C29: Announcement
The next day, in the office of Neon Games, I handed my completed conceptual design draft, along with the image requirements for the main characters such as Johnny (John) Wyles, River Wyles, Eva Rosalene, and Neil Watts, over to Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue.
As they looked through the design concept draft and the script, I could see they were both moved by the story. (Love moves women easily, especially the romantic ones)
However, it was obvious that this wasn't the time to get lost in the game's narrative. Both of them raised the question that had been on their minds. They also have a question mark over their head.
"Isn't this supposed to be a sci-fi game? Your core theme seems to be about love!" Ruan Ningxue questioned, her expression showing confusion. (?_?)
"Yeah, where's the sci-fi in this?" Yang Xin chimed in, echoing the same thoughts. (Where are Time Machine, Systems, Supercomputers, Rockets, Missile, Steelmaking, etc.) ♒((⇀‸↼))♒
Just in yesterday's meeting, I described the background to them.
It was about a journey to the moon, technology that alters memory, and all those futuristic elements. They had even discussed topics like the brain in a vat, dystopia, and cyberpunk privately. But now, after seeing the design concept, they are speechless.
"This is more like a love story wrapped in a sci-fi setting!" Yang Xin exclaimed, finally seeing things visible under the hood. (⌐▨_▨)
"Why isn't this still sci-fi? Look at the technology to alter memory—that's pretty sci-fi, right?" I explained, my face clearly expressing a~ You know it emote.
"When the two doctors are traveling in the car, we can just add more sci-fi elements in the background. What matters is that the game connects emotionally with the players. This is my expectation for the game." I chimed in again.
"Okay, okay, I get it," Yang Xin said, understanding my vision.
"But the time left for us is limited, so we better get started!"
I coughed, signalling it was time to focus.
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Meanwhile, the buzz around the upcoming event started heating up online. The date was approaching fast, and the official event organizers were ramping up their promotional efforts.
Many game designers participating in the event also promoted their entries on social media. However, most of their games were focused on PC and mobile games since those had shorter development processes.
Some well-known Chinese game companies like Net Dragon are also taking part, though only their smaller studios were involved.
With all this activity, player communities caught the wind of the news and were discussing the event eagerly.
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"Isn't the Sci-fi Contest about to start soon?" Milky Way posted.
"Sci-fi Contest? What's that?" Black Hole replied.
"It's the one the game department announced earlier," came the explanation.
"Oh, right, I remember now. But honestly, the games selected in the last few contests were pretty subpar." A black hole chimed in.
"Yeah, I don't expect anything groundbreaking, but hopefully, we'll get something decent this time." came the reply
"This time is a bit different. Players get to vote too. It used to be mostly selected by the game department heads, and the winning games often felt like they were catering to the higher-ups." Supernova enters the chat.
"So this time, they're letting players have a say?" Milky Way asked.
"Pretty much, yeah. It is like that." Supernova replied
"Well, I'll still be skeptical until I see the results, process, and evaluation," Pluto added
"But do you think we'll see a lot of META games in this contest? META elements have been trending lately. (=✪ᆽ✪=)" Cat Empire asked
"It shouldn't be, Since 'Undertale' wasn't released when the contest started." Milky Way replied
"Do you think Chen Xu will participate?" Pluto asked
"In your dreams! There's no way he'll join. If Chen Xu enters, I'll eat my Cat!" Cat Empire replied
"Is he really that hardcore (=✖ᆽ✖=) ?" someone mocked.
"Nonsense, It's impossible to join the contest with "Magic Mirror" and "Undertale" launched just recently. How could he possibly develop new games to participate in this event? The time remaining for the event is very limited!" Cat Empire reasoned
'Damn, brother, Speak of the Devil. Hurry up and check Chen Xu's official blog, he participated!' Milky Way updated
'What? What's going on? You've got to be kidding, right?'
'I feel sorry for my brother upstairs for a second.'
'What the hell, it's true!?'
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"Undertale," as an independent game, doesn't have the typical vibe of an indie game at all. It was a full-fleshed game, which is similar to how small teams in a big company experiment or create side projects to test the market before adding the said element to big games.
The main reason is that this game showcases what META elements are all about.
Coupled with its strong sales performance, the game directly became a model for blending art and business.
Naturally, it caught the attention of countless designers in the gaming industry.
As for the media? No need to mention them.
An ordinary game designer creating such a hit—what does that represent?
It represents traffic, advertisement sales, and hot topics!
Everyone, from the game industry to the players, shared pretty much the same opinion about what projects Neon Games and Chen Xu would be developing next.
Most expected a sequel to "Undertale" or another META-driven game. Such a project will give most competitors a run for their money.
But who could've imagined that Chen Xu would publicly announce on the official blog that Neon Games was developing a special game for this event?
As for what exactly this special game is, He didn't elaborate on it on the official blog.
But the players, designers, and media didn't care much about that.
After all, no matter how special it is, it's still a game, right?
The real concern is time! The real concern is whether He will create another Meta! Will it be a masterpiece?
From the moment Chen Xu made that post on the social blog, he only had about a month. Could Neon Games finish the game in time? Can he put up a refined product?
You see, according to his previous project schedule, it's obvious that the game He will be submitting wasn't prepared in advance.
Once the news got out, many industry game designers thought Neon Games was a little reckless this time.
Zhong, who had been holding back since the previous humiliation, seemed to be snooping on Chen Xu's blog like an eagle watching his prey from miles up.
Less than four minutes after Chen Xu's official blog post, Zhong retweeted it with a snarky comment:
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'Temporary success doesn't guarantee lifetime success. Unfortunately, some game designers don't get this and treat an official competition like child's play. I doubt such entries will even pass the review process.' (ಥ﹏ಥ)
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Chen Xu POV~
Zhong is as sour as a lemon. As soon as he saw my post, he couldn't help but jump in, hoping to reflect some heat.
However, this time, even other people agreed with Zhong's sarcastic tone. Many retweeted and liked his post.
After all, who could make a sci-fi game for a competition in just four weeks?
It seemed unrealistic. It feels rushed.
As for Zhong's response? I kept it in my mind and smiled. Then I replied.
I posted a screenshot of Zhong's previous archived blog post, along with a score and sales chart for "Undertale," and ended it with a meme.
The meme showed a cute baby bunny looking at a clown in disgust, and I added a line: 'Don't come at me, I don't talk to clowns.'
As soon as I posted that, the players went wild as if injected with chicken blood.
Brutal! Brutal! 666!
Not to mention, Since Zhong had a mixed reputation in the game industry, both among players and professionals.
Many of them were waiting to fan the flame and thus there were a series of trolling messages, memes, videos and various other memes, trolling Zhong.
Underneath that meme, the comments were full of players loving the burn.