Chapter 46
As expected, the reaction to the teaser image was explosive.
To give you an idea of how big it was, the keyword "Project RA" reached the top search ranking not only in Korea but even on Japan's Blue Bird, where no articles had even been published yet.
On the day it hit number one on Japan's Blue Bird, I received a call from Tanaka.
[Di... I mean, Director. It's been a while since I last contacted you. Have you been well these days?]
"Of course. Has everything been alright with you too, Mr. Tanaka?"
[I've been fine as well. Haha.]
After briefly exchanging pleasantries since it had been months since our last call, we got straight to the point.
[Project RA that Enson GT announced this time... The reaction in Japan has been really hot too]
"In Japan as well, you say?"
[Yes, take a look at this.]
At Tanaka's words, I waited a moment before a link to a site arrived on my smartphone.
Following that link led me to the subculture mobile game board of 4ch, Japan's largest community site.
"It's 4ch."
[Yes, this is the best place to gauge public opinion.]
Hearing Tanaka's words, I looked over the board and saw threads with the Project RA tag being created one after another.
Among them, one thread caught my eye, so I clicked on it.
[The new character's body in Project RA is amazing www]
【Project RA Teaser Image Photo】
Is this the sequel to Girls Memorial?
>>002 That's not it
Where's the cute mascot operator?www
Enson GT's character designs are always amazing.
Is Ji-sang the director this time too?
>>047 That's right.
The reactions themselves weren't much different from the comments in our country, more or less the same.
However, the speed at which comments were being posted on the thread exceeded that of our country...
I could feel much more realistically how explosive the reaction in Japan was.
[What do you think?]
"When I first heard it was number one on Blue Bird, I was a bit skeptical, but now I can really feel it."
[Right? So, about that, Director.]
"Ah, yes. Go ahead."
[I was wondering if you have any plans on how you'll release this Project RA...?]
Tanaka seemed to be getting to the main point.
After pondering his question for a moment, I carefully opened my mouth.
"Nothing's been decided yet since we're still in the project development stage, but I think we'll probably go with something similar to Girls Memorial."
[Ah... So you mean you'll open in Japan first this time too...?]
"Nothing's set in stone, but you can assume there's a high possibility we'll go that route."
[Ah, that's a relief. Haha. I was worried you might open in Korea first this time.]
"For now, we're still in the early stages of the project and nothing's been decided, so I'll contact you again once things progress a bit more."
[Of course. I'll be waiting for good news.]
After finishing the call with Tanaka, I could clearly feel how different our position was compared to the Girls Memorial days.
During our first publishing contract, we had no choice but to be in a weaker position because Girls Memorial carried the genre risk of being an unfamiliar subculture mobile game.
As a result, we had to accept unfavorable terms like differential profit sharing and separate marketing guarantees.
But now that Girls Memorial's marketability has been proven, the situation has reversed.
For publishers who live off profit sharing, the existence of a highly marketable game is more important than anything.
Tanaka probably knows this too, which is why he brought it up first.
Of course, even if he brought it up first, I had no intention of conceding on the profit-sharing ratio.
I was starting to look forward to the next meeting with Tanaka.
***
April came, bringing the full energy of spring after the Lunar New Year holiday had passed.
The explosive interest in Project RA eventually died down as time passed.
I wasn't particularly disappointed, since it was unusual to receive that much attention from just one teaser image in the first place.
But the real problem is...
Grand Arc Phantasm.
The game that Sign Games ambitiously released to reclaim their stolen throne at number one was officially launched.
Although it was an ordinary start, unlike its notorious reputation as the "gacha demon" and the root of gacha game regulations, I knew.
I knew how that demonic game would change after the first pickup event.
Silently cheering on Myung-hoon, who would soon be agonizing over declining sales rankings, I looked at the woman standing in front of me.
"It's been a while, Director Ji."
"It has been a while, Team Leader Shin."
The name of the woman standing before me was Shin Ha-yeon.
She was the team leader of Enson GT's QA team.
"You look like you've lost some weight since last time. Is the project that intense?"
"Really? No one else has mentioned it."
"Well, my eyes could be wrong."
As if she hadn't meant it seriously, Ha-yeon shrugged and changed the subject.
"Well then, shall we start the QA right away?"
"Let's do that."
As I left my private office with Ha-yeon, I saw the QA team and Yumi waiting in one corner of the office.
"The QA team members, please follow Ms. Yumi here. She'll guide you through what you need for your work. Yumi, I'm counting on you."
"Yes...! Leave it to me."
After confidently answering, Yumi led the QA team and Ha-yeon to their work area.
Watching Yumi's retreating figure, I returned to my office.
***
"Hmm...?"
On the third day after assigning the QA task.
There was a stack of documents on my desk when I arrived at work.
The identity of the document stack was the QA result report from three days ago.
Opening the report with slight anticipation, the first thing I saw was a list of countless bugs that had been discovered.
From simple bugs like the game freezing during background transitions or memory leaks,
To serious issues like the game crashing or experiencing severe frame drops when using certain skills,
To bizarre bugs where in-game currency could be duplicated by pressing specific areas at specific timings.
The list contained numerous bugs befitting the name of a prototype.
Of course, considering it was a prototype, there wasn't really a problem, but.
I set aside the document containing the bug list to hand over to Tae-seon, then moved on to the next page.
The next page contained feedback on the gameplay and points that needed to be fixed.
─The gameplay itself had a fresh appeal that broke the mold of typical tower defense games.
─However, based on the implemented stages, the difficulty was too easy and the enemies were rather monotonous.
─Special pattern plays like falling deaths, block destruction, and moving indestructible objects were interesting, but there were significant bugs, so they need to be thoroughly checked until right before release.
It was exactly the result I had expected before assigning the QA.
This feedback needed to be passed on to the planning team, so I set it aside in a different place and...
Opening the last page, I found one-line personal feedback comments.
《It would be nice if there was a housing system where you could decorate the dormitory.》
《How about implementing an open world with a base feel by just dividing the underground city into sections?》
《Is there no mascot for this work?》
Looking over the one-line feedback comments, there were quite a few appealing suggestions.
Especially the character-focused content.
Girls Memorial was always criticized for lacking in character-focused content, after all.
The open world or housing might be worth implementing, but I wonder if Tae-seon and Ye-rin will curse me out.
I felt bad about adding more work to the two who already seemed to have a lot on their plates, but... it couldn't be helped.
For now, thinking I should at least try asking, I headed to the art team and saw Ye-rin, who seemed to have just arrived, organizing her coat.
"Oh, Senior. What brings you here so early in the morning?"
"I had something to discuss. Where's Ye-na?"
"She probably went to the pantry to make coffee. Should I call her?"
"No, it's fine. I have something to say to both of you anyway, so let's go to the pantry ourselves."
Ye-rin nodded agreeably to my suggestion.
"Alright, sure."
Going to the pantry with Ye-rin, I saw Ye-na already there, pouring coffee.
"Oh... Sis? Director? What brings you all the way here?"
"I have something to say to you two."
"Ah..."
Ye-na nodded, hearing that I had something to say.
"Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee? How about you, sis?"
"I'm good. I had some before coming to work."
"I'll pass for now too."
At our refusal, Ye-na sat down next to Ye-rin with the coffee she had already prepared.
I handed over the QA reports I had prepared in advance to the two of them.
"What's this?"
"The QA report from before."
"Is that so?"
Ye-rin and Ye-na started reading with curious expressions at the mention of the QA report.
"No need to read it all, just look at the last part."
"The last page?"
"Yeah."
At my words, Ye-na and Ye-rin flipped to the last page, revealing the one-line feedback left by the QA team.
"Since the main setting is an underground city, it feels too bleak, so it would be nice if there was a housing system..."
"How about implementing an open world with a dormitory feel by just dividing the underground city base..."
The two sisters froze in shock while reading the feedback.
Ye-rin, who seemed to recover faster than Ye-na, looked at me and asked in a trembling voice.
"Um, Senior... You do know what housing content is, right...?"
"It's content where you decorate, like those toy houses kids play with."
"You know well. If it's decorating content, you'd need parts to decorate with, right?"
"That's right."
"Then who do you think will make those parts?"
"Of course, the art team would..."
Ye-rin smiled brightly at my words.
"Senior, most of our team members, including us sisters, are already working overtime."
"I know that, but..."
Crack.
Perhaps truly angry, a chilling sound of teeth grinding came from Ye-rin, who was still smiling.
"Someone who knows it brings this kind of plan suddenly?"
"I'm really sorry about that. I'm sorry, but... this is the final puzzle piece for our game. I promise I won't bring planning proposals without warning like this again, okay?"
Frowning at my answer, Ye-rin pondered for a moment before finally sighing and asking Ye-na.
"What do you think? It seems like the workload will increase quite a bit."
At Ye-rin's question, Ye-na thought for a moment before nodding.
"As long as it's not something we have to complete right away, I think it should be fine... Creating housing parts isn't particularly difficult."
"Really? If that's your opinion, Ye-na, then..."
Ye-rin nodded at her sister's opinion.
"Since Ye-na says it's okay, we'll give it a try. But just know that the results won't come out quickly."
"Alright, you've thought it through well."