After finishing lunch quickly, Utaha didn't let Ichin wash the dishes. She simply took the bento box and left. But just two minutes later, she ca back again.
This ti, Utaha had brought her laptop along—it was clear she intended to work on her writing here. Considering that a similar situation had happened the previous day, Ichin didn't refuse and let her in.
When they reached Ichin's bedroom, Utaha noticed the walls near his computer desk covered with various sketches. These drawings depicted unfamiliar characters that clearly weren't human and had a completely different art style from Slay the Spire.
"Are these characters for the new ga?" Utaha asked.
"Yep, for the new ga," Ichin replied as he pulled down one of the sketches from the wall. "What do you think this looks like?"
"Hmm..." Utaha leaned in for a closer look, then guessed, "An insect? The two horns on its head—they look like a stag beetle's?"
"Well, it does resemble one, but in the ga's lore, they aren't actually insects. This design is part of the ga's entire world-building concept," Ichin explained.
He then briefly outlined the lore of Hollow Knight.
"In this ga, there's an ancient, abandoned kingdom buried beneath a small town called Dirtmouth. The protagonist is just a small figure, with the goal of exploring this vast underground world, gaining strength, and defeating a series of enemies."
Utaha listened attentively as Ichin described the ga's setting, and after about ten minutes, she excitedly remarked, "This sounds like such an interesting ga! With a world like this, you could even write a novel based on it!"
"Maybe, but creating a ga like this is still more appealing to ," Ichin said with a smile. "I've set ambitious goals for this one—a troidvania-style action ga, with a huge map and a decent level of difficulty."
"troidvania?" Utaha asked curiously.
"You've heard of Castlevania, right?"
"Yeah, I know about it," Utaha nodded. "I haven't played it much, but I've watched so videos. It's quite an old ga, and there haven't been any new releases in recent years."
"Exactly, Castlevania," Ichin confird as he opened his computer to show Utaha the provisional layout of his ga's regions. Although the layout was still in its rough stages, its complexity was already apparent.
He pointed out that the large map was divided into several regions, each with its unique style and atmosphere.
"At the start, the ga map will be completely dark. The areas only light up on the map as the player reaches them. Additionally, every region has a purchasable map that marks various features in that area. When you leave one region and co back, the enemies will respawn. And of course, if you die during exploration, all the monsters will respawn upon revival, except for the bosses."
Listening to Ichin's explanation, Utaha began to grasp the ga's difficulty. "So, if I die once at the door of a boss room, I'd have to fight my way back through the area to reach the boss again? That's kind of like Slay the Spire."
"Exactly. But the key difference is that this is an action ga. Every death serves a purpose because enemy placents are always fixed. No matter how challenging an area is, you can eventually get through it by learning the controls and getting familiar with it. In Slay the Spire, every run is different."
Utaha nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "So, are the monsters in the ga really tough?"
"If I give away too much, it'll ruin the fun!" Ichin replied playfully.
Ichin wagged his finger and smiled, saying, "The ga hasn't even started developnt yet. It's better to keep so mystery for now. Once the demo is ready, you'll get to experience it firsthand."
Hearing this, Utaha held back her curiosity, opened her laptop, and began writing. Ichin, too, organized his materials and resud working on the ga's proposal.
The next day, at nine in the morning.
Ichin woke up early. After having breakfast, he printed two copies of the proposals he had completed the previous day and saved the digital versions on his laptop to take along. As he finished packing up and stepped out of his apartnt, he saw Utaha standing at his door.
"Oh my, good morning! I was just about to ring the doorbell," Utaha greeted.
"Good morning. What's up?" Ichin asked.
With a smile, Utaha replied, "You're going to negotiate with those ex-Eagle Jump people, right? Let co with you."
"You want to co along?" Ichin was surprised. "But I'm going to discuss the studio stuff. I can handle that on my own. Shouldn't you use the ti to focus on your writing? You're only a third of the way through your second volu, right?"
Utaha's lips twitched slightly, and she let out a breath. "What, can't I co? I was even thinking about investing in Ichin-kun's studio," she said with a teasing grin.
"Invest?" Ichin raised an eyebrow, and seeing the look on her face, he started to get an inkling of what might be going on. The team from Eagle Jump was all female, and each of them was quite attractive. Could it be that Utaha was feeling… a bit wary?
It seed like a plausible assumption.
However, Ichin knew that New Ga!—the ani in question—was produced by Doga Kobo and featured an all-female cast, making it a light-hearted, yuri-adjacent series with so implied relationships. Utaha's concerns seed sowhat unnecessary.
But Ichin decided not to bring that up and instead nodded, "Alright, you can co, but as for the investnt part, let's discuss that later. You haven't exactly earned that much yet."
Utaha's earnings from the first volu of her novel were still less than what Ichin's ga had made in its first week of release.
As they headed towards the stairs, Ichin said, "I'm just starting a studio. Expenses for the venue, equipnt, and salaries are already quite substantial. Your funds wouldn't cover much."
"Then, Ichin-kun, do you have enough from your ga's revenue?" Utaha asked.
"It can last for a while, but it's definitely not enough," Ichin replied frankly. "So, I called my dad yesterday. He'll support with so of the space costs. As long as the negotiations go smoothly, I plan to buy two rooms to use as the initial office for the studio."
"You're buying them outright?"
"Of course! Even if I don't need them later, I can sell them off, right? I won't lose too much."
…
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