After Felix introduced them to their workplace and the cafeteria, they moved on to the meeting room.
Inside, small fishes were swimming around in a large tank that wrapped around the room. In front of the tank, a white, trashcan-shaped robot was happily feeding the fish, completely unaware of the people watching.
He introduced the robot to them.
"This is Snow, my assistant. If you ever need anything, feel free to ask it."
Snow was an intern assistant programmed to calculate the number of credits earned from the games Felix had developed.
While it lacked physical strength, the system behind it was powerful.
He had bought its body at a cheap price, but the internal hardware and software were expensive and high-quality.
Felix had been waiting for his employees for days. He had already interviewed them through the holographic system, which contained everything he needed.
He didn't have to worry about going outside, which he was too lazy to do, or wearing formal attire since his virtual avatar, Tierra, was already dressed in a suit.
It made things much easier.
When the three of them first saw the chibi bear, they didn't realize it was Tierra himself.
During the interviews, he had appeared in his actual human form, which only his employees had seen so far.
It felt too informal to appear in his chibi form for interviews, and once he had a human assistant to handle the smaller tasks, he wouldn't need to appear personally at all.
His real appearance would remain a private matter among his trusted staff.
After the tour, Felix led them into the meeting room to begin discussing his new game.
Splatoon.
Subway Surfer and Temple Run had been his stepping stones, helping him gain attention from interstellar players and allowing him to build a name for himself.
By the time he released his own game, he would already have a large player base ready.
The three new employees were shocked to find out that Felix already had a full game concept in mind.
They listened eagerly.
Felix began explaining what Splatoon was.
He projected a hologram from his folder, displaying game designs and concepts for Splatoon.
When they realized Felix was planning to create a shooter game, their eyes lit up with excitement.
"In this FPS game," Felix said, "players take on the role of Inklings, squid-like characters who can switch between human and squid form."
"They use various ink-based weapons. As squids, they can swim through their own ink to move faster, climb walls, or hide from enemies," Felix explained.
Niko raised her hand when she heard the word "ink," something she was familiar with as an aquatic species.
"W-what do you mean by ink-based weapons?" she asked.
She had doubts.
Weren't shooting games usually focused on laser guns? Wouldn't players find this confusing or too different? She was skeptical, and the others seemed unsure as well.
Felix shook his chibi head.
Despite being in a meeting room filled with professionals, his style stood out with its distinct and cartoonish appearance.
The most direct question came from Kael.
"Will this game… actually be well received by players?"
The other two didn't say anything, but their expressions clearly showed doubt.
Even though it was a shooting game, its mechanics were more complex than the ones they were used to.
Interstellar developers had never dared to try something like this because it was too risky.
They also struggled to come up with new ideas, which was why they relied heavily on AI to make games for them.
All they had to do was bring the AI-generated concepts to life.
Game designers who refused to rely on AI never became well known.
This was because people or all species — had become too used to relying on AI for everything and lacked creativity, unlike in Felix's old world, except for the CEO who founded Solsphere Entertainment
That person had created a game so popular that players were still playing it even now.
Interstellar society had relied on AI for so long that their creativity and conceptual thinking had become shallow.
Sure, their physical strength was better than in his previous life, but back then, people were far more imaginative.
Felix didn't believe they lacked creativity, they just needed the right guidance.
That was why he was here.
Well, it wasn't only because he wanted to play a new kind of gameplay made by interstellar developers.
Felix leaned back in his chair, his eyes gleaming with confidence.
"I know you all had doubts when I said players won't be using laser guns, but paint instead. But if you haven't played it yourself, how would you know if it's good or not?"
"This game isn't about how many enemies you defeat. It's about who can paint the most turf."
Felix could have gone with Crossfire, but it was too expensive.
His credits weren't enough to buy it.
Besides, it had been so long since he played Crossfire that he didn't remember much about it.
He wasn't confident in making something like that on his own, and it was too large in scale for the four of them to handle.
That was when Splatoon came to mind.
Splatoon was more affordable, so he bought it.
He wanted a game that would be accessible for all ages.
Even in this world, young people would always yearn for games and entertainment.
The three were still full of doubt, but since Felix was their boss,
they couldn't argue.
They listened obediently.
Felix assigned them their roles.
Kael and Jalen would work together to build the map.
Having both of them on it would speed up the process.
Felix would step in to help them from time to time.
For now Jalen would help a little bit with sound in Splatoon since Felix already had the music from the system he does not need help much.
What Felix wants is to nurture Jalen talent in music for when it is time for Felix to create his own game.
He already had a personally trained music director.
Niko, who was the most creative among the three, was assigned to design the characters, including their hair, eyes, and other features.
Felix showed her the character model he had already created, an Inkling, a squid-human hybrid from Splatoon.
He didn't give her many restrictions, but since it was her first time working on a game, he decided to handle the NPC character designs himself.
Niko would also manage the catalog and other assets.
Since Niko already knew a lot about aquatic species and was familiar with squids, it was easier for her to understand the concept.
The details and drafts were already laid out for her, it wouldn't be too difficult.
As for Felix, he decided to create a map.
Urchin Pass was the most popular map when it made a comeback in Splatoon 3.
In the older version, the map was cramped and unbalanced.
Now, he had the chance to make a new and improved version of Urchin Pass.
He began by working on the layout. Even though it didn't have much detail yet, the basic shape already showed what needed to be added and refined later.
The system was convenient, allowing him to access memories of games and turn them on or off depending on what he wanted to recall.
The system liked to talk, but it was useful in many ways.
It would occasionally appear and start showing off its love life.
Felix remembered it clearly.
The system talked about it so often that he could probably make a game out of their love story.
It wouldn't have a happy ending.
First, he needed to create the spawn point where the two teammates would appear.
The spawn area in Urchin Underpass was large and slightly maze-like, with slopes and grates that led down to a lower floor.
He imagined the spawn point in his mind, and to his delight, it was already taking shape well.
His mental energy was improving.
He could now create a cartoonish art style in the holographic system, thanks to the practice he had gained from building Temple Run.
The game he made had a different art style from the original Temple Run he remembered.
It required a lot of mental energy to achieve.
Now, he needed to design the area surrounding the first spawn point.
It was surrounded by railings, and the only way back up was a winding ramp in the corner.
Enemies could reach the spawn area, and a walkway near the ramp led directly into the main arena.
After finishing the groundwork and realizing that the system hadn't warned him about overusing his mental capacity in the holographic system, he decided to add more details.
While Felix was busy creating his game, on another planet called Aquaon, a young mermaid boy was lying on a holographic pad.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes, sat up, and jumped to his feet with excitement on his face.
"Sis! I found a big discovery!" he shouted.
Tovi was a gamer himself.
After discovering Subway Surfer, he immediately followed the game developer.
Later, he played Temple Run, which he found even more fun than Subway Surfer.
Just yesterday, he discovered a hidden mode that could only be accessed after reaching Level 6.
His curiosity was sparked.
The more he couldn't see what was inside that mode, the more determined he became to find out.
He started grinding hard to level up.
His sister was usually outside, but this time he found her in her room, on her holographic pad.
On a holographic pad, the title of the game being played is usually displayed at the top.
You can choose to hide it, but clearly his sister didn't care.
He checked what she was playing and saw she was playing Temple Run.
This surprised him. His sister rarely played games, she preferred hunting.
She usually hunted out of boredom.
It wasn't because they lacked food.
She often returned with different kinds of pets, but those pets always ended up dying later for no clear reason.
It shocked Tovi and happy because he found a comrade to play what he discovered.
He messaged his sister about what he discovered and immediately went back to his holographic pad.
They are already friends in gamestar they often play there together, but games were getting boring each day that is why his sister stopped playing in it instead went to hunt and hang out with her friends instead.
Inside the game, his sister accepted the invitation. "What did you discover?" she asked immediately.
She started playing Temple Run because of word of mouth from her friends.
At first, she dismissed it, but when her friends kept talking about it, she worried she might be out of touch and decided to download it.
To her surprise, the game was actually good.
She hadn't left the house in days.
Their parents were actually happy, since she wasn't causing trouble with whatever strange pet she discovered.
One time, she brought home a talking fish.
At first, she thought it was a new kind of species, so she grabbed it and brought it home.
But the fish turned into a human.
Her parents scolded her for a month and banned her from going outside.
That was when she started playing Temple Run.
Now that her brother had found something in Temple Run that she didn't know about, she became interested.
Tovi felt smug that his sister hadn't discovered it yet.
"Hehe! I found a mode in Temple Run. It's called Hunter Vs Prey Mode, where one player becomes the predator and the other plays as a human!" he said proudly.
After hearing that, his sister was intrigued.
"Good job! Now what are you waiting for? Let's start the game!"