Game Developer in the World of Anime

After school, since his game had launched today, Ichin decided not to have anyone continue testing it. He had already given activation codes to all the members of the Game Club, and they were surely playing it themselves. If there were any bugs, they could easily contact him via phone.

It was the same with Eriri. She had already mentioned it during lunch, so Ichin packed up his bag and prepared to head home.

Glancing at Utaha standing next to him, Ichin asked, "I'm heading home. What about you?"

Utaha stood up as well and replied, "I'm going to the publishing house first."

"Alright, let's head out together."

After leaving the school building and walking towards the school gate, Utaha asked, "You didn't check the sales much this afternoon, did you? Any estimates?"

"Not really," Ichin said, shaking his head with a smile. "But I think today's results shouldn't be bad. I'll check when I get home."

Outside the school gate, Utaha headed off towards the publishing house while Ichin hopped on his bike and rode home.

Once he got home, Ichin put his things away and went to the study room. He turned on his computer, logged into Steam, and opened the sales dashboard.

"What is this?"

Staring at the game's sales figures in the backend, Ichin was stunned.

Twenty thousand?

"How did it go up so fast?"

With confusion, Ichin opened several domestic forums and found many discussions about Slay the Spire.

"Thanks to the streamers and content creators promoting it, players have been trying out the game and then spreading the word themselves? The effect is even better than I expected. It seems this type of game is indeed quite easy to get into."

In recent years, there had been a steady stream of independent games in the domestic market, but most were either simulation-type or pixel-styled games.

The appearance of Slay the Spire—with its moderate difficulty and engaging mechanics—coupled with Ichin's low introductory price of 50 RMB in the Chinese region, was enough to attract a lot of curious players to give it a try.

"Hm, this promotional effort worked out well, so let's give something back."

As he spoke, Ichin started contacting the content creators and streamers who had helped him promote the game, giving each of them twenty activation codes to use as giveaway prizes in their streams or social media posts.

After the game reached the next sales milestone, he planned to give out even more activation codes.

Once he had sent all the codes, Ichin turned off his computer and decided to make himself some dinner.

He cooked some noodles and made a couple of small side dishes as toppings. While watching TV, he quickly finished his meal.

After washing the dishes, the doorbell rang.

Drying his hands, Ichin stepped out of the kitchen and opened the front door, finding Utaha standing there.

"Good evening," Utaha greeted with a smile, her hands clasped behind her back. "Did you check the sales?"

"Yeah, I did. Come on in."

"Sure, sorry for the intrusion."

After stepping into the living room, Utaha took a seat on the sofa and asked, "Judging by your expression, things went pretty well?"

"Yeah, the sales have surpassed twenty thousand," Ichin replied, and a growing smile spread across his face.

"Twenty thousand? That's quite impressive," Utaha responded, smiling happily at the news.

"Congratulations! Hitting twenty thousand sales on the first day for a game you developed on your own is amazing. As you accumulate funds and build a small studio, the efficiency and quality of your games will only get better."

"A studio is still a long way off," Ichin said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Right now, I'm just a student, and hiring people isn't easy."

While the idea of starting a studio was tempting, Ichin knew it wasn't the right time yet. He also had high standards when it came to recruitment—he didn't want to hire just anyone.

Utaha could tell Ichin wanted to build a studio but felt he wasn't ready yet, so he was taking things cautiously. Since she didn't know much about game development, she avoided giving unnecessary advice and instead asked about his plans for the next game.

"Since Slay the Spire only needs regular updates, do you have any plans for your next game?" Utaha asked.

"Next game? Yeah, I do," Ichin nodded with a smile. "I've got a few ideas, but I haven't decided yet. All of them are more complex to develop compared to Slay the Spire's card-based battle mechanics."

Ichin had three games in mind as potential candidates for development: The Binding of Isaac, Dead Cells, and Hollow Knight.

The Binding of Isaac was a dungeon-crawling game with a top-down perspective. The combat was centered around bullet-hell shooting, and players could combine various items to create unique and varied fighting styles. There was a popular saying among Isaac players: "The uglier the character, the stronger they are," which fit with the game's dark and grotesque art style that was heavily influenced by religious themes. The monster and boss designs incorporated crude and grotesque elements, and the storyline was dark and intense.

In Ichin's previous world, the game went through many updates over a long period, with more and more items being added, making it a major time sink.

The other two games, Dead Cells and Hollow Knight, were both action games. Dead Cells had a pixelated visual style, while Hollow Knight was a 2D action-adventure in the Metroidvania genre.

All three games were highly replayable, but each came with its own set of development challenges.

Ichin scratched his head and sighed. "There's only so much one person can do. After making one game, I don't want to keep churning out the same type. But with the ideas I have right now, even just the art side of things is more than I can handle on my own."

"Can you tell me more about them? What kind of games are they?" Utaha asked.

"They're mostly action games. Designing those requires a lot of work. Whether it's pixel art or 2D visuals, it's not something I can handle as easily by myself—unlike Slay the Spire, which didn't have very demanding art requirements."

Ichin stretched and leaned back against the sofa, staring at the ceiling. "Well, I'll take it one step at a time. I'll have to wait until Slay the Spire transitions into a full release before I start thinking about the next game. Anyway, enough about that. How did things go at the publishing house?"

"Not bad," Utaha replied, smiling as she looked at Ichin lounging lazily. "I handed part of my manuscript to my editor, and she seemed pretty pleased. She said my progress has been astonishingly fast."

She glanced at Ichin a couple of times, her expression a bit uncertain.

Noticing Utaha's gaze, Ichin turned his head and asked, "What is it?"

Utaha shook her head without saying anything, but beneath her long hair, her ears had a faint blush.

Earlier at the publishing house, Utaha's editor, Machida Sonoko, had commented that her writing had become more delicate in its portrayal of characters' inner emotions, drawing readers in deeply.

She even asked Utaha if she was in love.

Of course, she wasn't in love, but…

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