Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

After all, you see, Mr. Lin doesn't even ask about the progress of his projects.

This thought persisted until Chen Anyu appeared...

Umineko finally sensed something was wrong.

Compared to his own project team, Lin Li clearly values ​​Chen Anyu's project team more. For the past three days, he has called Chen Anyu over for discussions every day.

At this moment, he really wanted to shout something.

Mr. Lin, I was here first!

Whether it was joining the company or participating in the Spark Incubator, I was there first!

Lin Li naturally couldn't hear Hai Mao's thoughts.

If they heard that, they'd probably just laugh it off.

In fact, Hai Mao really misunderstood this matter.

His concern for Chen Anyu during this period was not out of favoritism or anything. Hai Mao's "Arknights" has a very unique style, just like Hai Mao's AR team, the main art director in Girls' Frontline.

The style is very unique.

This unique style is the foundation for the later success of Arknights. In order not to have too much influence in the early stages, Lin Li deliberately reduced communication with Sea Cat.

In addition, Lin Li did not completely ignore the situation.

After communicating with HaiMao a few times, the core framework of the game has been formed. The rest is up to HaiMao to fill in the production capacity. At most, we will check to see if it has gone astray and adjust some of the weaknesses of the previous Arknights.

There's no need for Lin Li to worry about anything else.

At this point in time, the "Lost in the End of the World" project, spearheaded by Chen Anyu, was still in a very early stage.

The text description is only in its first chapter; many settings and backgrounds are not yet finalized.

Therefore, more communication is needed.

In my previous life, "The Endless Path" was delayed because too much time was spent on finalizing the draft and setting the direction, causing it to miss the last train before the license freeze.

The reason Lin Li chose "The Long Road of No Return" from among the many submitted projects was...

This is because this game is unique; it's a story-driven game, which aligns well with the path of emotional value transformation.

“I read the first draft of the copy you gave me yesterday. I think there are no major problems, and it has its own unique features. However, there is one small detail that I would like to discuss with you again.”

"Mr. Lin, please speak."

Although Lin Li's tone was relaxed, Chen Anyu remained upright, holding a notebook in his hand, ready to take notes at any time.

"No need to be so formal. Just go ahead and get used to it."

Chapter 120 Ideas

When discussing the general direction of such plans, Lin Li prefers to talk about them in a private small conference room.

The room was not large, but it was decorated very exquisitely.

The walls were painted in light colors and adorned with several landscape paintings.

In the center of the room was a rectangular conference table, unlike a typical conference room, with a complete tea set on it.

It was a gift from the owner of the company upstairs that had moved out.

Several exquisite tea sets were also included; the porcelain was delicate and smooth, exuding a refined and elegant atmosphere.

Water was boiling on the stove of the tea set, the sound of the water flowing gently, and a faint aroma of tea filled the room.

The aroma is neither too strong nor too weak, just right to make people feel comfortable.

Lin Lixiang liked this feeling. He didn't have to worry about others overhearing what he was discussing. The aroma of tea mingled with his thoughts, making the atmosphere of the discussion more relaxed and less serious, but not so relaxed that it made him slack off.

"That's right. I feel there's a disconnect between your plot and character development. For example, the character of Hela is very well-designed in the script..."

The background setting of "Lost in Time" is both complex and simple.

Generally speaking, with the impact of an unidentified object on Earth, the Earth's climate changed drastically, resources became scarce, and disasters and wars gradually caused the original world system to collapse.

In addition, the meteorite's impact point created a ring-shaped anomaly zone—the "black ring."

All humans who come into contact with the Black Ring will be contaminated by "Madness," experiencing symptoms such as mania and auditory hallucinations.

When a person's will is completely crushed by madness, they become a walking corpse-like monster, which normal people call "dead servants".

Among the many people affected by the madness.

A very small number of individuals, known as the "Imprisoners," gained dangerous and powerful abilities due to their madness, but did not completely lose themselves and become monsters.

Of course, in the story, these people in confinement are seen as heretics by ordinary people, and are suspected, ostracized, or even exploited.

In response to the problem of those in confinement, the MBCC (Minos Crisis Management Bureau) was established.

It is used for management, "accommodating" those in confinement, and also leveraging their strength to resolve various crises.

The prototype is a prison.

This is also why the overall game style leans towards a prison theme.

In a more specific plot, it's about a highly intelligent protagonist (the player) who becomes the new director of a place called MBCC, and what happens next.

MBCC is a prison that holds a group of "superpowered individuals," also known as confined individuals.

However, unlike the superpowered beings in Marvel, the Confined Ones in the Endless Path become increasingly manic as they use more and more of their abilities.

Finally, he lost his mind and became a monster.

However, our protagonist, the player, possesses an ability called Shackles, which can suppress this mania and also control the Confined One.

Based on this, the protagonist is naturally not just a camera, but a very powerful plot driver.

What followed was a series of vivid and memorable characters in the story.

Moreover, the plot of "The Long Night" spans from childhood to adulthood.

Players follow the main storyline from the moment the director takes office, creating a strong sense of immersion. In addition, the opening scene features a small stage and few characters during the first crisis.

Therefore, each character has enough storyline to support them.

For example, Hella.

From initially trying to deceive the protagonist with a cute appearance, to the contrasting outburst of profanity after being discovered, to changing one's opinion of the protagonist because of the protagonist's methods, and then gradually starting to care about the protagonist.

The plot points laid out in the early stages, when the interrogation is unlocked, reveal some of Hela's painful past experiences to the player.

This allows players to gain a comprehensive understanding of what this seemingly optimistic girl has gone through.

There are many more examples of this kind of shaping in the endless maze of delusion.

Lin Li didn't plan to change the plot.

However, the plot and numerical values ​​of "Past Life Without End" are truly baffling [Image of an elderly person using a cell phone on the subway].

There's another point that Lin Li hopes to change.

That is the disconnect between the game's storyline and character development.

"Why does Hela have so much screen time in the story, even though she doesn't seem to be a powerful character in your planning?"

Chen Anyu asked, puzzled.

"What's wrong with that? She's supposed to be a..."

Lin Li glanced at Chen Anyu, then pulled out his magical artifact—a whiteboard.

He picked up a pen and drew two circles on the whiteboard. He wrote the words "plot" in one circle and "battle" in the other.

"You see, you've focused on Hela's role in the story, but in battle, Hela's combat ability is lacking. This creates a very simple logic: players won't develop this character as their main force, right?"

Many anime-style games claim to be XP-friendly.

In reality, while XP enthusiasts may exist, they are definitely not the mainstream; otherwise, so many content creators wouldn't be able to generate revenue solely through tier lists.

Even the niche category of character reviews has spawned several content creators with millions of followers.

Thus, it is clear that most players are not complete XP enthusiasts.

Or, to put it another way, most players are XP-focused players.

They want their XP character to be beautiful enough, and they also want their favorite character to be at least T1, or at least T1.5 in strength.

"Indeed, but Hela's character design is that of a basic-level character..."

"You are the producer, not the player."

Lin Li tapped the whiteboard and then continued speaking.

“In the game, the storyline is also our resource, not to mention the first version you submitted. So much story was put into the first chapter to explain the character of Hela, but players are not allowed to use it.”

"Don't just say she's positioned as a common-level character. Even among common-level characters, you should still pick out a few usable characters for the early game, shouldn't you?"

"If that's the case, then why can't this role be Hela?"

"If Hela can't be included in players' lineups in the early stages of the game, it's a waste of resources. Even if players like Hela, if she can't be used in battle, will Hela's skin still sell? If ordinary players buy the skin but can't use it on the battlefield, will they still buy the skin?"

"Or are you planning to release a Hela with an even higher rarity level later?"

"For players, is it more engaging to develop a character they've grown to like through the story, or to develop a character they just pulled from the gacha pool, with no idea who they are?"

"Character storyline, stats, and combat experience are all integrated and should be considered together, not separately."

Lin Li finished speaking in one breath and then picked up the teacup on the table to drink tea.

Chen Anyu fell silent, staring at the whiteboard and gripping his pen as he began to think.

He really couldn't figure this out; the plot, the battles, and the character design didn't seem to be independent groups.

Chapter 121 Please Leave

Until he returned to his own project team.

Chen Anyu was still thinking, so he walked very slowly.

In the corridor, Hai Mao saw Chen Anyu return and emerged from his project office area.

"What did President Lin say to you? Are you still thinking about it?"

Chen Anyu didn't hide anything and repeated what Lin Li had just told him. But before he could finish two sentences, Hai Mao suddenly spoke up.

"Wait a minute, I'll call a few people from our group over so we can all listen together."

Chen Anyu nodded and also called over himself and the members of the team he had chosen.

Both of their project teams were small, with only a handful of people belonging to the core creative team.

soon.

The group met in a conference room.

The sea cat expertly grabbed a bunch of snacks from the snack aisle and then took a bunch of soft drinks from the refrigerator.

These are all provided by the company, with no limit on supply.

Chen Anyu knew about these things, but since he had just arrived, he rarely went to collect them.

Hai Mao, on the other hand, joined the company earlier and is already very familiar with these things.

He likes to eat during meetings, chatting while he eats.

Many inspirations are born from such collisions.

Moreover, everyone is young, and Hai Mao's management style doesn't have the same imposing presence as Lin Li's. Therefore, this relaxed atmosphere helps him lead the team.

"Eat up, there's more downstairs after you finish."

"Oh."

Chen Anyu was slightly surprised, but not too bad. After responding, he didn't go to get the potato chips.

He simply pulled up the whiteboard and began to reiterate Lin Li's train of thought.

He first drew several large circles.

Story, combat, gameplay, character development, reward system...

Then they enclosed all these things in a large circle.