episode_0002

March 187. Jeokma Dormitory Plaza.

“Now! Hurry up and bring out your crew!”

“Crew? What on earth are you talking about!”

Mina Karcic looked appalled.

The small dolls modeled after the Black Swan students were definitely pretty and cool.

But what does that have to do with the duel now?

Mina looked at the Red Horse students, hoping they would respond to her.

However, what came back was a look in the eyes as if looking at a caveman.

“Senior. Are you sure you don’t know?”

“Did you not receive a single letter from the student council during vacation?”

“No… Even if you don’t have a letter, you can’t find out if you just go to the academy-”

“What on earth are you talking about!”

“You… no way…”

Graven chewed his mouth.

“You don’t know the era of romance…?”

“I don’t know. What is that?”

dump.

The blood wizard of the Pirate Republic sat down.

“Then… you can’t play games…”

“What?”

“I came prepared with the terrain and dice…”

Mina’s anger soared.

what? Let’s play with these toy soldiers-

“This bastard. The only reason I knocked over my teacup was to pull off a prank like this-”

Flame mana condensed in her hands.

But immediately someone grabbed her arm and pressed it.

No, all of the Red Horse students, no matter who they were, rushed at Mina and overpowered her.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing! Let go now!”

“Senior is the one who is crazy! Those models are made from glazed wood! What will you do if even an ember touches you!”

“I’ll ask you everything, so let go of this!”

“Do you know how long it takes to paint with that quality?”

“Well, I felt sorry about the teacup.”

Graven sighed and was carefully putting the models back in.

“Let’s assume it’s a draw today. Next time-”

“Sleep tight!”

The dormitory door flashed open.

Mina’s exclusive maid, Indira, walked out carrying a covered tray.

There was no hesitation in Indira’s steps, and the tray she was carrying did not shake at all.

“…Indira?”

“Miss Mina has a crew.”

“Indira…?”

“That Indira is yours.

Therefore, my crew also belongs to you, young lady!”

When Indira opened the circular lid of the tray, everyone cheered.

About twenty models of maids and butlers neatly placed on a tray.

“Lady! Use my crew!”

“Then we can proceed with the duel!

Mina, you won’t betray the honor of Duke Karsic, right?”

Life returned to Graven’s eyes.

He hurriedly took out the models he had put in his bag back on the table.

“Now… wait a minute. What on earth is this?”

“A duel simulation game created by the student council, the era of romance!

It was created by genius developer Coleman Cantor, certified by professors, and distributed by Her Majesty the Crown Princess!”

Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess herself supplied it?

Mina’s vigilance eased a little.

“…But what I have are maid dolls?

This isn’t a proper mock duel, right?”

“I will generously forgive you for that! Move over!

Oh, wouldn’t it be okay if I change a few models instead?”

Before Mina could open her mouth, her juniors answered on her behalf.

“Don’t be!”

“Hey. There really was someone who used a maid crew.”

“I wanted to buy it too, but I didn’t have the money to check the good stuff for the Red Horse Dormitory…”

Mina scratched her head in confusion.

No, you said it was a duel simulator? But now there are maids at the table who have nothing to do with our duel, right?

What on earth is this game?

————————————————– —————————————-

October 186. Student council room.

In response to my question, the chairman tilted his head.

“What question is that? I told you earlier.

Moderately replicating students’ duels, fun, and not difficult rules.”

“That’s like asking a chef to make a delicious, healthy dish using meat.

No one knows whether there will be steak, cutlets, stew, or barbecue.”

“Couldn’t the cutlets come out? Fried things are bad for your health.”

“The chef may not think so. If you want that, you have to ask for ‘non-fried food’ exactly.

The same goes for games. If you don’t make your planning intentions clear now, you may complain later that you didn’t want this after the finished product is released.”

“Umm…”

The chairman is still worried and unable to speak up.

In fact, it is natural. People don’t know what they want.

If all gamers knew their own desires, there would be no need for a job called a planner.

No, there are many cases where even developers don’t know what they want to create.

“First of all, there are three requirements, so let’s look at them one by one.”

For the chairman who was still confused, I began to explain.

“Imitate a duel appropriately. Let’s take a look at each word here.

‘Duel’. What kind of duel are you talking about? One-on-one? Teens? A siege involving the entire dormitory?

‘Moderately’. How much of reality is acceptable to give up? Can I include a fictional character? Should we make it a virtual academy that resembles a real academy?

‘copy.’ Which part do you want to replicate? Every punch and kick? Feelings getting stronger amidst the swearing?”

It was only after spitting out questions at rapid speed that I realized it was a mistake.

This kind of attitude may not be very good for the Crown Princess…

Fortunately, Lilac seemed not to be interested in my rudeness, so she lowered her head and thought for a while.

Finally she opened her mouth.

“The duel I want to recreate is a gang fight involving about ten to thirty people.

It’s not common, but once it explodes, quite a few people get hurt. Our feelings for each other deepen.

So I want to focus on preventing such fights.”

“Yes. Just tell us your requirements that way.”

“Fictional characters… I think it’s better not to include them now.

Until students get used to it, we will promote it as a duel simulator.”

“Simulator… I think it would be difficult to create models for all students.

What do you think about having students express themselves in general terms?

Freshman bully, 3rd year student at Kuroshio Dormitory, something like this.”

Lilac played with her hair for a moment before answering.

“I think that would be good. However, the main characters in the dormitory who lead the gang fight.

Third- and fourth-year students who act as leaders must have a personal model.”

“Okay. Then what about the last part?”

“Hmm. Our school is a magic academy, right? So, I want you to focus on recreating the magic.

Because there are many cases of duels to prove the superiority of one’s magic.”

“Then is it okay to exclude non-magical combat altogether?”

“That’s not possible. That’s because a lot of first and second year students who haven’t learned spells yet participate in gang fights.

If we erase them from the game, lower grades will go back to the dueling culture.”

I quickly took notes on what the Crown Princess said.

“By the way.”

“Tell me.”

“What I just said is what I want. Is there anything you want?”

“Is this what I want?”

“You were planning the game even when I didn’t have a suggestion. Doesn’t that mean there was something you wanted to make?”

What I want to make.

Until now, I just thought that anything would be fine if it could bring miniature games back to this boring world.

And it would be even better if this game becomes a hit and makes my name known.

But is that enough?

Is my wish all about recreating the games I’ve seen and gaining wealth and fame through games?

no. I am-

“Beautiful game rules.”

“The rules of the game are beautiful?”

Computer games are black boxes.

It hides its principles and operating methods by surrounding them with random numbers and codes.

Sometimes they try to deceive by saying things like, ‘Someone will remember this incident.’

But tabletop games aren’t like that.

It reveals one’s naked body with a rulebook and dice, no, the internal organs, nerves, and bones beneath the skin.

please understand me. You can only enjoy me if you understand all of my principles.

And the anatomy of some games is beautiful.

No bones are idle, supporting the flesh, and all ligaments hold the joints in place.

There are no cells stuck in the wrong place, no organs that are not needed.

Will mathematicians and programmers understand my feelings?

I admire the rules of the game just as much as you admire the elegance and cleanliness of proofs and algorithms.

Since I couldn’t express those feelings in full, I only said a few words.

“Consistent, clean, without rules, yet deep…

sorry. It’s hard to express in words.”

no. It’s not that it’s difficult to express in words, it’s that you can’t express it because you don’t know in the first place.

I don’t think I know what I want either.

It’s not the time to blame the chairman.

“No. It was passed down. You love this game.

The beauty you talk about also includes fun, right?”

“Of course.”

“In that case, I will leave the fun of this game up to you.

You just had the eyes of an artist.

It wouldn’t be a good thing for an outsider to tell an artist to do this or that.”

I was a little choked up with emotion, but I swallowed it down and brought up the next topic.

“I will also think hard about it.

But I think I need the president’s help to make this game easy.”

“Then where should I listen?”

The chairman confidently leaned back in his chair and waited for my question.

“How many hours do you want the rules of this game to learn?”

“It may take a long time to learn the strategy, but the basic rule is within 30 minutes.”

Bangjin game, out!

Sorry, fantasy. You are not saved even in this world.

“How long does one round take?”

“About 2 hours? But it must be finished within 3 hours.”

“Why?”

“Academy classes end at 3pm? Dinner is from 6 to 7 p.m.

And after dinner, bedtime is 10 o’clock.

So, I have 3 hours of free time each in the afternoon and evening, so I have to deal with it within that time.”

wow. This is truly a great answer.

“How about a short game of 30 minutes?”

“That’s not good. We need to keep the kids exhausted by playing games for 2 hours so they can’t think about useless things.”

“How big should the model be?”

“Do we have to decide on that too?”

“If it is small, the details of the model will be reduced and immersion will be reduced, but production will be easier and transportability and convenience will be high.

Conversely, as it gets bigger, immersion increases, but production and transportation become more difficult.”

Lilac gave a thumbs up.

“So that the model is bigger than this thumb.”

So you want the 30mm size.

“Then what is the size of the table where the game will be played?”

“Hmm. To be able to transport it, I hope it does not exceed 1m in width and height.”

I wrote down all of the president’s requests.

“What do you want to do with your profit model?”

“No need. It’s a non-profit business.”

“Then, only the cost of raw materials and labor costs will be covered by sales of models and rulebooks.”

Since it is a non-profit, there is no pressure and it is convenient.

“Are there any more? Is it over?”

“No. There are still many issues that need to be decided.

Still… yes. Game development has begun.

Now we can get to work.”