Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

While the wives were busy chasing their careers, Mei Fang focused on the construction and expansion of Ximilu Studio during this autumn.

Since Mei Fang redefined and launched the concept of independent games, he has absorbed a large number of domestic independent games into his game portfolio through the TabTab project and the GameJam Developer Competition.

Among these, there are several studios that would later gain significant fame in the future but were relatively unknown at this time:

Some of these works were still in production, while others had already officially launched on the domestic TabTab platform. Since Mei Fang himself had "Journey of the Clouds," a top-tier indie game to back him up, these young dreamers were all very favorable toward Mei Fang's plans.

Through arranging negotiations, collaborations, and angel investments, Mei Fang secured exclusive distribution rights for these games on TabTab. These products would serve as the backbone of Mei Fang's domestic independent game empire and continue to release works.

As for the "three swords of domestic gaming," Mei Fang did bring up the possibility of cooperation, but companies like Daewoo and Xishanju were large corporations with significant capital, making it not easy to secure exclusive distribution rights. The exorbitant demands from the other side left Mei Fang unable to accept, so he gave up.

When communicating with these well-established domestic indie game creators, Mei Fang could feel their game design talents, but he also sensed a certain arrogance in them. They expressed strong disdain or even disgust towards some of the current game design philosophies.

The inability to keep up with the times, or rather, the strong prejudices against certain changes, was likely the key issue preventing some domestic single-player games from evolving with the times. This actually had little to do with the previous restrictions on game approvals. To this day, some of their works had already been eliminated by the market, even before the approval storm began.

Hmm…

However, Mei Fang was able to be so open-minded thanks to his experience from the future. He couldn't really claim to be particularly amazing.

As for the overseas side, Mei Fang mainly relied on his memories to seek out works for local distribution cooperation.

This included the studio he had always been obsessed with, Cherry Studio, the creators of the highly acclaimed Metroidvania-style game "Hollow Knight" in the future.

At this time, this studio was running a crowdfunding campaign on the famous platform Kickstarter. "Hollow Knight" had just released its basic version 1.0.0 and was preparing to launch on Steam. Mei Fang directly took over the Chinese localization for Steam and the distribution rights for TabTab.

Originally, Cherry Studio had planned to start developing the "Hornet DLC" once they raised $800,000, but they had only reached $300,000 at the time. Mei Fang immediately stepped in and helped them meet their funding goal. As a result, two of the three main developers, Pellen and Gibson, rushed to Shenzhen to meet Mei Fang, asking the "sugar daddy" for any requests regarding the future development of "Hollow Knight."

"My request? Well, you can abandon the DLC idea for Hornet and directly move on to the next-generation sequel," Mei Fang thought for a moment. "But I do have one hard request: you must finish this sequel before 2020."

The two enthusiastic and cheerful Australian developers, upon hearing Mei Fang's offer of a four-year development timeline, immediately celebrated with applause.

"That's easy, Mei, my friend. It took us three years to complete 'Hollow Knight' to its current state, so the sequel definitely won't take as long!"

"You'd better!"

Mei Fang's sudden frustration left the two main creators confused, but this could be understood since they didn't know how long Mei Fang had waited for the release of "Silk Song" in his previous life, a wait that even ended with Mei Fang passing away without seeing it released.

(TL: LOL)

Kickstarter really is a great thing. As long as Mei Fang goes through the leaderboard, he knows which projects' quality is worth his investment.

Games like "Enter the Gungeon," "Transistor," "Celeste," "Shovel Knight," "Slay the Spire," and others—whenever he spots a game he has played and liked, he will invest in it.

While other wealthy bosses buy luxury goods and expensive cars, Mei Fang is busy finding game distribution rights, often immediately passing them to the overseas market department. This has kept those departments working overtime nonstop, cursing Mei Fang's ancestors under their breath, though Mei Fang is completely unaware of it.

In addition to these overseas projects, Mei Fang also focused on discovering domestic game developers. He even managed to recruit Chen Xinghan, the renowned designer of Zen-style games from Sony, hoping that Chen could join his team to help with the development of a 3A open-world game.

Chen Xinghan's work "Journey" was one of the most important references for "Journey of the Clouds" and one of the mentors that influenced Mei Fang's pursuit of games as the ninth art. After communicating with Chen Xinghan, Mei Fang gained even more insights into game design but decided not to have Chen Xinghan lead the 3A open-world project.

Instead, Mei Fang decided to establish a new studio for Chen Xinghan and his team to work on a new project, "Code Name: Sky Encounter."

As a game producer himself, Mei Fang had his own views on game development. If the producer and the boss didn't align in their ideas, it would be easy to create many conflicts.

Having suffered in his previous life, Mei Fang would not interfere with the work of his studio's producers, but he did expect his own projects to be undisturbed.

Take "End of the Lily" as an example—Mei Fang personally led the design of the script (written by Mei Fang), the art style (designed by Guo Yun), and the music style (designed by Liu Xiaoyu). Mei Fang ensured that this project retained a similar atmosphere and visual expression to his previous works, but improvements were made in level design, numerical control, and action design, giving the game a smoother experience. The original game had major flaws in these aspects, which were the primary sources of negative feedback.

In comparison to the original game, which offered a 15-hour short narrative, Mei Fang revamped the levels to incorporate more world-building content and added extra hidden storylines and bosses. The entire story now felt more complete, and the 100% completion of the first playthrough could reach around 40 hours.

"This will be a Souls-like game loved by the 2D anime community—at least, one that they will enjoy watching," Mei Fang commented on "End of the Lily."

"End of the Lily" was set to be released in a week, but before that, Mei Fang had to attend a livehouse performance—though Xia Yuan/Lin Wanwan was not particularly eager about it.

"Why do you want to watch us perform when you're so busy lately… We're only going to sing four or five songs, what's so interesting about it?"

"This is Wanwan's debut, how could I, as her senior, not go watch?" Mei Fang answered.

"I'm not saying I don't want you to watch… It's just that you're so busy with game releases, and we're just testing the waters. It would be embarrassing if we messed up… I just want to perform perfectly in front of you… Can I?" Lin Wanwan clung to Mei Fang's neck, repeatedly coaxing him not to go.

Mei Fang was a little unable to refuse Lin Wanwan, so he verbally agreed to not attend.

"Alright, alright… I won't go," Mei Fang said.

"You have to keep your word. If I find out you're there, I won't be friends with you anymore," Lin Wanwan teased, planting a kiss on Mei Fang's face. She then stood up and grabbed the guitar that Lin Youxi had been carrying on her back. "Ah Fang can't go, but can't I?"

"Well… It's better if you don't come either. Anyway… it's quite embarrassing."

"I don't believe it… Can it be more embarrassing than some people's performance in bed?"

"Youxi!"

Xia Yuan puffed up her cheeks and stomped her little feet. "I've been so busy lately… Ah Fang is just for stress relief, we haven't really had much intimate time, but it'll get better soon, I promise!"

"Alright, alright… Enough about you." Lin Youxi handed the guitar bag to Xia Yuan. "I checked everything for you, and even put some food in the side of your bag. If you start feeling nervous, just eat some bread to calm yourself down. You haven't eaten much tonight, and I noticed you're not in the best mood."

"Ugh… Thanks, Youxi!" Xia Yuan gave Lin Youxi a big hug.

"I've been so busy lately, it's been a while since I've hung out with you. Once I finish this round of rehearsals, I'll spend more time with you guys."

"Busy… we're all busy. After all, we're all working hard for our careers," Lin Youxi smiled and shook her head. "But it's okay, while we're young, we should do everything we want to do. Don't wait until later and regret not doing it."

"Yeah… I understand." Xia Yuan nodded lightly, understanding Lin Youxi's point.

This was their shared plan for university.

During this time at university, they would pursue their dreams and ambitions, everything they had not yet accomplished.

Not just Xia Yuan, but Lin Youxi too.

And Mei Fang as well.

When the time came to start a family, their careers would no longer take priority.

This was the only time they could chase their dreams with all their might.

Later, Xia Yuan turned to Mei Fang. "By the way, Ah Fang, Senior, Senior!"

"Before, I asked you to write a song for Xiaoyu. I didn't expect it to get so busy lately. But I've already discussed it with Xiaoyu, and if you're too busy, you don't have to write it anymore. We don't want to trouble you."

"This… I've already written the lyrics. I'm just thinking about how to compose it."

"Wow, you still have time to think about this?" Xia Yuan exclaimed.

"Well, since it's a request from my wife, how could I not think about it?"

Mei Fang smiled and stuck his tongue out at Xia Yuan, who happily hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Alright, alright… Senior, really, don't push yourself too hard. I'm going to take the car with Xiaoxue and the others!"

"Safe travels!"

"Take care."

Mei Fang and Lin Youxi watched as Xia Yuan closed the door and left the house.

"…"

"…"

"So… YuanYuan, has she really grown up?"

Mei Fang had just wiped his mouth when Lin Youxi's advance once again came close. As they whispered against each other's ears, Lin Youxi began softly speaking to Mei Fang:

"If you're worried, you can always go check on her…"

"But she told me not to go to the livehouse. If I go, she'll be upset, right?"

"Well, just don't let her see you, and it'll be fine, right?"

Lin Youxi said, "Besides, I heard that some livehouses aren't very safe. Since it's their first time, don't you think it's natural to check on them to feel at ease?"

"So you just want to go yourself… You just promised her you wouldn't go!"

"It was Lin Youxi who promised Lin Wanwan," Lin Youxi said, putting on her glasses, pointing her lips in a slightly awkward expression, "What does it have to do with Xia Zaizao?"

"That… That makes sense! As long as we don't get recognized as the station master and the young lady, it should be fine."

Mei Fang thought for a moment, "You're Xia Zaizao, and she's Lin Wanwan. I'll be Mei Zhongzhong, right?"

"No, that sounds awful…" Lin Youxi shook her head, "I don't like it."

"I think so too… How about we think of another name?"

"No time to waste, let's think about it on the way?"

"Okay!"

So, Mei Wuwu and Xia Zaizao disguised themselves and took a taxi to the livehouse, intending to go watch Yi Xia Band's Lin Wanwan's debut solo band performance.