Not Down-to-Earth, But Down to the Underworld!

Contact the motion capture studio to produce various assets.

Meanwhile, Chen Xu led the entire team in developing Outlast.

The cost of this game wasn't low, but it wasn't as high as one might think.

After completing the budget report, the total development cost, including subsequent promotional expenses, was tentatively set at 6 million.

Of course, it might increase a bit later, but it wouldn't exceed 8 million.

For a horror game, this figure was relatively large within the genre.

The team was extremely excited about this.

After all, this was their first major project.

Day by day, time marched on.

Art, animation—assets were steadily produced.

The game's script and dialogue were also completed, awaiting secondary voice-over work.

The protagonist's various actions were undergoing trial and error.

"I'm already feeling a bit creeped out. How terrifying will the final product be?"

In the office, Ruan Ningxue sat in front of her computer, looking at the concept art on the secondary screen, her heart still uneasy.

These concept designs were mostly scene layouts: a mental hospital building in the dark, scenes filled with blood and corpses, a mentally ill patient hiding under a bed in a pitch-black room, and footage captured through a night-vision DV camera.

These few concept pieces fully conveyed the eerie atmosphere of Outlast. Just looking at them sent chills down one's spine, let alone playing.

She had been sleeping quite late during the development of Outlast.

Why?

Because she was scared!

She didn't know what she was thinking that day, but she actually took the DV Chen Xu had given her and tried it out at night. The utterly hellish atmosphere left her completely unsettled.

After all, imagining things and scaring yourself is the most terrifying thing.

But precisely because of that, the concept art she designed according to Chen Xu's requirements had a very strong feel.

"Yeah! And in the game, players can't fight back—they can only run." Hearing Ruan Ningxue's words, Yang Xin sighed in agreement.

Chen Xu, who was working on an animation design, smiled. "Isn't that thrilling? If there were guns, it would easily turn into an FPS game. After all, fear stems from insufficient firepower."

Why do most horror games include firearms?

On one hand, it enriches the game's content; on the other, it gives players an outlet.

This approach was very appropriate. In the previous life, Resident Evil adopted this model.

But it also had a major flaw: it could easily turn a horror game into an FPS.

After all, fear comes from a lack of firepower. With enough firepower, fear can be suppressed.

Even Resident Evil gradually strayed in this regard.

From the fourth installment onward, it leaned toward run-and-gun action, until the remakes returned to a horror focus, and Resident Evil Village struck a perfect balance in pacing.

Of course, for most players, they didn't care about how terrifying the game was or how good the pacing was.

Their entire attention was captured by Lady Dimitrescu and her three daughters.

"But CEO Chen, when should we start hyping Outlast? I see a lot of players online asking about news on the new game." Yang Xin said.

Unlike before, when the R&D department only had the three of them, now with new employees in the company, they addressed Chen Xu formally instead of using each other's names.

"Yeah, the development pace feels fast. It should be ready for release around December." Ruan Ningxue added.

Outlast wasn't a large-scale project. The main workload was concentrated on producing various animations and art assets.

Because the gameplay mechanics were straightforward, there was almost no room for trial and error.

Development went smoothly without a hitch.

"There's no rush to spend money on promotion and hype. We'll start around mid-to-late November."

"I already have a lot of followers on the official blog. Besides, have you forgotten what day it is tomorrow?"

Chen Xu smiled.

What day?

Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue paused, then glanced at the bottom right of their computer screens.

October 30th?

"Halloween! I've already pre-recorded the promotional materials. I've been waiting for this day to release them during the holiday."

"After all, the players have been waiting for a month. Announcing our new game on this holiday—isn't that fitting?"

Chen Xu grinned at Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue as he opened a short video on his desktop.

The video wasn't long—just ten seconds.

The screen was pitch black at first, then an image appeared the next moment—but it wasn't a normal image.

It was the night vision mode of a DV, with a battery indicator visible in the upper right corner and a red dot blinking in the upper left, showing that the DV was recording.

The DV's footage showed Chen Xu's office.

A chair lay toppled on the floor, and the documents on the desk were deliberately scattered.

The entire video was eerily silent, without a single sound.

Paired with the DV's night vision, it felt incredibly unsettling and unnerving.

At the ninth second, the DV's footage suddenly jolted, as if the person filming had been attacked, yet eerily, there was still no sound at all. Then the video ended, fading to black.

The office fell into silence. Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue stared at Chen Xu for a long while without saying a word.

"CEO Chen, I think when we talk about keeping things grounded, we shouldn't be grounding ourselves straight into the underworld," Ruan Ningxue finally said, looking at Chen Xu slowly.

This teaser was clearly a blatant hint to players that their next project was a horror game.

But the key was—could this teaser really be called "grounded"?

This felt more like it had already sunk straight into the underworld.

Released on Halloween, and shot a midnight DV video like this on purpose.

You really know how to do it, CEO Chen!

Yang Xin beside her couldn't hold back either and blurted out what she wanted to say: "And CEO Chen, didn't you say you were a Warrior of Love? 'Outlast' has nothing to do with love, and can't we do something a little more worldly for this teaser?"

"How is it not related to love? In recent years, horror game fans have been saying there aren't any good horror games. Why am I developing 'Outlast'? This is my love for those players! Doesn't that count as being a Warrior of Love?"

"As for worldly things, don't you think this promotion fits the theme of 'Outlast' perfectly? And this way, it grabs way more attention than a normal announcement. We've got to seize this buzz!" Chen Xu said with a straight face.