Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Mods (2)
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The moment the idea deepened, I considered all the factors.
After several deliberations, the answer leaned toward ‘possible.’
‘The life, combat, and management functions are already implemented.’
A game’s mod-friendliness stems from the sheer breadth of content implemented in the vanilla version.
I wasn't talking about the volume of content.
I meant that the content had to branch out in various directions, providing many elements to play with.
To give a simple example, if you add mods to a game that consists solely of combat content, there’s no benefit to be gained from modding other than adding variety to the combat.
Conversely, in open-world games, adding mods often changed the very foundation of the game.
A prime example was *Elderscroll*, released in the same year as *Hellic 2*.
It’s now known as the epitome of moddable games, a masterpiece whose legacy would continue for years to come.
That was what I would benchmark.
‘Identity is a game that can be changed in any way.’
The village-building content could be adapted into a sandbox.
The same went for the various life-skill contents, and since the combat elements were also quite deep, as long as modders were willing, *Identity* could be transformed into any form.
Coincidentally, it was fitting for a game named *Identity*.
So, how would I establish this modding environment?
The answer, as I mentioned earlier, lay in benchmarking.
‘That company supports modders at a corporate level.’
We could do the same.
From simple add-ons to large-scale mods that reset the rules.
It was possible to dramatically extend the game’s lifespan by supporting them from launch or holding competitions.
‘Identity was never a game with a sequel in mind.’
It was a game that didn't even have DLC planned.
If so, there was all the more reason not to miss this opportunity.
It would erase most of the disadvantages of modding.
However, there was just one problem to solve.
“This is Ayado.”
I called Ayado from Sona.
And I said.
“We plan to implement mod support for *Identity*. So, I was wondering, could you allow mods on the PS4?”
*Identity* was a game planned for a simultaneous release on Steam and PlayStation.
That meant that users on either platform should have no inconvenience in using mods.
In this case, Sona’s permission was necessary.
It was a tense moment.
Sona wasn’t a company that was particularly fond of the modding environment.
Ayado let out a troubled groan.
Permission wasn't granted immediately, and this was the reply that came back.
“This will require an internal meeting.”
“By all means. I’ll be waiting for a positive response.”
I hung up the phone.
If we got permission, we would just need to create a new mod tab on Rewind’s official website and create an environment where mods could be ported to the PS4.
No, even if Sona didn’t allow mods, we could just focus our efforts on implementing mods for the PC version.
There would be controversy about platform discrimination.
But it was a challenge worth taking, even with that risk.
I spent the rest of my vacation lost in thought about mods.
And on the day my vacation ended.
I summoned the programming team to a meeting and gave them a special order.
“Let’s develop a modding tool.”
It was a choice made to prevent conflicts between mods and the game, and to build a smooth development environment.
The development and distribution of a modding tool.
* * *
We got permission from Sona.
Ayado added one more thing.
“As you know, mods on the PS4 will have issues due to the hardware’s performance limitations. Regarding that point…”
“We’ll have to take that into account. We’ll do our best to optimize. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have no choice but to cut some mod settings.”
I knew it was an unavoidable problem.
The important thing was that we had managed to get at least limited permission.
The programming team’s responsibility had become immense.
So, I added more reinforcements and increased the QA staff.
In the end, it’s people who make games, so what choice did we have but to push through with manpower to shorten the time?
As development progressed.
What I was now focusing on was something else.
『Having entered the Emperor’s palace, E-40 had an unbelievable reunion there.
—You’ve come this far.
It was a reunion of the most terrible kind.
Before E-40’s eyes, the one sitting on the throne was the girl who had given him a smile as he was dying.』
This was the final chapter of *Identity*.
It was time to conclude the main story.
E-40 meets people, saves them, learns the meaning of life one by one, and finally returns to the center of the empire.
To defeat the emperor, the source of all this suffering.
There, he would reunite with Smile.
As adversaries, where one of them had to die.
‘There’s no issue with the plausibility.’
The fact that a girl with the Smile, a privilege reserved only for the ruler of the empire, was in a deserted forest, the girl’s death at the hands of knights, and her vanished corpse—it was all foreshadowing.
So, ‘why’ did Smile give her face to E-40?
The answer to that would be written in this chapter.
Unlike the previous omnibus-style chapters that highlighted different characters, the final chapter was the part that resolved the story of E-40 and Smile.
I tapped on the keyboard.
『The girl wearing the crown spoke with a smile on her face.
—Here I am, the enemy you must defeat. Now, drive your sword into my heart.
When E-40 shook his head, the girl spoke sadly.
—I cannot be allowed to live. As long as I exist, the empire will never fall. You saw how terrible that is. Your journey must have had that meaning.
He knew.
He had come here to end such a terrible thing.
—But I cannot die on my own. Look, the wound from that day in the forest has already healed. It’s because of this Smile.
E-40 knew this as well.
The Smile was vitality. It was a light that spread through the world, and just by wearing it, one was promised eternal life, like a Holy Grail.
Even in E-40’s mind, the only way to kill a Smile was with another Smile.
Ah.
E-40 let out a silent gasp.
She had summoned him, a former knight of the empire, to that forest so that she could die by his hand.
As someone who knew the horrors of this empire better than anyone.
—It wasn’t like this at first. The order established by faces made everyone happy in their respective roles. Time was the problem. It’s been stagnant for so long that this entire country has rotted.
An eternal empire might not exist, but she alone was eternal.
Even when everyone else had forgotten the glorious moments, she alone remembered them and was in pain.
What blossomed inside E-40 was pity.
Wasn’t it ironic?
Even she, who held the brightest smile, was suffering within the shackles of a ‘smiling face.’
He still liked the Smile.
He hated facing her sadness.
If living and smiling was pain, then he had to end it.
Perhaps, that was the only thing E-40 could do for Smile.
*Shing—*
His sword was drawn.
Smile rose from the throne.
—…Thank you.
There was a reply E-40 had wanted to give her if he ever miraculously met her again.
Now was the time to give that reply.』
* * *
“It’s a sad ending.”
Seo-rim already knew about the final battle.
There were instructions Yeon-ho had given before the story was even written.
The grand imperial throne room, the battle with Smile.
Smile was a dark sorceress shrouded in black mist.
At the time of her creation, Seo-rim had sensed she was the mastermind, and for the combat modeling, she had implemented viscous and wicked magic befitting that role.
But looking at it now, she felt like she had done something wrong.
“Hmm…”
Seo-rim’s brow furrowed.
How should she put it?
Her magic was supposed to be the manifestation of a mind worn down by rotting alongside the empire for ages, but she felt she had only focused on wickedness and failed to express all of that.
There had to be a better way.
Lost in thought, Seo-rim re-examined the story and the final boss’s model.
Only then could she make a decision.
“…Yeon-ho.”
“Yes.”
“The concept art and modeling are my responsibility, right?”
Yeon-ho nodded.
To that, Seo-rim replied.
“I’m going to redo the final boss’s concept art and combat model.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s just redesigning one character.”
Yeon-ho thought for a moment, then nodded.
He seemed doubtful, but Seo-rim couldn’t give him a clear answer.
There were times like this.
A moment when an intuition she couldn’t explain in words told her, ‘this isn’t right.’
A moment when, upon recognizing certain information, everything she had known until then started to look shoddy.
Returning to her desk, Seo-rim discarded all the work she had done on Smile up to that point.
And she picked up her pen.
‘An emperor buried in time. A puppet rotting eternally with the empire.’
Over these keywords, she overlaid the concept of a ‘dark sorceress.’
Seo-rim’s hand moved.
She was designing the character with an emotional approach.
‘The battle is…’
Not against Smile, but against the Time that had swallowed her, and the will of the rotten empire.
A rusted clock was drawn on the white paper.
It was not a physical object but a form conjured from dark mist.
The clock had ten gaunt arms, and threads attached to the fingertips pierced through Smile’s entire body, controlling her.
It was the justification for why the sad Smile, unable to die on her own, would resolve to fight.
In other words, it was a decision made out of the need for a visual representation.
“Let’s redesign the combat effects based on this.”
Yeon-ho let out a wry laugh, acknowledging Seo-rim.
“Your imagination is definitely better than mine.”
It seemed his passion was ignited as well.
Ideas poured out of Yeon-ho, and Seo-rim began the work of giving them visual form.
“Let’s have an angry face appear on the clock here. To officially signal the start of phase two.”
“Sounds good. Oh, we can make it look like a shadow. How many patterns are there after phase two begins?”
“Six. She’ll use skills taken from six different faces.”
“Then we need to think about visibility. Let’s change the clock’s color when she uses a pattern. And change the expression that appears on the clock too.”
“Like a flickering shadow?”
“Exactly. And as for Smile…”
“Let’s have cracks appear on her face as the phases progress. To show her shedding the Smile, her shackle, as she dies.”
The final boss battle was taking on a definitive concept.
Now, it was time for the people who had to do the work to suffer.
Despair bloomed on the faces of the art team members, but the workaholics Han Seo-rim and Cheon Yeon-ho were oblivious.
“…Wow, more work.”
It was spring.
* * *
Just when I thought things were going smoothly, Han Seo-rim did something incredible.
The completed final boss design far surpassed the limits of what I could have imagined.
Thanks to that, ideas welled up, and after adding various settings, I ended up revising the story as well.
The salvation of Smile, who had been bound to the empire.
E-40’s ending was rewritten.
『The empire’s time that had bound Smile crumbled.
As the threads piercing her body snapped, she collapsed like a puppet.
E-40 caught her in his arms.
*Rumble*, at that moment, the imperial castle began to collapse.
—…Thank you.
Smile spoke in a relieved voice, as if she had finally been liberated.
However, there was no energy in it.
E-40 felt a sense of déjà vu.
It was just like the day he had lost her in the forest.
—Now leave, be happy wherever you go.
She told him to leave again, but E-40 shook his head.
He didn’t want to be as helpless as before.
This time, he wanted to save her.
There was something he could do.
Now that not even the empire’s time bound her.
*Click—*
Onto her empty face, E-40 returned the Smile he had borrowed.
Perhaps, it was a smile she had kept clean and empty just to give to him.
That must be why every moment he wore the smile was happy.
He wished the same for her.
Presently, her breathing began to stabilize.
It was then.
—…Huh?
E-40 realized he could speak.
Surprised, he touched his face.
Then, he felt the corners of his mouth turned up.
—A smile…?
There was a smile on his face.
E-40 looked at her.
He had already taken off the borrowed smile, so how could a smile remain?
After a moment of thought, E-40 realized.
He already knew the answer.
—Haha…!
E-40 laughed with pure joy as he lifted her into his arms.
And leaving the collapsing castle behind, he began to run toward the forest.
Behind them, the faces of the empire’s people fell away.
What filled the empty space was a smile.
That’s right.
The world’s most secret and greatest truth.
A smile was contagious.』
I took my hands off the keyboard.
I stared blankly at the text for a moment, and then I felt something with certainty.
In my past life, *Identity* had a sad ending.
I had thought it would leave a more lasting impression.
But look now.
‘As I thought…’
It’s better for the ending to be happy.
Even if it’s utterly cliché.
* * *
May 2016.
The trailer for *Identity* was released.
And a piece of news was delivered to the users.
『WannaQuitJaehee: I hear *Identity* is getting mod support?』
The official launch information began to be released.