"Come on, come on, rush B with me!"
"Hurry up, we need backup! The enemy's at B!"
"Wait for me!"
"Ah! I got shot! Boss, you guys are so sly! You pretended to go to B, but actually went to A!"
In the Counter-Strike development team's office area, dozens of people had gathered, and it was extremely noisy at this moment.
On average, about every ten people formed a group, and they played a game of Counter-Strike in the not-yet-refined version of the game.
The losers would have to treat the winners to lunch.
These guys were about to lose their minds over free lunch.
...
...
Under Takayuki's leadership, the team developed the basic version of the game in ten days, followed by a relatively complex combat map and two simple ones.
The more complex combat map was the classic Dust2 map in Counter-Strike.
This map is hailed as one of the most perfectly balanced combat maps in video game history.
After Takayuki and nine of his staff had just completed this map, Takayuki himself led them to a few intense Dust2 battles.
At first, everyone was a bit reserved. After all, this was their boss. Was the boss really asking them to play together? Should they politely refuse first, indicating they should be focusing on the development work instead of playing games?
But Takayuki didn't care about that.
After all these years, he finally had the chance to relive Counter-Strike, and how could he pass up the chance to have some fun?
So he directly gave the team the order—playing Counter-Strike was actually part of testing the game, which was also considered part of the work. This allowed the employees to feel more at ease and join in with Takayuki.
After all, it was the boss's request…
However, the Counter-Strike graphics at this stage were still a bit too rough. They weren't really impressed by the current visuals, and it seemed that they might get bored soon. Perhaps the graphics should be improved before they'd get more into it.
But after only half an hour, they no longer had these thoughts.
Now, the game was just a bunch of blocky characters on a Dust2 map with no textures or shading.
A map with such plain colors should have been boring after a while.
But once they started playing, they couldn't stop.
Soon, other team members became curious and gathered around. Before long, ten computers in the office were surrounded by people.
They were all intensely watching the battles unfold.
Although every round was just a simple fight on such a monotonous map, why did it never get boring?
This was really similar to chess.
In chess, there are always the same pieces and cards, but in the state of competition, it's easy to get absorbed.
Perhaps it's just the fun of competing with others.
Soon, those watching couldn't resist anymore. They all returned to their workstations, pulled out the resources they needed, and started to form their own matches for an exciting Dust2 battle.
At first, they were a bit cautious, occasionally glancing at Takayuki. Once he was done, they'd quickly switch the screen and pretend to be working seriously.
But soon, they completely forgot about that. All they could think about was how to win the next round.
Every time one side won, there was a small cheer.
The entire office area of the game development team now felt like a large internet café.
The noisy sounds and the bursts of laughter seemed to bring back that familiar feeling, and Takayuki thought to himself as he played.
The only thing missing was that they were in the US, not China, and he couldn't hear the classic Chinese curses that would occasionally emerge in internet cafés, cursing the terrible teammates and the lousy games that ruined his youth, only to dive into the next round as if he never got tired.
That was the feeling he wanted.
Takayuki played for almost the entire morning, and he was pretty sure the game would be successful because it had already won over the game developers.
Game developers were usually the most picky players.
If it could satisfy their tastes, it was a good sign for the future success of the game.
Now, the next step was to refine the game further—more combat maps, more weapons.
Oh, and cosmetics and box-opening systems.
This was another money-making weapon. In the future, even a Dragon Lore skin or a red knife could get a huge reaction from players. It was almost like exploiting human nature to the fullest.
Takayuki wasn't short on money, but he wouldn't refuse a reasonable way to make money.
This also reminded him of the time he had once spent wildly to get a Dragon Lore skin. Well, it wasn't too bad for the people in this world to feel that intense desire he once had.
"Boss, do we keep going?"
A voice came from one of the employees in the US team, looking at Takayuki with eager eyes.
Before they started playing, the employees had been very reserved around Takayuki.
Because his aura and resume were truly impressive, it was hard not to pay attention to him.
But now, it didn't matter.
Now they just cared about having fun, and they were having fun—boss or not, it didn't matter.
Takayuki smiled, "No, I'm a bit tired. Let's stop for now. By the way, are you guys hungry? Didn't you lose earlier? Go get lunch."
The employee was suddenly speechless.
He shouldn't have asked that. Obviously, the boss was starting to lose interest in the game, and he still asked?
Now, they were going to have to pay for lunch.
But at this moment, they admired Takayuki even more.
It was incredible.
Just a few days ago, they had only built the basic framework for the game. At that time, the test was only average. It didn't feel particularly engaging.
But after Takayuki arrived and personally guided the game's development, from character design to map development, the game, which had only been a prototype, instantly became much more impressive. It was truly amazing.
Now, these employees were filled with nothing but admiration.