Game Director from Hell
Chapter 103: G-Star – Demon’s Relic (1)

Recollection was a conversation I had with Jo Ayoon at some point in my past life, analyzing the success indicators of Demon’s Relic.

“If only the pre-release marketing had been a little better, we could have boosted the initial sales even more.”

“Right?! Users think the same! They dragged them in with such mysterious marketing! Well… I guess it’s because people in the industry know that it was due to a lack of marketing budget.”

“They can’t help it. A fledgling game development company doesn’t have money falling from the sky.”

Demon’s Relic took a different route from typical pretty girl games of the time that dominated the market.

Pre-release marketing was nonexistent, and what followed was the release of an official webtoon featuring characters, along with explanations of the backstory through scripts, and so on.

Externally, the consensus is that it was proof of overwhelming confidence, but industry insiders knew the truth.

They simply didn’t have the money.

The game that harboured the possibility of such unbelievable success couldn’t achieve explosive sales due to a lack of funds.

Although I didn’t personally enjoy Demon’s Relic, I harbored a sense of regret about it.

The conclusion I reached during the conversation with Jo Ayoon at that time also followed that context.

“Just do character marketing at least.”

“Exactly! They should have released the backstory script or the official webtoon before the release! Have you seen the trend of 2nd creations now? If it had come out before the release, the initial sales would have been several times higher!”

“Even before the game was released?”

“Just because the characters themselves were well-made? That’s why muggles…”

“?”

“Our team leader doesn’t understand the romance of cute girls. He’s a fake, non-otaku!”

The marketing point of Demon’s Relic was in its characters.

If the setting and charm of the characters resonated with the consumers’ taste, it could turn an unreleased game into a god-tier game in the form of secondary creations in the sub-culture market.

Knowing the future, that analysis was easy.

So, it was reasonable for me to prioritize pre-release marketing, something the two people in my past life failed to do.

“How many illustrators do we have on Team 2?”

“I think it’s seven? I remember it being that way.”

“Kind of vague. Let’s just hire new ones. Recruit for the webtoon production team. Oh, also, we need a scenario writer. We have to create a world view.”

“Understood. Then…”

“We have about three months until G-Star. We’ll release the demo version first and then unveil the webtoon. It’ll be like a supplementary story strengthening the main game story.”

My words made Yang Gilsang skeptical.

“Isn’t obsessing over non-game elements too much?”

It was a valid concern.

Fundamentally, we were a game company, not a subculture company.

Moreover, considering the possibility that the game might not meet expectations even after all this effort.

However, at least for Demon’s Relic, such concerns were unnecessary.

I explained to Yang Gilsang in a form that he could easily understand with my other purposes tied to it.

“We’re going to use this for a subculture IP business.”

“What?”

“We’ll create comics or goods based on the game IP and sell them.”

Yang Gilsang still asked with a skeptical expression,

“Does that make money?”

I firmly replied, “Yes, it makes an unreasonable amount of money.”

“Aren’t character marketing games promising in the mobile gacha genre? Why not go in that direction instead?”

“No need for that. The potential for secondary creations of package IP is just as significant.”

At this point, there was an event in the future that I couldn’t cite as an example.

It was an event where secondary creations brought unprecedented success and reversed the original game’s trend.

‘Cyberpunk 2099.’

Despite the early failures, the AAA-grade open-world game ‘Cyberpunk 2099’ experienced a second heyday as a promotional animation, even without an anime.

I still remember that incident.

‘It was an interesting data point.’

Even though it wasn’t a girl game, the fact that it generated revenue through subculture IP expansion made me think that package IP potential shouldn’t be underestimated compared to mobile gacha.

No, I believed that as a package, I could attract that kind of inflow.

‘It’s not a big burden to buy one game. At least compared to the burden of starting a gacha game.’

Demon’s Relic was an AAA-grade package disguised as a girl gacha game.

In other words, all characters appearing in the game could be obtained as in-game elements.

Characters obtained through the main story or through sub-quests scattered throughout the map, and so on.

By purchasing just one package, users could directly see or experience elements from the animation, making resistance to purchasing decrease.

Of course, the main game had to be good.

Cyberpunk had various critical issues like bugs, but despite that, since the structure of the game itself was good, they continuously refined the game, stabilized it, and ultimately succeeded in the reverse trend.

Whatever the case, the central point of the evaluation at that time was that without the animation, Cyberpunk couldn’t have resurrected to that extent.

The impact of external content influx on industry revenue is by no means negligible.

My personal goal ultimately looked toward animation production.

Choosing Demon’s Relic among numerous promising projects was precisely for that reason.

Securing a potential IP that could expand in various directions in the subculture.

Believing it to be the best choice to create cash cows for Rewind, I had no doubts.

Of course, high-capital businesses like animation would only yield revenue after achieving sales post-release. Still, just suggesting such a blueprint increased the motivation of Team 2 even more.

“Our game… is an animation?”

“Matda-kke (Exactly), we have no choice, right?”

Initially, the perverted sensitivity that only Nishimura’s team members were concerned about started to permeate the entire Team 2 quite a while ago.

The longing for animation, which couldn’t be immediately resolved, became an abnormal energy like a doping athlete starting to show signs of deformity.

The immediate, unattainable desire for animation turned into interest toward the newly arrived webtoon team, but that’s another story.

“Sachoo-oo (CEO)!!! I pledge loyalty for a lifetime!!!”

Nishimura saluted.

I summed up the atmosphere in one sentence.

“Don’t get too excited and make mistakes. Whatever IP we expand into, don’t forget that the core of Demon’s Relic is the game. A tree with rotten roots is easy to break.”

“Understood!”

That damn “understood.”

“Until G-Star, Demon’s Relic will undergo direct inspection. The booth size is 70 seats. I trust you to understand what that means.”

“Ah! Does that mean the more cases there are, the higher the probability of bugs?”

“Yes, we need to eliminate any critical bugs. Also, make sure to have a sufficient number of monitoring personnel.”

External events are the most reliable in-game feedback that can be obtained before release.

We couldn’t afford to miss that point.

In the midst of it, Nishimura asked.

“However, is Sa-cho doing the demo inspection alone? Or is it up to the 1st team QA team as well?”

“We need to add a few more people there.”

Unfortunately, due to personal preferences, I couldn’t grasp the point of Demon’s Relic.

It was necessary to prepare for the possibility of getting immersed in the game and clouding judgment if we were to finish with just the internal QA of one or two teams.

So, the appropriate number of people needed to be used.

“Yeonho, did you call me?”

“Boss…! I’m here…!”

It was the moment when the gacha addict (Myungkyu) and the verified fangirl (Jo Ayoon) were to be used.

—

Nishimura was confident.

The 72 heroines in Demons Relic were all heroines filled with Nishimura’s otaku romanticism accumulated since childhood, and the wishes of the team members who implemented them were fully reflected in the modeling.

– Andras is a jealous tsundere. Because she’s the demon of discord.

– Marbas has the attribute of ‘hypersensitive colon syndrome.’ Show the demon of the disease suffering from pain due to enteritis.

– Then, the demon Sitri, in charge of lust, has a messy private life… Uh, what?! You guys! Ew! Ugh…

– Sitri is a shy girl who often encounters indecent situations. No alternatives will be accepted.

How deep and continuous the conversation was.

Nishimura’s confidence was truly based on valid reasons

***

Anyway, the sound engineer of Team 1, Jo Ayoon, who started the pre-play, was opening her mouth wide in amazement as she looked at the modelling.

The character she was currently looking at was Baal.

A heroine of the magic genre, filled with the team’s deep thoughts within overwhelming size and movements.

From the joint fetish by Gun, the realistic movements reproduced by incorporating knee and ankle morphing, to the lively expressions created by Glass Jang, who scrutinized a thousand eyes.

“Oh…”

“Um…”

“Heu…!”

At this moment, Jo Ayoon was already a prisoner of Baal.

Like the appearance of a child in a comic or animated movie whose soul has been taken away.

She hopped around, licking every part of Baal’s body with her eyes, while the camera zoomed in to the maximum.

‘Hey, everyone! We did it!

***

Nishimura’s fist clenched tightly.

Now he was looking at the place where Myungkyu, the programming team leader of Team 1, was.

It was that moment.

“Did you just release it?!”

Nishimura’s eyes widened.

He checked Myungkyu’s play screen with a shocked face.

It was a play that felt like stabbing Nishimura’s chest with a dagger.

“Ki, Kitsamaaa (You bastard)!!!”

Nishimura’s scream startled the nearby Copson.

Myungkyu belatedly grinned and looked at Nishimura.

A sentence popped out of his mouth in English.

“Why?”

Nishimura banged his monitor with a stick and said, “Why?!”

“Uh?”

“Why are you releasing them?!”

That’s right.

Myungkyu was releasing heroines one by one while playing.

The captivity system was a system that had to be implemented because they lost to Copson and had no choice but to put it in.

It was a system that they had hoped would not be implemented.

Nishimura was deeply wounded by the sight of his beloved heroine being rejected.

However, Myung-gyu’s response after coming back was harsh.

“Why? Because the slots are too cluttered?”

“What…!”

“You’ve designed the combination system well. It’s impressive that you can combine characters in various ways based on the concept, not just mixing high-tier characters.”

As he spoke, he showed a cruel gesture.

[The contract with Agares is terminated]

[Agares’ affinity becomes 0. It may be more difficult to re-contract in the future. Proceed?]

[Y/N]

Myungkyu pressed Y without hesitation.

Agares disappeared from the slots.

“Ah, nooo!!!”

Nishimura kneeled, covering his face with his hands.

Myungkyu, without hesitation, said, “Well, because it’s survival of the fittest.”

He was Nishimura’s natural enemy.

***

“Performance Junkie”

The enemy of otaku who views characters as objects instead of showing them affection.

A guy who views pretty girls as expendable items that can be replaced any time.

As the two men were about to get into a brawl. A voice from outside called out to Myungkyu.

“Myungkyu Oppa, Lunch has arrived.”

It was a member of Team 1.

Myungkyu smiled and got up from his seat.

“Okay Mr. Nishimura, I will be back soon after eating.”

Nishimura almost spat back blood.

“That terrible man. He does not understand the charm of 2D girls.”

Then his eyes lit up with ambition.

“I will make it him appreciate 2D girls at all cost”

And thus began operation ‘Guilt Provoking’

Nishimura managed to re-contact the voice actor and scheduled an urgent recording session.

After an all-nighter, he presented the game to Myungkyu again.

Nothing seems to have changed gameplay wise.

Until he tried to terminate contracts once more.

Myungkyu’s eyes widened as a new cutscene played.

Agares looked up at the protagonist.

[Are you really going to leave me? If I did something wrong, I will fix it. I won’t say anything bad from now on. Therefore···.]

Myungkyu’s hands trembled as he was about to press Y.

He grumbled. “Tsk. Fine.”

“YOSHI (nice)”

Nishimura celebrated.

—

The official G-Star season began.

In other words, it was the time when the submitted works and booth sizes were confirmed.

Generally, G-Star is considered a domestic game festival.

Even if there is interest from other countries, it does not have much power to make them decide to visit Korea.

But this time was different.

『Hellic4NotComing: Demon’s Relic is coming. Taking a vacation and heading straight to Busan lol』

As the new work of Rewind, a company that has gained global recognition as an AAA-class package company, the interest in it was high, especially domestically.

It was the same overseas.

Now Rewind is a globally recognized AAA-class package company.

Moreover, with Hellic 2 and 3 winning five major game awards in a row, the expectations for the next game were naturally high.

Only Demon’s Relic.

For that, a few hardcore gamers decided to travel abroad.

『Luka: I’m going to Korea for a trip this time.

I’ll write a review later.』

Such trends had gradually reached the ears of the G-Star organizers.

Also, it reached the ears of Neo Soft’s CEO, Park Youngjun.

“This is an opportunity.”

“Huh?”

“An opportunity to make NQ a fool!”

Park Youngjun, as if possessed by dopamine gushing out like crazy, immediately started working.

He made a call to the organizers.

“Mr. Kang! It’s me, Park Youngjun! Have you been well lately?”

“I heard you’ve been quite stressed lately because of Demon’s Relic. I thought I might help.”

As the representative of the company that dominates the domestic game industry, it was not difficult for Park Youngjun, who wrote a slightly unscrupulous figure, to secure an additional booth.

So, in a place unknown to Yeonho, the booth of Demon’s Relic began to expand a little more.

G-Star began with various relationships intertwined, finally.

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