Manufacturing Controversy

In the conference room, Chen Xu explained the relevant details of Undertale to Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue.

There was not much of a problem with Magic Mirror. They just needed to follow the previous template, add the corresponding character illustrations and story text, and it would be done.

Their main focus going forward would be developing Undertale.

Undertale had been a game made by an independent game designer in his previous life.

Yet it had moved countless players around the world. It could be called an exceptionally classic META game.

However, unlike meta games such as Pony Island, ICEY, and The Stanley Parable, Undertale had blended META elements with RPG elements remarkably well. It had even overturned players' understanding of traditional RPG conventions.

The game's core concept was quite clear.

Undertale's heart lay in its story, combined with META-driven twists. Its gameplay was merely seasoning.

Of course, Chen Xu also planned to improve some aspects of it.

For example, compared with its previous-life version, Undertale's art would definitely have to be better.

Undertale's crude pixel style and hand-drawn lines in his previous life had not been because that style benefited the game.

It had simply been because there was no money. After all, it had been a solo indie game.

As for the so-called critics and media outlets who, after Undertale became wildly popular, claimed its art style was unique—those were all talking nonsense.

Pixel games were not necessarily made because of limited funds. For example, Octopath Traveler in his previous life had used pixels to create a blend of modern and nostalgic presentation, while some nostalgia-focused games deliberately used pixel art as well.

But for a META game centered on its story, better visual presentation would clearly only add to the experience rather than detract from it.

Minecraft had chosen a pixel style because its block-building gameplay suited that visual presentation.

But Undertale's art style had clearly not been a compromise made for gameplay.

Of course, aside from its visuals, Undertale's story and music were classics as well.

Sans's Megalovania at the end, along with Undyne's Battle Against a True Hero, were both tremendously iconic.

After briefly introducing Undertale's core concepts to the two women, Chen Xu showed Ruan Ningxue the character concept art for its key roles.

There was the gentle and kind Toriel; King Asgore, who looked benevolent before battle but wielded a trident with the majestic might of a God of War once combat began; the tall and short Skeleton Brothers; and Flowey, who appeared kind but was actually a master of exaggerated expressions...

Chen Xu would personally oversee the designs for the major characters.

As for ordinary minor monsters, those would be handed over to the outsourcing team. They only needed to pass inspection when the time came.

Next came the story: the Pacifist Route, the Kind Route, the Genocide Route, and the Masochist Route.

Chen Xu had outlined the plots for the different routes using the Memory Capsule he had previously drawn from the system.

All that remained was for Yang Xin to flesh them out.

After assigning their responsibilities, Chen Xu sat down at his workstation and entered the official engine's backend, preparing to build the basic framework for Undertale.

"Ningxue, did you develop games like this when you worked on Magic Mirror?"

Looking at the script, detailed beyond all reason, Yang Xin still had not quite recovered.

Ruan Ningxue, who was already designing while holding the character design requirement sheets, looked puzzled. "Yes. What is it, Xin Jie? Is there a problem with developing a game this way?"

"The problem is huge! This is way too smooth! The thinking is too clear!" Yang Xin's eyes widened, though she kept her voice low.

In terms of scale, Undertale seemed like it would only be a small game.

But everything was so smooth that Yang Xin had the illusion that even a dog tied to a leash could do it.

Thinking about the chaos of game development at her previous company, Yang Xin suddenly wondered whether all those employees she had hired before had been putting on an act for her.

While marveling at it, Yang Xin carefully reviewed Undertale's story, considering how she should fill it out.

Sitting in his seat, Chen Xu was not thinking about any of that nonsense.

At that very moment, he was testing the official engine.

The computing resources available to him had increased by roughly twenty times compared to before.

In the backend, the resources currently available were 0/1024MB.

By the units of his previous life, that was roughly 1 GB, but Chen Xu checked the tutorials and the related new features.

In the Parallel World, those resources could be considered entirely sufficient.

As for wanting more—

He could either raise his designer rank or spend money.

As for how to raise it, he could slowly grind it out through what was called seniority.

Besides that, he would need to win some prestigious awards or make a positive contribution to advancing the game industry.

To some extent, the birth of Magic Mirror had also helped drive innovation in the Gentleman Game industry.

After getting a general understanding, Chen Xu lightly shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.

Instead, he began developing Undertale.

This indie game was not particularly difficult for Chen Xu.

With the Parallel World's technology, developing such a game would not take much effort.

The truly time-consuming and labor-intensive parts were the story text, character illustrations, and music.

After all, Undertale's music could be called exceptionally outstanding.

The same was true of many other indie games.

Story, music, and gameplay innovation had always been the three main weapons of indie games.

"Xin Jie, who is this? He came out and took a bite out of us!"

"A clout-chaser. He is probably jealous of Magic Mirror's sales, and since his own new game is about to launch, he deliberately picked a fight to generate buzz. He is a repeat offender."

Noticing the commotion on Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue's side, Chen Xu grew curious. "What happened?"

When she saw Chen Xu approach, Yang Xin picked up Ruan Ningxue's phone. "This guy. He specializes in manufacturing controversy."

Chen Xu took the phone. On it was a reposted video from a company called Game Time Media.

After opening it, he saw a middle-aged man commenting on a game. The game shown was Magic Mirror, though the character illustrations were clothed, of course.

"To catch players' attention, game designers today are capable of anything."

"Vulgar! Vulgar to the extreme!"

"Games are an artistic industry. Calling a work like this a game is, in my opinion, an insult to games."

"Can a game designer like this contribute anything to the game industry?"

"He cannot!"

"If my upcoming game, Blossom, contained this sort of material, I would be too ashamed to show my face."

"So I hope that game designers everywhere will use fewer gimmicks and spend more time studying how to make genuinely good games, rather than resorting to this kind of vulgar content just to boost sales."

The video was about two minutes long, and the man spoke with righteous indignation.

However, when Chen Xu looked through the comments, he found something rather interesting.

Aside from a group of players cheering him on, there was also a large group mocking him.

"Zhong Da Pao, you're back again?"

"Vulgar? Then I'd better go criticize it myself!"

"Games made by others are vulgar! Games made by me are art!"

"Go on, when are you going to promote your new game?"

"Bro upstairs, you clearly weren't paying attention during Zhong Da Pao's ranting segment. Didn't he already slip it in? The game is called Blossom."

After watching the full video, reading some comments, and hearing Yang Xin's explanation, Chen Xu roughly understood the situation.

The man was called Zhong Mei, a designer under Hepatitis Culture and Sports. Of course, he was also the company's owner.

His reputation within the gaming community was mixed.

On the positive side, Zhong Mei had indeed produced some respectable works in the past.

Even in recent years, while his games had not become massive hits, their quality had not been bad.

On the negative side was Zhong Mei's conduct.

He often deliberately targeted games that were popular at the time and somewhat controversial, disparaging them to promote and elevate his own games.

Chen Xu was not the only one he had bitten. Quite a few other game designers had suffered the same treatment.