GTROAE Chapter 90: Travel Frog

Chapter 90: Travel Frog

“Today’s news: A resident of Riverdale found a mysterious creature at home. Experts say it was actually a cockroach covered in strange paint…”

“At that moment, I just screamed and jumped up, then ran out of the house shouting, and quickly called 119…”

“Now, let’s look at the live footage from our reporter…”

When Cynthia got home, she saw the TV on in the living room, but no one was on the couch.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed someone at the dining table, head down, moving a pen across the paper.

On the other side, Aunt Oliver was busy in the kitchen. With the TV on, no one noticed Cynthia had come back.

She put her things on the couch first, then walked into the dining area and stood behind William.

“What a cute little frog.”

When she saw what William was drawing, her eyes lit up.

Leaning back in his chair, William had bought a set of kids’ coloring pens from a nearby shop on his way back. Since then, he’d been sketching the art for his next game.

New folder: Travel Frog.

The art style of Travel Frog had a warm, soothing feel—like a stack of hand-drawn postcards that instantly made you feel relaxed.

The game was an idle type. All players needed to do was prepare enough food for the frog. The frog would go traveling and come back home at random times. Each time it returned, it would bring back a postcard from where it had been, and sometimes even a local specialty. It was perfect for people who dreamed of traveling but couldn’t go.

The original game was made by a Japanese company, and the backgrounds in the game were based on real Japanese scenic spots. Luckily, Japan was part of the same cultural circle, so William didn’t need to worry about finding local landscapes for now.

His process was simple: download pictures to his personal space, then copy them by hand in real life.

Sometimes he added his own ideas. The Art Handbook (Beginner) had given him a decent beginner’s skill level, enough to handle this kind of drawing.

While Cynthia was out for two hours, William had already finished more than ten background sketches. A few even had the main frog character in them.

“A new game?” Cynthia flipped through the postcards on the table.

William had been drawing on postcard-sized paper, making them look like real postcards, just without the stamp.

Holding up one card, William asked, “Yeah. What do you think?”

“It feels like a world people would want to be in.” Cynthia sat down next to him.

“It’s a story about a frog that goes traveling.” William picked up one of the frog drawings.

“A frog that travels?” Cynthia asked curiously.

“Yeah, the game is called Travel Frog.”

“Travel Frog,” Cynthia repeated. “Not bad. Has a nice feel to it.”

“The frog will travel in real time, and every time it goes somewhere, it’ll send a postcard back.”

“Like these?” Cynthia held two drawings in her hands.

“That’s right.”

“These don’t look like local scenery.”

“They’re from Japan.”

“You’ve been to Japan?” Cynthia asked in surprise. “When?”

“Never. Found them online.”

“Online… why Japan?”

“Hmm…” William thought for a second and made something up: “Because it’s small.”

“Small?”

“Yeah. The whole point of the game is collecting postcards from different places. If we start with a big country like ours, players might take years to collect everything. But if it’s Japan, they can finish faster. Then later, when we add local places, it’ll feel like a real upgrade.”

“Makes sense.” Cynthia nodded. “So when will it be done?”

Sounded like she already wanted to play.

“A week or two.”

William estimated based on his drawing speed. If he spent two or three hours a day, one to two weeks would be enough—after all, these were copies, not original works.

“Not asking anyone else to help?”

“No need.” William shook his head.

Everyone else should focus on developing Honor of Kings. The sooner it’s released, the sooner Earth Games can move into PC gaming. That’s the real priority.

“I really don’t get how your brain works. You can just come up with an idea out of nowhere and it blows everyone away.” Cynthia sighed as she stood up. It was almost dinner time.

“How is that ‘out of nowhere’?” William stood up too.

Every game he picked was carefully chosen for Blue Star’s gaming market. If he picked randomly, there’d be countless games to make. He could release one a day if he wanted—that would be random.

“Well, I still don’t get it.”

William said with pride, “That’s what you call genius.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cynthia couldn’t be bothered to argue.

After dinner, around six or seven, was the news hour.

Lately, there’s been something new in the news—video games.

Before, it was either entertainment gossip, big industry events, or local updates. Now there’s a new category: game industry trends.

And whenever games came up, Earth Games was always part of the conversation.

Not just as a market pioneer, but also because of the upcoming launch of the Craftsman Wood show. There were only a few days left before it aired, and the pre-launch promotions were in full swing, riding the current wave of attention.

On top of the millions spent on production, Cynthia had asked William for another two million for marketing. Plus, there was some leftover from the five million budget for Happy Match Mania. Marketing was fully covered.

Then there was a big piece of news—big enough for mainstream media to start speculating.

The Sims had leaked.

Well, not the actual game. There were no screenshots, gameplay details, or release platform info. Just a rumor: Earth Games was working on a groundbreaking PC game that would be way beyond anything on the market.

It wasn’t hard to guess who leaked it. It had to be Marcus sharing something with his cousin, and then somehow the word got out.

The official stance was simple: no idea, never heard of it.

Marcus quickly sent William a private message apologizing. Since no real details were revealed, William let it go. Otherwise, just that leak alone would’ve been enough to get Marcus fired.

Honestly, sharing a little inside info with your family isn’t a big deal—as long as they keep their mouths shut. Marcus’s cousin probably didn’t spread it around herself, but there’s no way to be sure the people she told didn’t. This time, it ends here.

The downside is that when The Sims finally launches, players won’t be as surprised as they should be. The leak will take away some of the wow factor.

There’s still a long way to go before The Sims is ready. The longer the hype drags on, the more the excitement fades.

William also told Marcus to apologize to Chris—after all, Chris made the game. He put in the most effort.

This whole thing was a wake-up call for William. As the team grows, things will get harder to control. Some stuff can’t just be shown to everyone.

The best way to fix this? A level system.

Access based on rank—a common approach in many companies. William left the details for Cynthia to figure out.