Horror Game Designer Chapter 17: Mission

“Each death portrait should have its own way of triggering. After mastering that, I should be able to share everything with my family.” After Gao Ming finished eating, he placed the death portraits around him.

“If I can have my ghost parents send me cake whenever I want, then they can help protect me. But to survive in the chaos, I need more helpers.”

Xuan Wen’s face flashed across Gao Ming’s mind. The murderous woman had killed all the female characters and found Gao Ming. Her plan was quick and accurate. She was very scary. She was influenced by the unknown world due to Gao Ming’s game. She became twistedly in love with Gao Ming. However, she was actually very self-observant. Perhaps that was why she wanted to strengthen herself, to shake off Gao Ming. Xuan Wen was a very nice ‘colleague’. Gao Ming wanted to help her, but they were merely colleagues.

“There are many people like Wen Xuan in my games.” Gao Ming thought back to the games he had modelled after real cases. “There are devils, mad people and perverts among the 36 criminals. However, there were a few who were forced to touch blood. They might not act on violence in the real world.”

No one was born a criminal. Many criminal desires accumulated over time. Some crazy people with unbalanced brain chemistry might grow up to become elite with love from their family; some naturally kind people might become monsters being forced by the environment.

If possible, Gao Ming wanted to edit some of the tragedies he had written. The world was large, so it would be hard to find those criminals. Gao Ming memorised the investigator’s numbers. It was not a good idea to borrow the centre’s power. But he didn’t want to be dragged into the power whirlpool. Gao Ming sunk into the couch as he listened to the rain outside. He worked until very late. He didn’t dare to sleep in his bedroom. Eventually, he was defeated by drowsiness. He grabbed a blanket and slept on the couch.

…

At 5 am, Gao Ming was woken up by knocking. After he sat up, he didn’t hurry to open the door. He looked out the window. The rain was still pouring.

“Is this some kind of omen? I haven’t seen the sun in many days already.” Gao Ming worked out the kinks in his body and finally approached the front door. He leaned on the door and looked through the peephole.

“Gao Ming, are you awake?” Xuan Wen stood at the door with her red umbrella and a smile.

“What do you want?” Gao Ming put on his clothes quickly.

“I’m getting you to work. We need to finish that dating sim and see whether it’d affect me or not.” Xuan Wen smiled sweetly,

“Do you need to be so hardworking? It’s only 5 am! The subway is not even open yet!” Gao Ming thought about being chased by Xuan Wen with a knife, but he never considered he would be urged by Xuan Wen to get to work. “Plus, I was not hired. You can go by yourself.”
“Aren’t you curious?” Xuan Wen knocked on the door. “We can take the cab to work. Money is not an issue.”

“If money is not an issue, why do you work?” Gao Ming opened the door. To prevent sharing an umbrella with Xuan Wen, he purposely put on the raincoat. They exited the building and got into the cab. The streetlights were still on. The rain twisted the light. The city looked surreal. Since it was not high time, they only used ⅓ of their normal time to get to the office.

Xuan Wen entered Nightlight Gaming Studio. She opened the computer and prepared the plot for To Our Transient Love. Fa Cai, who was lying around lazily, sneakily hid behind Gao Ming after hearing the tapping keyboard. It grabbed Gao Ming’s pant legs with its claws. Its watery eyes seemed to say, ‘Don’t leave me.’

“I plan to cut out the plotline of all the other female characters or kill them all so that only the two of us remain.” Xuan Wen was very effective. She soon came up with a new proposal.

“Why don’t you kill me too?” Gao Ming took Wei Dayou’s seat and planned to sleep further.

“We not only need to finish this game but also attract the attention of more players. We need to let them know our stories as they play the game.” Xuan Wen placed the relevant documents before Gao Ming, “This is good for both of us. If I succeed, we can make Zhao Xi’s game next.”

With Xuan Wen’s ‘encouragement’, Gao Ming regained his spirit. They started to design the murders and print out some scary pictures.

…

At 8 am, Manager Gou was the first to arrive. He was always so hardworking for a second chance at the business. However, he was shocked to see Gao Ming in the office.

“When did you get here?” Manager Gou looked at the many labels on the projector screen, the new gaming project and the design. His eyes widened. “Why are you here too, Gao Xing?”

“Manager Gou, I have a wild design idea.” Xuan Wen handed the new proposal to Manager Gou, “The current market is too saturated. With our limited budget, a normal game will not help us. We might as well toe the line!”

“Haven’t we decided to do a dating sim yesterday? What’s the meaning of this?”

“She means to do the scariest dating sim.” Gao Ming looked like he had just seen a ghost.

“No, we need to be responsible to our clients.” Manager Gou shook his head. “If we do that, even if we fail, it’s the client’s failure. If we veer from that, who is going to be responsible? Are you?”

“Manager Gou, don’t be so stubborn. We should listen to everyone’s opinion.” Gao Ming joined the persuasion. “Our studio doesn’t have the power to make a viral game. We only need to focus on a niche market to get rewards.”

“You say that like you’re part of this studio.” Manager Gou scratched his fake hair. He lowered his head to look at the design provided by Xuan Wen and Gao Ming. It was very interesting. The other workers slowly arrived. Some of them came with coffee, and others with their headphones on.

Everyone was relaxed, but when they saw the death reports and scary pictures on the table, they woke up instantly. These things shouldn’t appear in a dating sim.

“I’ve talked to Dayou. I know the current situation of the studio.” Gao Ming cut straight to the point when everyone was there. “Are you willing to work on a game that you don’t like? Do you think our dating sim is competitive? If we fail, then we won’t have another chance.”

Gao Ming had worked many times with Nightlight Gaming Studio. It was why Gao Ming dared to say these things.

“Dating sims have a limited market. Who would change direction if not to survive.” Manager Gou wanted the best for the studio more than anyone. However, the market didn’t allow it.

“I was considered this studio’s half-designer before, but I had to admit that I didn’t do my job well. After these few days of actual study…” Gao Ming turned to look at Xuan Wen, “I finally understood real horror! Give me one more chance! I can raise the horror by ten times! I will have everyone remember this dating sim!”

Gao Ming had a mission behind him. He wanted to turn his personal experience into his games. If the players met similar situations, they at least would be prepared.

With that in mind, he was more convinced. After all, in the whole gaming industry, which game dev would consider the players’ lives when designing the game?