After being sterilized by sunlight, my apprentice and I tidied up the dark room, washed up in the bathroom, and headed to the reception room.
Even though I’m an otaku, I’ve learned the importance of cleanliness through my managerial job and social life.
Don’t ask how I learned this; there’s a sad legend behind it.
Arriving in the reception room, feeling refreshed, we found Sylvia elegantly waiting for us with a cup of coffee.
“Looks like everyone really enjoyed Speed Rabbit.”
“Hahahaha…”
“I had no choice; Yuren made me do it.”
Under Sylvia’s piercing gaze, Jiren and Noirin started throwing me under the bus.
You guys! You enjoyed it too!
“So, how was the game from the Yura Republic?”
“It was super fun! I’d want to buy a sequel right away! Oh! But it was a bit short on playtime due to Blue Sonic—no, Speed Rabbit’s speed—so it felt like they artificially extended the gameplay in various ways. If it were me…”
“That’s not what I mean! I meant business-wise!!”
As I prepared to talk about my 2000-character review of Speed Rabbit, Sylvia’s face turned red, and she raised her voice.
Sylvia looked genuinely anxious, so I decided to switch gears back to serious game developer Yuren from gamer Yuren.
“Before I share my opinion, I’d like to know what Sylvia or others think first.”
At my words, everyone started pondering seriously.
I also thought Speed Rabbit was fun, but it looked like my master and apprentices enjoyed the game a lot too.
Though Sylvia hadn’t played with us, she said she’d tried it back at the mansion, so she likely had enough experience to give her opinion.
“I think… well, it’s from a rival company, but if I’m being honest, it was fun.”
“I thought it was great too, Yuren!”
“Me too!”
“Me too, Yuren!”
As expected, everyone pressed the ‘fun’ button.
This was all predictable.
But how about this question?
“So, how does it compare to Super Thomas and Legend Fighter that we made?”
“Hmm… that’s a tough question, Yuren.”
“Hmm…”
“It is difficult.”
When comparing our game to Speed Rabbit made by the Yura Republic, which one would be more entertaining?
Comparing the fun of games always gave me a headache.
Since it was our creation, we might find it harder to enjoy or, conversely, be biased and give it a better review.
While everyone was thoughtfully pondering, Sylvia spoke up first.
“To be honest, I think our game is more fun.”
“I think so too, Yuren!”
“I agree, my disciple!”
Then everyone’s opinions burst out.
This was also a predictable reaction.
Speed Rabbit was fun, but I could definitively say one thing.
Our game was way more entertaining.
“Seems like we all think the same; to be honest, I believe our game wins in terms of gameplay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, that’s something I can assure.”
Sylvia’s face lit up from my words.
Feeling hope that even if we imported Gilbert and Yura Republic’s games, we could still win was no surprise.
But the terrifying thing I felt while analyzing the games was something else.
“But there is something really frightening.”
“What is it?”
I held up the blue crystal ball of Speed Rabbit and said to Sylvia.
“That game was created using Magical Engineering.”
“Magical Engineering?”
A type of magic that the Yura Republic takes pride in, ‘Magical Engineering’—I glanced at my master for confirmation of my statement.
“Right, Master?”
“Correct, my disciple. I felt the unique rigidity of Magical Engineering in that game. It seems they combined several spells and rune-stoned them to make that game.”
Yesterday, after clearing the game, my master had started analyzing it instead of just playing, talking about how he could feel that distinctive stiffness of magical power.
Sylvia, unfamiliar with Magical Engineering, wore a puzzled expression.
“What’s the difference with the game Yuren made?”
“Well, let’s say we create a walking character. Right now, our wizards have to start by visualizing that walking character.”
To explain the difference between magic and Magical Engineering, I started with an example of making a character.
Within the Boyer game engine, we had to produce individually necessary character images, as it was the quickest and easiest method based on magic.
“But Magical Engineering is different; it allows you to make characters walk from one that has already been created in the rune.”
With Magical Engineering, it was possible to pre-create characters in runes for mass production.
Rather than saving completed magic on a scroll, it was magical technology to break down and store pieces of unfinished magic. That was the essence of Magical Engineering.
Sylvia appeared even more confused by my explanation and said, “If there’s such a convenient technology, can’t we just do the same?”
“It’s not that simple. Rooning and breaking down the magic is the skill of Magical Engineering. I’ve tried a few times, but it’s hard to create it properly, and even if I manage, the efficiency was so poor that I gave up.”
Magical Engineering may sound convenient, but using it wasn’t all that easy.
First, the runing process was complicated.
While living with a body that moves as per thought, you have to turn daily actions like lifting a leg, lowering an arm, and raising a butt into command words and combine them precisely.
Of course, once everything is set, you can just press a button later, and it’ll work smoothly, but at the moment you want to tweak something, you’d have to repeat everything all over again.
Then, the mana wasted with each runing process gradually increased, causing the final spell to consume more mana.
This meant that to match that mana consumption, you’d have to invest more materials for magical tools.
“In this way, magic relies heavily on the wizard’s sense, but Magical Engineering can efficiently standardize work. In other words…”
“Speed Rabbit is not the end but the beginning.”
Upon hearing my words, Sylvia grasped their meaning.
Yes, that was the issue.
The emergence of a game like Speed Rabbit wouldn’t shake the gaming market that much.
But if they could produce three games of such quality while we were only making one, then it was a different story.
“Yeah, I don’t know how serious the Yura Republic and the Magus Society are, but if they really commit, they could definitely surpass us in quantity.”
At my words, Sylvia hung her head, responding.
“Yura Republic is probably quite serious about that.”
Then she placed some kind of flyer on the table.
What is this?
“Please take a look at this. It’s an advertisement sent by our merchants from the Yura Republic.”
It was an advertisement pamphlet that they distribute in front of stores.
But there were pictures of amazing games included.
“This is…”
“It looks like a strange game.”
Although my apprentices and master called it a strange game, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
There were images of a representative game from Saga.
“This is ‘Suwang’!?”
The game featured in the pamphlet was [Suwang], a representative action arcade game from Saga where you transform into animals to fight.
Oh my god, is there really a game developer from Saga over there?
“They say this is a game from the Magus Society set to release in a month. Even though it hasn’t been announced in the Empire yet, judging by Gilbert’s momentum, it seems like they’ll release it simultaneously.”
When I heard Sylvia’s words, it appeared they were almost finished and preparing for release.
“Releasing such games every month… it’s absolutely unbelievable speed.”
“Yeah, I wonder if those people actually sleep?”
Jiren seemed to imagine the horrible nightmare of all-nighters, squinting his eyes shut.
Honestly, if someone asked me to create such a game on that kind of schedule, I’d probably react like Jiren.
To ask for games like Speed Rabbit and Suwang every two months?
That wasn’t a manageable development schedule for any human.
“What should we do, Yuren?”
Sylvia asked me with an earnest expression.
Honestly, I suspected there would be such an issue even before Speed Rabbit was released.
With the gaming market growing, if other schools started developing games, it was certain that a rival could emerge that could catch up to our previous creations.
The expanding gaming market, increasing rivals, and the rising demands of gamers all came to mind as I considered how to meet all these needs with a game.
“If they come at us with quantity, we have to respond overwhelmingly in quality.”
In my mind, the image of the protagonist wielding a gigantic sword alongside the victory BGM of ‘that game’ resonated.
『 Da-da-da⬈dan⬊ da-da⬈da♫ 』
