

He had no plans on founding a pornographic company in a parallel world. 

TL: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“But Mr Chen, what is a metagame?” 

Yang Xin had spent a considerable amount of time in the games industry, including the process of acquiring the official game designer title and releasing her 3 games. 

But she had never heard of this so-called meta-game. 

No need to mention Ruan Ningxue, who was even more clueless. 

“It’s a new term we’ll be using for this game, specifically because it’s going to be very unconventional. 

Let’s describe it as having the in-game content breaking out of the confines of the game, and interacting with the player directly.”

“Have you read Don Quixote? In the novel, the author breaks the fourth wall from time to time, being cheeky and giving the reader clues about the plot,” Chen Xu explained. 

“Breaking the fourth wall?” Yang Xin was digesting the possibilities, and Ruan Ningxue had some realizations.

“Correct, we’ll be trying that, but in video game form.”

Regarding the concept of meta-games, Chen Xu paid attention and found that while a very small number of game designers in this world had dipped their toes and experimented, there were no successful or prolific examples. 

Not just games, but novels, comics, and other forms of media have just barely scratched the surface, the genre hadn’t even coined. 

And therein lies his opportunity.

“The name of the game will be ‘Undertale’, I will provide more details as the work begins.”

“In addition, we can’t leave our current fans with nothing to look forward to. So we will also be developing a DLC pack for ‘Mirror’. This way we can squeeze out a bit more sales while the game is still trending.”