Chapter 45: Have Some Mercy, Mr. Chen

October 8th, after National Day, Yang Xin, Ruan Ningxue, and staff from various departments were summoned by Chen Xu to his office.

"I mentioned it before National Day—we're going to develop a project of considerable scale."

"It will involve a lot of Action Elements. Qin Yi, contact a motion capture studio later. We'll need plenty of materials for subsequent work."

Chen Xu said this to a young man in his mid-twenties who already looked somewhat bald.

"No problem, Mr. Chen," the young man named Qin Yi nodded.

Motion capture wasn't anything impressive or sophisticated in either his previous life or this Parallel World. Compared to manually adjusting animations, motion capture had enormous advantages—cost-effective, efficient, and natural.

If it weren't for the fact that setting up a professional motion capture studio required a significant investment, Chen Xu would have considered building one himself. After all, future game development would undoubtedly require frequent output of such materials.

"Alright, everyone, let's take a look at the game we're developing this time."

After a brief explanation, Chen Xu projected the screen of his laptop onto the wall.

The Initial Design Concept Draft for Outlast had been completed over the past few days, with Chen Xu's Memory Capsule providing crucial assistance.

"H-Horror game?" Yang Xin looked at Chen Xu, slightly taken aback.

Not just Yang Xin—even Ruan Ningxue, Qin Yi, and other new employees who had recently onboarded looked momentarily stunned.

This genre was completely unexpected.

They had anticipated narrative-driven games like To the Moon, META-style games like Undertale, or traditional RPGs.

But a horror game? That was truly out of the blue.

After all, horror games occupied a rather awkward position in the market.

And there was one crucial point: hadn't Mr. Chen himself declared he was a Warrior of Love before?

What on earth did horror games have to do with love?

Judging from everyone's expressions, Chen Xu could roughly guess what they were thinking.

Horror games were genuinely difficult to make.

In fact, this genre was one of the most demanding in terms of development skill.

After all, if a horror game failed to make players feel fear, it would mostly devolve into a comedy.

Moreover, due to the niche nature of the horror game market, big companies often overlooked it, leaving development primarily to smaller studios.

Without sufficient financial backing, most designers resorted to a common technique borrowed from horror films and games: the jump scare.

Simply put, a jump scare occurs when you see a tall, attractive young lady slowly approaching you in a dim corridor. Just as you're excited and about to raise your weapon, she suddenly transforms into a blood-covered, grotesque old hag pressing her face against yours. That's the classic jump scare.

Although often criticized as cheesy, the jump scare was undeniably a classic and effective method for inducing fear in players.

But the jump scare was a double-edged sword. Used well, it could elevate a game to masterpiece status; used poorly, it would result in a flop.

Truly excellent horror games frequently employed jump scares. Thus, the belief that any horror game using jump scares is automatically inferior is fundamentally flawed.

The essence of a true horror game lies in maintaining a constant Sense of Oppression throughout the player's experience.

The scariest aspect of horror isn't the jump scare itself—it's the Genuinely Experienced unease of not knowing when the next scare will come.

A horror game can include jump scares, but must never abuse them. The core challenge—and the most difficult aspect—of horror game design is using jump scares not just to startle, but to make players scare themselves. That's the true heart of the genre.

In the office, Chen Xu explained these critical points about Outlast to his team.

"Honestly, we just don't have enough development time. Otherwise, I'd really love to take everyone on a field trip—find an abandoned hospital, set it up, and give you all a deeper understanding," Chen Xu said, sounding genuinely regretful.

Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue stared at him, eyes wide.

Others, like Qin Yi, silently lowered their heads.

"Don't worry, no need to feel regretful. Next time we develop a horror game, I'll definitely take you all," Chen Xu added with a smile.

Everyone instantly fell silent.

Who in their right mind would regret missing out on that?!

"Also, Zhang Yida—regarding promotion, pay special attention. We need to create a hot topic around video platforms and live streaming platforms. Prepare a detailed plan," Chen Xu said, turning to Zhang Yida from the marketing department, who had been quietly sitting.

Zhang Yida, who hadn't spoken until now, nodded and replied, "Understood, Mr. Chen."

Nebula Games now had modest funds, so promotion would not be neglected.

Moreover, excellent horror games naturally had strong streaming effect, allowing popularity to spread and ferment rapidly through live streams and videos.

Many players were too afraid to play horror games themselves, yet loved watching others play.

And watching versus playing often created entirely different experiences.

Some players, after watching, would think, "That's all there is to it?" and then buy the game—only to be too terrified to actually play it.

But even that could boost the game's popularity.

All of these factors were important.

The Outlast series achieved over 15 million sales in Chen Xu's previous life, largely due to the rise of live streaming platforms at the time.

After a few brief remarks, Chen Xu continued explaining the core elements of Outlast.

First, as the title suggested, players took on the role of an unarmed reporter. When confronted with terrifying scenes, there was only one choice: Jump.

Second, the game's camera mechanic differed from the never-dying nuclear-powered flashlight found in traditional games. In Outlast, the reporter's use of the camera's night vision mode was essential for navigating dark environments.

Unlike the nuclear-powered flashlight, however, night vision drained battery power.

And the player's batteries were limited—this created a core gameplay driver.

Chen Xu also broke down other aspects such as story pacing and game rhythm, explaining them one by one.

"Hmm, DV art style and Atmosphere creation—Ruan Ningxue, pay close attention to this. Tonight, around midnight, turn off all the lights at home and genuinely experience it."

"I've prepared the props. You can take them home and try it out."

As he spoke, Chen Xu picked up a handheld DV camera from his desk and placed it beside Ruan Ningxue.

Ruan Ningxue: ??????

Staring at the handheld DV in front of her, her smile slowly faded.

Have some mercy, Mr. Chen!

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