Chapter 24 (1/2)

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Translated by Coldtaco

Edited by Aelryinth

Chen Mo sat at the bar on the first floor in order to be able to see any potential players passing by.

He also moved his laptop to the bar table. While waiting for customers, he would play Plants vs Zombies and see if there was anything that needed to be changed.

Chen Mo had spent over three months on this, from August all the way into December. It was now entering winter.

As it turned colder, the pedestrians outside had put on long pants and jackets. Today, however, it was quite nice, as there wasn’t much wind, so the weather was fine for going outside.

—

After playtesting for an hour and not finding anything, Chen Mo stood up and walked around the second floor.

It was quite frustrating, as nobody had come yet.

Chen Mo opened a can of Coke and went back to the bar table.

It was at this moment that he remembered the free period for Flappybird had finally ended. He could now push it onto the market.

Chen Mo wanted to release Flappybird and Plants vs Zombies at the same time, using the ad space on Flappybird to promote Plants vs Zombies.

In truth, Flappybird was most popular in the first few months it was released. As three months had already passed, many of the players that might be interested in it had already played it. As players wouldn’t be always playing it, the hype surrounding it had slowly died down. Flappybird wouldn’t be able to make much money anymore if it were released now.

It was hard to say how much money Chen Mo missed out on as the competition officials were in possession of all the stats during the free period, so Chen Mo didn’t know how many ads had been shown either.

2“Whatever, it was for exposure.”

Even though it felt like he missed out on billions, Chen Mo was alright with it. There were plenty more opportunities to make money coming, so he wasn’t in a hurry.

It was at this moment that a young woman stood in front of his store and looked around inside.

3The woman was dressed quite casually in a light jacket and jeans. She looked like she was around twenty-six, slightly older than Chen Mo. She looked quite pretty and had a ponytail, giving away a clean, genderless[1] vibe.

Chen Mo greeted her, “Hello.”

The woman stood at the door and looked at the signs outside, then at the decor within the store and asked, “Are you a videogame designer? Is this a video game experience store?

Chen Mo nodded, “Yes.”

The woman patted herself on the chest as a sign of relief. “Oh, thank the heavens. I thought this was a new internet cafe, I was worried for so long.”

Chen Mo was “?”

The woman walked into the store explaining, “Oh, I’m the owner of the Fates Internet Cafe around the corner, coming over to check out my competitors.”

-Damn, she isn’t a player, but a competitor!-

Chen Mo was speechless. As a woman owner of an internet cafe, she wasn’t here to experience games. She was just here to see if it was an experience store or internet cafe, and if he would be taking away her business.

The woman laughed awkwardly, “Sorry. Since it’s an experience store and not an internet cafe, it’s fine now. From now onwards we are now neighbours, let’s visit one another once in a while.”

Although internet cafes and experience stores performed similar functions, they weren’t direct competitors. In experience stores, players can only play games developed by the designer, in particular having early access to them.

Designers usually wouldn’t install other games on their devices, and didn’t allow players to play other games in their store, either.

Chen Mo nodded, “It’s alright, you can come here anytime. I probably won’t be having too many customers.”

“Cool.” This woman quickly made herself at home, sitting on the sofa and helped herself to a can of Coke as if it was her home.”

Chen Mo said, “Uhh… the drinks aren’t free…”

The woman put the can back where it was, “Sorry, I’m a little too used to this back in my store. Heh heh.”

After judging the size of the main space, the woman said, “Your experience store is quite spacious, and only so few machines? Seems like a waste.”