Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

The next day, in the office of Nebula Games, the team met up again to go over the materials. Chen Xu handed over his character concepts for the main cast: Johnny, River, Eva and Neil. 

Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue both got stuffy chests and itchy tear ducts after reading the script, but they would save those questions for later, there were more important things to hash out. 

Ruan Ningxue spoke up first, feeling slightly confused, “But isn’t the theme science fiction? This reads more like a romance.” 

“Yea, where’s the sci-fi stuff? What about going to the moon? Will there be a moon base?” Yang Xin added her two cents. 

Yesterday in the conference room, Chen Xu described the background of the game to them. It’s about going to the moon and technology that can alter memories. 

So it was obviously going to be a dark game right? The two girls spoke to each other excitedly last night, discussing dystopian futures and gritty cyberpunk settings. Yang Xin was particularly interested in having a “brain-in-a-vat” character. 

But after reading the design document, they felt misled! It’s just a romance disguised as sci-fi. What a downer. Oh well…

“Now, now, calm down. The setting can be as sci-fi as you want it to be, it doesn’t have to clash with the plot. For example, in this part where the two doctors arrive at Johnny’s house, we can have the car be extremely futuristic, giving it a more sci-fi feeling. Wouldn’t that be fine?”

“Besides, the main device used to push the plot forward is technology that can alter memories. Doesn’t that count as sci-fi, we can make it look as cool as we want?”

The girls looked thoughtfully at the script once more. 

“And remember, the most important thing is that the content of the game connects with the player deeply. That it touches their hearts. Everything else is just a matter of presentation.”

Chen Xu saw that the fire in their eyes had been ignited at some point, they were in a good state. 

He clapped his hands. “Alright, you know what to do. Clock’s ticking, let’s go, go, go!”

……………………….

At the same time, news of the competition was heating up on the internet. 

After all, the deadline was drawing near, and it got substantial publicity as a government sponsored event. 

At the same time, many of the designers participating were also promoting their entries on social media. 

Most of the entries were PC and mobile games, due to the relatively short development time. Surprisingly, some of the more well-known game companies were also involved, most notably Net Dragon.

(TL: huh, talk about dejavu, I’ve seen this name used in another novel too, viva la Cloud Dream!)

But of course, it wasn’t their core studio. Large companies like these will always have several development teams or studios running at the same time to space out releases. 

Perhaps their participation this time was for the sake of practice or promotion. 

Regardless, more and more players took interest and started to discuss. 

• [ By the way, are you rooting for anyone in the sci-fi contest? ]

• [ ? What’s that ? ]

• [ Haven’t you heard? It the latest event organized by the Game Department ]

• [ Naw, first time I’m hearing about it, it’s usually a crap shoot anyway, so is there anything good in the list? ]

• [ Yea, well, it doesn’t have to be as good as ‘Undertale’, but I’m hoping for something decent ]

• [ Oh shit, we get to vote on this? There was no player voting last time right? ]

• [ Yeah boiiiii, we can vote this time! It used to be just a panel of managers from the Game Department, so there were a lot of rumors about bribes n stuff ]

• [ No wonder, I always thought the winners were crap, guess too many people started asking questions ]

• [ Yaya, they announced that player scores will have slightly more weight in the final judgement ]

• [ Well I’m gonna keep my skeptic glasses on, thank you. No way those big companies will play fair ]

• [ By the way, you think there will be a lot of meta-games? Seems like there’s one popping up every so often now ]

• [ Naw, I’m looking up the dates. ‘Undertale’ wasn’t a thing yet when this competition was first announced ]

• [ You think Chen Xu will be in? ]

• [ Naaaawww fam, no way ]

• [ Why not? ]

• [ I meant just look at the dates, he’s been working on ‘Mirror’ and ‘Undertale’ so there’s absolutely no way he has time for this ]

• [ Wait, wait, wait, check his blog. He’s goin in! ]

• [ ?????? ]

• [ Well, Hot Damn… ]

……………………….

‘Undertale’ is an indie game, but it’s popularity is far beyond that of the average indie title. 

With impressive innovations and staggering sales volume, this game has already become a role model in the ways of combining artistry and business. 

Naturally, it has attracted the attention of countless game designers in the industry, as well as the media. 

There is a lot of speculation going around about what lies in the future for Nebula Games and Chen Xu. 

Many come to the same opinion. That the next step will likely be a sequel to ‘Undertale’ or some other form of meta-game. 

But who could have seen it coming when Chen Xu made a new public statement on his official blog. Announcing that Nebula Games would now be making a very special game to participate in the competition. 

As for what kind of game it would be, he did not elaborate. 

But that wasn’t what people cared about. 

No, what people were focused on was Time. 

There is only half a month between Chen Xu’s announcement and the deadline. Can Nebula Games make it in time?

With their previous track record and release schedule, it was obvious that this game they announced was definitely not made in advance. 

And after hearing this news, many game designers shook their heads, thinking that Nebula Games was about to get tripped by their own hubris this time. 

Did the success of his two games go to Chen Xu’s head? What is this reckless management?

Zhong Mei, who had been keeping quiet since his loss, posted a reply just 4 minutes after Chen Xu made his announcement. Who knows if he had been obsessively following news about Chen Xu all this time. 

[[ Success in the moment does not mean success in life. It is a pity that some game designers don’t understand this and even treat state sponsored events as child’s play. Can the work of such designers even pass the entry test? ]]

Zhong Mei was obviously still holding a grudge from the ‘Undertale’ incident, and quickly jumped out, adding fuel to the fire. 

And while his newly reopened comment section was still filled with all sorts of weird shit, his words seemed to have garnered some level of support this time. 

Not even 20 days to develop a sci-fi game for a competition? Unthinkable! Unrealistic!

As for Chen Xu’s reply to Zhong Mei. It was somewhat nuclear. 

He included a screenshot of Zhong Mei’s previously deleted post, along with a screenshot of ‘Undertale’s current ratings and sales. He also put in a silly little emoticon. 

It featured the popular image of a cute bunny, looking at a clown with disgust. Chen Xu ended the post with a line of words.

[ Stop looking for me, I don’t talk to clowns ]

Seeing this reply, countless melon-eaters and tea-sippers were instantly happy. 

After all, Zhong Mei had always been a controversial personality among both players and designers. It was somewhat cathartic seeing karma in action. 

Chen Xu went straight for the throat, we love to see it!

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