Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

Chapter 41

As time passed, the sales of ‘To the Moon’ kept increasing.

And of course, the domestic media outlets that were covering the contest wouldn’t miss this chance to spice up their articles.

《 Unforgettable love, ‘To the Moon’ is a game that will make you cry! 》

《 Game review : A game to touch your cold, dead heart! 》

《 The tournament favorite? Can ‘To the Moon’ truly be considered a science fiction game? 》

《 The game that made countless gruff men cry 》

A week into the contest, the difference between the games who had a chance of winning an award and the games that couldn’t were clear as day.

It was understandable, as some games were simply entered for the experience and exposure, they did not cause any trouble.

And as for the games that actually mattered in the contest, the players, and those involved in the gaming industry, were aware of them.

Among them, ‘To the Moon’ and ‘Galactic Heroes’ were the only ones to leave a lasting impression in the minds of the players and judges.

In terms of sales and player reviews, ‘To the Moon’ stood head and shoulders above the competition. But the player’s verdict wasn’t the be-all and end-all.

And amongst the judges, ‘Galactic Heroes’ was still quite evenly matched with ‘To the Moon’, it had less of an advantage, but not to the point of being absolutely crushed like in the players’ verdict.

Naturally, people were arguing about these two games online.

[ The winner has to be ‘Galactic Heroes’. Like, I admit that ‘To the Moon’ was fantastic, but it had ZERO gameplay. I don’t think it’s a real sci-fi game. ]
[ There you have it folks! ‘Galactic Heroes’ wins because random guy no.3894 from the internet says so! ]
[ Bro, what even is gameplay? Isn’t it the entire experience of the game? Isn’t the story part of gameplay? Isn’t the soundtrack part of gameplay? Do you actually have to kill shit and solve puzzles for it to be considered gameplay? ]
[ Yeah, I mean, If ‘To the Moon’ isn’t a real sci-fi game, then a huge majority of entries in the contest can’t be considered either. So let’s ask the Games Department to exclude them all, why not ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ]
[ Can’t hear you, Can’t hear you, Sutra chanting bastards. I voted ‘To the Moon’ ]
[ Victory must go to ‘Galactic Heroes’ ]
[ Yes, ‘Galactic Heroes’ will most likely win this round ]
[ Bah, what about ‘Galactic Heroes’? The guy who made it is named “Meng Zuo”. He wants to win? He better keep dreaming! ]

Meng Zuo = similar to 做梦 (ZuoMeng) Dreaming

[ Lord brother, your analytical skill astounds me ]
[ Yall sleepin on my boi, the great devil, and his game, ‘Black Beast’. Is gonna be a sweep no cap ]

[ Fools. ‘To the Moon’ and ‘Galactic Heroes’ might have more votes at the moment, but my guts tell me that ‘Asha Ji’ from Widowmaker Studio will win in the end ]

[ Get your guts checked bro ]

[ Lmao yea, in what world do you think any other game is beating ‘To the Moon’ and ‘Galactic Heroes’? ]

Each player made their preferences known, and the final conclusion had yet to be reached. It was a scenario where the wife is saying that the wife is right, the mother-in-law is saying the mother-in-law is right, and the public is saying that the public is right.

But all-in-all, the buzz of activity generated by the event was a fantastic boon to the many gaming communities.

At this time, Chen Xu was calm as a sage.

……………..

Nebula Games.

Chen Xu was in his office, going through the files of various new applicants, and making calls to speak with them.

Promising candidates for the music and art teams have been found. But as for the role of Level Designer, none of the applicants seemed to catch his eye.

“Chen Xu! Chen Xu! Aren’t you nervous?” Yang Xin asked as she watched him put down his files and spin around in his cozy swivel chair, his brows folded in deep contemplation.

Yang Xin herself could barely sit still without fidgeting, 4 empty cans of coffee were scattered around her desk.

“Today’s the day, right? They’re going to announce the contest winners. Gosh, I hope we win!” Ruan Ningxue was also very excited.

After all, this is the third game she has worked on. She is no longer a person who knew nothing about the gaming industry.

As for becoming a famous book illustrator and eventual manga queen? She’s forgotten all about that stuff. It’s just not as intense, it’s not the same. Now that she’s gotten a taste of this new dimension, she was hooked on the high.

Besides, they were doing so well right now, so why ruin a good thing?

“It’s useless to think about it. Of course I’d love to win it all, but we did what we could and it’s out of our hands now.” Chen Xu shook his head and replied.

“By the way, remember to schedule our updates for after the contest concludes. With how things are trending, we’re either number one or number two, so even if we don’t get first place, there will still be a wave of hype to ride on.”

After the submission of ‘To the Moon’, Nebula Games was not sitting idly.

The mobile port of ‘Undertale’ was already complete, they had simply decided to hold back on the announcement in light of the contest.

The company itself was also undergoing a massive expansion. New people were joining and several departments such as Operations, Finance and Human Resources were all finalizing.

Then there was the platform development team.

That’s right, Chen Xu planned to make his own gaming platform.

At the moment, Nebula Games is still considered a small indie company by industry at large. From ‘Mirror’ to ‘Undertale’ to ‘To the Moon’, these were all fantastic titles, but none of them were considered true masterpieces. They were undoubtedly good games, shining beacons of their respective genres, but in the end, they were still small indie games.

But is that the limit of Chen Xu’s ambition? No.

In his eyes, Nebula Games will be involved with the wider world, breaking free from the constraints of the domestic market.

And with the establishment of an independent gaming platform, this can be seen as the building blocks of his foundation.

In truth, this was not an outlandish move, especially in this parallel world. Which is why Chen Xu felt it was a safe option.

Self-operated platforms were rather common here.

Frankly speaking, even if ‘To the Moon’ wins first place in this contest, it will only cause a stir in the indie gaming scene. So he didn’t need to think too much about raising major hostilities.

In fact, a lot of 2nd and 3rd tier games have their own followings and ecosystems, hosting their games and products on self-operated platforms.

By freeing themselves from the need to pay fees for using third-party platforms, they receive a much larger slice of profits.

While Chen Xu was finalizing the roadmap of growth for Nebula Games, the final moments of the contest came to a close, and an official notice from the Games Department was issued.

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Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

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