Jiyou Network

Before long, people online began discussing whether Visage had a combat system.

Those who said it did began detailed discussions about how to deal with the ghosts.

Those who said it did not were universally mocked, told that they had played too few games and should go home and catch up.

The topic remained enormously popular, occupying the top spot on all major gaming websites.

It completely pushed Jungle Terror out of the public eye.

Even when uploaders on Danmu Network made strategy videos, the comments below only treated them as entertainment.

People laughed at how they could not even copy properly.

This caused sales to crash beyond saving, making Jiyou Network the target of players popping champagne once again.

At that moment, inside a technology park in Bin City, President An, the CEO of Jiyou Network, looked at the financial report with an ugly expression.

He directly summoned Leap Studio, one of the company's five major studios, to a meeting on the fifth floor through the internal communication network.

There was no other reason: Jungle Terror had been developed by that studio.

Now that its sales had crashed, he naturally had to demand an explanation.

When Yang Ying, the studio head, received the message, his heart skipped a beat. He sighed inwardly. What was coming had finally come.

He had known this project would turn out badly from the moment the company established it.

First, the team had no experience making horror games. They did not know how to write the story, what scares to use, and the very concept of atmosphere left them completely baffled.

Second, the development cycle had been far too short—only two months.

No one in the industry would believe that development time if they heard it. Even people from the other studios thought it sounded absurd.

Yet it had happened, and Leap Studio under his charge had been the one to take it on.

It made him want to point at upper management and curse, "Fuck! Do you even know how games are made?"

Yang Ying sighed, stood up, glanced around at his coworkers, and shook his head.

Then he called the lead designer, Lead Programmer, and lead artist, and the four of them headed to the fifth-floor meeting room.

The moment they entered, they saw President An sitting calmly at the head of the table, reading the documents in his hands as though nothing had happened.

That made them all feel uneasy and anxious.

The calm before the storm!

Yang Ying and the others found seats and waited for President An to speak. Yet he kept staring at the documents in his hands, giving no response for a long while.

The vast meeting room placed enormous pressure on Yang Ying and the others.

At the pleading looks from the lead designer and the others, Yang Ying, as the person in charge, had no choice but to speak up.

"President An?"

His voice was quiet, and his tone was cautious.

After all, President An was famous for speaking entirely in terms of KPIs. There had once been a highly capable supervisor in the company whose monthly KPI had failed to meet the target, so his bonus was deducted. President An had then directly dissolved the team and assigned him to another group. After a while, he resigned.

It could be said that President An was exactly the kind of leader who showed no human consideration.

Hearing someone call him, the president raised his head and swept his gaze across the room before finally settling on Yang Ying.

That made Yang Ying feel the pressure all over again.

Fortunately, President An did not look at him for long. Instead, he shifted his gaze back to the documents in his hands, making everyone feel as though a heavy burden had been lifted.

"Engineer Yang, let me ask you this. How many people are currently in Leap Studio?"

President An's voice was flat and emotionless. He did not even look at them, yet they felt as though they were being judged.

Yang Ying hesitated before answering.

"Thirty-two, including the few of us."

President An nodded and continued.

"With that many people, plus the 1.2 million budget approved by the company, how many copies did Jungle Terror sell? You tell me."

Yang Ying immediately felt a headache coming on.

The sales issue had also kept him awake for the past few days.

It had sold so little that he was embarrassed to answer even now.

But the president had asked, so he could not exactly refuse to answer.

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

"...1,408 copies."

"1,408. Mm."

President An immediately responded in a calm tone.

That reaction only made Yang Ying and the others feel increasingly uneasy.

"Tell me, how did you spend over a million on development and use more than thirty people to make a game like this? That does not even include over 400,000 in marketing expenses."

Yang Ying scratched his head and glanced at the lead designer beside him. Seeing him shake his head helplessly, Yang Ying could only force himself to answer again.

"President An, this has nothing to do with how many people we had. The main problem was the lack of development time. A game with so much emphasis on detail and gameplay really needs time to polish. But with only two months, even giving it our all, this was the best we could do. A game like this needs at least a year."

"Then why could someone else make one in such a short time?"

President An interrupted Yang Ying without hesitation. His eyes also moved away from the documents and fixed on him.

"Someone else developed it alone, while you had more than thirty people. Couldn't your advantage in manpower make up for the shorter development cycle? You still couldn't compare to one person in a month?"

Yang Ying and the others' eyes widened. They could not believe the president actually believed that claim!

One person? One month? It was obviously just a publicity stunt!

Why did President An actually believe it?

They looked at one another, momentarily unsure how to respond.

President An was in no hurry. He folded his arms and stared at them, waiting for an explanation.

Yang Ying glanced at Lead Programmer, signaling for him to answer this technical question.

His expression was grim, but he still began to explain.

"President An, we analyzed Dark Forest. Setting aside the art, plot, and numerical design, just in terms of technical capability alone, it is impossible for one person to create something of that scale within a month. There must have been a tea—"

Before he could finish, President An cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"I called you here not to hear you rave about how impressive someone else is. I called you here to tell me what you should do in this situation."

President An set down the documents in his hands, clearly displeased.

"Do you know why I made you stop the Warfire project? Because horror games are showing signs of becoming hugely popular! Entering this empty market with few competitors early means getting a bigger share of the pie. Look at that Dark Woods or Dark whatever game. Didn't it achieve both great reviews and great sales? If others can do it, why can't we at Ji You? That is why I made you stop the shooting game, hurry up and study that Black Forest game's structure, then copy another one and enter the market to test the waters."

President An stood up and lit a cigarette.

In the meeting room, only someone in his position dared to smoke.

"I originally thought that with your capabilities, you could at least make a reasonably complete product. Then, with the company's marketing channels and reputation, even if it did not sell well, it could still break even. Once we understood the market, we could launch the next project early and focus on developing it. But what happened? Only 1,408 copies sold? And you are blaming the company for not giving you enough development time?"

After saying that, President An let out a breath. Looking at the group, who still did not respond, he shook his head.

"Your problem now is that your KPIs are far behind the other groups. Warfire has not been finished, and Jungle Terror has already failed. At the same time, many companies are now eyeing the horror game market. Your game is bound to become someone else's stepping stone. And Only Game is about to release another new title. What do we have to enter the market with?"

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

He picked up the document he had been reading earlier and slid it across the conference table until it stopped directly in front of Yang Ying.

Yang Ying was puzzled. He reached out, picked it up, and opened it. His eyes immediately widened.

Seeing him take it, President An continued.

"Treat Jungle Terror as the company's failed attempt at testing the waters. Upper management accepts that. You should have gained some experience making horror games by now, so we are giving you a second chance. Upper management has spared no expense in approving a second budget document: 6.65 million. You are required to create an original, high-quality horror game and break into the market. It does not need massive sales, but it must earn the approval of those people who only know how to play games, laying the foundation for future projects."

Yang Ying looked at the budget document in his hands, then at the lead designer and the others. Under the pressure of this second chance, an unprecedented horror game concept began to form in his mind.

Online, although Jungle Terror had sold poorly, its price remained unchanged at 168 yuan. Ji You was clearly determined not to lower it.

All that did was make netizens sigh, "Well played, Ji You."

It was already such a mess, and they were still trying to save face?

Meanwhile, at Only Game, Meng Shu was carefully polishing the game inside the development engine so easy even a monkey could use it.

Visage had already been completed, and this was his third round of polishing.

Although the system ensured that the game had no bugs and did not require much polishing, the problem lay with the horror experience.

The reason was that when he wore the VR headset to test it, the incredibly realistic atmosphere inside had left him stunned!

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

Especially when he tested the drop in Sanity Points and the Vengeful Spirit emerged to hunt him down, the sense of desperate immersion and hope for survival was unparalleled.

Even he could not help feeling a trace of tension and fear.

Meng Shu had completed the game once in the past, after all. He knew exactly where the intense scares and plot triggers were.

If even he felt fear like this—

Wouldn't players have it even worse?

In fact, Xia Nianzhen had already been frightened to tears during her test playthrough.

So, if players went in wearing the bewildered expressions of total newcomers, it might have the opposite effect.

Therefore, he revised it again and again, optimizing and improving some of the overly terrifying parts as much as possible so he would not mess people up.

And so, day after day passed. On the day before release, Visage was finally complete!

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