Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

In a conference room, Chen Xu was going over the schedules and checklists of upcoming projects with Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue.

Handling ‘Mirror’ would be easy. All they had to do was follow their previous working templates, create the appropriate illustrations, get the dialogue and dubbing in.

What they were really looking forward to was the development of ‘Undertale’.

In his previous life, ‘Undertale’ was the work of an independent game developer, one Toby Fox.

It touched the hearts of countless players across the globe and became an instant classic. A good example of a meta-game.

But unlike other meta-games like ‘Pony Island’, ‘ICEY’ and ‘The Stanley Parable’, ‘Undertale’ was exceptional in how it combined meta elements with RPG elements, subverting the traditional ideas and understandings of what it meant to be an RPG.

The core ideas of the game are relatively clear.

The heart and soul of ‘Undertale’ is the story combined with the meta features. While the gameplay was there to add flavor to the story.

Of course, it was not a perfect game, and there were features Chen Xu was looking forward to making improvements on.

The graphics, for instance, were the first thing that needed some improvements.

‘Undertale’, in his previous life, made use of very simple pixel graphics and hand-drawn lines. Not because it was a great option, but because the creator simply didn’t have the resources. It was an indie solo game, after all.

Thankfully it all worked out well.

Some experts and journalists infer that the game was successful due to its unique art style. But Chen Xu does not agree.

While it is true that pixel art games are not necessarily cheap, Chen Xu has witnessed the wonders of pixel art when it is pushed to the limit. Such as the beautiful ‘Octopath Traveler’ or the smooth motions of arcade fighting games.

As a meta-game with its core focus on story, Chen Xu reckons that having improved graphics will only add to the game, not detract from it.

‘Minecraft’, for example, chooses a pixel style because the block-building gameplay lends itself well to the shape of pixels.

But ‘Undertale’s’ art style is obviously not a product of compromise for the sake of gameplay.

Of course, aside from the visuals, the plot and music of the game can be considered classics.

After all, Sans’s “Megalovania” and Undine’s “Battle against a true Hero” cannot be denied.

After giving Yang Xi and Ruan Ningxue a brief overview of the core content of ‘Undertale’, Chen Xu also showed them the rough character designs.

The warm looking mother goat, the mellow king who strikes a majestic figure with his trident in battle, two skeleton brothers, one short and one tall, with their goofy expressions…

The main character concepts were sketched by Chen Xu himself. While the many ordinary monsters and NPCs could be outsourced. Once they meet the requirements, they could be accepted.

Or Ningxue could work on them if they ended up ahead of schedule, which would be preferable.

As for the plot, there was the Neutral route, True Pacifist route, Genocide route, and a Hypocrite route which Chen Xu added himself.

If there was ever a good game to spend the system memory bank on, it was this one. Chen Xu used it to refresh his understanding of the game and spent the following day going through each of the routes in detail.

After that, it was up to Yang Xin to fill in the rest.

With the division of labor and responsibilities out of the way, Chen Xu returned to his station and booted up the official engine. It was time to set the framework for ‘Undertale’.

“Ningxue, was it like this when you guys made ‘Mirror’?”

Yang Xin’s eyes trembled as she went through the extremely detailed flowcharts and manuscripts in her hands.

Ruan Ningxue, who was already busy, looked up from her work. “Yea, pretty much, why do you ask? Are we doing something wrong?”

“Of course there’s something wrong! It’s going too smoothly!” Everything is laid out too clearly!” Yang Xin silently screamed.

At a glance, ‘Undertale’ was a small game.

But even so, the planning was airtight, the instructions too clear, she felt as if she had been given a cheat sheet, like Chen Xu was going to drag her lifeless body across the finish line even if she was deadweight.

Thinking back to the stress and chaos of developing games in her own company, she felt as if her previous employees were toying with her on purpose.

Letting out a sigh, Yang Xin shook her head to clear her mind. It was a new beginning now, and she would take it seriously. She began reviewing her list of tasks and got to work.

  ……………

On Chen Xu’s side, his mind was serene.

He was currently experimenting with the official engine.

The available resources had increased by a factor of 20 compared to when he started work on ‘Mirror’.

It was completely sufficient for his current plans, but many options were still locked, and having more was always welcome.

Unfortunately, he had to either upgrade the ranking of his professional game designer title, or purchase them directly.

To upgrade his rank, he could choose to persevere slowly, accumulating experience over the years.

Or he could do so by winning valuable awards, or bringing about some positive changes to the gaming industry as a whole.

To a certain extent, ‘Mirror’ could be viewed as a force of innovation to the stagnant erotic games genre. So maybe he would be nominated for something in the future.

But he digressed, his full focus should be on ‘Undertale’.

On the software side, this indie game would not be too difficult for Chen Xu, it did not present any huge technical challenges, especially with the more advanced technology of this world.

The true challenge was to nail the feeling of the plot, the dialogue, the atmosphere, and the music.

The music in ‘Undertale’ was brilliant.

This is a key point shared in many excellent indie games that left lasting impressions.

Story, music, and creative gameplay mechanics have always been the three pillars by which an indie game distinguishes itself.

Some time later…

“Sister Xin, look at this! Who is this person? Why is he attacking us!?”

Yang Xin took a look and immediately understood.

“This person is an opportunistic dog, he’s probably jealous of ‘Mirror’s’ sales, and if I remember correctly, his company is about to release a new game, so he’s trying to start drama around ‘Mirror’ to promote his own game. He’s done this sort of thing before.”

Noticing the agitation of Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue, Chen Xu came over to see what the fuss was about, a hot cup of coffee in his hand.

“What’s up?”

Seeing him approach, Yang Xin held the phone above her head, “This guy, he’s trying to stir shit up.”

It was a video released by a channel called Game Space Media.

He took the phone and tapped the screen. In the video was a middle aged man sitting behind a microphone and a desk, the setup reminded him of podcasts or commentary channels.

Beside him was an image of a character from ‘Mirror’

(fully clothed, but that’s not saying much ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

It seemed like the man was reviewing the game.

“Game designers these days will do anything to get players’ attention!”

“This is vulgar, extremely vulgar!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, you know me, you know my stance on games. I believe games are a form of art. And to call this thing a game, would be an insult to the gaming industry as a whole.”

“Can we allow such game designers to bring their influence into the industry?”

“Of course we can’t!”

“If content like this were to be included in ‘Blooming’, the upcoming game developed by my company, I would be too ashamed to have my name on it. I wouldn’t even show my face!”

“So, for the sake of our industry, I sincerely hope that game designers will stop trying to use cheap gimmicks, and instead do more research on how to make good games. Stop using vulgar content to draw attention.”

It was a two minute video filled with righteous indignation.

However, Chen Xu noticed something interesting in the comments section.

While some people were actually applauding the video, there was also a large number of sarcastic comments.

• [Lmao, this guy’s running his mouth again]

• [Other peoples games = vulgar. My games = art]

• [Alright, alright, just tell us about your new game already]

• [Didn’t you watch the video? It’s called ‘Blooming’]

Chen Xu watched the whole video, skimmed the comments, and confirmed his thoughts with Yang Xin. He came to an understanding.

This person’s name is Zhong Mei, a game designer under a company called Hepai Style. He also owns the company.

(河派文体 = River Faction Writing Style = Hepai Style)

His reputation in the gaming world is a bit mixed.

In terms of positives, Zhong Mei has released some well-received games in the past. And while none of his games have been hugely popular in recent years, the quality has never been bad.

On the negative side, he has been known to look for games that have gained some popularity and then try to tear them down and use them to promote his own games.

Chen Xu is definitely not the first game designer to receive this treatment from Zhong Mei.

Ah, this arc brings back memories… I watched so many playthroughs of Undertale… Good times, good times…