The award ceremony for the ga departnt's sci-fi competition was held at the departnt's office in Magic City.
Specifically, it was in the conference room of the building.
They called it an "award ceremony," but it really didn't live up to that na.
Even though it was during the National Day holiday, the ga departnt still had quite a few staff working.
It wasn't clear whether they were full-ti employees or just contractors.
Nothing fancy—people were just taking photos with their phones.
Outside the building, there were a few gaming dia folks with caras and signs on their shoulders.
But they mostly stayed at a distance, taking photos. No one ca up to do interviews.
It was still early. If anyone was going to be interviewed, it'd be after the designers finished the official event inside.
It was all pretty basic, but for Lucas, who was attending for the first ti, it still felt interesting.
It was only 1:30 PM—he had been told earlier that the event would start at 2.
Following a staff mber, he entered a temporarily repurposed conference room. The place was fairly big.
The interior had a red-brown and white color sche, with a tiered layout.
Chairs were arranged in two main sections. The stage at the front had a long table, with bright red flags on either side and the national emblem in the center.
Each seat in the room had a plastic naplate with the ga designer's na on it.
Lucas quickly found his seat — front row, next to the wall — and noticed soone already sitting beside it.
"You're Lucas? 'To the Moon' taking first place is well deserved." Marcus moved to let Lucas sit, a faint smile on his face, but his heart was a ss.
Saying he wasn't upset would be a lie.
But hate? Not really.
In fact, he kind of admired him. After all, he had played "To the Moon" too, and it had deeply moved him.
"Mr. Marcus? I've heard a lot about you. I really like 'Galactic Heroes,' especially the level design in chapter three — it was great." Hearing Marcus speak, Lucas glanced at the na tag in front of him and smiled as he extended his hand.
"Oh, not at all. The storytelling in 'To the Moon' was flawless. And your earlier ga, 'Undertale,' was amazing." Marcus shook his hand and replied with the usual polite flattery, but then sothing clicked.
Why did this mont feel so familiar?
It was just like the scene he imagined in his head a month ago!
Except... the roles were reversed.
Marcus went silent as he let go of the handshake.
Lucas, on the other hand, didn't notice at all. Without aning to, he'd just "hurt" a fellow ga designer's fragile pride.
So nearby designers who noticed the exchange ca over to chat with Lucas.
What surprised Lucas was how friendly a few of them were, as if they'd known him forever.
After a bit of small talk, Lucas figured it out.
None of them actually knew him — but they all had one thing in common:
They had all been publicly bashed online by Bell before.
The only difference was, unlike Lucas, none of them ever clapped back.
They just got trashed for no reason, and Bell even used their nas for attention.
Lucas, on the other hand, had fired back — and in a way, gave them all a bit of payback too.
Now that Lucas had taken first place in the contest, many designers naturally wanted to connect with him.
They were all part of the sa industry, after all. The more friends, the better.
Lucas's phone now had a bunch of new contacts, and he'd joined several small chat groups with other designers.
As everyone chatted, the higher-ups from the Ga Division soon arrived in the eting room.
Before coming, Lucas had done his howork.
He already knew who the key leaders in the Ga Division were — people he'd likely have to deal with in the future.
The award ceremony officially began with a speech from David , the head of the Magic City Ga Division — a tall, skinny man in his fifties with gold-rimd glasses, the classic scholarly type.
His speech was formal and serious.
After the speech, it was ti for the awards. David solemnly announced the first prize.
Lucas smiled as he walked to the front, and when the applause died down, he received a red booklet and a dal from David — both symbols of his first-place win.
Then ca the thank-you speech. Lucas had already morized it — just tweaked last year's winner's speech a bit.
If it ended up sounding the sa, he didn't care. He was the first one to speak anyway.
"I'd like to thank the organizers. I'm honored to win first place in this contest. Standing here right now, I feel very excited…"
As Lucas spoke, the audience broke into loud applause. But Marcus, who had been sitting next to him earlier, had a complicated look on his face.
Why did this speech sound exactly like his?
After all the designers finished their speeches and took photos holding their certificates and dals with the Ga Departnt staff, the event basically wrapped up.
As they walked out of the Ga Division, reporters who had been waiting outside rushed over.
Most of them crowded around Lucas — and Marcus from NetDragon's Swordfire Studio.
After all, out of the group, these two had the most buzz.
"Mr. Lucas, how do you feel about winning first place this ti?"
"Mr. Lucas, do you have plans for a new ga after 'To the Moon'? Will it be another warm, emotional ga?"
The reporters fired off questions one after another.
But clearly, everyone was keeping things pretty calm. And since it wasn't an exclusive interview, as long as Lucas answered, all the dia outlets could use it — it just depended on who could publish fastest.
"Winning first prize was totally unexpected and a huge surprise. I really didn't think the higher-ups would believe in To the Moon this much. Getting first prize also brings a lot of pressure, but I'll keep working hard to support the growth of the local ga industry…"
Listening to Lucas go on and on, the reporters around him looked frustrated.
He's such a young ga designer — why does he sound like a governnt spokesperson?
There's nothing juicy at all!
But what he said next made them even more disappointed.
"As for the next ga… I don't really have any solid plans yet. I'm not sure if it'll be another feel-good ga either. But personally, I do enjoy making this kind of ga. I guess I've always thought of myself as a warrior of love."
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