GTROAE Chapter 98: Someone from the Bureau

Chapter 98: Someone from the Bureau

After arriving at the company, Cynthia didn’t go upstairs as usual but headed straight to the parking lot to check the Porsche that Zach drove yesterday.

Once she confirmed the car was fine, she finally felt at ease and went upstairs with William.

The office was a bit noisy today. After listening carefully, she realized it was because Zach was bragging about how great it felt to drive the Porsche.

“Uncle Zach, take me for a ride!”

“Before the manager and the boss come, let us sit inside for a bit!”

“I want to drive too!”

“I want a photo for my Moments.”

…

“Ahem.”

Cynthia cut them off. Seeing their two bosses appear, everyone quickly scattered and went back to their desks.

Zach looked embarrassed as he handed the keys back to Cynthia.

Little did they know, Cynthia was no different when she picked up the car.

Of course, William wouldn’t expose her and let her keep her image as a strict leader.

The daily development work went on as planned.

The art team’s four character design drafts would definitely be ready by tomorrow since backgrounds weren’t required.

The character design team’s new job was to improve current model animations and talk with the art team’s illustrators.

The two from the level design team had now joined in the actual level-making process. Happy Match Mania’s daily updates had gone from ten levels to twenty.

I believe it won’t be long before they finish making the random generation algorithm.

The new members of the animation team have started learning how to make cutscenes.

The programming team is learning how to use the cocos2dx engine to create simple playable games.

William’s album sold another hundred thousand copies, and Wendy quickly sent him an invitation for a second interview, keeping up with the latest news.

The interview was actually part of their marketing plan, though Wendy’s initiative made it happen earlier than planned. But that didn’t disrupt the rest of the schedule, so William agreed right away. The interview was set for Friday night, and it would be a live broadcast.

Since it was tied to his album release, a performance was definitely expected.

It just so happened he had a piano piece ready, planned to be the main BGM for Travel Frog. This was the perfect chance to reveal the new game.

Unfortunately, the program was originally scheduled for Saturday, but since William had to go to Southport, it was moved to Friday night. That meant the stream probably wouldn’t pull in as many viewers.

Afternoon.

“The people from the publicity office are coming over.”

Cynthia’s notice caught William off guard while he was working on Travel Frog postcards.

“Huh? What do they want?”

A visit from the publicity office was never a good sign. William didn’t know all the rules on Blue Star, but if they were like Earth’s, maybe it was better to pack up and head abroad for new opportunities.

“They said they’re just coming to take a look, but I don’t think it’s that simple.” Cynthia’s face was serious. No matter what, dealing with government departments was never easy.

“Alright, I got it.”

William started thinking about their real purpose. If it was just to talk about games, that was fine. But if they had demands, he was ready to disappoint them.

An hour later, two middle-aged visitors in plain clothes arrived at the company entrance.

William got the notice and walked out of his office, with Cynthia by his side politely greeting them: “Welcome, thank you for coming to give us guidance.”

The man smiled and nodded. “Not at all, we’re just here for a visit. To be honest, I feel a little bad about showing up on such short notice.”

“No problem, we always welcome visits from officials.”

“Alright then, let me introduce myself. I’m Charles , deputy director of the Riverdale Publicity Office. Just call me Charles .”

Then he introduced his colleague, “This is our director, Grace . She’s actually a big fan of yours!”

Grace smiled and nodded. “Hello.”

“Director Grace, Deputy Charles, welcome.” William took the initiative to shake hands.

Grace said politely, “Ah, you must be William… I don’t know if I should call you boss or musician. You look even younger in person than on TV. Truly impressive at your age.”

“No need to be so formal, just call me William.”

“Alright then, William it is.”

He gave them a tour of the company. As outsiders, they were full of curiosity, asking all sorts of questions: how characters move in the game, how game parameters are set, what level design means, and so on.

It was clear they were genuinely interested in how games are made. When they passed by Claire, Grace was especially amazed. After asking, she found out Claire had already cleared Happy Match Mania and was now just waiting for updates every day.

So Charles wasn’t just being polite earlier—Grace really was a fan of Earth Games.

Finally, at her suggestion, William led them into the meeting room.

As soon as they sat down, Charles said with a smile, “Actually, we came here with a task.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

William never thought they were here just to look around. That would have been mixing personal and official business.

“Well, here’s the thing. We’d like you to make a small game. Nothing too complex, just something that can hopefully launch overseas.”

【Collaboration】

【Task: Work with Riverdale Publicity to develop a game that meets their needs】

【Reward: +50 Reputation Points, 1 Bronze Chest】

It had been a while since the last task, but William didn’t quite get what they meant.

“Launching overseas?”

Grace said, “That’s right, launching overseas.”

William glanced at Cynthia in confusion. Cynthia also didn’t catch what they meant, so she asked, “Could you tell us what kind of game you actually want?”

Grace and Charles exchanged a look before Xue smiled and said, “Something like Happy Mahjong will do.”

“A card game?” William frowned.

The follow-up development plan for Happy Universe had already been handed over to WeChat Games. If they developed another game of the same type, it would definitely break their agreement. They could ask WeChat Games for a license to develop under one of their IPs, but judging from what the officials said, they wanted to be the publishers. That would still break the contract.

There was no way around it, so William had to refuse. “I’m afraid that won’t work.”

Charles’s expression changed and he quickly said, “Why not? As long as you make the game, we’ll handle everything else. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“That’s not the reason.” William signaled for Cynthia to explain.

After Cynthia explained the situation clearly, Grace sighed. “I see… Well, to be honest, your Happy Mahjong was very well made. It really gave Southport Publicity a lot of influence within our ranks.”

At that point, William finally understood why they had come.

Back when the Mahjong Association wanted to join the Happy Mahjong project, they had mentioned having connections to help with overseas launches. Now it seemed that their connection was likely Southport’s Publicity Department.

Since Happy Mahjong had done so well overseas, there was no way Southport Publicity didn’t benefit from it. Just looking at Riverdale Publicity’s reaction made that obvious.

And since Earth Games was a local company in Riverdale, Riverdale Publicity’s position must be even tougher.

“Oh, so that’s what this is about. Well, it’s not like there aren’t other options.”

William’s words made the two perk up.

“Oh?”

“Please, go on.”

William introduced the gameplay of Travel Frog. After hearing it, both of them slapped the table in excitement.

Charles said eagerly, “That’s excellent!”

Grace nodded in agreement. “Go ahead with it, we’ll fully support you.”