Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 50
“Secretary Chu?”
Gu Sheng was a bit surprised to see Chu Qingzhou.
“You didn’t go to Zhongjing?”
Gurgle, gurgle—
Chu Qingzhou sipped her lemon water, the straw making a szzz sound, her expression helpless.
“We already came back.”
So soon?
Gu Sheng felt a burst of joy in his heart.
Looks like the deal didn’t go through, right? Otherwise, why would they come back so quickly—out in the morning, back in the afternoon.
No deal is the best outcome. Like they say, good things take time. Just give me a bit more, and I’ll have Escape ready to roll.
“Did things not go smoothly?”
Gu Sheng gestured for Chu Qingzhou to come in and sit down, asking as she did.
Hearing this, Lu Bian and Da Jiang both turned to look.
Chu Qingzhou shook her head.
“It actually went too smoothly… so smooth it’s a bit unexpected.”
“We’ve already signed a deal with YiYou. The next project will be released on YiYou X1.”
She added,
“I’m here to let you know we’re having a project kickoff meeting soon.”
“D***! President Shen is really efficient!”
Lu Bian exclaimed,
“You guys left in the morning and closed the deal by noon?!”
Heh.
Chu Qingzhou let out a bitter smile in her heart.
Of course it was fast. They offered double the price. If you were Yan Sheng, you’d have agreed even faster.
“Yeah,” Chu Qingzhou nodded.
“President Shen… really values this project, so the pressure on your side will be pretty heavy this time.”
That was her own guess.
Honestly, she couldn’t understand why Miaomiao was willing to pay twice the price just to secure a slot on YiYou X1.
What for?
For its small market share? For its low user base?
She could only chalk it up to Miaomiao really, really caring about this project.
Caring a whole damn lot!
Hearing this, Gu Sheng straightened up.
“Yeah, after all, this is our first time entering the motion-sensing pod market. Not just President Shen—our whole team has to give this project extra attention.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you, Director Gu, and the rest of the team.”
With that, Chu Qingzhou stood up.
“I’ll go prep the meeting room. See you guys in a bit.”
After Chu Qingzhou left, the three of them shook off their earlier lazy vibe.
“Judging by Secretary Chu’s expression, this is a big investment,” Lu Bian said, lighting up a cigarette.
“Yeah, it’s the motion-sensing pod market.”
Gu Sheng nodded.
“Even a casual investment in this is probably more than the total budget of all our previous games combined.”
“So, Sheng-ge, do you have any thoughts yet?”
Da Jiang asked,
“The kickoff meeting’s in a bit. We should have at least a rough plan, right?”
The moment this came up, Gu Sheng genuinely felt a headache coming on.
“To be honest, I’ve only got a vague idea of the game genre.”
He rubbed his face.
“But I’m not sure about the exact form yet.”
“No worries, as long as you have a genre in mind,” Lu Bian said.
“There are tons of motion-sensing pod games out there. We can always draw inspiration from similar titles. So, which direction are we going in?”
Gu Sheng pondered for a moment.
“Horror games.”
It was like a heavenly chord had struck.
The whole office went dead silent the moment he said that.
A long, long silence followed.
Finally, Lu Bian spoke slowly:
“…You and Little Nezha taking turns to go crazy or what?”
Horror games?
What the f*** are you gonna draw inspiration from in that genre?!
There are no similar titles left—they’re all long dead!
Lu Bian was utterly speechless.
Last time, it was Little Nezha at the project kickoff, spouting all kinds of nonsense—pixel art this, roguelike that!
Thankfully, Gu Sheng was a genius. He managed to tie all those absurd ideas together in a clever way and gave birth to Vampire Survivors, a legendary game.
But this time…
Gu Sheng’s the one going off the rails!
Who’s gonna step up as the genius savior now?
There’s no one!
“Bro, could you just calm down for a sec?! The horror genre has been dead for ten years!”
Lu Bian grabbed Gu Sheng’s shoulders, trying to shake some sense into him.
Other people can go crazy, fine.
But you can’t, man!
The whole company’s survival depends on you!
“Didn’t we already talk about this before? You forgot?”
Lu Bian shook Gu Sheng, trying to jog his memory.
“That genre is stone-cold! Even f***ing galgames outperform it now! No one’s making horror games anymore! There’s no market for it!”
“Uh… second bro…”
Da Jiang chimed in weakly from the side.
“Galgamers have feelings too, man. The weebs didn’t do anything to you…”
“That’s not the point!”
Lu Bian lost it.
“Is horror even an option?! Especially when we’re just getting started! The motion-sensing pod market is already super risky, and now you want to add horror on top? Might as well toss our underwear in the pot too!”
Just as he said that—
Click!
The office door creaked open.
A bun-haired girl poked her head in cautiously, looking sneaky.
“Sorry, did I hear something about a project so risky you’d lose your underwear over it?”
“L-little President Shen?”
Lu Bian jumped at the sight of her, quickly getting up to greet her.
That’s right!
It was none other than Shen Miaomiao herself!
She’d just gone to the restroom, and on her way back past Gu Sheng’s office, she’d overheard Lu Bian’s outburst about “losing your underwear.”
Her curiosity piqued immediately.
A project so risky you’d lose your underwear?
What kind of top-tier project was that?!
Unable to resist, Shen Miaomiao pushed open Gu Sheng’s office door.
“No worries, no worries, carry on.”
Shen Miaomiao waved her hand casually, signaling them to relax.
“I was just passing by, heard the heated discussion, and thought I’d check it out. So, what’s this project you were talking about?”
With Little Nezha’s arrival, Gu Sheng was finally able to break free from Lu Bian’s iron grip.
Thank goodness.
Gu Sheng breathed a silent sigh of relief.
If Little Nezha hadn’t shown up, his brain would’ve been scrambled by now.
He shook his head, then explained,
“We were discussing game genres for the motion-sensing pod project.”
“Ohh—”
Shen Miaomiao nodded.
“And what’s Director Gu’s idea?”
“I want to try horror games,” Gu Sheng said.
“Even though this genre is pretty cold in the current market, and there are almost no developers willing to touch it,”
“And from a player’s perspective, there’s little interest or confidence in this type of game,”
“But…”
Gu Sheng wanted to say, But I’m confident I can break the mold of formulaic jumpscare templates, combine it with the high-immersion features of motion-sensing pods, and carve out a unique niche in the market.
But before he could finish, Shen Miaomiao clapped her hands.
“That’s exactly the spirit of our Golden Wind! Great idea!”
Shen Miaomiao was overjoyed.
What a coincidence!
She’d also been thinking of making a horror game for the motion-sensing pod, but she’d been worrying about how to pitch it at the kickoff meeting.
And now, Gu Sheng had actually brought it up himself!
Of course!
No wonder Lu Bian said this project was so risky it could lose them their underwear!
Thinking of this, Shen Miaomiao got fired up, slapping her thigh.
“Director Gu, you really are the backbone of our company! A rising star in the gaming world!”
“Bold! Creative! Full of drive!”
“Excellent! That’s the spirit! We’ll go with your idea—we’re making a horror game!”
“Come on, let’s head to the meeting room right now to discuss the game details!”