Pokémon, but cultural invasion.

Sakura rubbed her throbbing head and said irritably, "Do you believe me?"

Xiaoxia said seriously, "I think the autograph in the photo is genuine, but I don't know what will happen after the photo is taken."

"Arrange for staff to escort him out the back door later."

Sakura is speechless that a game producer and director could treat himself the same as a high-ranking member of an alliance who is being targeted by a villainous organization.

However, without his performance art-like risk-taking, the results today might not have been so good.

"He is an incomprehensible yet incredibly talented person."

...

Quanshu readily accepted Xiaoxia's proposed profit-sharing plan.

Making money was only one of his goals; more importantly, this stage play gave him some understanding of how to conduct filming.

Some of the footage during the live stream was not up to par, and we also found some issues that need improvement.

For example, the limitations of multi-camera shooting.

The drone, unable to move flexibly enough and focus properly, failed to capture the desired bird's-eye view from a certain spring-tree location, resulting in a lack of emphasis on the subject in the image.

Thinking it over, Izumi got up and prepared to leave the control room.

"Mr. Izumi, if you want to leave Cerulean Gym, please go through the back door. Some of your fans are quite enthusiastic, and our gym leader is worried about your safety."

Several strong and healthy staff members, dressed in dojo uniforms, had been waiting at the entrance for a long time.

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

Quanshu expressed his gratitude to them, saying that Cerulean Dojo was quite thoughtful.

However, the claim that enthusiastic fans pose a safety hazard is somewhat of an exaggeration.

However, as he walked towards the back passage of the dojo, the situation seemed more serious than he had imagined.

The audience members who stopped in twos and threes to discuss something were looking around and muttering incomprehensible phrases such as "rewrite the ending" and "malicious intentions".

As they got closer, Izumi finally heard their discussion clearly.

"This guy, Quanshu, is no longer human. He's been building up our interest online just so we'll drive all the way here and be saddened by the stage play all day."

“Every story in ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ is wonderful. The only regret is that Izumi published ‘The Little Mermaid’.”

"To be precise, he shouldn't have been allowed to create the second half of 'The Little Mermaid'."

"If Izumi had been unable to write due to an accident when he was halfway through completing the script for this stage play, he would have been an outstanding playwright."

Those few words sent chills down his spine.

What does it mean when something goes wrong halfway through a creative process? He doesn't have a lion hidden in his eyes.

Quanshu quickened his pace.

This attracted the attention of others.

"That person looks a bit like Izumi, and he's wearing a hat and sunglasses. He's suspicious."

A sharp-eyed viewer immediately declared, "It's definitely him, no doubt about it! My eyes are like a ruler, there's no mistaking it!"

So he shouted, "The one wearing the baseball cap is Izumi no Ki!"

With that shout, the audience members who hadn't yet left the venue all turned their attention to him.

Especially female viewers who were still indignant for the little mermaid, under the influence of their emotions, had the idea of ​​stopping Izumi and making him rewrite the ending.

Her male companion, who had just been gently comforting her, thought that getting an autograph from Quanshu might be a good idea, as it might fetch a good price someday.

All sorts of ideas eventually manifested as a tendency for people to gather around him.

Quanshu immediately broke out in a sweat. His physique wasn't that of a super rookie, and it would be terrible if he were surrounded by a strong person in the crowd.

He took off his hat from the bottom of his heart.

"The one wearing a mask is Izumi!"

I wonder who had such good eyesight and shouted that out.

"Mr. Izumi, let's hurry up and leave."

The staff also felt the pressure and started jogging with him.

This time, not only did Quanshu take off her mask, but she also took off her sunglasses.

Once the disguise was removed, he was naturally recognized.

"Quanshu has stopped acting and is running around openly now!"

The crowd became completely excited.

He had no other choice but to leave the Cerulean Gym as quickly as possible and log off in a secluded spot.

The audience's reaction was bigger than expected, and Izumi reflected in his room, trying to find the reason.

"The people in the Pokémon world are simple and honest, and therefore more naive and easily swayed by emotions."

"Deliberately trying to guide or create emotions is not advisable, as it can easily backfire on oneself."

Fortunately, the brilliant stage performance of "The Little Mermaid" saved him from disaster, making the audience both love and hate him.

Otherwise, Quanshu estimated that he would have to hide away for many days to avoid trouble.

He logged into Cerulean City late the next day, intending to check online sentiment before deciding what to do.

Among the unread messages on the Navigator app, one stands out as particularly special.

"This account..."

Quanshu remembers it was the angel investor who donated 500,000 yuan during the first game crowdfunding campaign.

Chapter 46 Rika, Loyal!

In the early stages of crowdfunding, Quanshu received a mysterious large sum of money. He had speculated about the identity of the person who donated it and had some unrealistic fantasies.

For example, how delightful it would be if the owner of the account were Daigo!

Unfortunately, the donor simply added the account automatically and did not make any proactive contact.

Even after the game was officially released, the donor went into silence as if he had forgotten about his account.

Quanshu had once suspected that the other party had forgotten about it, but now it seems that's not the case.

[Having seen the flowers bloom is enough: How much does it cost to pre-order a playable copy of your studio's next game?]

Quanshu fondly recalls the time she spent crowdfunding.

Although 500,000 is nothing to him today, it was a great encouragement and inspiration to Izumi Shu, who only had 3,000 at the time.

...Okay, even now, 500,000 is still enough for Quanshu to livestream his flower-hand gestures for a whole day.

After all, it was 500,000 yuan that he got for free, and he had to consider his movie and his money-grubbing handheld console.

"Pre-order a trial of the next game?"

Quanshu frowned. The deal proposed by the other party seemed reasonable, but it concealed considerable risks.

The most important thing is that there is a chance that the game itself and the data provided to the other party will be leaked.

With Officer Jenny's expertise, Izumi believes the case will be solved quickly and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

But he has never liked trouble and hates the possibility of causing trouble.

[Thoughts flowing freely: That's right, as is our usual practice, our studio doesn't provide demo versions.]

[Having seen the flowers bloom is enough: 500,000.]

[Thoughts flow freely: This isn't about money; before the game is finished, any leak of information will affect public expectations.]

[Having seen the flowers bloom is enough: 800,000, I won't raise the price any further.]

Thoughts flowed freely: But then again...

"Hi~"

Quanshu gasped.

Putting aside whether this guy, who spends money like water, would bother leaking secrets, even if he did leak some content or gameplay details, it would still be well worth it.

Let it leak.

Which game in its previous life wasn't leaked by an insider before its release?

To borrow a somewhat biased and outrageous argument, if a game you're playing hasn't been criticized by your female friends, then you should be careful.

If Izumi were given 800,000, he'd be willing to leak some game content ahead of time to increase its popularity.

[Thoughts are flowing freely: I will send you the detailed trial agreement later.]

Izumi, whose attention was drawn to the mysterious donor, was unaware of the turbulent online activity that had been unfolding over the past two days.

...

The origins can be traced back to the various forums during the release of Plants vs. Ghosts.

The explosive popularity of this crowdfunding game has clearly divided the gaming community into two distinct groups.

One side believes the creator is a rare genius, while the other side believes he will eventually run out of ideas and his talent will be short-lived.

This debate was small in scope, but lasted for an extremely long time.

People will never understand that you can't convince your fellow human beings through arguments, at least not on the surface, because people are used to being stubborn.

The small-scale discussions lasted for more than a month until the promotion of "The Little Mermaid" began.

Quanshu's decision to abandon games and instead pursue stage plays is quite surprising.

Some people thought this was a sign that he had run out of ideas, and they watched the entire live broadcast of the stage play with a "let's watch the show" mentality. They all remained silent.

The brilliance exceeded everyone's expectations; it was not a fleeting moment, but a true blossoming of a hundred flowers.

However, despite the excellent quality of this production, audiences who enjoy stage plays found fault with it.

"It would be great if the ending allowed the Little Mermaid and the Prince to be together."

"The stage presence was excellent, but the misunderstandings that were never resolved and the tragic ending detracted from the performance."

"This game producer is quite interesting. It would be better to adapt his first few fairy tales into stage plays."

Looking at the comments and criticisms on the forum, the two factions in the gaming community unexpectedly reached a historic reconciliation.

Their ideas are simple and honest.

I thought "The Little Mermaid" was really good when I watched the live broadcast. Whether the ending is a tragedy or a comedy, it is ultimately just a way of expressing the story.

In the players' simple understanding, stage plays are just like games; as long as they are entertaining and fun, that's enough.

However, some critics are still nitpicking and not satisfied.

Players felt these people were being overly sensitive, pointing out that it had been years since the gaming industry had produced any truly excellent and highly playable new titles.

They should be secretly happy that there are new and good stage plays to watch.

The audience disagreed, considering themselves discerning and artistically inclined, and unable to be understood by the players.

Then, people from the two conflicting groups began a heated online debate, with Yu Hong Guanzhu, Rika, being one of the main participants from the game's side.

Her identity made it inconvenient for her to participate in the game, so she used a secondary account created on Pikachu to record her daily gaming activities.

Rika records and posts each game she completes on her account.

Because of her extensive knowledge of a wide range of games and her fast completion speed, she has gradually accumulated considerable popularity and prestige among niche gamers.

Although they argued for some inexplicable reason, Rika, as the main force, still had to take the lead in the charge.

Because of her affinity for the creator of "Plants vs. Ghosts," she naturally felt a strong liking for Izumi Kijima and couldn't stand unwarranted slander.

"I would never denigrate any interesting game, even if its form differs from mainstream standards."

“Foolish audiences will miss a great show because they are fixated on comedy or tragedy, but I will never miss a fun game because of preconceived notions.”

"Unlike you, I don't comment on the excellent works that appear in the gaming industry."

“We players are more receptive. What matters in a game is the process experience and the ideas the creators want to convey, rather than the ending.”

As soon as the united front guidelines were issued, the unorganized theater enthusiasts immediately crumbled.