Mike, who lives in the United States, is a game developer.
Not that he works for a game company or anything.
After quitting as a developer in a black company, he preferred making indie games on his own, crafting them in solitude.
His outsider tendencies suited him well for being a one-man development team.
Even so, when he left the company, he was pretty worried. What if he ended up homeless on the streets?
Fortunately, it seemed like life wasn’t sending him to the gutters, and he didn’t go completely broke.
The first few years were a total bust with zero income, but now he has become a developer of some renown, even attracting dedicated fans who eagerly await his games.
Mike enjoyed making what’s affectionately referred to as “crappy games.” Even if you put it nicely, they couldn’t be called masterpieces; they might be lucky to be seen as decent.
He primarily created such light-hearted games. They weren’t very large, nor were they particularly long in playtime.
As he churned out games, he suddenly found himself with a couple of hits, and soon enough, Mike’s name became synonymous with infuriating game developers.
The new game he made was similar in style to his usual creations.
It wasn’t easy to control, had its own subtle frustrations, but clearing it wasn’t overly challenging—one could say it was the epitome of simplicity.
Thanks to the previous game’s success, the new title garnered a lot of interest even before its release.
Some prominent critics even adorned it with philosophical phrases, crafting impressive reviews.
What was it they said again? The beauty of imperfection? As the creator, he just found it ridiculous. He merely wanted to make a game that would annoy people.
With so much interest, he could have felt overwhelmed, but Mike didn’t let it bother him.
He just planned to make games that get people riled up, just like always.
That said, Mike wasn’t completely oblivious to public opinion. More accurately, he preferred to observe people’s reactions firsthand and enjoy it.
So, the current time was Mike’s favorite moment. He was about to watch people play his game and check out their reactions.
“Hey, let’s take a look!”
Sitting in front of the computer with a can of beer, Mike logged onto the streaming platform, Twitch, where he figured he’d see the most of his game being played.
He set the category to showcase only his game and, as a result, was treated to a colorful array of streamers from various countries playing it, regardless of the language barrier.
-fxxk!
-@$#%@!
Even though he didn’t understand a word, the expressions and their flushed faces were enough to get the gist.
“This is it! Ha ha ha!”
Mike chuckled joyfully while watching their broadcasts through a multi-view screen.
This was truly the driving force behind his passion for game development and the reason he became a game creator.
It was the perfect drinking game fuel. Just as Mike was enjoying the streamers’ gameplay, he noticed something.
“Huh?”
One broadcast caught his eye. The viewer count was skyrocketing, and the host was playing the very game he developed.
The streamer was a woman, and her mask in the thumbnail revealed stunning beauty.
“Korea? Now that I think about it, Koreans played the previous game a lot too.”
Scrolling down, he saw not just the white-haired woman but also many other Koreans playing his game.
“Is it already trending? My game?”
It must be due to the success of the last installment. It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t thrilled.
As he continued to scroll and explore the broadcasts, the viewer count for her stream climbed steadily—now almost at 20,000.
With her enticing looks and that massive viewer count, there was no reason not to click on her broadcast.
Then, Mike was hit with a scene that made him doubt his eyes.
“…?”
The woman calmly maneuvered through the notorious cliff area known as the “Death Zone” without breaking a sweat. But the more astonishing part was yet to come.
“How… is she doing that?”
The way she controlled her character was leagues above the other streamers.
The character she was maneuvering twirled in mid-air like an acrobat, effortlessly jumping across stepping stones.
Like a clown performing a juggling act, I skipped across the stepping stones, spinning through the air.
Even creator Mike couldn’t have imagined such outrageous control methods!
It wasn’t just a simple coincidence; the woman had tackled the game in similar ways multiple times, and failure was nowhere to be found in her repertoire.
Only then did Mike frantically begin to type in English.
[LOL]
[Aerial Acrobatics Legend]
[WTF how can you do that]
[It looks like you’re about to fall, but you don’t! LOL]
[Has it only been a few hours since we started, and you’ve already become stagnant?]
However, his chat messages were drowned in an incomprehensible string of characters and never reached her.
It was just a few minutes later that Mike, failing to calm his excited heart, posted her broadcast link on Twitter in a frenzy.
*
“Oops.”
[Now I can only marvel.]
[How on earth do you do that? LOL]
[Watched the Taker Kayak’s stream assuming they would study after their stream! LOL]
[Isn’t that just a lame excuse to end the stream?]
[Honestly, I can’t handle this!]
[It’s a real treat to watch, seriously.]
It’s once again time to realize just how absurdly gifted Camilla’s physical skills are.
This game, Fly to the Sky, was undeniably inconvenient in many ways.
To say that the basic controls were tangled up would be an understatement. After playing a game like Abyss with top-notch controls, switching to this one was certainly not an easy adjustment. It makes sense that noted streamers struggled with it.
I too needed time to adapt to the controls, but once I finished adjusting, there was nothing left to worry about.
Knowing how much to twist the mouse for my character to move as I wanted and how wildly to swing it for the character to rotate as desired, I believed there would be no room for error anymore. Even if I wanted to mess up, Camilla’s sharp instincts wouldn’t allow it.
“About two and a half spins… I can grab with my left arm after that.”
[Can you even calculate that? LOL]
[Grandpa, stop spinning, it’s tough!]
[Even grandpa says it’s nice to do somersaults~]
[You said Kayak couldn’t do it because it’s a crap game, huh?]
[I simply worship you, GOAT.]
[The character looks so clay-like, can’t even see the left arm properly, LOL.]
As if a prophecy were coming true, the game moved just as I said.
Maybe this kind of game suits me better. For now, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to play “To the Sky!” occasionally.
With that thought, I steadily climbed the cliff.
*
“I guess this is the end. The clear effect is a bit lackluster, to be honest.”
[Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak!]
[Great Empress Kayak]
[gg]
[Playtime 1 hour 43 minutes lol is this real?]
[Almost a speedrun, what the heck lol]
[lolololololololololol]
[who is she]
[Even at the beginning, about 30 minutes was just getting used to the controls;;]
[kayak is the best player ever lol]
[She was climbing like a machine from the middle onwards]
[Sliding down and catching on halfway is a legendary move]
While checking the reactions in the chat, something caught my eye. The increasing amount of English messages starting to dominate the chat and the rapidly increasing number of viewers.
I tilted my head and asked, “Looks like a lot of foreigners have come. What’s going on?”
[Sky influx ㄷㄷㄷ]
[Kayak’s gameplay excites even the normies]
[Did someone say earlier that a producer was on the broadcast? Is that why?]
[Blueworks donated 10,000 won!]
– The game creator Mike Cole posted a crazy play on Twitter with a clip and broadcast link. He’s probably watching right now.
“Aha… the developer….”
Having a game developer drop by the broadcast is quite a unique experience. It feels different from when the director of Abyss shows up.
Anyway, if he thinks my gameplay is amazing enough to post on Twitter, it can’t be a bad thing. If anything, it’s a good thing. People are coming over, breaking through language barriers and everything.
“Hey, developer.”
Maybe this is fan service? I suddenly had something to say and stared straight at the cam before speaking up.
“So easy.”
[lololololololololololol]
[Provocation lol]
[That’s a bold claim ㄷㄷ]
[You have no talent]
[wtfwtfwtfwtfwtf]
[omg shitt]
[eeeeeeeeasy]
[Ah lol make it harder next time]
[Learn some more]
I hope you keep making fun games like this in the future. I’ll be looking forward to it.
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