Chapter 13
Chapter 13
I guess it’s time to make a prototype now.
There was still quite a lot left before completion. But if he gathered together everything that was already implemented, it had reached the point where it was at least playable. At this stage, there was more than enough to make a prototype.
Actually, he could have made one much earlier.
But since this was his first development project, he failed to properly calculate the progress rate. As a result, he only ended up making a prototype after reaching a stage that was almost close to alpha.
Still, even at this point, part of him felt that the time spent making and testing a prototype was a waste because he wanted to finish development as quickly as possible. However, one of the things he repeatedly heard while studying game development was that prototypes should never be skipped.
There had apparently been countless cases where developers rushed ahead, skipped that step, released the game, and failed miserably.
He also heard countless times that no matter how brilliant a developer was, creating something perfectly in a single attempt without testing was impossible.
Of course, they could test it right before release. But if problems were discovered at that stage, they would have to tear apart systems that were already complete, wasting far more time. There was even a chance the entire project might need to be scrapped.
And even Insu, who was once overflowing with confidence because he saw the future, found it difficult to grasp the overall picture now that development dragged on so long and the workload grew enormous. Because of that, he could no longer confidently say whether the game was truly fun or not.
He needed to check at least once along the way.
Maybe this was not the best analogy, but it felt similar to creating a gigantic statue. When imagining the whole thing, he was certain it would look amazing. But after spending so long pressed right up against it, building it piece by piece, all he could see was the tiny portion directly in front of him, making it difficult to picture the complete form anymore.
And the process of tying together all the systems he worked so hard to create was itself a major part of development. Problems could arise there too. Because of that, there was a possibility the game became less fun than originally intended.
Maybe it’s like how throwing together a bunch of delicious ingredients doesn’t automatically create a delicious dish.
But contrary to his initial thought that it would feel like a waste of time, the process of making the prototype was surprisingly exciting and enjoyable.
For the past ten months, Insu focused solely on finishing the game. And it was not just ten ordinary months. Every single day, he poured in at least six full hours of concentrated effort. The intensity was absurd. So now, just thinking that he would finally be able to see and play even a prototype version of the game filled him with excitement.
I really have made most of it.
There was still work left, but most of it related to volume content such as additional races and quests. The systems he envisioned were largely implemented already. So simply playing the game was no longer a problem. It could practically be called an alpha-version prototype.
Of course, since it’s not fully complete yet, there could still be bugs where the connections are missing.
He temporarily blocked and patched those sections, but even Insu himself did not have the entire game perfectly memorized in his head, so he could not guarantee anything.
Besides, bugs were inevitable.
That was why developers chose to find and eliminate bugs later instead of trying to create a “perfect” program from the start. And even then, they did not remove every bug. They only focused on the critical and highly visible ones.
Though there was supposedly some legendary person who made a completely bug-free program. But that was only in the very early days of computers.
Even NASA, supposedly filled with geniuses, only aimed to minimize bugs, which explained why that story remained legendary.
“So I can try it too, right?”
After hearing an explanation of what a prototype was, Eunha showed unexpected interest.
“Of course.”
Insu almost said he would let her try it first, but then he remembered his father and held his tongue. Still, he was happy that someone who originally had no interest in games was saying things like this.
But thinking about it carefully, maybe it was only natural. A middle school girl spent over half a year completely immersed in this project. At that age, half a year was very different from half a year as an adult.
Even viewed simply, it represented one-thirtieth of her entire life so far, and considering humans usually only start retaining memories after around age three, its significance became even greater. On top of that, compared to the other hours she spent being forced to study, the density of this experience was far higher.
So regardless of her interest in games themselves, there was no way she would not want to see what exactly she was creating.
Of course, she occasionally saw how the images she made moved while watching Insu develop beside her. But that was ultimately only fragments, like blind men feeling different parts of an elephant.
And perhaps because she did not know much about games, even after reading Insu’s design documents and hearing his explanations several times, she still could not fully picture the final result.
It took Insu three days to make the prototype.
If he rushed, he probably could have done it in a matter of hours. But unlike the simple samples he made before, this was his first time creating a proper prototype, so he fumbled around a bit and spent additional time checking and fixing things.
If not for the comments he diligently wrote throughout the code, he probably would have struggled even more.
And the first player of that prototype was Insu himself. Since he needed to examine the game as a whole, that was only natural. Though honestly, there was some question as to whether the developer should even count as the first player.
I think it’s pretty good.
After playing for a while, he still found it difficult to judge properly. Since he developed it himself, he already knew every system and story detail inside and out, so there was little joy of discovery or room for thought left.
Still, what encouraged him was that it seemed to have turned out fairly close to what he envisioned.
For now, Insu gave up on trying to enjoy it and quickly skimmed through everything. Since the game had a high degree of freedom, examining every detail would have taken forever.
At the moment, it was enough just to confirm that it ran properly and had no major issues. Next, it would be time for his father and Eunha noona to properly play it together with him and look for problems.
“A prototype?”
“Yes.”
Seongcheol had just come home in a good mood after finishing work on a Saturday without overtime for once.
He’s really following proper development steps.
Since he occasionally watched Insu work over the months, he already knew his son’s project was not some joke. But now, seeing him even go through systematic procedures like this, he felt an overwhelming sense of pride that his son was truly a genius.
Still, his expectations for the game itself were not that high.
That was understandable, since no matter how much of a genius someone was, experience still mattered. In Seongcheol’s view, the only games Insu ever played were the ones installed on his computer. As for life experience, there was nothing to even discuss.
Because of that, he expected something similar to the games already installed on the computer, perhaps slightly improved at best.
Maybe even that expectation is too high?
Even programmers called geniuses rarely created successful works with their very first projects as children. So if the game merely functioned properly, that alone would already be remarkable.
Though Seongcheol did not know it, even the famous game Elon Musk supposedly created at age twelve, while profitable, was objectively just a simple game resembling Space Invaders, which became popular years earlier.
(Translator’s Notes: Elon Musk — Entrepreneur associated with companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, known for ambitious technology businesses and strong personal influence over company direction.)
But the fact that he learned programming and developed it himself at that age was what made it impressive.
“This one?”
“Yes. Just run that EXE file.”
When Seongcheol typed in the file name and executed it, a logo appeared after a short loading screen.
[Parallel Soft]
They had not officially registered a company yet, but since Insu intended to sell the game commercially, he already decided on a name.
Parallel Soft? Is it supposed to mean the game world is like a parallel universe?
Seongcheol did not know the intended meaning, but he liked how it sounded, and the logo design looked surprisingly polished. More than anything, he liked that his son seemed to aspire to creating a company rather than remaining just an independent developer.
Still, looking at his tiny son, he could not tell whether Insu actually understood what a company was or if he simply copied other games that displayed logos at the beginning.
Before he could ask, however, the title screen appeared.
“!!”
Seongcheol’s eyes widened instantly. More than anything else, the vivid colors struck him immediately.
Normally, when he thought of PC RPGs, he imagined graphics that were barely above black-and-white, so the impact was unavoidable.
At this time, consoles already used fairly dazzling colors despite being 2D. But PCs, even though the 386 already existed, still had an extremely low adoption rate, with many people still using 286 or even 8-bit systems.
Because of that, most software only used four to sixteen colors.
Anyone who played games like that would know how easy it was for them to feel almost monochrome, while the limited color expression often created an awkward and unnatural look.
This is actually really good.
The title screen itself was simple. Insu originally wanted to include flashy artwork to create a powerful first impression, but this was still an era of floppy disks, so storage space had to be conserved as much as possible. On top of that, if the title screen itself caused heavy loading, it could instantly irritate players.
So after trial and error, he settled on a medieval-style map with simplified terrain, castles, and monsters, while leaving the empty areas black.
But even this simple screen looked incomparably more colorful than the titles of the games Seongcheol usually played.
And then the softly beginning music caused him to stop his hand before pressing Start Game.
“Insu. Did you make this melody too?”
“Yes. There was a synthesizer program on here.”
Although Insu answered casually, the melody actually took him considerable effort to create.
And even after finally making it, something about it bothered him because it felt vaguely familiar, as if he heard it somewhere before. Perhaps that guilty feeling was why he reacted so indifferently.
“...”
Most people probably still couldn’t compose melodies even if they had a program like that, right?
Unaware of Insu’s inner thoughts, Seongcheol became even more convinced that his son was a genius.
But after pressing Start Game, he realized his judgment came far too early.
Wow...
He already thought the title screen looked flashy, but when the full-screen background exploded into dazzling 256-color graphics, it genuinely felt like he stepped into another world.
It’s like some animated film.
The characters were also completely different from the barely recognizable human shapes in the games he usually played. Though simplified, their clothing and even facial features were clearly expressed.
Just looking at the characters alone sparked imagination and made them feel charming.
If Seongcheol occasionally watched Eunha working, he might not have been this shocked. But whenever he came home from work, Eunha, still a middle school student, was already home. And the project had not yet entered such an intense crunch period that they were making her work weekends too.
But all of that was only the first impression.
Afterward, he became so immersed that he completely lost track of time.
“Oppa!”
Only when Hyein later appeared with a frown and pointed at the clock did he realize how much time passed.
Outside the window, it was already pitch dark.
Startled, he turned around and saw his son grinning brightly at him.
It was unbelievably fun.
He’s not just a genius! No, he’s a god of games!
If he had known the term “god-tier game,” he probably would have used it for this game.
“Is it fun?”
“...Very.”