Two months of development passed in the blink of an eye.
The group development that had so many worries progressed better than expected.
“No! Zergas isn’t supposed to feel like this! Make it hurt more! Like this!”
Thwack! Thwack!
“Ah! Hey! Don’t hit me for real! Apollo!!!”
The character part was tweaked each time a character was completed, with Apollo reviewing them.
Since Apollo was a bit emotional, he requested modifications to Jiren’s body.
Noirin would then reflect those changes.
“Got it. You mean to lower the hit frames by about three, right?”
“Yes, that’s the feeling!”
It felt like a déjà vu, recalling how the action planning team leader I worked with in my previous life was exactly like this. Could Apollo be… no, surely not.
There were no issues on the system side.
The only ‘problem’ was that my Master found out about the hidden character.
“Yuren, something seems off here.”
“Shh, Master, this is a hidden character I prepared for later.”
“Hidden character?”
“Yes, it’s hidden for later, so please pretend you don’t know.”
“Understood! But what’s a hidden character?”
“A hidden character is…”
Thus, my Master became the only developer besides me who knew about the hidden character’s existence.
“Everyone, have dinner and then get back to it.”
“Wow! Food!”
“Has it already become this time?”
Eating the food prepared by the priests and alternating between development and meals, the fighting game began to take shape quickly.
By the end of the first month of development, the basic structure was all implemented, and its completeness rose to a level where we could playtest it together.
“Whoa! They’re fighting! Fight!!”
“So, this is a fighting game.”
With six characters, including the protagonist Karuga, completed and ready for battle, we decided to test it out.
“This game feels great to hit more than I expected.”
“Totally, this is beyond what I imagined.”
During the development of the fighting game, my concern was about the feel of hitting.
Since the crystal ball games typically relied on user thought, I feared the hitting feel might be weak.
But surprisingly, as it moved according to thought, the sense of unity increased, and the control and impact felt even better than the games from my previous life.
It was an unexpected result.
On top of that, there was another advantage.
It was the feeling of control.
“Yuren, controlling it isn’t as hard as I thought.”
The command system made the controls much easier since it operated based on thought.
If Karen could freely unleash her skills, it could be deemed a passing grade.
Thus began the first internal test, where Apollo, selecting the protagonist Karuga, faced Jiren, who chose the Myoin tribe character Blanc.
Jiren held deep affection for Blanc, resembling the martial arts he learned.
And the result was…
“You Win”
“Muahahahaha!!! Yes! This is the Empire’s martial arts!!!”
“Ahhhhh, I lost again!”
He was completely annihilated.
With a perfect streak of five wins, Karuga demonstrated the terror of Nile from Street Fighter 2.
In fact, thanks to the lightning ability, Karuga had arguably become stronger than Nile.
With lightning fitting the character’s characteristics, we integrated lightning-induced stagger into the projectile, increasing the chance for a combo after being hit by the projectile.
As he evolved from a waiting soldier into a lightning soldier, I began to anticipate and worry about the legends he would create.
While watching the test, a familiar voice echoed.
“I’m here. Yuren.”
“Ah! You’ve come, Sylvia.”
Sylvia had been preparing for the release of the fighting game at Zephia.
To release a fighting game, we needed to upgrade the crystal ball due to capacity issues.
If done incorrectly, the game’s price could skyrocket.
But fortunately, thanks to connections from the Edward Consortium, we were able to buy slime crystal balls in bulk, raising the price by about 30,000 gold and making it feasible to release the game.
“How’s development going?”
“The test version is finished as you can see.”
I showcased the game being tested below.
Observing the heated atmosphere in the Game Development Laboratory, Sylvia looked satisfied yet slightly worried.
“It’s already next week, and it’s been the promised two months. Do you think it’ll be okay?”
“Hmm… about 98%?”
Hearing my precise 98% figure, Sylvia’s expression turned worried.
“98%? What’s the remaining 2%?”
“That’s what I’m about to verify. You’re going to watch, right?”
The remaining 2% wasn’t about game quality.
It was about watching users play and enjoy it for verification.
Sylvia nodded as if it was natural. “Of course I will. This will be our Edward Consortium’s next source of income.”
Thus, the long-awaited test day approached.
I rented Mr. Brown’s game center in the neighborhood, paying a hefty sum.
And while the priests set up the games, I prepared another setup.
“Yuren, why are you putting shock absorption magic on the chairs?”
“That’s just how things are. You’ll understand once you see.”
With all preparations completed, I released the information through the local network that free games could be enjoyed at the game center.
On the test day, kids from the village, along with adults who wanted to enjoy the game, gathered when they heard it was free.
I opened my mouth to start the test.
“Now then, let’s begin the fighting game test. Everyone, take this…”
However…
“Move aside!”
“I’m first!”
“No way! I’m going first!!!”
Of course, everyone ignored me and charged straight into the game center.
Honestly, I would have done the same.
Would anyone act rationally when they had the chance to play a new game for free right in front of them?
It wasn’t easy for me in my previous life either.
I tossed the surveys I had prepared and told the confused young priests.
“Go join in.”
“Really?!”
“Is it okay, Yuren-hyung?”
The young priests, at least, were waiting attentively, reading my mood.
I wanted them to enjoy the fighting game too.
“Of course, games are fun when played together.”
“Got it, big brother!”
“Let’s go!!”
And so, everyone entered the game center.
The first fighting game test in this other world began like this.
“Adoken! Worryu-ken! Radek!”
Familiar sound effects echoed throughout the game center.
The children picked their characters, learned techniques by looking at the commands next to them, and began enjoying battles with others.
“Ow! Are you seriously just spamming projectiles!”
“Then use projectiles too!”
“My character doesn’t have projectiles!!”
Ah, here it comes, projectile spamming.
To beginners not used to fighting games, spamming projectiles made the game feel incredibly hard.
I also fell victim to it.
And among them were our young priests, the game developers.
“Hahaha! The protagonist character is the best!”
By some chance, Jiren had secured a spot and was already on a six-win streak.
But he wasn’t using Blanc; he was using Karuga.
“Didn’t you say you were using Blanc?”
“Blanc was too weak, so I swapped.”
In that moment, the image of the white cat character Blanc crying flashed in my mind.
It was unavoidable for performance characters to be favored in fighting games.
Sorry, Blanc, I’ll give you a balance patch later, so hold on until then.
Of course, not everyone was using only performance characters.
“Whoa!!!”
“Wow! That dwarf character! This is insane!!!”
“40% health just vanished in one hit!!”
Noirin had a great attachment to the dwarf character “Pull,” designed with a one-hit concept.
Pull has no projectiles and a short reach, but his signature move “Owa” could obliterate 40% to 60% health in one blow if it landed.
Noirin had been practicing with Pull during development, and she was proving the greatness of affection by beating the overpowered character Karuga with her single strike.
“The feedback is good. I think this game will be a real success.”
Sylvia observed the game center, observing users’ reactions.
From their expressions blossomed a different joy than from Super Thomas.
It was unlike Tetric’s competition as well.
While Tetric focused on brain battles, the fighting game tapped into more primal competitiveness.
As living beings, everyone has a desire to be strong.
This urge was clearly visible as users, both kids and adults, lost themselves in this fun, and Sylvia was sure this game would be a hit.
But what I desired was not just this.
“Hmmm… this isn’t it…”
“Yuren? Is there something more you need?”
Sylvia asked with a question mark on her expression noticing mine.
I was about to explain to her what I wanted, but at that moment…
“Damn it! This guy is playing games like a -bleep-!!”
Thwack!
The refreshing sound of a chair shot resonated from Apollo’s seat.
It was the moment the missing 2% was filled.
