Chapter 50: The Cradle of Fighting Games

Of course, it was a declining area and the second and third floors were nearly empty, so it would naturally be cheaper than other locations. But considering the enormous one-hundred-pyeong floor space, one hundred Del was not even twenty percent of the normal market rate.

“You’ve left it abandoned anyway because of the Orphan Gang.”

“Well... that’s true, but...”

Ras deliberately made an annoyed expression.

“If you don’t like it, then forget it. Driving them out won’t be free either, and if this doesn’t work out, I’ll just consider the remodeling costs a loss and leave.”

“No, but the contract period...”

At Gingbaol’s weak protest, Ras suddenly exploded in anger.

“You’re seriously going to argue about that? After hiding what was upstairs from me? If I leave, I’ll file a lawsuit and demand compensation for the remodeling costs too, so keep that in mind.”

“...”

Sweat poured down Gingbaol’s face. Previously, he would have bluffed confidently that lawsuits like this rarely ended cleanly because proving deception was difficult, and that Ras would only lose money by pursuing it.

But that strategy only worked against people afraid of taking losses. Ras, however, had already openly declared he was willing to abandon the remodeling costs entirely.

And it was hard to dismiss that as mere bluffing. After Ras previously came to complain, Gingbaol secretly investigated him. He could not learn everything, but he discovered Ras was a businessman who made a considerable amount of money selling something called PC games.

If Ras truly made up his mind, it was obvious he could easily throw away the remodeling expenses and drag Gingbaol through court purely out of spite.

In the end, Gingbaol had no choice but to surrender.

Afterward, he pressured the building owner, who was equally guilty, and ultimately arranged for Ras to rent the third floor for one hundred Del. Not only that, but he also had to include a clause stating the contract could not be terminated unless the tenant agreed.

From Ras’s perspective, this was an enormous gain. Since he planned to continue expanding his business, including games, he needed large spaces. Now he had practically acquired one for free, and the contract explicitly prevented anyone from changing their mind later.

The Orphan Gang caused him endless headaches, but aside from that, the area itself was excellent. Transportation was convenient, and because the Beastmen carefully watched over the district as part of their territory, public safety was relatively good.

In the first place, the reason the orphans settled there was precisely because dangerous organizations capable of threatening them did not exist nearby.

Thanks to this, although things were not perfect, Ras finally felt reasonably satisfied and returned home in a much lighter mood.

Meta Soft’s vacation ended, and the locked office doors finally reopened.

“Miss Jenny? Did you enjoy your vacation?”

“Ah! Yes, Boss. Hello.”

Even though Ras arrived quite early to unlock the office, he was surprised to see Jenny already waiting on the stairs. Then, without realizing it, he briefly glanced upward toward the third floor.

“Just a moment.”

Ras immediately took out the keys and opened the office first. Despite her slightly plump appearance, Jenny already gave the impression of being hardworking and capable, but seeing her arrive this early on the very first day after vacation made her seem genuinely diligent as well.

Even if Ras, as the boss, had no issue returning, the employees themselves surely wished today would never come.

Afterward, while Ras busily filled the meeting room chalkboard with design notes, the employees gradually arrived one by one. None of them were late.

“Alright, everyone. Enjoy your vacations? Time to make games again. Come into the meeting room.”

Once everyone gathered, Ras called the employees into the meeting room. They sat at school-style desks and chairs while staring at the chalkboard. Noticing something already written there, they immediately began studying it closely.

Even without being told, it was obvious whatever was written there had something to do with the work they would soon be doing.

“Oh! Is it a boxing game this time?”

Nebrania seemed to like the new theme quite a lot. Ras already knew she was somewhat unusual, but he never expected her to enjoy boxing. It did not quite match her image.

Then again, remembering the outfit he once saw her wearing near Sky Castle, maybe rough and violent things suited her more than he realized. At least, that was Ras’s personal impression.

Strangely enough, the male employees seemed far less interested. To be fair, none of the three men looked particularly athletic or sporty either. Ras assumed they would naturally show interest because this world still had such a strongly macho atmosphere, but his expectations turned out wrong.

He had considered boxing an extremely mainstream theme that would easily captivate male audiences, so this reaction made him feel slightly uneasy.

In any case, Ras began explaining the project to the employees.

“So technically, it isn’t really boxing.”

Garazt immediately grasped the core issue. He was correct. The game did not even follow proper boxing rules, so calling it boxing was questionable from the start.

“If we’re speaking strictly, yes. We’re only borrowing certain elements. But we still need to create this game while thinking of it as a boxing game.”

If gamers were going to become deeply immersed, then the game needed to strongly emphasize the elements that at least felt like boxing. If the developers themselves rejected that idea from the beginning, it would become difficult to preserve the atmosphere properly.

“And this time, the graphics team’s role is extremely important. Rather than realism, this game needs exaggerated characteristics as much as possible.”

If they tried making side-scrolling characters move realistically in a flat two-dimensional plane, the result would only look ridiculous. Moreover, if they wanted players to feel impact and tension while tiny 2D characters fought on a cramped computer screen, then both attack animations and hit reactions needed strong exaggeration.

“Start by designing the characters with a comic-book feel. But unlike our previous games, don’t simplify them too much. I want detailed designs with enough dynamism to feel alive.”

Ras distributed the design documents he brought and instructed everyone to begin with rough sketches.

“Ah, and one more thing in advance. This game will be developed for the newly released computer specifications. The graphical performance is far superior to before, so keep that in mind.”

At those words, Garazt and Kelliper, the office’s resident computer fanatics, immediately brightened up. Since they were interested in hardware, they had probably already read the same computer magazines as Ras.

“Miss Nebrania, I’d like you to handle the background music and battle sound effects. The background tracks should feel tense, fast-paced, and exciting. As for the sound effects, we’ll be using comic-style exaggeration, so when techniques activate, I want things like ‘Ping!’ or ‘Swoosh!’ You understand the kind of feeling I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mean, right?”

“Mm... roughly.”

Ras understood perfectly because he had experienced future fighting games, but trying to explain it verbally made it sound like vague nonsense. Nebrania tilted her head awkwardly before finally answering as though she barely understood.

Fortunately, this world still had animated cartoons, so she was not entirely without references.

In the end, starting today, she was doomed to spend her evenings after work watching children’s cartoons during prime-time television hours.

“Mr. Aspa, you’ll have a lot to do as well. This game has a rough background concept of underground boxing, but we need to present it convincingly to gamers. I want you to create the worldbuilding, the character backstories, pre-battle dialogue, victory and defeat lines, skill activation dialogue, and as many situations as possible that help give each character personality.”

“Yes.”

Aspa nodded energetically, seemingly more excited than burdened.

To be fair, in their previous game, Civilization and War, he had created all sorts of settings and lore, but during actual gameplay almost none of it stood out. During development, his role barely felt noticeable as well. Although he continued working diligently, it left him with the uncomfortable feeling that he was merely stealing a salary.

In any case, the planning explanation and task assignments were complete, leaving only development itself.

Ras returned to his desk and began designing the combat logic.

He did not hesitate long. If he tried to get fancy from the start, the result would likely become sloppy, so he decided to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠focus on fundamentals first. And the two-dimensional fighting game he knew best was The King of Fighters.

However, he had no intention of using a tag system. Players would control only a single character.

Like most fighting games, health would appear ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as a bar at the top of the screen. It seemed simple, but it was actually an astonishingly effective idea that intuitively conveyed battle progress to players.

Even on Earth, this concept did not appear instantly. Yet once introduced, virtually every fighting game adopted the same system afterward.

He also added a smaller gauge at the bottom to build up rage energy. This would function as the resource required for special attacks. Beyond that, he included every mechanic he could remember.

One difference was that, fitting the boxing theme, double-tapping forward would trigger a weaving dash, while double-tapping backward would perform a swaying retreat.

“Waaah... he really is a genius!”

Watching Ras rapidly pour out mechanics while building detailed logic structures left Garazt unable to hide his admiration.

From Garazt’s perspective, it looked as though one person was instantly inventing the distilled essence of countless fighting-game systems that, on Earth, had only emerged after years of experimentation and refinement by many developers. Naturally, he appeared like a genius.

Swept up in the momentum of the first development day, they became so focused that they lost track of time until lunch approached. However, since Ras now ran ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an organization rather than working alone, he reluctantly pulled his hands away from the keyboard once he noticed the time.

“Boss, there’s a visitor waiting for you.”

“Who?”

Almost as though she had been waiting for the right moment, Daska approached him. Ras assumed someone from Barbal Soft had arrived, so he casually turned toward the direction she pointed—then immediately jumped to his feet.

“Ella?!”

Sitting quietly at the table near the entrance was a familiar Beastman girl. It was Ella.

Ras immediately hurried over to her. Nothing about her had changed. She looked exactly the same as when they parted on the first day of vacation. Since she never contacted him afterward, and because the Orphan Gang had fled their old hideout, Ras secretly worried something bad might have happened to her despite knowing his methods had not been truly violent. Fortunately, she seemed perfectly fine.

“Hi, Oppa.”

Contrary to his worries, Ella greeted him brightly without the slightest trace of gloom. Honestly, seeing her so carefree almost made him feel annoyed.

However, the moment Ella cheerfully called him “Oppa,” Ras noticed Daska sneaking glances toward them from nearby. Understandably so. From Daska’s perspective, Ella was merely the suspicious girl who had spent ages spying on the office.

Daska already struggled over whether to even let her inside as a visitor, only to suddenly witness her behaving intimately toward Ras while Ras himself showed little resistance. Naturally, she must have wondered when the two became so close.

Several other employees also seemed to be stealing glances, making Ras feel strangely embarrassed.

“Miss Ella... let’s talk somewhere else.”

“Mhm.”

So Ras led her toward a room deeper inside the office.

He carefully closed the door and first pulled out a chair beside the table for her. It was merely a stiff office space, yet somehow the atmosphere felt completely different simply because this girl was present.

At that moment, Ras fully realized he had truly fallen for her.

“Have you been doing well?”

“Mhm.”

“Though I’m not trying to interrogate you... why didn’t you call me?”

That was the first thing he asked, since it had bothered him the most.

Ras never believed his feelings were entirely one-sided. Based on how Ella behaved before, he was convinced of that.

Maybe her emotions differed from his own, but Ras still interpreted her actions as interest and affection.