NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10
As the official release date for Project GM approached, things became unbearably hectic.
Even busier than the PC game project, the mobile game had twice as many details to manage.
“Yumi, are the press release materials ready for distribution? Has the official Twitter post been prepared? What about the local marketing schedule?”
“Yes, yes! All done! The marketing schedule will be sent by the publishing company the day after tomorrow!”
“Yerin, what about the final checks on the illustrations and teaser PV to be sent with the press release materials?”
“We’ve already done three rounds of checks, and everyone’s about to collapse right now….”
“Myunghoon, has the preparation for the official homepage launch been completed without a hitch? What about the bug list sent by QA?”
“The homepage is ready in a responsive design format… the bug list is about 60% resolved?”
“Seol-i, what about the story synopsis and setting collection for the homepage?”
“Yes…yes! I’ve completed everything and passed it on to the development team….”
“Chae-young, you’re doing well. Just keep it up like this.”
“Devil… So this is why you brought me in, huh? Bad guy….”
The look of Senior Chae-young, who finally entered the conference room, couldn’t possibly be described as anything other than terrible.
Among all the director-level personnel gathered in the conference room, her workload was overwhelmingly the heaviest.
Unlike other tasks where division of labor was possible, composing the OST and BGM for the game had to go through Senior Chae-young’s hands, leaving no choice.
With her ash-blue hair tied up messily, her slumped posture at the desk resembled an unemployed cousin in her thirties.
“But despite all this, we’re paying proper overtime, and the company is fulfilling all Senior’s requests, right?”
“What good is earning money this way? It’s been months since I’ve gone home on time!”
“Well, you do have a flexible work schedule….”
“How can I go home when ideas keep popping into my head…!”
Despite Senior Chae-young’s tantrum, he shrugged and looked around the conference room.
The team members, already accustomed to Senior Chae-young, showed no reaction except for Seol, who was quietly comforting her.
“Everyone has worked hard with the overtime and special hours. Please take care of your health. The schedule doesn’t end just because we’re releasing it.”
After finishing the speech with a nod, the room erupted in applause.
There was just one day left until the project’s release date.
***
Otaku are always thirsty for new content.
New anime, new comics, new games….
However, this trait only shines when interesting new works are released.
Recently, the subculture market had been in a slump.
New anime, comics, visual novels, and other forms of subculture that otaku could enjoy were few and far between, leading to a feeling of famine.
In this situation, a single post on a subculture community forum was enough to set the community ablaze.
[Nickname : ㅇㅇ]
[Title : What is this new Enson thing?]
【An illustration of a silver-haired girl with animal ears holding a “COMING SOON” placard】
Did Enson ever release a game with a character like this?
[All Replies][Order of Posting]
-?
-Wow, what’s the quality of this illustration? ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-It crushes every female character introduced this quarter, haha.
-Isn’t Enson only developing PC games?
-Checked Twitter, and it’s real.
-What the?
[Nickname : ㅁㅁ]
[Title : Enson might really be entering the subculture gaming market?]
【A screenshot from EnsonGT’s official Twitter】
Aren’t they usually not interested in subculture games?
Who knows what wind blew and made them do this, haha.
[All Replies][Order of Posting]
-They’re putting all the money earned from games like Maple Leaves and Dungeon Story into this, haha.
-Aren’t they Enson Korea?
-On second thought, yeah? What’s EnsonGT then?
-Checked the Kingmu wiki, and it says they’re a subsidiary.
-Really?
-Wow, and with this corporate backing, the quality is insane.
-So, when’s it releasing?
[Nickname : Cleanup Fairy]
[Title : Read this organized and detailed post about Project GM]
They haven’t officially released it, but they’ve been dropping hints in all sorts of places for a few months now.
Why no one caught on earlier is just baffling, haha.
First thing to note is their Twitter account.
【A screenshot of a Twitter account with the username Ho Jin-Ji】
The profile bio clearly shows that this person is a current employee of EnsonGT.
Curious about which position he holds at EnsonGT, I did some searching, and oddly enough, ran into a NDSoft article.
【A screenshot of an article about Director Jihojin from NDSoft reaching a new player record in Blood Oath 2】
He seems to have been the director of Blood Oath 2, a major game by NDSoft.
He’s known among the older generation who play NDSoft games for his game-making expertise.
I searched a bit, but didn’t find any other articles related to the name “Jihojin,” so barring an unlikely coincidence, the owner of this Twitter account is likely the director of Project GM.
Why a director from games aimed at an older audience moved over to EnsonGT to develop a subculture game is a mystery, but….
I dug deeper into this Twitter account’s follow list and snagged a big fish.
【A picture from Comiket where Yerin and Yena, a sibling duo, are signing autographs and making V-signs】
Yerin is well-known in doujin circles for her activities with her sister. I’m sure if you’ve been following the anime gallery discussions last year, you’d know about her.
【An illustration divided into three panels showing silhouettes of girls】
I found this cryptic illustration Yerin posted on her Twitter a few weeks ago.
Looking at the title of this snippet? Project GM girls.
These seem to be the main characters; their hair silhouettes match the official teaser image’s second character?
I assume this doujin artist also joined EnsonGT, and Yerin was famous in the doujin world for her amazing art quality.
It’s crazy to think about how they’ve built this lineup and polished their skills all this time.
I’m going to patiently wait until the official launch.
[All Replies][Order of Posting]
-That this person found all of this is more shocking than the content itself, haha.
-Searching through the Twitter follow list is time-consuming? You’re Bill Gates? haha
-Yerin’s Pixiv gallery looks promising.
-What platforms is it being released on? PC? Web?
-？
-Hmm…
As I was browsing the community posts, I couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘They really managed to uncover all of this…’
Though I’d been preparing the marketing strategy for a few months, some of it got exposed on the day.
Especially the tenacity to dig through over 500 follows and find an image buried months ago was commendable.
‘Still, the months of dedication yielded good results, so there’s no big issue…’
Praying, I looked at Project GM, mentioned in both the community and SNS channels.
I hope this momentum continues until tomorrow’s PV release.
***
[Nickname : ㅇㅇ]
[Title : Project GM PV has dropped!!!]
{A link to a video site with a red icon}
[Comment List][Order of Posting]
-Let’s go~Let’s go~Let’s go!
-Wowwww
-How’d you distribute it when it was uploaded 0 seconds ago?
-I’ll check it out.
Countless community users, who were talking about Project GM all day yesterday, clicked the link and were directed to the teaser PV video.
An intro of just over a minute.
Pressing the play button despite the disappointingly short runtime, the video began.
[SFLAG Corporation]
On a white background, the logo of a Japanese publishing company floated.
Next, the main OST for Project GM played alongside slides of the school city “Arc,” providing a glimpse of its daily life.
Neatly organized classrooms befitting of a school city.
Neat rows of guns kept in a corner of the classroom.
News-broadcasting airships floating in the sky.
An empty player’s office room.
And finally, the sight of the World Tree rooted in the center of the school city “Arc.”
As the scenery passed, the OST reached its climax, and scenes of students carrying weapons in their daily lives streamed by.
Preparations of the residents under the World Tree and students heading to school.
The various ways students commute to school.
Students heading to their club rooms for their own activities at the end of the school day.
And even the students’ various ways of spending their holidays.
After the youthful glimpses of daily life in the school city, it was evident the game wasn’t purely bright and light-hearted as the exterior landscape of the school city also flashed by.
Fantasy-like zombies with a red glow in their eyes briefly flashed before quickly transitioning into white text on a screen.
『What we have forgotten』
『What we must protect』
『Our miraculous story』
After all the text, the mascot character, Operator, walked towards the camera before fading into black.
Right after,
『Girls Memorial』
With the title designed in a harmonious blend of blue and white, the video ended.
The very first comment after the video ended.
『すげwww』
The content of this historic first comment was a pure exclamation of awe from a Japanese fan.