Friday afternoon, after finishing his classes, Ichin came to the company together with Utaha.
Since it was Friday, high school also let out earlier in the day. Eriri had already arrived at the office, proudly showing off photos on her phone to the others of the little orange kitten she had recently brought home.
"Hehehe, cute, right? I even bought it several outfits!"
On her screen was the orange kitten, a bit bigger than when she first adopted it. With Eriri's constant pampering—plenty of food, toys, and space to roam around—it was living a dream life. Its future was basically set in luxury.
Ichin walked over, glanced at the picture of the kitten playing with a teaser wand, and smiled. "Looks like the little guy is really enjoying himself."
"Of course!"
Eriri proudly lifted her chin. "I've put a lot of my own savings into giving him the best care. Just the toys alone—I bought so many that he won't run out of things to play with for months!"
Listening to her, Utaha poured a bit of cold water on the mood.
"It's nice that you care, but don't forget—it's an orange cat. You need to control its diet, or else one day you won't even be able to lift it."
"I don't need you telling me that, I already know!"
Eriri shot her a glare. "I even asked Yukino for advice about its meals. I won't let it get fat!"
"Really? Then that's fine."
Utaha nodded. Even with strict dietary control, their own Peppa was still steadily growing heavier, inching closer to becoming a classic fat orange cat.
And since Eriri's kitten was Peppa's child, Utaha certainly didn't believe it would grow into a slim feline.
After chatting about cats, Ichin headed over to the BattleBlock Theater team.
The playable characters were all finished, but nearly half the stages still remained unfinished. The further the design went, the more it tested the skill of the level designers—making sure the late-game didn't feel repetitive or boring for players.
"How's the stage design coming along, Hazuki?"
Holding a cup of coffee, Hazuki crossed her legs and replied, "It's getting tougher, but still manageable. Just don't go helping them, Ichin. They need to think things through themselves. This is just a small-scale project. On larger projects, the challenges will be even bigger. They have to learn to find solutions on their own."
"I know."
Ichin nodded, then walked over to see Sakura Nene.
By now, programming tasks needing her direct attention had decreased a lot, so she was tinkering with her own custom engine instead.
Standing behind her for a while, Ichin finally spoke. "Tweaking things again? What are you working on this time?"
"Ah!"
Startled by his sudden voice, Sakura Nene flinched and turned around. "Can't you stop scaring people like that?"
"Alright, alright, I apologize."
Pulling up a chair beside her, Ichin glanced at the computer screen. "Are you trying to upgrade your engine?"
Nene shook her head. "Not really an upgrade. While working on BattleBlock Theater, I noticed the engine doesn't support action systems very well. So I want to make some changes—hopefully enough to allow development of more interesting action games."
Ichin rubbed his chin as he looked at the code on her screen. "A side-scrolling action system, huh? If you want to change it that way, it's doable. But I think you can be a bit bolder. For example—like this."
He then gave her some suggestions for modifications.
Nene was a bona fide genius. She had majored in law at university, and now here she was—making games. With just a few pointers from Ichin, she immediately grasped the direction she needed to take and buried herself in her work.
After watching her for a while and confirming her approach was solid, Ichin left her to it and returned to his own office, resuming development on Dark Souls.
—Meanwhile, in another office building in Tokyo.
Akane Kosaka sat in her office, controller in hand, staring thoughtfully at the game running on her screen.
She was playing the newly released demo of BattleBlock Theater.
Even though it was only a demo, the game felt highly polished. Its action system, collection mechanics, and stage designs were all excellent. The cartoonish 2D art style gave it a unique charm that made it a joy to play.
"Just like The Binding of Isaac… even as a small-scale game, it hits excellence in every area of its scope, with nothing to criticize."
For small games, cutting-edge AAA graphics weren't the priority—gameplay was. As long as the gameplay was strong, players would naturally be drawn in.
"Slay the Spire, Hollow Knight, The Binding of Isaac, Battle Block Theater… and then Persona, which looks set to sell millions. No wonder so many veterans in the industry recognize Ichin-kun as a remarkable creator."
Setting the controller down, Akane's expression turned serious as she considered how to catch up to his level.
In terms of team size, excluding Ichin's Shanghai studio, their Tokyo teams were roughly the same scale.
But in terms of talent, her side lagged significantly—especially when it came to top-tier developers.
From what Akane knew, the core team led by Hazuki and other key figures who had left Eagle Jump had all joined Ichin's company. Each one of them was an invaluable talent.
Her own team had skilled people too, but many were still raw—brimming with potential yet lacking real experience.
"After experimenting with our first game, we'll need to slow down now and focus on building up technical foundations. Otherwise, the gap between us will only keep widening."
As she was deep in thought, a knock came at the office door.
"Come in."
The head of the programming team entered.
"President, about BattleBlock Theater's engine you asked me to investigate—it isn't any known engine currently available on the market. I even checked with some contacts in the industry. Our conclusion is unanimous: it's an internally developed, custom engine. It's very well-suited for making small-scale side-scrollers. And The Binding of Isaac was built on the same engine."
A custom-built engine?
After dismissing him with a wave of her hand, Akane leaned back in her chair.
"As expected… every step of the way, there's something unexpected. At this point, there's no comparing."
With that, she pulled out her phone.
*
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