Chapter 22: Best Independent Game?

Translator: Daoist6fubtiW

He looked at the banner, and his hand holding the mouse trembled slightly.

On the banner was a small icon, a black and white gloomy icon showing someone holding a gun at a ragged mother and child in a corner.

The icon was small, but the details were remarkably clear. The expression of the person holding the gun was indifferent, devoid of any emotion. The mother, huddled in the corner, tightly closed her eyes, her face filled with resignation, while one hand covered her child’s eyes.

The icon was small, but the image was remarkably clear, evoking a sense of sorrow from the heart.

Clicking on the banner, a huge game poster appeared, showing an enlarged version of the small icon.

With the image enlarged, more details became visible.

Black dried stains on the floor resembled dried blood, and in one corner, a hand covered in grime hung limply.

A transparent glass window was broken with a hole in it.

It looked like it had been smashed by a stone or… a bullet.

“This is My War?” Brother Yin read the game’s title on the poster, swallowing nervously. Was this the new game?

Did he really develop it this quickly?

He had just been talking about how they couldn’t possibly create a new game in such a short time, and the next second, a game trailer was released.

“Did you watch my live stream? Were you waiting to slap me in the face?” Brother Yin rubbed his face; indeed, this slap stung.

“This slap really made Monkey’s face hurt!”

“Indeed, Black Star is quite cunning; he knows how to torture Monkey.”

“I’m looking forward to the new game. Hopefully, it can torture Monkey to death and back!”

…

The bullet comments burst into laughter; this scene was genuinely comedic.

Just moments ago, he had confidently badmouthed others, and now he was being slapped in the face.

Brother Yin rubbed his face and earnestly examined the game’s description.

However, just from the cover, he retracted his previous words about it being a low-quality texture game.

Though the cover was only in black and white, the picture was well-crafted, showing the level of effort put in by the development team.

“This game is a survival game? Players need to make decisions based on their own moral principles. Here, there are no ‘choices,’ only ‘actions’ and ‘inactions,'” Brother Yin read the text and furrowed his brow.

There were still fifteen days until the game’s official release. Just from the description, he couldn’t figure out how the game was played.

Just like with “Digging for Ascension” and “Death Cell,” nobody could guess what the designer had in mind.

Before playing those two games, who could have imagined that every failure would mean starting from scratch? Every death was also a restart?

“Alright! Half a month, huh? I’ll wait!” Brother Yin gritted his teeth, eager to see what this game, made in just a few months, would look like.

However, the most puzzling thing was why the Steam platform was promoting Ye Feng’s game.

This was a treatment that even well-known game companies struggled to obtain!

Nobody had the answer. It wasn’t just him who was confused; even the people at the Yogame platform were left bewildered by this move.

“What’s going on? Why is Steam promoting the game of that little game studio, Sprout Studio?” Brother Yin rubbed his temples, genuinely unable to comprehend this.

If Steam was the big brother of the gaming platforms, then Yogame was just a little brother tagging along, aiming to grow bigger and stronger and create a brilliant future.

But now, the big brother was lifting the little guy, who had been kicked out of the Yogame platform by Brother Yin himself, and giving him promotion resources for a new game. This left Brother Yin puzzled.

Promoting games was not an issue; the problem was that Steam hadn’t offered this treatment to anyone else!

What’s so good about this small Sprout Studio?!

“Boss, we found some news. It’s said that ‘Death Cell’ is likely to win the Best Independent Game award at TGA this year,” one of his subordinates swiftly reported the latest information in the conference room.

The information included data on “Death Cell’s” sales both domestically and internationally, as well as its popularity in terms of discussions.

The data showed that “Death Cell” was ranked first in both downloads and discussions.

“The Best Independent Game award?” Teng Feng was momentarily stunned. They had been eyeing this award for a long time but hadn’t won it yet.

Now, they were telling him that this award was likely to be won by a studio he had suppressed and driven away?

Not too long ago, they had even privately sought out game reviewers to write negative reviews for “Death Cell,” but it backfired. That reviewer was still being criticized to this day, as they couldn’t complete a full review since they couldn’t finish the game.

“Yeah… that’s what it says… players have pledged their votes for ‘Death Cell’ for the Best Independent Game award,” the data analyst from Yogame cautiously looked at Brother Yin’s expression.

“What about our game?” Teng Feng clenched his fist, feeling like he was suffocating. He couldn’t seem to promote their game properly.

“Our game is already complete and we’re discussing the release time,” the head of the game design department quickly replied.

“We will also release it half a month from now.” Teng Feng slammed his hand on the table. “From now on, promote our new game, and when they release their game in half a month, we’ll release our new game too.”

After hearing his words, the people below remained silent, only glancing fearfully at him.

“What’s the matter? Are my words falling on deaf ears? I said our game will be released on the same day as theirs!”

“Otherwise, how do we compete for the Best Indie Game award? Use our heads as a bargaining chip?” Teng Feng’s voice was cold.

“In this world, no game studio can produce two high-quality games within three months. Now that ‘Dead Cells’ already exists, there won’t be a second one.”

“Currently, he’s riding a wave of momentum. If his second game disappoints, his previously accumulated fans will shift their emotions to another game. That’s our chance.”

Teng Feng never imagined the raging success of “Dead Cells.” Even now, he couldn’t comprehend why it became so popular. A game that forces players to start over upon death, one that relentlessly torments players, managed to win an award for Best Indie Game?

If that kind of game could succeed, then why couldn’t the games produced by Yogame Studios be successful too? Their games were designed to be enjoyable.

In the meeting room, everyone remained silent, looking at their superior, Teng Feng, who said nothing.

Are our games better than “Dead Cells”?

Teng Feng had confidence, but deep down, he was unsure.

As they stared at the word “Black Star” on the desktop, it felt like a glaring reminder.