Chapter 40: Beginning Alpha Version Development
Chapter 40: Beginning Alpha Version Development
Of course, there were gamers from other countries with similar tendencies as well, but the point was that Japan’s side was more pronounced.
In fact, The Land Of Fantasy’s Japanese sales had already begun slowing down.
This month was forty thousand copies.
According to TechnoShoku, even that counted as holding up remarkably well.
Sales would continue declining from here, and more importantly, around six months after release, the used-game market would begin forming, causing sales to plummet sharply.
Japan apparently had an extremely well-developed secondhand game market.
In contrast, the American market seemed to take much longer to gain momentum due to the sheer size of both the country and the market itself. As a result, it also took far longer for sales to reach their peak.
Considering all that, sixty thousand copies was absolutely not a bad result.
They said games that eventually sold over a million copies usually started with around fifty thousand sales in the first month.
Of course, not every game that sold fifty thousand copies in its first month became a million-seller. Many lost momentum quickly, so getting overly excited would be foolish, but it was undeniably a good sign.
Still, compared to the money received from Japan, the American settlement seemed smaller.
That difference also came down to national systems.
Between Korea and Japan, double taxation prevention agreements and other detailed treaties often resulted in net revenue being transferred directly.
America also had a double taxation treaty with Korea, but due to source-country priority taxation principles and withholding taxes, corporate taxes were deducted first before the money was sent.
I heard it was over thirty percent...
On top of that, American corporate tax rates during this period were notoriously brutal. If Insu remembered correctly, by 2025, they had fallen to around twenty-one percent.
Well... at least the American taxes are so high that we probably won’t owe additional taxes in Korea.
Since abandoning the world’s strongest gaming market simply because of taxes was impossible, all he could do was console himself like this.
A million copies...
If a game truly sold that much, it meant creating an IP recognized throughout the American gaming market.
And many IPs formed during this era retained their power for decades afterward.
For Insu, who dreamed of later creating an MMORPG using the same IP and conquering the online gaming market, it was the kind of fantasy that felt almost unreal.
World of Warcraft from Blizzard was a perfect example.
(Translator’s Note: World of Warcraft — American MMORPG released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the Warcraft universe, it became one of the most commercially successful MMORPGs in history, known for large-scale online worlds, raids, quests, and faction warfare.)
Of course, Blizzard’s brand power and the Warcraft IP itself were vastly stronger, but the important point was that they leveraged the name recognition of an entirely different genre, an RTS, for an MMORPG.
(Translator’s Notes: Blizzard — American game developer from Insu’s previous-life memories, known for Diablo, Warcraft, StarCraft, and later World of Warcraft.)
Likewise, Insu planned to continue releasing sequels to strengthen the IP’s power and somehow create a similar effect.
Originally, he never expected this level of success from his first game.
But now that the signs are appearing...
Of course, beyond grand visions, the revenue expected from reaching one million copies was also something that thrilled Insu immensely.
It might sound like he was obsessed with money, but sixty to seventy billion won was an absurd amount.
More importantly, Insu already had countless plans and was actively operating a development team, so money was both a lifeline and the foundation supporting his dreams.
Though honestly, the feeling of gaining financial freedom is nice too.
In any case, he still planned to invest this money into Gangnam real estate first.
“Mom... please take care of this one too.”
“Hm? Ah. You want to invest this too?”
“Yes. I’ll just be focusing on development for now.”
At Insu’s request, Hyein nodded with an expression mixing difficulty and fascination.
As someone still in her twenties, it felt awkward and exhausting for her to suddenly wander around studying real estate like a wealthy property investor.
Still, she could not help feeling excited while obtaining such valuable properties.
After completely leaving the matter in his parents’ hands, Insu headed straight to the office.
Money was important, but losing focus on the game currently in development because he became distracted by it would be incredibly foolish.
Insu simply felt grateful toward his parents.
“Alright. Starting today, we’re entering Alpha Version development. Functionally, this version won’t differ much from the final release, so please stay focused. And if any problems come up, you all know we’ll be pulling overtime fixing them together, right?”
“Hahaha...”
Although Insu added it jokingly, the team members could only respond with awkward smiles instead of laughing freely, since they had already gone through multiple overtime sessions just reaching this point.
Development itself proceeded relatively smoothly.
Even though this was their first Alpha Version, they had already gained similar experience while creating the Prototype.
They closed off unfinished sections, merged code into modules, then assembled and integrated everything through connection testing and bug fixing.
The UI was also heavily revised and polished compared to the Prototype.
The previous Prototype only looked convincing in isolated areas like the title screen. Once you entered deeper inside, it had barely functioned at all, almost like a movie set.
Now, however, it finally felt like a real product.
Everyone was so focused on their work that the only sound filling the room was the constant clattering of keyboards, yet excitement radiated from the entire team.
Just as Insu said, the Alpha Version was functionally close to the completed game, making it genuinely feel as though release was approaching.
Because they had already experienced the roughness of the Prototype once before, the contrast made the sense of nearing completion even stronger.
But a version that’s functionally close to the final release and the actual completed game are completely different things.
Feeling the team’s elevated mood, Insu secretly let out a bitter smile.
He remembered the endless cycle of bug fixes during the Prototype and Alpha Version stages of developing The Land Of Fantasy.
In theory, there might not be major functional differences, but once the Alpha Version actually ran, almost nothing would work properly.
And he wondered whether everyone could maintain this excited atmosphere once they realized that the tears and sweat required to somehow force it into functioning would come directly from themselves.
Experience really does make a huge difference.
Truthfully, when he first assembled the team, Insu had felt somewhat intimidated by the members, who were physically much larger and older than him.
But as development continued, that feeling gradually faded.
Partly, it was simply familiarity. Perhaps it was also social adaptation.
But there was no doubt that both Insu and the team members had gradually begun noticing the difference in development experience between them.
Alpha Version development required combining everyone’s code into modules and then assembling those modules together, meaning it demanded collaboration rather than isolated individual work.
Naturally, that led to friction.
“This can all be integrated into one system anyway.”
While Insu was busy linking code together, he heard voices rising among the team members.
Turning around, he saw Park Yoonsu and Yoo Juyeon arguing.
More precisely, Park Yoonsu was getting heated while Yoo Juyeon looked irritated and troubled.
“But then we’d have to tear everything apart and rebuild it.”
During integration, there were certain existing damage calculation systems that could be reused with only slight modifications.
Since there was so much work in that area, Insu split the tasks between the two of them instead of assigning everything to one person.
Park Yoonsu, however, was something of a perfectionist.
He designed his code by registering one core function and having everything else call and modify it.
Yoo Juyeon had done something similar to a degree.
But because of his lack of experience and the overwhelming workload, he was unable to integrate everything that thoroughly.
Now that their work was being combined, Park Yoonsu insisted it all needed to be unified properly, while Yoo Juyeon opposed the idea.
Watching them, Insu paused to think.
Theoretically, Park Yoonsu’s method was correct.
The code would become cleaner and resource usage more efficient.
Ah... we’re not being forced into a deadline by outside investors anyway, so maybe we should just follow Yoonsu’s method?
Emotionally, Insu also leaned toward Park Yoonsu’s side.
After all, they planned to continue reusing resources in the future, including for the MMORPG Insu eventually wanted to develop. Starting with clean architecture from the beginning would clearly be better.
But that did not automatically make it the correct decision.
Still, if you delay things over stuff like this, schedules spiral out of control endlessly.
This was something Insu personally experienced while making practice projects during his previous life, and he had also heard similar stories from other developers.
Trying to make everything too perfect consumed limitless amounts of time.
Especially in team development, this issue became even worse.
In a slightly different sense, this was also why elite developers who wrote clean code from the start earned such high salaries.
From that perspective, Park Yoonsu definitely had the qualities of an ace programmer.
Still, that did not mean Yoo Juyeon was incompetent.
If he were incompetent, he would never have managed to keep up with the brutal workload Insu forced onto him just to stay on schedule.
After organizing his thoughts, Insu approached the two of them.
“Okay, for now, let’s just follow Yoo Juyeon’s approach this time. Don’t force the integration. Just combine the systems as they are.”
“Ah, but...”
Park Yoonsu looked almost betrayed.
Insu understood how he felt, but seeing a fully grown man react like that was slightly uncomfortable.
“No, I’m not saying your method is wrong, Yoonsu. But like Juyeon said, rebuilding everything would take forever, and then the schedule would slip too badly.”
“...”
“And I did some rough calculations. A few system code differences won’t create any meaningful storage gap anyway, and considering modern computer specs, this level of memory waste really won’t matter much.”
“Well... that’s true.”
Originally, Park Yoonsu wanted to revise it less because of resource efficiency and more because of his perfectionist personality.
After thinking for a moment, he eventually nodded.
If this had been a console game, they absolutely would have needed to optimize everything properly.
But the current game was not demanding enough to strain even 386 systems, and with 486 computers spreading rapidly, it really was not a major issue.
“But from now on, please try to code with integration in mind as much as possible. And for the temporary code we’re leaving in place right now, add simple comments explaining the situation.”
“Yes!”
From the beginning, Yoo Juyeon understood that Insu was not blindly taking his side, but simply explaining that the circumstances left them no choice.
That realization left him somewhat uneasy.
But once Insu resolved the situation and immediately assigned more work, he actually seemed relieved.
Insu secretly observed Yoo Juyeon afterward.
If he continued working the same way he always had, that alone would already be enough.
If he became motivated and started writing cleaner, faster code, even better.
But if he became discouraged and his work efficiency dropped, Insu would need to intervene somehow.
Encouragement is definitely the better approach than chewing people out.
Having served in the military and experienced office life in his previous life, Insu was fully aware of how harsh criticism worked and what effects it could produce.
But in a tiny development team like this, creating a hostile atmosphere would probably just lower efficiency and exhaust everyone.
Besides, if a little kid like Insu tried acting that way, it would probably provoke resentment before achieving anything useful.
Honestly, even Insu himself lacked confidence in acting intimidating with his current body.
I’d be lucky if they didn’t laugh at me.
Imagining himself as a first-grade elementary school kid standing with hands on his hips while angrily yelling at adults made him unconsciously shake his head.
And Yoo Juyeon was not the type who needed to be whipped into shape anyway.
As Insu already thought before, he was reasonably capable and hardworking enough that simply maintaining his current pace was already a blessing.
For someone like that, encouragement worked far better than pressure.
Of course, for now, Insu planned to simply observe.
Even encouragement, despite costing nothing, lost its effectiveness if thrown around carelessly and excessively.
Still, I should think about how to encourage people properly.
If he tried some stereotypical macho-style encouragement in this body, it would turn into comedy rather than motivation.
It was while they were all intensely focused on Alpha Version development like this.