Jiyou Network

Soon, discussions erupted online about whether Visage had a combat system.

Those who said yes got into detailed debates on how to deal with the ghosts.

Those who said no were universally mocked, told they hadn't played enough games and should go home and brush up.

The topic's heat remained high, dominating the top spots on every major gaming site.

It completely pushed Jungle Terror out of the public eye.

Even when a creator on the Danmu Network made a guide video, the comments were just about watching for laughs.

Everyone laughed at how they couldn't even copy properly.

This led to a sales disaster—the kind that couldn't be saved—making Jiyou Network once again the target of players popping champagne.

At that moment, in a tech park in Bin City, Jiyou Network's CEO, President An, stared at the financial report with a grim expression.

He directly messaged on the internal network for one of the five major studios, Leap Studio, to meet on the 5th floor.

No other reason—Jungle Terror was developed by this studio.

Now that sales had tanked, he naturally wanted an explanation.

The studio head, Yang Ying, felt his heart sink when he received the message. He sighed inwardly, knowing what was coming had finally arrived.

When the company greenlit this project, he knew it would go wrong.

First, the team had no experience with horror games. They didn't know how to write a story, what scare tactics to use, and the word "atmosphere" left them completely baffled.

Second, the development cycle was too short—only two months.

If they told other developers about this timeline, no one would believe it. Even people from other studios in the company thought it was a fantasy.

But it happened anyway, and his Leap Studio was stuck with it.

He wanted to point a finger at the higher-ups and yell: Fuck this! Do you even know how to make games?

Yang Ying sighed, stood up, looked around at his colleagues, and shook his head.

Then he called the Lead Programmer, Lead Designer, and Lead Artist—four people total—to the 5th-floor meeting room.

As soon as they entered, they saw President An sitting calmly in the main seat, looking at a document in his hands as if nothing had happened.

This made the group uneasy, their hearts pounding.

The calm before the storm!

Yang Ying and the others found seats and waited for President An to speak, but he kept staring at the document, not responding for a long time.

The vast meeting room pressed down on Yang Ying and the others.

So, under the pleading looks from the Lead Designer and the others, Yang Ying, as the head, had no choice but to steel himself and speak up.

"President An?"

His voice was small, his tone cautious.

After all, President An was known for judging by KPI. There was once a very capable manager in the company who had his bonus docked for failing to meet that month's KPI. President An then dissolved the team and reassigned him to another group. Over time, the manager quit.

In short, President An was the type of leader who showed no mercy.

Hearing someone call him, the President looked up, swept his gaze across the room, and finally landed on Yang Ying.

This put the latter under pressure again.

Fortunately, President An's gaze didn't linger. He turned back to the document, letting the group breathe a sigh of relief.

"Engineer Yang, let me ask you—how many people are in Leap Studio now?"

President An's voice was flat and emotionless, his eyes not on them, yet it felt like a judgment.

Yang Ying hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Including us, thirty-two people."

President An nodded and continued, "So with that many people, plus the 1.2 million budget the company approved, tell me—what were the sales for Jungle Terror?"

Yang Ying's head throbbed.

The sales issue had been keeping him up at night for days.

Because they sold so few—so few he was embarrassed to answer now.

But since the President asked, he couldn't not say.

So Yang Ying took a deep breath and quietly gave the sales figure.

"...1,408 units."

"1,408. Hmm."

President An immediately responded, his tone flat.

This reaction only made Yang Ying and the others feel more uneasy.

"Now tell me—with a development budget of over a million and more than thirty people, how did you make a game like this? And that's not counting the 400,000 in marketing costs."

Yang Ying scratched his head and glanced at the Lead Designer beside him. Seeing the man shake his head helplessly, he had no choice but to steel himself and answer again.

"President An, this has nothing to do with how many people we have. The main issue is the development cycle isn't enough. Games with this much detail and gameplay variety really need time to polish. But with a two-month development window, we gave it our all and this is the best we could do. A game like this would take at least a year."

"Then how did someone else make theirs in such a short time?"

President An cut off Yang Ying without hesitation, lifting his eyes from the documents in his hands to look at him.

"That was one person developing it, and you've got over thirty people. Can't your numerical advantage make up for the time? Can't you beat what one person did in a month?"

Yang Ying and the others widened their eyes in disbelief. Could their president actually buy into that claim?

One person? One month? It was obviously a gimmick!

How could President An take it at face value?

They exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

President An wasn't in a hurry. He crossed his arms and stared at them, waiting for an explanation.

Yang Ying looked at the Lead Programmer, signaling him to handle this technical question.

The latter's expression soured, but he still spoke up.

"President An, we analyzed the game 'Dark Forest.' Setting aside the art, story, and stat design, just looking at the technical side alone, there's no way one person could produce that volume in a month. There has to be a team behind it."

But before he could finish, President An waved him off.

"I called you here not to hear you gush about how amazing others are, but to tell me what you're going to do about this situation."

President An set down the documents, his expression displeased.

"Do you know why I had you halt the 'Warfire' project? It's because horror games are showing signs of blowing up! The sooner you get into this niche market, the sooner you can grab a slice of the pie. Look at that game—Dark Forest or whatever it's called—didn't it score both critical and commercial success? If others can do it, why can't Tech Game? That's why I told you to stop working on the shooter and immediately study the structure of that black forest game, then copy one out to test the waters."

President An stood up and lit a cigarette.

In the meeting room, only someone of his rank dared to smoke here.

"I originally thought that with your skills, you could at least churn out something decent. Then, with the company's marketing channels and reputation, even if sales were bad, we'd break even. That way, we'd understand the market and could greenlight the next project early for focused development. But what happened? Only 1,408 copies sold? And you're blaming the company for not giving you enough development time?"

President An finished, let out a sigh, and looked at the silent group. He shook his head.

"Your problem now is that your KPI is way behind the other teams. 'Warfire' isn't done yet, and 'Jungle Terror' already flopped. Meanwhile, a lot of companies are eyeing the horror game market. Your game is just stepping stone for them. And on top of that, Only Game is about to release a new title. What do we have to compete with?"

"Since you say the company gave you too short a development cycle, fine. The company is giving you a new chance."

He picked up the document he'd been reading earlier and slid it across the conference table, stopping right in front of Yang Ying.

The latter frowned, reached out, picked it up, and flipped it open. His eyes went wide.

Seeing him take it, President An continued.

"'Jungle Terror' is written off as a failed market test. Upper management accepts that. Now you should have some experience making horror games, so here's your second chance. The higher-ups have spared no expense and approved a second budget—6.65 million. The requirement is to create an original, high-quality horror game to break into the market. It doesn't have to sell huge numbers, but it must earn the respect of those gamers who only care about gameplay, laying the foundation for future projects."

Yang Ying looked at the budget document in his hand, then at the Lead Designer and the others. Under the pressure of this second chance, a terrifying new game concept began to take shape in his mind.

Online, despite the poor sales of 'Jungle Terror,' its price remained unchanged at 168 yuan. Tech Game was dead set on keeping it that way.

All netizens could do was remark, 'Way to go, Tech Game.'

Even after such a disaster, still trying to save face?

Meanwhile, at Only Game, Meng Shu was meticulously polishing his game in an engine so simple even a monkey could use it.

'Visage' was already complete. This was his third round of polish.

Thanks to the system, the game had no bugs and didn't really need much tweaking, but the problem lay in the horror experience.

The reason was that when he tested it with VR, the incredibly realistic atmosphere blew him away!

It was a completely different gaming experience from playing on a computer screen!

Especially when he tested the Sanity Points dropping and the Vengeful Spirit coming after him—the sense of despair and the will to survive were unparalleled.

Even he couldn't help but feel a hint of tension and fear.

Keep in mind, Meng Shu had already cleared the game once before. He knew exactly where the jump scares were and where the story triggers happened.

If even he felt fear...

Wouldn't the players be in for a much worse time?

In fact, Xia Nianzhen had already been scared to tears during her playtest.

So if players went in with that 'I'm a newbie' clueless expression, it might backfire.

Thus, he revised it over and over, trying to tone down some of the more terrifying parts to avoid traumatizing anyone.

And so, day by day passed. On the day before the release date, 'Visage' was finally complete!

Thanks to 'Reader 9150' for the monthly ticket support! Thanks to 'Village Bridge Log' for the monthly ticket support!