Chapter 15: Undertale

Game Development: Starting by Healing the Players 

Chapter 15: Undertale

The next morning, at ten o'clock, in an office building in Shanghai.

Chen Xu had just finished signing the lease with the agent and the landlord. He was now sitting on the sofa with Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue, chatting.

"Chen Xu, this office must cost quite a bit to rent every month, right?" Yang Xin asked casually as she looked around at the layout.

"Yeah. I only signed a three-month lease for now. The rent itself is manageable. The bigger expenses are the development PCs and other office equipment."

The rent was five yuan per square meter per day. He had rented two open-plan office spaces totaling 160 square meters.

That alone came to 24,000 yuan a month, with property management fees of another 20 yuan per square meter per month.

Of course, if he had gone to a smaller city, the cost might have been only a tenth of that.

But that obviously wasn't realistic. The gap between small and major cities when it came to talent was simply too large.

"That's easy. My company just shut down, so I have no use for all those development machines and other equipment anymore. They're all ready to go. Just give me whatever you think is fair later," Yang Xin readily offered to provide them.

"But speaking of which, are the two of us really going to be the main development staff?" Yang Xin asked Chen Xu.

At present, including Chen Xu himself, the company has four employees.

Yang Xin and Chen Xu handled game development, while the other two had previously worked at Yang Xin's company.

One was responsible for finance and administration, while the other handled operations.

After testing their abilities, Chen Xu had hired both of them as well.

"Yeah. For now, it's just the two of us. But the core team is still missing a lead artist."

Chen Xu sighed before glancing toward Ruan Ningxue, who was sitting nearby eating an ice cream.

According to Chen Xu's plans, besides himself, he needed someone with strong artistic skills.

And Ruan Ningxue was his target.

As for having such a small team, Chen Xu wasn't worried.

The game development industry in this world was different from the one in his previous life. For the time being, a three-person core development team was sufficient for his plans.

Chen Xu could handle the numerical systems, level design, and core game design himself.

Most of the remaining work, such as art production and 3D modeling, could be outsourced.

None of those tasks were particularly technically difficult. They simply required enormous amounts of time.

Although outsourcing would certainly cost more money, Chen Xu would rather spend money than spend his own time.

The only question was whether he could "convince" Ruan Ningxue to join the team.

After seeing her artistic skills firsthand during the development of Mirror, Chen Xu had already set his sights on her.

"Exactly, Ningxue. Join us—"

Yang Xin suddenly realized something.

"Wait, Boss Chen, what are we calling the company?"

"Nebula Games," Chen Xu answered somewhat helplessly.

"Actually, Senior, I don't think there's that much difference between comics and games. Both are ways of presenting the stories in our heads to readers and players."

Chen Xu looked seriously at Ruan Ningxue.

"Besides, Nebula Games will eventually have a comics division as well. We'll publish manga adaptations and standalone comic volumes based on some of our games. If you're interested, Senior, you can continue working in that field with us."

Expanding a game into a comic, or adapting a comic into a game, was perfectly normal.

Moreover, unlike his previous life, where comic-to-game adaptations were often little more than ways of monetizing an existing fanbase, Chen Xu had looked into the industry in this parallel world and discovered something interesting.

Although the overall game design philosophy here lagged behind that of his previous world in many respects, comic-to-game adaptations were an exception. That particular field was exceptionally well developed.

Hearing Chen Xu's proposal, Ruan Ningxue looked tempted.

After what seemed like some serious consideration, she finally nodded.

"Then I guess I'll have to start calling you Boss Chen from now on, Junior."

"It's just a title. Call me whatever feels natural to you, Senior."

Seeing that Ruan Ningxue had agreed to join, Chen Xu smiled.

"Xiao Xue, how did you agree so quickly? I used to make exactly the same kind of promises to you!"

Yang Xin looked speechless.

She was certainly happy that Ruan Ningxue had joined them.

But the problem was that she'd tried countless times to convince her in the past, without success.

Why had it suddenly worked the moment Chen Xu asked?

"Sister Xin, what you offered was basically just an empty promise."

Ruan Ningxue rolled her eyes.

"If you'd managed to make even one successful game, I wouldn't have dismissed it without a second thought."

"Chen Xu already has Mirror as a guaranteed success, and he has a very clear direction for the company's future. With you, on the other hand, your games kept getting worse while your company kept getting smaller and smaller, with fewer and fewer employees."

"All right. To celebrate Senior joining the company, let me go over some of our plans for the future."

Chen Xu looked at the two women and began explaining their next steps.

Hearing Chen Xu's words, Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue both looked serious and expectant, despite having only just joined the company and not even having any office equipment yet.

After all, neither of them had joined Chen Xu's company just to coast along. They both wanted to accomplish something and produce results.

"Next, we're going to develop a new game—a metagame."

Chen Xu spoke.

Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue both looked confused.

A metagame?

"A 'meta-game'? Aren't we going to keep making 18+ games?" Ruan Ningxue asked in surprise.

"Of course not. The 18+ game was only meant to provide us with our initial capital."

Chen Xu shook his head.

He had no intention of turning his company into another Illusion Softworks in this parallel world.

"But Boss Chen, what exactly is a metagame?" Yang Xin was a little confused.

She had developed three games and had even earned her certification as a game designer, yet she'd never even heard of this so-called "metagame."

As for Ruan Ningxue, she was even less familiar with the concept.

"Simply put, a metagame is a game that contains elements that transcend the game itself, creating a direct interaction between the game and the player."

"Have you read Don Quixote? In the novel, the author occasionally steps into the story himself and comments on what's happening."

Chen Xu explained.

"Breaking the fourth wall?"

Yang Xin was still somewhat confused, while Ruan Ningxue seemed to have grasped the idea.

"Exactly."

Chen Xu nodded with a smile.

Chen Xu had looked into the concept of metagames in this parallel world.

Some games with similar elements already existed, but the concept had yet to become a coherent genre.

The same was true in other media, such as novels and comics. The concept had been used there as well, but it had never developed into a distinct category of its own.

"Our next game will be a metagame. It's called Undertale."

"As for the details, I'll explain everything once we officially start development."

"Of course, besides Undertale, we'll also be developing a DLC character pack for Mirror during this period. We should take advantage of the game's remaining popularity and squeeze out a few more sales while we can."