The Regressed Game Director Is Too Competent

GOTY (Game of the Year).

Literally, it’s a term referring to awards given to the outstanding game that represents the year among many games released annually.

However, later on, as the awards became overly commercialized and turned into popularity contests, their prestige declined considerably… but that was much later.

At this point in the mid-2010s, it was an award that boasted absolute authority.

So it was all the more incomprehensible why it had been nominated.

Because GOTY, whether in the past or the present, has tended to prioritize game quality over commercial success.

On the contrary, mobile games have always been perceived as a genre that’s distant from the concept of game quality generally associated with traditional games.

It feels awkward to say this as a mobile game developer, but it’s true—mobile games have heavily leaned towards commercialization.

This was partly due to the ease of in-game purchases, but at the end of the day, it was because the platform itself had clear limitations.

No matter how much effort was put into making a game, the reality was that most of it was unfeasible due to the limits of the mobile platform.

In any case, to sum it up, the game Reverse Arcadia was entirely unrelated to the GOTY award.

Therefore, after the regression, I hadn’t paid any attention to the GOTY whatsoever… until.

A sudden email forced me to completely revise my understanding of the situation.

[Subject: Notice Regarding the Nomination for the Golden Joystick Awards]

Sent by: GamesRader+

[This email is only sent to parties involved with the nominated titles.]

We sincerely congratulate your company’s game for being nominated for the Golden Joystick Awards [Still Playing Award].

We kindly ask the concerned parties to carefully review the below-mentioned precautions.

…

Until the nominee list is officially published on the website, we request that you maintain strict confidentiality.

…

Once again, we sincerely congratulate your nomination for the Golden Joystick Awards [Still Playing Award].

[Reply][Forward]

Honestly, at first, I was about to delete this email, thinking it was spam because the content seemed so unrealistic.

However, after realizing it was a genuine email, the first thing I did was take a screenshot and share it with the employees at RA Studio.

I couldn’t possibly keep such great news to myself.

Admittedly, I was more eager to see the surprised reactions of the RA Studio employees.

True to my expectations, within just three minutes of sending the email, cheers erupted from the floor where RA Studio was located, reaching my ears.

If the team members’ reactions were this enthusiastic, I could only imagine how wild the community would get.

I was already starting to look forward to it.

***

A few days later.

As promised in the email, the list of nominees for the Golden Joystick Awards was published on the official GamesRader website.

Although it wasn’t as prestigious as the other four of the five major GOTY ceremonies, it was still one of the five, which began to draw global gamers’ attention.

Gamers carefully scanned the list of nominees, savoring the moment.

What captured their attention, however, was not the game that shocked everyone with its storytelling and gameplay, nor the one that stunned with record-breaking sales and the creation of a new genre.

It was one of the nominees for the [Still Playing Award].

The reason was simple.

Among the many formidable competitors, it was the only mobile game.

That’s right.

The one that caught their attention was Reverse Arcadia.

Global gamers were surprised by this unusual move by GamesRader, and soon debates began to unfold across gaming communities in various countries.

Of course, our country was no exception.

The place where the most intense arguments broke out was none other than the Ancient Games Mini Gallery.

[Nickname: Anonymous]

[Title: What? How did this game end up on the GJA nominee list?]

[GamesRader website capture image]

<List of Nominees for the [Still Playing Award]>

– Final Destination 14

– Death Frame 2

– Overwalk

– War of Tanks

– Rainbow Kingdom Siege

– SandboxCraft

– Reverse Arcadia

– Hex Stone

?

Doesn’t there seem to be a mole here?

[Comment List][Registered Order]

– Hahaha, it blends in so naturally. Hahaha.

– What? When did crappy mobile games start getting nominated for GOTY?

– I think GJA started this with Reverse Arcadia?

– Really, GOTY has become all about money. Haha.

[Nickname: Anonymous]

[Title: But on second thought, why can’t mobile games win GOTY?]

PC games have similar monetization structures to mobile games.

And isn’t pay-to-win and DLC breaking the norm in online and packaged games?

Honestly, while Reverse Arcadia is a mobile game, it has platform-transcending quality.

Shouldn’t it actually be awarded extra points for overcoming the limitations of the platform?

[Comment List][Registered Order]

– True.

– Leave this community, Ligator.

– Are you crazy? Hahahaha.

– But honestly, the guy does have a point… why are people so angry?

– No matter what, mobile games just don’t belong.

[Nickname: Anonymous]

[Title: The Golden Joystick is the worst of the five major GOTY ceremonies…jpg]

[Golden Joystick Awards trophy photo]

The ones who nominated a mobile game…

GJA << Such amateur hour.



[Comment List][Registered Order]

- Yeah, only you think it’s bad.

- Ligator, just leave this community.

- Where are the moderators? They aren't doing their job? You guys, kick these community pests.

- If you're so upset, why don't you start your own community. Haha.





Just as expected, the community descended into chaos.

Jae-hyun could only sigh as he observed this chaos in the community.

With his lack of experience in games, he couldn't relate to the reasons behind the conflict between mobile and PC gamers.

Whether it’s a mobile or PC game, if it’s well-made, shouldn’t it be eligible for awards like GOTY?

Of course, this opinion was influenced by his deep immersion in Reverse Arcadia, but what does it matter?

'My game winning an award makes me happy, and that’s all that matters.'

With that thought, he logged into his work email to find a pile of incoming messages.

'I wonder who has requested another outsourcing job...'

Recently, his rising reputation meant that if he didn’t check his work email for a few days, a stack of outsourcing requests would pile up.

It's true that illustrators should make money when they can, and he enjoyed drawing, but...

Honestly, he was beginning to feel the need for a break.

No matter how introverted he was, he couldn’t stay cooped up at home forever, right?

While pondering this, he came across a particular email which made him discard the rest of the outsourcing requests.

Because this request had the highest priority for immediate work.

It was a direct external job request for a GOTY commemorative illustration from Enson GT.

Should I call it sheer confidence...?

Based on how they'd requested the commemorative illustration even before the award ceremony, it was evident that they were quite confident about winning.

In that case, as one of their first-year fans, there's no better way to contribute.

After immediately responding to the request, he started brainstorming the composition for the commemorative illustration in his head.

I should ensure the illustration exudes a celebratory mood for the GOTY, with a layout that will be well-received by the commanders.

***

Although the GOTY nomination was unexpected, I didn't for a second think we wouldn't win.

The reason was simple.

Since we were nominated for the GJA.

If it were an awards ceremony like BAFTA or D.I.C.E, which are decided by jury votes, there wouldn't have been much chance.

Fortunately, the Golden Joystick Awards are determined by internet user votes.

Given the immense popularity Reverse Arcadia currently enjoys, this was certainly a battle worth fighting.

Still, there was a potential risk of losing in the voting...

After much deliberation on how to encourage users to vote, I decided to directly encourage voting.

Though I didn’t intend to do a live broadcast, I planned to release a video, similar to what I’ve done before.

After all, encouraging votes through a live stream just felt a bit off.

The GJA voting encouragement video spread like wildfire across the Reverse Arcadia community.



[Nickname: Anonymous]
[Title: There's a GJA vote encouragement video uploaded on the Reverse Arcadia YouTube channel!!!]

[Vote encouragement video YouTube link]

[Photo of Director Jihojin bowing deeply as a sign of respect]

The gist of the video content is roughly as follows:

Hello, commanders of Reverse Arcadia.

This is Jihojin.

First of all, I have some good news to share with all of you. As you already know, our Reverse Arcadia has been nominated for the GJA GOTY Award.

However, the category we are nominated in is not the 'Game of the Year'.

We have been nominated for the [Still Playing Award].

This honors the best games that users continue to love even years after release.

This nomination means that thanks to your continued support and interest, two years after the launch of Reverse Arcadia, we’ve earned a place among the nominees.

Please consider casting your valuable vote for us during the GJA voting. We sincerely appreciate your continued support.

As the weather turns chilly, please take care of your health. We'll see each other again in November when the winners are announced.

Thank you.



Whoa.

After watching this video, I immediately voted on the GJA website.



[Comment List][Registered Order]

- Whoa.

- Jeez.

- Is it okay for them to promote voting like this?

- Of course, they’ve checked everything, haha.

- Other games do the same thing.





[Nickname: Anonymous]
[Title: Currently, Reverse Arcadia artists are doing a vote encouragement challenge on social media 😂]

[Henrietta clip holding a sign with a pleading expression]

It's definitely clear that the public perception is good. 😂

If it was a game infamous for probability manipulation and they had asked for help, they’d only have been mocked.

Since a respectful vote encouragement video was uploaded, Reverse Arcadia's illustrators seem to have jumped in, creating a challenge. 😂

Foreigners asking if it's election time are countless 😂

Also, interestingly, there are almost as many Japanese illustrators as there are Korean ones, proving the overall positive atmosphere abroad too.

Honestly, I never imagined a game that fosters such user-friendly fandom in Korea and Japan.

Just Jeez.



[Comment List][Registered Order]

- There are so many famous artists 😂😂

- This summer's Comiket was all about Reverse Arcadia, and this time it will probably be the same 😂

- Where do you vote?

- Just register on the GamesRader website and you're good to go.





The effect of the vote encouragement video was enormous.

It was truly enormous.

Especially the unexpected wave of the illustration challenge among artists wasn't something I had predicted at all.

Initially, my expectations were only aimed at slightly increasing the voting among users who didn’t know about the GOTY voting.

But seeing the challenge spread not only across Korea but internationally, my confidence only grew stronger.

That our nominee for the GJA [Still Playing Award] was sure to be ours.

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