Group Project (2)
But Georg's praise showed no sign of ending.
He pointed at me from the podium and shouted,
"This is exactly the mindset a true developer should have. All of you should follow this student's example."
"Thank you."
"This is the perfect masterpiece of the century that combines commerciality, gameplay, everything!"
"......"
Georg's endless praise left my expression frozen.
Everyone's eyes turned to me at once.
'That legendary trash-tier game is called a masterpiece of the century.'
The world would flip upside down.
Georg glanced briefly at the wall clock on the classroom wall.
"It's about time to wrap up the lecture."
He hurriedly gathered his things and left in a rush.
Only the students remained—those who had finally finished the lecture.
"Hah..."
Many of the students sitting in the classroom looked drained, collapsing onto their desks and letting out long sighs.
As the students who had regained their senses filed out one by one, Melody and I started preparing to leave while quickly packing our materials.
Since we had already finished the Alpha version demo, there was still work left to do afterward.
"As you might expect, we need to create a rank system."
"Rank system?"
Melody shot me a piercing look at the sudden mention of ranks, as if to ask if I had lost my mind.
But I had no choice but to push on.
"Nothing else stimulates users like competition."
"Why?"
"In regular games, people don't try their hardest anyway."
"That's true. Only a tiny number of users actually play like they're dying."
"And even among users, when the skill gap between allies and enemies is too large, it happens all the time."
In fact, that was why Hafne had achieved a 26-win streak—because she had only been slaughtering peasants with skill gaps on matchmaking maps without any balancing.
Even after regular games added matchmaking adjustments after official release, they wouldn't be as strict as a rank system.
'Regular games are meant to be played casually and without pressure.'
"But rank games are different."
"What makes them different?"
"It's the soul battlefield for true users who are willing to risk their lives on the game."
"...Even if game scores matter a lot, you'd really do that?"
Melody tilted her head in confusion.
But rank games were indeed the battlefield of the true.
'Ranks are basically lonely jars crammed with human malice.'
It wasn't for nothing that users called rank games battlefields where they fought to protect their parents.
Whoever takes the score, people turn petty, petty, and narrow-minded— that's just how gamers are.
"Skins, runes, abilities, emoticons— all the monetization elements exist to humiliate opponents and win in rank games."
"...Isn't that the opposite? You need those items to win against the opponent."
"No, it's the opposite. You only need to win to humiliate the opponent more thoroughly."
Melody looked at me.
But since she was also a gamer, she couldn't deny the necessity of the rank system.
She let out a long sigh.
"And what's the fun in slaughtering peasants with skill gaps in regular games to win? You have to fight opponents at a perfect skill level, finish the bloody battle barely victorious, and dance on their corpses for real dopamine to hit."
"That makes sense, but how do you match opponents at similar skill levels?"
"Simple. You assign MMR scores based on wins and losses, and group people with similar score ranges together. The important part is, uh, not that."
I grabbed Melody's shoulder.
Melody's eyes widened at the sudden contact.
"S-senior?"
"Please code that massive rank matchmaking system for me, our department's top student."
"...I'm going to kill you!"
Only then did reality seem to kick back in for Melody. She stared at me with vicious eyes, realizing I expected her to code the huge system I had been excitedly babbling about by herself.
But a true overall director knows how to lightly ignore the fire of a mere intern. Melody eventually let out a deep sigh at my shameless face.
"Ugh... I must have committed some huge crime in my past life for me to end up doing group projects with a demon of a senior like you."
"...If kicking out everyone else in the group except me is a crime, then yes."
"Ah, seriously!!!"
The scream that shattered the window echoed through the classroom, so I hurriedly covered my ears.
Melody glared at me while puffing her cheeks, but I remained unfazed.
'Well, it's not like I have to do it.'
"As long as the game is actually completed, I'll leave right away!"
"Yeah yeah, let's work hard until it's done."
We were about to leave the classroom with a smug grin when someone suddenly blocked our way.
"Wait!"
Panting heavily, the pink-haired cat beastman planted herself in front of us with arms spread wide. Vermilla.
"What is it, pink salt? What's wrong?"
"You have something to say to me?"
When Melody and I asked with blank expressions, Vermilla shot us an aggrieved look, clearly something wasn't sitting right with her.
She bit her lip tightly, then shouted at the top of her lungs.
"What exactly is the problem with my perfect bishoujo gacha game?!"
----
Vermilla looked at me with an aggrieved expression.
Clearly, the bishoujo gacha game she had created was well-made on its own.
'I have to admit that.'
Turn-based strategy battles mixed with bishoujo gacha games—that was a solid blend of genres.
"No! Professor said my work was well-made but had many points that needed more improvement!"
"That's right."
"Unlike you who got praised as the masterpiece of the century!"
"......"
Both Melody and I avoided each other's eyes.
'It's well-made, but...'
This was too much.
Vermilla pounded her chest as if aggrieved, and because she was excited, the cat beastman's signature "~nya" suffix kept popping out.
She then demanded,
"I mean, honestly, did I really make it well!"
"...Yeah, you did make it well."
"Really?"
Vermilla leaned her face right up to mine at the sudden agreement.
The familiar musty smell of cat fur tickled my nose.
"No, senior!"
"Why?"
Melody cut in.
"We've received the greatest praise from Professor. Aren't you jealous?"
"Ah, right. We were overwhelmingly number one, and their group was... around average, I guess."
"...Average?!"
At the word "average," Vermilla's runner-up pride was properly crushed, and her tail shot straight up.
'Battle stance!'
The cat beastman started to growl, so I quickly snatched her tail.
"Meeow!"
"Calm down, pink salt. You'll shed fur in the hallway."
"You! Do you know how rude it is to grab a beastman's tail without permission?"
"I don't know. I'm human."
At my shameless retort, Vermilla bared her claws and glared at me as if ready to growl. I let go of her tail as if I couldn't win.
She kept shooting me looks, clearly not happy with something.
"Anyway, if you have something to say, say it quickly. We have a mountain of work to do."
"Uuu..."
Vermilla bit her lip, then suddenly shoved a crystal sphere containing her game right at me.
"Tell me what's wrong with my game! Even if I look at it, it says it's at least a masterpiece!"
"Well, the quality is decent. But with my bare hands?"
As you know, consulting on a game's fundamental design issues is the realm of very expensive elite talent in the industry.
"No, senior! Are you really a heartless person?"
"I'm not a person, I'm a developer."
At my ruthless refusal to open my mouth for free even to a classmate, Melody jumped in shock.
But great developers aren't people. They're game-cutting machines.
Vermilla eventually exploded and shouted,
"Fine! I'll help you for free when you need me later! What's the big deal about being a classmate!"
"Well, with those conditions, sure."
With coding and art skills at the runner-up level, she could later be used as a great "unpaid slave" for our game when hands were short.
We entered the empty classroom and started dissecting Vermilla's game bit by bit.
We had roughly skimmed the bishoujo gacha game during the announcement time.
We had even listened to the explanation during the group project announcement, but we had just let it slide while preparing our own presentation.
"Let me see..."
Vermilla watched me nervously as I examined her game systems one by one.
Vermilla's game had implemented an astonishing number of characters.
'Given that the invisible parts are far larger than the visible ones, it's definitely...'
"Like Lumine."
"...Who was that?"
Vermilla tilted her head in incomprehension.
But Melody immediately understood whom I meant and looked disgusted.
"There. That lewd demon."
"Eep! But original ero game developers are all perverts, that's normal!"
"We'll skip that."
I cut her off quickly and moved on to examining her game's combat system.
"You really did make it well. Art, coding, turn-based combat system... looking at it partially, there aren't any flaws."
"Right?!"
"But overall, there's a very fatal problem."
"What is it?!"
Vermilla puffed out her breath and thrust her face right up to mine. I pushed her forehead back with my finger and recited the cruel truth of gacha games.
"The problem is that you made the gameplay too 'good'."
"...What?"
Vermilla blinked in confusion, then bristled her fur and got angry.
"No, why is making the game well a problem! What kind of weird nonsense is that!"
Finally, she raised her perfect bishoujo gacha game high and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Explain it right now! What's wrong with my perfect game?!"