Relaxing. Pure joy. Peaceful and full of love.
These words sound totally fine on their own.
But coming out of Lucas's mouth, they made people a bit nervous.
After all, Outlast and Overcooked had already proven how that could go.
He once called Overcooked a wholeso, cooperative ga.
But it ended so many friendships.
And the official blog even tried to spin it with what sounded like a very reasonable explanation.
Now online, players were saying Lucas was the ultimate smooth talker.
And here he was again, saying the sa kind of stuff.
Hard to take seriously, right?
"Don't let all the chatter online ss with your head. We're all adults here, we should be able to think for ourselves." Lucas said with a smile, watching their reactions.
Everyone nodded on the outside, but inside, they were thinking:
Exactly, we are thinking for ourselves — and the players are totally right!
But they didn't have long to dwell on that, because what Lucas showed next quickly caught their attention.
"A ga-show-style challenge? Like Boys and Girls Go Forward, the kind of sumr programs you see on local TV stations?"
Looking at the main gaplay setup of Fall Guys, Rachel—who often watched variety shows—was the first to speak.
"But there's one difference. Those shows usually have one person going at a ti, and they're ranked by how fast they finish. This one, though, has everyone going in together."
"Real life and gas are definitely different. In real life, too many people on one track might cause people to get trampled, especially when the challenge needs a lot of physical strength. But in a ga, it's not a problem."
"Still, won't it feel too chaotic with 60 people?"
As they looked at the ga's design draft, people began whispering and discussing among themselves.
Clearly, the concept draft for Fall Guys had taken them by surprise.
"Alright, quiet down, everyone. Let go over the main ideas behind this ga." Lucas tapped the table with his hand and looked at everyone.
"First, the ga's focus—it's a casual, fun mini-ga collection styled like a ga show. The art should feature exaggerated characters, funny movents, bright and bold colors. The background music needs to be super cheerful, so players feel relaxed while playing."
"As for the ga's physics, go for sothing more over-the-top—even unrealistic. That'll make it more fun to watch and easier to go viral later."
As Lucas broke down the key points of Fall Guys, the team grew more and more excited.
Especially Hector and the other longti staff—they felt at ease.
Because just like Outlast and Overcooked, both Legends of the Three Kingdoms and Fall Guys had sothing in common.
They were both already highly polished—even in the early concept stage. From the art, to level design, to core gaplay, everything was already mapped out.
Very clean and clear—just from hearing and seeing the concept, people already had a clear picture in their minds.
"The next step is on the marketing side. Ethan, Zhao Mo—you guys handle marketing and operations. Give two separate plans. Legends of the Three Kingdoms will be a long-term free-to-play ga with in-app purchases to build user loyalty."
"Fall Guys, on the other hand, is ant to blow up fast. So I want a separate marketing plan just for that too."
Lucas turned to Ethan and Mark, who had recently joined Nebula Gas as the head of operations.
They both nodded in agreent.
From Lucas's explanation, it was pretty easy to tell the basic goals of each ga.
Fall Guys would be a paid ga, but in Lucas's eyes, it was ant to be a "fast burn"—sothing that would quickly gain attention and users, and then make money fast. Like playing the short ga in the stock market.
Legends of the Three Kingdoms, though, was for the long run. Its goal was to keep users coming back. The free-to-play with in-app purchases model gave the ga a sense of long-term investnt, making players less likely to quit.
Because the two gas had different goals and styles, their marketing strategies needed to be completely different too.
"As for the third ga, that's not a focus right now. This convention is mostly to show off and build hype. We won't be releasing it anyti soon." Lucas didn't bother sugarcoating it—since everyone here was on the inside, he kept it direct.
As for the third folder, Lucas didn't even bother opening it. It really was just a folder.
"Rachel and Anna, you stay. Hector too. The rest of you, go over the two ga design drafts carefully. Write down anything you're unsure about, and we'll go over it in the next eting."
As Lucas finished speaking, the rest of the team got up and returned to their desks.
Looking at Rachel, Anna, and Hector, Lucas continued, "Aside from these two gas, there's also a bigger project coming up. I'll be writing the scripts and storyboards for the CG animation part. Rachel, you'll follow up on that."
"Anna, I'll also write the lore and worldbuilding. That part will be on you. Hector, once you finish the action system for Fall Guys, start working on an action demo for the new project. Get used to it early, so you don't have to start from scratch later."
Lucas handed out the tasks as he spoke.
They all nodded in agreent.
For Rachel, Anna, and Hector, the Fall Guys and Legends of the Three Kingdoms projects didn't involve much work on their end for now.
.........
With the Fall Guys and Legends of the Three Kingdoms teams set up, Nebula Gas quickly kicked into high gear.
And while these two gas were being developed,
The ga industry saw so interesting things pop up too.
First was the indie ga scene. After the huge success of Overcooked, a lot of smaller studios and indie developers rushed to release similar co-op gas.
But the result was no surprise—none of them really made much of a splash.
That's because with this kind of ga, if you don't have a strong, clear core idea, it's hard to grab players' attention.
Take Overcooked for example—its main hook was the tension and chaos in teamwork.
It beca a through videos and livestreams—leading to the famous "breakup ga" joke—and that helped the ga go viral again.
But that kind of hook isn't sothing you can copy just by making a co-op ga.
It goes deep into the level design and the way the gaplay is balanced.
If the balance isn't right and the ga's too easy, then talk of "breaking up over it" is obviously nonsense.
But if it's too hard, players won't break up either — they'll just join forces to curse the ga and call it trash.
Clearly, those gas missed the point.
And naturally, they didn't stir up much attention.
(End of The Chapter)
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