NunuNote: Thanks Wilder for your comment on the previous chapter, I realized that the selection of songs I made wasn't really following the intention of winning over as many audiences as possible, so I've updated the selected songs to be closer to that.
The new songs are: [Through the Fire and Flames], [Deja Vu], [Bad Apple!!!], [Megalovania], [Bad Guy], [Unholy], [Believer], [Dope], [Taki Taki] and [Winter of Vivaldi].
Let me know what you think of it, and I'll take suggestions for the next songs I add to the story in the future.
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After 10 days I finished developing the 20 Goblins for the Easy difficulty for Warriors and Mages.
When I thought it would take me another 10 days just to make the other two classes, I started to reconsider.
'I think it would be better to first release the game with just the two main classes of Warrior and Mage, just like in Runestone, and then use the MP generated in the game to release the other classes faster...' I decided after doing some mental calculations about the profit I would miss out on by waiting so long to release the game.
I didn't just develop the Goblins in that time, since every day I had a few dozen MP left over from the cost of making the monsters; everything that was left over was used to develop other aspects of the game.
For example, looking around, the game now had a Hub instead of just being in a black place.
Using the idea of the FrostHaven Entertainment logo, I had the Players stay in a cozy winter hut until they chose the song they were going to play and when everything was selected, when they left the hut they would be teleported to the combat location of the chosen song.
Some of the game's systems had also already been developed, such as the points system and global ranking.
Although Runestone's rank system had been a success, I decided to take a different approach for this new game.
Using the form that Osu used in my previous world, I made it so that each song completed by the Player would earn him some points.
These points would add up and place the Player in a global Rank.
Each Player's profile would show the Player's ranking for the number of points they had, with Global, National, State, City and Friend Ranks.
There were also Ranks by Rank in the real world, so that there was a Rank for Players of different levels in the real world and separate ranks just for F Rank Players.
That way, a Player could be Top 10,000 Nationally, Top 2,000 Statewide, Top 100 in his city and Top 1 among his friends depending on his skill.
Even if he wasn't that high in the highest ranks, having a more exclusive rank where he was better than his friends would make that Player more motivated and proud.
Not to mention that something like this would also encourage Players to invite their friends, just like in Runestone.
Another thing I developed during this time was the option of filters for the game.
Since I wouldn't be able to release a version of the game on Hard difficulty, I thought I'd add difficulty filters that would increase the difficulty and the points that players can earn on each difficulty.
For example, completing a song on Medium difficulty perfectly would earn the Player the S grade and 20 points, but if that Player activated a filter to make it harder to see the enemy that Player could earn another 5 points, if he added a filter to add another enemy the Player could earn another 5 points.
If the Player got the song perfectly right with at least 2 filters added, they could get an SS score.
The more filters he activated, the more points he would get to increase his Rank, as well as obviously improving the quality of his training.
I still hadn't finished making all the filters I'd thought of for the game, since I only did it with the MP I had left over every day, but I was confident I'd be able to finish it before developing all the Goblins on Medium difficulty.
In those 10 days the Runestone wasn't abandoned, quite the opposite.
With the release of the new update that added new classes and several new cards, the number of daily Players was rising sharply.
And with the number of players going up, my daily income was also going up a lot.
From the $2,600 I received 10 days ago, when I collected the $20,000 to buy the new Game Core, today I had already received $4,500!
With how much I've earned in the last 10 days, I believe the total amount has already passed $33,000!
The difficulty I had to go through to accumulate my first $20,000, compared to how much money I was making now, was almost nothing!
The only difference was that I didn't have $33,000 in my account now, as it didn't make sense to just save money for no purpose while I was living in a place like this.
So to improve my lifestyle, I started spending money on various purchases on furniture websites.
A sofa for my living room, a big TV for me to watch while I planned my new game, bedside cabinets for my bedroom, a desk for my computer!
Little by little, my home was becoming more and more comfortable.
Every day a new delivery truck brought some piece of furniture to my house.
The rent I had to pay to Director Prescott, which had once seemed so high and distant to me, was now just Runestone's daily income.
Feeling the comfort that money brought me, my eyes even began to be drawn to some means of getting around.
Instead of wondering if I could afford a taxi ride, now my question was:
'Should I get a car or a sports bike?'
Either option would be good for me, but neither was my priority.
With how much Runestone was earning and growing, it would be better for me to wait a few more days, or even a few months for the game to keep growing and buy one of the cars of my dreams, rather than just buying whatever car my money could afford right now.
"I just have to keep the Runestone active and exciting for the Players while I make my new game... or rather, while I make SyncStrike." I said with a smile.
Unlike Runestone which I used the original name of my old world, for SyncStrike I decided to create a new name, after all, although I used the rhythm game base of my old world, this was a 100% original game of mine, so there was nothing better than using an original name for it too.
Looking at the amount of online players on Runestone, I had an idea of how to start creating engagement for SyncStrike.
Launching the game without anyone knowing about it would be a complete waste of potential, what I should do now that the game has a solid foundation is do something like an exclusive beta playtest.
'If I give Runestone players the chance to test the new game for a limited time, creating in them a great desire to play the new game, but making them have to wait for it to be released, when the game actually launches the success it will have will be even greater! ' I thought excitedly.
With this in mind, I began to develop a way for Players to test the game.
For this first Playtest, Players could only play one song, this song would have the Warrior and Mage versions and only two difficulties, Easy and Medium, with all the game's filters available.
To get the Players even more excited, I had to add a reward...
Thinking about how much the Players liked the Runestone skins, there was nothing better than giving them a limited card skin, right?
Not just a limited skin for Runestone Players, but everyone who plays the playtest will get a sword or staff skin for SyncStrike too!
That way, even if Players aren't immediately interested in my new game, the desire to get a limited skin for the game they already like will encourage them to give it a try.
Excited by this idea, I started developing these new skins and deciding what would be the first song that Players could play, while getting excited about seeing how Players would react to the new game.