C44: Let's Escape

Less than twenty minutes after the interview, I returned to Neon Game from the game department. Interviews, blog posts, and reports from major media were constantly churning out.

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"Revelation: The Next Game from Nebula Games is Likely to Be..." ◕‿↼)

"Chen Xu: I Think I am a Warrior of Love" ヘ(^_^ヘ) ヘ(^o^ヘ)

"No New Game Announced, But Based on Chen Xu's Remarks, the Next Nebula Game is Likely to Be a Warm Love Story! "(っ˘ڡ˘ς)

"A Rising Star Indie Game Producer: The Warrior of Love - Chen Xu! "Know more about him here"

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The buzz around Sci-fi competition hadn't completely faded. To the Moon being the winner is still recommended on the official platform with a golden border.

Media interviews, blog posts, and SNS have let many other players know more about me.

Even my official blog was gaining attention, and my follower count had already reached 800,000.

At this pace, hitting a million followers seemed inevitable in little time.

At the same time, one of the Certified bloggers on the official platform has added To the Moon to my list of representative works, with the tag "Warrior of Love." Which is a kind of recognition, renown, and marketing from the official's side.

Many players were already discussing this title under various interview articles related to me.

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"The warrior of love? What the heck is that!?"

┻━┻︵ \(°□°)/ ︵┻━┻

"Now that I think about it, Chen Xu does seem to fit that title. I mean, Magic Mirror aside, every character has an element of pure love. Even though the darker stuff... well, let's not go there. (≖o≖├┬┴┬┴ "Peeping Tom replied

"Plus, the pacifist is ending in Undertale, which is all about love, and obviously, To the Moon revolves around it too."

"When you put it that way, it kinda makes sense!"

"But I'm more curious about what Chen Xu's next game will be."

"I think it will be a horror game (つ≧▽≦)つ " Xu Chen Jue replied

"Brother upstairs, stop dreaming. It should be a hot game, right? Let us eat some soft rice. (₌♥ᆽ♥₌) " Majestic Cheng added

"Yeah, after all, the man is a warrior of love."

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I didn't pay too much attention to the situation on the Internet. But sometimes I can't resist leaving some vague reply under the guise of my secondary account on many forums to spice the chat up.

"｀(^ ▼^)´↑ Ke ke ke " after which I smiled evilly.

One of the reasons was my arrival at the Neon Game Office, and another was the lottery in the office. Let me touch the wood I bought. I touched the wood which gave up a serene scent, after which I touched the game department medal for the first place. Now I felt ready.

A golden light bloomed in front of me.

The special effects always looked terrific.

It all felt so real. It was sure.

Fifty draws. Fifty draws, All in. Five million...

Among them, I got 37 ordinary skill books—plot, music, level design, all kinds of things.

(37/50) basic draw

Then there were 4 rare skill books: one for architecture, one for psychology, and two for music.

(41/50) rare draw

The remaining 9 were memory capsules.

(50/50) vitamins capsules

Ok... ( ╬◣ 益◢）y━･~

"There are enough points for one more draw," I thought, noticing that I had just enough points for one last spin. I didn't overthink it and just went ahead with the final draw.

Accompanied by that golden glow again, I was surprised by what came next.

This time, I didn't get a rare skill book, but a special item—something like a status capsule.

[Fear Transformer](120 days)

Effect: Convert the player's fear value to ten times the points (capped up to 6 million)

Obviously, this was a very rare draw—A way to get load of experience with an upper limit—but it only worked for the player's fear.

The one thing I couldn't figure out was whether the cap was based on the points before or after conversion.

But based on my estimation, it was probably the upper limit after conversion.

Also, unlike the memory capsules, this item was for a limited time only. Did that mean I will be making a horror game next? I found myself at a loss for words.

Regarding my next game, I was still thinking about what direction to take.

One thing was certain: It wouldn't be a small 2D project like before. This time, I planned to dive into 3D games.

However, the scale couldn't be too big.

Though game development in this parallel world was much simpler compared to my past life, that didn't mean there was no need for technical accumulation.

It's like building blocks: everyone has the same parts to work with, but the quality of what you build depends on your level of skill.

The same is true for games, especially games involving FPS and action.

For example, in action games, the most important thing is a sense of attack and freedom to attack.

So how do I create that?

Sound effects, controller feedback, special effects, UI interface vibrations, and various physical judgment collisions all contribute to it. But there's also a more core element: freeze frames.

The same applies to FPS games.

For my next project, I don't want to make an overly complicated game.

"If I think about it this way, horror games don't seem impossible," I thought to myself.

"I can add some action elements. And in horror games, these action elements don't need to be the main focus."

However, I didn't jump into it right away. First, I wanted to get a general understanding of the current state of horror games in this parallel world by checking the internet.

To put it simply, it's not much different from my previous experience.

In both the film and gaming industries, horror games don't usually come with large production budgets.

They're mostly in the small-to-medium range, though they do have a larger market share here compared to before.

Some single horror games even reach nearly 10 million in sales.

Of course, these are older titles, with heavily discounted prices during holiday sales, and they've been online for several years.

Interestingly, I couldn't find any horror games that seemed well-suited for VR.

VR games are expensive to develop, and horror, being a niche genre, makes such projects quite risky.

Unless someone has a strong passion for horror culture, few developers will invest in a VR horror game because the risk is too high.

On the PC platform, horror games generally fall into two categories: low-budget approaches, like the style of Undertale or To the Moon, and small-to-medium-budget games.

After getting a clearer sense of the market and horror game development trends in this parallel world, I quickly made up my mind.

I decided to go with a small-to-medium-sized project. Neon Games still has income from Magic Mirror, Undertale, and To the Moon.

While horror games are niche compared to traditional genres like FPS and RPG, if done well, they can attract attention and sell well.

Now, the question is which direction to take.

For horror games, there are many options I could explore.

But after giving it some thought, I decided to go with Escape as the next game.

In terms of game volume, my experience with Escape spans about five hours of gameplay. Of course, if I speed through the process, it's possible to wrap it up in less than an hour. When comparing it with classic horror games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or Fatal Frame, Escape offers a unique twist.

In this game, I'm not playing the typical protagonist with weapons at the ready. Instead, I take on the role of a reporter who can only run—there's no fighting back. It's a refreshing, yet nerve-wracking approach, forcing me to rely on my wits and speed to survive, rather than brute force.

For me, Escape served as a way to better understand the game engine and refine my design team's approach. The action sequences, particularly running and climbing, are designed to give the player smooth, fluid movement, even while facing the terrifying monsters in the game.

In every aspect, Escape feels like it aligns perfectly with my vision. However, the one thing that concerned me was whether the game could pass the review system. Unlike more atmospheric Eastern horror games like Silent Hill or Fatal Frame, Escape leans heavily into Western horror tropes, with an emphasis on blood and intensity.

Though the review system in this parallel world is robust, whether Escape passes remains.

Chapter end

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Escape is outlast with a changed name.

Xu Chen Jue is Chen Xu alt.

Chen Xu has used 5.1 million points in this chapter.

Chen Xu has 800k followers on his SNS Blog, He will be reaching a million followers soon.

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I plan to add these points at the end, to make some things easy to explain and remember both for the readers and for me. I got this idea today only, so from this chapter onward.

Furthermore, I would also like to hear from the reader about the translation on the following things:-

Is there any mistake?

Where can I improve?

Is there something difficult to explain in there?