NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46
As expected, the reaction to the teaser image was explosive.
To give an idea of the extent, the keyword ‘Project RA’ not only topped the search rankings in Korea but also achieved the number one spot on Japan’s Bluebird, even before any articles were published.
The day it topped the charts on Bluebird, a call came in from Tanaka.
[D… No, Department Head. It’s been a while since I last contacted you. How have you been?]
“Of course. How about you, Tanaka?”
[I’ve been well too. Haha.]
Since it had been a few months since the last call, after briefly exchanging pleasantries, we quickly moved on to the main topic.
[The Project RA that Enson GT announced this time… It’s been getting really great reactions in Japan too.]
“In Japan as well?”
[Yes, take a look at this.]
After waiting for a moment following Tanaka’s words, a link to a site arrived on my smartphone.
Once I followed the link, I found myself on the subculture mobile game board of Japan’s largest community, 4ch.
“4ch, huh.”
[Yes, it’s the best place to gauge public opinion.]
Upon glancing at the board after hearing Tanaka’s words, I noticed numerous threads tagged with Project RA were being created one after another.
Among them, one thread caught my eye, so I clicked on it.
[The body of the new character in Project RA is amazing www]
【Project PA Teaser Image Photo】
002. Is this the next Girls’ Memorial?
005. >>002 No, it’s not.
017. Where’s the cute mascot operator www
023. No matter when I see it, Enson GT’s character designs are outstanding.
047. Is G-sang the director this time too?
052. >>047 Yes.
The responses themselves were largely similar to the comments we saw in our own country.
However, the speed at which comments were being posted in the threads was faster than in our country…
This allowed me to vividly feel just how explosive the reaction in Japan had been.
[What do you think?]
“When I heard that it was number one on the Bluebird search rankings, I was a bit skeptical, but this makes it clear.”
[Right? And by the way, Department Head.]
“Yes, what is it?”
[Are there any plans on how you’ll launch this Project RA…?]
It seemed this was the main topic that Tanaka was hinting at.
After pondering his question for a moment, I carefully began my response.
“We are still in the project development phase, so nothing is set in stone, but I think it will proceed similarly to Girls’ Memorial.”
[Ah… So there will be an exclusive early release in Japan again…?]
“It hasn’t been definitively decided yet, but you can expect that we will likely go with that option.”
[Ah, that’s reassuring. Haha. I was worried what would happen if this time it launched first in Korea.]
“Still, there hasn’t been any final decision yet, so when we’ve made some progress, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
[Of course. We’ll wait for good news then.]
After finishing the call with Tanaka, I could clearly feel that our position was different from the time of Girls’ Memorial.
At the time of the first publishing contract, Girls’ Memorial was carrying the genre risk of being an unfamiliar subculture mobile game, so there was no choice but to be in the subordinate position.
Because of this, we had to accept unfavorable terms such as disproportionate profit sharing and separate marketing guarantees.
However, at this point, with the commercial viability of Girls’ Memorial proven, the situation had reversed.
From the perspective of publishers who make their living from profit sharing, having a game with high commercial viability is the most important thing.
‘Tanaka likely brought this up first because he knows that.’
Of course, even though he brought it up first, there was no intention to concede on the profit-sharing ratio.
I began to look forward to the next meeting with Tanaka.
***
As the great national holiday, Lunar New Year, passed and April arrived with the full spring breeze, the explosive interest in Project RA eventually subsided as time went on.
Although this was somewhat disappointing, it was already quite unusual to receive that much attention with just a single teaser image.
‘The real issue is…’
Grand Arc Fantasy.
To reclaim the lost throne, SignGames confidently launched this game.
Although it had a rather ordinary start at first, not living up to its infamous reputation as the demon of gacha games or being the prime suspect behind gacha game regulations, I knew what to expect after the first pickup event.
I secretly sent encouragement to Myunghoon, who would soon be wrestling with declining sales rankings, and looked at the woman standing in front of me.
“Long time no see, Director Ji.”
“It’s been a while. Team Leader Shin.”
The name of the woman standing in front of me was Shin Hayeon, the team leader of Enson GT’s QA team.
“You look a bit thinner than before. Is the project tough?”
“Am I? Nobody’s said that.”
“Maybe my eyes are deceiving me then.”
It seemed that what Hayeon had said wasn’t overly serious, as she shrugged her shoulders and changed the topic.
“Well, shall we start the QA now?”
“That’s fine.”
After leaving my private office with Hayeon, I saw the QA team and Yumi waiting in a corner of the office.
“The QA team members can follow Yumi over here, and she’ll guide you through what you’ll need for your work. Yumi, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Got it! You can leave it to me!”
After confidently responding, Yumi led the QA team and Hayeon to the place where they would work.
After watching Yumi’s retreating back, I returned to the office.
***
“Um…?”
On the third day since I delegated the QA.
When I arrived at work, a pile of documents was on my desk.
The documents turned out to be the QA result report I had assigned three days prior.
I opened the report with slight anticipation, and the first thing I saw was the numerous bugs discovered.
From bugs related to the game freezing when switching to the background or memory leaks, to more serious bugs, such as crashes when using certain skills, severe frame drops, and outlandish bugs like copying in-game goods when pressing specific sections at a specific timing.
There was a long list of bugs fitting the name “prototype.”
Of course, considering it was in the prototype phase, there was no real problem. After separating the bug list to pass it on to Taeseon, I moved on to the next page.
On the next page were the feedbacks on gameplay and points that needed improvement.
– The gameplay itself had a fresh and innovative twist on the usual tower defense genre.
– However, judging from the implemented stages, the difficulty is too easy and the enemies are monotonous.
– Special patterns like falling objects, block destruction, and movement of indestructible objects in the gameplay were interesting, but due to numerous bugs, it should be thoroughly checked until just before release.
This was the expected result before delegating the QA.
Since this feedback needed to be passed on to the planning team, I placed it elsewhere…
Once I opened the last page, I found personal one-line feedbacks.
《It would be nice to have a housing system where you can decorate your residence.》
《How about implementing an open world feel by just opening up the base in the underground city, even to give a homely residence feeling?》
《Is there no mascot in this work?》
Looking through the one-line feedbacks, there were quite a few intriguing suggestions.
Especially content related to character boosting (‘Kabbal’ contents).
One of the consistent shortcomings of Girls’ Memorial was that it lacked Kabbal content.
‘Implementing open world or housing might be worth a try, but I might get some backlash from Taeseon and Yerin.’
Though it felt regrettable to pile more work on the two, who seemed already busy, it couldn’t be helped.
Thinking that I’d at least try asking, I headed to the art team and saw Yerin was just putting away her coat, having arrived early.
“Ah, Senior. What brings you here so early in the morning?”
“I have something quick to talk about. Where’s Yena?”
“Probably went to the tea room to make coffee. Should I call her?”
“No, it’s fine. The two of you can come to the tea room since there’s something I need to say to both of you.”
At my suggestion, Yerin nodded readily.
“Alright, sure.”
As I walked with Yerin to the tea room, Yena’s figure was already visible, pouring coffee.
“Uh… Sister? Department Head? What brings you here?”
“I need to talk to you both.”
“Ah…”
Hearing that, Yena nodded.
“Would you like a cup of coffee? And sister?”
“I’m fine. I’ve already had some on the way in.”
“I’m good as well.”
After our refusals, Yena brought the coffee she’d poured earlier and sat next to her, and I handed over the prepared QA reports to both of them.
“What’s this?”
“The QA report from last time.”
“Okay?”
“Actually, you don’t need to read all of it, just the last part.”
“The last page?”
“That’s right.”
Following my words, Yena and Yerin flipped to the last page, revealing the one-liners left by the QA team.
“It’s too bleak focusing only on the underground city as the background. It would be nice if there was a housing system…”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to implement the base in the underground city as a living space and create an open world feel…?”
The twin sisters seemed shocked by the feedback and froze on the spot.
Yerin recovered first and looked at me with a trembling voice.
“Senior.. Do you know what housing content is..?”
“It’s like decorating a dollhouse for young kids.”
“You know it well. If it’s decorating content, then we’ll need parts for the decoration.”
“Right.”
“So, who would make those parts?”
“Of course, the art team…”
At this, Yerin’s gentle expression transformed ominously.
“Someone comes with such a sudden plan?”
“I apologize, I know it’s not ideal. But this may be the last piece for our game’s success. I won’t pull something like this out of nowhere again, okay?”
After my explanation, Yerin sighed after some consideration and turned to Yena.
“What do you think? It’s going to add a bit of work.”
After a brief thought, Yena nodded.
“The schedule shouldn’t interfere with any immediate deadlines, and creating housing parts isn’t too difficult.”
“Really? If Yena thinks it’s manageable, then…”
Nodding to Yena’s opinion, Yerin spoke.
“Since Yena thinks it’s okay, we’ll try it once. Just keep in mind that the results will not come quickly.”
“Alright, you’ve made a good decision.”
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