The Red Dragon Lord is OP, but Insists on a Pop Culture Invasion!

"What could a kid like him know about design?" Hakan said without a second thought.

"But you haven’t even looked," Karaman replied. "You’ve never given Ben a chance, have you? I think he might have a real talent for making toys. Just take a look at the gameplay he’s designed."

"Talent for making toys... I’ve spent my whole life making toys, and look where it’s gotten me." Hakan shook his head.

"Still haven’t given up on that dream of being a noble, have you?" Karaman knew perfectly well what his older brother had been thinking all this time.

"I haven’t..."

"Have you not figured it out after all these years? Whether you’re rich or have some so-called ’respectable’ job, it makes no difference to the nobles. To them, you’re no different than a toymaker. Might makes right—that’s always been the rule. Games are much simpler."

Karaman walked into the small cottage and pulled out a stack of papers. They were covered in rough sketches, accompanied by numerous notes on the game’s design.

Ferin Chronicles.

The drafts bore a rather grand-sounding title.

The drawings depicted Legendary Figures from Feilin’s history, but the art was so terrible that if the names hadn’t been written next to each one, it would be impossible to tell who was who.

Looking at these scribble-like figures, Hakan suddenly let out a laugh.

He was reminded of his own childhood, when he would also crudely sketch characters and make up stories to tell the other children.

The design notes included character health points and Skills.

It had clearly borrowed heavily from auto-chess games and Yu-Gi-Oh!. For instance, it even included Sate Furnace, the 4-cost Dwarf hero from auto chess.

In Ferin Chronicles, he could activate an effect once every two turns: forgo the card draw for the round to equip a specific equipment card.

The cards were also divided into different types: action cards for basic attacks and defense, Skill cards for special effects, and equipment cards, of which a character could typically equip up to three.

Card types could also be used to determine the effects of Skills.

It was a very interesting idea, like taking one of those fighting games from a console and adapting it for the tabletop.

Ackley’s Toy Store had released board games with special rules in the past, but none were as thoroughly designed as Ferin Chronicles.

They were mostly just minor tweaks to traditional board and card games and hadn’t made much of a splash.

’I shouldn’t have kept pushing Ben to study for a spot at the institute. If we’re not destined to be nobles, it’s better to let Ben do what he loves.’

’I’m not a good father.’

Hakan began to study the draft of the rulebook Ben had written for Ferin Chronicles.

It seemed Ben hadn’t finalized the specific rules of the game yet.

The draft had two different sets of rules, both of which had been revised and crossed out over and over.

The first option was to designate one player as the "Demon King," who would have more health, draw extra cards each turn, and possess an additional Skill.

The second was a team-based mode, but it didn’t specify how to divide the teams, and it would be unbalanced with an odd number of players.

Hakan stared at the rulebook, his mind racing. He wanted to perfect Ben’s design. ’This can be the first step toward mending our relationship,’ he thought.

’Teams, identities...’

’So why not hide the identities?’

’What if only one person’s identity is public? The survival of that person determines whether their team wins or loses.’

’Meanwhile, everyone else’s identity is hidden. The public player would have to figure out who’s on their side, and the other players would have to find ways to prove their allegiance or conceal it...’

’It could work.’

Hakan scribbled furiously on the draft, writing down the general idea, then asked Karaman.

"When does Ben usually get back?" After asking, he shook his head. "Where in the Northern Domain does Ben usually go? I’ll go find him."

"Right now, he’s probably at the Group’s submission window. Zog accepts creative submissions for any kind of gameplay, and if they’re approved, they receive funding."

Karaman answered after a moment of thought.

"Why are you looking for him? Are you still going to push him to study for the institute?"

"No, not anymore." Hakan had lost his domineering, patriarchal air. "I want to help him finish this card game."

Hearing this, Karaman nodded. "I know where the submission window is. Come with me."

"But why didn’t Ben just have you submit the design for him? Can’t you meet with the big boss of the Zog Group?"

Hakan asked casually as they walked.

"Ben wants to prove his game design is good on its own merit, not because his uncle pulled some strings."

Karaman replied, "And I think he’s right. Special treatment can’t make a game more popular, can it?"

Meanwhile, Ben was at the submission window, filling out a long form.

"So, about when can I expect to hear back?" Ben asked, peering over the counter.

Both the counter and the stool were a bit too high for him. He was at that age before his growth spurt, still a head shorter than the girls in his class.

He had refused to use the Dwarf counter.

"First, the review team assigned to your submission will respond within five business days," the staff member said.

"If your submission isn’t approved by the assigned team, don’t lose heart. Unapproved projects are made available to all our reviewers, so it’s possible another team might pick it up within those five business days."

"Is there a faster way?" Ben asked.

"If you have a reviewer’s contact information, you can submit directly to them. We call that an internal pitch. You can find contact information on the official Zog Toys forums."

"Okay." Ben didn’t quite have the courage to contact a reviewer directly, so he dutifully finished filling out the form. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Afterwards, he recorded a gameplay demonstration in front of a camera.

By the time he left the submission office, the sky had grown dark. Ben scratched his head, wondering if his game would be chosen. ’And if it is,’ he thought, ’I wonder if I can earn back the money Dad spent on me.’