Chapter 64: The Release of the Joystick

Flying through the sky was also a device meant to relieve the stress that built up from the character being limited to jumping, and sometimes even falling to its death because of it.

The character would be freed from the fear of falling and simply fly through the air to move.

Of course, Ras planned to make it possible only for a short time. The controls would also require the player to keep pressing the upward directional key to maintain altitude. In the end, he planned to present it as the character either exploding or having its wings shatter before crashing.

Things like this were more fun when they had limits.

He also planned to give it uses such as reaching hidden areas that absolutely could not be reached by jumping in certain places. By flying, that was.

Ras asked Aspa to create an appropriate story and setting. He assigned the programming to Garazt and Kelliper. He considered doing some coding himself, but soon decided not to.

It was partly because he trusted the two of them, but also because he wondered whether there was any real need for him to personally code anymore. It would be one thing if Ras were some incredible genius who could do things others could not, but his skill was just ordinary.

Of course, since he had experience developing alone, he was fairly fast. He was probably skilled enough to be evaluated as competent.

In any case, Ras decided to shift fully into supervision now. Instead, he planned to add more coding personnel.

This game was not that complicated, so it was not urgent. But once he stepped away, there would only be two people left, which was far too few to develop games stably.

And since he planned to make increasingly complicated games in the future, Ras decided to prepare for that by increasing the number to about six at once.

However, if Ras stepped out and the number of personnel increased, the coding team would need a team leader as well. Ras glanced toward Garazt.

Someone like Garazt should be able to lead them without much trouble.

In any case, after ending its vacation like this, Meta Soft began developing games again.

Meta Hardware, meanwhile, was sailing smoothly under Utaro’s command. After safely producing prototypes at the radio factory from before, they continued production and found a suitable warehouse to gather the products.

For distribution as well, they spoke with Barbal Soft and borrowed its distribution network to send the product to computer sales shops across the country. They also ran advertisements through computer magazines and newspapers.

This seemed like a natural flow, but if Ras had done it himself, he probably would have stumbled through every step. Ras thought this must be what career history and experience meant.

In any case, Meta Hardware’s first product, the joystick, was released safely.

The market response was good. To begin with, many people who had purchased Fighters’ Club wanted a joystick. The advertisement had been quite effective.

<Fully compatible with Fighters’ Club! We provide an even higher sense of immersion and control!>

The advertisement, which neatly arranged Fighters’ Club illustrations and photos of the joystick alongside phrases like that, strongly gave the impression that one needed a joystick to enjoy the game properly.

Nagor, a student attending Alchen University in Kedar City in the southern Republic of Smite, was one of the people baited by that advertisement.

Among university students who owned computers these days, Fighters’ Club was completely in vogue. And that was natural, because at an age when their blood ran hot, directly competing in skill through something like fighting was extremely exciting.

Nagor was also deeply absorbed in this game, but honestly, he was not especially good at it. Whenever he played Fighters’ Club, he always resented his own fingers. If they moved faster and more accurately, he would not get hit by every technique and collapse.

He was practicing in his own way, but his skill was not improving easily. Then a machine released by a company under the same corporate line as Meta Soft, the company that had made the game, appeared, and it specifically named Fighters’ Club while promising the best control feel. He could not help being tempted into buying it.

After returning to his rented room, installing the joystick according to the manual, and playing Fighters’ Club, his first thought was that it felt somewhat awkward.

It was probably because he was used to the keyboard. But as he continued moving the stick and pressing the buttons, he gradually grew accustomed to it, and he felt as if the character’s movements were more immediate.

Ohhh!

Most decisively, his techniques seemed to come out better. Excited, he spun the stick until blisters formed on his palm.

The next day, he put the joystick in his bag and headed to the Computer Research Society. The original purpose of this club was exactly as its name suggested: to research the system known as the computer.

However, at present, it had simply fallen into becoming an arcade.

It had been in this state for quite a while, so no proper activities were being conducted. But the president had somehow managed to bring in the latest Hammer Computer, allowing them to run Fighters’ Club. Thanks to that, battles were taking place there every day lately.

“You’re here? Let’s have a match.”

Nagor had come fairly early, intending to practice, but four of the club room’s five computers were already occupied. The remaining one was also half-occupied by an orc named Tople, who had just greeted him.

Hmm.

This guy was fairly good, so normally, Nagor might have quietly avoided him. But today was different. He hesitated only briefly before approaching Tople with confidence.

“Oh? What’s this? Did you practice?”

“Well, yeah. But wait a second.”

Nagor acted slightly smug as he rummaged around, took out the joystick, and connected it to the computer.

“What’s that?”

“Well. Something like that.”

Honestly, because he felt a little guilty about not using ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the same tool, Nagor subtly dodged Tople’s question. Instead, he operated the joystick and sent a challenge request.

Tople was curious about the machine, which resembled the ones attached to arcade cabinets. But he liked the game more than that, so he turned his gaze to the monitor and prepared for battle.

“Ready! Fight!”

The two quickly controlled their characters and approached, moving forward and backward while throwing light probing punches. Then, at some point, they entered an exchange of blows, and Tople was quite surprised.

Nagor, who always got nervous and swung at empty air, blocked his attack by landing a sharp uppercut.

Looks like I need to focus.

Tople grew tense and clenched and unclenched his thick green fingers once. Then a short but sincere duel between the two men followed.

“Damn. That was close.”

Nagor ultimately lost again this time. However, even while feeling regretful, he did not look that upset. He had felt it too. He had fought much better than usual.

“Hey. What is that thing?”

Tople also felt it. That was why he immediately became interested in the machine Nagor had used. Unless Nagor had suddenly awakened, the reason his skill had improved was obvious.

Nagor grinned and readily told him. It was not something he could hide anyway, and he intended to enjoy the sense of superiority that came from being the first to use a new technology.

“This? A joystick. They were selling it at the store I always go to.”

Afterward, the others also became interested in the joystick while playing games with Nagor. Some even borrowed it briefly to try it.

None of them immediately made a fuss in front of him. But as they tilted their heads, they felt that something was different.

A few days later, the scenery in the club room changed slightly. Instead of keyboards, most people connected joysticks and used them for battles.

The joystick did not become a massive smash hit all at once the way Ras had hoped. But it showed decent sales. In fact, for a company developing hardware devices for the first time, it could be called a considerable success.

More than its sales volume, its greatest significance was that it clearly established recognition as one of the computer peripherals.

“Whew...”

In any case, it was a relief. Ras looked at the sales figures and let out a sigh of relief. Lately, he had proceeded with various businesses because he did not want the money in his bank account to sit idle. In particular, he had initially thought the joystick was nothing much, but producing and selling a real-world object rather than software was no joke.

Before sales began, money had flowed out in large chunks every time they built up inventory.

Of course, Arcade Game Land was already bringing in a lot of money each month, and considerable income was also continuously coming in from Barbal Soft and Panchi Games, so he would not have gone bankrupt. Still, there was a sense of crisis that came simply from watching his balance decrease rapidly.

In any case, since the first product had succeeded, it was time to develop another product.

And Ras already had something in mind. However, it was not exactly something related to computers.

When he had visited an Arcade Game Land branch before, he had thought back to arcades on Earth and reminisced about them, and this had naturally come to mind.

It was a claw machine.

In fact, he had also considered coin karaoke rooms, but after looking into it a little, karaoke machines were impossible with current technology.

A claw machine, however, did not seem that difficult. And in reality, even on Earth, claw machines had appeared long before the first personal computers.

“It’s possible, right?”

“Yes. I don’t think it will be that difficult.”

Baros, the shaggy-haired member of the development team, agreed with Ras’s opinion. Since the person who would directly develop it said it was fine, there was no reason for there to be a problem.

“Then let’s quickly make the design drawings and register the patent first.”

“Yes. Understood.”

This should not be rejected. Ras immediately ordered development.

This claw crane would definitely help expand Arcade Game Land’s customer base. Of course, it would also greatly help direct profits. Ras recalled how, long ago, he had gone to arcades and wasted his allowance trying to win useless stuffed toys.

While Ras was frantically busy directing game development and other businesses like this, Panchi Games completed the arcade port of Fighters’ Club, which they had begun earlier.

“This one was quite easy, wasn’t it?”

Cheims spoke while looking at the arcade version of Fighters’ Club, which was in the middle of testing.

“Yes. Since the original graphics are already considerable, this time it’s literally just at the level of porting.”

For previous games, they had often used them as references but still needed to redraw everything completely. They also had to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠add colors themselves. The difference between system graphics had been that severe. However, in the case of this game, which supported the new computer, there was almost no difference from the arcade version.

In fact, there was a slight difference in color, but if they did not at least do that much, they could hardly claim to have developed anything. The employees of Panchi Games, including Cheims and Ajabran, thought that way.

“Right. How’s the game? It looks good to me.”

“Yes. The internal evaluation is very good.”

“That Epek Ras fellow certainly knows how to make games.”

Unlike before, Cheims was very relaxed. Normally, he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠always trembled with anxiety before releasing a new game.

This was not only because the game’s evaluation was good and it had already achieved great ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠success in the PC market. More than that, it was because Panchi Games itself was enjoying a boom.

Becoming an export company really made things different. There was income coming in from the Brunyard Federation, and thanks to that, the company’s name had become known, raising its market share within the Republic of Smite. That was decisive.

It had already been some time since they recovered the sales from their previous golden age, and now they were writing an entirely new peak period.

Cheims did not say it aloud, but he thought they needed to keep working with Meta Soft going forward as well. It hurt his pride a little, but it was far too clear that all of their current prosperity had begun with them.

As soon as Ras heard that Fighters’ Club would enter porting work, he had already signed an introduction contract in advance. Because of that, the initial stock was shipped to Arcade Game Land branches across the country as soon as it was produced.

And by special order of the chairman, it was immediately placed in good locations.

“Huh? Isn’t that Fighters’ Club?”

Since it was already popular as a PC game, people immediately gathered around it. And because there were already people like Nagor who enjoyed versus mode on computers, pairs of two immediately sat down and fought each other.

In the game, of course.