The online buzz around Outlast was still going strong.
How long the game's popularity would last mostly depended on how long it could stay hot on streaming platforms.
Because if you just relied on the game's scary content alone, expecting Outlast to stay popular for the long haul—that just wasn't realistic.
At the same time, some game studios and designers online started talking about developing their own horror games.
Clearly, they were trying to ride the wave of the horror craze sparked by Outlast.
As for the type of gameplay—no need to guess—it was almost always the same: run-and-hide style with no combat system.
Lucas didn't pay much attention to that.
After all, Outlast wasn't even part of his original plan.
If he hadn't drawn an item that let him convert points, he wouldn't have developed this game at all.
"Looking at the time, two months is really pushing it," Lucas thought as he checked the date.
Big games or VR projects were still off the table, just like before.
He still didn't have enough funding.
Also, with the New Year coming up soon, even if he wanted to start a mid-sized project, it would have to wait until after the holidays.
During that time, Lucas also planned to hire some people through headhunting—people who could handle areas outside of game development.
Other than that, his next focus would be the Nebula Games platform.
Function-wise, the Nebula Games store already had most of the key features.
The store, library, community, friends list, reviews—even a version of Steam's Workshop—were all in place.
Of course, some UI elements like recommendation systems hadn't been done yet, but that was because the platform only had three games so far:
Outlast, To the Moon, and Undertale.
The platform itself was ready—but the problem was, hardly anyone was using it.
So far, only 15,000 copies of games had been sold on Nebula Games.
As for daily active users, it hadn't even reached 1,000.
Still, despite how bleak it looked, Lucas had high hopes for the platform.
"We're not short on money for now, so it's about time to start focusing on the platform," Lucas thought.
To quickly build a user base, exclusives were clearly the most effective strategy.
Big game publishers, both local and international, often used this approach.
They all had some kind of exclusivity deals.
But that route definitely didn't suit Nebula Games right now.
They had a bit of money, sure—but compared to the big players, it was nothing.
If they really wanted to go the exclusives route, they'd need a game strong enough to back it up.
And here's the issue—releasing that kind of game now would just hand ideas to other studios.
There's no protection for gameplay mechanics. And Lucas still had plenty of multiplayer game ideas based on creative gameplay from his previous life—his trump cards.
If he revealed them now, he wouldn't be blowing up the competition—he'd be blowing himself up.
"Multi-platform, buy-to-play, discounted price, pass-linked, multiplayer."
Sitting in front of his computer, Lucas thought it over for a long time, then picked up a pen and wrote down these keywords in his notebook.
That was his definition for the next game he'd be making.
The multi-platform part was obvious—Nebula Games wasn't in a position to do exclusives.
Buy-to-play would pair well with discounts, helping draw more players to actually buy the game on the Nebula Games platform.
As for the pass-linked part—it meant that if players bought the game on another platform, they'd still need to register a Nebula Games pass account to activate it.
Sure, this might turn off some players who don't want the hassle. Some platforms even outright ban account-linking setups like that.
But for early-stage user growth on Nebula Games, it was still worth it.
Even if people didn't buy anything—or didn't even download the launcher—as long as they registered a pass, that was a win.
The multiplayer aspect would also help make the setup worthwhile, allowing cross-platform play.
As for the game itself, it wouldn't be anything too big in scale.
It was, after all, more of a test-run kind of game.
And with Lunar New Year falling a bit late this year—New Year's Eve is on February 11—
Two months is more than enough time to make a small-scale game.
...
Sitting in front of his computer, Lucas sketched out a general plan for what comes next.
He walked out of the office to get some fresh air, and to think over what kind of project to take on next.
There were still quite a few directions he could go in.
It was already the end of the workday, and some employees who hadn't gone home during lunch waved at Lucas when they saw him.
Lucas nodded back at each of them. Looking at the size of the office, he started thinking maybe it was time to expand a bit.
When there were fewer people, it didn't feel cramped. But now, with the development team and other departments all in the same space, things were starting to feel a bit tight. Each desk was only separated by some partition boards.
But just as the idea crossed his mind, before he could think further, he was interrupted by Anna and Rachel coming over.
"Boss Lucas, you've been turned into a meme!" Rachel said with a grin.
"No no, more like something you said has been turned into a meme," Anna said, holding up her phone.
Lucas glanced over and looked a bit speechless.
On Anna's phone was a photoshopped screenshot.
The image was from Outlast, showing the scissor-wielding doctor mid-sit-up exercise with the protagonist. Next to it were the words: "I am a warrior of love!"
Anna swiped to the next meme: a screenshot of the chubby security guard pulling off someone's head.
The image had a mosaic over it, and the caption read: "I'm a warrior of love too!"
"This joke's still going around?" Lucas looked half amused, half exasperated.
"Of course it is. Any Outlast player who doesn't know this meme should be ashamed of all the times they got scared!" Rachel said with a chuckle.
"Exactly!" Anna agreed.
"Can't blame us—your explanation back then was just too good!" Rachel said, pulling up an old post from Lucas's official account.
It already had over 500,000 likes and more than 70,000 comments.
"Players always misunderstand me!" Lucas said, but he was still smiling, and a thought flashed through his mind.
"Alright, I've decided! If they're going to call me a 'warrior of love,' I'm going to lean into it. The next game will be a super heartwarming one." Lucas smiled as he spoke.
Rachel looked surprised. "Already? We're starting a new project that fast? What kind of game is it?"
"A heartwarming game? Boss Lucas, you're not pulling another Outlast kind of twist, are you?" Anna asked, suspicious.
"Don't rush me. I'll think on it for a couple of days and let you know once I settle on the idea. It won't be a big project, but it's perfect since this year Valentine's Day and the Spring Festival fall at the same time. I want to give players a game that really fits the mood." Lucas said with a grin.
(End of the Chapter)
---
Read +55 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---