Chapter 100: Settler - A Journey to the Moon Begins
The games that Silla Entertainment had released so far were innovative, but they lacked in IP, or intellectual property, according to some critics.
They said that the games did not consider the users’ needs and preferences when creating the content.
But the few games that they quietly launched this time were different.
“Fantasy Life”
It was not revolutionary, but it was a significant improvement over the existing games in the genre. And it had plenty of content to offer.
People were very familiar with mobile games, so they could tell whether a game was good or bad after playing it for about 30 minutes.
They had a rough estimate of its potential.
—Wow, the graphics are amazing. I’ve never seen such graphics on a mobile game before.
—I don’t know how they optimized it, but my phone doesn’t get hot at all.
—The sub-content is pretty solid too. Fishing alone could be a separate game and sell well.
—You can even read all the books in the library… The chronology alone would fill several books.
The game was set in a fantasy world, but it had a lot of detail and realism that drew rave reviews.
And the interaction with the NPCs was unparalleled by any other game that had come out so far.
The NPCs in the game reacted to all kinds of keywords, and they even had different repertoires.
—I went hunting with an adventurer who asked me to join him, and I was having fun until I realized he was an NPC lol
—I’ve never seen a game with such diverse and complex NPC routines. Is this really a mobile game?
—Hey, this sailing and trading part could be sold separately and be super fun.
—If this is what they came up with after absorbing the development staff, how awesome will their next game be?
The most praised aspect was that the BM, or business model, was not too harsh.
There was no gacha system, and the only benefits they offered were related to storage or costumes.
Some users even started to feel anxious about it.
—It’s good that they block the nuclear whales, but I wonder if they can maintain it like this.
—It reached 500,000 concurrent users in one day, but why isn’t it lagging? Sometimes we need some disconnection or rollback to feel relieved.
—Are the operators artificial intelligence? They only give me the answers I need. It’s amazing.
—This is a gift from Yu Ji-ha to us. So enjoy it as much as you can.
The users and the industry who had been waiting for Silla Entertainment’s games cheered or were disappointed.
The former cheered that the ultimate game in terms of gameplay had appeared, and the latter were disappointed that Yu Ji-ha’s takeover of the industry did not have much side effects.
They were especially shocked that he released such a high-quality game without any monetization incentives.
—Did they develop it themselves…? There’s a rumor that the staff they absorbed only did the finishing touches.
—All the future games will have to be compared to this one. How can they compete with that content realistically?
—The answer is to catch the nuclear whales. That game is almost perfect, but it doesn’t satisfy the needs of the nuclear whales.
They were mistaken about one thing.
The nuclear whales also liked games with a lot of people.
That way, they could show off their level or equipment.
But there was nothing to envy in this game, and it was not easy to control it by making a clan.
There was no one to control.
The bosses that often appeared in typical fantasy games did not exist, and mines and such were owned by countries or nobles.
You could own a mine if you became a powerful noble, but you had to pay a lot of taxes to the country, and it was very difficult to get there.
Fantasy Life was a game where you hunted moderately, sold things, and socialized with people, as its name suggested.
The nuclear whales who were disappointed by this game had a hard time going back to games with gacha systems.
The companies that made games with excessive gacha systems were classified as gambling businesses.
Gambling had been decriminalized in Korea for quite some time, but gambling was still not well regarded.
There was hardly any support, and they had to pay a lot of taxes, and even then they could only operate in limited areas under strict conditions.
Some argued that classifying them as gambling businesses just because they had some BM was too harsh.
But they had to lower their voices enough.
Wasn’t it better to keep their lineage than to disappear overnight like M Company?
And Silla Group was planning to support the game companies that overcame all these hardships.
The representative of a game company was stunned when he saw the official document sent by Silla Metaverse.
“They’re giving us all the servers? And they’re providing us with a universal game engine for free and even supporting the training? Am I reading this right, team leader?”
“···It’s hard to believe, but I guess it’s not a joke since it has Chairman Arma’s seal on it.”
“How much money would it cost to do this ourselves? And they’re giving it all for free? I can’t believe it.”
The problem was how much support they would get.
The game development tools these days were user-friendly and even provided resources, so there was not much inconvenience.
The servers were also based on the cloud, so they could receive services according to the traffic.
There was not much reason to abandon the well-established cloud platforms and switch to the service provided by Silla Group.
If something went wrong and the service stopped, they would get all the blame.
But some companies that lacked money quickly changed their servers and enjoyed a very pleasant environment.
—We don’t need to worry about optimization time schedule. The server does everything for us when we upload the data.
—Live updates are also very easy and convenient. It’s worth paying for this level of service.
—The implementation of features is also simple, and especially extracting DB is possible with one click. We can analyze our game from a different perspective.
—The best thing is that all this is free.
As the pioneers praised it, other companies also started to use the cloud service of Metaverse.
It was not inferior in quality or functionality, and it was much more convenient, so why bother spending money?
The foreign media expressed serious concerns about being too dependent on Yu Ji-ha.
—What if Yu Ji-ha suddenly dies? What will they do then? It’s common sense that the system will collapse if the dictator disappears. How will they cope with that risk?
—The Korean game industry is in a position of a dog that got beaten by its owner and lowered its tail. It’s pitiful.
But the actual reaction of the game companies that became his subjects was different.
—Yeah. We’re no different from dogs on a leash. But the leash is 1 kilometer long and the garden is over 10,000 square meters. At this point, we can live a decent dog life.
—They say if we move to the southern megacity, everything is free, from rent to electricity and water. Should we move our company too?
—The problem is Silla Group, but Chairman Arma announced that she would personally move the entire group. Then our company can also give it a try.
—But I don’t know what Silla Group gets out of doing this for us.
“It’s meaningful in terms of enriching the ecosystem of the megacity.”
Yu Ji-ha was a war generation, so he didn’t like spending money on unnecessary data.
The data included things like inflated finance or games.
To put it bluntly, the world’s GDP, the boom in the financial sector, and the apartment prices were all meaningless in the face of a plague attack.
He knew that future very well, so he had no reason to care about the scraps of data.
“I was going to do that…”
But Arma’s persuasion changed his decision.
“You need diversity in a small ecosystem like a megacity. It would be better if there were things other than the content produced by the group.”
“That might be true… Do whatever you want. It’s not like it takes a lot of resources.”
With his permission, Arma took charge of the entire Korean game policy and gave out many benefits.
Thanks to the translation and balancing benefits through artificial intelligence, more and more companies wanted to put on his leash voluntarily.
They felt like they were missing out if they let others take everything.
—They’re very helpful and generous even to a two-person company… Lucia is an angel, an angel.
—They say the game commission will be abolished soon and the procedures will be greatly simplified. And there are more games being localized. It’s a good time to play games.
—-I know dictatorship is bad, but it’s so sweet and warm that I wish it would stay like this… I don’t want to go outside.
—These days, foreign game companies are setting up branches in Korea to get benefits. They were all talking nonsense when they said they wanted to kill him.
However, the games released by Silla Entertainment were so masterpieces that other games were pushed back in the competition.
Arma also had a meticulous plan to absorb the staff of those companies.
He would absorb all the companies into the megacity and put them under the administration bureau.
That was part of the roadmap for the reconstruction of the human alliance.
…
Christmas 2029.
The Moonlight Project finally got on track.
They had been building a base on the Sea of Tranquility for a few months, but this was the first time they sent tourists after training civilians.
Everyone expected Yu Ji-ha to be the first passenger.
He was the owner of the entire Silla Group, so it seemed natural.
But the person who was chosen as the first passenger broke everyone’s expectations. He was Bill Ryan, an American who donated land to Starfield.
Yu Ji-ha kept his original promise.
He was moved and gave interviews to various media outlets.
“He kept his promise exactly! To be honest, I never thought it would happen.”
“How much land did you donate?”
“A little over 10,000 acres. Actually, this is nothing. Neither the seller nor I took that document seriously.”
The reporter smiled and nodded.
“He’s a notorious dictator, but he has a surprising side, doesn’t he?”
“Well, I don’t know about notorious, but he’s definitely very capable. Hurry up and make reservations. You can go on a moon trip for just 100,000 dollars!”
It was high for a trip, but it was different if it was a three-night four-day trip to the moon.
The space travel so far was only about orbiting the earth a few times and coming down.
Most countries couldn’t even produce proper astronauts, let alone travel.
Of course, you couldn’t just go to the moon by paying 100,000 dollars.
You had to undergo intensive training for a month at a specialized training facility in Naro Space Center, and you also had to sign several agreements.
But still, there were plenty of people who wanted to go to the moon.
—Instead of going abroad a few times, I’d rather save money and go on a moon trip.
—But is it true that there are 120,000 reservations… It will take at least 10 years.
—Wait. Starfield announced a new spaceship.
The spaceship for this trip had a completely different diamond-shaped appearance from the existing Terra launch vehicle.
People who saw CGI said it looked like something from an Sci-fi movie.
—But where does the rocket connect to that?
—There is no rocket. It just flies like that.
—-What? Did they make an SSTO? Does ion propulsion have that much thrust?
Starfield was really crazy.
SSTO meant single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, which did not require separate fuel tanks or boosters.
In other words, it was a spaceship that flew directly into space after taking off.
It sounded easy, but there were many problems to implement SSTO realistically, such as re-entry and atmospheric pressure changes.
But Starfield actually showed people a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle.
When Yu Ji-ha entered the press conference hall, the cover that wrapped around the spaceship was removed.
The black exterior was revealed, and hundreds of reporters who gathered raised their cameras at once.
“Let me introduce you. This is Settler, which will handle travel in the Moonlight Project.”
Yu Ji-ha didn’t just spout out grandiose words.
He explained while showing them.
“This Settler is a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, as you can see, and it does not have any stage separation. It only uses its own propulsion to take off, break through the atmosphere, and fly into space. Let’s watch it together.”
Soon after the countdown ended, Settler spewed out plasma and floated into the sky.
And then there were very short bursts from various parts of the fuselage, and it flew away.
It was an unbelievable sight.
“Wow.”
“Is this an Sci-fi movie we’re watching, or is this reality?”
As the reporters murmured, Settler quickly broke through the atmosphere and entered space.
“Yes! Space!”
“Screw Earth! I’m in space!”
As the cheers of the passengers, including Bill Ryan, were broadcasted to the world, the real Settler was watching them from a very far place.
…
…
…
Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l