Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

Following the success of ‘Undertale’, game designers from all around had their attention drawn towards the concept of “meta-elements”.

If judged on plot alone, ‘Undertale’ is excellent, but it would definitely be unable to achieve such a high level of praise and success.

But with the addition of the meta-elements, the impact was amplified, leaving deep and long lasting impressions.

In fact, it wasn’t just indie game designers, but mid and senior level designers too. Heck, even some VR focused designers had their eyes on the game. 

In a way, it was a good learning experience for game designers as a whole, enlightening them on the existence of the concept and how it can be effectively implemented.

While everyone was busy scratching their heads, learning something new, Chen Xu was having a relaxing day.

It’s good to bask in your success every so often, enjoying the feeling to motivate yourself not to lose it. ‘Undertale’ could be described as a double harvest, bringing fame and fortune for Nebula Games.

In the office, Chen Xu sipped on a packet of milk, endorsed by Ningxue, and played around with his system interface.

Honestly, he was slightly disappointed. This latest release has earned him more points than ‘Mirror’ so far. But in the grand scheme, it wasn’t much.

2.1 million emo points from ‘Undertale’ alone. Enough for 21 draws.

A lot more than ‘Mirror’, but a gacha player would still feel the uncomfortable itch, not that he was one.

Chen Xu speculated on the mechanics of his system. He made an educated guess, suspecting that players had to buy the game and feel the emotions while playing it to generate points.

Perhaps he was not getting any points if the people are simply watching the content, like in videos and livestreams.

Spending money and getting strong emotional fluctuations… This gave him several nasty ideas, but he would restrain them, for now…

Thinking back, besides first contact with the meta-elements, most of the strong emotions would likely come from going down the Genocide route.

However, compared to the total player base, the number of people willing to go down this route was actually very small.

Especially after a lot of video content of the game was released, many people couldn’t bear to do it themselves, so they just watched Let’s Players and streamers do it instead.

He would have to find ways around this issue eventually.

Anyways, back to the system lottery. Unlike modern gacha games, the system lottery didn’t seem to have any safeguards or pity mechanics. There was no option to draw 10 in a row for a guaranteed valuable reward.

Perhaps this was because every single reward given by the system is valuable.

Chen Xu began to draw from the system, praying for something really good each time, he felt like a shaman conducting a pagan ritual.

The only downside was this blinding golden light every time he did it. Can he opt out of this?

The light receded, revealing a [ plot + 1 ] skill book.

The most retina boiling golden light and the most ordinary products can be yours today! Order now!

This damned light can still be seen even if he closes his eyes… With a sigh, Chen Xu used up all his draws.

And after 21 draws, he believed he forgot to wash his hands.

He got 2 memory banks, which were fantastic, while the rest were all ordinary skill books. Not a single rare to be seen.

On the bright side, the skill books included art, music, plot, level design, and numericals. A wide and useful coverage.

He finished his milk, which was surprisingly good, Chen Xu used up every skill book and dismissed the system interface.

Logging into the official game engine, he checked his account details with the Capital City Game Department, finding that the previously available resources had doubled, from 1024 to 2048.

Apparently, even though he hadn’t applied for a title rank up, the higher-ups have taken notice of his recent success and granted him an upgrade to his designer level. Not bad.

“Time to start thinking about the next game.” Chen Xu leaned back in his chair and let his mind wander.

A 3A game? He ruled this one out. He wasn’t ready for such an undertaking yet. Besides, he was a bit of a perfectionist, so he wanted to have the manpower, resources, funds and skills to make sure it was top-shelf quality.

For now, he would lean into low-cost indie games. Because they were judged mainly on creative gameplay and storytelling, while 3A games were judged more heavily across all aspects.

Therefore, the current plan was to focus on small-scale, low-cost games. Then use the income to grow the team at Nebula Games.

Speaking of which, they actually had some money now, so it was time to expand. He grimaced as he thought back to the insane overtime the team went through to have ‘Undertale’ ready for launch ahead of schedule.

Let’s avoid that in the future.

Now, where was he? Oh yes, the next game.

A mobile gacha? No, no he couldn’t. Once he did that, there would be no turning back. This world would be tainted, and the reputation damage might be huge. He’ll think about it next time.

Things are different here, the market is different here. People were still making a profit out of one-time purchased games, the horror of microtransactions wasn’t here, and he didn’t want to be the one to introduce it.

Chen Xu was determined to go down the path of releasing high quality products.

……….

In a conference room, Nebula Games office.

Chen Xu addressed the people gathered in the room, giving everyone an update on the achievements and results of ‘Undertale’ and the ‘Mirror’ DLC.

At the same time, he announced that Nebula Games would be focusing on expanding the team in the short term.

Some new regulations were discussed, and Chen Xu, as the founder of the company, inevitably made a few promises and sold a vision to the team.

He had to say, the feeling of making big promises to yourself is quite different from making big promises and feeding it to other people. Now he understood why so many people did it.

It felt pretty cool.

After finishing up the admin and personnel matters, Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue stayed behind to begin discussing the next game.

“Is it going to be a sequel to ‘Undertale’? Yang Xin asked with sparkling eyes. The taste of success was so good, the future looked so bright. This was her ideal career in the gaming industry!

Ruan Ningxue sat next to her, equally excited.

When she first joined, it was partly because she wanted to help Chen Xu and Yang Xin out as a friend, partly because it felt pretty good to be involved in making a game, and partly because she might have a future in this field.

But now?

She doesn’t just have a future, she has a great future.

In many of the websites and forums she frequented, she could easily find fanart of the characters of ‘Mirror’ and ‘Undertale’, and it made her feel wonderful.

After all, they were projects she was heavily involved in, responsible for many of the in-game and promotional artwork. In the past, she was the one who drew fanart of other works; but now, others drew fanart of her work.

Hearing Yang Xin’s question, Chen Xu smiled and answered, “We will be starting a new project, yes. But it’s not going to be a sequel, or another meta-game.”

Not a sequel to ‘Undertale’? And not a meta-game?

The girls were taken aback, but also intrigued.