LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 4
#4 Chapter: The Chaotic Game Development Diary (2)
Creating a game requires money.
The cost of hiring programmers, designers, writers, musicians, and so on.
Marketing expenses to widely promote the game, server maintenance costs, various licensing fees, and additional expenditures that may arise under various circumstances.
Of course, we were relatively free from these financial issues.
On the programming side, my older brother was handling everything almost single-handedly, and thanks to an extremely high-performance AI that left me wondering how it was even made, most tasks could easily be replaced.
Honestly speaking, I wouldn’t be surprised if employees from regular game development companies looked at what we were doing and screamed that it was all a scam.
However, the problem was with that AI.
“…The private server and hardware performance have reached their limits. With this, we can’t handle any further growth of ‘Nebula’.”
Nebula was the name of the AI that my older brother had created.
According to him, it’s a next-generation AI that follows a completely different trajectory from existing AI technologies, but honestly, I only half-listened to him.
I’ve seen so many over-spec AIs in subculture that I hardly thought this one would be any different.
In reality, Nebula’s performance was truly impressive.
I mean, it’s not like we were making some indie game; creating a virtual reality game with just two available personnel is a ridiculous feat, all thanks to Nebula’s existence.
Even though he was constantly disregarded as the lowest-ranked sibling in the family, just the fact that he created something like this forced me to acknowledge that my older brother was, without a doubt, a genius.
The problem is, no matter how excellent Nebula is, it is fundamentally a program.
Just because you have amazing software, it doesn’t mean you can store it on a one-gigabyte hardware if the program size is ten gigabytes. So, no matter how outstanding Nebula’s performance is—especially since it’s continuously growing on its own—having the proper hardware becomes crucial.
Plus, Nebula was in a phase where it was repeatedly growing, making it even more necessary to either buy additional hard drives or increase the private server capacity, but we didn’t have money for that.
“Remember that stock I bought last time? It’ll be a shame, but I could sell that. I saw news saying it’s gone up, hasn’t dropped, right?”
When I asked, my older brother awkwardly averted his gaze.
“…Hey, you didn’t already sell it, did you?”
“Um, I mean, I’m still your older brother here. Can you not call me ‘hey’?”
“Shut up, you human.”
Because you were so prickly, I had been nice and polite for over half a year; shouldn’t that be enough?
“Enough chit-chat. Did you sell it or not?”
“Well, I anticipated a downturn soon, so I sold it early and invested it elsewhere, that…”
“From how you’re babbling, it seems it didn’t go well, huh?”
He hung his head, and I sighed.
One thing I learned from observing this potential hidden villain for about a year is that his ability to make money is surprisingly mediocre.
No, to be precise, he’s not in a position where he can’t make money at all. He has made some vaccines and sold the licenses, and sometimes hit the jackpot with stocks. If he were truly incompetent in financial matters, he wouldn’t have even the minimal conditions needed to create an AI.
But his level of success is not impressive enough to bathe in cash. He just earns a decent amount for someone starting out in society.
Aren’t those so-called genius programmers usually good with money too?
They buy stocks and hit jackpots right away, filing patents to become rich with ease. Is this guy really the hidden mastermind of the future? Or am I just mistaken?
“So, what are you saying to me?”
“…Do you have any money?”
“Isn’t it a huge problem that a working older brother is asking his younger sister for money for lunch? You clueless fool? Huh?”
Of course, if you only look at my current bank account, I probably have more money than this guy.
My stepfather, an ex-successful athlete and current coach, is overly pleased with having a good daughter with great manners and grades. There’s a reason why I continue to act modestly around him.
Our Mrs. Kang has some grudges for not being able to give her daughter pocket money, and after getting some financial cushion post-marriage, she tends to be overly generous.
So if I lend him some money, his financial troubles would be temporarily resolved.
However.
“That’s not a fundamental solution. Even if we scrape by this time, will you keep coming to me every time you’re financially strapped?”
If my parents find out that I gave my savings to him, they won’t take it lightly. I’d be lucky not to get kicked out after being scolded by my stepfather.
Honestly, if this guy’s game production got frustrated, that would also solve the problem, but knowing his obsession with games, he might resort to illegal means to continue making one.
I need to find a way to make money.
Legally, a means to collect a large amount of cash.
Virtual YouTubers? While I was feeling anxious looking at a decreasing balance with Mrs. Kang, honestly, I have no interest in that now.
More importantly, doesn’t it seem strange that I would work hard just to hand money over to my older brother?
Since my stake in the game he’s making is quite substantial, I’d like to see the final product, but that’s that, and this is this.
Thus, what I need to do is clear.
“We should create a game.”
Upon my words, my older brother showed a puzzled expression.
“But we’re already making one, aren’t we?”
“Not that. Let’s make a relatively light mobile game.”
By trying to create an ultimate virtual reality game with online features that didn’t even exist in the current era, we’re encountering all sorts of problems.
Without a proper foundation, they’ve set the target too high, so how could it possibly work out?
So, we need to make a stepping stone game to reach that point.
A devil-like gacha game that sucks up user money.
“Hmm. Even though it’s less complex than a virtual reality game, to create a decent one, we would need to divert a significant portion of Nebula’s processing power, and we might need to pause the original game development and focus entirely on that for a few years. Is that necessary?”
My older brother, who can’t make money to save his life, seemed displeased even hearing this amazing plan.
Tsk, tsk, you naive mortal.
“Think about it the other way around. If we save those few years creating the game we want, do you think people will just play it?”
“…Are you saying my game won’t be acknowledged?”
“Probably not. They won’t even bother to play it in the first place.”
A large-scale online virtual reality game without any precedents. And that’s created by some unknown company with just two employees.
Would people seriously trust that enough to play? Even registering as an official game will be a tremendously challenging barrier. Virtual reality games have to deal with aspects related to the human brain, which makes commercial registration regulations far stricter than those for previous games.
While there will always be people trying various things for fun in any industry, those would gradually gain traction through word-of-mouth, but to truly rise to prominence, there’s a long arduous journey ahead.
“The world setting for the game is quite decent already, isn’t it? We can utilize that to create a prequel to the main game. Then at least the fans of this gacha game would show interest in the upcoming virtual game as well. The game itself becomes a form of advertisement.”
However, this method can be a double-edged sword in some ways.
We may be able to secure recognition and a fan base, but if the game turns out terrible, the bad image will affect the next work as well. Moreover, it would be impossible to engage in excessively greedy practices that drain money from users.
But given the labor costs that make up the largest portion of game development, we are far better off compared to other companies, so even operating at half the average of the industry would still yield sufficient profit. After all, this genre is inherently designed to rake in cash.
“A prequel. I do have some stories set in the past prepared for certain events. We could just expand that a bit.”
When on earth did that happen?
Unlike me, who does my studies and then idles around, this guy has truly immersed his entire life into this process, so even while watching the development, there are times when I hear about things I didn’t know.
Anyway, game quality is something I’m not overly concerned about.
While his money-making abilities are dubious, as a game developer, he’s undoubtedly capable.
Just by flapping my lips a bit, a decent game pops out. That’s quite a fun position to be in.
And about a year later.
After a time that is clearly insufficient to produce a proper game.
[Beyond: The Lost Era. Re-Summoning Guide]
└But doesn’t this game let you gacha as much as you want at the start and choose your characters before starting? Is there really a guide?
└Of course, it’s taking good things and going. After rushing through chapter 1 to gather resources, that’s the real deal.
└It’s how demons usually aren’t satisfied with just one basic gacha; they always ask for another one after getting it.
[On my first roll, I got a character named Iris; is this good?]
└Hey, where’s the admin? Isn’t this a bait and ban?
└Damn, and I got not one but two simultaneously?
└Why haven’t I gotten anything? Why haven’t I gotten anything? Why haven’t I gotten anything? Why haven’t I gotten anything?
[Beyond is a trash game. (Image of military enlistment) Anyway, it’s a trash game.]
└This looks like a good game after all.
└Wow, how is someone going into the military right now? By now, shouldn’t they be finishing up their reserve duty?
└From now on, just walk around with your eyes closed. It’ll all be just as dark whether it’s a good opportunity or not.
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[By the way, what kind of company was the developer before? The structure is a common gacha game, but the detailed design is very good, isn’t it?]
└From what I searched, this seems to be their first work?
└The quality doesn’t seem like it’s from a first-time creation, though?
└I heard a rumor that a team from some game company broke off and made this independently. Or not.
[The game is good, but the company seems like it might go bankrupt soon. Didn’t they set the monetization structure too generously to attract players?]
└Yeah. It’s clear they’re being reckless to get ahead of competing games. If they raise the costs later, public sentiment will be shattered.
└Is this company going to go bankrupt? No way. Absolutely not.
└It’s foolish to worry about a gaming company anyway.
The reactions from various communities and seeing my steadily growing bank balance brought a smile to my face.
While I may have been a hidden villain in the original story, pulling him into my side feels like a cheat.
Yeah, after reaching this point, I should treat my grumpy older brother with some respect.