Chapter 243

Chapter 243: General Assembly (Additional Update for Lady Ziche Chenju)

“Cloud’s Journey” (gloudy) tells the redemption journey of a girl named gloudy in search of self-discovery and belonging.

She was exiled because she looked different from the residents of the Holy Kingdom. At first, she felt inferior and confused, always avoiding others when she encountered them.

Despite being ostracized, gloudy maintained a kind heart. After saving an injured crow, she befriended it.

Through the crow, gloudy met various people and made many friends. Through one friend’s introduction, she learned that there were companions resembling her in a country above the clouds. So, gloudy embarked on a journey to find this cloud nation.

Throughout her journey, gloudy visited various places, solved puzzles, and gained friendships and growth. She gradually regained her independent personality, becoming more confident and cheerful. However, upon reaching the distant country, she discovered it had become ruins.

If gloudy hadn’t gained the friendship of all her companions earlier (similar to important side quests), her journey would have ended at the ruins, with her friends accompanying her in the final scene.

When gloudy obtained all the friendships, not only did her friends accompany her, but they also discovered a hidden door to a dream world together. In this dream world, gloudy saw her hometown, its residents, and her family.

In this extended hidden chapter, she learned about the rise and fall of the cloud nation and realized she was the last of its citizens. She would live happily, carrying her parents’ and relatives’ wishes.

The core of “Cloud’s Journey” is simple and straightforward, essentially a story of a duckling turning into a swan. It doesn’t need to convey profound philosophy; the game’s design by Mei Fang aims to make players feel warm and smile. The atmosphere is created through art, scenes, interactions, and music, providing a good gaming experience.

Currently, based on Yue Xinyi’s feedback, Mei Fang’s design has been relatively successful.

Because he was beaten up by Yue Xinyi, who has extensive experience reading novels and comics.

Unlike Xia Yuan, who gently punches, Yue Xinyi really hurts Mei Fang.

“Dead Mei Dog, you have no heart! I played gloudy so hard, why can’t gloudy get a good ending?”

“gloudy isn’t that pitiful… Ro, Yale, and Wood all stayed with her, right? This is already a happy ending.”

After complaining about Mei Fang’s script, Yue Xinyi felt somewhat moved.

“I thought you guys only made money-grabbing games, but you can actually create something artistic. ‘Cloud’s Journey’ opened a new world for me. I didn’t expect making games could be like this.”

“Of course, our Ah Fang’s game experience…”

Xia Yuan enthusiastically praised her childhood friend, while Yue Xinyi pulled Lin You Xi’s arm.

“You’re just watching?”

“So what if I am?”

Yue Xinyi, looking disappointed, whispered to Lin You Xi,

“Don’t wait until it’s too late. If you don’t act now, you’ll regret it.”

“This…”

Lin You Xi didn’t respond directly but smiled and said, “Don’t worry, we’re just childhood friends.”

“Ahh!”

Yue Xinyi was enraged by Lin You Xi’s ‘slowness’ and ‘lowliness’, but Liu Xiaoyu, who knew everything, sympathized with her.

She claimed to be Lin You Xi’s best friend in junior high school but never told Yue Xinyi about their kiss.

Explaining such things is complicated and unnecessary.

…

Mei Fang is their shared boyfriend or something…

The official package has been completed, but the game’s release hasn’t finished yet.

Mei Fang needs to do some promotional operations. Although Steam in China in 2012 was mainly a Dota 2 launcher, the “Lighthouse” mechanism symbolizing indie spirit was already available.

While registering his developer account and uploading “Cloud’s Journey,” Mei Fang prepared C Station’s related copy.

“Cloud’s Journey” is his heartfelt debut game. Though it started from the indie game “GRIS,” the story is entirely adapted from Guo Yun’s growth.

You can see elements from “Celeste,” “Monument Valley,” and “Journey.” The friendship concept draws inspiration from “Undertale,” and the dream gate concept borrows from the indie masterpiece “Hollow Knight.” These references aren’t considered plagiarism; they’re results of Mei Fang’s experiences.

However, during the game’s creation, Mei Fang had many regrets. But these regrets surfaced every time he completed a project.

Unlike before, this project was led entirely by Mei Fang as the boss. He used to mock his bosses for not understanding games.

But now?

It was time to show everyone.

While Mei Fang organized the game’s follow-up work, everyone relaxed during the end of summer vacation. They enjoyed several meals thanks to Boss Mei’s treat, visited various amusement parks, and when everyone began planning to go home, news came from Me Yue—

The company’s office space was ready for occupancy.

The core members of Mei Fang’s company were students under 18, but excluding Ximilu Studio, the actual operation team of C Station was recruited by Mei Fang using his influence as a site manager.

Mei Fang and Lin You Xi presented each member of their part-time team with formal offer letters under YYY’s guidance.

Due to C Station’s growing influence, part-time team members from smaller companies quickly agreed to jump ship and sign the offers.

Although the salary wasn’t high, working at C Station was invaluable experience.

Some employees from larger companies hesitated due to C Station’s instability compared to A Station and higher salaries offered elsewhere, remaining in观望 state.

“Calling everyone here today is not just to help speed up ‘Cloud’s Journey,’ but also to gather for a full staff meeting. Here, ‘full staff’ includes everyone from Lin Xi Technology and Ximilu Studio, including our previous outsourced teams—now, they’re all colleagues.”

After hearing Mei Fang, everyone seemed nervous.

“We’re all high school students. These part-time employees have worked for years. Some might even be programmers with potbellies and balding heads… Won’t we be underestimated as minors?”

“It’s okay to think so. These formally contracted people are the most trusted business backbone of C Station for us and YYY as the legal representative and actual leader. We can’t tell our ages just by looks, so it’s fine not to mention it…”

Mei Fang surveyed everyone,

“But since we built this company together, you can be more relaxed here. If anyone really has social anxiety, they don’t have to attend tomorrow’s full staff meeting. I can introduce you online.”

“What social anxiety… Everyone here has accompanied you this far. How could anyone have social anxiety? Only social retardation exists—”

Yue Xinyi was complaining about Mei Dog when she saw Xia Yuan feeding Mei Fang various snacks while listening, which infuriated her.

Is this how carefree childhood friends are nowadays?

—

End of Chapter