Chapter 160: Online Card Game
Chapter 160: Online Card Game
Jonathan was also one of the people desperately wanting to see the Female Demon King illustration. The nineteen-year-old college student belonged to the group who heard about the erotic patch, bought Territory-Capturing Game out of curiosity, and started playing it.
At first, he simply progressed through the game with a mild sense of achievement. Honestly, for an adult like him, this level of exposure was not even enough to call obscene. Yet every time he saw the illustrations, something subtly stirred within his chest.
And once he passed Stage 10, he had unknowingly become a fan. The subtle eroticism and bright atmosphere gave him a different kind of enjoyment from the gloomy atmosphere of entertainment districts.
However, becoming a fan did not improve one’s game skill. Since his sense for games was not particularly good, he eventually got stuck at Stage 15 like many others.
Already completely addicted to the game, he felt like he was going insane. He challenged it every single day, but simply could not clear it.
“But that only applied until now.”
Jonathan had a somewhat sharp-looking appearance. Seeing him grin while holding the newest issue of Gamers made him look anything but heroic. Rather, he looked closer to a dark mage plotting the revival of the Demon King, but regardless, after thoroughly memorizing the strategy guide, he now felt as though he had obtained a holy sword and charged toward the keyboard.
He did not succeed immediately. Simply knowing how to do something did not mean one could actually accomplish it.
Still, Jonathan definitely saw possibility. Previously, he could not even approach the Female Demon King’s feet, but now it felt as though he could somehow point a sword toward her.
Encouraged by that feeling, he became a Hero who refused to give up and continued challenging endlessly.
Stage 15 had earned infamy because there were four enemies interfering with the player’s territory capture. They were usually called the Four Heavenly Kings, and because each possessed completely different patterns, players often focused on one only to get struck by another’s attack or body slam.
Of course, Jonathan was not stupid. After suffering countless times, he had memorized the patterns and at least realized they could only be defeated by isolating them one at a time. However, he lacked meticulousness.
Trying to handle such a complicated battle with a rough strategy imagined only vaguely in his head meant he always fell just short. In reality, it was not merely “just short” but a highly reckless approach.
However, this strategy guide, created by a strategy-specialist reporter who sought advice from skilled players, was on a completely different level.
The basic framework was the same: isolate and defeat them individually. However, it analyzed the combined movements of the Four Heavenly Kings, each with different attack patterns, broke those patterns down into detail, and meticulously planned what kind of structures to create by carving up territory in certain orders, along with the exact timing needed to eliminate them one by one.
One, two, three!
Jonathan did not think about what kind of thought process had gone into creating this strategy. In the first place, he was already too busy simply following the guide.
He merely did exactly what it instructed and tried to move precisely according to the timings it specified.
And no matter how complicated it was, in the end, this was still a computer game. Unlike reality, if one followed the manual exactly, it would eventually clear.
“Yeeees!!!”
Through truly tearful repetition, Jonathan finally succeeded in defeating the final Four Heavenly King, the Lich. This enemy was especially troublesome because aside from the flashy magical bullet patterns it fired, even after killing it, a Life Vessel would appear at a random location, and if that vessel was not destroyed again, the Lich would revive fifteen seconds later.
However, the strategy guide had even analyzed the appearance patterns of the Life Vessel, allowing players to construct terrain in advance to destroy it preemptively, while also analyzing terrain routes to allow rapid movement.
Of course, even then, the timing window was so tight that one could barely succeed only if they made no mistakes.
Jonathan had failed multiple times because of that, watching the Lich revive repeatedly. But after around seventeen attempts, he finally managed to time it correctly and trap the Life Vessel within his territory just before resurrection, destroying it successfully.
Now all that remained was slowly filling in the empty space.
“Seriously... all this for this.”
Jonathan’s hands trembled violently. He had barely reached the point right before clearing it, and if he made a mistake and failed to reach 100%, he felt like he would want to die.
<100% Achieved>
And finally seeing the “100%” message made him feel as though the hair all over his body stood on end. However, this was not the time to bask in emotion yet. He widened his eyes and stared at the screen.
He needed to confirm the Female Demon King’s seductive appearance he had only heard rumors about.
<So you finally made it here, Hero!>
<Aaagh! As expected of the Hero!>
At first, the illustration of the proud Female Demon King looking down upon the Hero appeared. Under the dark background, her blood-orange eyes gleamed while she gazed down at the player with an arrogant pose, and those long, slender legs made Jonathan’s heart pound.
But this isn’t the 100% version!
Soon the screen turned black, and Jonathan’s heart began racing with anticipation.
Then the screen brightened once more, revealing the Female Demon King collapsed upon the ground along with her cloak.
“Ooooh!”
Previously, the Female Demon King had been entirely clad in black, even including her stockings, but now skin showed through the torn sections of her clothing.
Her cloak had been completely stripped away. Her skirt was torn, exposing black underwear, and the stockings that once tightly wrapped her legs were in complete disarray.
The proud expression she once wore had changed into a pitiful one, with her crimson eyes half-covered and lowered.
Most decisively, perhaps because she had been struck in the chest by a powerful spell, not only her armor but even her bra had completely vanished, exposing everything beneath.
Jonathan reached the point of wondering who in the world had drawn such an incredible illustration.
<Seriously, who made this patch?! The quality is insane!>
<Huff huff! Female Demon King... I love her so much!>
<Forget that. The Dwarf Queen is at least a hundred million times better.>
<Well, obviously Dwarves would like Dwarves.>
<No, I’m Human though?>
This erotic patch truly became an enormous topic of conversation.
And fortunately, there was not much of the criticism Ras had expected. Of course, some people called it vulgar, but perhaps because the intensity level was low, there were almost no extreme opinions saying it should be banned.
Even if there had been backlash, Ras had no intention of shelving or disbanding the dating simulation development team he had already created, but avoiding troublesome situations entirely was still best.
Now he needed to think about what game to make next.
However, before that, there was one issue he needed to consider.
It was the problem of porting Territory-Capturing Game to arcades.
The game had become popular on PC, its play sessions were not especially long, and it could consume many coins, so he definitely wanted to place it in arcades. The problem was deciding which version to use.
Considering popularity and publicity, using the erotic version would obviously be better, but secretly playing something at home alone and playing it in a public place like an arcade were entirely different matters.
Of course, Ras himself remembered watching erotic animations appear after achieving 100% in arcade games when he was young. However, just because it had been acceptable on Earth did not guarantee it would also be acceptable here.
Furthermore, a large portion of arcade visitors were children, making controversy very likely.
There was also the issue of tournaments.
At this point, holding tournaments for Meta Soft games had become standard practice. Even aside from the original purposes of promotion and cultivating gaming culture, the public, the consumers, and the gamers all expected it now, making it difficult to ignore.
However, holding tournaments using the erotic version would obviously be problematic. It would be awkward and embarrassing not only for spectators watching and cheering, but also for the players themselves. More importantly, the competition itself would become age-restricted.
No matter how low the intensity was, they could not display naked female characters on giant screens for children to see.
And they also had to consider the arcade operators buying the cabinets. Arcades were at least enclosed spaces where only people coming to play games would see them, but placing erotic games into cabinets installed in places like bus stops would obviously be problematic.
“Well, then we’ll just make two separate versions.”
James, the president of Punch Games, thought for a moment before answering calmly.
“Huh? Would that really be okay?”
It was not that Ras had never considered the idea. However, since it was essentially the exact same game, making two versions felt like doubling the labor while profits remained fixed, making him hesitant to suggest it himself.
“Yes, it’ll be fine. Since only the illustrations differ, it should not take that much additional development time.”
James still sounded relaxed. Considering the profits earned from porting Meta Soft games, perhaps it really was the wiser choice even if development time truly doubled.
And so, Territory-Capturing Game entered arcade port development.
After Territory-Capturing Game released, other games also gradually finished development one by one.
The very next game released was the card game developed by the IP Management Team.
Other development teams had actually started their projects much earlier, but differences in development speed slightly changed the release order.
“The illustrations are quite good.”
“Ah! Thank you very much!”
The tense development team leader instantly brightened at Ras’s compliment. The team leader was a handsome man with smooth features named Rights.
Despite being thoroughly exhausted by the intense late-stage development schedule and the stressful final testing session in front of the chairman, his neatly arranged red eyebrows and gentle eyes still gave the impression of a handsome man.
This game could also be played directly online using simplified symbol-based graphics. However, they had also separately produced a package version containing proper illustrations.
After all, in TCGs like this, the enjoyment of viewing illustrations was an element that could not be ignored.
Since card packs would be sold offline anyway, and the illustrations already existed there, all they needed was to transfer and redraw them digitally, so it did not add much extra development time.
“Huh?”
Garazt, Ras’s opponent, unconsciously let out a sound when the Flame Hound he had painstakingly summoned by gathering mana was instantly intercepted and turned into ashes.
Garazt had fairly good game sense, but before Ras, who already had extensive TCG experience and had practically designed the entire game himself, he could only serve as a punching bag.
This was also one of the reasons the game had released so quickly.
Originally, TCGs contained almost no graphics and were relatively simple from a programming perspective, provided one was not weak at mathematics. Instead, they required enormous amounts of planning time.
However, Ras already possessed the basic concepts of TCGs, so rather than struggling to invent things from scratch, he simply needed to pour out the ideas already inside his head.
Since the basic rules had already been prepared in a clean and polished form, the development team merely needed to add the remaining details. Of course, that was still important work, but it was on an entirely different level from starting on a blank slate.
Thanks to that, the card game was completed in only three months after development began and had now reached final testing.
The reactions from the testers were not bad.
At first, some people felt disappointed because the game contained almost no graphics beyond illustrations, but after playing for a bit, they quickly began noticing its other strengths.
“I like it because it feels familiar.”
Ella liked the very concept of a card game.
As an orphan, she had never been able to play expensive computer games. However, orphans were still children, and children naturally enjoyed games.
So whenever they were not out working, they would gather together and play various games, one of which had been card games. Poker, One Card, Blackjack, and similar games. Of course, those differed from TCGs, but the familiar feeling inherent to card games themselves naturally drew her affection.
Footnotes:
Translator’s Notes:
TCG — Trading Card Game. A genre of strategy card games where players build decks from collectible cards and battle using game mechanics involving mana, summons, effects, and tactical play.
Blackjack — Popular gambling card game originating in Europe and widely spread internationally. Players attempt to reach a hand value of 21 without exceeding it.
Poker — Famous competitive card game involving betting, bluffing, and hand rankings.