Aside from the mainstream games developed by Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, Takayuki's side project, a game development initiative, had also recently entered its later stages of development.
The three girls had truly been working tirelessly.
They were all extremely eager for success, especially Aiko herself, who was barely getting three hours of sleep a night, approaching the level of a cultivator.
But perhaps because they were young, the exhaustion wasn't too overwhelming for her.
Yet, when she saw the game, which was nearly completed, she couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.
"Kanemi, Oto-chan, wake up! Today's the final test for the game. Once we pass this test, we'll submit our final work to Takayuki-sensei!"
Aiko rushed to Kanemi and Oto-chan's rooms and woke the two still sleeping girls.
Now, all three girls were little rich ladies, and to make sure they could coordinate with each other during development, they had rented a small house near their school.
...
...
The rent was so high that even office workers might gasp at the price, but the girls no longer cared about such small amounts of money.
Every month, they earned over three million yen after tax from the game Farm Defense War, and with no family burdens, they had each saved over fifty million yen when the game was selling well, living an incredibly carefree and comfortable life.
Aiko first entered Kanemi's room, which was entirely pink—Kanemi was the most girly among the three.
But Aiko didn't care whether Kanemi had a "girly" personality. Right now, she just wanted to get these lazybones up!
Aiko leapt to Kanemi's bed, threw off the covers, and found Kanemi lying there in a starfish position, still half asleep and giggling foolishly. It seemed like she had been dreaming, but Aiko didn't care.
Without hesitation, Aiko raised her hand and slapped Kanemi's bottom hard, the sound echoing with a pig-like squeal from Kanemi, who jumped up, covering her backside with tears in her eyes.
"Aiko, are you trying to kill me? I was just about to... successfully go on a date!" Kanemi said, flustered.
"Mm? Who were you about to go on a date with?" Aiko furrowed her brow, feeling like she had heard a familiar name.
Kanemi seemed to realize her mistake and quickly corrected, "Oh, no one, just a movie star."
"Don't dream meaningless dreams, okay? Get up, we need to finish the last test for the game!"
Kanemi was still irritated, especially since she had been about to hear the words "I agree" in her dream, but had been cruelly woken up by Aiko. It was truly frustrating!
Now, even if she wanted to go back to the same dream, it was already impossible, so she reluctantly got out of bed.
Aiko then went to Oto-chan's room to wake her up.
However, Oto-chan had likely already woken up because of Kanemi's loud scream, and she was now getting dressed by the bedside.
"I'll be ready in a minute," Oto-chan said calmly.
Seeing this, Aiko didn't disturb her further and turned to head for the living room, saying, "Hurry up, once we finish the final game test, we'll submit it to Takayuki-sensei!"
A few minutes later, Kanemi and Oto-chan emerged from their rooms and joined Aiko in the living room.
At this point, Aiko was already at the computer, busily typing away, the clacking of her keyboard filling the air.
Oto-chan asked in confusion, "Aiko, didn't we already finish the game?"
Without looking up, Aiko replied, "I want to make it even better. The game can always be improved, even if it's just a small upgrade in the visuals."
Kanemi and Oto-chan both rolled their eyes.
Aiko was really too obsessed with success.
But maybe it was precisely because of Aiko's personality that their team was able to quickly gain fame.
This game they were working on with Takayuki was also a project Aiko initially proposed, with some ideas for the game coming from Takayuki.
If it weren't for Aiko, Takayuki might not have thought of asking the three girls to collaborate on a game.
Originally, Takayuki might have had better options.
Oto-chan and Kanemi sat beside Aiko, with Kanemi munching on a rice ball from yesterday.
"Alright, it's done. Come experience it. I think the game is already quite good, but I can't be 100% sure. I want to hear your opinions."
Aiko pulled her hands back from the keyboard and showed the two girls the game's main screen on the computer.
"Dead Cells"—this was the final name they settled on for the game.
At first, Kanemi didn't like the name, as the word "death" made it sound a bit creepy.
But now, she had gotten used to it.
The name "death" actually fit the gameplay style quite well.
The game's style revolved around constant death, where players grew stronger each time they died, eventually evolving into a powerful character.
Oto-chan picked up the laptop first and clicked the "Start" button.
Soon, a squirming mass of flesh appeared on the screen.
The game had a pixelated style, so even though the fleshy mass might have subconsciously grossed some people out, it was actually quite acceptable.
Even Kanemi could calmly watch this scene.
To create this slightly creepy but not terrifying style, Kanemi, the dedicated designer, had probably burned a lot of brain cells. She even felt like her hair had thinned a lot during this period and was considering taking hair supplements to help it grow back.
Oto-chan quickly entered the game interface.
She was already quite familiar with the game's controls, having played it many times when it was still in its incomplete stages. Now, she was just experiencing the complete game.
After playing for a few minutes, Oto-chan put the keyboard down and nodded. "It's already really good. I can't find any problems now. I think we can show it to Takayuki-sensei."
Kanemi, still eating her rice ball, muttered, "Don't you think the game is a bit too hard? The monsters deal so much damage. Won't it be hard to attract players like Monster Hunter if it's too difficult?"
Aiko replied, "I also think it's a bit difficult, but this was specifically requested by Takayuki-sensei. I don't think we should change it too much in this regard."