Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Reverse Arcadia CBT
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Not only Bluebird, but the reactions across the entire community were explosive.
No, "explosive" wasn't even enough to describe it.
📰 Post — Anonymous Holy shit, just... holy shit.... 【Screenshot of young Henrietta trailer capture】 What the hell did Enson GT make...? They're dropping a young Henrietta skin, right???? I believe in them???? 💬 Comments [Most Viewed] — Anonymous Ao, crazy pedo bastards lololol — Anonymous But honestly, it's fucking hot... 📰 Post — Transient Nick The trailer quality is insane lololol Honestly, I thought Girls Memorial's trailer quality was already crazy? But that got shattered watching the Grand Arc Phantasm trailer, and now Last Arcadia shattered it again ddd Why are these guys competing in a trailer quality dick-measuring contest dddddd 💬 Comments [Newest] — Anonymous Thinking about it, we got totally rekt by WAN's trailer too — Reply For real, that quality was no joke too — Anonymous Otaku Renaissance 📰 Post — Anonymous Reverse Arcadia trailer OST sung by Ishida Kei, apparently? 【Bluebird Ishida Kei keyword capture image】 The Japanese side is going nuts lolololol She was on hiatus, and suddenly drops a new song for some unheard-of otaku mobile game trailer OST, now everyone's asking what the situation is lololol 💬 Comments [Most Viewed] — Anonymous How the hell did they snag Ishida Kei? — Anonymous Money rotting away lololololol — Anonymous Never imagined it was the real Ishida Kei ddd 📰 Post — GOAT Enson GT added more to their lineup lolol General Director: Main Director from Blood Alliance 2, the pillar of ND Soft. Art Director: Former ND Soft Art Director. Sound Director: Former SBC Music Director. Technical Director: From a big corp. Creative Director: From a big corp. OST Singer: Ishida Kei <-(NEW) Are they for real lolololololololol 💬 Comments [Newest] — Anonymous Look at that lineup lolol, my chest swells with pride — Anonymous Who'd think that's a mobile game dev lineup lololololol It was an overwhelming wave of reactions and attention.
Especially the use of Ishida Kei for the vocals—it was a major factor.
Not just gamers, but word-of-mouth from her fandom was spreading it far and wide.
I couldn't help but smile at the free additional advertising pouring in without spending a dime.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Time flew by after the successful trailer release.
The weather had shifted from mild autumn straight into midwinter,
and our project was progressing just as swiftly.
The art team handed over 3D models and effects, and the dev team implemented them into the client.
The planning team sent UI/UX blueprints and class balance sheets, which the dev team then applied to the client.
Once implemented, the QA team ran endless tests.
Then the art team delivered housing and underground city open-world dorm modeling, and dev applied that too.
Reverse Arcadia was steadily taking shape amid this hamster-wheel grind of tasks.
Time passed again, and it was February 2015.
Only after passing the Lunar New Year holiday—our nation's biggest festival—did the beta version of Reverse Arcadia finally complete.
Development time alone: a whopping 25 months.
Compared to Girls Memorial, which wrapped up in a year thanks to its simpler structure, this took nearly double the time.
Even though our team size was 1.5 to 2 times larger.
Now all that remained was applying feedback from the closed beta and launching officially...
It looked like more hard times ahead, but I pushed that aside and gathered all the team leads in the conference room.
Yerin, Yena, Yumi, Seol, Taesun, and Chaeyoung assembled there.
I scanned them once before cautiously asking,
"Who worked overtime 4 days or more this week? Raise your hands."
Two hands went up.
Yumi and Taesun.
"You two, clock out on time today. I feel guilty making you overtime any more."
Yumi and Taesun, who had lit up at the prospect of freedom from overtime, glanced around at the others before asking me,
"B-But... wouldn't it be better if we all did it together...?"
"It's fine. Go home. We'll handle things here."
Only then did they smile, offer thanks, and slip out of the conference room.
Watching them, I could really feel how much they'd changed since joining.
"Alright, everyone knows CBT kicks off at 2 PM today, right?"
The team members nodded.
"We need to monitor at least until dawn and write reports, so finish up your tasks by quitting time, grab what you need, and meet back here. Got it?"
"Yes," they replied, filing out. I headed back to my office too.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After regular hours ended, I grabbed a quick solo dinner at the cafeteria and headed up.
I wasn't the only one; plenty of people were eating alone there, prepping for overtime.
I didn't particularly want to eat dinner with the team before overtime anyway.
Surveying the studio office—half the lights off as team members trickled out—I entered my personal office.
"The stuff I meant to bring to the conference room..."
A lap blanket, tumbler, hot packs, and several caffeine drinks from the convenience store to wake me up.
I stuffed the prepared items into a shopping bag, grabbed five laptops first, and headed to the conference room.
It was usually Yumi's job, but she'd already gone home...
Arms full, I knocked on the conference room door. Yerin, who'd arrived early, opened it and took the laptops.
"You could've called; I'd have come to your office to help."
"Nah, it's not that heavy."
Yerin deftly set up the laptops in the room.
On her spot sat a lap blanket and a hand-sized Operator doll.
"Where's everyone else?"
"Chaeyoung unnie said she'd come straight from the recording studio on time... Yena's popping home quick. Seol unnie's finishing dinner and heading up."
"Got it. Wait here a sec. I'll grab stuff from my office."
"Sure."
Leaving Yerin to set up nonchalantly, I returned to my office for the items.
"Sunbae brings a ton of stuff for overtime too..."
"Conference room gets chilly late at night. Heater doesn't help much."
"True... Want a hot pack?"
"Nah, I brought my own."
As Yerin and I chatted idly, the team members soon filed in.
Everyone clutching their own lap blankets—it felt like a girls' high school sleepover.
Confirming everyone was set, I exchanged quick greetings and got down to business.
"Alright, I'll assign sites for monitoring. First, Yerin."
"Yes?"
"You handle the portal sites. Focus on any news about our game."
"Okay."
"Seol and Yena, you take Bluebird. Cover Korea and Japan—Yena on Korea, Seol on Japan. Cool?"
"Yes...!"
"No problem!"
"Chaeyoung sunbae, you cover our country's inbang sites. Focus on Forest here, and Rekodong Live in Japan."
"OK~."
"Good. Get started on your own. Ask if you're unsure."
And so the monitoring began.
Soon the room filled only with laptop fan whirs and occasional mouse clicks.
"Alright, time for me to start too."
My assignment: Reverse Arcadia Gallery and Girls Memorial Gallery.
The most anonymous and vicious sites in our community scene, so I took them personally.
Most of the team was familiar with subculture but not community culture, so no choice.
Logging into Reverse Arcadia Gallery first, various posts caught my eye.
📋 Reverse Arcadia Gallery Posts [General] It's a game that requires more brainpower than expected [General] Gacha seems pretty similar to Girls Memorial? [Guide] 6-star character landmines, human rights sorted... tips [Guide] Check out the Resistance collection dddddd [Guide] Compilation of all revealed lore so far... zip [General] Japanese reactions after gacha explosion are hilarious lololol [General] Zoomed in on 3D model quality and it's no joke ddd [Guide] Panties collection of currently implemented characters' 3D models... jpg Just like with Girls Memorial, hardly any negative reactions—mostly positive.
Though posts like "3D model panties collection" made my head spin a bit.
Monitoring nonstop like that, time had slipped past 9 PM before I knew it.
"Shall we take a quick break?"