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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Why I Made Games Alone (4)
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'…A funeral home. That's what this place is.'
When I returned after nearly a week, the office atmosphere was, in a word, the worst.
The exhaustion etched on my team members' faces, the musty smell, and on top of that, the gloomy office atmosphere.
'Looks like they were in crunch mode.'
Crunch mode: a period of prolonged work involving overtime and all-nighters ahead of a build deadline or release date.
If my guess was right, the team must have been ground down by the PD while I was gone, slaving away at game development.
Probably… because the FGT feedback was so bad.
[Daeri Heo Yuri: Gwajang-nim, I heard you were sick. Are you feeling better?]
As I sat down, Daeri Heo Yuri, who had arrived before me, spoke up.
[Me: Yes, well… I'm fine now. But it's not me, it's everyone else who looks like they're about to die.]
[Daeri Heo Yuri: Ugh… don't even ask. We've been in crunch for three days straight. Left at dawn twice, and yesterday, quite a few people pulled all-nighters. That crazy bastard of a PD… I don't get why he's grinding us down like this over something that got shot down after we did exactly what he told us to.]
I could picture it without even seeing it.
PD Oh Gwangseok, a man with no skill and a hot-headed temper, often imposes these meaningless crunch periods whenever he gets chewed out by the higher-ups.
Of course, since it's overtime without any clear direction for revisions, nothing actually changes.
It's an action only possible based on the idiotic thought that if you just keep employees at the office longer, something will magically come out of it.
'He must be dying to kill me, huh?'
A smirk crept onto my lips.
Oh Gwangseok probably hated my guts for being out for nearly a week.
But he couldn't harass someone who was sick, so he must be waiting for an opportunity to find fault with me.
To give him as little room as possible, I kept my breaks to a minimum and drafted a proposal document for improving the story of our project… 'Phoenix'.
'As expected… is it because there's no separate skill for this? A status window isn't popping up.'
Just in case, I repeated the command in my head several times, but it seemed my ability didn't extend to this project yet.
Well… still, you stick with what you know. I was confident in my story writing, so this much wouldn't be a problem.
"I have something to take care of, so I'll be leaving now."
And so, around 8 o'clock, I left the office without hesitation.
The glares from PD Oh Gwangseok and the Planning Pateujang were sharp, but I had something far more important to do and didn't want to waste any more time here.
'Because today is the day my game is released.'
Because tonight at 10 PM, the game I had poured nearly a year and two months into, 'Forgotten Andersen's Story,' was set to launch.
I bought a can of beer and some potato chips, sat down at my computer, and opened 'Pipe,' the console game sales platform, waiting for my game to go live.
"Okay."
The moment it turned 10, my game appeared as a banner image in Pipe's 'Indie Game of the Day' section.
Without hesitation, I downloaded and played the game, checking for any bugs or typos.
When I snapped out of it, it was already 3 AM… I checked to see if there had been any user reactions in the meantime.
But there were no comments or star ratings yet.
'Well… expecting it to sell well from the first day is just being greedy.'
A few days of waiting passed after that….
However, my game received no comments, no reactions whatsoever.
'Damn it… Was I too complacent?'
Contrary to my belief that if I just made a good game and uploaded it, sales would follow, my game got no response at all.
Sitting in front of my computer, tapping my foot impatiently, I agonized over how to solve this problem.
'To even get some word-of-mouth going, someone has to at least play it.'
I cooled my head and thought about it calmly.
An indie game section with low traffic within Pipe, and on it, a game with perfectly ordinary pixel graphics.
That was likely the objective assessment people had of 'Forgotten Andersen's Story'.
Trying to appeal with a good story or good direction is pointless if no one has even played the game in the first place.
This is the reality, which is why major game companies pour astronomical sums, nearly rivaling development costs, into marketing when a game is released.
However….
'It's not like I have money to spend on marketing….'
I had already spent a lot of money developing Forgotten Andersen's Story.
I spent nearly ten million won on English and Japanese translations in addition to Korean, and on top of that, I burned through several million more on outsourcing the music.
I was basically pouring my entire salary into this, so there was no way I had any money left.
No matter how I looked at it, there was no solution, and I felt a tightness in my chest.
'Should I try promoting it myself….'
Just as I was deep in thought….
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
'Ah…!'
I immediately brought up the status window and accessed the shop.
And then, an item at the very bottom caught my eye.
(3). Let's promote your game yourself! 'Single Title Promotion Solution!' - 5 Points
Number 3 was exactly the ability I needed right now.
Besides, I still had the 5 points I earned from leveling up last time.
'…The gods are on my side.'
It might have been just a coincidence, but it felt as if every circumstance was telling me I had to buy this ability at this very moment.
Without hesitation, I reached my hand into the air and selected item number 3.
<
<
Then, along with the system message, a new status window appeared before my eyes.
[Forgotten Andersen's Story Promotion Solution]
Option 1. Promote on Muriweb's indie game board - May 11th, 19:39
(Sample promotional post.TXT)
Option 2. Game webzine Inventory - Optimal time May 11th, 22:13
(Sample promotional post.TXT)
....
The solution status window displayed a list of about ten promotion methods I could use, the optimal times, and sample promotional posts for each site or community.
'Definitely… a post like this could stir up some buzz.'
The promotional posts came in various formats, like a short story or a webtoon… they were designed to hook users within the post, making them perfect for grabbing attention.
'What the… why is this on the list?'
As I was checking the items one by one, my eyebrow twitched at the last one on the list.
****
'No way… is this really happening?'
A few days later… I was lying in bed, looking at my smartphone, completely dumbfounded.
An average of 15,000 concurrent viewers, 800,000 YouTube subscribers… Pung Horang, one of Korea's biggest game streamers, was playing 'Forgotten Andersen's Story' on his stream.
The last option in the promotion solution… Option 11.
Politely request streamer 'Pung Horang' to play the game, sending him a free game code and letting him know you're a fan.
I'd sent the email following the solution's advice, just on the off chance it might work, and now Pung Horang was actually playing my game.
Pung Horang was famous for never playing a game he didn't find fun, even if big companies offered him huge sums for a sponsored stream.
And that picky streamer had taken an interest in my game.
"Kimchi-tale, huh… I don't hate it."
Pung Horang had mashed up the name of my game with a famous foreign indie game and called it Kimchi-tale.
That day, I stayed up almost all night watching Pung Horang's stream.
[Sailmane: Oh... he made this alone? Solo dev life is sweet. Way better than those guys who churn out generic mobile games.]
[Kumception: LMAO wow, the comedy hits you when you least expect it.]
[G9verse: The lore has a lot of clever parts too. Never knew Andersen was that kind of person.]
[DIAL112: Wow! Andersen! Wow! You know Kimchi-tale!]
Pung Horang and his viewers poured out their honest thoughts on my creation.
There was some occasional criticism and one-sided bashing, but most of it was positive.
It felt as if the 400 days I had painstakingly endured, sacrificing sleep and free time, were all being rewarded in this one moment.
Just as morning arrived and it was almost time for work.
Pung Horang finally reached the ending of Forgotten Andersen's Story.
[Sailmane: Ugh... my eyes are... sweating?]
[TJA123: A-man is so sad... who would've imagined Andersen was that kind of person?]
[Kumtata: Wow... this is a K-game? Awesome!]
[Shinception: Pung Horang is crying? So much for acting his age lol]
Pung Horang, after witnessing the backstory of Andersen—the game's villain—at the climax, sniffled and shed a tear.
Since this was a part I had meticulously crafted, revising the dialogue dozens of times and adjusting the direction down to the second, seeing this reaction made me indescribably proud.
And with that, Pung Horang's stream ended.
I immediately opened my email and sent him a message with my sincerest thanks.
It might not seem like much, but I figured such a small courtesy might be a way to continue our connection.
The moment I hit the send button on the email….
<
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-Condition: Earn over 20 million won in sales with a solo-developed game.
-Achievement Reward: Upon use, all of Jo Hyunsoo's stats +1
A flashy system message announced that I had obtained an achievement that would raise all of my stats by 1.
'An achievement… so I get a separate reward for completing it.'
I briefly opened my status window.
[Planning] B+
Story - 35(+1) / Direction - 25(+1) / Concept - 25(+1) / System – 15(+1) / Balance - 8(+1) / Level Design - 12(+1)
[Programming] E+
Server- 5(+1) / Engine- 5(+1) / Client- 7(+1)
[Art] E+
2D Art - 5(+1) / Pixel Graphics - 7(+1) / 3D Modeling - 5(+1) / Animation - 5(+1) / Effects - 5(+1)
'Oh… this is huge.'
I checked all the detailed stats under Planning, Programming, and Art, and saw that every single one had increased by 1.
By a simple calculation, that was 14 points… meaning my stats had increased by the equivalent of three level-ups just from this one title.
You might wonder what's so great about my Programming or Art stats increasing, but for a planner, the higher your understanding of other roles, the better you can plan with their perspectives in mind.
This… could only be described as a massive windfall.
'At this rate… it's like I gained several years of experience for free.'
My lips curled into a wide smile at the pleasant reward.
But it didn't end there.
The next day… an even more incredible gift was waiting for me.