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[Game] Chapter 298: Titanfall & Apex
🕑 Added 2025-07-13 17:41:16 +0000 UTCAs expected, Ichin realized that Umiko wasn’t the least bit interested in Dark Souls. Or rather, once she heard the comparison between Titanfall and Apex, her interest in the former completely overshadowed any curiosity about the latter.
After Ichin gave her a brief rundown of Titanfall’s world setting, Umiko immediately dropped her current task, grabbed Ichin, and dragged him out of the programming team’s workroom.
Their sudden commotion drew attention from the others, who all looked toward the now open door.
Gokou Ruri frowned. “What’s going on?”
Sakura Nene tilted her head thoughtfully. “Hmm~~~ Doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Let’s just ignore it. We haven’t even finished our own work yet.”
Meanwhile, Umiko had pulled Ichin all the way back to his office.
Bang!
The office door shut behind them. Umiko turned to face Ichin, who spread his arms out helplessly. “See? I knew you’d react like this. I shouldn’t have shown you anything.”
Umiko exhaled deeply, taking a moment to calm herself before replying, “Yeah, I’m definitely excited right now. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stay this hyped forever. I can manage my emotions. Still, you’ve piqued my curiosity. Just giving me a tiny bit of world-building isn’t enough. Tell me more. That way, I’ll have something to look forward to in the future.”
“Hmm~~”
Ichin folded his arms and thought for a good ten seconds under her gaze. Finally, he snapped his fingers. “Come here.”
Umiko walked over to his desk, where Ichin opened up his computer and clicked into a folder on the hard drive. On the screen appeared a concept sketch: a soldier clad in sleek, futuristic armor, holding a rifle and wearing a full helmet, running along a wall. Beside him, a massive humanoid mech was laying down cover fire.
“This is—?”
“The main character concept from Titanfall,” Ichin replied, then opened a document and turned the monitor toward Umiko. “Take a look. This is the world-building draft I wrote. If you’re interested, I also have a rough outline for the single-player campaign—but it’s just the beginning, since I haven’t had time to flesh it out yet.”
“I’ll skip the campaign for now,” Umiko said. “I mainly want to understand the game’s concept and mechanics first.”
She skimmed through the world-building notes, then returned her gaze to the initial concept sketch. Pointing to the mech in the image, she asked, “So this is the Titan?”
“Yep,” Ichin nodded. “A powerful war machine with multiple armor configurations, adaptable to various combat scenarios. It also features advanced AI. Only specially trained soldiers—Pilots—can operate them. Pilots go through a strict selection process and are equipped with gear that allows for wall-running, slide-dashing, double jumps, and other unique abilities. Most importantly, each Pilot is bonded with a specific Titan. One of the Titan’s core protocols is to protect its Pilot.”
After hearing his explanation, Umiko understood the core idea.
“So... the single-player campaign revolves around the bond between the main character and their Titan?”
“Exactly,” Ichin said. “Since it’s a first-person shooter, I don’t plan on making the story too complicated. Just a classic ‘one man and one Titan against the world’ tale to save humanity. The real focus is gameplay. Each level in the campaign should showcase a unique mechanic or design element.”
He then showed Umiko a few more concept sketches for additional Titan loadouts. For the ones he hadn’t drawn yet, he described their designs and intended mechanics.
Umiko let out a breath and sat down, massaging her temples. “That’s just the single-player mode, right? What about multiplayer?”
“There’ll be two types,” Ichin replied, holding up two fingers. “One will be the traditional PvP multiplayer mode that releases alongside the campaign—multiple maps, various objectives, and of course, players can summon Titans after reaching certain milestones.”
“And the other one? That’s the battle royale mode you mentioned earlier?”
Ichin nodded and moved the cursor over a folder titled “Apex.” He opened it. It was empty.
“In this battle royale mode, players keep the Pilot movement system from Titanfall—wall-running and slide-dashing stay, but no double jumps. There won’t be Titans, but there will be hero-based mechanics. Each character will have their own active skill, passive, and ultimate. Gameplay-wise, it’ll follow the standard battle royale format. I plan to launch Apex separately from Titanfall as a free-to-play title. Monetization will come from loot boxes that drop weapon skins, character skins, frames, and so on.”
“Separate launch... free-to-play... battle royale...”
Umiko spun slowly in her chair, repeating the keywords under her breath.
Finally, she stopped and looked at Ichin. “I can already tell—whether it’s Titanfall or Apex, they’ll both be incredibly fun games once they’re made. But as a free game, Apex will face huge competition. Grabbing market share from other existing battle royales won’t be easy.”
“That’s why launching Titanfall separately is so important,” Ichin said, snapping his fingers. “If Titanfall sells well, Apex will naturally get attention when it releases. PvP games always have a core player base. And since Apex will be free, as long as we attract a large player base at launch, ensure game quality, and stay ahead on anti-cheat measures, we’ll retain enough players to recoup our development costs.”
Umiko stood up and looked at Ichin’s confident expression, a smile tugging at her lips.
“I’m not an expert on game launches or retention strategies,” she said, “but I do know this—if this game gets made, it’s going to be a blast to play. That’s enough for me. But ugh… what a shame we still have to finish Persona first. I’m already itching to dive into the new project.”
Ichin spread his arms helplessly. “Can’t be helped. We’ve only got so many people. But don’t worry—we’re still expanding the team. Whether here in Tokyo or back in Shanghai. By the time we officially start development on the new game next year, our studio will be bigger. Even running two major projects in parallel won’t be a problem.”
One game was never going to be enough. After all, Ichin still had plans to develop Dark Souls alongside everything else.
...
(T/N: I'll be honest, I didn't play Apex on PC, just played Apex Mobile, and it's Okay. I still prefer PUBG or Fortnite, and yeah, Valorant (I know it's not BR))
