I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

...As Qin Sulan walked between workstations, listening to these conversations, she felt as if she were in another world.

"Sister Lan, you're finally back!"

A young girl waved and greeted her enthusiastically.

This girl's name is Xu Lirong. She was one of the employees who joined the company at the same time as Xu Lirong, so she was considered a "veteran" like Xu Lirong. However, Xu Lirong had less experience in painting, and everyone used to revolve around her.

"Sister Lan, I miss you so much!" The girl looked at Qin Sulan with teary eyes, almost bursting into tears.

"What's wrong?" Qin Sulan asked, a little surprised, and sat down with her bag. "I've only been gone for seven days."

Do you know how I spent these past seven days?!

The girl pulled Qin Sulan along and opened a folder on her computer.

A huge pile of drafts appeared before her eyes.

“The past few days since you left have been like entering a deep sea of ​​work; everyone has been working like crazy! I’ve been drawing all day, and my family thought I had disappeared…”

Qin Sulan frowned slightly and said, "Wouldn't that throw all the work into chaos?"

"No, not at all," the girl said. "It's a bit busy, but it's actually going quite smoothly."

Qin Sulan moved the mouse, and one character design, line drawing, and model after another jumped into view, leaving her overwhelmed.

"So many!" Qin Sulan couldn't help but exclaim softly.

Xu Lirong nodded proudly: "Right, right? They were all drawn these past few days. They kept everyone very busy."

Qin Sulan suddenly felt a sense of crisis: while she was abroad, her colleagues back home hadn't been idle either, and it seemed like their work was more valuable than hers?

Qin Sulan moved the mouse and asked cautiously, "Did you design all of these in the past few days? From the concept art to the line drawings, did you draw them all on the spot?"

She asked that question because the characters on screen are very well-developed.

Generally speaking, the more detailed the design, the clearer and more perfect the ideas will be, and the closer it will be to the final draft.

Character design is not as simple as just drawing a pretty girl and then creating a model based on her.

Character design, from initial character design to main color scheme, hair color, clothing, and patterns, is a series of interconnected steps, where one aspect affects the whole.

For example, before Qin Sulan went abroad, her art team was designing a character called "Hu Tao".

This character was created by the copywriting team; it was a request they made.

According to the needs of the plot, they need a "funeral home owner" character (I don't know which genius came up with that idea).

At the same time, the character should have a traditional Chinese style, but not too much of a traditional Chinese style.

You need to appear serious and proper, but at the same time, you also need to be lively and playful.

The most important thing is to design it to be sexy and cute.

These demands are as incomprehensible as a patchwork of colors in black.

But it's not impossible to design.

Because of the seriousness of the profession, the character's overall color is black.

Pure black is definitely not an option. To make it look better, we'll use classic red to soften the overall rigidity of the character.

The character's eye color can be designed as black with a peach blossom effect, which can generally highlight the character's liveliness.

At the same time, the design of a flat chest can enhance the "lively and optimistic" attribute.

Modeling must also be considered during the design process.

Because the game has a 2D anime style and is developed using a specific engine, if there are large blank areas on a character's clothes, they will be rendered as a smooth, flat sheet of metal, which looks very unsightly.

Therefore, when designing a character, there should be no blank spaces on the clothes; a lot of patterns must be added to increase the sense of three-dimensionality.

The patterns on "Hu Tao's" clothes were designed using the "Four Gentlemen" of flowers—plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum—as prototypes.

On the one hand, this can enhance the sense of traditional Chinese style, and on the other hand, it also fits her character as a "funeral home owner".

It sounds simple, but in reality, every detail in character design needs to be carefully polished and repeatedly finalized.

Designing a character often takes an extremely long time, from the first draft to the final version, with repeated revisions.

The drafts now in front of Qin Sulan are so detailed that they can be used on the spot.

Therefore, Qin Sulan was very surprised.

“I don’t believe it,” Qin Sulan shook her head. “I’ve only been gone for seven days. How did you design so many characters in such a short time? Did the company hire more people?”

Xu Lirong chuckled and said, "No, actually, the character designs for these roles were finalized by President Chen and us together."

"President Chen?" Qin Sulan tilted her head and asked, "He also understands character design?"

“Yes.” Xu Lirong nodded solemnly. “He startled me at the time.”

She slowly said, "At that time, Mr. Chen called us together and gave us on-site guidance. He told us how to design, and we were responsible for implementing it and turning it into line drawings. The efficiency was extremely high, and we made seven or eight characters in one go. Now we only need to focus on the details."

As mentioned above, character design is a highly specialized area.

It's definitely not something an outsider can design on a whim.

If a layperson without an art background were to design it, it could easily turn into something like, "Give me a colorful black."

To be able to sit in command, make decisions on the spot, and guide employees step by step on how to design, one must either be an unparalleled genius in aesthetics or a master of character design.

Qin Sulan thought that President Chen was only good at starting a business, but she didn't expect that he was actually quite capable.

"Hey, Qin Sulan, you're back?"

A boy walked past her, a pen tucked behind his ear, and greeted her.

Qin Sulan turned around and saw that it was Xu Zheqing, the new copywriting team colleague who had joined earlier.

Because they were both relatively young and lived close by, they quickly became acquainted.

Xu Zheqing seemed quite shy when I last met him, but now he has completely shed the naivety of a recent graduate.

He dragged a stool over from the side, sat down, and said:

"I'd like to interview you. Did you encounter anything interesting during your trip abroad?"

Qin Sulan immediately put on a pitiful face and said:

"Where did I encounter anything interesting? I was out of breath the whole time, and all I did was draw, take photos, and write travelogues. I felt more tired than when I was in school."

Xu Zheqing looked regretful: "That's overseas, you know. Aren't there any interesting anecdotes there?"

"No," Qin Sulan said bluntly, "Why are you asking this?"

Xu Zheqing sighed and said, "I've been writing a script lately, and I feel like I'm going to lose all my hair. I desperately need inspiration."

Is it really that difficult?

"It's tough!" Xu Zheqing finally found an opportunity to vent his frustrations. He had been suffering from having no one to complain to for a long time. "There are hundreds of books and hundreds of item descriptions in the game. Each one has to be of high quality and quantity. Just these things are enough to give me a headache."

"Books? What books?" Qin Sulan didn't understand.

Xu Zheqing explained, "Isn't our game an open world? All the readable items scattered throughout the open world must be readable. Do you remember the new employee probation exam? Didn't our copywriting team require everyone to write a few fairy tales?"

Qin Sulan nodded: "I remember."

“Those fairy tales are used here.” Xu Zheqing laughed and cried at the same time. “The pass rate is incredibly low. Many people have to write it more than ten times before it is approved. I was lucky and passed it on the first try.”

After saying that, he looked a little proud and unconsciously puffed out his chest.

"It does sound a bit twisted. But have you guys finished designing the plot yet? We've already designed a ton of characters, you can't fall behind on your end!"

Qin Sulan pointed to a pile of drafts on the screen and said.

Xu Zheqing puffed out his chest and said, "Of course the plot has been designed. The entire plot structure of the game, which will have five years of updates, has been finalized."

Qin Sulan glared and said, "So fast? Before I went abroad, it wasn't even a question mark yet!"

Xu Zheqing chuckled and said, "Of course it's that fast... Okay, I'll confess, it was actually President Chen who finalized it."

"Is it General Manager Chen again?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Sulan and Xu Lirong, who was standing to the side, exchanged bewildered glances.

So, Mr. Chen also has expertise in scriptwriting?

Xu Zheqing said, "These past few days, President Chen has been guiding us step by step through the design process of the game's storyline, and we have all benefited greatly from listening to him. I feel that he must have written novels before, otherwise he wouldn't know so much."

Qin Sulan blinked: "Then Mr. Chen did all of this, so what are you responsible for?"

The boss has already finalized the outline and structure, so what are the subordinates doing? Are they just there to cheer and create momentum?

“We need to refine the plot! Our work is also very important!” Xu Zheqing protested, “President Chen gave us an outline, which is equivalent to specifying the starting point and the ending point. We need to fill in the content to make the story richer.”

Although Qin Sulan didn't know much about story creation, judging from Xu Zheqing's appearance, it seemed to be quite a tough job.

At least his requirements, such as "every book must be readable," do sound quite abnormal.

Qin Sulan patted him on the shoulder: "Then you have to do a good job."

Xu Zheqing resolutely said, "Of course, even if it's just to live up to President Chen's outline, I have to get this done!"

Qin Sulan always felt that he was becoming a "follower of President Chen".

"By the way, let me ask you a question," Xu Zheqing suddenly turned to ask, "Can you accept a villain being redeemed?"

Qin Sulan shrugged: "I don't like it, but if the villain has his reasons, it's acceptable."

Xu Zheqing frowned: "What should we do? It's so hard to redeem the villain from the beginning..."

"If you can't clear your name, just cut it off, right?" Qin Sulan said.

Xu Zheqing suddenly looked up at her: "That makes sense!"

"right."

Xu Zheqing's expression became complicated: "But, can you really accept it?"

"What's so unacceptable about that?"

After receiving her affirmative answer, Xu Zheqing left satisfied. Xu Lirong, standing nearby, cautiously asked:

"Sister Lan, can you really accept them killing off the villainous characters?"

“Yeah, so what?” Qin Sulan said, “I have no feelings for villains.”

Xu Lirong said, "But, Sister Lan, the villain they want to kill is the character you submitted the line drawing for last time."

"??"

Just then, the company's automatic door opened, and Qin Sulan looked up to see Chen Ya walking by. She was about to get excited when she saw the tall, beautiful woman next to him, and she quickly shrank back.

Xu Lirong exclaimed softly from the side, "Wow, I saw President Gu again. I like her so much."

Qin Sulan knew that the tall, beautiful woman was the company's angel investor, but rumors suggested that she had a close relationship with President Chen.

"Has President Gu been coming to the company frequently these past few days?" Qin Sulan asked.

“Occasionally,” Xu Lirong nodded. “She always comes with President Chen, and I never have a chance to talk to her.”

"Do you want to talk to her?" Qin Sulan asked.

She felt that President Gu was very unapproachable and that she would feel inferior in front of him.

She felt like she would be suffocated if she were to speak directly with President Gu.

Xu Lirong cupped her face and said, "Yes, I do! I think she's so elegant, with fair and smooth skin, super long legs, and she's so beautiful. I really want to get close to her!"

"You're acting a little strange."

As the two were chatting, Chen Ya seemed to notice them and his sharp eyes swept across Qin Sulan's face.

When Qin Sulan's eyes met his, she knew something was wrong. Sure enough, he strode over.

Mr. Gu followed closely behind him.

"Qin Sulan, you're back!" Chen Ya said with a hearty laugh. "Come to my office and bring your homework."

Qin Sulan was immediately drenched in sweat, clutching her handbag, and followed behind Chen Ya amidst Xu Lirong's envious gaze.

Chapter 353 PV released

As Qin Sulan walked into the office with some trepidation, she glanced sideways and saw Gu Yuqing sitting on a chair with her legs crossed, playing on her phone.

"You're here, have a seat."