Chapter 77: The Completion of Tetris 2

If he did not check the game at least here and there, the result could turn out completely different from what he intended. Moreover, Ras himself placed his identity in being a game developer, so he paid special attention to it.

“It’s good.”

Ras looked at the revised prototype and nodded. The number of block types had been adjusted as he said before, and the sense of speed had clearly improved.

Aside from that, perhaps they had also touched up the design side, because the composition that had once felt slightly disconnected now seemed more consistent. It also felt easier to focus on the game than before, and when he wondered why, he realized the background colors had changed slightly.

Previously, the background also used somewhat flashy colors, making the gaze scatter. But after boldly removing those elements, the movement of the blocks and the chain-attack actions stood out clearly.

Ras briefly turned toward Ondaraba, the Graphics Team leader.

It seemed the Graphics Team on the Casual Game Development Team also had good sense. Then again, he had deliberately hired art majors, so they needed to do at least this much.

“I think we can start preparing for testing soon. Ah, but don’t move the schedule forward because of that. Keep polishing it until the deadline, then begin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠testing on the scheduled date.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Dure nodded with a relieved smile on his thin cheeks. Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he spoke.

“Ah! President. I read the magazine you released this time, Gamers, and enjoyed it.”

“You read it?”

Since Ras had been very curious about the reaction, his expression brightened at hearing that it was fun, even if it came from an employee.

He had not particularly promoted the magazine to the Casual Game Development Team.

However, among the magazine’s contents, there was an interview section with developers that included very simple information about Tetris 2, which Meta Soft was currently making, its development process, and what kind of people the developers were.

Naturally, they had come here to cover it. So there was no way the team would not know about the magazine.

“Yes. I’m really not just saying empty words. I genuinely enjoyed it. It was the first magazine I’ve seen that covered games in such detail. And the manga in the back was really fun too.”

But just as Dure said, he was not simply paying lip service because the magazine was made by the president.

At first, he had picked it up thinking that since it was published by the company, he should at least read a little. So when he confirmed it had arrived at the bookstore, he flipped through a few pages.

But then he kept turning page after page, and Dure’s face gradually moved closer to the magazine. By the time he reached the manga section, he found himself regretting that there were only a few pages left.

In a way, that was only natural. He was a man who had joined a game company to make games and had even become a team leader. A magazine packed with game-centered articles could not help but draw his interest.

But that was enough.

Gamers was originally a magazine with a clear target audience. It was made for people who liked games to read, so Dure’s reaction was exactly what Ras and the magazine publishing team wanted.

“Yes. Thank you. Then please keep reading it from now on too.”

“Ahaha.”

Dure was about to say that he would keep reading it if it remained fun, but that felt too arrogant, so he covered it with laughter.

Aside from the Casual Game Development Team, there were also people among Development Team 1 and the Arcade Game Land Management Team who read Gamers.

Not only that, he also saw quite a few people at Meta Hardware reading it with interest. The fact that even people somewhat distant from games showed interest was an encouraging result.

“I also read it with great enjoyment.”

“Ahaha, thank you. Hearing that you enjoyed it, President Roxy, puts me at ease.”

Ras also received ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calls from partners, including Barbal Soft, and since their reactions were also that it was fun, he felt somewhat reassured.

And the actual market reaction was good too.

First of all, the very existence of a specialized game magazine drew interest. Far more people than Ras expected had been dissatisfied with the small amount of game-related articles included in computer magazines.

Moreover, the strategy articles were like cool water given to thirsty people.

There were far more people than expected who liked games but felt frustrated because they were stuck due to the difficulty or unfriendly systems.

So as soon as the magazine was released, many people began playing games with it opened beside their computers. And when the games slowly began to unravel, it felt as though they had obtained a treasure map.

Among those people was Porari, a thirteen-year-old boy who had just entered middle school.

While playing Sea King, he had been raided by pirates and ended up trapped in the waters near the Gondwana Continent. Since the area was not very wide, there were not many ways to recover, but if he tried to leave, he would immediately be attacked. Unable to do anything, he grew frustrated, gave up, and had been playing other games.

But among the strategy articles, he discovered one saying there was a gap that allowed him to escape to a nearby sea region through an ocean current. That neighboring region was also enclosed terrain, so he could not escape completely, but the important thing was that it had several cities and trade goods worth dealing in.

“Ohhh!”

Porari first cheered when he confirmed that he could escape according to the strategy.

The pirates definitely reacted to Porari’s fleet. However, when the ocean current swept him to the right in an instant, they could no longer chase after him.

After that, Porari spent several hours desperately trading while dragging along his half-destroyed fleet to earn money. Then, just as the strategy article said, he fitted out his ships and cannons.

Until then, Porari ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been using a somewhat inefficient fleet composition, so his combat strength was very weak compared to the cost. In truth, Porari was suspicious of the fleet composition in the strategy article, but since the article had already helped him gather this much money, he decided to trust it just once.

Then, with that fleet, he challenged the Caribbean Pirates blocking the sea region.

It was a very close fight. However, by increasing the fleet’s speed, constantly maintaining distance, and thoroughly focusing on long-range attacks, he managed to sink the enemy ships one by one and finally annihilate them.

“Ujaaahhh!”

The memory of being trapped all this time flashed through Porari’s head, and he unconsciously shouted in overwhelming catharsis.

“What was that?”

Afterward, his mother smacked him once on the back for being noisy, then smacked him again for playing games instead of studying, but even that did not erase all his joy.

After that, Porari closed Gamers and carefully placed it on his bookshelf.

Telomi of Gamers had to spend a busy period for a while.

Of course, magazine companies were always busy. They had to cover stories, check articles, edit, come up with new content, and handle sales. But those were originally part of the job.

Being truly busy meant the situation when additional work appeared outside the plan.

“Ah. Yes. Yes. We’ll reprint as quickly as possible and send them to you. Of course I remember. It’s Randa Bookstore, isn’t it?”

Telomi quickly checked the name written in his notebook, answered, and inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

So many calls like this were coming in that he had roughly passed over some of them a few times. Because of that, he had been momentarily flustered when the other party asked which sales location they were. Fortunately, perhaps because he had the habits of a journalist, he had made notes, so it seemed he would not lose a client.

As could be seen, Gamers was being flooded with calls from bookstores and various newsstands requesting additional stock due to the huge success of its inaugural issue.

Just in case, he had secured a printing house in advance with the possibility of additional orders in mind.

However, because the magazine succeeded beyond expectations, even though the owner of the printing house was grinding down both his employees and machines together, the orders continued piling up.

In this hellish reality where he had to accomplish the impossible, Telomi was smiling brightly.

He had reason to.

His fellow journalist colleagues, family, and friends had all tried to stop him from joining this game magazine company. And honestly, Telomi himself had only come because he wanted to do something he liked, not because he expected tremendous success.

But then it had become a hit right from the start. It was only natural that his mind felt as though it had gone to heaven.

At this level, we should at least be ahead of Monthly PC, right?

Telomi calculated the order volume, reprint volume, and various other indicators according to his experience and knowledge, then compared them to existing magazines.

Of course, it could not compare to major magazines dealing with current affairs, politics, or economics.

But those were not competitors to begin with. What Telomi thought of were computer magazines, which were at least similar and could be considered rivals.

And Gamers had slightly surpassed one of the places that could be called part of the top three among computer magazines. Of course, it was the weakest among the three.

But from Telomi’s perspective, as someone with some magazine company experience and common knowledge of the industry, this was truly incredible.

No, even without such common knowledge, one could tell how amazing it was for a newly established magazine company with no backing, and a magazine in a completely new category at that, to instantly seize this kind of position.

Even while immersed in joy, Telomi thought of Ras, the chairman. Honestly, when Ras talked about magazine content, he had felt somewhat uncomfortable.

But when he listened, every suggestion was good. And he had now seen it produce real results. He could only think that truly extraordinary people did exist.

Well...

If one thought about what a boy who was not even nineteen yet had accomplished so far, then even without mentioning this success, it was objectively clear that he was an incredible person. Perhaps to Ras, Gamers’ success had simply been something already expected.

Telomi, who had briefly fallen into thought, came back to his senses at the loud ringing of the phone again. Then he smiled faintly and began handling the work in front of him.

“Yes. Yes! We’ll send them right away. How many copies do you need?”

This magazine had one more advantage.

It gave people who were in situations where they could not play games right away the same kind of enjoyment as playing games.

The vast Bastishan Desert in the central Republic of Smite.

“...What are you looking at so intently?”

A Beastman with the head of a large cat and one crushed eye entered the tent, covered in sand dust and visibly exhausted. He noticed his colleague inside the tent and, feeling somehow irritated, spoke in a quarrelsome tone.

“Huh? Just a magazine.”

The man, whose messy teal hair stood up in all directions and whose bulging forehead left an impression, answered indifferently and lifted the magazine he had been reading.

“What kind of magazine?”

“A game magazine.”

“That damn game stuff again?”

“Yeah. Shit, I was going crazy stuck in this corner of the desert unable to play games, but then I found this.”

The teal-haired man normally liked games. But there was no way computers or arcade machines would exist in the middle of this desert, so he had been forced to endure it.

“Must be fun, then? Did you buy it at the gas station?”

“Right. Where else around here could I get something like this?”

The cat-headed Beastman had been irritated for a moment because it felt like he was the only one suffering outside, but all his colleagues here were in the same situation anyway. This guy was no pushover either, so getting angry would gain him nothing.

So instead, he shifted the conversation toward the reason they were suffering.

“How long does the boss plan to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keep us stuck here?”

“...Probably until the excavation team finds something.”

“Ahh. Those bastards are... Never mind.”

The cat-headed Beastman, whose temper started rising again, roughly scratched his head and cut himself off. At that, the teal-haired man snorted faintly and lowered his head back to the magazine. Then he tossed out one remark.