Shortly after the interview.
Less than twenty minutes had passed since Chen Xu left the Game Department, not even making it back to Nebula Games yet.
Reports from major media outlets were already being published.
*"Revealed: Nebula Games' Next Title Might Be..."
Chen Xu: "I Think I'm Probably a Warrior of Love"
No New Game Planned, But Chen Xu Hints Starfall's Next Project Could Be a Heartwarming Love Story!
A Rising Star in the Independent Game Industry: The Warrior of LoveâChen Xu!*
The hype from Sci-Fi Odyssey hadn't completely faded, and To the Moon was still featured on the official platform's recommendation slots.
These media interviews also introduced Chen Xu to a wider player base.
His official Weibo account had already reached 800,000 followers.
Given the current momentum, surpassing one million was merely a matter of time.
Meanwhile, the official Weibo account's verified VIP profile now listed To the Moon as a representative work, along with a new tag: 'Warrior of Love'.
Underneath the related interview articles, players discussed animatedly.
"Warrior of Love? What the heck is that!?"
"Now that you mention it, Chen Xu really does seem like a Warrior of Love. Don't even get me started on Mirror (Game)âevery character has pure love subplots, though those corrupted endings are kinda... weird."
"And the Pacifist Ending in Undertale is overflowing with love. Not to mention his latest work, To the Moonâthe entire game revolves around love."
"Now that you put it that way, it actually makes sense!"
"But I'm more curiousâwhat will Chen Xu's next game be?"
"Probably something super heartwarming, right?"
"Exactly. He's the Warrior of Love after all."
âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ
However, Chen Xu himself wasn't paying much attention to the online chatter.
At this moment, having just returned to the Nebula Games office, he was alone in his office, performing a gacha pull.
Golden lights bloomed one after another before his eyes.
The Special Effects looked quite impressive.
It was just that the experience felt way too real.
Fifty-pulls.
Among them: 37 common skill books, covering Story, Music, and Level Design comprehensively.
4 Rare Skill Booksâone in Architecture, one in Psychology, and two in Music.
The remaining nine were all Memory Capsules.
"One more pull. Might as well use it now." Seeing he had just enough points for a final pull, Chen Xu didn't hesitate and used them immediately.
As golden light flashed again, to Chen Xu's surprise, something actually dropped!
Not a Rare Skill Book, but a special item similar to a Memory Capsule.
"Single pull summons a miracle? Is this superstitious belief actually real? But what is this thing?" Chen Xu fell silent for a moment.
[Fear Converter] (120 days)
Effect: Converts player Fear Value into ten times the points (cap: 6 million)
Clearly, this was a time-limited itemâa Double XP Card with a cap, but one that only worked on player fear.
It was unclear whether the cap applied before or after conversion.
But Chen Xu guessed it was most likely after the conversion.
"And unlike Memory Capsules, this item has a time limit. Is this a hint that I should make a horror game next?" Chen Xu felt a bit speechless.
As for what his next game should be, Chen Xu had actually been pondering it.
First of all, it wouldn't be another small-scale project like before. This time, he wanted to move toward 3D games.
But at the same time, the Game Scale couldn't be too large.
Even though game development in this Parallel World was much simpler than in his previous life,
it still required technical accumulation.
It was like building blocksâeveryone had access to the same parts, but the final structure depended entirely on individual skill.
Games were the same, especially those involving FPS and ACT genres.
Take action games, for example. The most important aspect was the sense of impact.
How do you create that sense of impact?
Sound effects, Controller Feedback, Special Effects, UI Interface Vibration, and various forms of Physical Collision Detection.
And even more crucial: screen freeze frames.
The same applied to FPS games.
So for his next project, Chen Xu didn't plan to make anything overly complex.
"Thinking this way, a horror game might not be a bad idea. I could incorporate some Action Elements, but for a horror game, those wouldn't be the core focus." Chen Xu stroked his chin, thinking.
Though he had an idea now, Chen Xu didn't jump into action immediately. Instead, he first researched the current state of horror games in the Parallel World.
In short, it wasn't much different from his previous life.
Whether in the Film and Television Industry or the Gaming Industry, horror games rarely received large-budget productions.
Most were low-cost projects aiming for high returns.
However, compared to his previous life, the market share for pure horror games was significantly larger.
Some single titles had even reached nearly ten million in sales.
Of course, these were mostly older titles, often sold at cabbage-level prices during holidays, and had been on the market for many years.
As for horror games better suited for the VR platform, there were literally none.
After all, VR game development costs were enormous.
And horror games themselves were a niche category.
Unless someone had a special passion for Horror Culture, no one would dare develop a horror game for the VR platform.
The risks were simply too great.
As for PC platform horror games, they generally fell into two categories: low-budget productions,
like the models used in Undertale and To the Moon.
The other type was medium-to-small scale games.
After getting a general understanding of the horror game market and its development in the Parallel World,
Chen Xu quickly made his decision.
He would go with the medium-to-small scale model. The revenue from Mirror (Game), Undertale, and To the Moon meant Nebula Games now had sufficient capital.
Besides, although the horror game market was niche, that was only in comparison to traditional genres like FPS and RPG.
If done well and able to generate popularity, horror games could still be major hits.
Next came the question of which specific game to make.
For horror games, Chen Xu had several directions he could choose from.
After careful consideration, he decided to go with Outlast for his next project.
Mainly because it was a good fit.
In terms of Game Scale, Outlast had a Game Length of about five hours. Speedrunning it could finish the game in under an hour.
Second, compared to horror titles like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and The Evil Within, Outlast had a clever advantage.
In this game, the player takes on the role of a reporter who can only run away and cannot fight back.
For Chen Xu, Outlast was essentially a project to facilitate Team Integration and allow him to test the game engine more deeply.
Combat and shooting mechanics could be implemented through the monsters, while the protagonist would only require basic movement actions like running and climbing.
In every aspect, Outlast aligned well with Chen Xu's psychological expectations.
The only potential issue was Censorship.
Unlike Eastern Horror games such as Silent Hill and Fatal Frame, Outlast was pure Western Horror, meaning it featured graphic and bloody content.
Although the Parallel World's Review System was well-established, whether it would pass depended ultimately on the Game Department's approval.
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