Chapter 19: Dissatisfaction

"Finally, it's done!"

Three weeks. That's how much time it took before he perfected the script-reading AI in the game. He has been trying it on every game mode for hours and even played all of the sub-stories that have been implemented in the game. He has checked everything and found the results satisfactory.

Now, everything he puts in CGA will always have a voice!

He has also made sure to make the additional content in other game modes in his little spare time. It's possible for him now, being capable of doing the work of an entire team by himself. He has all the tools and resources for it. Knowledge and talent have also made what should have taken months into days when implementing what he wanted to put on the next month's update.

Idle Power was also a lot easier. He barely needed to animate or make any new system within it, as everything was already in the system. The only additions he had to put in were only new mobs and some new interactable objects, which would barely take an hour with his current skills.

He only has a week before the next month. He thought about it and shook his head. The fighting game mode and the bullet hell game mode wouldn't make it at the same time. He has to pick one and add the other on the July update.

"Well... that will be next time. I have to make more servers and check my server room again."

He also hasn't neglected his physical industries. The server room was important for the continued operation of his game, so he always visited it every three days. As he was also quite busy, he could only visit his voice-over studio at QC twice a week. He could barely guide the girls on their voice acting, so he has been delegating it to the voice coaches that Fernandez has recruited for him. He used the improved teaching talent he got from his power to make them better voice coaches. They still weren't at his level, where he could convey concepts easily with just a single hour, but his two-hour seminar on them improved the skills of those voice coaches at guiding voice actors on speaking either English or Japanese.

That was enough for him.

He quickly started making preparations to go outside while his mind was still preoccupied with the future updates on his game.

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"This is... not desirable..." Mia spoke, causing the others to look at her.

They are currently in the cafeteria, just done doing their recording for Mike's new game. They were eating a generous portion of a meal as their lunch for free. Surprisingly, this cafeteria doesn't charge anything for them. A foreign concept for most of them because usually, even in telecommunication companies, free meals in the cafeteria weren't included in employee benefits. If there was a free meal in it, the portion was so small that it would be preferable to just go outside and have their lunch break.

This was another thing Mike put in for any employees, regardless if they were contractual or regular. For Mike, it was a way to spend more money. For them though, this was too generous. Even the janitor and the cooks working in this cafeteria were moved at this benefit.

Anyway, the other girls perked up after Mia said that. Though they have an inkling of what she wanted to say. Catherine was the one who responded, moving the conversation.

"What do you mean?" It's just pretense for Mia to say what's on everyone else's mind.

"You know... letting AI take care of the voices on CGA."

The others became silent at that, a few frowning and others feeling down. That was the problem. They understood Mike's reasoning. At the pace he was making content, they couldn't keep up. When they were done voicing a single character story in that month, Mike had already made a new game mode along with an entire story arc. They still didn't know just how he could do so much in such little time. No one has been helping him develop his game after all.

Regardless, due to this speed, they knew it would take years before they could even reach the official version release of the game.

Despite that, everyone felt unwilling to part ways with their role. It might be a non-profit game created by the community itself, and such a thing as owning a character's role shouldn't be enforced that much because, once again, community-driven projects like this were just for fun. It wasn't a serious corporate product that would be sold all over the world. It maintained itself through sheer passion and the donations of its members. Character voices could be changed at the whims of the community if they wanted.

Even with that fact, they became attached to the characters themselves. Even the newer ones like Mia wanted to be the ones who kept voicing their characters. They felt dissatisfied being only a voice donor on a game that they saw as something they were a part of. It felt like they were disassociated by the development itself. Like they were just merely strangers who barely did anything at all.

They also came to like the characters they voiced. It felt like an achievement in itself that they managed to voice a character, and with it they became closer to the character they were voicing, relating to them more as time passed.

"But you know, we really can't keep up with it. Like, I hate to admit it, but we don't have all the time just to cover the entirety of the game. Just at the current version alone, it's obvious Mike will be putting a lot of story content in it. Can we really spare the time voicing every single thing in it?" Ella said, making the others sigh in resignation.

She is right. They weren't obligated to voice act in the game. All of them were doing this in their spare time. Even if Mike was paying them, they weren't actually spending all day recording new voice lines for the game characters. It's all voluntary. At most, they spent five hours before they came back to their lives. None of them stay for an entire week just to keep up with the updates. Only Catherine, Eleanora, Sunshine, and Laika go here four times a week because they are Mike's friends. Mia and the others only do this two or three days in a week.

They might be the one voicing in the game, but the entire thing was Mike's passion project. Demanding him to pace himself for their sake was just being selfish when he was the one making the game itself. They could quit, and he would still continue making the game.

"... I really don't like this." They perked up, turning to Laika, who said that with a frown.

Catherine's lips thinned, a complicated feeling rolling within her heart. She really doesn't know what to do about this. She felt like it would be rude if they demanded Mike let them when he was the one giving them a chance to contribute to his game. He could do it on his own if he felt like it. Catherine felt that it would be possible for him.

'... It still felt strange thinking that Mike can do all of this. I wonder just where he is hiding such monstrous talent and why he is just showing it right now. Or more like, where did he get all the skills to make this possible?'

It was one of the mysteries within her mind too. What Mike was doing was unbelievable. Who could make entire game updates by their lonesome? It was Mike, apparently.

With such monstrous talent, Catherine wondered whether their help was even needed. She could easily imagine Mike somehow cooking something up behind the scenes to give voices to his game even without any voice donors, which was something she wouldn't have thought a year ago if not for Mike showing them what he could actually do.

'It felt like Mike got those mysterious shounen power-ups but in real life...'

She put those thoughts away from her mind, turning her attention back to her friends and acquaintances, who are still talking about it with some dissatisfaction on their faces. She understood where Mike was coming from, but she could also relate to their trouble. She also wanted to personally voice the characters in CGA instead of letting some unfeeling computer script take her role.

She usually responded noncommittally as she empathized with Mike's decision, but it was becoming frequent as of late. Mia and the others were becoming more vocal about it despite understanding the problem itself. Catherine felt it was up to her to do something about this. So she answered differently than what she usually does.

"Okay, I'll talk to Mike."

The others perked up, a bit nervous though at the same time hopeful. Their eyes look at her with relief and anticipation clear in their faces.

"Sorry, Cath..."

"It's fine. It's not like Mike will change his mind, so I can't really promise anything..."

"That's fine."

After that response to them, Catherine quickly made a short text to Mike, inviting him to a talk at some restaurant near his place. She was the one trying to persuade him, so she thought it would be more appropriate to be the one to go in his place than to force him to go to hers.

Just as she was done texting him, she realized what this entailed.

'Wait... I invited him to a restaurant? Doesn't it feel like I am asking him on a date!? '

Her cheeks heated up for a bit before she shook her head.

'N-no... It's fine. We're just friends. Also, this is just right. He's going to be a company president soon. He should learn how to act in high-class establishments like a restaurant.'

She thought about it for a bit more, her heart beating a bit faster even as she tried to not show her flustered feelings outwardly.

'... Well, it seems like I'll have to dress nicely too. It will be bad if I go there in my casual clothes...'

She thought to herself, feeling a bit fidgety at the thought of coming alone with him in a restaurant.

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Mike doesn't know why he was called out of nowhere by Catherine, but he still took the time to tidy himself up, wore something decent, and then went to the designated location with his spare time. He wasn't really doing so much anyway, as he had already implemented what he wanted to put in the game. Now he was just busy implementing the Magic Exhibition mode, or what was known as the bullet hell game mode in the game. He was quite close to finishing the prototype. He was just having a hard time about the part for its ease of use and better game experience.

When he got there, he tensed up seeing that the restaurant she picked looked a lot more gaudier than what he was expecting.

'I didn't think there was something like this in San Jose.' He thought in surprise and a bit of apprehension as he stepped towards the door.

After telling the sharply suited man who stopped him his name, he was let in and then guided by a waiter to where Catherine was sitting. Seeing a beauty sitting in the seat was not what he was expecting when he got there.

"What, surprised?" The beautiful woman wearing a nice teal one-piece dress said, a smile gracing her lips. "It's me, Cath. Can't you recognize me?" She said, her eyes narrowing into crescents as she gazed at him with a mischievous smirk.

"What...?"

He was shocked. This was the first time he saw Catherine in a dress. She had some light makeup on, and the way the dress hugged her body, along with that slit that showed off one of her legs, made her look gorgeous. Even he, who doesn't really find real women attractive, felt his heart skip a beat. Thankfully, he didn't gawk at her like an idiot and recovered himself before ten seconds had passed.

"Sorry, it's my... well, yeah. You look beautiful, Cath." He subconsciously raised his head behind his back and stopped himself midway when he remembered where he was. He stayed his hands on his lap, feeling a bit tense and out of his depth in this high-class place.

Catherine chuckled before waving her hand even as she felt her cheeks flushing for a bit at the compliment.

"Why, thank you." She pushed her hair behind her ear with her hand while still gazing at him with an amused expression. "You also look great in your suit. I thought you would come in casual clothes like usual..."

"Hey, I am not always clueless. Stop teasing me..." He faked a cough. "Anyway, why did you call me here? This place is too expensive for just a casual meeting, right?" Just after he said that, he raised an eyebrow when he heard her sigh in apparent exasperation. "What?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"Really, you..." Catherine just shook her head, glancing at him as if he was hopeless. "Whatever."

"... What?" Mike was still confused why she was gazing at him like that.

After a while, they have their appetizers served to them. The two finally started talking.

"So the others want to voice on CGA again?"

"Not the others. We want to."

Mike stopped his spoon, putting it back on the bowl of soup as he contemplated about it. Seeing him look like that, Catherine immediately added.

"We really understand where you are coming from, and I think you do have the talent to make a perfect AI to voice on CGA, but it still felt frustrating, you know? It feels like something has been stolen by us..."

"Uh, no... it's not like that." Mike weakly responded before stopping, seeing her look at him seriously.

"Don't worry. I'm not trying to pressure you. The others just want to let you know what they feel," she said, wincing for a bit seeing Mike's expression.

Mike quickly noticed he was frowning and nursed his expression immediately. He still felt it unfair that they were feeling like that when he was the one making the game himself.

'This is why I didn't want to...' He shook his head. 'No, bad. I can't think like that about my friends.'

He realized he was being a bit of an ass to them. He's not the only one making the game. The others were helping him, and they weren't just pieces of the program or his talent where they would just do whatever based on his will alone. They could feel, and they have their own thoughts. Thinking that they should be satisfied just because he was the one who initiated the project and they were simply helping him voluntarily as if he were entitled to it made him feel terrible.

'It wouldn't take long before I have to work with other people too. I cannot be thinking of everything on my own. I need to share my own thoughts and accept the opinions of the other people too. Talent alone cannot take care of everything. Even if it can, others might find themselves inadequate just because I'm doing everything by myself...'

He felt a bit complicated at that. He really wanted to be more efficient. Letting AI take care of some of the work he couldn't do was the best option he had. It was his dream game. He didn't want his players to wait for a long time. He knew the pains and frustration of waiting for an update for months just to get something mild like additional voice lines or another additional interaction that players could experience in barely a minute. He wanted to spoil his players with updates that were so chunky they couldn't finish them in a single day. He also wanted this update to be meaningful with the game itself, while at the same time it wasn't so overwhelming that it made players fed up.

Doing that, though, doesn't really consider the feelings of the voice actresses. He might have thought he was making things easier for them, but he realized that wasn't the case at all. He couldn't just assume whatever he thought normal would be the same for the others.

'But how can I do that... I cannot just wait for them to voice everything. I also don't want parts of the game to remain unvoiced just as a compromise. I want the best experience for my players and the game itself!'

His brows knitted on themselves as he thought hard about it.

"Mike?"

He looked up, being taken out of his thoughts when he heard Catherine's voice calling out to him in worry.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? You're looking like a hannya with how much your brows are knitting together."

"That's rude. I don't look like that..." Mike quickly calmed his expression.

"Fufufu..."

"Why are you laughing?" Mike felt helpless, clueless as he watched Catherine chuckle at him.

Catherine shakes her head. "Anyway, don't think too much about it. You do know we're in the middle of our meal, right?" Catherine said.

"... Right, why invite me to this restaurant? We can just meet at Happibee if you want to talk about this..." Mike asked innocently.

"Eh? There's no reason... I just feel like it." She was a bit startled being asked like this, quickly waving her hand. Feeling his stare, sweat formed on her forehead, and she quickly tried to find a reason. "Right! You're going to be a company president soon. You have to learn how to act in environments like this one. That's it! That's definitely my reason!"

"... I don't think I'll be going to high-class restaurants just because I'm building my own company though..."

"No! You need it. Trust me, learning now will be good for you!"

"... Fine, I guess."

Catherine sighed in relief after Mike dropped the subject. She doesn't know why, but she felt it would be embarrassing admitting that she thought she was inviting him to a date, even if it was unintentional on her part.

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After some time, they were done, and they were just going to be taking care of the bills.

"Stop, I'll take care of the bills," Mike quickly called out as he noticed her opening the zippers of her handbag.

"Huh?"

Before Catherine could even protest, Mike had already called the waiter and was now talking to him. After a bit of conversation, he showed his card and used it to pay for their meal before they finally stood up.

"... I can just pay, you know?" Catherine finally said, her head lowering for a bit, hiding her flustered look.

"Nah. I'm the guy here. It will be bad if I let you pay for us," Mike replied with a wave of his hand.

"Oho, what's this? Acting like a gentleman now?"

"Hey. I'm not acting. I'm always like this."

Catherine chuckled before turning to him after they stepped out of the restaurant.

"Well, this has been a pleasant morning. I hope we do this again sometime..."

Mike's eyes widened for a bit, and Catherine belatedly realized what it sounded like.

"What I mean by that is that we should hang out again next time! That's it!"

"... Yeah... right... We can do that." Even Mike doesn't know how to respond to that.

"Whatever. Just... well, yeah. We're waiting for your response."

"... Yeah. I'll think about it..."

After saying so, they finally said their farewells to each other.

Mike was still confused about this sudden lunch date, but he decided not to think so much about it and focus on something more important.

"Right... I have to go back home."

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Two days later, Mike called the people in their messenger group chat. It was easier to tell them in this group chat than to go all the way using Accord.

Mike: Okay, this is what we are going to do.

I'll let you voice on CGA but with some conditions.

I will still use AI to fill up every unvoiced part of the current version of the game, but now you can choose which part of the script you want to voice, and I'll consider replacing the AI voice with yours if it meets my standards.

Next, I actually finished the entire arc of one of Shirocc's Worlds on the main story but decided to cut off the final parts of that arc, as it's the climax. Laika said she wants to voice the entirety of the climax, and the others also seem to want to do it, so I decided to let you all voice the entire climactic scene of this arc.

It means the update will only go up to chapter 35, but it's fine, I guess. I think having the climax voiced by the voice actors themselves will be more authentic at conveying the grandness of that scene than just leaving it to the AI.

As for The Wandering Guild, I'll put my AI there so there will be no need to voice act in there anymore. I think it doesn't really need voice actresses that much, and there are no named characters in that game, unlike CGA. Tell me if you think you're alright with this.

That's all. I'll be giving you the script later when I arrive at the studio.

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"I can't believe he'll actually let us voice on CGA again!" Mia said, excitement clear in her voice.

Others from their cosplay community were also surprised. They always see Mike as this stern-looking, stubborn perfectionist whenever he comes here to coach them personally. To think a single talk with Catherine would change his mind made them excited.

As for Mike deciding to take over The Wandering Guild's voice roles with the AI, they didn't mind. Just like what Mike said, there were no main characters in The Wandering Guild. Players would just customize their own characters and let them explore the fantasy world. That's just it. It would be better for the AI to take care of its voices rather than them.

"Hehehe, what did you do, Cath? Did you seduce Mike? Oh my gosh! That's so bold of you, Cath!"

"I did not!"

"Ow! Cath's being violent again!"

The others giggled as they watched the two do their own comedy act again. As they were having fun in the cafeteria, Mike entered the room carrying a bundle of scripts.

"Oh, Mike, is that the script?"

Sunshine's prompt caused the others to finally notice him. All of them are looking at Mike with anticipation.

"Right." He said as he got close to them. Then he put the bundle on the table before continuing. "I won't take much of your time. Just know that within these scripts, every playable character in the current version is included. Anubis will be the main highlight of the climatic scene, so you will have to do your best this month, Laika." Mike glanced at Laika at that before returning his gaze to them. "Record your lines at your own convenience. I'll review them next week and tell you if they're good. The remaining chapters will be put in the June update, so that means you only have a month to finish it all."

The others listened carefully, nodding, and a few took a peek at the script and read ahead. After a while, Mike was finally done explaining things to them.

"That is all. Well then... I'll be on my way then..."

"Mike." He turned to Laika, who called out to him. "Thanks. I won't let you regret giving us this chance!"

"... I look forward to it." Mike smiled before he went on his way.

The others stared at Laika. They didn't expect Laika to say that with such a strong expression. She was usually calm and only stared at her portable game console, playing it even when she was in a gathering. Laika doesn't really mind the stares, though. Her mind was more focused on the script on their table.

Taking one of the scripts, she skimmed through it while her mind was only thinking of one thing.

'Finally, I can help Mike out with this!'

Laika actually felt sad when Mike decided to leave the voice to an AI. It felt like her resolve last month was a waste when Mike declared that. Now that they were given a chance, she strengthened her resolve.

'I'll be better than the AI!' She thought to herself, a fire lit in her heart.

She didn't want some artificial voice to defeat her, the original voice for the characters on CGA!

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Cute Girls Academy v0.4.0 wasuploaded in the first week of May. This new version only got a few updates, like a new world on the mockup challenges, an additional one thousand questions on each subject and grades on the mock exam, a few more stages in the defense simulation, some optimizations, and a few additional pieces of equipment and skills for each student.

The main highlights of the updates were two things. The update on Shirocc's Story in Story Mode, and the most surprising of all, which was the entire game mode and story having a voice.

Everyone was surprised. They were more surprised when they learned that the voices in the game were made with the help of an AI. It was written on the update logs on its witch.io page.

AI voice programs have existed for years now. Though most programs known on the internet weren't so sophisticated that they could replace real-life voice actors. At most, they could be used as a novel reader or document reader in the background while a person does their own thing. Even the most advanced AI could only sound flat, and these most advanced AIs were the most organic-sounding ones.

They were amazed at the game developer's ingenuity and wondered just how he managed to make it possible.

Of course, they were mostly accepting of this fact. They knew Castro Games only had a single developer. That has always been the case since last year. So they weren't complaining that much. The only ones who had some opinions on this were newbie players and a very few people who just don't like AI content in general. There were only a few of them, so it doesn't really affect the community's opinion of the game.

Even if it did, Mike would continue on this path, as it was much preferable to keep up with his self-imposed schedule rather than waiting for the voice actors to keep up with him.

There was also an update on Idle Power and another update for The Wandering Guild's development, though the latter wasn't talked about as much as the former. Idle Power, being an officially published game in Woogle, had a lot of fans talking about it. There wasn't a new stage in this update, but there were ten more new unlockable powers, equipment, and titles that have been added in the game, which made the players satisfied.

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This month, Mike put Idle Power's progression to the side and put more of his attention on CGA. He planned to upload The Wandering Guild in September, so he still had time to polish it. CGA was something he was trying to focus on because of one reason.

He couldn't implement the fighting game and bullet game mode on the game!

It would be easy, of course, if not for the fact that the game was a mobile game!

Both gameplay weren't compatible with mobile games due to how they were played. Fighting games needed a series of inputs, even simple ones, if he wanted them to have depth. Touchscreen buttons in a fighting game weren't that reliable due to the fact that they were sensitive. It was also unwieldy and blocked the screen most of the time. A simple solution was to make command inputs simple, like just doing special attacks and the like with a single push of a button, but Mike doesn't want it like that. It would be too dull, and it still didn't solve the problem of the buttons covering the entire screen or being too small for players to push at all.

Gameplay experience on bullet hell games was also greatly affected on a mobile platform. It had the same problem as implementing a fighting game mode on a mobile phone. The controls blocked the screen, or it was too small; the game wouldn't even recognize player input at all. Even forgoing the button interface and just implementing touchscreen capability in its control still doesn't solve the problem that players' thumbs or their fingers would block their sight of the character. Players couldn't just play a bullet hell game without being able to see their character.

There was a simple solution of just turning the bullet hell patterns fewer, wider in gaps, and easier in general, but once more, Mike doesn't want that. A bullet hell game should be like Eastern Project, with colorful bullets littering the entire screen so that it looks impossible to dodge at first. For him, that's the most ideal type of bullet hell game.

'Then, should I port the game to the PC?'

That's one possible way to solve both problems, though he was hesitant to do that. He still needed to develop its mobile version even if he tried porting the game into the PC platform. Abandoning the mobile platform was out of the question.

'If I am going to port the game to the PC, I want both games to have the same experience instead of being vastly different!'

For him, porting a game to another platform should have the same smooth player experience as its predecessor. If one platform had an excellent gameplay experience while the other did not, he wouldn't do it. He wanted both to be the best!

"What to do with this...?"

That's what he was thinking as he looked at the half-finished codes in his computer.

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Laika booted up her computer. After operating her computer for a moment, she was done setting up for her stream. Her virtual avatar was on the screen of her stream, and after connecting her phone to her computer, it was time for her to start the stream.

Allypop: Finally, I can't wait!

Bakubaku: Main story! Main story!

Olmecsize: I stopped at chapter 10 last week. Still haven't played the new updates in the main story.

Kill-UA: Dreamy streaming the main story? Finally!

Weewoo: Finally!

Ui-hara: Here we go!

Kakikeko: LETS GO

IDOU: LETS GO

OP_Character: It's finally starting

Allypop: Good morning Dreamy!

Nick: This will be exciting!

After glancing at the chat room, the game finally loaded on her phone. Just like what they said, she was going to stream the main story.

She hasn't done it yet because there were still very few chapters in it last month. Now that it had 35 chapters in it, it had a decent length that she could make at least two parts of it on her stream.

"Good morning, Dreamers. Dreamy Fluff is here, and now I'm going to play the main story. Yey... everyone has been requesting it since last month, and now I'm finally playing it. Are you happy? You better be, because I am excited to do this too!"

It wasn't just an in-character thing either; she was actually excited to stream the main story. She had read the script, and the glimpse she got from it made her excited to see it on the screen.

'As for the climax... the best! I have to do my best to meet Mike's expectations and elevate that climax scene!'

As those thoughts ran through her mind, she finally started picking the main story mode after hearing Anubis' greeting from the main lobby on the game.

"Let's do this, everyone."