Game Developer in the World of Anime

On the way back to the studio, Hazuki glanced over at Ichin in the driver's seat and said,

"Kosaka Akane's new project—it's clearly targeted at us."

Ichin nodded.

"Going head-to-head with veteran studios right after entering the industry isn't exactly a smart move. Even if you're confident in your own abilities, most people wouldn't play it that bold. So, with us having launched just a year earlier, we've become the ideal rival—not the absolute top, but definitely not weak either. Akane's just overconfident and underestimating us."

Hazuki laughed brightly.

"Well, of course! Who would've expected our new game to be this massive? And with how tight we've kept everything under wraps, no one has any concrete info about the game. Even when we announce it at Gamescom, they'll only be seeing the tip of the iceberg."

As a turn-based RPG, Persona might have some limitations in combat, but it more than makes up for them in other areas. It had every potential to become a massive hit.

Their previous gamesSlay the Spire and Hollow Knight—had done very well, both with distinctive gameplay and artistic styles. Each had sold over a million copies, but their smaller scale meant they couldn't really be compared to so-called AAA games.

But once Persona launched, Ichin believed their studio would finally start getting serious attention from the industry's biggest players.

At the red light up ahead, Ichin slowly brought the car to a stop. Stretching his neck a little, he said,

"It's close. We're in May now, so by August, at Gamescom, we'll be able to officially reveal our game. When Nintendo holds its showcase, I'll ask if we can get a slightly longer video segment."

"Late August, huh…"

Hazuki counted on her fingers.

"That's three months. But we shouldn't cut it too close. We should finish things at least a week ahead of schedule. Based on our current pace, though, we'll make it. The core framework of the game is already solid, and the entire prologue is fully playable."

"Exactly. If we just wanted to make a promo video, we could do it now. But our goal is to release next year, and once we go public with the game, we'll need to start building up hype with a steady stream of promotion. What do you think about doing one livestream per month? I'm also considering bringing in a different voice actor each time for guest appearances."

Hazuki immediately understood that Ichin was planning something ambitious again—but she fully supported the idea of livestreams to promote the game.

"I'm down for that. But there's still plenty of time. We can sit down and carefully plan the promotion strategy before the announcement."

The light turned green, and Ichin restarted the car. The two continued chatting as they returned to the studio.

As they entered the main office space, Ichin noticed that Eriri and Utaha were already there.

A glance at his phone told him it was exactly the time when Toyogasaki High School ended for the day.

Utaha was currently sitting beside Eriri, watching her play through the game's prologue.

Ichin walked up behind Utaha and hugged her from behind with a grin.

"You came and didn't even message me?"

Turning her head to kiss his cheek, Utaha replied,

"Weren't you at the recording studio? I didn't want to disturb your work. And I came with Eriri, so you didn't need to worry."

Returning her kiss, Ichin finally let go of her, then glanced at Eriri's screen.

"Eriri, how's it feel so far?"

Since she hadn't been wearing headphones, she heard everything he said.

Eyes wide with excitement, Eriri kept controlling the protagonist moving through the city.

"Mm-hmm! I've only just started, but it already feels amazing. And that long animation cutscene at the start—Kyoto Animation really outdid themselves!"

Though Eriri had also been involved in the game's production, each member of the art team had different responsibilities. Even for the script, aside from Ichin, Utaha, and Hazuki, no one had seen the full version.

Ichin had made it clear to everyone: if they wanted to preserve the sense of surprise for their own first playthroughs, it was better not to discuss too much of the game's content with each other.

As a result, aside from Eriri, everyone else had also started slowing down their own tasks to pick up controllers and experience the opening sequences of the game for themselves.

The currently playable part of the story runs from the beginning of the game up to the protagonist's Persona awakening. Anything beyond that hasn't been implemented yet and will take some more time to complete.

However, once the later parts are ready, Ichin wasn't planning to let everyone play them right away. At most, he would allow testing once the scenes were mostly finished—recruiting external testers, and also letting any available team members join in to help find bugs.

Pulling up a chair next to Utaha, Ichin sat down and began watching Eriri play. Since everyone was busy trying the game out, he wasn't in any hurry to return to work himself.

Utaha leaned against his arm, smiling as she asked,

"How did the recording go today?"

"Don't worry, everything went smoothly."

Ichin watched as Eriri controlled the protagonist heading to school, and said,

"After all, the voice actors we hired aren't just popular—they're top-tier talents. Hazuki and I went today mostly just to check in on the progress."

The sound director for the voice acting was a professional brought in through Kyoto Animation. They had a partnership agreement in place, so Ichin could confidently leave that side of production to them.

After a short cutscene, Eriri turned to Ichin and asked,

"Who showed up today?"

"Mizuki Nana, Mamoru Miyano, Rina Satou, and Aoi Yūki."

"!!!"

Eriri's eyes lit up instantly. She stopped using the controller and stared at Ichin, exclaiming,

"Next time, you better call me—I need Mamoru Miyano's autograph!"

"Haha, sure thing. Want a photo with him too?"

As he said that, Ichin pulled out his phone and opened a photo of himself posing with the voice actors.

"There aren't many chances for 'celebrity chasing on company time,' you know."

Eriri nodded eagerly. Among the cast voicing the main characters this time, several were her favorites.

She had gotten a few autographs before at anime and game promotional events, but that was just as a fan.

Now, though, her status was entirely different—Eriri was part of the production team. And she was confident in her abilities. She believed she would soon become one of the core members of the team, which meant even more opportunities to meet the voice actors.

"Hehe, group photos!"

Cheering excitedly, Eriri dove right back into the game.

After watching for a while, Ichin got up and left the art department, heading over to the programming team.

...

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