Game Director from Hell

Chapter 57: First Draft

The first proposal is complete.

I printed the proposal on A4 paper using the printer.

As I looked at it quietly, excitement filled me.

“From here.”

My first AAA game of my life will start from here.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the final product will look like it does now.

Like any other game, this proposal will undergo about 90% modification during development.

That’s fine.

Even that is part of the development process.

I was overwhelmed by the uncontrollable excitement.

***

“This is our third title.”

I called a meeting.

In the meeting room were the core team members: Han Seorim, Jo Ayoon, and the excited duo with Myungkyu.

The subtitle projected across the screen with the beam projector was “Hellic 3: Sinister Sword.”

Now, even with nearly twenty developers on board, the reason for having only them in this meeting was quite clear.

Except for Myungkyu, it seemed like the rest of them were not familiar with the organizational culture. This temporary arrangement was made to establish a hierarchy.

Authority comes from rank, and rank determines authority.

How can one easily ignore this proposition?

Even thinking about the future, it was the right decision to create distinctions like eligibility for participating in the meeting.

Of course, that’s not the important point right now.

I immediately got to the main topic.

“The core of the genre remains the same as before. Action-adventure. The only difference is that we’ll pay a bit more attention to the ‘action’ this time. It’ll be different from the previous game that was led by the narrative.”

“What do you mean by paying more attention to the action?”

“Exactly what it means.”

There’s no need to complicate things.

Action in a game is the most fundamental source of fun that players experience.

If we were to summarize what’s needed to define and complete it… Yes.

“You all need to focus on the sense of impact, character animations, sound effects, and the settings of the physics engine.”

For the result of ‘combat,’ there needed to be organic coordination between different parts.

Hellic 3 starts from there.

The combat system should be completed immediately.

Other elements can be worked on slowly.

“We won’t start on the visual design aspects for now. Ayoon, you’re in the same boat. Rather than working on BGM or other music, focus on creating the sound effects for hits and impacts. Stay with the art team for a while. Myungkyu, how’s the console porting for Hellic 2 coming along?”

“We’ve created a basic version that runs, but it still needs optimization. There are also some bugs to fix.”

“Then let’s split the team in half. Myungkyu, you’ll work on the optimization. QA department personnel have joined us. Coordinate with them.”

Finally, a testing department had been established at Studio Rewind.

Now, there would be no more unfortunate situations where programmers had to run the game dozens of times to catch bugs.

Anyway, I continued, trying to make the team members nervous.

“This is our first AAA title. We can’t rely on our previous reputation. In fact, our reputation might even be a hindrance. We need to prove ourselves in the packaged game market. Are we just rookies who can succeed in the indie scene, or are we capable of competing in the AAA market?”

It was harsh, but it was the reality.

The development process is long. The effort and hard work put in goes without saying, and the break-even point is incredibly high in this industry.

But the public’s evaluation doesn’t care about all that.

Results.

In any market, that’s what matters, but especially in the AAA market, it’s not about effort but about results.

If the sales figures don’t support it, then it’s bankruptcy.

“Let’s stay focused. We’ll send the proposal to each department for a thorough review and evaluation. Provide feedback promptly.”

That’s how the first meeting for Hellic 3 concluded.

***

A week after the meeting,

“Get it for me.”

Han Seorim appeared.

What she had pulled out with the files were necessary equipment.

So, it was motion capture equipment.

Not all of it, just a few widely used ones.

Even so, it was expensive.

“It’s expensive.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Really expensive.”

“Sunbae, why are your hands trembling like that?”

I suddenly thought that this cunning silver spoon had lost touch with human emotions.

There was no way to refuse her.

After all, we had to use motion capture equipment for our work.

Why bother buying it when there’s a motion capture studio? That was a pointless question.

You just had to think of one of Han Seorim’s characteristics.

When she wants to use new technology, she studies it until she’s satisfied with it.

In other words, she needed time to tinker with the equipment herself in order to work smoothly.

“It’s a necessary expense.”

From the perspective of talent management, it could be considered an investment in Han Seorim.

And there was more to it.

Motion capture was a crucial graphic design element in creating character and monster animations.

Especially in AAA games, the need for it was even greater.

Think about it, the trouble we went through to create Alice’s animations for Hellic 2.

Even after all that effort, some users pointed out the stiffness of the animations in the reviews.

Of course, we had the shield of being an indie game to some extent, but now that was no longer possible.

To create AAA games now and in the future, having the infrastructure to perform motion capture ourselves was necessary.

Who knew if Han Seorim’s studies would come in handy in the future.

However,

“Why was this so expensive?”

The change in the cost of technological equipment over the years was truly painful.

“Tell Gilsang to handle it, I’ll talk to him.”

“Sunabe, what’s wrong?”

“My heart.”

“Huh?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“You’re so vague. Anyway, please buy it quickly. I want to try something.”

Han Seorim let out a sigh and left.

It would take some time to heal the wounded heart.

Fortunately, it didn’t take too long, and I was able to return to my work safely.

“…Design.”

Not artistic design, but combat design.

If what I delegated to my team members was the external elements, what I was concerned with was the internal elements.

I was thinking about how to make the combat more enjoyable.

Going beyond that, how to make players want to engage in combat.

Hellic 3 was not just a fighting game.

Players who wanted that would choose a fighting game, not Hellic.

So, what should the focus of Hellic’s combat system be?

The answer was quite clear.

“Growth feedback.”

In games that encompass all combat elements except for fighting games, combat serves as a validation process for character growth.

In other words, the outcome of “combat” is merely a process that validates “character growth.”

Why do we get excited about RPG games?

Why do we enjoy it even though it involves repetitive battles and the repetition of the same skills?

The answer was growth feedback.

The increase in level, changes in items, or the acquisition and combination of new skills in the realm of combat are all validated by the process of combat.

In other words, it was all about expectations and reward psychology.

At the end of the hard work, the reward was growth, and the perceived change in the character was recognized in the realm of rewards, so players willingly endured the fatigue of repetitive labour.

In other words, it was about anticipation and reward psychology.

Hellic was no different.

“This time, as we increase the volume, we need to enhance growth feedback. We’ve expanded the options.”

The growth feedback in Hellic 3 needed to be applied more frequently and to a greater extent than in the previous instalment.

I introduced corpse looting as an element.

The familiar build of the dark magic with limited soul-like recovery, and a characteristic that could be applied to any weapon.

By combining them, players could choose a variety of growth directions, and that would become a way to enjoy the validation process of combat, wouldn’t it?

However, there was a problem here.

“The farming cycle is too long. There are too many monsters to kill to loot a single corpse.”

As planned, the fatigue took away the farming anticipation.

Hellic was not an easy game to begin with.

It operated with limited health up to a certain quarter, separated from the soul-like recovery currency.

Of course, it was not a major obstacle to hunting weak mobs or elite monsters, but the point was that players had to use their heads in combat.

Doing such combat repeatedly? As a result, players would feel “tired” rather than “anticipation” for combat itself.

So, should we increase the number of corpses to loot?

“That’s impossible.”

Having too many characteristics would be a barrier to entry.

If we threw various characteristics at players from the beginning, they would have to simultaneously perform the growth of dark magic and understand the characteristics, and that would lead to a deep fatigue.

How could we solve this problem?

I was deep in thought.

“Boss…!”

I heard a voice.

When I looked up, Jo Ayoon was peeking over the partition.

Jo Ayoon’s eyes sparkled.

Her fingertips were trembling nervously.

Oh, she’s holding candies.

Jo Ayoon couldn’t reach over the partition because of her height.

“Hey, Ayoon?”

“Are you busy?”

“Not really. Why?”

“Oh…!”

With a quick movement, Jo Ayoon disappeared behind the partition and then came back to my side.

“This is for you…!”

She handed me some candy.

Jo Ayoon smiled brightly.

“It’s White Day today.”

Oh, it was White Day.

I thanked her as I absentmindedly accepted the candy.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

On White Day, I remembered the horror game I used to enjoy as a child.

Mr. Suwi became the template for my in-game character and gave birth to characters like Mr. Cancer God and Mr. Mosaic God.

Lost in such thoughts, I suddenly remembered something and asked.

“But today is the day when men give gifts, right?”

“Yes! I received this from my colleagues!”

“Gifts received can be given?”

“Why not…?”

Was she not understanding the implication?

No, I could see it in her innocent face.

She hasn’t considering me as a man!

“Try it! It’s really delicious!”

Someone’s sadness was welling up in the candy.

I pondered it for a moment.

“Well, I’m glad.”

“Yeah? Mr. Myungkyu and Mr. Gilsang liked it too! Oh, by the way, Mr. Gilsang…”

Jo Ayoon chattered away.

I received about two boxes of candy in total, and Gilsang had put them in the break room.

Once again, someone’s sadness hit me hard.

I tried not to dwell on it.

Suddenly, Jo Ayoon’s gaze turned to my monitor.

“Oh, a corpse.”

Jo Ayoon started looking closely at the file related to the corpse that had crossed her mind.

She smiled brightly.

“This looks great. Especially the fact that they’re the corpses of war heroes!”

That’s right.

In the game, the corpses we collect are the actual corpses of war heroes.

Users use those corpses characteristics.

In the hellish battles of the actual war, four pilgrims had done just that.

-It has a strong body. Acquire it.

-Stop it, barbarian! How dare you defile the body of a hero…

-I don’t listen to those weaker than me.

-Naeeeoooooom!!!

The pilgrims were essentially individuals whose spirits resided in weapons rather than bodies.

In other words, when they encountered the corpse of a war hero sleeping during their journey, they would take actions like switching to that corpse.

The motif of corpse looting originally came from there, so I have confidence in the material’s excellence.

Of course, that’s where my confidence ends.

I’m at a loss for how to handle this damn corpse looting.

I found myself returning to my original dilemma.

“But, boss…!”

“Yes?”

“Do you not do corpse fusion?”

“?”

“You know, that thing…!”

Jo Ayoon exclaimed excitedly.

Clutching her fists tightly and blushing, she looked like a boy playing with a robot toy.

“Gwanggaeto’s heart! Genghis Khan’s arms! Yeopo’s legs! Fusion…! King of Mounted Warriors…!”

…As long as it wasn’t about dissecting corpses.

“Why on earth would you have such a gruesome thought?”

Suddenly, Jo Ayoon’s worldview became frightening to me.

Isn’t it scary to think about separating the limbs of historical heroes and merging them together?

All of a sudden…

“…Is it possible?”

His body froze.

“Boss…?”

“Just a moment…”

His head was spinning.

The moment something came to mind.

It was a shock as if he had been hit on the back of his head with a hammer.

“Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Fusion, it wasn’t impossible.

No, it was the perfect solution to the problem that had just come to mind.

“Opus!”

Not considering a corpse as a whole.

Using the items obtained from each corpse as Organ.

In that way, the combination of Organ components would become possible, allowing for various concept plays and derivations!

A very famous game that I knew also had such content as its main feature.

Not now, but in future games.

“Cyberpunk 2077.”

An open-world game set in an era where humans replace their bodies with machines.

The game’s era setting and authenticity were highly praised, and that’s what it was all about.

Implants were one of the core growth elements that determined the direction of the game.

If you could express that in Hellic 3 as “organs from corpses”?

“More options for combinations. Clear growth feedback that can be validated in each battle. In other words, less fatigue.”

Not only that.

The autonomy of combinations, changes in builds due to items, and the resulting concepts.

All of that was closely related to the identity of the Hellic series.

Ah, I see, I was trapped in conventional thinking.

I had pigeonholed “using corpses as a whole” as something that had to be done.

I took a moment to reflect.

No one was forcing me to do that.

No, Hellic 3 already had a form where multiple weapons were placed on one body.

So, wouldn’t it make sense to use corpses in pieces?

I looked at Jo Ayoon.

Her excitement and enthusiasm were now clearly visible.

“Ayoon.”

“Yes?”

“You’re a genius.”

Jo Ayoon looked surprised for a moment, then giggled and scratched the back of her head with a bashful smile.

With that, I sent Jo Ayoon on her way.

Savouring the sweetness of victory, I began to overhaul the planning department’s work related to corpse looting.

It was mid-March, and this was the first revision of the /RomanceMTL