Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: How an Indie Game Developer Writes a Scenario (2)
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“When you're writing dialogue, if a sentence doesn't end cleanly, don't just cut it off awkwardly—add a line break. Your top priority, without question, must be readability.”
“At the end of each stage, write the final line of dialogue in a way that makes the player curious about what's next. Even if the following content isn't particularly dramatic, it's best to write that last line with a bit more punch.”
“Stick to concise, simple words that keep the character count as low as possible.”
I was walking Daeri Son through all the tricks of the trade I could share, as quickly as possible.
Simply giving advice can take a while to sink in, so with each tip I shared, I showed him a concrete example of how to revise the text he had written.
“Ah…”
Each time, Daeri Son nodded and quickly jotted down what I was saying in his notebook.
‘If he just masters this, he should improve quickly.’
It’s best to take the time to teach him properly like this once or twice at the beginning.
Now, the key would be how quickly he could catch on and apply it to his work.
“Keep these points in mind when you're working on the scenario.”
“I’m sorry… I thought I could do well, but it seems I’m still lacking in many areas.”
As the feedback session was winding down, Daeri Son replied, his face slightly dejected.
It seemed he was bothered by the fact that his work hadn’t passed on the first try.
“As I said earlier, I'm not here to scold you, Daeri Son. If you haven't done this kind of work much before, it's only natural you'd struggle. You just need to learn. But… we don't have a lot of time, so I need you to learn as quickly as you can.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
Since he was the one I chose, I truly hoped he would do well.
If his work still didn't turn out right after this, it would be faster for me to just take over and power through it myself.
If it came to that, Daeri Son’s career would be in shambles.
If he couldn't even secure his own position while on Team Leader Go Yeongmi's bad side, his life at the company would undoubtedly go down the drain.
“Revise it based on my feedback and get it back to me by Wednesday at 5 PM. Don't worry about working ahead. Just spend the time until then reading it over and over, making as many corrections as you can. Fundamentally, the more you revise a piece of writing, the better it becomes.”
“Understood.”
After the meeting, just as we were about to return to our desks…
<<Your guidance has led Daeri Son Seokjin to a major breakthrough! Story stat has increased by 2!>>
‘What… His stat suddenly went up by 2?’
In that moment, Son Seokjin's stat shot up like crazy.
Presumably, what I told him had actually been helpful, and that had been quantified and displayed as a stat increase.
It’s true that you learn faster when your skill level is low, but seeing his stats go up for free like that felt a bit… empty.
<<Guiding others to a breakthrough is also the role of a PD.>>
<<You have acquired the achievement ‘One Who Fulfilled the PD's Duty’!>>
-Reward:
-Understanding of 'Daeri Son Seokjin' increased by one rank.
-'Direction' stat increased by 1.
It almost felt empty, but it wasn’t.
The system recognized my achievements one by one and rewarded me for them.
As expected, God Game Maker wasn't called ‘God’ for nothing.
-Son Seokjin 'sincerely' trusts you.
-Son Seokjin is prepared to accept your teachings with an open mind.
I briefly opened Son Seokjin's understanding window to check, and a new line had been added.
Perhaps because my understanding of him had increased, I could now grasp his state in more detail.
For someone like me who needed to manage a subordinate as effectively as possible, it was an incredibly useful ability.
And so, after settling that…
‘Now, what I need to knock out… the revised main character concepts and the plan for the in-game cutscenes.’
While overhauling Phoenix's scenario, I planned everything in a way that would minimize the need to rework existing resources.
With such a tight schedule, if I meddled with the overall content, there would surely be backlash from the art department.
But with the entire scenario changing, it was impossible to not change anything at all.
No matter how much I cut back and restrained myself, new characters were necessary for the new story.
‘First, let's start with the character concepts.’
I also needed two new characters to fit the new scenario for Phoenix.
Both characters would play a key role in the Season 1 story's twist, and they would also be important for expanding the story into Season 2.
Creating a new character requires going through the entire process, starting from initial concept art to modeling, animation, and effects.
If the initial character planning was delayed, the entire schedule would get thrown off, so I had to draft it as quickly as possible and hand it over to the art team.
‘It's 5:30… I need to get all this done today.’
I quickly jotted down keywords that symbolized the characters.
#. Betrayer, desire, Phoenix half-blood…
Based on these, I envisioned images that would fit the character's keywords and gathered reference materials from the internet.
What the overall silhouette would look like, what the details of each part would be, how the colors should be designed…
The art is ultimately the domain of the concept artist, but I write in detail so that the person doing the work doesn't get lost and can understand the planner's intent.
Also, it wasn't just about what looked pretty to me; I had to consider what design elements were needed for the character to look good on a small smartphone screen.
‘If the elements are too small, the users won't be able to see them.’
For example, a small scar on the protagonist's eye or a patch of skin that had turned snake-like are difficult to identify on a small screen.
A concept artist who is simply good at drawing but lacks development experience often proceeds without considering these things.
‘I have to catch all of this in the planning stage, no matter what.’
That's why catching these details meticulously in the planning stage and communicating them was bound to determine the quality of the final product.
Sometimes, there are concept artists or planners who dislike having every element controlled like this, but I've rarely seen the tone and manner of the work come out right in those cases, so I believe this method is correct and have always worked this way.
Click, click.
Clack, clack, clack.
The sounds of mouse clicks and keyboard taps alternated.
6:00… 7:00… 8:00…
As time passed, people started leaving the office one by one.
Except for a few people who had daily tasks to finish, most of the team members had gone home.
‘Phew… I've got the visuals down, at least.’
By the time it was 9:00, I had finished the visual concepts for the two characters.
A half-blood woman who inherited some of the Phoenix's blood, and a character from a cursed clan trying to destroy the Phoenix's egg.
I packed both of them with elements that would be popular in the fan-creation market, so as long as they turned out as planned, they should be pretty decent characters.
“Hey, are you busy?”
I spoke to Daeri Son, who was sitting next to me.
“Ah!”
Deep in concentration on the scenario, he flinched in surprise and turned his head toward me.
“W-What is it, Gwajang-nim?”
“Daeri Son, I just sent you two documents via messenger. Could you take a look?”
No matter how confident I am in my own skills, it's necessary to have a third party look at the work.
Besides, Daeri Son would have to write the dialogue for the characters I designed, so it was necessary to find any issues at this stage. That's why I sent him the documents.
“Oh… these characters are cool! Seeing them like this, I really get a feel for what you were thinking, Gwajang-nim.”
Thankfully, his reaction was positive.
On top of that, Daeri Son poured out his own ideas.
“For the Phoenix half-blood character, what if her eyes glow red when she's angry, so you can tell she's a half-blood? We'd just have to change the eye color on the angry character portrait that appears during dialogue.”
“Hmm… her revealing her identity is a kind of twist, so we can't use that in the early parts.”
“Ah… right, that makes sense.”
“However, if her eyes emit a red glow the moment the twist is revealed, that could have its own dramatic flair.”
I refined the idea Daeri Son suggested and applied it to the plan.
It felt like I was truly collaborating for the first time in a while.
“Then we'll finalize the character visuals with this. I'll include the idea you suggested, Daeri Son, and pass it on to the art department tomorrow.”
“You're amazing, Gwajang-nim. To finish all this in just a few hours…”
As if surprised by my pace, Daeri Son shook his head.
Just looking at my documents must have been quite a learning experience for him.
Usually, incompetent concept planners don't realize they are 'designers' when they're coming up with character concepts.
Because of that, they often just give the concept artist vague, feeling-based descriptions like 'a chic and gloomy character' or 'a muscular and dignified character.'
‘That kind of thing is the worst, but this industry is full of the worst kinds of people.’
I knew for a fact that both Daeri Son and his superior, Go Yeongmi, had been creating character concepts that way.
Since I've been working on the scenario all this time, I've asked several times to be given the character concept work as well, but Go Yeongmi never handed it over, perhaps because she didn't want to lose her turf.
That's why Daeri Son would have never seen me create a concept, and he must be having some realizations looking at this document now.
‘I'll wrap up today's work here, and tomorrow, I'll finalize it in a meeting with the concept artist and the Art Director.’
Of course, just because I'd completed the document didn't mean my work was done.
Before actual production began, I had to hold a meeting with the art team, who would be working with this document, to finalize the content.
There are many cases where the art team rejects a concept during this process, so I had to go in prepared for that possibility as well.
‘It would be good for him to see this too.’
People often think a planner is just someone who writes documents, but it's actually more important to persuade the staff through real communication.
A document that fails to persuade others is just pretty trash.
That's why Daeri Son needed to see this process as well.
“Daeri Son, I have a meeting with the art team tomorrow. Let's go in together.”
“Yes, understood.”
Daeri Son smiled, as if he understood my intentions.
It must be tough to have his work constantly interrupted like this while he's trying to write the scenario, but it couldn't be helped.
The company is a world of professionals, and we are soldiers dropped onto a particularly urgent battlefield.
‘Once the concept art is finalized tomorrow, I'll plan the animations and effects and hand that over. Then starting Wednesday, I can start planning the cutscenes.’
Having finished today's work, I jotted down the order of things I needed to do in my notebook and briefly organized them in my head.
Organizing things like this when I start and finish work reduces the chances of missing something.
‘Alright… let's wrap it up cleanly here for today.’
At 9:30, I gathered my things and got up from my seat.
“Daeri Son, are you going to work a bit longer?”
“Ah, yes. It's quiet at night, so I find it easy to concentrate. I was thinking of working a bit more while I'm at it.”
“Don't overdo it. We still have a long way to go, so pace yourself.”
“Yep, got it.”
“Alright then, keep up the good work.”
I left the office.
Then, using my overtime meal allowance, I quickly grabbed a bite at a restaurant before heading home.
After taking off my clothes, showering, and starting the laundry, it was already 11:00.
But it was still too early to sleep.
Back when I was in the thick of developing Forgotten Andersen's Story, going to bed at 3 or 4 AM was the norm.
‘First… I should let Coby Fox know what happened today.’
I immediately turned on my computer.
I could send a message from my phone, but since I had to use a translator, this way was more convenient.
I told him everything about the proposal from the company.
A few dozen minutes after sending the message, a reply from Coby Fox arrived.
[Coby Fox: Oh, that’s wonderful news. It’s an honor to receive an invitation from your company. I’d be more than happy to do an interview. I'm thrilled at the prospect of meeting Christian in a better environment. - Translated from English...]
‘Nice.’
As Coby Fox readily agreed, the corners of my mouth naturally lifted into a smile.
I asked him when he might visit Korea, and we coordinated our schedules.
“Next Monday… I'm looking forward to it.”
As a result, it was decided that he would come to Korea next Monday.
I still had to talk to the company, but considering Division Head Shin Chihwan's enthusiasm, I felt it would be approved without any issues.
‘I'm… I'm going to meet Coby Fox.’
My heart began to pound again.