Chapter 16: Clout Chasing

Game Development: Starting by Healing the Players 

Chapter 16: Clout Chasing

In the conference room, Chen Xu was explaining the details of Undertale to Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue.

There wasn't much work to do on Mirror. They could simply follow the existing template, add the corresponding character artwork and story text, and call it done.

Their main focus going forward would be developing Undertale.

In his previous life, Undertale had been created by an independent game developer.

Yet it had moved countless players around the world and had become one of the classic examples of a metagame.

Unlike metagames such as Pony Island, ICEY, and The Stanley Parable, however, Undertale combined meta elements with RPG mechanics extremely well. In fact, it could be said to completely overturn players' conventional understanding of RPG design.

Its core concept was quite straightforward.

The heart of Undertale was its story, combined with twists built around its meta elements. The gameplay itself was merely seasoning.

Of course, there were some aspects Chen Xu planned to improve.

For example, compared with the Undertale from his previous life, the game's visuals would definitely be improved.

The crude pixel art and hand-drawn linework of the original Undertale weren't the result of that visual style being inherently better for the game.

It was simply because there wasn't enough money.

After all, it had been a solo indie project.

As for the critics and media personalities who praised the game's "unique art style" after Undertale became a huge hit, Chen Xu considered most of that nonsense.

Of course, pixel art wasn't necessarily a sign of a lack of money.

For example, Octopath Traveler in his previous life deliberately used pixel art to create a visual combination of modern and nostalgic aesthetics. Some games also intentionally adopted pixel art for a retro feel.

But for a story-driven metagame like Undertale, stronger visual presentation could only enhance the experience rather than detract from it.

Minecraft, for instance, used a pixelated, block-based aesthetic because that visual language matched its block-building gameplay.

But Undertale's art style clearly wasn't the result of making a deliberate artistic compromise for gameplay purposes.

Aside from the visuals, however, the story and music of Undertale were undeniably classics.

Sans's "Megalovania" and Undyne's "Battle Against a True Hero" were both iconic pieces.

After giving the two women a basic introduction to Undertale's core concepts, Chen Xu showed Ruan Ningxue the character designs for some of the major characters.

The kind and gentle goat mother.

The benevolent-looking king who wielded a trident and became as imposing as a battle god once the fight began.

The two skeleton brothers, one tall and one short.

The seemingly innocent little flower who was actually an absolute master of facial expressions...

Chen Xu would personally oversee the designs of the major characters.

As for the ordinary monsters, those would be handed over to an outsourcing team. As long as they met the requirements, they could simply be reviewed and approved afterward.

Then there was the story.

The Neutral Route, the True Pacifist Route, the Genocide Route, and the so-called False Pacifist Route.

Chen Xu had already laid out the storylines for the different routes using the Memory Capsules he had previously obtained from the system.

What remained was mainly for Yang Xin to flesh out the details.

After assigning their respective responsibilities, Chen Xu returned to his own desk and entered the backend of the official game engine, preparing to establish the basic framework for Undertale.

"Ningxue, is this how you developed Mirror before?"

Looking at the incredibly detailed design documents in front of her, Yang Xin was still somewhat stunned.

Beside her, Ruan Ningxue was already working on the character designs based on the reference sheets.

"Yeah. Why, Sister Xin? Is there something wrong with developing a game this way?"

"Something very wrong! This is way too smooth! The thought process is ridiculously clear!"

Yang Xin's eyes widened, though she deliberately lowered her voice.

Judging by its scope, Undertale seemed like a relatively small game.

But everything was just too streamlined.

It gave Yang Xin the bizarre impression that even if they put a dog in charge, the development would somehow still work.

Then she remembered the chaotic development process at her previous company.

For a moment, Yang Xin couldn't help wondering whether all those employees she'd hired back then had secretly been acting just to mess with her.

Still marveling at the difference, Yang Xin carefully began reviewing Undertale's story, considering how best to flesh it out.

...

Chen Xu, sitting at his desk, wasn't thinking about any of that.

At that moment, he was busy experimenting with the official game engine.

The computational resources available to him were now roughly twenty times greater than before.

As for the backend, the currently available resource allocation was:

0 / 1024 MB.

Judging by the standards of his previous life, that was roughly equivalent to 2 GB. Chen Xu looked through the tutorials and the related new features as well.

He could say that this amount of resources was more than enough. As for getting access to more resources...

He would either have to raise his game designer certification level or spend money.

As for how to raise his certification level, one option was simply to accumulate experience over time—what was essentially seniority.

Beyond that, he would need to win awards with substantial industry recognition or make some positive contribution to the advancement of the game industry.

In a sense, the creation of Mirror could already be considered a catalyst for innovation within the adult-game industry.

After getting a general understanding of the situation, Chen Xu shook his head lightly and stopped thinking about it.

Instead, he focused on developing Undertale.

For Chen Xu, an indie game of this scale wasn't particularly difficult.

And with the technology available in this parallel world, developing a game like this wouldn't take much effort.

The truly time-consuming parts were mainly the story text, character artwork, and music.

After all, the music in Undertale was exceptionally good.

The same was true of many other indie games.

Story, music, and gameplay innovation had always been the three major pillars of indie games.

"Sister Xin, who's this guy? Why is he biting us?"

"A clout chaser. He's probably jealous of Mirror's sales, and since his own new game is about to launch, he's deliberately trying to ride our coattails and generate publicity. He's a repeat offender."

Noticing the commotion on Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue's side, Chen Xu became curious.

"What happened?"

When Yang Xin saw him approach, she picked up Ruan Ningxue's phone.

"This guy. He's a professional clout chaser."

Chen Xu took the phone.

On the screen was a reposted video from a media outlet called Game Space.

He opened it.

The video showed a middle-aged man commenting on a game. The game's promotional image was Mirror, although the character artwork shown was fully clothed.

"To attract players' attention, today's game designers are willing to do absolutely anything."

"Vulgar. Utterly vulgar!"

"Games are an artistic industry. Calling a work like this a game is, in my opinion, an insult to the medium itself."

"Can a game designer like this possibly contribute anything positive to the game industry?"

"He can't!"

"If there were content like this in Blossom, the game I'm about to release, I wouldn't even have the face to show myself in public."

"So I hope that all game designers out there will focus less on gimmicks and spend more time studying how to make genuinely good games, rather than resorting to vulgar content simply to boost sales."

The video lasted roughly two minutes, and the man delivered every line with an air of absolute righteousness.

But when Chen Xu browsed through the comments, something interesting caught his attention.

Alongside a large number of people applauding the man's remarks, there was also a sizeable group of sarcastic commenters.

"Old Zhong, here you go again?"

"Vulgar? Then I guess I'll have to go and criticize it myself!"

"So, when are you going to start promoting your new game?"

"Brother above, you weren't paying attention during Zhong Dapao's rant. He already slipped the promotion in, didn't he? The game's called Blossom."

After watching the entire video, reading some of the comments, and listening to Yang Xin's explanation, Chen Xu had a general understanding of the situation.

The man's name was Zhong Mei, a game designer under He School Culture & Entertainment. He was also the owner of the company himself.

His reputation in the gaming industry was decidedly mixed.

As for the praise he received, Zhong Mei had indeed produced several respectable games in the past.

Even in recent years, while none of his games had been particularly spectacular, their overall quality had never been especially poor.

The criticism, however, centered on Zhong Mei himself.

He frequently sought out games that were currently popular and somewhat controversial, deliberately criticizing them in order to promote and elevate his own games.

Chen Xu wasn't the only person he'd targeted this way.

Quite a few other game designers had been on the receiving end of his attacks as well.