Chapter 88: Project “Spirit”

In the countryside, where not only computers but electronic products themselves were rare, Pana woke leisurely only after the sun had risen high, ate the food her mother made, and slowly strolled through nature. It made her feel that she truly was an Elf who loved nature.

Of course, this was something from her side as a developer rather than her innate nature as an Elf.

And after work, she finally took the train trip she had long wanted to go on, met up with friends for the first time in a while, then returned home and leisurely read a book beneath a tree in the forest. It truly felt like this was life.

Toward the end of the vacation, her passion as an aspiring comic artist flared up again, and she worked hard drawing manuscripts. Yet for some reason, the moment she returned to her room here in Keynes, that passion cooled like a lie.

Anyway, because she had enjoyed her vacation so fully, coming to work again felt unbelievable.

Still, she knew very well that the reason she could enjoy her vacation without worries, and the reason her mother cooked every meal for her instead of using her as orchard labor back home, was because she had gotten employed and faithfully sent money home every month.

That was why she forced ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠herself to smile and greet the president, who was as lofty as the heavens to her.

The other team members were not much different. The exception was Garazt, who considered game development his calling, so instead of regret, he carried a solemn determination.

Ras liked that about him.

“This game will be a role-playing game.”

Once everyone arrived, Ras moved to the meeting room and wrote the words “Role-Playing” on the chalkboard.

Some of the team members, especially Garazt and Aspa, were very pleased by this. Garazt had originally been a role-playing fan, while for Aspa, it was a genre where he would have many chances to shine.

“So it’s finally Land of Adventure 3?”

Garazt raised his hand high as he asked. Ras smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“No. It’s a new game.”

Garazt tilted his head slightly at that, but instead of disappointment, his expression became expectant. Ras added the word “Training” beside “Role-Playing.”

“And we’ll be using the concept of training that I mentioned a few times before. Of course, I don’t mean raising the protagonist or companions.”

At Ras’s next words, the team members looked even more curious. Before beginning the full explanation, Ras once again wrote the keyword “Character” on the board.

“Of course, characters have always been important elements, but this time they’ll be emphasized even more.”

When he glanced back, he could clearly see tension on the faces of Pana and the Graphics Team members. Naturally, game characters tended to rely heavily on illustrations.

“The main subject matter will be Spirits. Some of you may be interested in modern magic, but we won’t be going with the realistic side of that. We’ll be using the kind that appears in old folktales.”

Ras then continued explaining in detail. First, they would create a world, and throughout that world lived Spirits. The protagonist, as a Spirit Master, would travel the world to meet every Spirit and understand the truths of nature, aiming to become an enlightened being known as the “Grand Master.”

“I’d like Aspa to refine the setting for this part. The important thing is the flow of the protagonist adventuring, meeting many Spirits, recruiting them as companions, and competing with other Spirit Masters to become the best. You can polish up the part about the truths of nature that I mentioned, or if you come up with a better idea, you can go with that instead.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

Aspa nodded vigorously. He immediately realized it was quite an important role. After making eye ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contact with him once, Ras turned back toward the other team members and continued.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but what the player raises are these Spirits.”

Ras explained the basic system one by one. Spirits could be captured using Spirit Stones, but there would be probability involved. And weakening Spirits through battle would increase the capture chance.

All Spirits would also have levels and special abilities.

“This growth system will include the concept of Evolution in addition to simple leveling. Once they reach a certain level, they can collect specific items and transform into higher beings. You know how Spirits used to be classified into Lowest Grade, Low Grade, Mid Grade, High Grade, Highest Grade, Spirit King, and so on?”

Ras had also considered adding a fusion system. But after thinking about it, he decided that since character individuality would be emphasized, many players would become attached to them, and fusion, where one side disappeared, would likely cause rejection.

Especially for children, he doubted they would like it at all. Of course, some might simply think it looked cool without thinking deeply about it, but there was no need to add a risky setting.

“However, higher beings won’t automatically be stronger. Their basic stats will be, but skills will have unique traits so they can be used strategically.”

The developers, who already had experience making various skills in role-playing games, immediately understood what he meant. Even so, Ras gave several more examples to help them understand before moving on.

“And besides Spirits, we’ll also include monsters. This is both for realism and to provide justification for raising and strengthening Spirits.”

Of course, players would gain experience points, money, and items by defeating them, but Ras planned to make active use of quests. Simple examples included being asked to defeat monsters threatening a village, or having to defeat monsters ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to reach places where rare Spirits lived.

Since this was a common method in ordinary role-playing games, there was no need for a long explanation.

Then he explained that they would also need to establish a final goal similar to gyms in Pokémon. Aspa would handle it himself, but Ras mentioned it because it was such an easy example to understand.

“Lastly, this game will support Network Play.”

“...?”

In this world, the term “network” itself was still unfamiliar enough to sound like laboratory jargon, so none of the team members understood. Ras turned toward Garazt, who normally had an interest in virtual reality and networks.

But even he merely wore an expression asking what that was, apparently lacking deeper technical knowledge.

“It means the system will support trading Spirits and battling with other players. Meta Hardware is currently making the device for this, so please request cooperation from them and look into it.”

Ras judged it would be better for them to see the actual device themselves and understand it that way rather than through verbal explanations.

Battling with other players? Are they going to move the data with something like diskettes somehow?

Garazt was interested in the idea of gameplay connected with other players, but he could not immediately imagine a Communication Card and stopped at that level of thought.

That was unavoidable. This was still a world where countless homes did not even have telephones, so imagining computer communication was difficult unless one was extremely knowledgeable and close to this industry.

Of course, Garazt did work with computers, but at the end of the day, he was merely a game developer. Expecting him to be on the same level as a genius of this era like Karkov, or Ras, who had seen a more advanced world, was too harsh.

And after leaving the meeting room and immediately heading to Meta Hardware to find out what a “Communication Card” was, Garazt received a tremendous shock.

“Haha...”

A laugh mixed with joy and emptiness escaped him.

In truth, he had imagined concepts like this long ago. But he had only thought of them as an ideal future to eventually reach, much like virtual reality.

He had not even properly grasped how a network could actually be realized. At best, he vaguely imagined that perhaps something could be done like making telephone calls, or maybe multiple computers could somehow be connected together for versus games.

Yet here, the solution already existed, and commercialization was already underway.

After hearing that Karkov had made it, he finally truly realized that the man was a genius. It was not merely that he was smart. The fact that he could produce such revolutionary ideas was simply astonishing.

However, after hearing the exact performance specifications, he became somewhat disappointed.

In truth, after hearing the concept of the Communication Card, Garazt immediately imagined something like Earth’s early MMORPGs, where many people simultaneously connected to a single world and enjoyed that world together.

It’s probably impossible after all.

Come to think of it, there was no way Ras had failed to imagine the same thing. That was probably why he only instructed them to make simple battle and Spirit-trading systems.

In any case, once he returned to this Spirit game, he began wracking his brain together with the programming team members to implement the systems Ras instructed.

“This time, Aspa’s role is really huge.”

When Aspa first heard Ras say this, he thought it was just empty talk. That was understandable, since Ras had always said similar things whenever they started developing a new game.

Of course, since it was a role-playing game, there would be more work than in other genres, but he only expected it to be around the level of Land of Adventure.

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

That was why he had answered like that without thinking much of it. But Ras’s words were not empty at all.

“Two hundred types?”

After hearing Ras’s instructions, he involuntarily asked back.

Creating settings for game characters and monsters was indeed his job. But even Land of Adventure 2, praised for its vast worldbuilding, had fewer than sixty monster types.

Yet now there would be two hundred. He could not help being shocked. Moreover, the instruction that every Spirit had to possess unique individuality weighed even more heavily on his shoulders.

“Of course, I’m not telling you to make all of them alone. Discuss it together with the Graphics Team and create them together.”

“Yes...”

That was not particularly comforting. Characters naturally relied heavily on graphics in the first place, so he had never truly made them alone to begin with.

“You don’t need to create everything from scratch. You can also use imagery from existing fairy tales and legends.”

At least that was fortunate. Stories about Spirits were diverse around the world, so if he searched thoroughly, he expected to find quite a lot of motifs.

“Ah! And while you’re looking into fairy tales and legends anyway, please also create related stories and quests. I think it would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be more fun if some rare or especially powerful Spirits had impactful backstories.”

“Yeees...”

Aspa had briefly thought that was fortunate, only for another bucketful of burden to be dumped onto him instead, causing his face to collapse. But as a working adult, he could not refuse the president’s orders, so all he could do was answer that he understood.

The Graphics Team went without saying.

“Your role is truly the biggest. This project won’t stop at simply being a game. We intend to make various products using the characters, as well as comics, novels, and if the opportunity arises, even animated films.”

That was extremely burdensome to hear. But at the same time, it was exciting.

Especially for the Graphics Team, there were not many people who originally joined because they wanted to make games. Like Pana, some dreamed of becoming comic artists, while others wanted to create different visual media.

They had given up after crashing into the wall of reality, but hearing this in such an unexpected place made them think that perhaps this could be their opportunity.

“And I don’t intend to make empty promises. I don’t exactly give small bonuses, do I?”

At that, the Graphics Team members all nodded. Compared to before, when Pana alone had to handle an enormous workload, it had decreased, but compared to other companies and even others in the same industry, the bonuses were still extremely generous.