Chapter 86: Splitting the Casual Team

“This time, I do have a proposal I prepared, but if any of you have games or ideas you want to make, organize them into documents and submit them. If I judge them to be good, we’ll use them.”

So Ras decided to say that much. It was not merely empty talk. If the ideas truly seemed good, there was no reason not to use them. Ras also wanted to make an original game unique to this world someday, instead of only recreating games from Earth.

In any case, the work Ras assigned to Casual Team 1 this time was Bubble Bobble.

Previously, he had considered assigning them a shooting action game, but since the development team had been split in half, he decided he should give them a game with relatively lower difficulty.

Another reason was the recent overseas expansion.

Until now, they had kept making games compatible with the Hammer 1 Computer. But since the Hammer 1 Computer was hardly distributed overseas, they could not sell the games they worked so hard to make.

So Ras decided they needed to make some simple games that were compatible with new graphics but still felt reasonably playable even when running with downgraded graphics on older systems.

“The basics are simple. You shoot bubbles, trap enemies inside them, then burst them. When you do, the enemies are defeated and turn into things like fruit that give points.”

Casual Team 1 focused seriously on Ras’s explanation.

Ras had not explored Bubble Bobble that deeply back on Earth, so he did not remember everything. Still, he wrote down everything he knew, and for the parts he felt were lacking, he added his own ideas.

“The defining trait of the bubbles is that they float upward. After a certain amount of time, they change color and automatically burst. And sometimes, aside from bubbles shot by the player, bubbles also come down from above with various properties. First, bubbles filled with water sweep the player along and flow down to the floor.”

He had seen water bubbles in the game he played before, and aside from those, Ras also suggested ideas like lightning bubbles that caused electric shock and cold bubbles that slowed movement.

“You don’t have to make these bubbles exactly as described. If they feel awkward during development, tell me.”

“Yes...”

As for the bonus-collecting method, he remembered that collecting English letters somehow granted an extra life. But he could not remember the detailed method.

“If the number of bubbles shot during that stage matches a specific unit, then when an enemy bursts, it changes into colorful fruit. And if the player eats that fruit, it turns into colored bubbles in the next stage.”

Then, if the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠player ate the colored bubbles in rainbow order, they would stack up on the side, and once seven were collected, the player would gain an extra life. It felt somewhat crude, but Ras remembered that the original ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Bubble Bobble had been similar, so he decided to include it.

Since the game itself was extremely simple, he thought they needed something like this to provide more ways to enjoy it.

As for the design, he only gave Earth’s cute dinosaur as an example. This world also knew of dinosaurs to some extent. However, they were still mainly in the academic field, so he did not think people would respond to them the same way as on Earth. He also wanted the design to feel original.

Or was it a dragon, not a dinosaur?

But Ras’s impression of Bubble Bobble, which he had played long ago, was so strong that he wondered whether there could be any better design than that.

And naturally, he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠also paid attention to the sound.

For some reason, even though he had not played the game that much, its background music was so memorable that it kept replaying in his head. The sound effects for shooting bubbles, bursting them, and making food spill out also felt so essential that if they failed to recreate that feeling, it would not feel like Bubble Bobble.

Of course, that was only Ras’s personal feeling, and since only an image remained while the actual sound had already grown vague in his memory, he had no way to convey it properly.

“Make it simple, but not boring. Keep it light, like playing at an amusement park.”

So he could only explain the general feeling and ask them to do their best.

“Yes. Yes!”

The young woman in charge of sound, who looked not merely young but almost childish, answered with a tense expression. Previously, two people had handled sound together, but now that the team had been split, she was in charge of it alone.

After finishing the planning explanation for Bubble Bobble, Ras immediately went to the newly formed Casual Team 2.

“You waited a while, right?”

“Ahaha. No.”

Geogra laughed awkwardly, then looked back at his team members. Since the team had just been formed, they probably had many things to discuss.

The game here was also simple. No, since this team had a newly selected team leader, Ras needed to pay even more attention than he did with Casual Team 1.

There were many candidates, but the game Ras ultimately chose was Puzzle Bobble.

It was a puzzle game where the player shot bubbles that appeared one after another toward colorful bubbles hanging above, and bubbles burst when three of the same color connected.

At first, he simply thought of it naturally because he was making Bubble Bobble. But after thinking about it, he felt he could attach various meanings to it.

First, since it used the same characters, they could reduce production time.

Of course, the gameplay was not similar, so there was no absolute need to use the same characters. But there was no particular reason not to either.

Since both teams originally split from the same Casual Team, cooperation would not feel awkward. And being able to save time in design and graphics, which consumed a great deal of game production time, would lower the difficulty of development.

Another advantage lay outside development.

It was IP strengthening through character linkage. In truth, these games did not really have much of a worldbuilding framework, but if the story staff created a plausible idea and gave the characters some immersion, some people might come to like them.

Actually, this was an idea that came to him while selling crane games.

Every day, an enormous number of plush toys were being pulled from the machines in the arcades. Ras saw this through reports, and sometimes by personally visiting Arcade Game Land.

At first, he simply accepted it. But one day, the thought suddenly came to him that it would be better if Meta Soft characters were among those prizes.

Recently, he had also decided to make Pokémon, an IP monster, and after expanding overseas, he felt that games alone lacked something in terms of power.

He thought that if they had character merchandise, such as simple school supplies, toys, or even comic books, it might be easier to appeal to people than pushing forward with a single game alone.

They already had manga artists at the magazine company too. And if necessary, it would not be impossible to create another manga magazine. Serializing a manga based on their characters would not be difficult.

“These bubbles fly in a straight line, and except for bouncing once off the walls on either side, they immediately stick when they hit something.”

“Hmm. So it’s a game about finding the precise trajectory. It feels somewhat similar to billiards.”

Geogra pictured it in his head, then quickly identified the core idea.

“Yes. That’s right.”

Ras felt refreshed. Contrary to his impression, this Elf seemed quite sharp when it came to games. Then again, he must have had at least this much ability to be recommended as team leader.

“Yes, that’s right. And as time passes, the ceiling keeps coming down to pressure the player.”

“That makes sense. If the player keeps thinking, time could pass endlessly.”

“Right. And the bubbles below the ones that burst should automatically fall to the floor. Ah! And please make a Versus Mode too.”

Ras diligently wrote the proposal on the blackboard. Of course, he was not telling them to memorize it on the spot, and he would give them separate documents as well. But he hoped that hearing the explanation directly from Ras like this would convey the feeling of the game better than just reading a proposal.

Since the game was extremely simple, the explanation ended there.

“Then please work hard on it.”

Thanks to that, everyone in Casual Team 2 could answer with bright expressions and less pressure.

“Yes!”

Since it was a game Ras had liked quite a bit on Earth, he hoped it would be made quickly so he could enjoy it again in this world. And if he had an ambition for it, he wanted to hold a tournament for this too.

He remembered that it had been fairly popular on Earth, but strangely, the Versus Mode had not become very active.

He did not know whether that was because the difficulty was too high, or because it was a static game that did not suit versus play well. In any case, he hoped things would be different in this world and that many people would enjoy it noisily together.

Not long afterward, Ras received a prototype Communication Card from Karkov.

“You can confirm that the signal is coming through like this.”

Karkov demonstrated it in the Meta Hardware development room using two computers connected through Communication Cards.

It was a program that clearly displayed figures such as delay speed and loss rate, and since Ras had programming experience himself, he had no trouble understanding it.

But it felt too barren somehow. The Tetris 2 Versus Mode he had seen earlier had actually felt much more convincing.

In any case, the performance itself had improved considerably compared to that time. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It was still impossible to enjoy Tetris 2 or Fighters’ Club in multiplayer, but it seemed usable enough.

“Good. Then roughly how much would this cost per unit?”

“Hmm... For now, this alone cost roughly 120 del in materials.”

Karkov opened one of the many folders on his desk and answered. It was definitely not cheap. Of course, if mass production began, they would bring in parts in bulk, so parts costs would decrease, but labor costs and factory margins would be added, so even at its cheapest, it would probably be 150 del.

Then there would be distribution costs too, and Meta Soft would need to add some margin, so they would have to sell it for 200 del. In Korean money, that was roughly 200,000 won.

It’s not a completely absurd price...

To people in this world, Communication Cards were still too unfamiliar, so he was not sure whether they would spend this much money on them. Moreover, it was not something they could simply buy and use. They would also need to pay separate communication fees.

But not selling it was not an option. Even if they suffered losses immediately, they absolutely needed to secure the market first while thinking of the future. So Ras was not agonizing over whether to sell it, but how to sell it.

For now, he had the Management Team apply for a patent. The patent shares were arranged to be split with Karkov. Of course, since it was developed at the company, it would normally belong to the company by default. But Karkov had developed almost all of it alone, and considering his importance, Ras needed to treat him as well as possible.

He was someone who left Hammer Computer in the first place because of profit-sharing issues, so if Ras disappointed him in matters like this, there was a chance he might leave again.

This might sound too calculating, but at least until Karkov helped Meta Hardware accumulate enough development capability and create a product that surpassed the Hammer 1 Computer, Ras needed to keep him satisfied. Of course, that did not mean he intended to discard him afterward.

In any case, Ras later conducted experiments through the communication network as well. It sounded grand, but it simply meant checking whether the connection worked from one house to another, rather than only inside the office.

After all, there might be no theoretical problem, but no one knew what would happen in a real environment.

For now, connecting Meta Soft on the second floor to Meta Hardware on the third floor caused no problems.

“That’s only natural, right?”

Ras exchanged awkward laughs with Karkov while they watched the computer screen together. After all, the distance was so close that there was almost no room for unexpected variables.