WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Game Director that Returned from Hell ◈
Chapter 23
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Of course, Han Seorim's design looked different from the god I remembered.
Yes, how could anyone give a form to something that had none?
I knew that.
And that made it all the more amazing.
The image perfectly recreated the emotions I'd felt when I saw the god.
“What do you think?”
Han Seorim asked with a bright smile.
I couldn't answer.
I was too lost in thought.
'So this is it.'
This was the answer Han Seorim of Lost Kingdom had come up with.
Even someone like me, who knew nothing about art, could clearly tell that this was an expression of something.
An expression of formlessness.
Rather than drawing it, Han Seorim had used a collage to turn the concept into a symbol.
I was certain.
Certain that everyone who played Hellic 2 would understand the intent behind this design.
Those who dug a little deeper would think about that intent and the divine beings symbolized by its individual parts. Those who went further still would reflect on the very form of a god.
Just as I had when I saw the god.
Of course, that might be reading too much into it, but it was a healthy line of thought. It had depth, and it was worth aiming for.
“So, is it approved as is?”
For a moment, Han Seorim felt very far beyond my reach.
Could I make a game worthy of this design?
Would I end up wasting someone this talented?
I barely managed to get my emotions under control.
Then I answered.
“...Approved.”
All I had to do was make one. A game that lived up to it.
Recruiting Han Seorim really had been my best decision.
* * *
A few hurdles remained.
To bring this to life, we first had to finish the concept art completely, then turn it into a 3D model.
This time, I got involved myself.
Han Seorim's design had given me a few ideas.
“We're going to add attack patterns. Mechanics that work independently, in other words.”
“How?”
“First, the player shouldn't be able to see the path of the god's attacks. ...Right, we should make it look like a fist suddenly appears right in front of them.”
That idea came from something I'd seen with my own eyes.
When the god slammed its fist down, there was no punching motion.
There was only a warning. Then the result came, with nothing in between.
For example, we could implement it like this.
“The god raises its arm high. It freezes there, then the ground shakes three times. Skip the fist coming down and only animate it hitting the ground.”
“Won't that look choppy?”
“It should. That choppy feeling is the whole point.”
Of course, that would be confusing for the player.
Until they figured out the pattern, they'd keep getting crushed to death by a fist that appeared out of nowhere. That would quickly make the game exhausting.
We needed a way around it.
That part was easy.
“Make a red circle appear where the fist's going to land. We should let the player know that spot is dangerous.”
“Huh?”
“But the indicator will only appear during those three tremors. Any longer would make it too easy.”
Several elements played an important part in establishing a game's boss.
Design, story, and difficulty.
Think about it. If a boss made a grand entrance, only to die after a few sword swings, would it really seem imposing?
Would the player truly feel that pressure?
Think of it as a matchmaking date.
Design was the boss's first impression.
Difficulty was its conversation skills, wealth, and character.
Only when those two came together did you get an appealing partner. Or, in this case, a boss.
“This pattern will start before the player enters the boss room. It'll keep appearing as they progress through the map, so pay special attention to it. Oh, but that doesn't mean you can cut corners on the other patterns.”
I dug through my memories.
“How silly would it be if a god only used martial arts? Let's make it feel as divine as possible. The main mechanic of the boss fight is a 'trial.' The god needs attack patterns that fit that.”
I listed the instructions.
“First, the mirror pattern. It'll take on the player's form and use the exact same skills as the player. Keep the textures from the boss's original form, though. Only the silhouette needs to match the player.”
The god had exchanged several moves with the girl while taking on her form.
With the butterfly's help, the girl had kept dodging and managed to land hits on the god.
“Second, the divine sword pattern. This one will have a long warning. Three tremors, then dark clouds in the sky. After that, four black swords appear. They'll swing a total of five times in a fixed order. The player will need to move to the right spot in time with the rhythm, so be careful with that.”
Of course, the swords the girl had actually faced were far more vicious.
Their swings hadn't followed any pattern, either.
This was a compromise for gameplay.
I'd also learned later that each sword symbolized something... but we could reveal that through the story at the ending.
Or leave it for the players to guess.
Anyway, next.
“Last is the divine punishment pattern. It only happens once, when the boss reaches 10% health.”
The important thing was the unease within the silence.
The sound in this section had to be strictly controlled so that the player could focus on a single sound.
“We'll remove the entire background here. Everything around the player turns white, leaving only shadows on the ground. Then the god sends out four apparitions. A madman swinging a cross, a woman staggering toward the player with a smile, a starving figure crawling along the ground, and a monster firing thorns while strangling itself.”
They symbolized the four hells depicted across the game's chapters.
The way to counter each apparition was to land a hit before it attacked.
“Show them only as silhouettes made of black shadow. That's it for the patterns.”
After hearing my instructions, Han Seorim frowned and pressed her fingers to her temple.
“Isn't that too much?”
“It's not. Just three patterns is going easy on you for a chapter boss. Besides, the designs are just shadows against a white background, so that should save time. Right?”
“As long as we can get the animations working... yes.”
With that, Han Seorim and I looked at the excitable duo.
“Hic...”
“Uuugh...”
I could see it.
They were trembling at the flood of work heading their way.
Of course, I had no intention of going easy on them.
“You'll do it, right?”
“...”
Chapter 1's design was complete.
* * *
It was the middle of July.
In other words, summer break. I had more free time.
Of course, that meant more time to put into work, not more time to rest.
By this point, I was reminded of a certain fact.
Game development really was a profession that didn't get along with sleep.
That was especially true at a tiny company like Studio Rewind.
'How much have I slept lately?'
A sudden sense of danger made me think back.
I concluded that all the sleep I'd gotten over the past week added up to around twenty-five hours.
There was no point asking why I was thinking about this now.
The question itself was the answer.
This was a warning.
My body was telling me that if I didn't stop and rest soon, things really would reach a point of no return.
“Phew...”
I let out a long breath and rubbed my face.
My head throbbed, and my eyes felt dry and gritty.
I'd pushed myself a little too hard because this body was young. It seemed I'd reached its limit.
But...
'I can't spare any more time.'
I had to finish developing the prototype by the end of this week, at least.
Only then could I get an overall view of it and adjust the details.
It was also important to catch as many minor bugs as possible. Above all, I had to secure enough time for Jo Ayun to work on the sound direction.
It wasn't an unrealistic schedule, either.
'We're in the final stages.'
The game's prototype was nearing completion.
I'd confirmed that all its main systems ran smoothly. All that remained was fixing the major bugs we'd found.
Beep-beep!
It was tedious, repetitive work.
Unfortunately, there was no one to share the suffering with me.
I was the only person left in the office.
After we'd finished all the designs, I'd adjusted the art team's work schedule.
Once you'd worked people hard, you had to let them rest a little so they'd be ready for the next job.
Well, another reason was that they wouldn't be any help even if they were here.
None of the others knew anything about programming.
I made a resolution.
'Once G-STAR is over, I need to look for a programmer.'
I'd originally planned to hire one after we finished developing this game. But with my body sending me warnings like this, I needed to move that up.
I had no desire to die from overwork like I had in my previous life.
Looking at the budget, we could manage it.
Right now, we were doing several things at once to get the demo released, but things would be different afterward.
I'd focus entirely on game design until the modeling for the remaining chapters was mostly finished.
If I hired someone when we needed to get into serious programming, I could run the studio at the lowest possible cost while spreading out the workload.
I'd have to think about who to hire, but...
'...I'll worry about that when the time comes.'
Anyway.
'Please, bugs. Just go away now.'
With that, I finished coding.
As the game grew in size, fixing its bugs took forever.
My body sagged at the thought that I could finally catch my breath.
It was Sunday.
I checked the clock. Four in the afternoon.
'Should I play through it myself?'
The demo's expected playtime was thirty minutes.
The plan was to give players a five-minute tutorial in the prologue map, teach them the basic rules in a shortened version of Chapter 1's map, then offer a taste of the boss's attack patterns.
Even if we took part in the exhibition, we wouldn't get a very large booth. I'd chosen this approach so more people could take turns playing.
I made up my mind.
'I'll just play until dinner.'
With that, I launched the prototype.
Five hours passed.
...Things really never went the way you wanted.
“Ah.”
Alice had grown to three meters tall again.
* * *
Development had weighed me down with every kind of hardship imaginable.
The nightmare of three-meter Alice was especially tiresome. It was literally showing up in my dreams.
Even when I found one problem, another would pop up somewhere else. Once I fixed that, something would go wrong somewhere, and Alice would grow again.
I'd fixed every problem I'd found, but... well, honestly, I couldn't shake the feeling that it would happen again.
...I could worry about that when it happened.
“Everyone's got the general idea, right?”
The art team's playtest was over.
The excitable duo were simply delighted that they'd gotten to play the game they'd made, but Han Seorim wasn't.
“Hmm... This needs some changes.”
“Seorim...?”
“Why? For what reason? Why on earth?”
The excitable duo questioned her, refusing to accept reality, but they couldn't shake Han Seorim's resolve.
“Hm? It's a bit messy, isn't it? The map and boss designs.”
“Which parts?”
“All of them.”
“...”
The two looked like prisoners who'd just been sentenced to death.
They looked ready to hang themselves.
Luckily, Han Seorim stopped that from happening.
“It's nothing major. We just need to change the UI design and adjust the map's saturation. Why are you so scared?”
“R-right...?”
“What a relief...”
The two readily accepted that.
It pained me, but I accepted it too.
“Then let's do that.”
Moving the UI even a single centimeter meant programming work. I felt as though three-meter Alice would turn up again, but I couldn't compromise on quality.
It was something I'd have to endure.
“Everyone, break it up and get to work.”
Five days.
That was how long it took to finish revising the prototype.
Thankfully, three-meter Alice only appeared once.
“Good work!”
“It's over! We're done!”
Now only one thing remained.
I took out my phone and texted Jo Ayun.
[Ayun, time to come in to work.]
Sound.
It was time to give the game its sound.
Adding Sound (1)
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