Chapter 15: Undertale (Please collect and recommend votes)

At ten o'clock the next morning, in an office building in Modu.

Chen Xu had just finished signing the lease agreement with the agent and the owner, and was sitting on the sofa chatting with Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue.

"Chen Xu, the rent for this office building must be quite a lot, right?" Yang Xin casually asked, looking at the surrounding layout.

"Hmm, we've signed for three months for now. The rent itself isn't too bad, it's mainly the game development machines and other office equipment that are quite a big expense."

The rent is 5 Yuan per square meter per day, and he rented two connected units totaling 160 square meters. The rent alone is 24,000 Yuan a month, with a separate property management fee of 20 Yuan per square meter per month.

Of course, in a smaller city, this amount might be only a tenth. But that's clearly unrealistic, as the gap in talent between small and large cities is too significant.

"That's simple. My company also just closed down, and all the development prototypes and such are readily available and not needed anymore. Chen Xu, you can just give me a little something for them later," Yang Xin offered generously from the side.

"But speaking of which, are there only two main developers in our company?" Yang Xin asked Chen Xu.

Currently, including himself, the company has a total of four employees. Yang Xin is handling game development with him, and the other two were employees from Yang Xin's previous company. One is responsible for finance and administration, and the other for operations. After testing their work capabilities, Chen Xu hired them both.

"Yes, for now, it's just the two of us. The core team is missing a Lead Artist!" Chen Xu sighed, his eyes glancing at Ruan Ningxue, who was holding an ice cream next to him. In Chen Xu's plan, besides himself, he also needed someone with considerable artistic accomplishment. And Ruan Ningxue was his target.

As for the team only having three people, Chen Xu wasn't worried. After all, the game development industry in this world is different from his previous life; a core development team of three is currently sufficient for Chen Xu's plan. He could handle the numerical design, level design, and core design himself.

Most of the remaining content, such as art modeling production, could be outsourced to external teams. Because these are not technical tasks; they just require a lot of time. While outsourcing these aspects would certainly cost more, Chen Xu was more willing to invest money than time.

The only thing left was whether he could 'trick' Ruan Ningxue into joining the team. During the development of Mirror (Game), after witnessing Ruan Ningxue's artistic skill, Chen Xu had set his sights on her.

"That's right, Ningxue, join us... Oh, by the way, Mr. Chen, what's our company called?" Yang Xin suddenly remembered to ask.

"Nebula Games," Chen Xu said with a hint of helplessness.

"Actually, Senior Sister, I think there isn't much difference between comics and games; both aim to showcase stories to readers and players," Chen Xu said earnestly, looking at Ruan Ningxue. "And in the future, Nebula Games will also have comic-related business. We'll launch corresponding comic volumes for some games. So, if Senior Sister is interested, you can absolutely continue working on that aspect."

Game spin-off comics, or comic-adapted games, are actually very normal operations. And unlike comic-adapted games in his previous life, which were mostly just to milk money from fans, in this Parallel World, from what Chen Xu understood, while most game design philosophies lagged behind his previous life, comic-adapted games, in particular, were leading the pack.

Upon hearing Chen Xu's words, Ruan Ningxue showed an eager expression. Finally, as if having made a decision, she nodded and said, "Then from now on, I should call you Mr. Chen, Junior Brother!"

"It's just a title, Senior Sister. Call me whatever feels natural," Chen Xu said with a smile, seeing Ruan Ningxue join.

"Xiaoxue, why did you agree so readily? I clearly used to make such grand promises to you before!" Yang Xin showed a speechless expression. Although Ruan Ningxue's joining also made her happy, the key was that she had tried to persuade her countless times before without success, so why did it work with Chen Xu?

"Sister Xin, yours were purely grand promises. Even if you succeeded with one game, I wouldn't have even considered it," Ruan Ningxue said, looking exasperated. Chen Xu had Mirror (Game) as a safeguard, plus a clear direction for the company's development. On your side, the more games you made, the smaller your company became, and the fewer people you had.

"Alright, to celebrate Senior Sister joining, I'll talk about our next arrangements," Chen Xu said, looking at both of them.

Upon hearing him, even though they had just started and didn't even have office equipment, Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue both showed serious and expectant expressions. After all, they joined Chen Xu's company not to idle away their time, but also to achieve something.

"Next, we are going to develop a new game, a Metagame-type game," Chen Xu said.

Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue looked confused. Metagame, a meta-game?

"Metagame? Are we not developing 18R games anymore?" Ruan Ningxue was a little surprised.

"Of course not, 18R games were just our starting capital," Chen Xu shook his head. He had no intention of building an Illusion (developer)-like company in this Parallel World.

"But Mr. Chen, what kind of game is a Metagame?" Yang Xin was a bit bewildered. She had, after all, developed three games and even earned the Job Title of Game Designer. But this so-called Metagame, she had never even heard of it. As for Ruan Ningxue next to her, there was even less to say.

"Simply put, a Metagame refers to a game where content appears that goes beyond the game itself, and there's direct interaction between the game and the player personally."

"Have you read Don Quixote? In that novel, the author occasionally steps into the story, commenting on the plot," Chen Xu explained.

"Breaking the fourth wall?" Yang Xin was still a bit confused, but Ruan Ningxue seemed to grasp it.

"Exactly," Chen Xu nodded with a smile.

Regarding Metagames, Chen Xu noted that in the Parallel World, some types had already appeared, but they hadn't yet formed a cohesive system. This included applications in novel and comic genres, but similarly, they hadn't become a distinct category.

"Our next new work will be a Metagame, and its name is Undertale. I'll explain the more detailed content when we start working on it."

"Of course, besides Undertale, during this period we also need to develop a DLC character pack for Mirror (Game), to sell more while the heat hasn't died down yet." (End of Chapter) <>