Game Developer in the World of Anime

Chapter 625: BBQ Gathering

At 1:30 PM, Ichin arrived at the meeting room right on time. Everyone from the Berseria team was already there, and following his later instructions, Hazuki had also called over the developers from the Salt and Sanctuary team who had originally been split into separate groups. Now, everyone was gathered together for a joint meeting.

Although one game was 3D and the other a 2D side-scroller, both were being developed with a Souls-like philosophy. Many of the development approaches overlapped, so holding a combined meeting was definitely beneficial.

With so many people present, there was naturally more to discuss. What had originally been planned as a one-and-a-half-hour meeting ended up running nearly an extra hour, finally wrapping up after two and a half hours.

By the time they left the meeting room, it was already 4 PM.

Meanwhile, Utaha and Yukino had arrived at the company and were waiting in Ichin's office.

Seeing him walk in, Utaha smiled and waved.

"Ichin, come here. We bought milk tea and cake for you. Have some and recharge a bit."

Ichin sat down and glanced at the logo on the cake, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"You went to the Miyamura family's cake shop?"

"Of course. Their cakes are really good, aren't they?"

Taking a sip of her milk tea, Utaha continued with a smile, "Oh, and guess what, Ichin. When we went there today, Aunt Miyamura told us that Izumi seems to have gotten himself a girlfriend! She even showed us a photo. She's really pretty."

"Oh? Really?"

Ichin picked up a fork, cut a piece of cake, and put it into his mouth. He nodded in satisfaction. The familiar taste was still there, rich cream and soft cake, just as good as ever.

Yukino, sitting beside him, added, "She really is very pretty. But both of them are quite thin, whether it's him or her. Honestly, she looks even thinner than I do."

Yukino was no longer the light and delicate girl she had been in high school. Ever since Ichin had brought out her foodie side, she had been eating more, gaining a bit of weight, and looking noticeably healthier than before.

If even Yukino said that, then the girl must truly be very slim.

Thinking back, Ichin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, Izumi did look pretty thin the last time I saw him. Come to think of it, I haven't been there in a while. Next time you go buy cake, call me along."

After finishing the cake and sipping on milk tea, Ichin used the last two hours before the end of the workday to continue working.

Utaha went on refining her graduation thesis, while Yukino worked on her coursework. Judging by the way she looked, her brain was practically buzzing from exhaustion.

Ichin took a glance and thought for a moment, deciding that they should just eat out tonight. Everyone was tired, so there was no need to cook at home.

At 6 PM, work ended. Ichin packed up his things and looked at Utaha and Yukino.

"Let's go. We'll eat out. Anything you want to have?"

Utaha stood up and stretched.

"I've burned through quite a few brain cells today. I want something nutritious. Ichin, how about we go for BBQ?"

"BBQ, huh? Yukino, what do you think?"

Yukino nodded.

"That works. Let's go for BBQ. I'll call my sister and see if she wants to come."

When the call went through, the moment Haruno heard they were having BBQ, she immediately agreed, as her work was almost finished.

"I want BBQ too! Just send me the address once you decide. I'll be there as soon as I finish up. Give me about ten minutes!"

And just like that, dinner plans were settled.

As the three of them left the office and headed downstairs, they ran into Yagami Kō, Toyama Rin, and Hazuki, who had come out earlier.

After asking, they found that the three of them were also still deciding what to eat for dinner. So Ichin directly invited them to join.

What had originally been a four-person BBQ turned into a seven-person gathering, making it much livelier.

By the time they arrived at the BBQ restaurant, Haruno hadn't arrived yet, so they started ordering first.

Looking at the menu, Ichin asked, "Kō, where are Narumi and Momo? Did they go home for dinner?"

"Nope~" After picking a few meat options, Kō shook her head.

"The two of them are going out tonight. They're eating out and planning to watch a movie afterward, so they didn't join us. They should already be in Shibuya by now."

Ever since Narumi Tsubame got her driver's license, she had bought a car, making it very convenient for them to go out.

"That's pretty nice. These few days are a good time to go out and have fun. Starting next week, everyone's workload is probably going to ramp up."

With Tales of Berseria finished, everyone had been quite relaxed these past few days. But now that the game had been released, they were about to enter a new round of development.

Especially with only three months to produce promotional PVs for Salt and Sanctuary and Bloodborne, the difficulty was definitely not small.

Even if they didn't need to reach the level of a full demo, Ichin would never agree to using purely CG footage. There had to be actual gameplay segments, while also showcasing the style of the games as much as possible.

After the meeting, everyone had already felt a fair amount of pressure. That was probably one of the reasons Narumi Tsubame and Mochizuki Momiji decided to go out and have fun.

Better enjoy themselves now, because things were going to get exhausting soon.

Taking a sip of the restaurant's complimentary lemon water, Rin smiled.

"Even though the pressure is quite high, no one seems resistant. On the contrary, everyone seems eager to take it on. Looks like repeatedly developing great games with strong sales has made everyone a bit addicted."

Ichin nodded.

"That's a very important positive effect. You know, in this industry, a lot of people join companies only to find they can't work on the games they dream of, or they're forced to develop things they don't like, things that don't even align with what games should be, or even outright bad games. That ends up killing their passion.

In this industry, a developer's love and enthusiasm for games is extremely important.

These days, a lot of companies chase profits by stuffing games with all kinds of microtransactions or just focusing entirely on mobile games, which gradually ruins their reputation. That's not a good thing. Why not just focus on making fun games like we do? Some people are so obsessed with money that they forget the most suitable and effective way to develop games."

Of course, Ichin wasn't against mobile games or microtransactions entirely. Several of his own games, like Fall Guys and Apex, included them.

But compared to heavily focusing on monetization, he preferred to prioritize content first. Microtransactions were just the icing on the cake.

As they chatted, about ten minutes later, Haruno finally arrived, and only then did everyone officially begin their BBQ feast for the evening.

...

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