At ten o'clock the next morning, in an office building in Modu.
Chen Xu had just signed the lease contract with the agent and the owner, and was now chatting with Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue on the sofa.
"Chen Xu, your office must cost a lot in rent every month, right?" Yang Xin asked casually, glancing around the layout.
"Well, I signed a three-month lease for now. The rent's okay—it's really the development machines and office gear that cost more."
The rent was 5 yuan per square meter per day, and he'd rented two shared rooms totaling 160 square meters.
Just the rent came to 24,000 yuan a month, plus a 20 yuan per square meter property fee.
Of course, in a smaller city, this would cost only a tenth—but that wasn't realistic. The talent gap between small and big cities was too wide.
"It's simple. My company just closed down, so all kinds of development prototypes are ready-made. Chen Xu, you can just use them," Yang Xin offered.
"But then again, does that make the two of us the main developers?" she added.
At present, there were four people in the company including Chen Xu.
Yang Xin was helping with development, and the other two had worked for her previous company: one in finance and admin, the other in operations.
Chen Xu had tested their work abilities and decided to bring them on board.
"Yeah, right now it's just the two of us. We still need a core artist!" Chen Xu sighed, glancing at Ruan Ningxue, who was enjoying ice cream nearby.
In Chen Xu's plan, apart from himself, someone with strong artistic skills was essential.
And he had his eye on Ruan Ningxue.
The small team didn't worry him—this world's game development industry was different from his past life. A core team of three was enough for now.
Chen Xu could handle numerical balancing, level design, and core gameplay himself.
Other things—like art modeling and asset creation—could be outsourced. They weren't technical; they just took time.
Even if outsourcing was expensive, Chen Xu preferred spending money over wasting time.
All that remained was to convince Ruan Ningxue to join the team.
After seeing her skills during Magic Mirror's development, Chen Xu had been quietly planning this.
"Come on, Ningxue, join us… Oh, and what's our company name again, Boss Chen?" Yang Xin asked suddenly.
"Nebula Games," Chen Xu replied helplessly.
"Senior, I really think comics and games aren't that different. Both are about expressing the stories inside us to players or readers." Chen Xu looked at Ruan Ningxue seriously. "In the future, Nebula Games will even have a comic division. Some games might have adaptations or extensions. If you're interested, you can continue your comic work too."
Adapting games into comics—or vice versa—was normal in this world.
In fact, while most game design concepts lagged behind his previous life, comic-game integration was already popular.
Hearing this, Ruan Ningxue looked moved. After a moment of thought, she nodded and said, "Then I'll follow you, Boss Chen… junior!"
"It's just a name. Call me whatever feels natural, Senior Sister." Chen Xu smiled.
"Xiaoxue, you joined so easily? I pitched you so many times and got nothing!" Yang Xin said, exasperated.
Though she was happy about Ruan Ningxue joining, it stung a little.
"Sister Xin, you were just selling big dreams. Even if you made a hit game, I wasn't gonna blindly dive in." Ruan Ningxue rolled her eyes.
Chen Xu had the success of Magic Mirror to back him, and a clear company direction. His small team and efficient structure made a lot more sense.
"Alright! To celebrate Senior Sister joining, let's talk about the next steps," Chen Xu said.
Both Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue perked up. Even though they didn't have office gear yet, their expressions turned serious and expectant.
After all, they hadn't joined to coast—they wanted real results.
"Next, we're making a new game—a metagame," Chen Xu announced.
The two looked confused.
"Metagame? Aren't we continuing with 18R games?" Ruan Ningxue asked, surprised.
"Definitely not. 18R games were just our startup funds." Chen Xu shook his head.
He had no intention of running an adult-only game studio in this world.
"But what's a metagame, Boss Chen?" Yang Xin asked. Despite having designed three games and earned the title of game designer, she had never heard of this.
As for Ruan Ningxue—she was even more confused.
"Simply put, a metagame is when a game includes content that breaks beyond its own structure. It interacts directly with the player as a person," Chen Xu explained.
"Like Don Quixote—where the author steps into the story and comments on the plot."
"Ah! Breaking the fourth wall?" Yang Xin still looked a bit fuzzy, but Ruan Ningxue got it.
"Exactly," Chen Xu smiled.
In this world, Chen Xu had noticed the concept existed in a scattered way—across novels and comics—but hadn't become formalized as a genre yet.
"Our next game is a metagame. The title is Under the Legend. Once we start working, I'll tell you more."
"Also, while Magic Mirror is still hot, we'll develop a DLC character pack to boost sales even further."