Game Philosophy
Melody was staring at me intently.
Others might have brushed it off, but Melody remembered every word I'd carelessly let slip before.
"A game packed with humanity's sticky malice."
"……."
"It's the fault of your four teammates who shat the bed without me."
"…This is…."
The words I'd muttered to Melody without thinking came flowing right out of her mouth.
"All straight from your mouth, sunbae. You expect me to believe a black-hearted guy like you turned down a big corporation just because you purely love games?"
"……."
Suddenly, Melody clamped her lips shut and glared at me.
"Sunbae, be honest. What's the real reason you turned them down…."
"What, if I don't give you a straight answer, you'll quit the team?"
"That's…?!"
Melody averted her eyes at my piercing retort, her face flushing red.
"I won't quit, but… we're a team. Wouldn't it be better if we were tight, no secrets between us?"
"…Not wrong there."
"Huh?"
I looked at Melody and calmly laid out my true feelings.
"What I said in the meeting room earlier—that if the corporation takes it, the monetization model gets ruined—that wasn't a lie."
"…Really?"
"And I even have full confidence that we can make a way better game than those corporate schmucks."
Melody looked up at me. Her eyes were glistening with a hint of moisture.
"I really do love games from the bottom of my heart. No lie."
"Sunbae……."
As Melody gazed at me with brimming eyes, I added in a utterly dry, serious tone:
"Plus, joy shared multiplies, but pain shared turns players into throat-grabbing maniacs and doubles the fun."
"…Huh?"
Melody's expression froze solid.
"What use is a world full of only wholesome, fun, lingering masterpieces?!"
Memories of countless masterpieces from my past life flashed by—games that made you delete time building civilizations, stories that tugged at heartstrings. Dozens poured out every year.
"But the world can't be just wholesome, fun masterpieces!"
Rage and passion surged up.
"Like spicy food or junk that rots your health, usergame mental health needs those horrific disease-like 'shitgodgames' too!"
If the game ecosystem has light, it must have deep darkness.
"Pain shared amplifies, happiness shared diminishes."
"……."
"Gamers must suffer! Spicy and sticky as hell!"
Melody recoiled at my mad declaration, but my philosophy was rock-solid.
"How dare some corporation pollute my carefully crafted 'pure malice' with their shallow, obvious monetization!"
The people of this world needed to suffer as much as Earthlings from my past life—hell, even more fun and horrific! Twice the poison!
At my deranged philosophy, Melody finally let out a deep sigh.
"…You're a real lunatic."
"Sane devs only churn out bland, boring crap. Your head's gotta be a little twisted to make history-making masterpieces."
From my past life memories, nightmare games lined up: lower body stuck in a jar, climbing mountains with a hammer; individually controlling a track star's limbs to drive players insane.
I flatly asked Melody, who was eyeing me with contempt.
"Hey, Melody. Since we're stuck here anyway, a killer work idea just hit me—wanna help before you go?"
"No way! I'm actually resting today!"
Melody bolted without a backward glance the second I finished. I smacked my lips.
Figures. Nobody gets my profound philosophy.
I muttered to myself, feeling light as I headed to my place.
"So much to do."
The NA clash was a clash, but work was work. Back at my dorm, I sighed, sat at my desk, and fired up the crystal orb.
**
Development is boring as hell.
But while others code, model polygons, and compose BGM, I've got my own pile.
The game's not even finished yet, though.
First, I applied to Cloud Inc. for later Early Access launch.
"Real grind."
But priority one: scout user vibes and spin up a temp chat server.
Like Discord.
This world has gaming culture, so Discord equivalents exist. Called Riscode.
I made a temp server for Q&A and bug reports, prepping for full user ops.
No official homepage.
…Broke. And wasting Melody or Lumine on it? Nah, too much talent for that. With all the work, I handle trivia myself.
And fresh patch dropped.
Last patch was Arena of Special 0.2v. Bug fixes, user-friendlier tweaks: font swaps, newbie hero recs.
Nothing major.
No time for new heroes anyway; just balance number tweaks. Big one: in-game help announced "Arena of Special Riscode" server.
Community is key.
Essential for Q&A and bugs I miss.
Switching the prepped Riscode from private to public unleashed a flood of users. Channels for announcements, general chat, bugs, Q&A, balance debates, fan art—chat exploded instantly.
'Play forever, huh….'
I smirked at the happy chat feed. Give it a year, and they'd swallow those words for this hyper-toxic plague game.
Checking joins while monitoring: 1000 users in under an hour.
…Server limits beyond that.
Reviewing team submissions and user buzz, balance debate channel caught my eye. Already a riot.
Balance set anonymous for free talk.
"……."
Balance chats always overflow with whining and backseat gaming.
Once user skill rises, stationary picks like HeavyPlateGreatswordKnight go extinct from high tiers naturally.
Movespeed buffs, silences, whirlwinds, single-target ult finisher. Perfect newbie rice, clear limits.
"…Peaceful."
Mostly number tweaks away. Explosive Use Map popularity, but balance gripes self-resolve with skill growth.
One Q&A question popped.
"…Oh boy."
Can't ignore this fatal flaw. Full client? Slap deserter penalties/mmatch bans. But Use Map? No system hooks. Room host manual IP/nick bans? Can't manage thousands, alts bypass anyway.
"Aigoo. Headache incoming."
Damn leavers! Does this shitgodgame spawn deserters like a plague everywhere?!
Cursing inwardly, I replied quick.
…Use Map gets god treatment.
Full release? I'd eat dev hate x10.
Brashly promised next patch, but no silver bullet.
"Argh."
Scratching my head, pondered fair Use Map play.
AI proxy control?
…Impossible before, no magic here.
Then it hit.
"Ah, that's it."