Sitting in front of the computer, Lucas Hart now had a general idea of where he stood.
The gaming industry—that was the direction he wanted to go in.
But just deciding to make games wasn't going to make things easy.
Even though the tech in this world made it possible to develop games without having to write low-level code…
You still couldn't skip on art, music, modeling, and all the other stuff.
And right now, Lucas Hart was in kind of an awkward spot.
First off, he wasn't a certified game designer, so he had very limited access to resources.
Though he figured that for small indie games like some classics from his past life, what he had was probably just enough.
But there was one big issue—he didn't have much money.
He had only just graduated, and he was living in Magic City. Even though he wasn't in the city center but more toward the outskirts…
The cost of living was still pretty high. At this point, he'd only managed to save a little over ten thousand.
As for the system, that could wait. After all, it only gave points when he released completed works.
And it didn't even have a feature to trade points for cash. Cold-blooded!
"I need to find a way to make money," Lucas Hart muttered, rubbing his chin as he thought about it.
He started searching online, trying to get a full picture of the state of the gaming industry in this world.
At the same time, ideas were forming in his mind.
But then, when he closed a browser tab and saw a folder on his desktop, something clicked.
Inside the folder were a dozen or so fully-colored webcomic strips.
The story was about a group of attractive girls playing water volleyball.
It had an upbeat and positive vibe, showing off the energy and spirit of youth.
From what he remembered, he didn't actually draw those comics himself—they were given to him by an upperclassman from his university, and he'd helped out by coloring them.
Looking at those exciting webcomics, Lucas Hart had already made up his mind.
He already had an idea for his first money-making project.
It was a match-3 game with cute anime girls that players in his past life really loved: Mirror
It was voted the second most popular game in 2018, topped the global daily bestseller list on Steam, and racked up 71,000 reviews—around 69,000 of them positive. Even most of the 2,000 negative ones were left as jokes or memes.
The reason for choosing this game was simple.
One reason was that Mirror barely involved any 3D modeling.
The other reason was that most of the content in the game was something Lucas Hart could handle on his own.
And thanks to its unique features, the game had a big edge even without a big marketing budget—something most indie games lacked.
If the goal was to quickly build up some starting capital, Mirror was probably the best option.
Of course, some of the more "questionable" content would need to be changed.
"But doing everything alone would take too much time. I'll need to find someone to help." With that decision made, Lucas Hart started planning in his head.
But first, he had to deal with his hunger.
Feeling a wave of hunger, Lucas Hart stood up, grabbed his keys and phone from the table, and headed downstairs to find a place to eat.
…
"Never underestimate the meat slicers at Golden Bowl noodle shops—those knife skills are insane!"
Lucas Hart picked up a slice of beef with his chopsticks, marveling at how thin it was—almost see-through.
Soaked in the noodle broth, the beef looked almost crystal clear.
Six slices of beef were laid neatly on top of the noodles, with chopped green onions and cilantro on the side.
Whether in his past life or this one, one thing about this beef never changed: it was thin.
Sure, there wasn't enough meat to even fill the gap between your teeth, but the noodles were actually pretty good.
Nice and chewy, and the broth made from beef bones was rich and flavorful.
After finishing his meal, Lucas Hart paid the bill and left the shop. On his way home, he made a phone call.
After about three rings, someone picked up.
"Senpai, the draft you gave me is done. I'll send it over soon."
"Also, are you free tomorrow? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."
"No problem. Let's meet at 1 PM tomorrow at the café by the crossroad in Garden District."
After hanging up, Lucas Hart stretched lazily.
He had already decided—Mirror would be how he earned his first pot of gold.
But if he had to do all the work by himself...
He estimated that even if he worked nonstop, it'd still take him around two months to finish the game.
And that's assuming he worked like crazy every day.
So, if possible, it'd be best to find someone to help.
Whether he could or not—that was still up in the air.
…
At 1 PM the next day.
Lucas Hart showed up at the café on the island, right on time.
By the window in the first-floor lobby sat a young woman, about twenty-four, wearing glasses.
She was dressed in a white casual outfit and had headphones on, listening to music.
"Thanks for coming, Senpai," Lucas Hart greeted her as he walked over.
"No trouble at all—my place is nearby anyway." Rachel Ruan took off her headphones, smiled lightly, and shook her head.
Before Lucas Hart could say more, she grinned and asked, "So, Lucas Hart, what do you want to talk about? Have you finally come around and decided to join my studio? I've told you before—going all-in on original comics isn't the smartest move."
"You could totally start by doing doujin works and build up from there. A lot of famous artists in the industry started off doing doujin stuff under pen names, you know!"
"I also saw the artwork you colored, Lucas.. You're really talented!"
Rachel Ruan looked at Lucas Hart seriously as she spoke.
"Ahem… uh, I appreciate the compliment, but that's not what I came here to talk about today." Lucas Hart let out a couple of awkward coughs.
She was a year ahead of Lucas Hart in school.
Just like Lucas Hart once dreamed of becoming a manga artist, Rachel Ruan had the same dream.
But the path she took was a bit different. While Lucas Hart kept submitting his work and getting rejected, Rachel Ruan started making doujinshi instead.
That line of work at least kept her financially stable. And as she put it, becoming a popular doujinshi artist first, then switching over to professional manga later, was also a legit path to success.
As for the kind of doujinshi?
Of course, they were mostly romantic and sweet love stories—though not always that sweet.
As his senior, Rachel Ruan thought Lucas Hart had real talent and had always wanted to pull him into her team.
Sensing the conversation was starting to drift—probably toward that topic again—Lucas Hart quickly brought up the real reason he came to see her today.
"Uh… switching to game development?"
When she heard that, Rachel Ruan's eyes widened like she'd just heard something totally unbelievable.
"My original goal was just to share my stories with others, whether it's through manga or games, they're both just different ways to do that," Lucas Hart explained, sharing the reason he'd thought through ahead of time.
"And besides, there are plenty of people in the industry who've gone from manga artists or novelists to directors or game designers, right?" Lucas Hart added with a smile.
Unlike his previous life, thanks to how far technology had come, the barrier to entry in a lot of fields had dropped quite a bit.
So in this world, people crossing over into other creative industries wasn't all that rare.
Of course, being successful after switching fields, that's another story entirely.
"That's not the point!" Rachel Ruan rolled her eyes. "No meals, no place to stay, and even the illustration fees might be delayed? Lucas Hart, are you just trying to get free labor out of me?"
If it weren't for the fact that he was her junior,and that she still wanted to pull him into her team.
Rachel Ruan would've left right then and there. Because honestly, it all sounded like a scam.
Greedy capitalists trying to exploit her labor!
Wait, no, even capitalists wouldn't go this far!
(end of chapter)