Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: A Brilliant Idea (1)
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[Blind / NB Soft Board]
Author: i!ii1i32
-Hey, I heard the Gold Digger team and the Christian team both have the same submission date at the end of March. Is that for real?
[Replies]
-dss1: Yeah, it’s real. Rumor has it the Gold Digger PD is targeting the Christian team lol. They’re working their graphics staff to the bone. Heard they even brought in a super famous TA.
-11SP1: The internal competition is insane lol.
-13th Floor Resident: Wow lol, I’m looking forward to it. The people on that team say it’s a real dream team.
-11SP1: But are they putting that much manpower into a prototype? The other teams are struggling, isn’t that too much favoritism?
-13th Floor Resident: C’mon, it’s PD Lee Hyeonho. He can pull that much weight, can’t he? Besides, once it’s made, they’ll use it for PR in press releases. It’s a huge win for the company to back a proven winner to protect its stock price.
-QPDD1: Is this the same lame NB Soft I used to know? NB Soft is a legend.
Before long, the rumor that Lee Hyeonho was submitting his project around the same time as ours had spread everywhere.
‘This has to be another one of Lee Hyeonho’s schemes. He’ll spread the rumor as wide as possible, then crush me for maximum publicity.’
One might think I could just ignore it and focus on making my game, but it’s not that simple.
‘The Gold Digger team’s game will undoubtedly be packed with every visual flourish imaginable. Being placed side-by-side with a game like that will definitely not do me any favors.’
If we’re evaluated at the same time, the contrast effect could easily have a negative impact on our first submission review.
The recent prototype review was nearly derailed by Seo Donghyuk’s machinations; there’s no guarantee something like that won’t happen again.
‘I already received a generous schedule, so delaying is impossible. But if I shorten it, I’ll lose the team’s trust.’
I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I couldn't come up with a way to overcome this crisis.
In the first place, POD isn’t an AAA game; it’s a title closer in scale to an indie game.
Ultimately, this meant I had to break through with unique gameplay and aggressive storytelling—elements that larger games often struggle with—rather than with sheer quality.
‘A way to grab the viewer’s attention more firmly in the first two chapters…’
I slowly went over the parts of the project that were still in progress.
Balancing, UI/UX planning, and so on. There were certainly areas that still needed reinforcement.
However.
‘These aren’t factors that will have a decisive impact on the first review.’
In the first submission, it’s more important to see if the core fun factor of the game is faithfully implemented rather than focusing on such details.
Balance and UI/UX are constantly affected by other game elements, so they can change right up until launch.
In the end, it’s strategically more advantageous to find a way to more strongly showcase this project’s strengths rather than getting bogged down in the details for this build.
However, the direction and the early story were already planned out, and the God Game Maker’s evaluation was a solid S-rank.
Moreover, pushing the quality any higher with the current staff and timeframe was impossible.
‘It’s not like I can just insert an in-game cinematic here either.’
No matter how I wracked my brain, I couldn’t find an answer.
Since I don’t do the graphics or programming myself, it was a tricky situation to leverage God Game Maker.
As I stewed in my frustration, I aimlessly scribbled on a notepad with a ballpoint pen.
*Vzzzt!*
[Rokhui: Are you busy right now, Hyunsoo?]
[Rokhui: Photo.JPG]
[Rokhui: I’m at a nearby cafe working on the storyboard!]
Just then, I got a message from Rokhui.
She sent a picture of herself working at a cafe near her home. Looking at it seemed to calm my nerves a little.
[Me: No, I was just taking a break because something wasn’t working out.]
[Rokhui: Huh? Is something wrong?]
[Me: It’s work-related.]
[Rokhui: Tell me about it. Maybe I can help again?]
I told her about the situation and my concerns.
It felt like I was rambling about trivial things, but talking about it seemed to lift a weight off my chest.
[Rokhui: Ah, so that’s what happened. That Lee Hyeonho guy is really petty.]
[Me: Well, that’s how companies are, I guess. It seems like just working hard at your own job isn’t enough.]
[Rokhui: Hmmm.]
[Rokhui: Then what about adding that cinematic video you mentioned for this submission? You know, like a cutscene in the game. Is that what you call an in-game cinematic?]
[Me: The team’s budget is limited, and it’s a bit difficult to spend a large sum of money already. Besides, if we make the in-game cinematic now, it’ll be hard to change the content later.]
In truth, it’s not unheard of to work on a cinematic while developing the build.
It helps the developers visualize the final product, and the cinematic can be used for promotion.
But our team couldn’t afford that luxury.
[Rokhui: Hmm, can’t you manage it with the company budget?]
NB Soft, like many other game companies, provides each game studio with a separate budget they can use freely.
This budget is used to improve the game’s quality, covering things like sound, music, graphic resources, and cinematics.
[Me: Our team is so small that the amount of money we can use isn’t very large.]
[Rokhui: Ah, I guess that makes sense.]
Our team, being small and led by a rookie PD, had a budget that was anything but generous.
These days, the cost of 2D and 3D cinematic animation can range from 50 to 100 million won per minute.
For our team, that was by no means a small amount of money.
‘There’s the option of asking the company’s internal cinematics team, but…’
I had considered asking the in-house cinematics team, but they were unlikely to create a cinematic for a team that was only submitting its first build.
Besides, our company’s cinematics team could only create 3D.
‘For POD, making a cinematic similar to those in existing games would actually disrupt the game’s flow.’
I needed a cinematic to have a fighting chance against Lee Hyeonho, but I was in an awkward situation where I couldn’t make one.
As my head throbbed.
[Rokhui: Hey, are you planning to make that cinematic as an animation?]
[Me: Ah, yes. Since my game has a 2D feel to it.]
[Rokhui: Hmm, what about making the cinematic through an industry-academia collaboration?]
[Me: An industry-academia collaboration?]
[Rokhui: Yes, yes. I heard a professor I know is recruiting for a collaboration project, and I thought your project might be a good fit.]
[Me: They make animations at the university?]
[Rokhui: Yes, the university I attended had both comics and animation departments. So they often sign industry-academia collaborations.]
[Me: Ah.]
Industry-academia collaboration—a project carried out through cooperation between a company and a university.
The university sends students to the company to gain practical experience and build their resumes, boosting their own performance metrics, while the company gets access to good talent at a low cost.
With this method, it would certainly be possible to produce a cinematic even with a small budget.
However.
‘Will the quality of student work be good enough?’
I wanted to approach this cautiously.
It might be better to think of an alternative than to include something amateurish and shoddy.
[Me: Is there any way I can see the quality of the animations from those collaborations?]
[Rokhui: Ah, just a moment. I heard they’re all uploaded to our university’s YouTube channel.]
[Rokhui: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG5g8n]
I clicked on the link Rokhui sent.
The channel was named [SAA Animation].
It seemed to be the channel for Seowon University of Arts, which housed the most competitive comics and animation departments in Korea.
‘The quality is surprisingly high for student work.’
The channel featured students’ semester projects and graduation works.
They weren’t the super high-quality videos you’d see in game cinematics, but there were many unique works, so to speak, that exuded a strong artistic flavor.
I wasn’t familiar with their reputation, but apparently, a few of them had even been invited to what are known as the four major animation festivals: Annecy, Ottawa, Zagreb, and Hiroshima.
The quality was certainly too good to be dismissed as mere student work.
As I browsed through the works.
[SAA Industry-Academia Collaboration - Promotional Animation for the Mysteries of Egypt Exhibition]
‘Is this it?’
I spotted another animation made through a collaboration and immediately played it.
A shadow animation played along with exotic Egyptian-style music.
After a little research, I learned that this was a stencil technique, created using lighting and black silhouette puppets on layered cutouts.
‘Students made this?’
The animation, like a tapestry embroidered with jewels, was more than enough to capture my heart.
Furthermore, the animations on the SAA Animation channel were made using various techniques—puppet, clay, 2D rotoscoping, stencil, sand, and more.
The range of options seemed wide.
In some ways, I thought they might even be better than professional studios that specialize in a single area.
Having made my decision, my thoughts moved on to the next step.
‘But there might be legal issues and other complications.’
It was not an easy path.
An industry-academia collaboration would involve government subsidies, meaning the budget execution would be subject to audits by public institutions.
But I couldn’t deny that this was an attractive card for me right now.
[Me: Rokhui, the university animations you sent look really good.]
[Rokhui: Oh, really? Should I contact the professor right away?]
[Me: Ah, since it’s company business, I need to get approval from my superiors first. Could you give me a little time?]
[Rokhui: Sure, sure! Just let me know by the end of today.]
I immediately sent a message to the person who could solve this problem.
[Me: Director Shin Chihwan, I have an urgent matter that I need your help with.]
[Director Shin Chihwan: Huh? What’s going on that you’re asking me for a favor?]
I quickly summarized the key points, from the cinematic production to the industry-academia collaboration.
Then I found a YouTube video from the SAA channel that matched the style I wanted and sent it to him.
[Director Shin Chihwan: Hmm, not bad. This should get through the legal and HR teams’ review pretty quickly. The company might even like this.]
[Me: Huh? They’d like it?]
[Director Shin Chihwan: Our CEO has been meeting with members of the National Assembly lately. The gaming industry gets a lot of flak, so I think he’s trying to do something about it. Industry-academia collaborations basically help raise employment figures from the government’s perspective, right? Plus, the cause itself is noble. It’s a hassle for the staff, but for the higher-ups, it’s something that looks good on the surface.]
[Me: So, you can handle this for me?]
[Director Shin Chihwan: There’s nothing to handle. Have you finished talking with that professor?]
[Me: I wanted to check with you first before proceeding.]
[Director Shin Chihwan: Then hash things out with them, get their number, and send it to me. I’ll pass it on to the company and get the ball rolling.]
[Me: Ah, yes! Thank you.]
Indeed, it seems there’s always a way out.
I felt like I had been wandering in a dark cave and had finally found a ray of light.
[Me: Rokhui, the director said it’s a great idea and gave the okay.]
[Rokhui: Wow! That’s great. Should I call the professor right now?]
[Me: Could you wait just a little longer? I think it would be faster if I send a rough document outlining the kind of cinematic I want. It should take about two to three hours.]
[Rokhui: Oh! Okay, let me know when you’re ready.]
After explaining the situation, I immediately started drafting the document.
A rough document outlining how many cinematics were needed and what animation techniques I wanted to use.
Since moving quickly was the priority, my plan was to send a rough document first and then flesh out the details later.
‘Alright. I’ll be the one to crush Lee Hyeonho at the end of March.’
The clatter of my keyboard echoed loudly.