The number on the paper refused to change.
Estimated remaining development budget: $48,000.
Ethan stared at it.
Then he looked at Daniel.
Then Maya.
Neither of them said anything.
The office was unusually quiet.
The three of them had been celebrating the progress of Genesis only an hour earlier.
Now the mood had changed completely.
Ethan picked up a calculator.
He started adding numbers.
Rent.
Electricity.
Computers.
Software.
Internet.
Employee salaries.
Food.
Equipment.
Marketing.
Legal expenses.
Everything added up.
And the final number was ugly.
Very ugly.
Ethan placed the calculator down.
"We have enough money for about three months."
Daniel frowned.
"Three months?"
"Maybe four if we cut our expenses."
Maya crossed her arms.
"And after that?"
Ethan looked at her.
"We're out of money."
Silence.
Daniel leaned back in his chair.
"So..."
He looked toward the unfinished game.
"What happens to Genesis?"
Ethan didn't answer immediately.
He walked over to the window.
Outside, the city was still moving.
Cars passed along the road.
People walked home.
Businesses were closing for the evening.
Everything looked normal.
But Ethan knew that his little company was standing at the edge of a cliff.
He had returned to the year 2000 with knowledge of the future.
He had a system that could give him technology years ahead of everyone else.
He had talented employees.
He had a game with enormous potential.
And yet—
He could still fail.
Money was still money.
A brilliant game couldn't pay the bills while it was still sitting on a hard drive.
Ethan turned around.
"Tomorrow we're going to find a way to make money."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"How?"
Ethan smiled.
"I have an idea."
The Problem With Being Ahead
The next morning, Ethan arrived at the office early.
He placed several sheets of paper on the table.
Daniel and Maya arrived a few minutes later.
Daniel looked at the papers.
"What's this?"
"Our financial situation."
Maya picked one up.
"That's... depressing."
"It's worse than depressing."
Ethan sat down.
"We have a very good game."
Daniel nodded.
"Yes."
"We have good technology."
"Yes."
"We have a team capable of finishing it."
"Probably."
Ethan tapped the paper.
"But none of that matters if we can't afford to finish it."
Maya sighed.
"So what do we do?"
Ethan leaned forward.
"We need revenue before Genesis is finished."
Daniel frowned.
"Sell the game early?"
"No."
"Investors?"
"Not yet."
"Loans?"
"Absolutely not."
Daniel looked confused.
"Then what?"
Ethan opened his laptop.
"I've been thinking about our development tools."
The screen displayed NF-Core.
Daniel immediately recognized it.
"The engine?"
"Yes."
Ethan brought up a list.
Development Tools
2D Rendering
Sprite Animation
Collision
Asset Management
Map Editor
Scripting
Procedural Generation
Performance Optimization
Daniel stared.
"You want to sell the engine?"
Ethan shook his head.
"Not the engine itself."
He clicked another folder.
A simplified version of the technology appeared.
"Development tools."
Daniel understood.
"You want to sell tools to other developers."
"Exactly."
Maya leaned forward.
"Would anyone buy them?"
Ethan smiled.
"In our time?"
He stopped himself.
"In this market, developers are always looking for better tools."
That much was true.
Game development was still relatively difficult.
Many developers had to create their own tools.
A good development package could save them months of work.
Ethan didn't need to sell future technology.
He only needed to sell something that looked unusually good for the current era.
And most importantly—
Something that didn't reveal where the technology had come from.
Project ForgeKit
Ethan created a new project.
ForgeKit 1.0
It was based on the technology from NF-Core, but heavily limited.
Ethan deliberately removed anything that would be too advanced.
No modern rendering.
No impossible AI.
No revolutionary physics.
Nothing that would make developers wonder how a tiny company had created it.
Instead, ForgeKit focused on things developers could immediately understand.
A better sprite editor.
A faster map editor.
A simple animation system.
Asset management.
A scripting interface.
Better memory optimization.
And the biggest feature—
Procedural Map Generation.
Ethan knew that feature alone could attract attention.
Daniel spent the next two weeks helping him turn the technology into something usable.
Maya designed the interface.
Ethan wrote documentation.
They tested it repeatedly.
The first version crashed.
The second version corrupted files.
The third version was functional.
The fourth version was actually good.
By the fifth version, Ethan finally smiled.
"That's it."
Daniel clicked around the interface.
"This is really fast."
"That's the point."
Daniel opened a large map.
The tool generated terrain almost instantly.
He stared.
"How?"
Ethan shrugged.
"Optimization."
Daniel narrowed his eyes.
"You say that a lot."
"Because optimization solves many problems."
Daniel shook his head.
"You're hiding something."
Ethan smiled.
"Obviously."
The Price
The next question was harder.
How much should they charge?
Ethan looked at the market.
He didn't want ForgeKit to be expensive.
If it was too expensive, small developers wouldn't buy it.
If it was too cheap, people wouldn't take it seriously.
He eventually settled on:
ForgeKit 1.0
Price: $49.99
Daniel looked at the number.
"That's it?"
"It's affordable."
Maya nodded.
"Most small developers could actually buy that."
"Exactly."
Ethan wanted users.
Not just money.
Every developer who used ForgeKit could potentially become a future customer.
And if ForgeKit became popular?
NovaForge would have a reputation.
That was worth far more than the initial revenue.
The Launch
NovaForge didn't have a marketing department.
They didn't have a huge advertising budget.
They didn't have a publisher.
So Ethan did what small developers had always done.
He made a website.
It was simple.
A dark background.
The NovaForge logo.
A screenshot of ForgeKit.
A description.
And a download button.
At the top was one sentence:
Build your game. Faster.
Ethan looked at the website.
"Good enough."
Daniel wasn't convinced.
"We're going to launch this?"
"Yes."
"With no advertising?"
"We'll advertise."
"How?"
Ethan opened a list of gaming magazines.
There were several publications that covered computer games and development.
He prepared press releases.
He sent review copies.
He contacted developers.
He posted in online communities.
He did everything he could without spending money they didn't have.
Then came launch day.
June 14, 2000.
At exactly 9:00 AM, ForgeKit went live.
Ethan stared at the website.
The download counter read:
0
Daniel sat beside him.
Maya stood behind them.
Nobody spoke.
9:01.
0
9:05.
1
Daniel pointed at the screen.
"We have one."
Maya smiled.
Ethan nodded.
"One."
9:17.
3
10:02.
7
11:45.
14
The numbers slowly climbed.
By lunch:
31 downloads
By 3 PM:
47 downloads
By the end of the day:
83 downloads
Ethan leaned back.
83 wasn't a huge number.
But it meant 83 people had seen their company.
83 people had downloaded their software.
And some of them had actually paid.
Ethan opened the sales report.
ForgeKit 1.0 — Day One
Units Sold: 31
Revenue: $1,549.69
Ethan stared.
Daniel looked over his shoulder.
"We made money."
Maya smiled.
"How much?"
"$1,549."
Daniel laughed.
"That's not exactly an empire."
"No."
Ethan smiled.
"But it's our first sale."
The Reviews
The following morning, Ethan woke up to an email.
Then another.
Then another.
He opened the first one.
Subject: ForgeKit Feedback
I've been looking for a tool like this for months. The map editor is extremely easy to use.
Ethan smiled.
The next one was from a small independent developer.
The procedural map generator alone is worth the price.
Another developer asked:
Are you planning to support more scripting features?
Ethan opened another.
Could you add better animation support?
Then another.
Would you consider a professional version?
Ethan sat back.
"Professional version?"
Daniel looked over.
"What?"
Ethan turned the screen toward him.
Daniel read the emails.
"They like it."
"They really like it."
Maya smiled.
"So what's next?"
Ethan didn't answer.
He was looking at something else.
The sales dashboard.
The numbers were rising.
Slowly.
But consistently.
Day 2
57 sales
Day 3
91 sales
Day 4
134 sales
Day 5
203 sales
Day 6
287 sales
Day 7
412 sales
Ethan stared at the screen.
Week One Revenue: $20,598.88
The office erupted.
Daniel stood up.
"Twenty thousand dollars!"
Maya laughed.
"We can pay the bills!"
Ethan smiled.
Twenty thousand dollars wasn't enough to make them rich.
But it changed everything.
They could continue developing Genesis.
They could pay their employees.
They could buy better equipment.
They could survive.
More importantly—
People were beginning to notice NovaForge.
The System Reacts
That night, after Daniel and Maya had gone home, Ethan stayed behind.
He opened the system.
[Commercial Achievement]
First Product Sold
You have successfully sold your first commercial software product.
Reward: 250 System Points
Ethan smiled.
"250."
His total was now 300 System Points.
He opened the Technology Store.
The Advanced 2D Engine was still sitting there.
Cost: 500 SP
He needed 200 more.
Ethan continued scrolling.
Then he noticed something new.
Business Technologies
Basic Accounting Software — 100 SP
Market Analytics — 300 SP
Customer Management System — 500 SP
Digital Advertising Framework — 750 SP
Online Distribution Platform — 1,500 SP
Cloud Infrastructure — 5,000 SP
Ethan stopped.
"Business technologies?"
The system had expanded.
Perhaps it wasn't just a Game Development System.
Maybe it was something much bigger.
He opened Market Analytics.
A description appeared.
Advanced analytical technology designed to identify market trends, customer behavior, product demand, and pricing opportunities.
Ethan thought about it.
He could use that.
But he didn't want to spend his points yet.
He needed the engine.
The engine would directly improve Genesis.
He closed the store.
"Two hundred more."
Then he looked at the sales report again.
ForgeKit had already earned over twenty thousand dollars.
And sales were still increasing.
Ethan smiled.
"That shouldn't take long."
A New Problem
The following Monday, Ethan arrived at the office expecting another normal day.
Instead, Daniel was waiting for him.
"We have a problem."
Ethan stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Daniel handed him a magazine.
Ethan looked at the cover.
A major gaming publication had featured ForgeKit.
Not the front page.
But a full section.
He read the headline.
"Tiny Studio Releases Surprisingly Powerful Development Tool"
Ethan's expression became serious.
He read the article.
The reviewer praised the software.
They mentioned its performance.
Its ease of use.
Its procedural generation.
Its workflow.
And then came the final paragraph.
NovaForge Interactive may be a small company, but ForgeKit suggests that its developers have ambitions far beyond their current size.
Ethan slowly lowered the magazine.
"That's not good."
Daniel looked confused.
"Why?"
"Because people are starting to notice us."
Maya walked over.
"Isn't that what we wanted?"
"Eventually."
Ethan looked at the magazine again.
"We need to be careful."
He knew the future.
He knew how quickly a small technology company could attract attention.
Investors.
Competitors.
Publishers.
Large corporations.
Everyone would want to know who was behind the product.
And Ethan wasn't ready for that.
Not yet.
He needed more resources.
More employees.
More money.
More technology.
Most importantly—
He needed Genesis finished.
Ethan walked to the whiteboard.
He wrote:
NOVAFORGE — 2000
ForgeKit
Revenue: $20,598.88
Employees: 3
Genesis
Completion: 27%
System Points: 300
Then he added another line.
Goal: $100,000
Daniel looked at the board.
"How long until we get there?"
Ethan smiled.
"Not long."
Maya crossed her arms.
"You sound very confident."
"I am."
He picked up the marker again.
Under the goal, he wrote:
GENESIS RELEASE
And beneath it:
THE FIRST HIT
Ethan looked at his team.
"ForgeKit gave us enough money to keep going."
He pointed toward Genesis.
"Now we're going to make the game that puts NovaForge on the map."
Daniel smiled.
Maya nodded.
The three returned to their computers.
The office filled with the sounds of keyboards.
Outside, the world continued as normal.
Nobody knew it yet.
But somewhere inside a tiny office, three people were working on a game that would soon make the gaming industry start asking one question:
Who exactly is NovaForge?
And Ethan intended to keep that answer secret for as long as possible.