Manager Foster is in charge of the project ""Mecha Age,"" and its regular meetings are split into two sessions. From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. is the leads' meeting, where the heads of the design, programming, and art teams meet with supervisor Jason Foster to discuss more macro-level issues. From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. are the departmental meetings, where each department meets separately, mainly for the department heads to assign tasks.

The Friday regular meeting is essentially a summary of the week's work. Everyone must submit a work report before the meeting, and then each department head has to set the work plan for the following week. No one is allowed to be late.

Of course, the morning leads' meeting doesn't include William Carter, so he continues with his own work. As the world architect, Brian Clark has to attend the leads' meeting, which means no one is bothering William Carter, and he feels quite comfortable.

The meeting still isn't over by lunchtime.

Between last night and this morning, William Carter has pretty much finished all the drawings he needed to do, and the rest of the content is also more or less planned out. He looks up at the clock—12:10—just in time to get up and head to the staff cafeteria for lunch.

After lunch, it isn't until around 1:50 that the meeting room door finally opens and the leads come out.

It's obvious from their faces that things aren't going well. It's probably not just because they got scolded—being hungry is part of it too.

With the departmental meetings starting at 2 p.m., these leads have no choice but to keep going on empty stomachs. For someone like Brian Clark, who doesn't like breakfast, it's even worse—he looks so hungry his face is turning green. But he doesn't dare say anything; after all, with the new version's failure, a lot of the blame falls on him.

The other project members, seeing the leads like this, immediately know—the new version definitely flopped!

Actually, everyone could already sense the gloomy atmosphere from the game and the forums, but now that the data is out, even the last bit of hope is gone.

No doubt, the leads' meeting turned into a blame game. The only question is what the departmental meetings this afternoon will be like.

Chapter 13: The New Version Plan Is Ready

“Everyone, put your work aside. It's time for the regular meeting!”

Eric Turner's face doesn't look good either—probably because he's hungry.

He and Brian Clark were both criticized by Jason Foster before leaving work yesterday, and today they got scolded again along with the other leads. No wonder he's in a bad mood.

But that's to be expected—he's the lead designer. If he doesn't take the blame, who will?

Let the lead programmer and lead artist take the blame? That wouldn't be right.

Let Jason Foster take the blame? That's even more impossible...

Everyone in the design team stands up and follows Eric Turner to the meeting room.

There are several meeting rooms on this floor, and the ones for regular meetings are booked in advance. William Carter follows the rest of the design team into the meeting room and finds a seat in the farthest corner.

Eric Turner looks around to see that almost everyone is here, then glances at William Carter sitting by the door: “Close the door, let's start the meeting.”

Just as William Carter is about to close the door, he sees Jason Foster walk in with a dark expression.

“Manager Foster.” William Carter nods slightly in greeting.

“Mm.” Jason Foster's face is still grim as he heads straight into the meeting room and finds an empty seat.

“All right, let's begin.” Jason Foster says.

Jason Foster is the supervisor, but he was also promoted from lead designer, so he often sits in on the design team's meetings. Only occasionally does he sit in on the programming or art team meetings.

Seeing Jason Foster sit down, Eric Turner feels even more pressure and says with a serious face, “Okay, let's start.”

The atmosphere in the room is a bit heavy. After all, everyone can guess that the new version's data isn't good, so no one says anything.

According to the meeting procedure, the first step is a brief summary of last week's work. This is basically just a formality, and since both Eric Turner and Jason Foster can see everyone's work summaries, it only takes a few minutes.

Next comes the main focus of the meeting: the new version.

Eric Turner says a bit dejectedly, “Everyone probably knows by now that the data after the new version went live isn't good. Our active user numbers and revenue didn't go up—in fact, they've dropped slightly. This is a very dangerous sign. Our expectation was that at least on the first day, there would be a slight increase.”

“Previously, Manager Foster and the other leads discussed this, and for the failure of this new version, our design team has to take the main responsibility. So in today's meeting, everyone can speak freely—talk about the problems with the new version and suggest improvements. Emily Thompson, let's start with you.”

Emily Thompson is the game's lead balance designer, essentially the second most important designer in the team and Eric Turner's right-hand person.

“Uh, well, from a balance perspective, players' reactions to the new mecha have been pretty lukewarm. People aren't very motivated to buy them. Making the new mecha the core feature of the new version might have been a problem...”

After Emily Thompson finishes, Eric Turner looks at the systems designer sitting next to Emily Thompson.

“Well, I think maybe our promotional events are too stingy? The new version's login gift only gives items worth 10 yuan, which seems a bit too little...”

Each of the main members shares their thoughts in turn.

After listening to everyone's comments, Jason Foster's expression remains grim.