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, excitent filled .

“From here.”

My first AAA ga 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 ga, this proposal will undergo about 90% modification during developnt.

That’s fine.

Even that is part of the developnt process.

I was overwheld by the uncontrollable excitent.

***

“This is our third title.”

I called a eting.

In the eting room were the core team mbers: 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 eting was quite clear.

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

Authority cos 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 eting.

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

I imdiately got to the main topic.

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

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

“Exactly what it ans.”

There’s no need to complicate things.

Action in a ga is the most fundantal 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 imdiately.

Other elents can be worked on slowly.

“We won’t start on the visual design aspects for now. Ayoon, you’re in the sa 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 so bugs to fix.”

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

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

Now, there would be no more unfortunate situations where programrs had to run the ga dozens of tis to catch bugs.

Anyway, I continued, trying to make the team mbers 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 ga 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 developnt 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 departnt for a thorough review and evaluation. Provide feedback promptly.”

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

***

A week after the eting,

“Get it for .”

Han Seorim appeared.

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

So, it was motion capture equipnt.

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 equipnt 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 ti to tinker with the equipnt herself in order to work smoothly.

“It’s a necessary expense.”

From the perspective of talent managent, it could be considered an investnt in Han Seorim.

And there was more to it.

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

Especially in AAA gas, 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, so users pointed out the stiffness of the animations in the reviews.

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

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

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

However,

“Why was this so expensive?”

The change in the cost of technological equipnt 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 sothing.”

Han Seorim let out a sigh and left.

It would take so ti 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 mbers was the external elents, what I was concerned with was the internal elents.

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 ga.

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

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

The answer was quite clear.

“Growth feedback.”

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

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

Why do we get excited about RPG gas?

Why do we enjoy it even though it involves repetitive battles and the repetition of the sa 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 ti, as we increase the volu, 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 instalnt.

I introduced corpse looting as an elent.

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 beco 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 ga 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 movent, Jo Ayoon disappeared behind the partition and then ca back to my side.

“This is for you…!”

She handed so 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 rembered the horror ga I used to enjoy as a child.

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

Lost in such thoughts, I suddenly rembered sothing and asked.

“But today is the day when n 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 as a man!

“Try it! It’s really delicious!”

Soone’s sadness was welling up in the candy.

I pondered it for a mont.

“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, soone’s sadness hit 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 ga, 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 .

-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 ca 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 exclaid 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 grueso thought?”

Suddenly, Jo Ayoon’s worldview beca frightening to .

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

All of a sudden…

“…Is it possible?”

His body froze.

“Boss…?”

“Just a mont…”

His head was spinning.

The mont sothing ca to mind.

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

“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 co 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 beco possible, allowing for various concept plays and derivations!

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

Not now, but in future gas.

“Cyberpunk 2077.”

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

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

Implants were one of the core growth elents that determined the direction of the ga.

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 sothing that had to be done.

I took a mont to reflect.

No one was forcing 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 excitent and enthusiasm were now clearly visible.

“Ayoon.”

“Yes?”

“You’re a genius.”

Jo Ayoon looked surprised for a mont, 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 departnt’s work related to corpse looting.

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