In a tall skyscraper, inside a luxurious office, Rafi, the well known genius game developer, furrowed his eyebrows.
He was checking the number of players who had purchased his game.
[ Shoot the Alien]
He clenched his fist on the armrest of his chair. Only 1,200 sold? Outrageous.
It's not like he was being ignorant usually, his game downloads would climb to 14,000 in just an hour.
"My game is excellent, yet players are choosing that free game, Subway Surfer?" he muttered.
Wasn't Shoot the Alien, priced at 160 CR, better in every way? It had superior quality. His games were always top-notch, far beyond that cartoonish style.
Why couldn't anyone see that? Who liked that childish stuff? And where did his players go?
He looked at the reviews for Shoot the Alien. Many had left positive feedback:
[ This is a nice concept! Something new! ]
[ You can shoot! It's better than Subway Surfer! ]
Reading those, he felt his pride swell. But the negative remarks made his blood boil:
[ Isn't this basically a copy and paste of Subway Surfer? ]
[ Only those who have experience in the army can play this game..]
They were comparing his work to someone with no reputation at all. He hadn't played Temple Run, nor did he care; he only knew it was similar to Subway Surfer.
Rafi's eyes turned red with frustration. "Both of their games are just copy-paste of each other! How can they even compare to mine!"
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
Just then, a call notification appeared on his holoscreen.
The name displayed was [ Oni ], an administrator at one of the companies under SolSphere.
Oni had helped him rise this far.
Rafi steadied himself before answering
[ Oh! Rafi, you finally answered.]An old man's voice, cheerful and warm, unlike the stern expression he usually wore.
[ I've been trying to call you!]
Rafi's face remained blank, his expression vacant, but his voice carried a cheerful tone that didn't match.
"Administrator Oni! Sorry, things have been pretty hectic lately."
There was a laugh on the other end.
[ Don't call me Administrator Oni. Just call me Oni instead! ]
Rafi forced out a polite response.
"I will."
Oni continued,[ Are you busy right now? Is it because of Shoot The Aliens? Hahaha, that's just like you!]
The mention of the game made Rafi's mood darken, even if his expression didn't change.
Shoot the Alien had not turned out excellent like his previous titles.
And this old man, Oni, had been the one to suggest it in the first place.
He regretted listening.
If only he had gone with his other project instead.
Now all he could do was grit his teeth.
"That's right, Mr. Oni. I've been having trouble attracting players to my new game…"
Oni paused for a moment.
It wasn't like he didn't know the truth.
He had access to the full data, since he was the manager overseeing Rafi's work.
[ …I'm sure plenty of players are going to grab it! A lot of them are already leaving good reviews.]
[ Let's just wait. It's a new concept after all, and I've heard that other game companies are already starting to create similar games. We're ahead of them. ]
Hearing this made Rafi's anger fade a little. If other companies were trailing behind, wasn't that even better? It meant they had struck first.
"I understand, Mr. Oni. I'm just anxious about how the game will turn out."
Oni replied: [ Haha, you don't need to worry. That Tierra Entertainment company isn't even better than ours.]
Rafi remembered that Tierra was already a proper company, but he never paid much attention to them.
He thought they had just gotten lucky.
The conversation shifted, and they continued chatting about game development and other related topics.
＊＊＊
Meanwhile, Felix had just finished designing the background for The Urchin Underpass.
It featured two large L-shaped areas of land joined together by a rectangular stretch in the middle.
The whole map was located beneath a highway.
Felix made sure to include animated cars driving above, cartoonish in style, just like the ones that fascinated him when he played Splatoon.
He polished the level design to perfection.
Felix then worked on the map while his two employees were already developing the largest map, Piranha Pit.
Felix chose that map because it was known for allowing coordinated flanking, and its moving platforms could be used for mobility and surprise attacks.
For now, he planned to create five maps.
He didn't want to overwhelm players with too many at once.
Instead, he would update the map selection gradually.
He decided to personally create two maps, including Flounder Heights, while his two employees would handle the rest.
Now came his favorite part: designing the menu and central hub area.
He always enjoyed working on this section.
For the central hub, he chose the latest version, Splatsville, because he felt it was already well-designed and visually appealing.
He didn't plan to update the hub itself, only the maps, new weapons, and avatars connected to it.
He continued imagining the spawn point of Splatsville, inspired by the busy streets of Shibuya and Osaka.
Splatsville had the energy of a fast paced, punk styled downtown filled with graffiti, neon signs, and layered, mismatched architecture.
There were a lot of small details that needed to be made, but thanks to the system's memory support, Felix could now remember Splatsville clearly.
He didn't feel overwhelmed by the information. He wasn't sure why, but he thought it might be one of the system's functions.
He began with the layout of the buildings.
The skyline was traced in glowing neon wireframes, with translucent structures that seemed to float in the air.
The entire city pulsed like a living circuit board.
Its buildings weren't made from concrete or metal, but from solidified hard light holograms that shimmered and refracted with every footstep.
As for the billboards and signs, he would work on those later.
Instead of streets, liquid ink flowed through glowing channels, elevated on smooth, glass-like platforms that twisted and spiraled like rollercoasters.
Every ink rail flashed with vibrant colors—magenta, teal, citrus yellow shifting in real time based on the moods and teams of the city's citizens.
Felix stood up from his holographic pad.
Snow was currently handling the surveying and monitoring work for the company.
To assist with the workload, Felix had also created two robotic versions of Snow. Because of that, he wasn't too worried.
He reached out and drank the nutrient liquid dispensed from one of the Snow robot's arms.
The workload was still heavy, but it was more manageable now that his new employees were helping out.
After finishing the building designs, Felix moved on to complete the shops.
One of the most important was Ammo Knights, which sold main weapons like shooters, rollers, chargers, and other types.
Just like in Splatoon 3, the shop was small and packed with gear.
The walls were lined with colorful weapon displays, and behind the counter stood a workbench filled with scattered tools, glowing ink tanks, and blueprints.
The lighting inside was warm, with pipes running along the ceiling and wires exposed, giving it a techy but cozy vibe.
However, Felix had not yet created the NPC shopkeepers, weapons, or abilities for the game. For that part, he knew he would need help from his employees.