Chapter 132: A Nostalgic Side-Scrolling Action Game

Ras enjoyed Myth Wars quite a lot.

No matter how much the public praised a game he personally planned and created as a masterpiece, it was bound to feel less fun to him. He knew everything inside it, and he had watched it being painstakingly made piece by piece over several months, so this was unavoidable.

That was why this game, made by another company even though he had invested some money into it, was enjoyable enough.

Choosing a sexy female character and pouring out flashy skills while defeating enemies one by one was genuinely satisfying. It was hard to call it a game with depth, but it was full of flashy, stimulating appeal, which made it fun.

“Stop using that shooting magic already.”

Ras played Myth Wars at home with Ella. Ella used a Beastman hero character. Her leopard-headed character was a cool character who unleashed powerful sword strikes with all sorts of acrobatic movements.

The problem was that she was a pure melee character. The red female mage Ras used poured out fire magic, ice magic, and lightning magic nonstop, so Ella could not even approach and had no choice but to keep blocking.

In the end, she grew irritated and shouted at him.

“Ahaha. Sorry.”

Ella was no pushover at games either, and since this was a fun game she had not played in a while, she became immersed in it. Before he knew it, Ras had ended up playing in a way that made his opponent angry.

Ras soothed Ella for a while and helped her calm down, then resumed playing. It was still fun, but something felt slightly lacking.

There was the balance problem he had just felt, but more than that, it felt like these flashy characters and actions were somewhat wasted.

Unlike Fighters’ Club, where it was just fists, this game had intense magic, giant golem punches, and massive swords being swung around. Yet even if they hit, they only shaved off a little health, and if the opponent guarded, they barely left a scratch. Moreover, seeing such flashy techniques used just to fight a single opponent felt somewhat frustrating.

It felt unsuited to the narrow stage of a fighting game. Ras wanted to use these characters and techniques in a wider world and cut down large numbers of enemies in a satisfying way.

That did not mean he was talking about a role-playing game. The flashiness was what made it good, and he did not want to start from Level 1 and gradually raise the character.

What Ras wanted was a side-scrolling action game. Something like Metallic Jumper, which he had made before, was not bad, but he wanted to make something more stylish.

And there was a model that fit this perfectly. A popular side-scrolling game that had been in almost every arcade when he was young. Dungeons & Dragons. It was that game where heroes and monsters from myth appeared and freely used all kinds of magic and techniques.

(Translator’s Note: Dungeons & Dragons (던전앤드래곤) — Originally an American tabletop fantasy role-playing game first published in 1974 by TSR.)

Of course, it was more difficult than expected, so when he played badly, he was the one who got cut down instead of the enemies.

In any case, if they used the setting and characters of Myth Wars, Ras felt they could make a side-scrolling game just as good as Dungeons & Dragons.

An excited anticipation began to make Ras’s heart pound. But there was a slight problem. If this IP belonged to him, he would have pushed the plan forward immediately, but this was another company’s game.

Moreover, their first successful genre was a fighting action game, so he doubted they would accept the suggestion that they should make a side-scrolling action game based on it.

He was an investor, but that was all he was. He had purchased some shares in Imiz Soft, but only around eighteen percent, so it was not enough to pressure them into developing something. No, even if it were possible, interfering to that extent by using ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the investment as leverage would give him a bad reputation.

Of course, if the game succeeded, public opinion might reverse, but if they were forced into making a game they had no intention of creating, it likely would not turn out properly. No matter how good the plan was.

Should I just make a completely different IP?

He thought that for a moment, but soon shook his head. This was a world where magic and monsters actually existed, and since there were just as many myths, creating a different IP itself was possible. The problem was that Meta Soft currently had no available development team.

All three teams at Meta Soft headquarters ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had just entered development. And every development team that the IP Management Team had worked hard to recruit was already making something.

The Brunyad Development Team did exist, but unlike Bomberman, this game’s systems and setting would be quite complicated and likely require a lot of feedback, so leaving it to the distant Brunyad Development Team felt awkward.

Some might ask why he did not simply create another development team, but once he hired people, he could not just fire them the moment that game’s development ended. Expanding the number of development teams required careful consideration.

And because Ras released high-quality games and the Hammer Computer had come out, development costs were gradually rising. If Ras released a new computer and the online era arrived as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠well, those costs would increase exponentially.

He needed to be cautious.

Ras had earned a lot of money, but if he managed the company recklessly, even that vast amount of funding could melt away in an instant. It was not something he had never known before, but after reading management-related books from time to time recently, his sense of crisis had become clearer.

And even aside from that, he also wanted to enjoy games made by other people and other companies. As mentioned earlier, games he developed himself were not easy for him to enjoy comfortably.

The profits would be somewhat regrettable, but he was no longer in a position where one or two hit titles were desperately needed. Besides, he already owned a fair amount of Imiz Soft’s shares and planned to continue investing.

Ras began thinking of a way to persuade Imiz Soft.

Imiz Soft’s development office.

“You want to borrow our IP?”

Zek was somewhat puzzled by the proposal from a man named Perkus, who had come from Meta Soft’s IP Management Team. At first, even the word IP itself had felt unfamiliar, so he had to ask what it meant.

“Um. Doesn’t Meta Soft already have plenty of IP? But you specifically want our company’s IP?”

The proposal itself felt good. After all, it meant they valued the game he had developed. Moreover, the one making the proposal was none other than Meta Soft, a dinosaur of the gaming industry.

But Zek was also the president of a company. He did not accept the proposal immediately just because it made him happy, and he tried to look at what lay behind it.

“Yes. We determined that your company’s IP would suit a new game we are planning to make.”

“Ah. A new game?”

“Chairman Ras enjoyed Myth Wars very much. He also said he especially liked Myth Wars’ characters and setting, and thought it would be good to make a new game with them.”

Zek grew interested. He wondered what kind of potential the chairman of Meta Soft, who had written one tremendous success story after another, had discovered in his game, Myth Wars. So after cautiously reading the mood, he asked.

“Um, what kind of game would it be...?”

“Ah. A side-scrolling action game. He said it would be truly impressive if those wonderful characters and techniques were used to defeat many monsters and bosses.”

“...”

Zek immediately imagined it in his head after hearing Perkus’s words. It certainly seemed good. At the same time, he recalled the success of Metallic Jumper and Run and Break.

Side-scrolling action isn’t a bad genre either.

He had already been thinking about a sequel. He had been considering another fighting action game like the already successful first title, but after hearing that Meta Soft wanted to borrow his IP just to make this, he felt his interest sharply shift in that direction.

Naturally, this was exactly what Ras had designed.

After understanding that Zek was an extremely motivated person, Ras predicted that he was probably already planning a sequel.

Perkus secretly observed Zek’s expression. He could not look inside a person’s head so easily, but Perkus sensed it. This man had already fallen somewhat in the direction they intended.

So he carefully brought out the words he had prepared.

“Actually, since it is originally your company’s IP, Chairman Ras wanted to ask your side to handle the development. After all, a high understanding of the IP would be necessary to make it properly. And Myth Wars also proved your development capability.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

Zek’s expression brightened at once. The praise pleased him, of course, but the part that caught his ear most strongly was that Ras had wanted to entrust it to him.

“However, since you are another company, we needed to be cautious. And since you already achieved success with a fighting action game, making a sequel in another genre would likely feel like a risky venture. That was why we could not propose it. But the plan felt too valuable to waste, so we made this offer instead.”

“Hmm...”

Zek let out a faint groan without realizing it as he briefly suppressed the impulse rising inside him. He had almost said that he would make it himself.

He was absolutely not the type to avoid risks.

No, anyone could see that clearly from his past, when he pulled in a large amount of investment funds and poured them all into making a fighting action game, a genre that was unfamiliar at the time.

Ras had read Zek’s personality and created this strategy.

Fortunately, Zek had achieved one major success and gained some leeway, and he had also been endlessly nagged by his business partners and friends during that time, so he was able to hold back and think for a moment.

But a person’s true nature did not change easily.

“Um. Could our company make that game?”

Perkus had prepared plenty of words to subtly persuade and coax him, but he never got the chance to say them. Zek, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, suddenly offered to do it first.

Perkus smiled triumphantly inside, but he forced down the corners of his mouth and put on a serious expression.

“Pardon? Would that be all right?”

“Yes. I happened to be thinking about a sequel anyway. But after listening to you, Lord Perkus, I do think our IP would suit a side-scrolling action game.”

But that did not mean Ras or Perkus had particularly trapped Zek. Aside from saying they wanted to borrow the IP, they had not lied.

No, even the matter of borrowing the IP was not completely false, because if Imiz Soft had shown no interest at all, Ras had planned to proceed as originally stated and create Dungeons & Dragons through another developer.

And Ras pushed this forward while feeling confident of its success.

Nothing was absolute, but if Ras’s intention succeeded, it would benefit Zek as well.

In any case, Zek fell for Ras’s plan and ended up making Dungeons & Dragons.

Ras provided Imiz Soft with investment and also supported them by turning the information he remembered about Dungeons & Dragons into a planning document.

Since the idea of making a side-scrolling action game using the IP had come from Ras in the first place, Zek was not particularly offended by this planning document. No, he welcomed it instead, seeing it as Meta Soft’s interest and support.

After all, even though he had been completely won over and agreed to do it, he could not have felt no anxiety at all about changing genres.

“Oh... this is good.”

And the planning document Ras gave him was convincing and fresh. Of course, most of what Ras had written down was simply his memories of Dungeons & Dragons, which he had enjoyed long ago.

Zek was especially impressed by the skill selection window, which rotated one option at a time like a roulette ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wheel when the skill key was pressed.

He probably would have quickly thought of command-input skills himself, since his previous game had been a fighting game. But he had been unsure how to make various magic, skills, and items usable in a side-scrolling action game, and this method solved that problem cleanly.

Of course, it was not without drawbacks. If the player was unfamiliar with the icons, they might fail to find what they wanted and get lost, and it was somewhat complicated and time-consuming to use in urgent situations.

Still, since it was hard to think of a better idea, Zek decided to apply it. As he continued forming the plan, Zek eagerly waited for the development team members’ vacation to end.