Game Dev: 15 - I see games like Art

Bang, Bang

"Watch out, dogs are coming!" The team leader screamed in concern as he used his shield to hold off the other Zombies' attacks, luckily he was very agile with the shield and no attacks hit him.

The shots that some of the people on the team were firing were very timely and whenever a Zombie would break through his defense, a head would be blown off quickly.

"And thanks for that!" He squealed happily as he continued using the shield to protect himself.

Caitlyn was surprised that even though she was dealing with peak F-Rank Zombies, she was still managing to kill these monsters more easily than she realized.

In the other missions she had participated in, even though she was dealing with monsters of mid-Rank F strength, she still had a bit of a hard time hitting critical points and just aimed at more guaranteed locations that she would hit, but who knew? that now against more powerful monsters she was managing better.

'What's happening to me?' Caitlyn wondered confused trying to understand what was going on, she hadn't even used Mana to strengthen her senses, she was just relying on her muscle memory to land those shots. 'Is this improvement because of Resident Evil?'

As she thought about this possibility, the more she felt that it made sense and she was excited, as she had never felt such an improvement, and especially in such a short time.

What she didn't know is that not only did she get better while shooting because of the improvement her emotions of fear caused when playing the game, but also because of the confidence she felt after killing monsters as scary as the Lycans of Resident Evil.

Since she had killed so many scary monsters in the game so easily after several hours of gameplay, why couldn't she achieve this in real life too?

So, without her noticing, the Mana from the monsters she was killing were slowly entering her body, accelerating the progress speed her Mana speed would have to a higher level than the other times she came to do quests.

Because of the heat, her forehead was sweating profusely, even more so with the hot breath coming out of her mask as she panted, which only made the situation worse, but Caitlyn just ignored this and kept shooting, focusing only on what was important to her. current moment.

In Sandstone Bay, also because of the hot weather, a boy was wiping sweat from his forehead just like Caitlyn had just done in the abandoned city.

That boy was Gabe Howard, who was on his way to a Café to meet the professor at the University who sent him a message, asking them to meet to talk about something related to his game.

Upon receiving Professor Brown's message, Gabe was a little concerned, as he noticed that his game was quite different from the other players' games and thought that perhaps this was attracting unwanted attention? He had already read about things like that in the other world and was worried about it.

But remembering Professor Brown's classes and thinking about how friendly this man was to him, Gabe was a little less worried as he tried to think of excuses he could come up with if this was a bad thing.

As Gabe walked, a few people looked at him a little curiously. Not because of something strange he was wearing, or because he was recognized, but because of his appearance, which despite being a little dark due to malnutrition, after the haircut it had a 180º change, making him a from a skinny boy with possible health and social problems to a handsome, confident young man who walked with his back straight with pride.

What they didn't know is that the straight spine was just the craze he retained from life in another world and the confident expression was just him trying to encourage himself to keep the lies he was making up in case something bad could happen.

If the old Gabe had known that the change cutting his hair would make to his public image would be so big, he'd probably cut it more often, but he was so focused on studying games that none of that ever crossed his mind, whereas this one The subject was not so interesting for the current Gabe, that he didn't even notice this attitude from other people.

Arriving at the Café that Professor Brown had asked them to meet, Gabe kept his posture straight and walked in with a fair amount of confidence, which attracted a few stares, which he selectively ignored until he found the professor and walked over to him.

Seeing the handsome and confident young man coming towards him, Mr. Brown was a little confused, not understanding what this young man wanted. But when he saw that young man's hair color and took a good look at his face, surprise came over this middle-aged teacher's face.

"Howard, is that you?" Mr. Brown asked in amazement.

Gabe was confused by the teacher's question and replied with a furrowed brow getting a little lost in the stories he made up. "Yes?"

Realizing what he has done, Mr. Brown apologized with a smile as he waved Gabe down. "I'm sorry Howard, your change of appearance caused me to lose myself for a few seconds, have a seat."

Seeing Mr. Brown, Gabe became a little less vigilant as he sat down.

"I'm sorry Mr. Brown, but I'm very curious as to why you invited me today." Gabe asked intrigued as soon as he sat down.

Seeing that that was the first thing Gabe said, Mr. Brown chuckled, mostly seeing a bit of insecurity lurking in this young man. "Don't worry kid, I actually called you here to tell you some good news."

Hearing this, Gabe became curious. "Good news? What is it?"

"Considering that you are already over 7,000 downloads, first of all I have to congratulate you on breaking the record for the most downloaded game in Harrington University history. The last record was just 3,911 downloads, so I believe it will be difficult for the next one. student beat his record for years to come haha." Mr. Brown chuckled as he held his hand out to Gabe and shook it after he took it. "For this, the school has a bonus of $50,000 and a private mentorship with a Developer Rank C for the development of your future game, but considering how good your last game was, I believe that this mentorship would be useless, as I can't even think in what could be a useful tip to help you."

Gabe was surprised. 'With this $50,000 I won't have to worry about money for a long time! If I had known that, I wouldn't even have created the game's monetization system…'

But despite the surprise, he still cracked a big smile at the great news.

"Also, I think your position as the Top 1 game in this year's University contest is already secured with the current amount of downloads you have, so the school decided it wouldn't be a problem to tell you this in advance." Mr. Brown said a little more seriously this time. "Usually students who win the collegiate tournament are given the right to publish a game of theirs for the Oakwood Grave City for free once the tournament is over, which is our nearest neighbor, but we noticed that their game is apparently not yet complete, as you intend to add more chapters to it in the future, so we decided to let you know in advance so you can decide what you prefer to do, as the right to publish the game is unique, so we can only publish it once."

Gabe was both surprised and confused by this. "Decide on what, Professor?"

"Would you rather we publish your game as soon as the tournament is over or would you rather we wait until all chapters of the game are released and publish it then?" Mr. Brown asked, quite interested in this young Developer's choice, wanting to know what development plan Howard had for such an innovative game.

Hearing this, Gabe soon understood what was the doubt that the school was having. He could very well publish the game immediately, which would directly increase the amount of downloads and the amount of Mana he would receive all the time, or he could continue with the Mana rate he currently received from the game's downloads in Sandstone Bay and just releasing the full game when everything is ready, which would yield several times more Mana, but only in the future when the game is complete.

This was a very pertinent doubt for Gabe, who had recently discovered that he would need at least 50,000 Mana Units to unlock Karl's power, something he didn't have for the time being, since it could greatly accelerate the speed he he would have to get strength.

But thinking about the long term, it was much more worth it to wait now and release the game when everything was ready, so he could get all the game powers he wanted with the huge influx of Mana that would come from the new players in the other city .

In the end, Gabe didn't think long before answering the only choice he found acceptable.

"I'd rather you wait, Mr. Brown. By the time the game has all 10 chapters done I believe this will be ready to go to other cities." Gabe answered confidently.

Hearing Gabe's response, Mr. Brown got even bigger, but he couldn't help but ask. "What gives you so much confidence to keep developing this game, Howard? Wouldn't it be better to absorb the Mana you've already received and get closer to advancing to Developer Rank E?"

Gabe smiled even more confidently and answered. "Professor, I see games as an Art, as long as I can do my art and there are people who can appreciate it, I would be more than satisfied."

Gabe's response caused Mr. Brown smiled even more, feeling that every sentence from this boy made the appreciation he felt for him grow even more.

But Gabe continued, his eyes shining. "And the story of Resident Evil hasn't even started yet, I feel that when Chapter 02 is released that's when players will finally understand the world I'm showing them!"

Seeing Gabe's confidence, David Brown's eyes lit up even more, especially remembering the words the director said to him, it made him feel that she was more and more right!