Chapter 8
Chapter 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Release
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Game development doesn't just end with completing the game.
In fact, there's something just as important as all the preceding steps: ‘promotion’ and ‘evaluation’.
A game is fundamentally a product.
If you don't promote it, no one will know about the game even if you make it.
That's why full-scale promotion is necessary, timed with the beta test period.
Of course, major game companies tend to promote heavily right from the production announcement, but that's a different story for me right now.
Next is evaluation.
Without evaluations, even if people know the game is out, they won't be interested. Whether good or bad, external feedback is one of the key indicators that makes users choose a game.
We had to start both at the same time, and luckily, there are two of us.
“You handle the promotion side. I'll take care of the testing.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I'll have to ask people I know.”
“Do you have any friends, senior?”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Ah, sorry. I just assumed you didn't have any since you're always in the club room.”
Her face didn't look sorry in the slightest, but anyway.
“You're right. I don't have any friends.”
“?”
“I'll pick a few people from our department and have them do it. I'll have to compensate them, of course.”
Embarrassingly, I didn't really enjoy my school days.
I'm not the type to enjoy talking to others in the first place.
So I don't know many people.
That's why I chose people from the department.
Han Seo-rim gave me a pitying look.
“Geez, I'll find the people. You just get everything ready, senior.”
“Hmm?”
“I know some people who like games. Actually, you know them too, senior.”
Did we have mutual acquaintances?
As I thought about it, I eventually remembered two noisy people.
“Ah, the people from your department? The ones who were there the day we first met.”
“...What, you really don't know?”
Han Seo-rim let out a dry laugh.
I wish she'd just tell me straight, but it seemed she had no intention of doing so.
“Well, you'll find out on the day. I didn't realize you were this clueless, though. Anyway, the test is tomorrow, right? See you then.”
And with that, Han Seo-rim left.
My curiosity was satisfied the next day.
“This is my older brother, and this is my department classmate and a senior.”
“Oh! I've heard about you, Yeon-ho! You're making a game with my little sister?”
“Hello!”
“???”
Han Jin-gyeong was laughing heartily.
I looked back and forth between Han Seo-rim and him.
How could two people look so dissimilar?
My brain froze for a moment.
* * *
A stupidly agape face.
It was quite a sight.
“You look really flustered.”
Seo-rim had spent nearly half a year with Yeon-ho, but this was the first time she had seen him show such a significant change in expression.
No matter what happened, the extent of his emotional display was usually a blank face or a hint of irritation.
It was quite delightful.
Of course, the fact that he'd paid so little attention to her was a bit of a blow to her pride, but that was all.
“Aren't we starting the test?”
“...Ah.”
Yeon-ho began setting up the computers.
Jin-gyeong spoke to Yeon-ho.
His face was lit up with a mischievous grin.
“Yeon-ho, what have you been doing with my little sister for the past six months?”
“...Making a game.”
“Just making a game?”
“What else would we do?”
“Well, you probably shouldn't do anything more.”
“You crazy bastard!”
*Thwack!*
“Oof!”
Jin-gyeong clutched his butt.
The classmate and the senior burst into laughter at the sight.
Only when she shot them a look did they finally shut their mouths.
‘Did I make a mistake bringing them here?’
Anyway, not a single one of them was normal.
A shipper and a loafer; I brought them because they were the only ones I knew who at least liked games, but now I'm regretting it.
Just then.
“It's all ready.”
Having finished the setup, Yeon-ho pointed to the computers.
The game's title, displayed on the logo screen, caught Seo-rim's eye.
[Hellic]
A memory surfaced in her mind.
It was Seo-rim who had decided on the title.
-Right. Senior. Have you decided on a name for the game?
-Hell I.C. It means Hell's Interchange.
-...Let's get rid of the space and the period. Your naming sense is truly awful.
A bad memory briefly resurfaced, but anyway.
“Oh, is this the game's title?”
As Jin-gyeong sat down, tension built up inside Seo-rim.
It was shaken moments later.
[Kkiiiaaaaaaak!]
“Huh, this scream sounds familiar...”
“Just play.”
Why's he catching on, so annoying.
No, this isn't the time for that.
Seo-rim composed herself.
She crossed her arms and clenched her fists, her palms growing sweaty for no reason.
Showing the results of half a year of hard work to others had a way of making a person nervous.
The hardships of the past flashed through her mind.
She'd been praised for the illustrations, but she'd been torn apart over the prototype's implementation.
That was the result of her determined effort to make up for it, and there was one part of the process that had been particularly agonizing.
-Let's redo the pixels for this.
-Oh, the door?
-Yeah, make it look more like an asshole.
-...
-I told you. The core of this game is this asshole. The movement of this asshole...
-I get it, so can you please stop calling it an asshole? It's so gross...
She had redrawn the pixels for the hole needed to move between maps dozens of times, wondering just what the hell was so important about that damn "asshole."
The process was so nauseating that she lost weight, unable to even swallow food properly for a while.
This was the result born from such hardship.
And this was the moment it would receive its first evaluation.
Seo-rim's eyes widened.
Jin-gyeong said.
“Okay, get ready, Yeon-ho. I'll clear this in no time. I've got a knack for games, you know.”
“It won't be easy.”
“That's what they all say at first.”
“Seo-rim! Don't forget you promised to go on a group blind date with us if we beat this!”
“I know, so just play.”
Only then did the three of them start the game.
The screen transitioned with the music.
Amidst a landscape reminiscent of internal organs, the playable character, the 'Jailer', awakens.
The moment the game began, all of Seo-rim's attention was focused on the three people staring at the screen.
The movement of their eyes, the motion of their fingers, the speed of their breathing, the slump of their posture.
Such information weighed down on her entire body.
“Why are you so tense?”
*Pat—*
Yeon-ho tapped her shoulder.
Seo-rim flinched and looked at him.
And her eyes widened.
‘He's smiling?’
Yeon-ho was watching the three of them with a gentle smile.
Like someone feeling a deep sense of satisfaction.
“Enjoy it. This is the most enjoyable time.”
She didn't ask how she was supposed to enjoy it. Nor did she ask if there was a way to relax. Instead, a strange feeling arose, and she looked back at the three players.
Only then did she see it.
She could see the three of them quickly understanding the game's rules and advancing to the next map.
That was the result of the ‘intuitiveness’ Yeon-ho had been pathologically obsessed with.
She saw their blankly relaxed faces, the variation in their fingers as they suddenly started tapping the keyboard rapidly—*tak tak tak!*—and the sighs of relief that followed as the tension broke.
That was the result of the ‘pacing control’ he had emphasized time and again.
Finally, the Cancer Giant made its first appearance.
The three of them freaked out.
“Agh! You scared me!”
“Hey! What is that thing! Why isn't its health going down!”
“Run! Run!”
“Hey! Cheon Yeon-ho! This is a bug! It's a trash game!”
“It's not.”
“Pfft...!”
That was the result of Seo-rim and Yeon-ho scrapping and redesigning it countless times, and of Yeon-ho staying up for days and nights on end to create it.
‘Ah, I get it.’
In that moment, Seo-rim understood what he meant by ‘enjoy it’.
He meant to enjoy watching the users enjoy themselves.
From the very beginning, the thought that the game might not be fun had never even crossed his mind.
Only then did her heart feel at ease.
With a lighter heart, she began to observe the three players' reactions.
It felt like something was budding inside her.
Seeing others enjoy the fruits of her labor right before her eyes... she was starting to like it.
“See? Isn't it rewarding?”
At Yeon-ho's question, Seo-rim kept her lips sealed.
She simply focused on watching the three of them.
* * *
The test ended successfully.
Jin-gyeong's reaction was particularly good.
“Wow, this is really fun. You two made this? This is good enough to blow most games out of the water. The immersion is insane. I didn't think this was possible with pixel art.”
“Of course it is. I made it.”
Seo-rim was pleased by this.
As someone who had always loved games, Jin-gyeong had played a lot of them.
His reviews of games were generally scathing.
For such a person to praise their game was significant.
Of course, some personal feelings might have been involved since his little sister made it, but praise was praise nonetheless.
Jin-gyeong was someone who clearly separated his personal and professional opinions.
“When is this coming out? Ah, where are you releasing it?”
“We're releasing it on a PC platform. Steam.”
“Steam? Ah, that place.”
“Yes, it's the only place we can.”
“That makes sense. Anyway, let me know when it's out. I'll buy it and play it to the end.”
The conversation, which only the two understood, continued for a bit.
Meanwhile, her classmate and the senior came over and said suggestively.
“Seo-rim. We cleared Chapter 1. It was fun.”
Their eyes were sparkling.
Seo-rim couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
It was obvious their minds were elsewhere.
‘Still...’
They were focused while playing, so I guess I can do them this favor.
“I'll just show up. For the group date.”
“Yahoo!”
The two of them hugged each other.
And so, the three finished the test and left.
“We'll get going then!”
“I'm leaving too. Sis, come home early today!”
*Thud.*
When the door closed, leaving the two of them alone, Seo-rim felt awkward.
Feeling a bit sheepish, she tried to think of something to say, and an idea came to her.
“Ah, senior.”
“Yeah?”
“How does it feel to get such high praise?”
“I think it's the natural outcome.”
“No, I mean, don't you have any other thoughts besides that?”
That wasn't why she asked, just so he could brag.
She glared at him, and after a moment's thought, Yeon-ho replied.
“...The intention landed pretty well? I guess I could say that.”
“Intention?”
“The asshole.”
Why is he bringing that up again?
“Wipe that look off your face. I told you, there was a reason for it.”
Yeon-ho sat down at the computer used for the test and started the game.
He then pointed to the scene right after the intro.
“Here, the protagonist's entrance scene.”
“What about it?”
The protagonist moves through the cube-shaped organs via long, rectum-like passages.
The entrances and exits to these were what Yeon-ho called the "assholes" in each room.
“When the player enters this asshole, the game transitions to a loading screen. And we implemented the loading interface as a scene of traversing the rectum, right? That way, the entrance, loading, and exit all look like a single, continuous scene. It's one of the techniques.”
“What technique?”
“A long take.”
Seo-rim tilted her head.
Yeon-ho tapped the monitor and said.
“I erased the moments where the flow of the game is broken.”
“Ah...!”
So that's why he was so obsessed with the asshole.
Seo-rim finally understood what Yeon-ho had meant when he said, ‘Structure it so the scene of entering the asshole, traversing the rectum, and exiting again feels like a single shot.’
Without a loading screen, the time players are pulled out of the game and back to reality would indeed be reduced.
As she looked at Yeon-ho in a new light, he responded.
“Anyway, good work today. The second test will be online. I'm counting on you to handle the promotion beforehand.”
“Ah, yes. You worked hard too.”
“Yeah, I'm leaving.”
And with that, Yeon-ho left the club room.
Seo-rim's gaze remained fixed on the turned-off monitor for a long time.
* * *
After returning home, Seo-rim was lost in thought about the test when she suddenly remembered what she had to do.
‘Ah, right. Promotion...’
She had already received the guidelines.
He'd said all she had to do was write and post on a few online game communities.
-We can't do any real promotion anyway. We're not at that level.
What Yeon-ho had requested was a trailer video, a brief introduction to the game, and details about its characteristic weapon system.
Seo-rim sat down in front of her computer.
She had already created all the necessary screenshots for the materials, and Yeon-ho had recorded and sent her the gameplay footage for the trailer.
*Click, click.*
All she had to do was put it together.
After writing the promotional post, Seo-rim went to the game community site Yeon-ho had told her about.
At that moment.
『Posting is for members only.』
“Huh? What. I have to go through the trouble of signing up?”
She frowned, but she couldn't neglect her duties just because it was a hassle.
Seo-rim clicked her tongue softly and slowly went through the registration process.
『Set Nickname: SeorimSeorim
Profile Picture: (Selfie taken with the school as a background)
Bio: Not accepting friend requests』
“What, they want you to fill out all sorts of things.”
Seo-rim, whose only real experience with online communities was her personal mini-homepage, entered her real personal information as requested by the site.
She was completely oblivious to the nature of game communities, where anonymity was paramount.
“That should be about it...”
And so, Seo-rim immediately uploaded the promotional post.
『We made a game!
Official release in 2 weeks!!!
Please check it out *^-^*
(Body)
This is a game we worked hard on for half a year!
You definitely won't regret it, so please give it a download!』
“There. This looks pretty decent.”
With this, her work was done!
Seo-rim immediately turned off her computer and lay down on her bed.
Which is why she didn't see the comments pouring in on the community site.
It was Seo-rim's mistake.
『[Comment Section]
zZoneHansu: u a girl?
┕TClear: ugh what a loser, is that all u see?
┕SweetBloodElfGuy37: profile pic,,is pretty,,,is this,,a game,,made by a student,,? the quality,,is very,,good,,^^
HighschoolerSwordsman: why is this on the main recommended page? u manipulate the votes?
┕S2PoppyS2: see comment above
┕HighschoolerSwordsman: ah... lol...
BangbaeBloodyLord: oh, a horror action game?
┕WaitingForZodiac3: when is Zodiac 3 coming out... sigh, might as well try this
┕NationalPaladinAssoc: this bastard is still waiting for that
┕SpaceWarLover: hey~ Space War 2 comes first~
┕WannaPlayKOF: stop fighting and wanna play KOF?』
The wild, male-dominated communities of 2008.
A female university student developer was the ultimate clickbait.
News of the game's release spread with far more impact than Yeon-ho had initially expected.
Of course,
“...Seo-rim.”
“Yes?”
“Change your community profile picture.”
“?”
for the person in question, it was just another embarrassing line added to her past.
Release