Pokémon, but cultural invasion.

Quanshu glanced at her overflowing shopping cart.

"We must develop the game as soon as possible."

Chapter 16 The Strange Job Applicant

Since Salt Stone can learn Stealth Rock during its growth, buying a TM for it seems a bit wasteful.

However, Izumi felt that this move could play a good role in the early, middle and late stages of a battle, and the sooner you mastered it, the better.

After all, it's something you should learn to make nails if you can.

Using a TM isn't a magic bullet; truly mastering a move still requires the Pokémon's own effort.

"Mr. Izumi, the usual?"

"Yes, the same as always."

He sat down at his familiar spot in the arcade, and after a few days he had become quite familiar with the staff at the front desk.

After unpacking a bag of puffed snacks that looked like potato chips, Quanshu began to handle her work for the day.

Navigator Nie Zi sent over a prototype of Brainiac Maniac, which was about ten seconds long.

Quanshu pressed play. This was much more sophisticated and pleasant to listen to than the AI-generated version he had used.

It was slightly different from what he remembered, but he couldn't recall the details himself, so he couldn't force others to recreate it.

"This style is good, you can decide what to do with it."

Give the other party full autonomy, because Izumi knows it would be very foolish for an outsider like herself to give blind instructions.

He experienced this firsthand when he was working.

There are also messages from Qishu in the list, perhaps related to cooperation?

"The Electric Belly from Nimbus City: You want the breeding guide for Saltstone? Are you perhaps a Trainer, Izumi-ki?"

Quanshu thought for a moment, realizing that if he needed to ask the dojo master for advice on some combat issues later, he couldn't hide it from him.

"Thoughts flow like a spring: I feel that I am."

The dojo master seemed to have a lot of free time, replying to the navigator's messages instantly.

"Electric Bellyfrog of Nimbus City: So you're currently traveling in the Kanto region? How many badges have you collected?"

Quanshu felt that she had offended him. If he challenged the dojo with his current strength, he would undoubtedly be beaten badly.

"Thoughts are flowing freely: I have no plans to embark on a journey or challenge a gym for the time being."

"The Electric Bellyfrog of Nimbus City: Is that so? Actually, I would recommend you start your trip from other regions. Just between you and me, the average level of Gym Leaders in the Kanto region is slightly higher than in other regions..."

"The Electric Belly of Bright City: Even if your strength is recognized by the League, you still have to wait in line to become a Gym Leader in the Eight Great Gyms, otherwise you can only take over some unknown small Gyms..."

Is this guy a chatterbox?

Quanshu pretended to be busy and reduced the frequency of replying to messages.

He opened the job posting website, and a series of red dots appeared in the notifications.

Okay, now there's no need to pretend.

Because Plants vs. Ghosts uses many real-world Pokémon as prototypes, the amount of work involved in the art design was relatively small.

We expect to recruit around three to five people. If the applicants are exceptionally outstanding, Izumi Tree doesn't mind recruiting more, since we need to prepare for the next game in advance.

Looking at the resumes, he soon came up with several suitable candidates.

"Why are people bringing Tutu dogs to job interviews?"

Quanshu stared at the photo on the resume. The person claimed to have an excellent working relationship with Tutu Dog, high work efficiency, and high output quality.

"interesting."

The studio needs interesting people like this.

The recruitment for art positions went smoothly, but when it came to programming, Quanshu was at a loss again.

Although there were many applicants, none of them quite met his ideal type of employee.

After browsing through the job postings, Quanshu actually found an interesting applicant.

To be precise, it's a small group called "Digital Alloy".

They were not interested in the wages offered by Quanshu and instead proposed a payment model based on the amount of work completed in the coding system.

The model of "more work, more pay; less work, less pay" reminded Quanshu of outsourcing.

Charging based on workload undoubtedly demonstrates a strong confidence in one's abilities.

Quanshu became curious. He didn't care about outsourcing or not; as long as he could quickly develop the game and make money off the players, that was a good model.

As is customary, he asked Digital Alloy a few programming questions.

The latter solution is faster and the answer is very close to the standard.

"It seems he really does have some skills."

After a moment's thought, he sent a voice call link to Digital Alloy.

"Hold on..."

After a brief busy signal, the call was connected.

"Hello, I am the HR of Tingxiang Studio, and I am in charge of this online interview."

A few seconds later, a middle-aged man's voice came from the other end of the microphone.

"Hello, I am the representative of the Digital Alloy team."

It's a very ordinary sound; once you hear it, it's hard to recall it.

"Your team did well in the previous questions. Now I have a piece of unfinished code. Please complete it according to my requirements."

Quanshu wasn't a formal interviewer; he skipped over the irrelevant questions and focused on the abilities he cared about most.

As long as you have the ability, nothing is a problem.

"The time limit is 30 minutes or less, and the faster the better."

After receiving the file sent by Quanshu, the other party stopped talking and only the crisp sound of keyboard typing remained.

He was slightly taken aback. Why did he start typing away so quickly after receiving the document? Shouldn't he check it first?

Twenty-five minutes later, Quanshu stared at the code returned by the other party and fell into deep thought.

He used breakpoint debugging software but found no errors, indicating that Digital Alloy had checked the code after it was programmed before sending it over.

Izumi-ki likes this place because it's so easy to get things done.

How are our finished products?

"To be honest, it's very good."

Did we pass the interview?

"It's approved..."

Digital alloys are undoubtedly capable of performing their tasks, but Quanshu always felt that something was a little off. Perhaps things went too smoothly?

"We hope to get started as soon as possible. Here is a detailed price list."

Quanshu glanced at the form sent by the other party. The various services were detailed and comprehensive, and there was even after-sales support such as hotfixes for bugs after the game was launched.

Correspondingly, the fees are not cheap.

However, the overall cost was less than what Quanshu would have spent hiring and paying salaries.

We can hire employees later; the most important thing is to finish developing the game first.

He then discussed some details of the outsourcing work with Digital Alloy.

It took several tens of minutes to reach a general agreement.

"The detailed requirements of the game's underlying code are all written in the files. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me directly."

After exchanging navigators and hanging up, Quanshu sighed.

After many days of preparation, game production is finally about to get on track.

To Quanshu's surprise, when he landed in Deep Grey City the next day, he planned to take Salt Stone to the famous local food street to relax.

The Navigator received a presentation of the interim results of digital alloys.

Digital Alloy seems to have divided the game's code into modules, completing them step by step.

"Such high efficiency."

Quanshu clicked his tongue in amazement. This speed meant they must have a team of at least a dozen people. No wonder they were so eager to take orders and make money.

It could also be due to the power of the Porygonian... But upon closer inspection, that seemed unlikely.

Quanshu has also worked with Polygon, but the latter can only play a supporting role, making it quite difficult for it to write code.

Officer Jenny will not allow any organization that arbitrarily exploits Pokémon to exist.

"At this rate, we should see results in about ten days."

Chapter 17 Game Release

Izumi's life, which revolves around two worlds and three points, begins.

During the day, they attend classes and train; at night, they check the progress of each project team and experience the local customs and culture of Deep Grey City.

During this time, his parents gave him a bank card with 100,000 yuan in savings, saying it was a dream fund for becoming a trainer.

In fact, Quanshu no longer needed to purchase cultivation resources from Blue Star, but he still silently accepted his parents' kindness.

For an average family, this amount of money would take a long time to save, and they are prepared to lose it all if they take it out.

A month later, the game's promotional video has been viewed over 1.5 million times, and the crowdfunding account has accumulated over one million yuan.

Quanshu was fairly satisfied with the results; the hype would eventually die down, and the video's view count had been slowing down for the past two weeks.

The internet prefers novelty; nothing lasts unless it is constantly reorganized and new meanings are abstracted from deconstruction.

"Saltstone Treasure, you should rest well today."

Izumi handed the Poké Ball containing the Salt Stone to Nurse Joy, then found a rest area in the lobby and sat down.

He and Saltstone have recently taken a liking to the Pokémon Center in Pewter City.

For Saltstone, the healing services at the Pokémon Center relieve the fatigue accumulated during training, just like getting a foot massage after work.

Izumi likes the free drinks and air conditioning, the comfortable sofas and seats, and the atmosphere at the Pokémon Center.

Like the adventurers' guilds depicted in Western fantasy works, the Pokémon Center is also a gathering place for beginner trainers.

The Dark Grey Pavilion Master, Xiao Gang, has a gentle personality and will not kill his challengers.

Even if the trainers fail the challenge, the Pokémon will only suffer minor injuries, so they won't feel heavy-hearted when asking Nurse Joy for treatment.

If it were Lt. Surge from Corruption City, it would probably be a scene of utter devastation, a living hell.

With a combination of factors, novice trainers exchange information and resources here.

They would share interesting stories from their travels, which Quanshu listened to with great interest.

For example, a newcomer accidentally wandered into a giant bee's nest and only managed to escape by hiding in a lake.

Or perhaps a lucky person finds a rare stone in a cave, which is then bought at a high price by stone enthusiasts in Dark Grey City.

There were even unlucky ones who threw stones and angered the Fiery Sparrows, only to get pecked all over their heads.

"I heard that a newbie challenged the Pewter City Gym today with Pikachu, and halfway through the battle, the trainer himself rushed onto the platform and wrestled with Onix. Is that true?"

Quanshu put down his water glass; it was normal to occasionally hear outrageous rumors.

"It's true. I was watching the game at the time, and then Xiaogang gave him the badge."

"Seriously? This works?"

The rookie trainers stranded in Pewter City, unable to obtain badges, immediately looked on with envy.

Even in the Pokémon world, not everyone can stop Onix with their bare hands, so you can only be envious.