Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Eclipse
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"Korea was nice and all, but I still prefer America."
"If we'd stayed any longer, I might've forgotten what Savior headquarters looks like?"
"If only we'd spent a little more time in Japan... something might've come up."
The president's office buzzed with overlapping voices from the group.
Even though they were clearly holding a conversation, everyone just spouted whatever they wanted, perfectly mimicking the chaotic vibe of a university lounge.
'I never thought spending just a few years in America would make this place feel like home.'
Watching Scarlett and the other early Savior members gathered in the president's office, chatting away, stirred up a strange emotion in me.
These were all the people I'd personally brought to Savior, but as the company had grown so massive, it had become rare for us to all meet like this.
Sure, I met with them one-on-one frequently enough, but aside from Jason, everyone was swamped with so much work that syncing schedules was tough.
Today, though, despite our packed itineraries, we absolutely needed to get together.
I had to brief them on Savior's future roadmap and discuss it thoroughly.
"Alright, shall we get this meeting started?"
After watching the founding members for a bit, lost in a brief moment of reflection, Scarlett decided the chit-chat had gone on long enough and drew everyone's attention.
"Thanks to our push into Korea, Savior is establishing a branch there. Greg here will be taking the helm. Everyone, give him a round of applause!"
Clap clap clap.
At Scarlett's introduction, Greg flashed an awkward smile and waved, while the other founding members gave him enthusiastic applause.
'He's handled Korea and Japan from the start, so Greg's the perfect guy for the job going forward.'
He'd been shuttling back and forth to Korea during Savior Pulse development, making him the ideal candidate to lead the Korean branch.
"In Korea, we'll be setting up key Savior facilities like an AI research lab and a foundry factory. Focus on talent, tech development, and security above all—profit can come later."
"We're already planning to implement security protocols modeled after the U.S. State Department's systems."
Greg responded to my words with a clear report on security first, then how to recruit talent and the direction for facility expansion. He truly was reliable.
We had a brief discussion on Korean branch operations with Greg after that.
"Next up is the Byte Line launch. Ready, Rogers?"
"Yes. We'll release the online Byte Line within the next month. The program's in its final polish stage, and honestly, we've just been waiting on computer performance and internet penetration. No issues."
Byte Line, Savior's next revenue stream.
So far, we'd only released the office version for internal company networks, but now we were gearing up for a consumer online release.
'A whole different level of difficulty compared to the corporate version on internal networks.'
Unlike the corporate Byte Line, which served at most tens of thousands of users, the online version demanded massive concurrent I/O handling.
We had to stabilize shaky networks, add security and encryption.
Plus compatibility and a laundry list of other headaches.
-Let's split the servers using event loop-based non-blocking sockets and connection sharding. For network instability, sustained TCP connections are the best we can do—gotta cut some losses.
I'd stepped in personally to architect the tough parts, but even so, the Byte Line team must've been ground to dust handling the details. I didn't need to see it to know.
Still, we'd nailed an online Byte Line that satisfied even my standards, and now I planned to hand it off to Rogers.
'Rogers can handle most issues—even if not quite at my level—and keep improving Byte Line going forward.'
Not just because he's my friend; developers of Rogers' caliber were rare across all of America.
Having him spin off from Byte Office into a dedicated Online Byte Line department felt rock-solid.
Once the online Byte Line talk wrapped up, we moved to Byte Office.
"Looks like we'll need to do more lobbying."
"That bad?"
"You know how it is—America's even worse than Korea. If you don't grease the wheels regularly, they're always lurking to take a bite."
Scarlett replied with a weary expression.
Our friendly ties with U.S. big tech and investment banks had kept attacks at bay so far.
But no guarantees it'd last, so better to shore things up now, she said.
Truth be told, Scarlett was the expert here over me, so I trusted her completely on this.
"That's all the current issues covered. Huck's turn."
With lobbying sorted, Scarlett—who'd clearly said her piece—passed the floor to me.
"Savior Pulse sales are set to hit 10 million units this month."
Savior's first game console, Savior Pulse, had been out over a month and was still selling out on every shipment.
But at this rate, breaking 100 million would take ages.
Time to move to the next phase.
"Right now, we're riding high on masterpieces from various devs and Pocket Tamer's pull, but we still lack a killer title that fully unleashes Savior Pulse's power."
No surprise there—most games released for Savior Pulse so far were older titles.
They'd fueled early hype, sure, but something felt 2% off without a true showcase.
That's why I planned to port Soul Hunters to Savior Pulse.
"Isn't that a tall order? Pulse packs plenty of punch, but Soul Hunters needs GameStation Pro-level hardware for peak performance..."
"We'll split it into two versions to make it work."
"Two? Like original and Savior modes...?"
"Exactly. The original crammed both modes together, demanding top specs. But split separately, a minor downgrade gets it running smooth on Pulse."
"Even so, that porting work won't be easy..."
Greg voiced his concern.
But it was pointless worry.
"I've already done the split."
"What? When did you...?"
"It's my game."
For other devs, maybe a nightmare. But splitting my own game? Piece of cake for me.
Greg, Rogers, and Jason—who knew exactly what that meant—shot me looks like, What kind of maniac is this guy?
Anyway, after assigning the Soul Hunters port to Scarlett and Greg, we turned to Savior's next big project.
"Savior's next venture is home console development. Project name: Savior-Nexus."
Savior-Nexus.
This first full console from Savior would serve as the hub linking Savior Pulse and all future products.
Just like the future Waffle ecosystem around its hyphen console, I aimed to build Savior's own walled garden in gaming.
Not a pipe dream—Nendo proved it possible, so Savior could too.
"Never thought we'd actually go for it."
"It sounded insane back then, but it's feasible now."
"With Savior's current resources, it'd be weirder not to."
The founding members' reactions weren't shock so much as About time.
They'd known I'd been prepping for consoles steadily, so no big surprise.
"What about the OS? Custom build?"
Jason, ever the sharp one despite his usual airheaded vibe, probed for details.
"Window-based OS. Building our own from scratch would eat too much time and manpower."
"MiniSoft on board?"
"They're already developing a Savior-exclusive version."
My meetings with MiniSoft's Bill Heights had been top secret, so even the founders were in the dark.
They all gawked at the reveal—except Scarlett, who'd known, smirking victoriously.
"Shortest timeline: 2 years. Longest: 3. Then Savior Nexus launches."
"What about games? Launching with just ours won't cut it."
"That's why we started with Pulse. Devs need to see we make hits before third-parties jump in."
Once Pulse cracks 100 million, no more third-party worries.
Dev studios would beg to bring their games over.
"Even so, like Soul Hunters and Last Fantasy drove GameStation's success, we need flagship titles."
"Time for a new one?"
Jackson, graphics team lead, perked up instantly.
After Soul Hunters, he'd been stuck on conversions—no wonder his hands itched for a fresh project.
"Right. As founding members, you all know: Savior's roots are in games. So, new game it is."
Beep.
I hit the remote, and a beam projector screen dropped from the ceiling.
A moment later, my prepared presentation slides appeared.
"We've tackled all sorts of genres so far, but one eludes us."
Dead Hills: defense. Village Maker: sim.
Soul Hunters: action mashup, technically.
All hits, future classics. But not without regrets.
I reviewed my games one by one.
Some pioneered new genres; others perfected existing ones.
'Great titles, but the lineup's got gaps.'
If asked gaming's crowning genre? Easy: RPG.
To conquer consoles, Savior needed RPG dominance.
"Phew... RPG rivals aren't pushovers."
"Still, RPGs have the broadest, most loyal fanbase—essential."
"Unlike our past games, series potential makes it a must for consoles."
The screen flashed RPG, drawing nods mixed with worries.
They got the necessity, but also how brutally tough RPGs were to nail.
'Easiest genre if you half-ass it; hardest if you go all-in.'
We could've slapped together an early RPG with cliché story and clunky systems for decent sales.
But RPG standards were sky-high, thanks to pioneers.
Peak stories, systems, graphics, action—barriers loomed huge for devs.
Even Dragon Mission's father was catching flak lately for stagnation.
"Got something in mind?"
Rogers asked.
"Of course."
That's why now was prime time to challenge it.
Beep.
Next slide.
The screen showed my game's working title.
A true RPG where user choices warp the world in real-time—untackled even by future giants.
- Eclipse -
The tentative name for a game that'd shatter RPG expectations anew.