Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

While they trusted Chen Xu, they still made their concerns known. 

“But we’ve created this wave, this trend. Shouldn’t we be taking advantage of it while we can? There’s no telling when this heat might die down.” Asked Yang Xin. Ruan Ningxue nodded in agreement. 

Nowadays, the game media was full of coverage or mentions of ‘Undertale’, giving different opinions and interpretations of the lore. 

And in many forums where game designers tend to hang out, the game was being heavily studied and discussed. 

After all, it brought such a breath of fresh air into the scene that it could quite possibly kickstart an entirely new genre of gaming. 

Some of the more proactive video game publishers and designers were already making announcements that their games either had meta-elements too, or that their upcoming games would have them. 

But now Chen Xu, the one who essentially created and popularized the concept, says he won’t do it?

If news of this comes out, one cannot imagine the surprise it would cause. 

Because the logic of this world would dictate that one should strike while the iron was hot. Just like how ‘Mirror’ released DLC before its popularity started to fade. 

In fact, Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue had already taken this for granted, having private meals and meetings to discuss their own thoughts about the lore of ‘Undertale’. 

In their eyes, the story of Asriel and Chara were basically mentioned in passing, not yet fully developed. So they suspected Chen Xu would want to start working on a prequel based around this. 

The two girls even had a whole document full of ideas ready to surprise him with! Such enthusiastic employees, surely he would shower them in praise!

What a let down. 

“It would be unsuitable, and the scale of meta-elements we can use will be limited. ‘Undertale’ gave players enough of a shock because they were not expecting it, they were not mentally prepared to deal with the meta-elements, because they had never seen nor heard of such concepts.”

“If we do it again, especially now, the response won’t be as good. In fact, it might be a lot worse. Their expectations will be too high, and they’ll be looking for meta-elements in every corner.”

Chen Xu explained patiently. 

While others here might not fully realize the nature of meta-games, Chen Xu did. 

Before his transmigration, meta-games weren’t anything special. 

And in his mind, he had only 4 of them selected for development at some point. ‘The Stanley Parable’, ‘Pony Island’, ‘ICEY’ and ‘Undertale’. The best 4 he could remember. 

But in terms of sales, only ‘Undertale’ and ‘ICEY’ were high. ‘The Stanley Parable’, which was critically acclaimed and brought meta-elements to the attention of many players in his previous life, did not sell as much. 

As for ‘Pony Island’, it remained obscure even after being played by popular video makers and livestreamers. 

The main reason is that meta-elements are not good as a main selling point. 

‘ICEY’ is an action RPG with meta-elements, ‘Undertale’ is a bullet hell RPG with meta-elements. Both games are supplemented by meta-elements, while ‘Pony Island’ and ‘The Stanley Parable’ put meta-elements first before supplementing them with other elements. 

While meta-elements can surely shock the players, it is still more suitable as a sort of supportive aspect to enhance the core content of the game. 

Once this was understood, many major games in his previous life have used this formula. 

For example, Psycho Mantis from the ‘Metal Gear’ series could read the memory card attached to the console. 

And an ending in NieR: Automata, where a player can use their save files to save others. 

These are all uses of meta-elements as an auxiliary. So the success of ‘Undertale’ is definitely not purely due to these meta-elements. 

Chen Xu ended his lecture, leaving out the names of the games but using their concepts as possible examples. His two students stared at him blank-faced and wide-eyed. 

They understood now, they just didn’t quite get it. 

But they were willing to accept his decision. 

And they came to the realization that many of their competitors would definitely be adding meta-elements into their games for the foreseeable future, so players might start experiencing aesthetic fatigue at some point. 

If we plan for that, we’ll once again be a breath of fresh air to the scene! Haha, how devious. 

Yang Xin rubbed her little hands together, “Alright boss man, so what are we doing?” 

“We’ll keep it low-budget. Save some money for expansion.”

“As for the type… Here, take a look at this.” He said as he turned on the projector of the conference room. 

On the screen was the homepage of a website: The Official Game Department

There was an announcement button flashing. Chen Xu clicked into it.

[[ Science is the source of human progress; scientific progress and innovation bring about earth-shattering changes in our lives. 

The official game department is now holding a contest. 

Genre: Science fiction

Theme: Technology changes life

Eligible contestants: Game designers across the country

Requirements: Healthy themes (please refer to the guidelines), no platform restrictions

Judgment: Hosted by the National Department of Entertainment. Dual model of reviews and player voting

Awards: One first prize, Three second prizes, Six third prizes. Excellence awards and commendations available 

Excellent works will be promoted and recommended on the homepage of the official platform after the event.

At the same time, the winning designers will be awarded the title of “Outstanding Designer” as a means of encouragement.

The registration period is from 1 to 5 September and the event ends at the end of September ]]

Yang Xin’s eyes grew serious as she took it in, “Are we participating?” 

She had heard of this event. 

It was framed as a national event for all game designers, but in reality, the participants would mostly be indie designers or small-to-medium sized gaming companies. 

Major corporations would not be interested in participating, because the awards were useless to them. With their high-cost, high-production value games, they have no shortage of exposure. 

Besides, their focus would be on the business side of the industry, and for the sake of business, their works would have some special elements to attract players. But those elements might be unseemly for an official event.

But for the current Nebula Games, it was a good opportunity. 

The organizer was a national entity, responsible for overseeing game reviews, the evaluation of game designer titles, the development of technology such as the game engines, etc. 

Being able to make an impression on such an entity would be great for Nebula Games in the long run. Perhaps they might even gain the recognition of some officials. 

The promotion and recommendation on the homepage of the official platform wouldn’t hurt either.