Chapter 21: Honkai Impact 3rd, Project Greenlit!
A month had passed since *Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy* climbed to the top of the HOMU Game Platform's bestseller list.
During this month, the buzz generated by *Getting Over It* allowed miHoYo to make a significant profit, and the company's accounts had accumulated a substantial amount of capital. Furthermore, as many players progressively cleared the game, public opinion of *Getting Over It* began to shift.
From initial comments like "torturous" and "intentionally disgusting to players," it gradually transformed into a venue for various strange philosophical debates.
[*Getting Over It* is a great game; it tells us to visit home often.]
[Rather than a game, it's more like performance art.]
[In fact, it's a playable version of *The Myth of Sisyphus*.]
[No other game captures the "starting over from death" aspect so brilliantly.]
[A perfect physical collision system and an excellent feel! The timely and ingenious voice-over monologues express the countless thoughts in players' hearts. Every time the unique BGM plays, it stirs their emotions. The little easter eggs during the playthrough also make players marvel. Most importantly—the immersion! I believe every player who has spent more than five hours on this game hears the "clang, clang, clang" of the hammer in their dreams. When players finally reach the "Winners' Chatroom" after all their hardships, they have to offer their heartfelt praise: "I curse your ancestors!"]
Undoubtedly, after many players cleared the game, they truly understood that *Getting Over It* was more than just a game. Even Welt Yang, the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy Entertainment, couldn't help but praise it.
"It is undoubtedly the Ninth Art."
"On the surface it looks crude, but in reality, every level and every detail is meticulously designed."
"Only when you truly experience this game and become immersed in it can you discover its inner meaning."
"Therefore, I personally take the liberty of nominating this game for the Best Indie Game award on the HOMU Game Platform this year."
Whether a nomination would lead to an actual award was uncertain, but it was enough to make Bronya happy.
"Thank you so much, Su Mu! I never thought our game would one day receive praise from the Teacher..."
Su Mu had also gathered some information about Bronya's past from the veteran employees in the company. Bronya was once a member of Anti-Entropy Entertainment and a prize student of Welt Yang; she possessed immense talent in AI development. She had designed Project Bunny 19C, an extremely powerful AI capable of assisting game producers in completing their work more easily.
Bronya's goal was to allow more people to participate in game production, which would lead to the birth of many excellent games. However, as the project was put on the agenda, Bronya realized that once her AI was popularized, a large number of people in the gaming industry would face unemployment. This would fundamentally shake the entire industry and give rise to a fatal problem: the AI source code was held by Anti-Entropy. If Project Bunny became universal, it would grant Anti-Entropy a monopoly in the future.
For players, a monopoly is never a good thing. Despite investing so much effort, Bronya eventually bore the pressure and halted the project for the sake of the industry's health. It was said that the matter ended on an unpleasant note, leading Bronya to resign from Anti-Entropy and found her own company—miHoYo.
Creating Project Bunny for games, but being forced to abandon it for the sake of games... the weight Bronya carried on her shoulders was much heavier than Su Mu had imagined. But it didn't matter; at least now, he was here.
Earlier, Su Mu had checked the system and found that since *Getting Over It* topped the bestseller list, his reputation and rating had changed. Not only that, the system itself had evolved.
[Name: Su Mu
Current Reputation: Showing Great Talent
Reputation Value: 200,000
Notification: Congratulations on completing your first task! You have received a Milestone Gift Pack!]
With a thought, Su Mu opened the gift pack and found the rewards quite practical: a BBA car for commuting and a "Selectable Game Source Code" box. He opened the box and saw several high-quality indie games from his previous life, such as *Hollow Knight*, *ICEY*, and *Warm Snow*... However, Su Mu set the box aside for now; he didn't need those gifts yet.
If he followed the system's original settings, it likely wanted him to build his reputation with high-quality indie games first before moving into the large-scale single-player market to promote the "Ninth Art." But Su Mu had made up his mind: he wanted to produce *Honkai Impact 3rd*.
This wasn't just because of his complex emotions as a veteran Captain, but also because, for the current miHoYo, only a mobile game could accumulate enough heat and fame to sustain long-term development. Of course, the most fundamental reason was that Su Mu really wanted to see the expressions of the people in this world when they saw characters with the same names and faces as themselves appearing in a game like *Honkai Impact 3rd*.
Just thinking about it made Su Mu incredibly excited!
It was also lucky that Su Mu's system wasn't like those "tsundere" systems from web novels that were easily bullied by their hosts. It was more like a "fragile beauty" that would start tearing up if pushed too hard. Originally, Su Mu's reputation value wasn't enough to exchange for the *Honkai Impact 3rd* source code, but after some persistent pestering, the system agreed that if Su Mu could use his own ability to restore as much of the project as possible—such as the art, music, and script—the reputation cost for the code would be reduced.
Therefore, during this period, Su Mu had worked with all his might. His diligence was clear to Bronya. Even the "Big Duck" marveled at how many "livers" Su Mu must have—was he the legendary "Saint of Grinding"?
Finally, after a period of intense work, Su Mu took the proposal for *Honkai Impact 3rd* and knocked on the President's office door!
"Our next project to be greenlit is *Honkai Impact 3rd*! It is a next-generation 3D action mobile game featuring beautiful girls!"
Su Mu projected the proposal onto the screen, showing the results of his hard work to Kiana and Bronya!
END OF CHAPTER