“Thomas Kart” has been released.
Of course, it had to go through balance adjustments and QA to ensure it wasn’t a complete mess, like a test version.
There were two special aspects about the release of “Thomas Kart.”
The first was that it is the first game to be evaluated by the “Game Review Institution.” To prevent issues like Blue Shock, I came up with the idea of creating a transparent evaluation institution for games.
Of course, simply hiring public officials would mean that, like in any world, they might half-heartedly do their jobs or abuse their power, leading to problems similar to Blue Shock. So, the method I devised was a user evaluation system.
I provided game store owners with crystal balls that allowed access to the Game Review Institution, enabling users who bought the game to play it and leave their evaluations and scores.
Once the evaluations were collected, a magical tool created by the institution would automatically organize the data, allowing other users to view the information before deciding to purchase the game.
Of course, some of this role was already being filled by the magazine “Zers Gamer,” but unlike what the Gilbert Consortium did, we could release it before the magazine came out. With this institution in place, that kind of manipulation was impossible, and it allowed for a much quicker filtering of boring games than “Zers Gamer” could manage.
The most important aspect of this institution was that its existence pressured developers to continuously pay attention to the fun factor of their games.
Of course, we felt the same pressure.
That evening on the day of “Thomas Kart’s” release, we gathered at a restaurant.
We were anxiously waiting in front of the game review crystal ball for our game’s evaluation.
Thump… thump… thump…
“Disciple, when will the results come out?”
“Let’s see… It updates every 6 hours, so there are about 5 minutes left now.”
The Master was staring at the crystal ball with excitement in his eyes, like a child who just discovered a new toy.
Meanwhile, Sora was so tense that she couldn’t look directly at the crystal ball.
“I-I’m so nervous. Yuren, my game has to be fun for everyone…”
It seemed Sora was worrying about any unforeseen circumstances, probably because of the Blue Shock incident, so I gently patted her head and reassured her.
“Don’t worry; we saw how it tested internally. It will surely do well.”
“…Yes!”
Thanks to my words, Sora seemed to regain some confidence and replied energetically.
But honestly, I was a bit anxious myself.
In this world, there exists a thing called “if.” It can pertain to both good and bad outcomes.
I might have a slight idea of the future of the game industry due to my past life’s experiences, but that was merely a prediction based on knowledge.
No one could be certain about the future until it was right in front of them.
As time passed, everyone’s eyes were glued to the game review crystal ball.
And then…
“Thomas Kart | Rating 9.5/10 | Absolutely, must play. It’s an amazing game!”
“YES!!!”
“Woooooah!!!”
We received an almost perfect score!
Phew… Just as expected; I knew this score would come out.
Everyone cheered in joy upon seeing the score, and I said,
“Alright! Everyone, listen up for a moment! Thanks to everyone’s efforts, especially [Sora], this game turned out to be a fun one. Great job, everyone. We can’t let a day like this pass without celebration, right?”
Today marked the joyful day of the game’s release.
Last time during “Eternal Fantasy,” we were too busy to celebrate properly, but this time, I wanted to have a proper ceremony for Sora as well.
“Today, we’re having a ‘Party’!!!”
“Wooooah!!!”
“It’s a party!!!!!”
“Yay!!!!”
“P-P-Party!?”
At my declaration, everyone erupted in cheers and began preparing for the party.
In fact, the preparations for the party had already been almost finished; we just needed to set out food, drinks, and alcohol, so everyone moved with incredible efficiency.
Only Sora still looked confused and dazed.
“Y-Yuren, what kind of party is this?”
“Huh? Naturally, we have to throw a celebration party when a game is released!”
“A celebration party?”
Seeing Sora’s expression, it seemed she had never experienced a celebration party after a game development.
Noticing how desolate the environment of the Magus Society must be from Sora’s expression, I explained,
“In the Irene School, it’s common sense to throw a celebration party when a game is released.”
“Is… Is that so? It’s common sense!!”
“And it’s not just an ordinary celebration party; it’s a special party just for us.”
“A special party?”
Sora hurriedly scribbled down my words, starting to absorb the common sense of the Irene School.
However, she was still thinking of it as an ordinary party, so when the preparations were nearly finished, I properly introduced our Irene School’s signature event to her.
“This is our Irene School’s specialty! The ‘All-Night Game Party’!”
“The ‘All-Night Game Party’?”
“That’s right!”
This party, which naturally began during Tetric, became our Irene School’s signature event.
Honestly, it was nothing special.
We simply eat, drink, play, and enjoy the game we released together.
All while staying up all night until the next day!!!
“Ah… Ah… testing voices…”
In fact, Norrin, who had become the MC for the Irene School event, was preparing at the front.
Once all the party preparations were complete and everyone confirmed their drinks were poured, I declared like JYJ.
“Then!!! Let’s start the Thomas Kart release party now!!!!”
“Yeeeeeah!!!!”
With everyone’s cheers, the fun party began.
While developing the game, this moment was the most enjoyable for me.
*
There was a second special aspect of “Thomas Kart.”
It was that the “Network Match” feature was being used for the first time.
It allowed gamers from remote areas to create rooms and compete freely.
This was something Yuren slyly slid into the establishment of the Game Review Institution.
As the existence of communication crystal balls showed, the concept of a network existed even in another world.
That was the “Roots of the World Tree.”
The roots of the World Tree are said to extend throughout the continent.
From those roots, a vast flow of magical power continuously flowed, and it used that magical flow like a cable to enable communication.
However, to use the roots of the World Tree, one had to go through a complicated procedure.
One had to register their magical powers and maintain a usage record.
If caught using it improperly (for crimes or terrorism), the penalty would be life imprisonment.
Given that it was a feudal class society, this was an inevitable issue.
Thus, it couldn’t be easily utilized for games, but to resolve the issue of Blue Shock, Yuren established the Game Review Institution and resolved this issue as well.
> We need to establish a game review institution for fast game evaluations.
> To gather information quickly, we need to use the Roots of the World Tree.
> Since we’re using it already, we want to use it for games as well.
With this reasonable three-step argument and Yuren’s efforts, the right to use the roots of the World Tree was granted, and Yuren immediately utilized it to incorporate a multiplayer mode into “Thomas Kart.”
Now, players from all over the world could meet in the game and play together.
“Alright! Everyone’s logged in, right!?”
“I’m in! Disciple!”
“I joined too! Brother!”
“Me too! Yuren!”
“I’m in! Yuren.”
I watched as the massive screen in our restaurant displayed the loading screen of “Thomas Kart,” now filled with 100 karts.
It was a sight to behold, with players from our Irene School, Juel School, and gamers from around the world gathered together.
Honestly, when this many people came together, no matter how balanced it was, the game was bound to get chaotic.
But I wanted to try it out at least once.
Why?
Because it looked fun!!
Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!
Over 100 karts revved their engines, preparing for a race.
Above everyone’s heads, user IDs appeared for differentiation as a network game.
Mine simply read “U.”
And then…
“Beep… Beep! Beep!!!!”
As the start signal rang out, everyone took off.
To prevent disasters, the item zones were placed a little farther from the track.
But with 100 people, it was like a catastrophe waiting to happen.
“AAAAAAAH!!!! Shells are flying at me!!!”
In a miraculous play, the Master took the lead while 20 turtle shells whizzed past him.
Anyone with a fear of turtles might faint just from that scene.
“What’s with all these water bombs on the track!!! AAAAAAH!!!!”
Next, the racer in second place, Jiren, was treated to a shower of water bombs.
Swept away by a storm of water, Jiren disappeared alongside the watery onslaught.
“Alright! Now I’ll be in 1st…”
With two players out, I began charging ahead, now in 1st place.
What awaited me were 30 carnivorous plants.
“You’re toast…”
Chomp! Chomp!
I dodged three plants, but ultimately, I got devoured and returned to the starting point.
I definitely have to get that guy nerfed next time.
It’s not like I got eaten just to call for a nerf.
*
In the end, the winner of the 100-player Thomas Kart race was neither the Irene School nor the Juel School.
It was a player from elsewhere, with “Bean” written above their head.
