Game Developer in the World of Anime

The studio door opened, and Ichin walked in with Hazuki.

Seeing that it was indeed the two of them and not Utaha, everyone quickly stopped what they were doing and rushed over.

Kō Yagami grinned. "Just as Umiko said, you came back without a word!"

"Oh, so you guessed?" Hazuki paused, glancing at Ichin. "But this wasn't my idea—it was Ichin-kun's!"

With everyone's attention shifting to him, Ichin lifted the bag in his hand with a smile. "Dev kits. Want to check them out?"

Before anyone could answer, Umiko swooped in, grabbed the bag, and headed straight to the work area. The others eagerly followed her.

Hazuki sighed dramatically. "I was hoping they'd give you a hard time, but they're completely fine with it! Why didn't I ever get treated this nicely?"

"Maybe because I'm handsome?" Ichin quipped with a laugh before joining the group in the work area.

Umiko placed the bag on the desk, immediately pulling out one of the dev kit boxes. She opened it to reveal a sleek black device that resembled a Nintendo Switch but with some differences.

"Oh! So this is the NS dev kit?" Aoba asked curiously. "It can play games too, right?"

"Of course. It's a development kit, after all," Umiko replied, inspecting the device before turning to Ichin as he approached. "Ichin-kun, when are we starting NS development?"

"No rush. Step by step," Ichin said, pulling a thick stack of documents from the bag and handing them to Umiko. "These are the dev kit manuals. There's a digital version too. Go through them when you have time. But for now, our main focus is still on the PC version.

"For Slay the Spire and Hollow Knight, the hardware requirements aren't demanding. When we port them, our goal is to ensure stable visuals: 720p in handheld mode, 1080p in docked mode, and a steady 60 FPS in both. Oh, and Slay the Spire needs touch-screen compatibility for handheld mode—that's something we'll have to build from scratch."

Umiko flipped through the documents and nodded. "Got it. I'll study these carefully. Once the new programmer arrives, the work should go even faster."

"Huh? New programmer?" Ichin was caught off guard and turned to Rin Toyama. "Rin, did someone apply for the job?"

Since Ichin and Hazuki were out all day, Ichin had asked Rin to keep an eye on the recruitment process. If any applications came in, she was to review them first.

"Yep!" Rin said cheerfully. "Several people submitted applications today, and they're all quite young."

As she spoke, Rin snuck a glance at Aoba but didn't mention that Sakura Nene had also applied.

"Alright, I'll take a look. Everyone, take a break. Once I'm done reviewing these, let's all go out for dinner."

Ichin headed to his chair, sat down, and opened his computer to review the résumés sent to the company email.

Opening the résumés, Ichin discovered that the first one belonged to someone familiar—Sakura Nene.

Though he remembered from the anime that Sakura Nene, influenced by Aoba, not only took a part-time job as a bug tester at Eagle Jump during summer vacation but later self-studied programming to become a game developer, seeing it happen now made him marvel at how "the world line" seemed to converge.

Even with Eagle Jump disbanded, Sakura Nene still decided to pursue a career as a programmer.

Ichin didn't even know how to react. Here was a high-achieving student from a well-known women's university majoring in law, yet she was diving into programming.

Initially, Ichin had thought of recruiting her later, once the company expanded, to handle legal affairs. But now, here she was, directly applying for a programming position instead.

But how did this university student even learn about the studio's job posting?

Did Aoba tell her? Possibly.

Besides her résumé, Sakura Nene had attached a small game she developed. Ichin downloaded and tested it. Although the graphics were quite rough, the game was complete, functional, and free of major bugs. It showcased a clear talent. He immediately decided she would pass the interview when the time came.

The second résumé was from a young woman with black hair tied in a side ponytail, also 19 years old like Sakura Nene.

Narumi Tsubame? Isn't this the character introduced in the second season of the anime?

Looking through her résumé, it confirmed she was a student at a technical college majoring in computer science. Like Sakura Nene, she had included a project she had worked on.

Narumi Tsubame's submission was a parkour-style mini-game. The gameplay mechanics were surprisingly well-polished, and the visuals were highly refined.

However, the résumé noted that she hadn't created the visuals herself—they were done by a friend, who also applied for the job. The game was a collaborative effort between the two.

After testing her game, Ichin opened the third résumé.

Mochizuki Momiji. Judging by the photo, this was likely her—a girl with red, shoulder-length hair and a somewhat serious expression. Ichin recalled her as a quirky, big-eating character who loved food.

After reviewing her résumé, Ichin once again marveled at the "world line convergence." These two applicants didn't fade into obscurity but instead ended up applying to his studio.

That said, it wasn't entirely surprising. After all, the job posting had prominently highlighted "former Eagle Jump members" and "popular character designer Kō Yagami" to draw attention.

Beyond these three, Ichin reviewed six other résumés. Unfortunately, they were unimpressive—either the accompanying projects lacked quality or the materials appeared fake, with discrepancies between the work and the applicant's credentials.

After reviewing everything, Ichin rejected the six and kept the first three.

Sending the three résumés to Hazuki, he said, "Hazuki-san, can you notify these three tomorrow and set up interview times? Since today's Monday, let's schedule them for Thursday or Friday."

Receiving the files, Hazuki was momentarily surprised to see Sakura Nene among them but didn't press further. She agreed readily. "No problem, leave it to me. Ichin-kun, will you join the interviews?"

"I won't be able to. I have classes. You and Umiko can handle them—two programmers and one artist," Ichin replied, waving it off.

Standing up, he addressed the team. "Alright, work ends here for today. Let's go eat!"

"Woohoo! Dinner time!" everyone cheered.

...

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