Chapter 61: Overcooked (Chinese title)

Chapter 61: Overcooked (Chinese title)

Unlike movies, which have distinct release seasons such as the New Year's release season or summer release season, the gaming industry operates differently.

The main reason is that movie audiences need to go to theaters.

Games, whether PC or VR, only require players to have the necessary equipment.

The only exception is VR games, which tend to be more expensive.

Currently, high-quality VR game experiences, such as those provided by gaming pods, are still relatively rare among individual users.

Most are found in experience stores, which are somewhat similar to internet cafes.

Therefore, the gaming industry operates completely differently from movie release schedules.

Although the gaming industry isn't as intense as the film industry in this regard, competition still exists.

Many game developers and designers still pay close attention to this period.

Aside from teachers and students who haven't entered society, for ordinary players, this is essentially the largest holiday after National Day.

Moreover, during the Spring Festival, most people have fuller wallets than usual.

Naturally, this makes it a prime target for game developers, resulting in fierce competition.

Major game platforms offer discounts, online multiplayer games host special events, and many developers release new titles—some even launching VR blockbusters.

For Chen Xu, developing a large-scale game in the next two months would be impossible.

But that didn't mean he could do nothing.

Although the team had no active projects after completing Outlast, work across departments was far from light.

The platform side, for instance, was busy with follow-ups, gathering external information, and collecting feedback from platform users.

Even though the user base was small, the necessary data was still being collected.

Completing Outlast didn't mean the work was over.

After its completion, the team used the experience gained—particularly from gameplay actions and parameters—to conduct adjustments and testing on the Official Game Engine.

Although the engine significantly improved productivity compared to the one from Chen Xu's previous life, it wasn't flawless.

It was like sculpting with clay—some creations turned out beautifully, while others were hideously ugly.

Therefore, Chen Xu decided to develop a transitional project. It would allow the team to summarize and internalize their experiences, and given the limited time, it was a practical choice.

Moreover, judging from current online player reviews, there seemed to be some misunderstanding about him.

This year, Chinese New Year's Eve falls much later than usual, and Valentine's Day happens to fall right in the middle of the Spring Festival.

Looking at film schedules in the entertainment industry, numerous romantic films are being released.

Yet, there isn't a single romantic game.

He might as well fill that gap.

He could give couples celebrating the Spring Festival a big surprise!

"A couple's game—plus, I can promote our Nebula Games Platform through player discounts. A win-win situation!"

After discussing with Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue, Chen Xu returned to his office, leaned back in his chair, and looked at the keywords he'd marked earlier. An idea began to form.

Perfect—he already had a great game that could strengthen relationships between couples. It would serve as an excellent transitional project and might even earn him plenty of Emotion Points from players.

He turned on his computer, created a new folder, then pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil from his drawer to begin sketching.

Soon, simple character designs appeared on the paper.

Cartoon-style characters: the Onion King, the Crocodile Chef, the Dog Chef, the Bearded Chef, and a dog named Kevin wearing a bell.

After roughly outlining the main characters, Chen Xu began drafting the design concept document for the new game.

Overcooked (Chinese title), also known as Overcooked, was the casual simulation game Chen Xu planned to develop next.

For Chen Xu and the Nebula Games team, developing Overcooked wouldn't be difficult.

It required far fewer resources than Outlast.

Still, all assets would need to be created from scratch.

After all, Overcooked's art style was completely different from the previous games Chen Xu had made.

This was a cartoon-style game.

And a standout among cooperative games.

One of the genre's iconic representatives.

Its adorable, adorable art style gave the game incredibly broad appeal. Regardless of personal taste, few could truly dislike it.

Moreover, the game itself had strong traits of an independent game.

It was developed by only two people, and by the time of its release, they had just enough money left for a 13-pound lunch.

Yet, shortly after launch, it sold nearly 2 million copies.

It even earned a nomination for Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards that year.

This turned it into a unique franchise.

In this Parallel World, there were some cooperative games, but none stood out significantly.

After confirming the game type, the next decision was which version to base it on.

Overcooked 1, the series' debut, achieved great success and established the game's art style and gameplay.

But it had many flaws—no online multiplayer, few maps, and various control issues.

Overcooked 2, however, was a highly successful sequel. It fixed many of the original's problems while preserving the game's unique mechanics.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat, on the other hand, offered little innovation beyond improved visuals. It added some helpful new player tutorials and support features, essentially making it a compilation edition featuring content from both 1 and 2.

After brief consideration, Chen Xu quickly made his decision.

He would base the game primarily on Overcooked 2, adopting its core setting, gameplay, and art style.

He would make adjustments to the UI and visual effects.

Additionally, he would include some particularly well-designed maps.

As for the story, that wasn't particularly important.

In the Overcooked series, the story is essentially just a backdrop.

Much like Nintendo's games from Chen Xu's previous life—whether Mario or Zelda—the plot always revolved around rescuing a princess and defeating a final boss.

For non-story-driven games like these, the levels are the true core.

For now, though, the priority was to establish the game's basic framework.

Furthermore, compared to the version from his previous life, Chen Xu planned to introduce some new changes to the game's content.

It would also serve as a test for platform features.

Undertale, Outlast, and To the Moon had all been released on their own Nebula Games Platform.

But one feature hadn't been utilized yet—the Workshop (modding platform) on the platform.

The nature of those three games simply didn't align with modding.

But Overcooked was a perfect candidate for experimentation.

After all, it was fundamentally a level-driven game.

If combined with the Workshop's features, it could potentially surpass its previous-life counterpart in terms of content.

But this would require careful planning and organization.

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