Game Development: Starting by Healing the Players
Chapter 41: The Final Verdict
As time passed, the sales of To the Moon continued to climb.
At the same time, numerous domestic media outlets following the event began publishing articles one after another.
"An Unforgettable Love Story: To the Moon, a Game That Will Leave You in Tears!"
"Game Review: A Game That Strikes Straight at Your Heart!"
"The Favorite to Win the Competition: Can To the Moon Really Be Considered a Science Fiction Game?"
"The Game That Made Countless Guys Shed Tears"
After the competition had been underway for a week, it had already become quite clear which games had a chance of winning an award and which ones didn't.
Some games had entered purely to make up the numbers, and they had basically failed to make much of a splash.
As for the games seriously aiming for an award, by this point many players, as well as game designers within the industry, already had a pretty clear idea of the contenders.
The first-place prize was essentially a battle between To the Moon and Galaxy Heroes, developed by NetDragon's Swordfire Thunder Studio.
Among the player votes, To the Moon had a considerable lead over Swordfire Thunder Studio's Galaxy Heroes.
But this competition wasn't based solely on player evaluations. The assessment from the Ministry of Games' official judging panel was also extremely important.
Although To the Moon held a certain advantage, it hadn't reached the point of completely overwhelming its opponent.
So ultimately, everything would depend on how the official judges scored the two games.
During this period, players had also been arguing endlessly online about the two games.
"The winner is definitely going to be Galaxy Heroes. I'll admit that To the Moon has a pretty good story, but can that even be considered a game? It has practically no gameplay. And can it really be called a science fiction game?"
"I'm backing the guy above. If Galaxy Heroes wins, then that's what I'd call a well-deserved victory!"
"Give me a break. What exactly do you mean by 'gameplay'? Explain that to me. Isn't the story itself a form of gameplay? Isn't the music also part of the game experience? Does a game have to involve fighting monsters or solving puzzles before you can call it gameplay?"
"Exactly. If To the Moon doesn't count as a science fiction game, then a whole bunch of the entries don't count either. Why don't you ask the Ministry of Games to eliminate all of them, then?"
"I don't care, I don't care. I'm voting for To the Moon anyway."
"Heh. Victory will definitely belong to Galaxy Heroes!"
"Exactly. Galaxy Heroes is definitely going to take the final victory!"
"Hmph. Galaxy Heroes? Just look at the designer's name: 'Meng Zuo.' Isn't that basically 'dreaming'? If he wants to win first prize, I guess he'll have to win it in his dreams!"
"Damn, bro. That's a seriously sharp interpretation!"
"By the way, are you guys really so sure that the winner will come down to To the Moon and Galaxy Heroes? Don't underestimate my Great Demon Lord Studio's Black Beast!"
"Heh. Don't be fooled by the fact that To the Moon and Galaxy Heroes currently have way more player votes than the other games. I have a feeling the final winner will actually be Black Lily Studio's Asahi."
"You two above, it's not nighttime yet. Stop daydreaming and leave quietly, neatly, and gracefully, okay?"
"+1. Those two above, please leave gracefully!"
Every player had their own personal favorite, and since the final result had yet to be announced, everyone naturally wanted to gain an advantage in the various online communities.
Of course, everyone had their own arguments, and there was no clear consensus.
Compared with all the heated discussions and debates among players online, however, Chen Xu was considerably more relaxed.
.........
At the Nebula Games office.
Chen Xu sat in his office, calling candidates to inform them of the results of their interviews.
The positions for the art and music teams had already been filled.
It was the numerical balancing and level-design position that was giving him trouble. He had interviewed several candidates, but none of them had particularly impressed him.
"Chen Xu, why aren't you anxious at all?" Yang Xin watched Chen Xu finish his phone call, stand up from her chair, and pace around the office a couple of times.
"Yeah. Aren't they announcing the winners today?" Ruan Ningxue also seemed somewhat excited.
This was the third game she had participated in developing.
By now, she was no longer the person who knew absolutely nothing about the game industry.
As for her plan to become the "Doujin King" and then switch careers to become a manga artist, she had long since forgotten about it.
On one hand, she had experienced the joy that game development brought her.
On the other hand, Nebula Games was developing so well. Why would she still bother with becoming a manga artist?
"Even if I get anxious, there's nothing I can do. The final result isn't something I can control." Hearing Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue, Chen Xu could only shake his head helplessly.
Of course he wanted to win an award.
But the key point was that this wasn't something he had any say over, right?
"Oh, right. As for the mobile version of Undertale..." Chen Xu suddenly remembered something. "Let's release the announcement after they reveal the winners today."
"Judging from the current trend, we're basically guaranteed to place in the top two. Whether we win the grand prize or not, we'll definitely have plenty of attention. When the time comes, we can use some of that momentum to promote our own game."
During the period when To the Moon was participating in the competition, the main work at Nebula Games revolved around two things.
The first was porting Undertale to mobile.
This hadn't taken much effort, and the port had already been completed long ago.
They had simply held off on releasing it until now so they could take advantage of their current publicity.
The other major task was building up the Nebula Games team.
Aside from expanding the development team, Chen Xu was also preparing to expand the rest of the company.
The operations, finance, and human resources departments had basically all been established during this period.
There was also the platform development team.
Although, from the perspective of most players and even the game industry as a whole, Nebula Games was still just a small studio.
From Mirror to Undertale and then To the Moon, they hadn't made any major blockbuster titles. Their games were basically all small-scale indie projects.
But Chen Xu's ambitions clearly didn't stop there.
In the future, Nebula Games would inevitably venture into a much broader arena.
Building its own independent platform was essentially the first step toward establishing a solid foundation for the company itself.
As for whether this would attract the industry's attention...
To put it bluntly, what was Nebula Games right now?
Even if To the Moon won first place in this competition, at most it would cause a stir within the indie-game scene.
It might then make Nebula Games a little more noticeable within the broader gaming industry.
But as for attracting the vigilance or hostility of the major industry giants?
That would simply be overthinking things.
Besides, self-operated platforms were quite common.
It wasn't as though simply creating a platform meant you had established a distribution channel.
You still needed other people to build that platform together with you, and you needed a sufficiently large user base.
For some second- and third-tier companies, as well as many independent game developers and studios—especially those with established series and a loyal fan base—having their own platforms was quite common.
After all, if a game was released through a third-party platform, you had to give that platform a cut.
With your own platform, however, when players purchased games through your own store, the revenue was essentially pure profit apart from taxes.
Online, discussions surrounding To the Moon and Galaxy Heroes continued to grow increasingly heated.
However, all of that ultimately came to an end with an official announcement from the Ministry of Games.