Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: The Beginning (3)
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The details of the plan were coming together.
Once the overall gameplay style was established and the combat points were defined, the next step was to balance the various resources and growth elements.
Soulslike games had one particularly prominent feature.
The distribution of limited resources.
In simple terms, this meant limiting everything—from healing and enhancement resources to various special items—to put pressure on the player regarding costs.
This, too, was part of the syntax of pressure and tension that defined the Soulslike genre.
I would now establish these elements, but in this area, I had no intention of significantly alleviating the existing pressure.
‘Doing that would make it too easy. I’m already trying to balance it through the gameplay style.’
A game without tension isn't fun.
This wasn't just because it was a Soulslike; it was true for all games.
Perhaps if the game derived its pleasure from mowing everything down like a hack-and-slash, it would be a different story, but this game was not of that genre.
Since the monster density would be kept to an absolute minimum, it was better to maintain the tension of each and every combat encounter.
In any case, this was an extension of that idea.
Limited resources could be replenished at save points.
And at a character maintenance area that was more than just that.
‘A neutral zone.’
I knew of one such place.
It was one of the major factors that made me decide to clothe this story in the garb of a Soulslike.
—A wanderer? Whoa, a cop. Hey, relax. This is Hell, isn't it? A place full of people who are already being punished enough without you having to do it. Lighten up a little.
As I mentioned, the Hell of Slaughter was a place that, on the surface, seemed to have formed its own society.
It was a neighborhood where murders happened at every moment, but aside from that, it was a fairly moderate place, barring the physical incongruity of its appearance.
Therein lay the point.
The Hell of Slaughter was not entirely devoid of rational individuals like the man.
If so, wouldn't there be a place where they gathered for safety?
—Welcome. To the Ant Tunnel.
The Ant Tunnel.
That was the nest of the moderates and the man's new base of operations.
* * *
It was not long after I had begun to follow his journey.
He continued to hunt down killers whose forms were becoming increasingly twisted, collecting certain items from them as he walked.
He found the Ant Tunnel along the way.
‘…No.’
Actually, even saying he ‘found’ it was ridiculous.
From my perspective, the man already knew of the Ant Tunnel's existence.
It made sense; unless you were a madman, you wouldn't force your body into a crawlspace under a tree root and start inching forward without any certainty.
Anyway, upon arriving at the Ant Tunnel, the man met the one who called himself its leader.
The leader was a rather slick character, and after some conversation and verification, he willingly gave the man an entry pass and a room in the Ant Tunnel.
The man went to his assigned room without another word.
A single room, on par with a cheap boarding house.
But that didn't seem to be a major issue for him.
I later came to understand something.
*Click!*
The man had sought out the Ant Tunnel to secure a space for maintenance.
Peace, at the very least, was not what he desired.
Sitting at the desk in his room, he disassembled and maintained his firearm.
He sharpened the blade of his jackknife, and only then did he begin to hang the items he had collected from the killers on the wall, one by one.
A notebook was opened.
The man began to take notes.
He started with a piece of blood-stained clothing.
[Traces of what appears to be blood spatter, carotid artery seems to have been deeply severed. Reverse bloodstain pattern found, as if it bounced off a wall. Likely an indoor murder.]
It was then I became certain that the man was an English speaker.
Next, the man examined a piece of paper on which he had sketched the corpse of a killer he had taken down.
[Deep stab wound, clean laceration, also traces on the carotid artery, signs of resistance uncertain.]
I couldn't tell exactly what the man was doing.
At best, I could only infer from his profession as a police officer and his notes that this process was an ‘investigation’ or a ‘pursuit.’
It was at that moment.
‘A cross?’
He took a cross out from his pocket.
Then, looking at the cross, he began to sketch something.
With my hands in my pockets, I watched what he was drawing.
I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
‘Ah, it’s not a cross.’
The man was sketching the murder scene from his imagination.
The long part of the cross he held was exactly the length of a knife blade.
Next, he listed a series of speculative sentences.
[Considers murder a ritualistic act. A religious signature was likely used. Expression of identity through an identical murder method, characteristics of a serial killer observed. A cult, then? …No, no heretical features are visible.]
I knew the term for this activity.
‘Profiling.’
An investigative technique that analyzed not just the crime scene, but the mindset and actions of the criminal.
He was tracking a specific killer, the owner of these clues.
I watched the entire process in silence.
And when his series of investigations was complete, the man left the Ant Tunnel.
The place he arrived at was a large church somewhere in a forest where, as with everywhere in the Hell of Slaughter, every object created a sense of disharmony.
* * *
“So that church will be the first boss map, then? And the profiling is a narrative tooltip? That’s a pretty good setup.”
“It’s effectively Chapter 1.”
I added, answering Han Seo-rim’s question during the concept meeting.
“If played normally, players will spend at least thirty minutes inside the church. I’ll need to make the paths a bit convoluted.”
This fell under the domain of level design, so cooperation between the art and planning teams would be necessary.
I didn't elaborate further on the process.
This was our third AAA title; inter-team cooperation was no longer an issue.
“I’ll leave that to you all. If anything seems ambiguous, come ask me right away.”
“Okay.”
“Next up, the combat concept.”
Feeling the need for collective intelligence, I had included this in the meeting agenda.
“The man’s action style will be a combination of a pistol and martial arts. I wanted to brainstorm with everyone on how to implement this.”
“Something like Gun Kata or Gun Fu?”
“Yes, it’ll probably be closer to Gun Fu.”
A portmanteau of ‘gun’ and ‘kung fu.’
It was the martial art used by the protagonist of a very famous movie.
Need I say more? It was the style that combined gunplay with jiu-jitsu, wielded by a legendary assassin from a certain syndicate.
“I’m thinking of changing the jiu-jitsu part to standing strikes.”
Of course, the protagonist didn't actually perform anything like Gun Fu.
It was just a game adaptation; the martial art was established that way for gameplay purposes.
Fundamentally, it was a close-quarters game.
However, a martial art involving firearms emphasized high speed and agility.
That didn't suit a Soulslike.
The reason for drawing inspiration from Gun Fu was its distinct, heavy feel.
“Ah, I get it.”
Myeong-gyu understood immediately.
“The movements are disciplined and lack a sense of speed. But they’re that much heavier for it. All within a speed the eye can follow.”
“Exactly. The execution of a skill needs to be clearly visible to the players.”
I had called the revolver an execution skill, but it was closer to a high-damage burst skill.
If I were to find a motif, it resembled a ‘parry counter.’
However, it was different from a parry.
It wasn't a specific technical gimmick, but a skill activated by simply pressing a key.
In other words, it shifted the gameplay from reflexes to strategy, to resource management.
The activation mechanism could be explained like this.
“When you press a specific key while having bullet cost, the screen will turn gray and enter slow motion. The available bullet cost will be displayed in the center of the screen, and the user will press the button for the number of bullets they want to use, then re-enter the skill key. The moment the slow motion ends, the skill activates.”
“Ah!”
“It might lack speed, but the impact will be properly felt. Even more so since you’re activating the skill yourself. For PlayStation players, we can use the controller’s vibration to enhance the feel of the hit.”
Taking it a step further, think about the PlayStation DualShock.
The variable pressure of the buttons could be implemented to feel like a trigger pull, elevating the visceral feel of the impact to its peak.
The idea was taking concrete shape.
“Sunbae.”
Han Seo-rim asked.
“Is that also going to use a special camera angle?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
While the skill was activating, the camera would zoom in, showing the protagonist’s movements from multiple angles with sharp, *click, click* cuts.
“The very act of collecting cost to use an execution skill has to build anticipation. The execution scene itself has to be that much more exhilarating and cool.”
“…Okay, I get it. So how will the execution motions be structured?”
“We’ll divide them by the number of bullets. One bullet means twisting their arm back and putting one in the back of their head. Two bullets means shooting a leg to disable them, then grabbing their neck and aiming the gun under their chin for another shot.”
Of course, it wouldn't be exactly like that.
No matter how fantastical the martial arts, a certain degree of realism in the movements was necessary.
“I’ve already booked an action school. We’ll be collaborating with them for motion capture.”
“Oh?”
“I’ll be going too. I’ve spent a lot of money on this. There’s a huge number of motions to capture.”
At that moment, Kim Hye-ji and Jeon Yu-mi flinched.
“Why?”
I asked, and the two looked at each other.
Then they giggled, saying, “Nah, no way,” before turning to me.
“There are only six execution motions, right? I mean, even six is a lot.”
“Yeah, modeling and implementing all that would be really tough.”
What strange things they were saying.
“What are you talking about? We need to create at least fifty execution motions.”
“?”
“?”
“How many of the boss monsters are human-sized? I told you. The visuals in a Soulslike are all about the overwhelming presence that comes from size and deformity.”
I could say this with certainty.
Of the thirteen main boss monsters currently planned, only two were humanoid.
“Do you really think it makes sense to disable a five-meter-tall centipede monster by shooting it in the leg?”
“…”
“…”
“When fighting a centipede, you need an execution scene tailored for a centipede. Same for birds, same for beasts.”
And that wasn't all.
“It has to be linked with the profiling. Depending on the level of analysis from profiling, shouldn't the targetable body parts or the actions themselves change for the boss? We need to represent finding a weak point in-game.”
The color drained from their faces.
I reassured them.
“Don’t worry. Our art team has over fifty people. We can do it quickly.”
Why else would I have expanded the art team so much?
The modeling team the two of them were managing already had a double-digit headcount.
“Let’s do our best.”
There was an immutable truth in the game development industry.
If you don't have time, you spend money.
You buy time (labor) with money.
And I tended to spend quite a lot on graphics.
* * *
“I’m Cheon Yeon-ho.”
“Han Seo-rim.”
“A pleasure to meet you. It’s always something to see a celebrity in person! Ah, I saw you on that variety show recently, Director!”
Kim Bae-seok, the director of the Super Sonic Action School, had received unusual guests today.
Game developers, of all people.
And not just any developers, but the director of Korea’s most famous game company.
He was surprised at first, but the feeling didn't last long.
What followed wasn't joy, but awkwardness.
It was because Bae-seok’s high-school-aged son was a fan of the *Hellic* series.
He had scolded the boy so many times for playing such a violent game, and now here he was, working with the creator of that very game.
How could this meeting not be awkward?
But what could he do?
Whatever the case, working with a celebrity who had achieved such legendary success was a career booster.
Bae-seok wasn't foolish enough to let his personal feelings get in the way of his career.
Besides, he was the type who disliked discriminating against people based on their profession.
“I’ve received the materials you sent. Shall we head to the conference room?”
“Yes.”
Inside the conference room, Bae-seok asked Yeon-ho.
“You said you wanted to incorporate Gun Fu into the game, right?”
“Yes, and I’d like to request your cooperation with motion capture and filming.”
“Of course. For action based on real martial arts, a minimum level of authenticity is necessary.”
“It’s not the original Gun Fu, but…”
“Gun Fu focused on standing strikes. I’ve discussed it a bit with my staff. For this part…”
The meeting proceeded smoothly.
Bae-seok’s opinion of Yeon-ho began to rise.
For one, his attitude of listening intently to an expert’s words was a perfect 100.
Bae-seok had met far too many people who couldn't even do that.
‘He’s different from those high-and-mighty actors.’
It might be because this was a technical collaboration rather than direct training.
Unlike the actors he had trained so far, this man was easy to talk to. The conversation itself was so engaging that it was in danger of veering off into a discussion about martial arts itself.
It was at that moment.
The moment Bae-seok truly began to fall for Yeon-ho.
“Director Kim.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s say you’re a martial artist who uses Gun Fu.”
“And?”
“If there’s a four-meter-tall werewolf in front of you, how would you fight it? Oh, and you only have six bullets.”
“?”
First, bewilderment. Then, imagination. Finally, excitement.
Kim Bae-seok (46), who had started as a stuntman and risen to become the director of an action school, had lived and breathed action his entire life.
To his own embarrassment, he still imagined himself fighting off monsters that appeared in the city center.
His blood was still hot.
“…Shall we start by taking out its mobility?”
Power entered Bae-seok’s voice.
Yeon-ho shot back.
“But the werewolf’s claws are beam sabers.”
“Ooh, shit…! A Werewolf Jedi…?”
Tension filled Bae-seok’s body.
He was already in a life-or-death battle with the werewolf.
Seo-rim gave the two men a strange look, but unfortunately, both were too engrossed to notice her gaze.
It was spring.