It was already nighttime. Even in Japan, most companies had finished work for the day, yet the development department of [Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio was still brightly lit. In the silent atmosphere, only the crisp clatter of keyboards rang out, sounding especially sharp and grating.
From the moment they entered this industry, they had more or less prepared themselves for the possibility of dropping dead at their desks. While that saying was somewhat exaggerated, it was practically a rule across most computer software-related industries in Japan. Besides, [Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio paid additional overtime wages. At the very least, their hard work was not going entirely unrewarded.
"Matsukawa, there's an email from the president. Could you take a look?"
The silence was broken by a voice from somewhere in the office. Although quite a few people were working overtime, no one stood up to speak, making it difficult to tell who had said it.
In another corner of the office, a young man named Matsukawa stared reluctantly at his computer screen.
"Senior Nozaki... I'm already swamped with the artwork over here. Why don't you check it yourself?"
After a pause, Matsukawa took his hands off the keyboard and mouse and asked again, "Is it an email telling us to work harder?"
The man who had spoken first laughed and replied, "Probably not. The president isn't that bored. Besides, the email was sent to the department's shared inbox, so it's probably work-related."
Although the two had a good relationship, Nozaki, who had spoken first, was Matsukawa's senior as well as the head of the development department. With a sigh, Matsukawa still followed his instructions, logged into the department's mailbox, and received the email sent by Mizuhara Raiko.
'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan' — 187MB
'Prototype No. 1' — 2.02GB
"What are these?"
Matsukawa was startled when he saw the filenames. The company's dedicated network was extremely fast, and in less than three minutes, both files had finished downloading.
He was an artist in the development department. After discovering that 'Prototype No. 1' could not be opened normally, he gave up. It was probably some kind of unfinished build.
Then what exactly was 'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan'?
He double-clicked the file.
What appeared before Matsukawa was a huge amount of written explanation. Scrolling downward, he could also see lines of incomprehensible code and design notes.
He had not been reading for long when the finger rolling the mouse wheel suddenly stopped.
At last, within 'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan', he had reached his own area of expertise: game art.
The Heroic Spirit character cards in the game were commissioned from illustrators. As an artist, Matsukawa was mainly responsible for designing the game's UI and overall visual style, which made his job relatively easy compared with some of the other roles in the development department.
"These illustrations were all done on a graphics tablet?"
Matsukawa froze.
From the style of these art-design mockups, he immediately recognized their origin. And from the drawing style itself, he also realized exactly who had created them: Kamiyā Yuu, president of Yosuganosora Animation Studio, the true owner behind [Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio.
Within the ACG industry, Kamiyā Yuu's illustrations were not necessarily the most stylistically distinctive, but any artist with even a little experience would be deeply impressed by his work.
The colors were harmonious, the composition was flawless, and the defining characteristics stood out clearly. Every image was astonishing enough to look like something straight out of an illustration textbook.
Matsukawa's expression grew serious.
Whether because of Kamiyā Yuu's status or his ability as an artist, he was someone Matsukawa had no choice but to take seriously.
Continuing to browse, the overall art-related information recorded in 'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan' gave him a huge shock.
There was not even much detailed art-design content. Yet from the sample concept images alone, he could already tell that the artistic standard of Kamiyā Yuu's proposed designs left his own work far behind.
"Hey~ hey! This has to be a joke."
Leaning back in his office chair, Matsukawa rubbed his temples and said, "Senior Nozaki, I think you'd better take a look at the email from the president too."
"What's wrong?"
"The contents are kind of terrifying. And I'm guessing our plans to take Sunday off are finished."
Matsukawa sounded helpless.
"Overtime instructions?"
Matsukawa tilted his head back and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"If it were just overtime instructions, I might actually be happier."
On the other side of the office, the mature-looking Nozaki logged into the company's shared mailbox with some skepticism. When he saw the names of the two files, he frowned.
After patiently waiting for them to download, he immediately used specialized software to open 'Prototype No. 1'.
In less than ten minutes of browsing, he understood why Matsukawa had said what he did.
Nozaki was the head of the development department and was responsible for managing the entire game-development process. At the same time, he was also a veteran game developer.
He could tell that 'Prototype No. 1' was supposed to be another client build of 'Throne of Heroes'.
No—
He could find many traces of the 'Throne of Heroes' PC client that their own team had developed inside 'Prototype No. 1'. Even the unfinished sections were exactly the same.
But the quality of 'Prototype No. 1' was far superior to the game client they had developed.
"Senior Nozaki, open 'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan' and take a look. There's a detailed explanation in there, though I can't really understand most of it either."
At some point, Matsukawa had walked up behind Nozaki. Seeing him staring gravely at the computer screen, he offered the suggestion.
"I'll take a look."
Nozaki nodded, opened 'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan', and found the section explaining 'Prototype No. 1'.
The more he read, the more alarmed he became.
This single email had practically rendered several months of effort by the [Mirror Flower Water Moon] development department meaningless.
From 'Prototype No. 1' alone, it was obvious that this client was vastly superior to what they had developed. If they continued producing 'Throne of Heroes' according to their original plan, the final quality of the game would very likely be greatly diminished.
And if Mizuhara Raiko required them to revise the game according to the information in these files, then their already tight development schedule would become even more compressed.
"Where did the president get all this information?"
Nozaki crossed his arms and muttered gravely to himself.
Matsukawa hesitated before answering, "Probably from Yosuganosora Animation Studio. These art-design mockups were all drawn by Director Kamiyā. Since they were the ones who developed 'Warship Girls Collection', it makes sense that they'd have this level of game-development ability."
"But Yosuganosora isn't a game company."
That remark was merely Nozaki grumbling.
He had no idea how Yosuganosora Animation Studio had managed to create 'Warship Girls Collection', but since they possessed the ability to make something like 'Warship Girls Collection', producing the contents of this email was naturally well within their capabilities.
After remaining silent for a moment, Nozaki said with a hint of relief, "At least the game itself is still based on what we developed."
"So what?"
"It'll make the modifications much easier."
Nozaki paused, then looked at Matsukawa.
"Matsukawa, did you buy life insurance?"
"Mm. I'm prepared."
"Starting tomorrow, everyone in the development department is going to hell."
Nozaki reached into his pocket, took out a cigarette, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
"Senior Nozaki, smoking isn't allowed inside the company."
Nozaki exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and gave a bitter smile.
"I know. Just count this one as my share for the next few months. Anyway, tell everyone else to stop what they're doing for now. Continuing tonight would just be wasted effort. We'll wait until we contact the president tomorrow before deciding what to do next."