Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 87: The True Manchu-Han Banquet

Sunday morning, 9 AM, Dongjin.

The sun blazed down on a massive exhibition hall with its iconic inverted-triangle design, towering nearly 60 ters tall, standing proudly in the greenery of the plaza.

This was the Dongjin International Exhibition Center.

Built in 1996 under the guidance of the world-renowned Sato Integrated Design, this global-standard convention center had long been one of the most iconic buildings in Dongjin—and even across all of Nihon.

Every year, countless expos of all sizes were held here.

Naturally, the Asia Esports Ga Developers Conference, one of the largest gaming events across Pan-Asia, chose this venue for its grand gathering!

Inside the venue, the entrance was buzzing with excitent as players and dia flooded in, shoulder to shoulder, filling the space with a cacophony of voices.

“Gathering gaming news, focusing on what players love—hello everyone, I’m Tian Tian from Tian Tian Ga News!”

Tian Tian stood at the side of the entrance, holding a portable mic, waving at the cara drone:

“Welco to today’s special live broadcast of Tian Tian Ga News!

As you can see, I’m right here at Hall 1 of the Dongjin International Exhibition Center.

The once-every-four-years Asia Esports Ga Developers Conference is about to kick off here!

From what we know, this year’s event features developers and designers from over ten countries across five major regions.

A total of 25 gas have been shortlisted for the showcase:

15 small-scale gas, 5 dium-scale, and 5 large-scale.

In a little while, we’ll get to see presentations from the 10 dium and large-scale titles.

The Crown Award—the highest honor—will also be selected from among these 10 gas.

So, let’s take our cara crew and check out how the participating developers are doing!”

With a wave, Tian Tian led the cara team toward the developer booths at the front-right side of the hall.

In the live chat:

“Whoa, this place is huge!”

“Fun fact: Hall 1 is called the International Conference Hall. It can seat over a thousand people, fully equipped with conference systems, AV setups, and simultaneous translation in seven languages.”

“Man, this is a proper venue, given it’s a once-in-four-years Pan-Asia dev conference!”

“Compared to the esports championship at the Bird’s Nest, though, this venue is kinda mid, no?”

“LOL yeah, that Bird’s Nest setup was on another level.”

“Exactly—whether it’s a ga championship or an esports title, soone’s gotta win on ho turf at the Bird’s Nest!”

“I just hope our own developers can snag the crown.”

“Feels promising! We’ve got Nuyan Gas and Golden Wind representing!”

“Nuyan’s strong—an old powerhouse with a full-throttle budget of 150 million on a racing ga, their specialty. But Golden Wind... well, hard to say...”

“Yeah, Golden Wind’s been on fire lately, but they’re still a mid-tier company. When they said they’d compete at the Asia DevCon, I thought it’d be in the small ga category... but they went for dium-scale!”

“dium-scale ans at least 50 million in investnt. Did Golden Wind mortgage everything they had to scrape up the funds?”

“This feels like an all-or-nothing gamble.”

“That said... Shengzi’s FPS sequel concept is pretty sick. If they double down and make a second-gen FPS like Fireline Frenzy, maybe it won’t flop.”

“Let’s hope so! Yo, Little Huang, I don’t need you to win the championship—I just don’t want you to self-destruct this ti!”

“Haha, ‘Little Huang’—that na cracks up.”

“Right? I actually kinda like Golden Wind’s little projects.”

“Leave the crown to Nuyan. Little Huang’s main goal is to participate. As long as they don’t crash and burn, it’s a win!”

It was clear that players loved Golden Wind.

But as for them winning? Not much faith there.

After all, Golden Wind was still a mid-tier, mid-size ga company. Realistically, if they wanted to compete, they should’ve been in the small ga group.

Yet here they were, selling off everything they had to muscle into the dium-scale category.

It was like watching a featherweight boxer forcing their way into a middleweight or even heavyweight match.

You could guess how that would go.

Hence the comnts begging them not to die.

Forget the crown—just make it through alive.

As the chat buzzed on, Tian Tian reached the developer area.

Most of the company reps were already in place, and Tian Tian began a round of quick interviews.

There was Lionheart Gas from Southeast Asia, showcasing a MOBA called Super Brawl, with an 80 million investnt—one of the five dium-scale titles.

Then there was Gerard Tech from West Asia—just established last year, but they were going all-in with Scorching Track, a 150 million racing ga. They openly considered Nuyan Gas their main rival.

Over in the Nihon sector, Kol Corp, a veteran sports ga developer, was back for their second Asia DevCon, investing around 70 million into a baseball ga adaptation called Baseball Hero EX.

After these rounds, Tian Tian finally arrived at the Huaxia Developers Zone.

At that mont, Gu Sheng was chatting with Li Xiaofeng, the lead director of Nuyan Gas.

The two hadn’t t before, but as fellow Huaxia developers at an intercontinental event, they naturally clicked.

Plus, both companies were deep partners with YiYou Platform, so there was a bit of a connection there.

After a few pleasantries, they got into a lively conversation.

Li Xiaofeng praised Gu Sheng’s ideas and creativity, while Gu Sheng comnded Nuyan’s innovative spirit and ambition.

The two were engrossed in their chat, completely unaware that poor Little Nezha, Golden Wind’s mascot, was bored out of her mind at the side, almost dying of frustration.

Ah... what are you two talking about... Gu, co play with ... is this chat never going to end...?

We’re just making a damn cooking ga, what are you doing chatting up these serious industry folks...

Little Nezha glanced left, glanced right, fiddled with her fingers, tugged at Gu Sheng’s sleeve—bored to death.

Just then—

“Excuse ? Ms. Shen? I’m Tian Tian from Tian Tian Ga News. Could I trouble you for a quick two-minute interview?”

A voice spoke beside her.

Shen Miaomiao turned to see Tian Tian bowing slightly, holding out her hand.

Finally, soone willing to talk to —sniff sniff... Shen Miaomiao almost cried tears of joy.

She quickly stood up and shook Tian Tian’s hand.

“Oh! Of course!”

The chat erupted in excitent—

“Wuhu! Boss Shen’s here!”

“Boss Shen’s hair is super ta today!”

“LOL, imagine pairing a Chanel-style blazer with twin buns—too wild.”

“Not impossible, though.”

“Boss Shen is adorable.”

“Thank you, Ms. Shen,” Tian Tian smiled.

“I noticed that Golden Wind is participating in the dium-scale ga category, right? Could you give us a rough estimate of the investnt for your entry?”

“Sure!” Shen Miaomiao grinned, nodding.

“As everyone knows, Golden Wind is still a fledgling company. Unlike the big players, we can’t casually throw around hundreds of millions.

So this ti, we barely scraped together 50 million—just enough to et the minimum threshold and squeeze into the dium-scale group.”

“Oh—still, that’s quite impressive,” Tian Tian praised with a smile.

“After all, Golden Wind hasn’t been around long, and making it into the Asia DevCon is already an industry legend. I believe Golden Wind will keep soaring higher and higher.”

Shen Miaomiao’s smile twitched, a bit forced.

“Hehe, thank you for your kind words.”

Without noticing her awkward expression, Tian Tian pressed on:

“We also know that under your leadership, Golden Wind has always been known for its creative spirit, winning over countless players.

So this ti—what kind of ga are you bringing to the players?”

At that, Shen Miaomiao’s eyes lit up.

Now this was a question she could answer!

She hadn’t seen Gu Sheng’s concept draft, nor did she know the ga’s core chanics.

But she couldn’t just tell the dia, “Oh, we made a silly cooking ga where players cook stir-fry dishes.”

So, clever as ever, Shen Miaomiao spun it around:

“This ti, we’re bringing... a ga that will satisfy every player’s taste buds! A creation that will present the gaming world with a true Manchu-Han Banquet!”

Cooking, stir-frying—

Isn’t that just satisfying taste buds and serving up a True Manchu-Han Banquet (in the literal sense)?

Whoa!!!

Tian Tian’s body visibly shivered in excitent.

That sounded so epic!

Could it be that Golden Wind had been secretly working on a major surprise?

But before she could ask further, the stage announcer’s voice bood out:

“Ladies and gentlen, developer representatives and outstanding designers, honored guests and dia friends,

please take your seats.

Our conference is about to begin...”

Hearing this, Tian Tian had no choice but to pause the interview:

“Alright, thank you, Ms. Shen. We’ll end the interview here for now. I’m looking forward to the showcase later to see Golden Wind’s ga in action.”

The two shook hands again, wrapping up the interview.

Shen Miaomiao sat back down, secretly amused.

Let’s see how it all plays out.

Not that she was expecting much from the ga itself.

After all, it was just a cooking ga—no matter how flashy, it was basically like Little Master Chef with sparkly food.

What she was excited for... was the look on the other devs’ faces once the ga was revealed.

Watching those shocked, bewildered expressions in the middle of this grand Asia DevCon—that was going to be priceless.

As she thought about it, the lights in the venue dimd.

The 6th Asia Esports Ga Developers Conference officially kicked off amidst thunderous applause!

First, Jiang Yingcai, representing the organizing committee, took the stage for the opening speech.

Then, last year’s Crown Award-winning developer went up, giving a speech and ceremoniously returning the Asia Best Esports Ga Crown and Asia Best Esports Ga Designer Scepter to the committee.

It was tradition at the Asia DevCon:

The crown and scepter weren’t permanent trophies.

Winners got to keep them for four years, after which the committee would produce a 1:1 replica for them to keep as a souvenir, while the originals were returned.

After the handover, it was ti for the mont everyone had been waiting for—the Ga Showcase Segnt.

According to the rules, the ten gas eligible for the Crown would take the stage one by one.

The designer or company rep would introduce the investnt amount, ga genre, and core gaplay—essentially a pre-launch showcase.

After that, 200 gaming dia outlets and 500 invited guests would cast anonymous votes for the Most Anticipated Ga Award, which would be presented at the closing ceremony.

Once the host finished explaining the rules, the venue erupted in applause.

One by one, the developers took the stage.

As expected for an esports dev conference, the gas were mostly shooters, racing gas, sports gas, MOBAs, and card gas.

Among them, the one that received the loudest applause was Sunfire Legacy, an FPS ga from Kintaku Gas of Korea, presented by lead designer Park Dongwang.

It was a modern warfare-thed multiplayer shooter, and what really wowed the crowd was its unique 20-Player Free-for-All Weapon Roulette Mode.

In this mode, everyone fought solo—

Every kill earned experience points.

But once you ranked up... your weapon actually downgraded!

Each level-up dropped you down the weapon tiers: from assault rifles, to SMGs, to sniper rifles, pistols, and finally... the knife!

Every upgrade was a fresh challenge for your skills.

The first player to score a kill with the knife would be crowned the winner.

This fresh and exciting concept instantly sparked a buzz among the audience.

The venue erupted in whispered discussions, amazed gasps, and excited chatter from the dia, players, and even other developers—