WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Game Director that Returned from Hell ◈
Chapter 9
──────
As the launch date drew near, I became too busy to catch my breath.
There was so much to think about when releasing a game.
That covered everything from internal matters, like final testing, to outside concerns, like getting an age rating and setting up a company.
Releasing a game on your own took that much work.
The one saving grace was that I’d been working through the preparations, bit by bit, since the beginning of 2009.
Now, only one thing remained.
“So you’re going back to school too.”
“I have to.”
“Wow, graduating in the fall.”
Yes, going back to school.
I’d just finished registering for classes and was resting in the clubroom.
Han Seorim giggled.
“You’ll be busy juggling classes and work now too.”
“You seem happy about that.”
“I’ve been the only one clearing my schedule all this time. Why should I be the only one suffering?”
“...”
I had nothing to say.
There was no denying that I’d put Han Seorim through a lot last semester.
Unfortunately for her, though, her wish wasn’t going to come true.
“There shouldn’t be anything urgent to handle for a while. Just fixing minor bugs and any balance issues we missed.”
“...You mean there are still bugs?”
“There’s no way to get rid of them all. But there shouldn’t be any major ones. We’ve cross-checked the critical issues over and over.”
The errors I expected were the sort that came from unusual ways of playing.
Players always came up with stranger ideas than developers, so catching every problem was impossible. Game companies didn’t pour so much effort into QC through internal tests and closed betas for nothing.
But we could deal with those problems when they came up.
Something else mattered more right now.
“So, why did you post your profile like that in the promotional post?”
“...Don’t bring it up.”
Han Seorim blushed and bit her lower lip.
...I couldn’t say I was entirely blameless, so I couldn’t push her much further. I hadn’t realized she knew so little about online communities.
We’d taken action too late. The community was already on fire.
It was a shame her face had become public.
But...
‘Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.’
Putting Han Seorim’s personal embarrassment aside, it was an acceptable bit of publicity through controversy.
Judging by the results alone, we’d gotten a solid promotional boost within a small circle.
A week after the promotional post went up, people in the community were still talking about the upcoming game.
The female college student developer angle had drawn that much attention. The timing had helped a little too.
‘Dark Space only came out a few months ago.’
And that wasn’t all.
Dead 4 Alive, an FPS survival horror game that had made a huge impact on the genre, had followed Dark Space with a November 2008 release.
The gaming world had trends too.
Once a decent game came out, a string of similar titles in the same genre followed. There was a reason people used terms like “something-like.”
That tendency was especially strong in smaller genres like survival horror.
With so few games to choose from, fans who’d squeezed everything out of the big titles went looking for similar games.
‘You can’t really call this genre mainstream either.’
Survival horror action wasn’t a particularly mainstream genre in this era.
A few heavyweights carried the entire market. When one outstanding title increased demand for the genre, interest in indie games of the same kind naturally shot up too.
A little tension rose inside me.
I forced it back down.
‘I’ve done everything I can now.’
This was the best I could do with what I had.
All that remained was to wait humbly for the verdict.
One week remained until launch.
It passed quite quickly.
* * *
Gamers were always hungry for outstanding games.
That remained true even when a blockbuster was sweeping the market.
The minority whose tastes didn’t match that game couldn’t simply join everyone else and enjoy the ride.
Twenty-five-year-old Kang Seokhun, who used the username “Waiting4Zodiac3” on a gaming forum, was one of those people.
‘It’s nothing but All Out 3.’
Rrrk. Seokhun scrolled down, looking sulky.
The gaming community Seokhun frequented was flooded with talk about All Out 3, the masterpiece released late the previous year.
Apparently, it was that year’s GOTY or something. But none of that meant much to Seokhun.
‘The game’s too complicated.’
Seokhun understood the appeal of an immersive open world, excellent graphics, and great gameplay. But those things didn’t really translate into “fun” for Seokhun.
What Kang Seokhun valued in a game was action and the feedback that came from growing stronger.
In that sense, any game that involved fighting enemies was welcome.
‘Ugh, when’s Zodiac 3 coming out...?’
Seokhun wanted some dark fantasy.
A game that could recreate the feeling of Zodiac, with its fierce battles against horrible demons.
‘Those bastards at Blizzid.’
It had been eight years since the second game came out. Why hadn’t they released the third yet?
If they’d announced it, shouldn’t they hurry up and make the damn game?
Just as Seokhun’s lips pushed out into a pout...
『(Games) NationalPaladinAssociation: All Out 3 is insane. Absolutely insane!』
『(Games) S2PoppyS2: Never seen a new release like this?! Evil’s Soul, February’s hidden gem to watch! Want to give it a try...?』
『(Chat) BangbaeBloodLord: Isn’t today the day? The release date for that game someone came here to promote.』
One of the community’s chat posts caught Seokhun’s attention.
Only then did a forgotten memory return.
“Oh.”
Right.
The promotional post that had set the community buzzing two weeks ago flashed through Seokhun’s mind.
It sparked a little curiosity.
‘They said it was survival horror, right?’
A blue-skinned protagonist fighting bizarre-looking things, with a touch of action to it.
Something about progression through changing and combining weapons...
‘...Should I try it?’
There wasn’t anything else to play anyway.
If Seokhun cleared it first and posted a review, maybe the post could make the featured section.
That was strangely tempting.
Seokhun found the promotional post and checked the game’s name and platform.
‘Steam? What’s this? There’s a place like this too?’
It was an overseas platform that didn’t even support Korean.
Having only played well-known boxed games and Korean online games, Seokhun wasn’t familiar with this distribution platform.
A little uncertainty rose, but curiosity rose even higher.
Seokhun’s English was decent enough.
After looking into it, signing up didn’t seem particularly hard either.
While studying the page, Seokhun finally felt some relief.
‘Oh, the game itself has a Korean version.’
Of course it did. How could a game made by a Korean developer not have Korean?
The game came in two versions, Korean and English.
In other words, everything would be fine once the download was done.
‘Let’s see...’
$4.99.
It wasn’t an unaffordable amount.
‘Well, if this gets me into the featured section...’
Wouldn’t that make it worth it?
A review tearing the game apart would probably get there even more easily.
Seokhun grinned.
The unfamiliar overseas payment system caused a brief struggle.
But after successfully buying and downloading the game, Seokhun launched it at once.
[Hellic]
[by studio rewind]
The opening screen had red text on a black background.
Below it were a Start button, a Settings tab, and an Exit tab.
‘English is the default.’
Seokhun opened the settings and changed the language to Korean.
Only then did the interface feel comfortable to read.
Seokhun didn’t hesitate.
Seokhun clicked Start Game right away.
It happened immediately.
[Aaaaaaaah!]
“Whoa! That scared me!”
The scream made Seokhun jump.
‘Why does it sound so real?’
They’d called it horror, and the scream certainly set the mood.
After a moment spent calming Seokhun’s pounding heart, Seokhun’s interest grew.
What appeared on the monitor next was a character wriggling through the inside of some organ.
Then, splat, the character dropped into an isolated, cube-shaped room colored dark reddish brown.
Seokhun let out a sharp breath and placed Seokhun’s hands on the keyboard.
‘What’s that in front of me? A fretsaw? Am I supposed to pick it up?’
The controls were explained on the screen.
The arrow keys and a few hotkeys.
It was a simple setup, easy to understand.
『Obtained Fretsaw (Lv. 1).
Attack Power: 3
Property: Cutting』
『Tooltip: The “Cutting” property provides armor penetration.』
Seokhun was still reading the explanation.
Graaaah...
Flesh-colored, skinny figures appeared on the map.
‘Oh, straight into combat?’
Nice. No wasting time.
Seokhun jumped right into the fight.
That was the beginning.
Urrrgh...!
Kill enemies.
Wriggle, wriggle~
Pass through holes and follow paths resembling internal organs to move between maps.
Ding!
Collect weapons.
Along the way, enhance, evolve, and fuse those weapons.
For about thirty minutes, Seokhun was absorbed in the game, unaware of time passing.
‘This is easy. Am I going to clear it soon?’
Was this what you had to expect from an indie game?
Just as Seokhun began to feel that the tension was fading, it happened.
Graaaaaargh!
“Whoa, fuck...!”
A hulking mass four times the size of the playable character appeared.
Seokhun recovered from the shock of its sudden arrival and quickly moved the character.
‘A hidden boss? An elite mob? What is it? Should I try hitting it first?’
It was clearly a hulking brute.
It looked like it had high defense, so the fretsaw’s Cutting property should be useful.
The fretsaw was at Lv. 10.
Steady enhancements had raised its attack power, so it should do at least some damage...
『damage ?1』
...It did not.
The hulking mass swung its arm.
『You have been killed instantly.』
The character died, and the screen turned gray.
Seokhun felt empty.
Then anger rose to fill the gap.
“What the fuck is this?!”
Bang!
As Seokhun pounded the keyboard, stubborn determination surged within.
‘A mob I can’t kill yet? Oh, so I’m supposed to avoid it? Fine. Let’s see who wins!’
Seokhun clicked the Retry tab at once.
The save point was right after clearing the previous map.
The hulking mass appeared again.
This time, Seokhun avoided it instead of fighting and cleared the map.
‘Its attack range is wide, but it’s slow. If I pay attention, I can dodge it easily enough.’
A smile formed on Seokhun’s lips.
Just the right amount of difficulty.
It had stirred up Seokhun’s competitive urge.
Four hours passed like that.
“What? When did it get this late?”
Only then did Seokhun realize how completely Seokhun had lost track of time playing the game.
Seokhun’s gaze returned to the monitor.
‘...I want to keep playing.’
There was only one thing that meant.
‘This is fun.’
The game was fun.
Enough to leave Seokhun deeply satisfied.
* * *
『(Games) Waiting4Zodiac3: Reviewing that game someone came here to promote.
Honestly, I only tried it to get a post into the featured section.
The platform’s called Steam. It’s an overseas platform, so the process is kind of a pain.
I put the details here (link), so go read that.
Getting straight to the review: it was fun.
Decently difficult, with a decent amount of depth.
The game system itself seems really intuitive, with lots of room to experiment.
It felt like they’d recreated Zodiac 2’s skill path evolution system using weapons.
I thought it was hack-and-slash, but “survival horror” is right...
(Screenshot)
No matter what weapon you use, you only do 1 damage to this bastard, and one hit from it kills you instantly.
Seems like a surprise mechanic. Trying to clear the map while dodging this thing took so much focus I thought my hair would fall out lol.
Overall, I give it 4.5 out of 5.
No idea who the developer who came to promote it is, but they clearly have a really strong understanding of games.
Docked half a point because it isn’t Zodiac.
Not taking questions.
<Comments>
LuvSpaceWar: Zodiac... why are you talking about other games?
┕Kukshinanayo: Someone feels betrayed lol』
Seokhun’s review went up on the forum.
It quickly caught the members’ attention and made its way into the featured section.
That was where it began.
『(Games) BangbaeBloodLord: Review of “Hellic,” the game promoted here. Had so much fun I lost track of time.』
Starting with reviews from a few well-known users who’d been interested in the game itself from the beginning, word of mouth began to spread from a small online community.
It was the flap of a butterfly’s wings that would bring a typhoon.
Spread
Footnotes:
Zodiac and Blizzid echo Diablo and Blizzard. Dark Space, Dead 4 Alive, All Out 3, and Evil’s Soul similarly echo Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3, and Demon’s Souls.
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