"I'm a researcher at the Battle.net Creative Workshop. My name is Takayuki Unit 01. If any of you have questions, feel free to ask me anytime—I'll do my best to answer. And if you're interested in the Creative Workshop, then follow me through this tutorial. I promise you won't regret it. This will open a whole new world for you."
On the webpage, Takayuki—dressed in a white lab coat—stepped aside, revealing the scene behind him.
It was gameplay footage, and Aiko quickly recognized the game: the widely popular competitive shooter Counter-Strike.
She had played it before, but first-person shooters never really appealed to her. In fact, playing them for too long made her feel a bit unwell, though she could never explain exactly why. Because of that, she usually kept her distance from FPS games.
But right now, she was completely captivated by what she saw on the screen.
Just a second ago, it was the normal Counter-Strike view.
And then, suddenly, the screen turned blood-red. The player's hands—once holding a gun—were replaced with terrifying, monstrous ones. These were clearly not human hands.
Right on cue, Takayuki's voice came in again:"Before, I used to wonder—does a game lose its value after launch? I don't think so. Some games deserve to stay evergreen. And not just by relying on competitive play—but by constantly bringing players fresh, exciting content to keep them coming back."
...
...
"But I'm only one person. My creativity will eventually run dry. There's no way I can keep a single game relevant forever. So I came up with another path: what if we could lower the barrier for game development, while also making it possible for a game to stay fresh from another angle? That's the true purpose of the Creative Workshop."
"And this footage? It's a simple gameplay mod I made by tweaking the base code of the original game. Take a look."
As he spoke, the video dimmed slightly, and a window popped up filled with what looked like code.
"In the past, games couldn't be modified freely—StarCraft's custom maps aside. But now, I've added a brand-new backend to Counter-Strike. I call it the Console. Here, with a bit of easy learning, you can edit mechanics and gameplay features. We've also added swappable model functionality to the game's source files, so players can replace anything they like. A single game no longer needs to have just one mode or one look. With just a few small changes, I created an entirely new mode. I call it: Biohazard Mode."
Takayuki had simplified all the mod code and model implementation as much as possible for the tutorial. In fact, he had pulled an all-nighter just to make it easier for players to dive into creating their own content.
Takayuki Unit 01 then started demonstrating a playthrough of this new game mode—and Aiko was immediately hooked.
This new mode, called Biohazard Mode, started with everyone on the same team. But after a countdown, one or more players were randomly selected as infected. These infected players would then try to infect others, turning them into zombies too. The round would end when either the humans survived long enough—or the zombies infected everyone.
It was a truly fresh idea—gameplay she had never seen before.
"Kazumi! Oto-chan! Stop arguing and come look at this!" Aiko called out, pulling them both toward the screen.
The two girls turned their heads, still a bit confused—until they saw the new game mode.
At first, Kazumi and Oto-chan didn't quite get it. But it didn't take long for them to understand the concept.
"Huh? This is kinda cool. Is this a new game on Battle.net?" Oto-chan asked, clearly intrigued.
Kazumi was a little scared at first—but this mode clearly toned down the horror. Aside from the occasional jump scare when someone transformed into a zombie, it wasn't that frightening.
After watching for a bit, even Kazumi seemed interested.
Though... her brain was still thinking about farming mechanics.
Aiko shook her head. "No, it's not a new game. It's... how do I explain this... it's a new feature on the platform. It's called the Creative Workshop. You can use it to freely modify existing games and create new modes."
"Creative Workshop?" Oto-chan tilted her head, trying to wrap her mind around it.
"Let's just keep watching. You'll get it soon enough."
What followed wasn't just a gameplay showcase of Biohazard Mode—it was a tutorial on how to use the Creative Workshop to build your own game modes.
The programming was simplified to the point that even someone like Kazumi, who wasn't great at coding, could understand it at a glance.
At the very least, she now knew how to import her favorite character models into Counter-Strike and give the game a fresh new look.
Aiko found herself imagining—what if her favorite anime or movie characters showed up in a Counter-Strike match? That would be so fun.
Meanwhile, Oto-chan was becoming more and more focused.
She was finally starting to understand what the Creative Workshop was all about.
The tutorial on the webpage wrapped up quickly, and the screen returned to normal—now showing a new menu of options:
Biohazard Mode Tutorial
Hide-and-Seek Mode Tutorial
Farming in Counter-Strike Tutorial
1,000-Player Battle Simulator in Counter-Strike Tutorial
A wide variety of mod tutorials were listed, and each one was short and easy to follow.
Aiko clicked on the Biohazard Mode tutorial—it was less than an hour long.
With just a bit of effort, anyone could use it to learn how to build a zombie mod in Counter-Strike. And once they mastered that, it wouldn't be hard to invent new game modes on their own.
"Aiko, Oto-chan! This thing is awesome! And it looks super easy!" Kazumi said excitedly.
This was the first time she felt like she could develop an entire game on her own.
Even if she wouldn't make money from it, it still felt really meaningful. And the sense of achievement from creating something all by yourself? Unmatched.