Chapter 4: The Horror Game Studio That Doesn't Make Horror Games

The heavy rain continued to fall, but Gao Ming didn't feel too scared, only his emotions were somewhat complex.

It had already become light outside, but after searching online, Gao Ming discovered that the heavy rain had blocked the roads and flash floods had erupted. No vehicles could currently approach the tunnel located at the intersection of Hanjiang, Xinhu, and Hanhai.

"I hope that tunnel hasn't been blocked by the flash flood."

Unable to ascertain why the game had become reality for the moment, Gao Ming could only accept this absurd fact, "I don't know if it's still possible to delete those game designs, but it looks like I need to make a trip to Night Lamp Game Studio."

While working part-time in game creation and design, he had collaborated many times with Night Lamp Game Studio, providing them with numerous game design proposals and ideas for mystery murder cases. He now wanted to delete all of his game design proposals to see if it was possible to remedy the situation.

After a quick breakfast, Gao Ming packed the obituary photo into his backpack, put on his raincoat, and set off, a man of strong execution.

The downpour washed over the city, dark clouds shrouding everything, while Gao Ming took a taxi to Hanhai North City District.

In fact, according to his original plan, after resigning from his job as a counselor, he would interview at Night Lamp Game Studio and become a full-time game designer.

The reason he entered this profession was simple: there were no horror games on the market he liked to play, so he wanted to design them himself.

At nine o'clock in the morning, guided by the cleaning lady, Gao Ming found the office of Night Lamp Game.

Night Lamp Game Studio was part of Motu Technology, the largest game platform in the country, and one of the many game studios under Motu Technology. They specialized in mystery and horror games, but were currently in the midst of a transition, and times were tough for them.

"Are you guys sick?! Are you ill?!"

Even through the glass door, Gao Ming could hear the roar coming from the office, and he looked inside.

Several staff members sat at their desks, and their large screens displayed a game scene—a plain male protagonist stealthily watched his own death video during a break in a spirit-summoning game with his deceased wife in a haunted house.

"The client asked for a novel romantic interactive game! And you lot give me this thing in two weeks?!" Manager Gou, head of Night Lamp Game Studio, stood by the desk with a darkened face, his belly heaving up and down with anger, his toupee nearly sliding off from agitation.

"Didn't you want something distinct from the romantic games on the market?" The office wasn't big, and Wei Dayou was sitting by the door, looking ready to bolt at any moment. He was Night Lamp Studio's game planner and programmer, and a fitness fanatic. Several years ago, under pressure from his superiors, he had sought out new game planning proposals online, and that's when he ran into Gao Ming.

Originally just fulfilling an assignment, Wei Dayou had no idea that Gao Ming's game design would secure the Most Creative Newcomer Game award of the year.

Wei Dayou was a straightforward man; he immediately clarified the situation to his company, and the contest organizers changed the original author to Gao Ming, which formally introduced Gao Ming to the game industry.

"I told you to distinguish it from the romantic games on the market! Not to go back to making horror games!" Manager Gou threw his toupee onto the desk, the few strands of hair left on his head wet with sweat.

"Everyone has been working overtime for two weeks now, and we have all tried our best," Xia Yang adjusted his glasses and squinted slightly, maintaining a smile on his face as if all the troubles of the world had nothing to do with him. Perhaps it was because of his good mindset, that at thirty-seven, he looked barely in his early twenties. He was the studio's Chief Artist, having won international art awards, with a crazy and bizarre style that was difficult for the average person to understand.

"Tried your best my ass!" Manager Gou slammed the table, "We already have so few clients, and you still want to drive them all away?"

"Innovation, strong interaction, intensifying emotions, sweet romance, eternal devotion—I designed it all according to your specifications," Wei Dayou presented the messages Manager Gou had sent at the time.

"Sweet romance my ass, you'd give me a ghostly massage!" Manager Gou scanned the few subordinates in the office, grasping at the remnants of his hair, "Our company has a total of forty-one game studios, and we're ranked forty-first. There's no room left to fall! If we continue to produce trash, we'll be dissolved on the spot and kicked out of Motu Technology!"

Unlike the other members of the studio, Manager Gou was seconded from the head office of Motu Technology. It was said that he had offended someone, so he was forced to start over from scratch.

Although he was bald, greasy, and potbellied, he was the most passionate in the studio. Deep inside, he was extremely unwilling to accept the situation and was desperate to prove himself once again.

"Three days! I'm giving you three more days. You must come up with a normal romance game no matter what!" Manager Gou picked up his wig, angrily hoisted his jumbo thermos filled with goji berries, and waddled out. He then bumped right into Gao Ming at the door.

Seeing Gao Ming, Manager Gou's eyelids twitched slightly. He had collaborated with Gao Ming many times and was familiar with Gao Ming's design style and philosophy.

He still remembered the first time he saw Gao Ming's design proposal: the three-thousand-word brief mentioned blood and horror in seventeen places and also shocked Director Gou deeply.

"Gao Ming... Good morning. You didn't come to the interview the day before yesterday, so we went ahead and hired a new person." Manager Gou's eyes dodged: "She will be coming to work soon."

When the studio used to develop mystery games, Manager Gou and Gao Ming worked together very happily, but now that the studio was going to give up horror games, Gao Ming's arrival was a bit awkward.

"I'm not here for an interview." Gao Ming saw through Manager Gou's concerns at a glance. He was an amicable person and disliked causing trouble for others, so he took the initiative to speak: "I've encountered some inexplicable issues and may need to take all the game design proposals I've provided to you and destroy them."

"Destroy them? Those proposals could all be classics if they were made!" Wei Dayou left his workstation and walked up to Gao Ming: "What's gotten into you?"

"I might not work on horror games in the future either." Gao Ming patted Wei Dayou's shoulder: "I also have a piece of advice for you: try not to go out at night in the next few days."

After hearing that Gao Ming would no longer work on horror games, Manager Gou regained his enthusiasm: "Gao, I heard from You that you resigned from the prison job, how about you come here and find something to do? We really value your ability; you don't need an interview at all!"

"I think I'll pass."

Gao Ming communicated well with everyone, and finally convinced Wei Dayou to open the studio's filing cabinet, finding all the game design proposals he had provided over the years.

Game development has a long cycle with huge investments in the early stages. Many game design ideas can't find investors, so they had to be archived.

Frankly speaking, if Night Lamp Studio wasn't planning to pivot and give up horror games, it would have been difficult for Gao Ming to retrieve his game ideas.

Gao Ming patiently organized his years of hard work, categorizing his game designs into five rough levels of danger: Criminal, Rumor, Omen, Enigma, and Uncanny Tale.

Criminal was based on real cases adapted into games, the danger completely coming from humans, focusing on reasoning and evidence collection, conforming to real-world logic.

Rumor was also based on murder cases, interwoven with some weird and horrifying stories, but those stories were mostly untrue, the real danger still being human.

Games at the Omen level were different; the horror began to show signs, the worldviews collapsed, and the sources of danger came from various curses and oddities.

The fourth level of danger, Enigma, featured games where Enigmas would actually appear.

The fifth level, Uncanny Tale, meant an entire range was unsafe, the rules were changed, anything could be Enigmatic, and Uncanny Tales would continue to expand and grow, affecting more people.

There was actually a sixth level of danger — Uncontrolled Uncanny Tale. Gao Ming had designed those thoroughly despairing games too. The main reason for his visit was to destroy the most despairing games, hoping they wouldn't become real.

"36 Criminals, 25 Rumors, 5 Omens, 25 Enigmas, 31 Uncanny Tales, 4 Uncontrolled Uncanny Tales... I really have been quite diligent over these years."