GTROAE Chapter 99: Liking Women

Chapter 99: Liking Women

Cynthia was feeling troubled by William’s careless attitude.

Who agrees so easily? And looking at William putting away the postcards he had already finished drawing, wasn’t all that work just wasted?

“You agreed way too quickly.”

“Did I?” William didn’t even look up.

Cynthia snapped, “What do you think? You just changed the game’s setting to Riverdale City on the spot. Doesn’t that mean all your earlier work was for nothing?”

William chuckled. “Haha, so that’s what you’re worried about. Don’t worry, none of this will go to waste.”

He raised the stack of postcards in his hand. He had already planned to include domestic scenes, so at most, he’d just swap the order of the cities. It wouldn’t really affect much.

Cynthia calmed down a little. “You could have just let them publish one of the old games.”

From a normal person’s point of view, her suggestion made perfect sense. An old game had already been tested by the market and was safe, while a new game was full of uncertainty. No matter how amazing William made the concept sound, it was still a gamble.

In this gamble, the worst Riverdale Publicity would lose was face. But if Earth Games lost, it could cost them their entire future.

If William wasn’t confident in the game’s quality, he wouldn’t want to gamble either. Handing over publishing rights for an old game to Riverdale Publicity might not make them happy, but at least it would be safe.

“If they only wanted old games, they wouldn’t have come here in person.”

At first, Charles clearly said he wanted Earth Games to make a new game, which obviously meant he wasn’t interested in the old ones.

It’s not that the old games were bad. He probably just wanted to show that they could do better than Southport’s PR in some way.

Besides, the system’s task is to develop a new game. Even if it’s just to finish the task, William can’t use an old game to brush off Riverdale’s PR team.

“I know all that. But they’re asking us for a favor. As long as we don’t agree…” Cynthia’s voice got softer as she spoke, then she suddenly smiled. “Forget it. Why am I overthinking this? Since you agreed, you must be confident.”

William smiled. “That’s right.”

“Is it big?”

William raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you see it? Do you think it’s not good enough?”

“In our circle, sure. But no one can guarantee what happens after we go overseas.”

“That’s not our problem. We just need to make sure the game itself is solid.”

“That’s true.”

“Alright then, I’m getting back to work.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll leave you alone.”

“Yeah. Oh, and when you go out, tell Cole to come in.”

Cole is the company’s only writer. He’s been working under Leon, helping polish the characters’ backstories.

“Got it.”

The reason William called him was, of course, to write the game’s story. The original Japanese setting had source material they could “borrow” from. Now that it’s set in Riverdale, the story has to be completely new and tailored to that city.

Cole is a little over 1.7 meters tall, wears black glasses, and gives off a scholarly vibe. He said both his parents are teachers, so that probably explains a lot.

“Boss, you wanted to see me?”

“Got any plans these next two days?”

“Plans?” Cole thought for a moment. “Work-wise, I’m finishing Olivia’s backstory. Tomorrow, depending on which new character Leon assigns me, I’ll start on that one.”

William waited, but Cole didn’t say anything else. “What about personally? Any dates?”

Cole scratched his head. “No, nothing like that. Why?”

“You’re coming on a business trip with me for the next two days.”

“Huh?” Cole looked shocked and stammered, “B-boss, um, I… I don’t think I’m the right person for that…”

“You’re perfect. It has to be you.”

After getting beaten over and over when writing plots himself, William secretly swore he wouldn’t touch story writing again until his skills improved.

“Gulp.”

Cole nervously glanced behind him. The glass wall let him see the rest of the office clearly—and some people were staring at him.

“Boss!” Cole suddenly shouted.

William was startled. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Cole kept shouting: “I like women!”

…

The office atmosphere instantly turned awkward. William stared at him, confused, not sure what that was supposed to mean.

Thankfully, the office soundproofing was good. Otherwise, there’d be another round of gossip.

Cole muttered, sounding wronged: “You asked if I had any dates, then told me to go on a trip with you, and said it could only be me, even though there are so many people here. How is that not a hint…” His voice got lower and lower.

William was speechless. He waved his hand. “What the hell are you talking about? Get out. Tell Leon you’re coming on the trip with me for the next two days. Put everything else on hold.”

“Oh, okay.” Cole walked out of the office with his head down, clearly feeling embarrassed.

What the heck was that about!

Cole really killed William’s mood to work. He opened The Sims on his computer, and it felt like going back in time.

Playing the first game after the fourth is a completely different experience. A lot of things from The Sims 4 can be traced back to their roots here, while some features from the first game never made it to the fourth.

For players who have never touched a single-player PC game before, the first Sims was definitely a masterpiece. But from a technical point of view, slow loading, stiff character movements, constant loading screens—none of that fits what a modern game should be.

Still, William didn’t plan to hit Blue Star players with the newest and best games right away. There were so many great titles waiting for them to discover, and raising their expectations too high would only make things harder for the developers.

Time flew by, and more than two hours passed.

During that time, William didn’t touch any work at all. He was completely absorbed in the game, until Cynthia knocked on his door and urged him to go home. That’s when he finally shut it down.

Driving the car, Cynthia asked, “What did you say to Cole? Why did he come out of your office looking so weird?”

William looked at her, hesitating about whether to tell her or not.

In the end, he decided to spill it.

“Pfft!”

As expected, Cynthia burst out laughing, so much that she couldn’t even focus on driving. She turned to William and said, “No way! How could he misunderstand it like that?”

William said helplessly, “How would I know? Anyway, you should come with us tomorrow.”

“Why?” Cynthia smirked. “Afraid you’ll be in danger alone with him?”

William stared at her in silence.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop joking. So what are we doing tomorrow?”

“A two-day trip to Riverdale.”

Since they were changing Travel Frog’s setting to Riverdale, they had to record all of Riverdale’s famous sights and cultural features.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, Charles might join us.”

“Great, now I’m even less excited for this ‘business trip.’”