Kanemi said, "Anyway, I probably won't consider playing a game like this. Of course, if you add farming elements to it, then that's another story."
Both Oto-chan and Aiko simultaneously rolled their eyes. Kanemi always wanted to add farming elements to every game.
"Stop thinking about farming! Takayuki-sensei also said that this game doesn't suit those kinds of elements. Growth and death are the core of this game, and adding too much extra content would make the game itself too lengthy," Aiko said.
This was Takayuki's exact wording, and Aiko actually agreed with him. If it were up to her, she wouldn't consider adding any additional features outside of the current gameplay.
But she had to admit, the difficulty of the game was a bit high.
Would it end up like Monster Hunter, not attracting enough players?
Oto-chan said, "Forget about that. At least we've completed all the tasks that Takayuki-sensei assigned us. We've pretty much fulfilled all his requirements."
...
...
"Well then, let's just upload this game to Takayuki-sensei and see what he thinks."
With that, Aiko opened her email and uploaded the completed Dead Cells game to Takayuki.
It was just after 8 AM, and Takayuki had only just woken up.
However, when he heard the sound of the computer notification, he dragged himself out of bed to check it.
"Huh? The game is already finished? It's faster than I expected."
Takayuki was slightly surprised. The efficiency of Aiko and the other two girls was truly impressive.
Dead Cells itself was a highly complex game, especially for a small team. A development team of hundreds of people could compress the programming and other game development times to a minimum. But with only three people, even if the game's gameplay was relatively simple, it wasn't easy to make.
And that didn't even take into account the high difficulty of developing Dead Cells as an indie game.
Art design, animation design, gameplay, and level design—all of these things were enough to give anyone a headache.
But the three girls still managed to finish the development quickly.
"Takayuki-sensei, this is the game we completed. Please have a look," Aiko wrote in the email with a careful message attached.
Takayuki replied immediately, "Did you try playing the game yourselves?"
Aiko: "Yes, Oto-chan and I have both tried it, and I even managed to clear it a few times. The game seems complete and meets all the requirements you gave us, Takayuki-sensei."
Takayuki: "Alright, then just upload it. How much do you plan to price it?"
"A… what?"
Aiko, Oto-chan, and Kanemi all froze when they saw Takayuki's message.
Takayuki wasn't going to check it himself?
"Takayuki-sensei, aren't you going to check the game's completed state?"
Takayuki quickly responded, "The game was mostly made by you. I just gave some direction. I believe that when you think it's ready, then it's ready. You don't need anyone else to give you a definitive answer. In the future, you can't expect me to always review your games. The only people who can truly determine whether the game is good or not are the players, not me."
"But... but we thought you could still help us find some issues…" Aiko said, hesitant.
Takayuki: "It's inevitable that there will be issues during game development. Don't chase after perfection. Do your best and trust your own judgment. Don't you trust yourselves?"
Aiko stared at Takayuki's reply for a long moment, then Oto-chan looked at Aiko and asked, "Aiko, what are you thinking?"
Aiko gritted her teeth and typed back, "I understand, Takayuki-sensei. We should trust ourselves. Please upload the game now."
Takayuki smiled. These three girls were growing quite well. He felt like he was becoming a competent teacher: "Okay, so how much are you planning to price the game?"
"Um… ten dollars?" Aiko tentatively answered.
"Too low. Don't undervalue your own game. Ten dollars doesn't reflect the true value of this game. You can consider offering discounts later, but I think the game deserves a higher price right now."
Aiko: "But... but Takayuki-sensei, the game is already quite difficult. If we raise the price, won't fewer people be willing to buy it?"
Takayuki smiled as he typed, "Ah, so you're worried about that. It's understandable. You probably saw how Monster Hunter struggled with sales because of its difficulty, so now you're concerned about the same thing?"
Aiko: "Mm."
Takayuki: "Don't worry. There are a lot more masochistic players in the market than you think. It's not like it was when Monster Hunter first came out."
Over the years, players' tolerance for difficult games had been gradually increasing.
People do enjoy having simpler games to pass the time, but sometimes, a game with a bit of difficulty can actually help release pent-up emotions and be more engaging.
If that weren't the case, Dark Souls wouldn't have become so popular in Takayuki's time.
Of course, the game's immense success was due to the brilliant Hidetaka Miyazaki, but it also involved cultivating players' tolerance for difficult games over time.
Maybe it was time for Takayuki to consider developing a Souls-like game himself?
The most recent Monster Hunter had already shown signs of a comeback. However, no one outside of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had detailed sales data, so it was hard to accurately gauge how players felt about difficult games.
Later, Takayuki even ran a test. He deliberately increased the difficulty of the final boss in Titanfall by more than twice, making the enemies' combat skills and destructive power far stronger than in the original game.
This was Takayuki's way of testing players' tolerance for difficult games.
The feedback was extremely positive.
By that time, players were already filled with anger, having seen the beloved character BT die at the hands of enemies. This made them even more eager for revenge.
Fueled by this emotion, even with the increased difficulty, players accepted it all.
When they finally defeated the final boss after countless attempts, dopamine flooded their brains, and the sense of exhilaration was unparalleled.
According to Gamestar's online data, along with related video and livestream content, the retention rate for the final boss stage was the highest.
So, high-difficulty games had already found fertile ground in this world, and it was time for them to truly take off.