Arriving at the company and setting his things down, Ichin headed straight to the BattleBlock Theater dev team.
"Hazuki, let me see how the demo turned out."
Hazuki smiled and handed him a controller. "Try it out. We've finished five levels so far, and testing has gone well. Nene, you'll be Ichin's partner. Go clear some stages together."
"No problem!"
Sakura Nene happily stood up, grabbed the other controller, and sat beside Ichin.
Booting up the demo, Nene said excitedly, "With this kind of co-op game, not only can you clear levels together, you can also troll your teammate while doing it. That's super fun! And Ichin, the traps you designed are really creative. Even though the characters look simple, the presentation is excellent!"
Ichin chuckled. "Well, this game was always meant to be small but refined, so the visual flair can't be lacking. So, Nene, which one do you want?"
Since it was just a demo, only two characters were available: a round-headed little guy and a square-headed little guy.
"I'll take the square one!"
"Then I'll pick the round one."
Once they selected, the two entered the simple prototype theater stage. Five large doors stood there, each leading to one of the five demo levels.
Nene eagerly moved her square-headed avatar ahead. "Go, go, go! First stage! We tried it earlier, but didn't get a perfect clear!"
To clear perfectly, players had to collect everything and finish within the time limit.
These five demo levels weren't the easiest opening ones, so not perfect-clearing them right away was normal. Even developers couldn't just breeze through their own game flawlessly.
As they entered stage one, Ichin said, "We're supposed to test gameplay here, so don't mess around, alright?"
"Hehehe, don't worry. I won't."
Ichin quickly figured out the route—jumping steps, clearing spike traps, and grabbing the first collectible gem.
With his guidance, Nene kept pace, and together they collected everything and reached the exit.
Seeing the results screen, Hazuki smiled. "Perfect clear. As expected, having you test makes all the difference."
"I've just played a lot of platformers, that's all."
Ichin shrugged with a laugh, and the two moved on to the later levels. The difficulty ramped up, but after a few retries they managed perfect clears on all five.
Setting the controller down, Ichin stroked his chin in thought while the whole dev team quietly waited for his verdict.
Two minutes later, he looked up with a smile. "Very good. The jump feel is flawless—no issues there. These five levels are well-designed, the character and environment feedback all works. Keep progressing at this pace and it'll be fine. But don't forget what I said from the start: level design is the most important thing. Don't let gameplay feel repetitive."
"Understood!!!"
With the demo test done, Ichin returned to his side of things, leaving coordination with Nintendo to Hazuki, the producer.
Although he and Hazuki had co-written the project plan, since she was leading this team, he no longer needed to handle those details.
Back at his side, Ichin tidied up his own tasks before heading to the programming group.
Compared to BattleBlock Theater, Dark Souls' programming workload was massive.
The programmers were hard at work. Even though Umiko, their original lead, had gone to Shanghai, everyone still worked seriously without slacking.
Narumi and Ruri were huddled over a data issue.
"I think this part needs adjusting, otherwise it might cause problems," Narumi said.
"Really?" Ruri tilted her head uncertainly. "Maybe we should test it?"
Just then, Ichin stepped over. "Let me see."
Seeing him, Ruri immediately scooted aside to give him room.
Ichin scanned the code quickly, then said, "Here, adjust this part—it can be simplified. And this section uses the wrong function; it'll cause a runtime error."
Narumi and Ruri stared wide-eyed—he'd instantly spotted issues they hadn't even noticed.
"Wow, Ichin-kun, you're amazing," Narumi said. "I still feel like I haven't caught up to you at all. The gap's too big."
Ruri nodded in agreement. She'd known many talented peers in school, but none as terrifyingly skilled as Ichin—their boss, and a true all-rounder.
Ichin smiled. "You're both strong already. Narumi, you've got a solid foundation—you just need more practice. Same for you, Ruri. I'm looking forward to you two becoming the company's programming pillars one day. Anyway, I won't disturb you further. Keep at it, I'll check on the others."
As he walked off, Narumi and Ruri leaned together, whispering.
Narumi sneaked a glance at him. "He's younger than us, but so incredible. This must be the 'true genius' Umiko mentioned."
Ruri nodded. "Yeah. Even the so-called computer prodigies I met in school weren't on his level. And what's scarier is that he understands everything. Every project so far—he's been the one leading the planning."
"…And also, he's handsome, right?"
"Mm, he is han—wha?!"
Ruri caught herself mid-sentence, blushing furiously as she glared at Narumi. "You did that on purpose!"
Narumi gave a mock-regretful sigh. "Doesn't matter. Everyone in the company agrees he's handsome. Too bad Utaha claimed him so early—otherwise, plenty of girls would've made a move."
Remembering the jealous faces of the other girls at company dinners, Narumi's smile only grew brighter.
*
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