Chapter 2

VR device. It was the main business that Reptilian, who got beaten up by an apple seller, pushed forward while crying, “I’m gonna sell platforms too!”

Of course, since VR devices were still in their early stages, there were all sorts of problems.

It was getting better, but the devices were still uncomfortable to use, and there was a lack of content.

In my opinion, the latter was the bigger issue. Honestly, if there were enough content, even if the VR devices were uncomfortable, people would still flock to them.

But content shortage is something every company faces.

That’s why, no matter how much money Reptilian poured into it, games like *Half-Life: Alyx* didn’t come pouring out in droves.

So I thought it would take a long time, at least 10 years, for VR devices to become mainstream…

But now, that’s no longer the case.

“Who are you?”

I muttered softly as I looked at the company that had innovatively fixed the problems with VR devices.

The one who spread VR devices worldwide wasn’t the apple seller or Reptilian.

Reptilian was now quietly running SNS, and the apple seller was busy selling smartphones.

It meant that someone I’d never seen before had become the father of modern VR devices.

I checked out the performance of the VR device.

With technologies like visual blocking, you could now enjoy a perfect VR world just by wearing glasses. No controllers were needed. The glasses were the entire device.

And the VR-exclusive treadmill could handle full-speed running without a hitch. The shock absorption and noise reduction technologies attached to the treadmill were so good that apartment construction companies would be grateful to use them.

And all of this for just 490,000 won?

It was several times more shocking than when smartphones first appeared.

Now I understand why PC games died.

…Thanks to that, I died too. Why is this happening?

Some mysterious person changed my name from Han Yujin to Han Yoorim, gave me game development skills, and even spread VR games, a future technology, into the world.

I’m a person from the PC game era.

I was more comfortable with a mouse and keyboard than a gamepad, and I only played a few mobile games as references.

So all the games I could think of were PC-based.

This wasn’t something you could change just because you wanted to.

The history of games is short but long. A lot has happened over the years.

From console games to handhelds, from PCs to mobile, games evolved like a chameleon, adapting to their environment.

But that’s just how games are. In the process, developers suffer unexpectedly. And quite severely.

After all, making games is the same, so why suffer?

It’s because consoles, PCs, and mobile are completely different.

There’s no guarantee that a game that works on consoles will work on mobile. The same goes for PC games. The games you had to make and the methods changed depending on the environment.

Of course, there are elements that work in common since they’re all within the framework of games… But generally, someone who develops mobile gacha games can’t develop a console story game. That’s the vibe.

After some research, I found out that all games except VR games had been wiped out.

How do I know?

Simple.

You can tell by the fact that console development companies are all-in on game production.

I scratched my head.

VR games have taken over the market. In this world, if you want to be a game developer, you have to make VR games.

But I had no knowledge of VR game development, and I didn’t even know what VR games were popular right now.

Developing games in this state was a crime.

I needed to study.

I bought the VR device as soon as I saw the reviews for my game, so now all that was left was research.

I played around with the VR device as a test. As expected, the motion-controlled environment felt completely different from PCs.

One thing was clear: I needed to try the top game, but what’s the most popular game right now?

*Eternal World*?

I guess I’ll start with this.

*

After playing the trending VR game, I realized something.

The future of gaming is definitely VR.

First of all, VR had a different level of immersion.

Immersion in games is a huge advantage. It stabs at people’s emotions several times more intensely.

The range of controls also expanded. This was largely thanks to the high-performance device that could detect even the slightest twitch of a finger. This meant more could be implemented systematically.

I sighed.

Experiencing it firsthand made it even clearer.

As expected, more than half of my old ideas had to be scrapped.

And it wasn’t just the ideas. All the games I had planned to make someday had to be completely overhauled.

Well, I could force my old concepts into VR games, like porting from PC to mobile.

But that would be doing the games a disservice.

I’d rather not make them than force something like that.

Luckily, VR games suited my taste. The situation was different from mobile games, which I struggled with because they weren’t fun.

This naturally led to new game ideas popping up.

A new vessel needs new wine. It was time to let go of the outdated PC games.

When making games, it’s common to discard initial ideas.

Of course, it hurt to throw away all the ideas I’d collected since I was a kid, but if you can’t adapt, you fall behind. I had to accept it and move forward.

I started studying again after a long time.

The skip ability only eliminates grinding. It doesn’t create skills out of nowhere.

I knew nothing about VR game development. I had no knowledge. Using the skip ability in this state wouldn’t yield proper results.

I also had personal interest. The freshness that VR devices brought was that shocking.

I delved into VR game-related technologies, specifically motion control technologies.

The deeper I got into it, the more fun it became. The motion control was more detailed and innovative than I had imagined.

I also studied modeling. I already knew about it, but VR-specific modeling felt different.

Beyond that, I researched AI and the latest game systems. I looked into designs and listened to music.

It felt like I had gone back to my childhood. Similar to the feeling when I first displayed [HELLO WORLD] on the screen. I felt uplifted and passionate for no reason.

Then, a sudden idea flashed through my mind.

It was an idea that stemmed from the precision of motion control.

The idea collided with the concepts that had been thrown into the trash. Indeed, nothing in the world is useless. This is how recycling happens.

Excited, I made a game.

Although I wasn’t yet familiar with VR game development, my growth speed was steep.

It was all thanks to the skip ability.

Since the results came out quickly, the feedback was also fast.

Finally, after completing a VR game of the desired quality, I immediately registered it on a VR-exclusive store.

A month had passed.

Title: Excel Busters

Release: 27 days ago

Price: 12,900 won

Reviews: 0

Downloads: 11

Total profit.

After platform fees, 99,330 won.

What’s really the problem this time?

I feel like crying.

I understood <Fantasy Life>. It was a world where PC games had died.

I also understood <Infinity Zero>. Looking back, as a solo-developed game without cheat codes, it had many shortcomings.

But <Excel Busters> didn’t make sense.

The quality is so high that it’s hard to believe it’s a solo-developed game. It’s fun. It offers a new experience that hasn’t existed before.

So why did it fail?

This time, there weren’t even any reviews. If someone had at least cursed at it, I could have judged, but with nothing, it felt like being abandoned in a vast ocean.

There’s no other way. I had to find someone to curse at me.

I opened a gaming community I used to frequent.

<Game Review Event>

Game Name: Excel Busters

It’s a new game.

Write your email, and I’ll send you a game code. If you write a review, I’ll send you a 10,000 won gift card of your choice.

Countless comments poured in. I sent game codes to over 10 IDs.

This should help me identify the problem.

Calming my slightly trembling heart, I headed to the bathroom.

The playtime for <Excel Busters> is around 10 hours at most. But these guys are from MS (Awesome Life), who have dedicated their lives to gaming. They’ll definitely clear it twice as fast as the average person.

It’ll probably take about 6 hours for the reviews to come out, so I should get some sleep in the meantime.

It had been almost months since I last slept, so I almost forgot how to sleep. I closed my eyes, fell asleep, and woke up. For the first time in a while, I didn’t dream.

8 PM. A perfect time to wake up.

I opened the community and tried searching.

Search term: ‘Excel Busters’.

Nothing came up.

Huh? Feeling strange, I searched for ‘reviews’ this time.

Countless game reviews popped up, but there was no review of <Excel Busters>.

Did they just write reviews like normal posts?

This time, I searched for the nicknames of the people who received the game codes.

I read all the posts they wrote over the 6 hours.

Not a single one mentioned <Excel Busters>.

“……”

You know what? When you send an email, you can’t tell if the recipient has read it or not.

I sent 14 emails, and only two people clicked on them.

Out of those two, only one downloaded the game.

How am I sure?

Because the game downloads went from 11 to exactly 12.

So this is how the Joker felt. I repeated searching nicknames in the community to find someone to play the Murray role.

<Damn, this idiot is so frustrating>

LOL

<Tell that pig to quit the game>

Repeating the same mistakes like a senile old man

– Even senile old men sometimes snap out of it LOL That guy’s beyond senile

All the people who took the game from me were streaming live broadcasts.

Well, that much was fine.

<Flame Heart Review>

I saw Junsik playing the game, and it looked fun, so I tried it.

The game idea is really good, maximizing the unique detailed controls of VR games, making it fresh and fun.

(Spoilers ahead)

But I can’t stand the fact that someone who got my game for free is writing reviews for other games.

I quickly left a comment.

– Aren’t you going to play Excel Busters?

No reply.

But I roughly figured out the problem.

In short.

A free game seen for the first time was overshadowed by a paid game played by someone they knew. People didn’t even click on it.

It’s a sign that marketing is crucial in this era.

…Do I have to stream too?