This Doesn't Look Like a Couples' Game!

There was less than a month left until the Qixi Festival. The schedule was extremely tight.

Sprout Studio began working overtime. They stopped responding to online messages and discussions.

Like a submarine, they sank into the deep sea in silence.

The heated discussions about Sprout Studio never stopped online. A month was neither particularly long nor particularly short.

During that time, countless players left comments under Sprout Studio's official account. Some asked questions, some expressed concern, and some told them not to care about outside opinions and to focus on making their game.

There were many messages, and they were a mess.

But most players meant well. Nobody wanted to see an outstanding studio get attacked into decline.

They had only made three games, but the quality of those three games was plain for all to see. Players were the group least willing to see the studio lose its original passion for making games under outside pressure.

[Thank you all for your concern. Development is going very smoothly, and the game will meet everyone on the Qixi Festival as scheduled. [Image]]

A week before the Qixi Festival, Sprout Studio's official Weibo posted an update, giving the many players a response along with an image.

It looked like a promotional poster for the game.

In the picture, Onion King held its golden onion scepter high.

Four animal chefs stood before it.

The adorable cartoon animals wore white chef hats and held different kitchen utensils, their eyes brimming with fighting spirit.

The game's visuals were bright and vibrant. In the background of the image, the strange and perilous game maps could vaguely be seen.

Overcooked

The game's title on the cover was written in a cute comic-style font, making it look truly interesting.

The moment the post went up, players who had been following Sprout Studio immediately flooded it with comments.

'Yay, awesome!'

'Little treasure, you're amazing!'

'Baby, the outside pressure has been intense lately. Don't take it to heart.'

'We won't blame you even if this game isn't done well. Just keep working hard in the future.'

Yinzi did not open the Weibo post right away. By the time he clicked in, there were already over a hundred comments below it.

He stared at the comments with a strange expression.

Uh... this was completely different from the reaction I expected, wasn't it?

You guys should be scolding him! You're going to spoil him like this!

"Yay, awesome!" Inside Sprout Studio, Ethan Vale could occasionally hear employees outside making sarcastic remarks.

When Ethan Vale saw those comments, his face darkened.

Why were these players so weird?

"Ahem." Ethan Vale walked out of his office carrying a huge raffle box in his arms.

Song Shan followed behind him with an odd expression.

When Ethan Vale had made that raffle box just now, Song Shan had helped him the entire time.

"Put your work aside for a moment. Overcooked has reached the final stages of development. For the last seven days, we just need to carefully check for bugs in the game before release." Ethan Vale shook the box in his hands.

"Relax, everyone. Let's draw some lots."

"Yay, awesome! What are we drawing for?" Someone in the studio cried out in surprise. He lined up with the others and took turns pulling a small card from the box.

Other than when they discussed work, Ethan Vale got along quite well with everyone.

He was only a young man in his twenties, after all, and naturally had his own management style.

There were only around thirty people in the studio, so it was quickly over once everyone had drawn a slip of paper.

When they opened them, each slip had only a single number on it.

"Mm, whoever draws number 16 this time will start a livestream after the game releases and handle player issues." Ethan Vale looked at everyone, unable to suppress the smile on his face.

The smiles on everyone's faces vanished at a visible rate.

After a game was completed, the studio employees themselves were its first test players.

Every game had to go through countless rounds of testing before it could officially be released.

They knew exactly what inhumane levels they had designed with their own hands. When they tested the game with their colleagues afterward, they had also gone through times when they wanted to smash their keyboards in rage.

Whether by some coincidence of fate or not, the employee who had just shouted in excitement stared blankly at the slip in his hand.

There was only one simple number on it.

[16]

"Not bad. You'll definitely make the best customer service girl." The other employees laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

As long as someone else died instead of them, then no matter what happened, it was no big deal.

Looking at the 16 in his hand, he forced an ugly smile onto his face.

Everyone outside thought this was just a casually made little game.

The players could still laugh as they comforted Sprout Studio's staff, telling them not to feel too much pressure and that they could slowly improve their games in the future.

Do you have any idea that the pressure is about to land on your heads?!

The employee holding the slip marked '16' looked like he was on the verge of tears. He could already imagine the barrage of criticism from players afterward.

He could not help turning his gaze toward the raffle box in Ethan Vale's hands.

Just as expected of you, you old thief. You call this a raffle?

Before the Qixi Festival arrived, various companies had already begun building hype for their own games, and their promotional campaigns were gradually getting underway.

From their game descriptions, it was clear that every one of them had moving stories designed to bring people to tears.

Love seemed to be tied to tearjerkers. The more tears there were, the more it proved that the romance would leave a deep impression.

Three days before the Qixi Festival, Sprout Studio uploaded its own game as well. It would remain locked for three days before players could download it.

The game cover was still the image they had shown before.

Yinzi looked at the game's details page.

The game was priced at 52 yuan, a price that seemed full of romantic meaning.

But the game description did not seem romantic at all.

"This is a game specially made for the Qixi Festival?" Yinzi looked at the description with a strange expression.

"How does this look anything like a couples' game?"

[The Onion Kingdom is in crisis, and only the finest cooking can save it! In Overcooked, players must train in different brutal kitchens and ultimately become master chefs to defeat the monsters plaguing this land.]

"In the game, players can take on the role of one of fourteen chefs, cooking alone or working together with friends. Players will show off their skills in kitchens while fulfilling all kinds of meal orders, with kitchen locations including restaurants, pirate ships, food trucks, haunted houses, ice fields, volcanoes, and even outer space."

Judging solely from the description, aside from the phrase about 'working together with friends,' there was not a single sign of what a couples' game should have.

"Fine, I'll forgive him. The time was rushed, after all. It's enough that there's a game. Why demand so much?" Yinzi said indifferently.