WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Game Director that Returned from Hell ◈

Chapter 18

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The basic concept presentation was over.

We'd started with a bold declaration of our ambitions, but there wasn't all that much to do right away.

Of the team members, everyone except Han Seorim, who would draw the concept art, had to be put on standby. The reason was simple.

“You two are on standby until Seorim's designs are approved. Ayun, let's focus on your studies first. We haven't even worked out the game's structure yet, so it's too early to make music.”

Work on the graphics could only begin once we had concept art and a design document.

Audio direction could wait until the modeling and test runs were finished.

Before recruiting her, I'd already listened to several pieces that the young Jo Ayun had composed.

She knew how to capture emotion and bring out the important moments, but beyond that, her fundamentals were far too weak.

She needed more experience before she could produce the rich sound I knew as one of her strengths.

'I've deliberately given us plenty of time. Even if we have to go through trial and error, we need to make steady progress.'

Studio Rewind was a tiny company making its second game.

Since the team members didn't have much experience, we needed to handle things one step at a time.

Just then, Jo Ayun asked, “B-by studying, do you mean...?”

“You'll study for the high school equivalency exam alongside your music lessons. I'll be especially careful about choosing your music teacher, so don't worry.”

“Oh, y-yes...!”

Jo Ayun nodded several times.

Her expression was lively. At least she seemed willing to keep up, which was a relief.

Anyway, that took care of managing the team for now.

“Yeonho, Yeonho, what about food?”

“Seonbae, seonbae, let's have meat!”

“...Sure. Let's go eat.”

Food first.

We were doing all this to put food on the table, after all.

* * *

Three days passed.

Today was Ayun's first day at the office since that first meeting.

There was only one reason she was coming in when she still had no real work to do.

“I'm off!”

It was for her high school equivalency exam tutoring.

When she called out with her backpack on, her mother sniffled, looking deeply moved.

“Ayun, study hard, okay? And listen to your boss!”

“Geez, I know.”

Did her mother think she was a little kid? Of course she knew that.

Grumbling for no real reason, Ayun left the house.

“You can do it, sweetheart!”

Her mother's voice rang out behind her.

Ayun felt a sudden ache inside.

That cheerful voice stirred a little guilt.

She remembered how considerate her mother had been, even when she'd stayed shut in her room doing nothing but playing games.

'Mom, I'll pass that exam. I promise!'

She had to do her best, if only for her mother!

Ayun's determination blazed.

And so she set off.

Her steps were still timid after her life as a shut-in, but she somehow managed to make her way through the crowds and reach the office.

That was one major challenge cleared.

“Oh, Ayun's here. Hi.”

Seorim greeted her while tapping away at her computer.

“H-hello...!”

Ayun answered, then looked around.

Yeonho and the others were nowhere to be seen.

Somehow noticing what she was looking for, Seorim explained.

“Everyone else is off today. Seonbae has classes all day, and I didn't call the other two in because there's no work for them yet. They'd only make a racket if they were here anyway.”

Ayun deeply agreed.

She suddenly remembered the terrifying events of a few days ago.

“YuniYuniAyuni! Look at your big sis!”

“Ahahaha! Oh my gosh! Her face is all red!”

“YuniYuni, why do you keep sneaking looks at Yeonho?”

“Gasp! Don't tell me...!”

“N-no! Th-the boss is an old guy...!”

“Ayun...?”

If she so much as glanced at Yeonho, they made a fuss. If Seorim tried to stop them, they cried, “Gasp! Marking your territory!” and made another fuss. When Seorim finally clenched her fist, they ran to Yeonho and made a fuss there instead.

For Ayun, who liked peace and quiet, the two of them were exhausting. They chattered so much that her ears hurt.

She really didn't want to run into them without the others around.

Anyway, that was that.

“Th-then is it just the two of us today...?”

Seorim nodded at Ayun's question.

“Yeah. I only came in to tutor you, so I was getting some work done while I waited.”

So Yeonho wasn't coming.

Ayun felt a little disappointed, but quickly pushed the feeling away.

When she turned her head, she saw the picture Seorim was working on.

The style of the half-finished drawing on the monitor looked very familiar.

Ayun narrowed her eyes.

'It's the same style as the drawing the boss sent me.'

That was right. The picture from that fraud, YeonhoKingOfAwesome, had been Seorim's work!

She felt a small sting of betrayal.

Just then, Seorim spoke.

“Okay, shall we start studying?”

“Y-yes...!”

Seorim got up and led Ayun to the meeting table.

Belatedly coming to her senses, Ayun sat down.

'I have to work hard!'

Yeonho was helping her, Seorim was helping her, and her mother was cheering her on!

She couldn't stay a jobless shut-in forever!

Ayun opened her bag and took out a pink panda pencil case.

“Th-thank you for teaching me!”

She took out a mechanical pencil and held it ready.

But that enthusiasm didn't last long.

“This is what we'll be studying starting today.”

Thud!

Ayun froze at the sound.

She couldn't believe her ears.

The books had landed on the table with a loud “Thud!,” not a little “tap” or even a sharp “clack.”

Blinking, she stared blankly at how thick they were.

More than five books were stacked there, each one hefty enough to hit someone with.

Her eyes trembled in alarm! Ayun turned toward Seorim.

With her usual bright, beautiful smile, Seorim said, “Not much, right? You'll memorize it in no time. Basically, there are five subjects: Korean, English, math, and two electives. I picked the two easiest electives, so don't feel pressured.”

It was a lot, and she didn't think she could memorize it.

And she felt pressured.

“I've done all this myself, so don't worry. Still, I figured it's been a while since you last studied, so I brought the study guides I used in elementary school... Are these too easy?”

No. Absolutely not.

But she'd been solving these problems in elementary school?

Was Ayun supposed to applaud?

Or cry because she was the one who had to study these books?

She had no idea.

“Entrance exams are no big deal. The equivalency exam is even easier. You just have to cram everything into your head. Studying's a game where whoever memorizes more wins.”

There were moments like this.

Moments when you instinctively thought, 'Oh, I'm fucked.'

“Don't worry. I'll get you into the top scoring band.”

Ayun thought, 'Should I just go home?'

Of course, she only thought it.

She wasn't brave enough to defy Seorim, who looked like the toughest person in the office.

“Then shall we start with this?”

Without a shred of mercy, Seorim began the lesson right away.

Ayun trembled as she listened.

It took ten minutes.

“Huh? You don't know this? Or this? This either? ...You don't know this one either?”

That was how long Seorim needed to discover Ayun's level.

“...How can you not know this? Is that even possible...?”

Seorim was horrified, and Ayun shrank into herself.

It couldn't be helped.

To explain the situation in game terms, it went like this.

“Hmm, Ayun. How far did you get with your studies in middle school...?”

Seorim had been born with 100 Intelligence and spent her whole life on the elite route, clearing nothing but high-level dungeons. She couldn't understand Ayun, who'd been born with 30 Intelligence and never even bothered leveling up!

“W-well...”

“Well?”

“...I-I can multiply. A-and divide...”

That settled it.

“O-oh, I see...?”

They had a very, very long way to go.

* * *

Tap-tap, tap-tap.

At home, in my room.

I was playing a game absentmindedly, lost in thought.

I was thinking about the design.

'Let's be thorough.'

Since I'd given us plenty of time, I intended to get things right from the planning stage onward.

Naturally, there was more to consider than before.

One concern took priority over all the others.

'I need to get serious about building an IP.'

That was why I'd attached the name Hellic 2 to our upcoming Hell of Alice.

An IP had tremendous power.

The shared identity created by a consistent title, along with the customer loyalty and sales it generated, was something no game company could afford to ignore.

Studio Rewind was a company I would have to lead for the rest of my life.

It was also a company I'd founded to go beyond indie games and take on AAA development.

I needed to lay a solid foundation. To do that, I had to start thinking about our IP now.

And so I'd reached a conclusion.

'We need a distinct identity.'

Customers needed to picture something when they heard the name Studio Rewind. They also needed to have a certain image of the games that belonged to the Hellic IP.

In other words, players needed a consistent impression of both the games and the studio.

This was important.

Only then could we build a customer base loyal to Hellic itself.

There was a clear example.

Biohazard, which I'd used as a reference for this project and for creating the Cancer Giant in Hellic 1, shared two traits throughout its series: survival horror action and enemies that had undergone biochemical mutations.

As another example, The Adventure of Link series used the same protagonist and heroine throughout its games, creating a consistent narrative within the JRPG category.

But this was where Hellic ran into trouble.

It was a problem that would follow every game I made.

'Every game has a different setting, genre, and protagonist. That makes them hard to tie together as one IP.'

All the hells I used as source material operated under different rules. Games made from them would inevitably belong to different genres too.

There was no consistency.

Then what should I do?

What consistent element could I put into these games to tie them together as one IP?

I'd been thinking about this since before starting Hellic 2. Only today had I finally settled on a clear answer.

[YOU DIED]

The screen of the game I was playing turned gray.

As the main character died, red letters appeared.

The game's name was Evil’s Soul.

This was where I'd found my inspiration.

'Like.'

Sometimes, a game's unique systems and the reputation of its name turned into a new genre.

Roguelike, a genre built around several rules that came from the classic game Rogue.

Roguelite, a simpler version that used only some of those traits.

And Soulslike, a genre defined by the brutal difficulty of this very game from Flare Soft.

A system with a distinct enough identity could become a genre all on its own.

Since Hellic would change with every game, the ideal way to unite it as an IP was to establish that kind of genre identity.

'It doesn't have to be special.'

There was no need to get caught up in making something revolutionary.

In other words, it didn't have to be something the world had never seen before.

I could twist and combine things that already existed.

That alone could produce any number of variations on a genre.

Only one thing mattered.

'Impact.'

The defining trait had to come across so strongly that players would feel it naturally, without us having to point it out.

They also had to feel that they could experience it only in Hellic, and most clearly in Hellic.

It wouldn't be much of a problem.

They did say bad luck could turn into good fortune.

As it happened, the previous game had a system I could use.

'Back then, I only chose that system because we didn't have enough content, but...'

With the right packaging, even a mistake could look intentional.

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