Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 23
“This type of game...”
Lu Bian grimaced hard.
If Little Nezha had even mentioned a semi-reasonable game genre—like real-time strategy, even though it's not too common these days—he could've accepted it!
But instead, the first thing out of her mouth was bullet hell shooter?!
What the h*ll kind of genre is that?!
Have you even played one before?!
“Well, President Shen,”
Lu Bian struggled to keep his emotions in check and said,
“This type of game is really niche, even within game design circles.”
He wanted to say “dmbss game,” but in the end, he held back.
However!
Little Nezha seemed completely set on it. She waved her tiny hand and said,
“I actually think the more niche the genre, the more likely it is to become a breakout hit in the competition!”
Then she looked at Gu Sheng. “What do you think, Director Gu?”
Gu Sheng paused to think.
To be honest, what Little Nezha said made a lot of sense.
Just because a game genre is niche doesn’t mean the game itself can’t be fun.
In his previous life, classics like Raiden and the Touhou series were beloved by players and had a huge reputation.
Plus, bullet hell games usually don’t require high development resources—everything she suggested was well within the unlockable range of his system.
“I think President Shen makes a good point.”
Gu Sheng nodded.
“Challenging the impossible is what keeps our company alive.”
Nice!
Shen Miaomiao secretly gave him a big thumbs-up.
What a lovable fool!
“So we’re all set, then?”
Very pleased with how on-board Gu Sheng was, Shen Miaomiao continued,
“Next is the game’s style.”
“My personal suggestion is, this time, we should go for a slightly more serious tone.”
Or at least a more mentally stable vibe.
Shen Miaomiao had really had it with all the goofy designs.
That troll-faced cat with the mocking smirk, the pipes that launched people, the glitchy diapers, and those flying, diarrhea-spraying babies.
It seemed like Gu Sheng had always been especially talented at making ridiculous games.
The kind of stuff only someone with a wildly chaotic mind would think up.
And players actually loved it!
Some even outright said, “For pure chaos, you go to Golden Wind!”
So this time, Shen Miaomiao was determined to break that cycle.
Gu Sheng might be a master of chaotic games, but this time, we’re switching it up!
No more nonsense games!
Time to get serious!
Gu Sheng didn’t have any objections to that.
In fact, he’d been thinking a change of style was long overdue, and since Little Nezha had brought it up first, even better.
“Sure.” Gu Sheng nodded, expression unchanged.
Tch!
Shen Miaomiao shot him a side glance. Playing it cool, huh? Bet you're panicking inside, aren’t you? It’s okay, sweetie—even if the final product turns out to be hot garbage, this president won’t blame you!
Seeing Gu Sheng looking all “I’ll take whatever comes,”
Shen Miaomiao got even more fired up!
What followed in the meeting was a full-on chaos spiral—
“For the perspective, I think we could go retro—top-down view!”
“For the art style, nothing too fancy—let’s go pixel art!”
“For the game objective, don’t make it too specific—just survive within a time limit!”
“Oh right, it shouldn’t be too easy either. Best if the player only has one life. Die once and you start over—that makes it more challenging!”
“...”
One rule after another!
By the end, the three people besides Gu Sheng all looked green in the face.
Yes!
Even Chu Qingzhou, who always doted on Shen Miaomiao, thought the princess had gone too far this time!
This was plain chaos!
Her so-called “game proposal” had combined nearly every obscure or rage-inducing element on the current market!
She even added the loathed “enemy spam” just to piss off players!
But!
What Chu Qingzhou couldn’t understand was why Gu Sheng, the game director, stayed so calm the whole time!
He was even seriously writing down each of Shen Miaomiao’s outrageous demands in his meeting notebook!
“Ahem!”
Chu Qingzhou couldn’t take it anymore and coughed lightly to interrupt Shen Miaomiao’s passionate speech:
“President Shen, I think that’s enough.”
Why don’t you take a break?
Or just sell the company?
Why torture your own projects like this?
“But I...”
Interrupted mid-sentence, Shen Miaomiao looked a little disappointed.
She still had more to say, but when she saw everyone else’s faces looking grim and hostile, she instinctively shrank back.
Crap. I think I might’ve gone too far...
And just then—
Gu Sheng actually stepped in to smooth things over!
“It’s alright, Secretary Chu. I actually think President Shen has a very unique understanding of game design.”
He twirled his pen and looked up at Shen Miaomiao:
“President Shen, aside from these, do you have any other ideas or features in mind?”
???
Upon hearing that, Lu Bian nearly tore his hair out!
Bro, are you out of your f***ing mind?!
You're seriously trying to challenge the impossible here?!
Little Nezha's wild ramblings were already insane!
This whole thing is absurd with a capital A!
If you really followed her specs, you'd be lucky to sell even a single copy!
And now you're asking for more?
No... wait... are you... are you a masochist?!
Who the hell would want to play this monstrosity?!
Players wouldn’t even give it a second look!
Lu Bian’s face turned purple. He stared at Gu Sheng like he’d grown two heads.
Across the table, even Shen Miaomiao looked surprised.
She hadn’t expected Gu Sheng to remain so composed after all her unreasonable demands. Not only that—he’d actually been taking notes seriously, like he was really listening!
That calm demeanor even made Shen Miaomiao feel a little guilty!
“Can... can I still say one more thing...?”
She looked over at Gu Sheng cautiously, as if seeking permission.
Gu Sheng let out a soft laugh:
“Of course. You’re in charge of setting the game’s tone—we should absolutely hear all your ideas.”
He made it sound completely reasonable, but Shen Miaomiao started feeling suspicious.
Why was he so calm and confident?
After a moment of thinking, she figured it out.
Oh, I get it. He’s checked out.
Makes sense.
With demands this ridiculous, any designer would’ve thrown in the towel by now.
Gu Sheng must be the same.
He’s probably just doodling a cute little turtle in that notebook of his while pretending to take notes.
With that in mind, Shen Miaomiao relaxed.
“Okay, then I’ll just say one last thing,”
Even though Gu Sheng seemed chill, the other two looked like they were ready to bite someone, so she didn’t dare push it too far:
“It’s about how we obtain gear in the game—can we make it non-fixed?”