My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 14 Bonus
And they don't have to worry too much about players being dissatisfied with the content they create.

This is definitely much less stressful than making a game based on the Journey to the West IP.

There are countless animations, novels, TV series and movies with Journey to the West themes in the domestic art world. Once a game announces that it will use Journey to the West as the driving force for the game's plot setting, players will have to compare the game with all previous Journey to the West-related art works.

And this isn't a fair one-on-one comparison, but rather a comparison of the game's plot, worldview, and various settings with the best aspects of those previous works.

In this case, it is difficult to say whether the game can win.

Unless Zhou Kuang was prepared to destroy his reputation from the beginning and make a pay-to-win game using the Journey to the West IP, then players would curse the game as soon as they saw it and naturally would not make comparisons.

Thinking of this, Zhou Kuang had already approved of Ma Tu's choice in his heart.

"Classic of Mountains and Seas" is currently a very suitable choice of magical modification material.

"I didn't change the map settings, so Yang Ji's paintings are still mainly based on the seabed background."

Ma Tu explained.

Although the protagonist, a hermit crab, can fight his way from the sea to the land, in the original design, 90% of the plot takes place in the sea, with only a small part at the beginning and the end taking place on land. So after reading the original plan, Ma Tu decided to focus more of the plot map on the underwater world.

Moreover, there is so much content in Shan Hai Jing that it is impossible to use it all in one game. It is a good choice to remove half of it first.

Zhou Kuang put down the concept art sketch of the hermit crab, the protagonist of Yang Ji's magical modification, and then picked up another picture.

The painting shows a sketch of a giant crab.

He could tell at a glance that this was the monster that players would encounter at the beginning of the game, and it was also one of the monsters that players would continue to kill throughout the rest of the game.

The green shell of the crab in front of me is huge and covered with moss, curled up and swaying in front of the crab.

The shell is covered with strange purple runes, emitting an eerie light, making it feel ancient and strange.

The two hard claws were covered with large patches of light red, which might be mistaken for blood at first glance, but a closer look revealed that it was just a dark red mark on his claws like a birthmark.

His eyes were like black crystals, set on both sides of his head, staring at the front of the screen.

This is an equally perfect sketch, and since they are all from Yang Ji's hand, the artistic style is very unified, but never repetitive.

Yang Ji used fewer details and decorations in the picture of the crab monster, so even people who don’t understand art will subconsciously have a feeling when seeing the two pictures: the hermit crab is more important than the crab monster!

Zhou Kuang put down the sketch of the crab monster and continued to pick up the other pictures, looking at them one by one.

Whether it was a monster or a boss, Yang Ji changed it to his own style without any sense of incongruity.

Not only has the cute atmosphere of the original been completely lost, but even the style of the monsters has begun to become bizarre.

This is not a criticism, because Yang Ji is quite good at designing this kind of strange monsters. The peculiar appearance makes people unable to take their eyes off it after seeing it, and it must have left a deep impression.

Very good. Looking at these pictures, Zhou Kuang nodded secretly. Yang Ji demonstrated the main art experience he had accumulated in Antarctic Interactive Entertainment very well. He was very proficient in controlling the overall artistic style of the project.

As expected of an S-level art talent, there really wasn't a trace of exaggeration. Thinking of this, Zhou Kuang became even more curious about the game project that Yang Ji was in charge of at Antarctic Interactive Entertainment. With a talent like Yang Ji in charge of art, and the highly capable employees of Antarctic Interactive Entertainment itself, how could the project fail?

If what Yang Ji said before was true, then the cost of the game called "Journey to the West in Troubled Times" should be quite high. The price of failure made him directly go from the main artist to an ordinary high-level concept artist, and even the studio was merged.

"Good, I think we can continue in the current style." Zhou Kuang smiled with satisfaction and nodded.

When Yang Ji and Ma Tu heard this, although it was expected, they still showed joy.

“Our goal was to make a demo in two months, so we finished the concept art for the first area as soon as possible, and then let the modelers start trying to model monsters and environments.”

Yang Ji nodded. He didn't do modeling himself, but his task included the overall artistic style of the project, which naturally included the 3D modeling style. The important thing was to ensure consistency in style.

Many players often complain that the 2D art in the game becomes a different person immediately after being converted to 3D modeling. This phenomenon is more obvious in low-cost two-dimensional games that use 3D modeling in game scenes but still have 2D art.

In some of the more outrageous bad works, it can almost be said that 3D modeling and original paintings have nothing to do with each other.

Apart from the modeler's own ability or the rush caused by funding issues, whether the project's artistic style can be unified depends on the personal ability of the chief artist.

Zhou Kuang handed this task over to Yang Ji, which was a sure thing.

"Ma Tu, you have to work harder and lead the planning team to come up with the settings for these monsters as soon as possible, as well as everything else needed for the demo."

Zhou Kuang knew that the sooner the planning part was completed, the faster the project would progress.

A lot of content must be produced only after the settings that the planners are responsible for are completed. For example, the modeling that the art team needs to complete. They can't just look at Yang Ji's sketches and imagine it out of thin air. At least they have to have the settings and functions of each monster for reference.

If you are not careful, you may end up with something completely different from what you intended.

Zhou Kuang thought about the funds in the company's accounts, gritted his teeth and continued, "For the next two months, employees who work overtime due to rushing the work will be paid double their original overtime pay!"

Seeing Ma Tu's surprised look, he continued, "Based on the time it takes the planning team to complete their work, bonuses will be given to all planners. Everyone will get one! The sooner you finish, the more you'll get."

Ma Tu was so happy about this that he couldn't stop grinning. Who would complain about getting too much money?

Zhou Kuang did not give bonuses to other groups, but only promised a bonus to the planning group. Yang Ji had no objection to this.

The reason why he couldn't give bonuses to all groups was mainly due to a shortage of funds. Otherwise, giving bonuses to everyone would stimulate the greatest motivation.

At least everyone who works overtime can get double the basic overtime pay, so these expenses are not small.

After Zhou Kuang gave Ma Tu and Yang Ji a few more instructions, he sent them away.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

After the task was assigned, the company entered the formal work process, and other groups including programming and music would cooperate with Ma Tu and Yang Ji's requirements.

Unless he encounters obstacles, he won't need to intervene again.

(End of this chapter)