Have you ever worked as a game designer at a major company? You just write game-related articles?

Chapter 46: Aiming for cooperation, ending in a breakup and severing ties.

Considering that dating sims typically involve players pursuing a single character, this game will not be like that.

It's all about mindset; what's the point of just playing the mindset of a couple?

If you're going to play the game, play on everyone's mindset!

It's no fun trying to win over a two-dimensional character; you need to win over both the silly woman and the boyfriend in your life—that's what makes it interesting.

However, after Shen Huaizhou in the conference room began to present the content of the PPT...

Hu Chen was taken aback: "Isn't this... somewhat similar to Human: Fall Flat?"

"Ahem!"

"Designer Hu is right, that's about the same idea."

"The gameplay is similar, but our game, Humans Defeated, showcases a unique physics engine."

"Although it's also a cooperative game, this one is different."

"Next, I will show you the demo."

That's right, Shen Huaizhou had already prepared this fourth game.

This game was obtained by exchanging one hundred monthly passes for the Giant Swing ride!

It was placed in front of everyone in the Insomnia Game Conference Room.

Break up? No—Overcooked!

After discussion among everyone present, the desire to bring out this game grew stronger and stronger, and finally, at Su Jianxue's suggestion.

Overcooked was promptly brought out.

This game quickly became a bestseller on multiple gaming platforms shortly after its release.

It is also one of the most popular games in the live streaming and gaming sections.

It features a breakup kitchen, and leads to family ruin and death.

The Ten Virtues of Misbehaving in the Kitchen: Serve the food or I'll fucking kill you!

And a collaborative game with many highly praised review videos, such as "The Lubricant of Friendship" and "The Powerful Aid of Love"!

What?

What do you think this game has to do with romance?

Of course there is.

I've seen this chat log before—

Want to play Overcooked? Come play Overcooked with me!!

Go ahead and run your crazy kitchen.

While others are celebrating New Year's Eve hand-in-hand watching fireworks in the street, you shout in the street:

[Serve the food! How the hell can you take so long?!]

[I'm going to beat you to a pulp!!]

Shen Huaizhou felt that he was simply a genius!

There are so many games inherited from my past life that I want to release a new one.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

After all, reality is different from fiction; things need to develop step by step.

You can't exactly say that your first game was the poorly designed "Getting Over It," and then your fourth game is a AAA title, right?

Titans have fallen? Nioh? Soul?

Or is it an AI girlfriend? A cute adult film featuring a family of three?

Bah! Bah! Bah! I, Shen Huaizhou, am still a little too kind-hearted.

Games like Overcooked require significantly larger budgets than Human: Fall Flat.

Although the character is from a secondary perspective.

However, it is visibly more detailed than the previous three games.

Characters, scenes, and animation!

The gameplay is also there, so compared to the previous games...

With only fifty people in our insomnia game, it's simply not enough.

Thinking of this, Shen Huaizhou turned his gaze toward Chen Qingshan.

There's no way around it, we don't have enough people, we have to hire more.

"I'll leave the recruitment to General Manager Chen. Here, this is the game's proposal; please take a look."

Shen Huaizhou had already redeemed the game a long time ago and made some minor modifications to the Overwatch Kitchen project.

"Cooperative game projects, aren't they all the same?"

Hu Chen suppressed his thoughts and picked up the project plan from the table.

"Um?"

This proposal doesn't mention any interaction between couples.

The level design concept is also very interesting, but there are some additional time restrictions.

Moreover, judging from the overall project, the idea behind this game is to encourage players to get along harmoniously.

The pressure costs and sunk costs mentioned above are relatively few.

Subsequently, Hu Chen saw a key point in this plan.

Let's screw each other over!

That's right, the core of this game is very similar to Human: Fall Flat.

The essence of cooperative games lies in the mutual sabotage between teammates; if your actions don't have an impact on the other side...

What's the difference between them and NPCs? So, this new project from President Shen...

Ultimately, it stems from the experience gained from previous games.

This Mr. Shen is quite interesting.

Although it uses the same design concept, its gameplay is completely unrelated to the previous games.

It's not that we don't create IPs, but rather that we've expanded the ways we play them.

To make even more interesting games.

Looking at the proposal in his hand, Hu Chen nodded slightly, then looked up at Su Heng.

"Mr. Shen's design concept is quite interesting."

"While it extends the multiplayer mode of Human: Fall Flat, it also adds a time limit compared to those other settings."

"But Mr. Shen, will there be any achievements if I lose this game?"

"Achievements? What achievements?"

Shen Huaizhou asked in confusion.

"Isn't the greatest achievement in this game simply ending friendships?"

"Moreover, the more people there are, the more interesting it becomes."

Shen Huaizhou nodded matter-of-factly and shrugged in response.

Silence fell over the entire meeting room.

This game has no achievements?

Yeah, what kind of achievement do you need? Reaching this level, it would be good enough if you didn't break up and end your friendship.

What achievements? Where are you going to get any achievements?!

What? You're saying this game had achievements on Steam in your past life?

That was in my past life, you know. In this life, I don't have time to build any achievements. Let's sell this game first.

"Hiss, could it be that our CEO Shen was...?"

"Shh, don't talk nonsense! The Big Three get along great!"

Shen Huaizhou continued, "Oh, right, I forgot to mention the items in our levels."

"It's dynamic."

In this way, these levels will break the established cooperative patterns.

To deliberately create some unexpected events,

Add a little something extra to the well-organized teamwork, just thinking about the dishes those players have just prepared.

The scene of being pushed off a moving table is hilarious.

Upon hearing this, the entire conference room fell silent.

"Heh... Old Shen, that's quite an interesting design..."

"Once this game comes out, the three of us shouldn't play it anymore. I'm afraid our friendship will be ruined."

"Dynamic props that can even create physical collision effects with characters, suddenly appearing just as the players' teamwork is about to be formed."

Is this something a human could even conceive of?

This premise is even more outrageous and deceptive than when humanity was defeated.

Humanity's defeat may simply be due to players unintentionally sabotaging each other.

However, if we cooperate, it will be easier to get through.

But this chaotic kitchen...