43 This Is Boss Pei's Thesis Assignment

"Therefore, I think that this is a test for us by Boss Pei. A thesis assignment.'

"Boss Pei's specialty is in low risk high reward gambles."

"That was the case for both The Lonely Desert Road and Ghost General!"

"Therefore, we have to try producing the best result using the least resources as well!"

"I've thought about it from a few different aspects. Characters, setting and cutscenes… we have to save as much as we can. Otherwise, the produced story mode is going to be meaningless. We have to employ limited resources where they are needed most!"

Bao Xu was confident.

Huang Sibo continued nodding, expressing his agreement.

Bao Xu then continued, "Actually, once we're decided that we have to save resources as much as possible, we only have a few options left to play with."

"First, character design. The game will employ a first person point of view. That way, we'll be able to save on creating the character models and make do with just showing their arms and legs."

"We can go with a zombie theme as the genre where there are two types of enemies in the game, zombies and mercenaries. We can make use of universal templates and just modify them to ensure that there's a huge variety of creatures."

Huang Sibo nodded his head. "Yes, understood. That's a good idea. However, if there's only zombies and mercenaries, I don't think there'll be much of a story? We still need side characters too."

"I've already thought about that. We just need one — a little girl."

Bao Xu looked at the talisman like paper on his hands. "In order to save on resources, I'm intending to set it such that the little girl will be a mute. That way, we can save on the dialogue and voiceover cost. The entire game's sound will merely require some of the common fighting sound effects."

Huang Sibo was stunned. "Huh? The only side character is someone who can't speak? How are we going to develop the story that way?"

Through Huang Sibo's understanding, a side character's dialogue is a critical element of displaying drama and character traits.

If they only had a single side character to begin with and they were to make her mute without any dialogue, wouldn't the entire game turn into a silent one?

Bao Xu thought about it. "Yes… there's no choice. This is the result of compromising. If we allow the little girl to speak, we'll have to look for professionals to voice act. Not just that, we'll have to create an accent based on her character background as well and that'll be a lot of work."

"Besides, I think that the story won't be affected even if the girl can't speak. We can use other ways to define her."

"For example, through her actions, expression and motions."

"If it's a mute character, a little girl is the best way to go about it."

"There are two reasons for the girl to exist."

"First, she's an emotional support. The entire game revolves around zombies and mercenaries. To the gamers, she will be like a beacon of light within the darkness and she can help to balance their emotions so that it won't be merely filled with ratatatat sounds of guns."

"Second, she can take part in some puzzle solving portions of the game. Many massive overseas standalone games deploy similar tactics to allow gamers to solve puzzles with in-game NPCs. We can create a scenario such as the main door being locked and the only other exit is a narrow ventilation tunnel at the side where the little girl will have to climb through to help the main character open the door."

"That way, be it in terms of emotional support or practicality, the little girl will be extremely important to the gamers."

Huang Sibo nodded. "Yes, that sounds great! However, I've got another question. What about the story background? Is it a doomsday theme? The world's theme must be able to fit in zombies, the little girl and mercenaries and it has to be logical without feeling forced."

Bao Xu underlined something on the talisman paper. "We're now at the second point, setting."

"There's a prerequisite that the setting must be one that can be easily replicated. Say, if we have to create three hours worth of a story experience, most overseas standalone games would provide around four completely different settings with varying styles. That's too difficult for us to accomplish."

"What I'm thinking is for the story to take place in a crucial stronghold in the middle of the ocean where some evil corporation is conducting virus testing. Their goal is to be able to modify mercenaries into tireless warriors through their experiments."

"That way, the main character's story goal would be to kill his way out of the stronghold from the bottom level all the way to the top before escaping. That way, the only type of style we need to provide for the gamers would be one that's within a secret base."

"We can differentiate the levels with many ways such as changing the monsters or doing minor adjustments to the settings as long as it's in the style of a secret base. With just some slight modifications, we can easily create differentiating settings."

"For example, some of the settings could be polluted by the virus where the walls and floors are rusted or filled with blood and flesh. We could leave some of them in their original states, albeit disordered. Some of the settings will have massive damage as the mercenaries make use of flamethrowers to clear the corpses…"

"With a single setting, we can create different scenarios and that will easily fulfill the setting requirement for the game."

Huang Sibo rubbed his chin. "Yes, that does sound good! However, if this evil corporation has a base in the middle of the ocean, why would there be a little girl?"

"That's easy," Bao Xu continued, "The girl carries some sort of a special antibody and that's why she was captured by the corporation for experimentation. Through the process of it, she lost her ability to speak as well."

"That's brilliant!"

Huang Sibo's eyes flashed. "Besides, we can even extend that setting. I think we can make it so that the little girl's blood can be used to help the main character heal. For example, if the player were to be accidentally caught or bitten by the zombies, the little girl would use a syringe to draw her own blood to heal the main character."

"That's a great idea!" Bao Xu thought that it was a smart suggestion as well. "That way, the little girl will be even more important to the gamers! Each time she draws her blood, that will deepen the bond between the gamers and the little girl. Following which, she will turn weaker and move slower the more blood she draws. In order to not let the little girl suffer, the gamers will have to improve on their own skills to deal with the enemies more efficiently. That will help them immerse deeper into the game too!"

With that, much of the content was swiftly settled through their brainstorming session.

The game would take place on a secret stronghold in the middle of the ocean and the main character was a special forces soldier of the east who had infiltrated into the base for investigation. However, the virus breakout happened right when he was there.

To escape, he will have to kill his way up to the highest level of the stronghold while acquiring weapons from his enemies and defeating endless waves of zombies and mercenaries.

In the midst of escaping, the main character would come across a little girl who was mute and she would end up becoming his reason to get out of the place alive.

The entire story would revolve around this main character and the little girl.

Even though it wasn't a complex story, the content was far from simple!

While the little girl was the only side character, as long as she was created carefully, she would definitely leave an everlasting impression for the gamers compared to a dozen useless calefares!

Huang Sibo took notes on his computer tirelessly.

When he looked at the file, he was shocked as well.

What a perfect plan it was!

This was the result of just a few mere hours of conceptualization on Bao Xu's part?

It had not only solved the issue of the limited resources in the game, the story was logical, balanced, emotional and memorable!

Huang Sibo could not help but raise his thumbs up. "Brother Bao, you're amazing!"

Bao Xu shook his head. "No, I merely completed the thesis assignment set by Boss Pei. He must have thought of this right from the start and was merely giving us a test to see if we could understand his thoughts."