Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: How an Indie Game Developer Writes a Scenario (3)
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“Alright, we'll proceed with the concept art for these two characters as planned.”
“We’re counting on you.”
The next day, the meeting with the concept artist and the Art Director went much more smoothly than I'd anticipated.
Usually, dropping a design document at this stage would be met with a lot of frustration, but aside from a couple of minor details we agreed to tweak, the plan was approved almost as is.
‘It's either because I've gotten famous, or because Oh Gwangseok laid the groundwork beforehand.’
The quality of the document might have been a factor, but it was clear that external reasons were at play too.
No matter how much of a 'god of planning' wrote the document, concepts are ultimately subjective. If they wanted to pick it apart, they could have easily found something to criticize.
‘Well, it doesn't matter. It's nice and easy when things go this smoothly.’
Anyway, I finished my work on schedule, and as long as things progress well, that's all that matters.
Riding this momentum, I finished planning the character animations and effects and quickly passed them on, and those were also approved without any major disagreements.
As I excitedly plowed through the work, Wednesday arrived before I knew it.
[Daeri Son Seokjin: Gwajang-nim, I've reworked the Chapter 1 scenario reflecting your feedback. Please take a look.]
[Daeri Son Seokjin: Phoenix_Chapter1_SonSeokjin.pptx]
[Daeri Son Seokjin: Should I book a meeting room for this?]
[Me: Hold on. Let me read through it first.]
We'd have to book a meeting room to go over feedback again.
But first, I opened Daeri Son's document.
I quickly flipped through the document, scanning the content.
‘Oh... This is much better than before.’
There were still occasional lines or sentences that felt a little awkward, but for the most part, the text quality had improved so dramatically that with just a few minor edits from me, it would be ready to implement in the game.
Just as I thought, Daeri Son has a real talent for this.
[Me: No need to book a room. I think we can finalize this and use it as is. I'll just fix a few awkward parts and share it with the Bonbujang-nim and the PD. Good work. You can start on Chapter 2 right away.]
[Daeri Son Seokjin: Thank you!!]
I half-rose from my seat and glanced over the partition.
I could see Daeri Son grinning from ear to ear as he stared at his monitor.
He must have been incredibly happy to receive my praise.
Watching him made me feel a sense of satisfaction as well.
‘If he's improved this much in just a week, I'm excited to see how much he'll grow in the remaining time.’
I was uncertain until Monday, but now I was convinced that Daeri Son would definitely pull his weight as a scenario planner.
He has talent and passion; all I need to do is add a little kindling and fuel.
And the fire he ignites will also warm me as we walk this path together.
[Me: Bonbujang-nim, PD-nim. Sharing the Chapter 1 scenario. Daeri Son did the work, and I just gave it a quick review. Please take a look.]
[Director/Bonbujang Shin Chihwan: Understood.]
[Department Head/PD Oh Gwangseok: I'll check it.]
I immediately shot the document over to my superiors.
In the process, I made sure to mention that Daeri Son had done the work.
It might not seem like much, but a simple comment like that from me will be a great help to Son Seokjin in establishing his position later on.
“Daeri Son, if you have a moment, let's grab some coffee. To clear our heads. My treat.”
“Ah, yes!”
We headed out of the company to the nearby Starbucks.
Daeri Son had overcome a major hurdle, so I wanted to treat him to a cup of coffee as a small gift.
“You worked hard. Just keep this up for the rest of the scenarios.”
“Haha, it's all thanks to you, Gwajang-nim. Your brief explanation on Monday was a huge help. It almost made everything I've learned in my life feel like a waste of time.”
“A waste of time? Nonsense. You need a solid foundation to even be able to accept advice. It's good to be humble, but there's no need to put yourself down like that.”
“Haha, you think so?”
I spent some time making small talk with Daeri Son.
What games he'd been impressed with lately, what he'd say if he met Coby Fox, what movies he'd enjoyed recently...
Since we were both interested in scenarios, it wasn't hard to find common ground, and the conversation was quite enjoyable in its own small way.
‘Phew, I can finally breathe.’
My head, which had been a bit dizzy from churning out documents, felt a little clearer.
A brief change of scenery like this would help with my work later on.
It was then.
Bzzzt-
My smartphone, sitting on the cafe table, vibrated.
When I unlocked it, there was a message in the chat.
[Director/Bonbujang Shin Chihwan: Wow, the writing's pretty good. Gwajang Jo, train this kid well. So we can suck him dry to the bone for our company's future.]
[Department Head/PD Oh Gwangseok: I agree, the writing is good. But could we maybe... add a few lines of dialogue at the very end?]
[Director/Bonbujang Shin Chihwan: Oh Gwangseok, I've already approved it, so that's the end of it. After getting so much flak during the FGT, are you trying to add more unnecessary fluff?]
[Department Head/PD Oh Gwangseok: Ah, never mind!]
‘Perfect.’
A chuckle escaped my lips as I looked at the chat.
The document was approved in one go.
It looked like Oh Gwangseok was about to get greedy again, but the Bonbujang shut him down instantly, ending the matter simply.
“Look at this. The document you wrote, Daeri Son, got approved by the Bonbujang.”
I held out my phone to show him the screen.
“Wow, amazing... Does this mean the script I wrote is going into the game as is?”
“That's right. Congratulations.”
“Haha, it's all thanks to you, Gwajang-nim.”
Daeri Son couldn't hold back his smile, the corners of his mouth rising high.
The experience of a small victory.
It brings joy to the creator, and that joy becomes the driving force to continue working.
He will need to continue accumulating these experiences, one by one, to build his career and skills as a game developer.
Well... the same goes for me.
“I appreciate you thinking that. Well then, shall we get going?”
“Yes, yes!”
After our short break, we returned to the office.
And once again, we immersed ourselves in work.
And so, a week filled with nothing but work passed without incident.
****
The weekend arrived once more.
Perhaps because I'd been working so hard all week, when I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.
“Twelve... thirty...”
I slowly sat up and casually pressed the power button on the TV.
‘In just two days, I'll be meeting Coby Fox.’
While spacing out in front of the TV, I briefly thought about what I should say when I met Coby.
The company said they would provide an interpreter from the globalization team, but the thought of having to converse in English with a developer I'd long admired already made me nervous.
‘Well, I can just talk about games... and the company said they'd prepare a list of questions.’
I briefly tried to simulate Monday's meeting in my head, then realized it was pointless.
Yeah, why am I preparing like it's an interview?
Being natural is the best way to go...
I'll just wing it.
As someone buried under design documents every day, the last thing I wanted was to plan out a conversation and stick to a script.
Well, it's not like I'm going to go there and shout 'Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times' or anything...
Bzzzt-
Just as I was zoning out in front of the TV for about thirty minutes, a call came in.
I checked the screen. The text displayed [King God Emperor Author Yoon Byeongjong].
‘Huh? Why is Yoon Byeongjong calling me on a weekend?’
I tilted my head in confusion and pressed the call button.
<<Hey, Jo Hyunsoo, you busy?>>
“No, not really. Why?”
<<If you're free, let's grab a drink tonight.>>
“Huh? You're not done with your deadline yet, are you? Is it okay for you to drink on the weekend?”
<<Hey, do you think that matters when your big bro wants to see you? Besides, work went well this week, so taking half a day off is fine. So you're coming later, right?>>
Well, I wasn't that busy on the weekend either.
And I had been craving a drink lately.
“Alright, where should I go?”
<<Let's meet at Gangnam Station, 6:30.>>
“Gangnam Station? Not Suji-gu Office?”
<<It gets boring meeting at the same place all the time. Anyway, make sure you come.>>
“Hey... are you up to something weird again...”
The call ended before I could finish my sentence.
I sent a KakaoTalk message and tried calling back, but there was no answer.
This is suspicious...
‘Well, he's always cooped up at home drawing comics, so I guess he just wants to get some fresh Gangnam air.’
I knew Yoon Byeongjong could be a bit eccentric, so I just accepted it.
After that, I made some ramen to eat.
‘Maybe I should use the spare time to work on my next project.’
I crept into my workspace and turned on the computer.
Then, I opened PowerPoint and started typing a few keywords on the blank screen.
Dream. Parents. Giving up. Sunset. Twilight.
These were the keywords for the new game I'd thought of last week.
And in the middle of the screen, I placed the photo of the Danyang sunset I'd taken before getting on the bus.
I can feel it. I can feel it...
The feeling for the new game!
****
“Ah, shit, 'feel it' my ass...”
Last week, I felt so overwhelmed with inspiration, like something would click at any moment, but as always, there's a gap between reality and ideals.
I planted myself in my chair and kept jotting down ideas on the screen about how to implement and unfold those keywords and that image into a game.
Among them were some decent ones, and a lot of garbage.
My plan was to list out all my thoughts like this and then gradually form a draft by filtering out the usable ones.
Graphic concept, story, game systems, and so on.
A mountain of things to decide lay ahead of me.
‘For the graphics... I think it would be good to move away from pixel art this time and go for a more stylish, painterly feel... Are there any painters known for dream-related works?’
I searched for related information.
In the process, ‘The Sower’ by the famous painter Van Gogh caught my eye.
A painting of a farmer with an expressionless face, sowing seeds in a field under a vivid sunset.
I felt that this resonated with the wistful feeling I had at my parents' house last week.
‘Gogh... dream... there are a lot of keywords I can connect here.’
Moreover, the feel of Van Gogh's rough brushstrokes seemed like it would be a good match for the theme I wanted to explore—my parents' dream.
Once I had this direction, the thoughts that had been running wild in my head began to move as if they'd found a path.
To find useful references, I looked into Van Gogh's life, stories about his parents, stories about dreams, and so on...
Across all of it, I searched for aspects I could adapt and reinterpret.
‘Hmm, but if I get too caught up in this, won't it become a story about Van Gogh instead of my parents' dream? No, if I can find the points in Van Gogh's life that perfectly match my theme, it might be okay...’
Of course, even as my thoughts progressed, I hit the brakes now and then.
I couldn't let the information I was taking in now blur the initial feeling and theme I had come up with.
“Ah, it's already this late.”
I was in the middle of writing when I glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of my monitor and saw it was around 5:30.
Considering it takes forty to fifty minutes to get to Gangnam, it was about time to wash up.
“Guess I should start getting ready to go.”