Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Plan (1)
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The seasons had passed in a blur, and autumn was drawing to a close.
With all the concepts for *Hellic 4* finalized, Development Team 1 had entered the implementation and revision phase... in other words, the longest and most arduous stage. They were now performing a daily chorus of hell.
And what was this chorus?
“Agh! Why is this a bug?!”
The prelude began with a shriek from the programming team.
“Ughhh....”
Then came the harmony from the art team, driven mad by the grind of modeling.
That wasn’t all.
From the texturing team came the tap, tap, tap of their work and the occasional giggle, while the planning team punctuated the piece with heavy sighs, building to a crescendo.
Thus, the chorus of hell.
The choir was Development Team 1, and the conductor, Cheon Yeon-ho.
And today, the conductor decided to add a variation to the potentially monotonous melody.
“Let's whip up some multiple endings.”
“Ah.”
“Huh?”
“The main ending is bittersweet, so we should add a good route. I've already got something in mind, so don't be too scared. It won't be that much more work.”
He said that, but heaven knew, earth knew, and even Yang Gil-sang, who wasn't involved in development, knew the truth.
The moment you add branching endings, the number of things to configure and code increases exponentially.
Of course, multiple endings had been part of the plan since the early stages of development.
It was even re-emphasized when we started the three chapters related to Olson Rick in the latter half of the game.
The only reason they were surprised now was that they already had so much else to do.
The planning and programming teams looked like prisoners on death row, while the art team, in charge of cinematics and direction, wore expressions of agony as if they'd been stabbed in the gut.
Everyone waited for Yeon-ho's next words.
“At first, I was just planning on a good ending and a normal ending, just the two....”
Yeon-ho said as he turned on the beam projector.
The developers already had a feeling.
“...Let's add a bad ending. We'll have a total of three ending routes.”
*Ah, we're fucked.*
“The endings will be determined by the profiling completion rate and the player's tendencies in the latter half of the game.”
*So much for going home on time.*
Everyone in the room thought the same thing.
‘How many beds are in the nap room again?’
They just wanted to get a comfortable night's sleep.
* * *
The initial idea was inspired by James Han's playthrough I saw at E3.
The way he completely ignored all profiling and item elements, crushing the game with pure mechanical skill.
Afterward, he had said.
—I don't remember the names of scrubs.
He doesn't remember the names of the weak.
It was such an impressive statement that even though we were only in the middle of development, it convinced me we had to create an achievement for this ending.
Achievements are important in console games.
Of course, most players don't attach much meaning to them, but even for those players, achievements act as a kind of seasoning, helping to maintain their interest in the game a little longer.
Take boss clear achievements, for example.
When an alert pops up at the bottom of the screen announcing a new achievement after defeating a boss, it can heighten the player's sense of accomplishment.
They can also soften the blow of an absurd death or heighten the excitement of discovering something hidden.
The concept for these multiple endings is also tied to such achievements.
In other words, 'using achievements to guide the direction of the ending'.
‘The bad route is the James Han route.’
First, defeating a boss without profiling it unlocks the existence of the 'I Don't Remember the Names of Scrubs' achievement.
If the player continues down that path, completing all related achievements and ignoring the game's narrative, they'll get an ending where they witness the protagonist's spiritual death without understanding anything.
‘The normal route is for average completion. Do a moderate amount of profiling and follow the standard route in the latter half.’
They just have to follow the path we've already laid out.
Since profiling itself is a tool to make *Hellic 4* a Souls-light game rather than a Souls-like, there's no reason for players to feel compelled to collect everything.
This is the route players will see if they just play and enjoy the game at a reasonable pace.
Of course, there is an achievement for completing all the profiling.
I've named it 'Premeditated Murder,' and this is tied to the third ending.
The achievement related to the good ending.
“I'm going to add a hidden boss.”
“A hidden one?”
“Yep, around the middle of Chapter 12.”
“What does this boss drop?”
“A hidden case file. If you defeat the final boss after acquiring it, the good ending unlocks.”
In other words, it's the key to getting that final 1% needed to complete the 'Premeditated Murder' achievement.
“It'd be too boring with only main story bosses.”
After all, boss monsters are the heart and soul of the Souls genre.
But leaving them as limited content that can only be seen on the main path is absurd.
Adventure and unexpected crises.
Isn't player growth amidst such challenges the very proposition that defines the Souls-like genre?
Furthermore, it's already been proven that placing a hidden boss in the very late game provides a new stimulus for players who have made it to the brink of the ending.
And one more thing.
“Just because it's a Souls-light doesn't mean it has to be too easy.”
A boss you can choose to fight or ignore.
In other words, a boss you can skip if it's too much of a pain.
And what does that mean?
“It means we can mess with the difficulty a bit.”
Besides, only the most hardcore players—or the obsessive ones who can't stand seeing an empty achievement slot in their library—attempt to get all the achievements.
This boss is meant to torment *those* people, while letting players who find the difficulty overwhelming just skip it.
The more I thought about it, the more fun it sounded.
“Seo-rim.”
“Yes?”
“I think dozens of arms would be great. Blooming like a flower....”
“...Fucking bastard.”
“Hmm?”
“It's nothing.”
Han Seo-rim muttered something and then disappeared from her seat.
‘Is she having a hard time lately?’
I tilted my head in confusion.
* * *
It goes without saying, and I've said it many times, but just because I'm making a game based on the hell I witnessed doesn't mean I'm recreating it exactly.
Of course not. I'm not trying to give players a hellish experience; I'm creating a 'game' based on it.
In the same vein, the hidden boss doesn't actually exist in hell.
Neither do the items, execution stacks, or other game mechanics.
You could say I'm taking the settings, atmosphere, and operational methods of the hell I actually saw and adding things that 'wouldn't be out of place' there.
And so, I created *Hellic 4*'s most terrible boss.
The 'Sleepless Swarm of Grief'.
‘This concept should work.’
I threw together a rough design document, and it came out quite plausible.
The hidden boss was inspired by the corpses of the pregnant women scattered throughout Olson Rick's domain.
A total of 21 victims, including Anna.
Excluding Anna, the remaining 20 vengeful spirits... or rather, their corpses, would be woven together to create it.
Upon first entering the arena, it would appear as a balled-up mass, designed to change its form with every attack pattern and movement.
The twenty bodies would separate, connect, and intertwine, creating transformative attacks that would be impossible to counter without careful observation and preparation.
The modeling process of creating each body and weaving them together would be time-consuming, but as long as the framework was solid, there would be no major obstacles beyond the labor and motion detailing.
In other words, it was doable, which meant it was the right thing to assign.
The design document was immediately sent to the art team.
I now noticed the dark smudges under Han Seo-rim's eyes had gotten quite pronounced.
‘Hmm, I should let her rest a bit at the end of the year.’
A good night's sleep usually helps with that.
That was my experience, anyway.
Han Seo-rim stared intently at the design document.
The dark circles under her eyes seemed to cast a shadow.
Then she looked up at me.
A moment of silence, and then she blurted out.
“...For now, just get out of my sight. This... I'll work on this after I'm done with Olson Rick.”
She seemed very busy.
I nodded.
It didn't really matter whether we made the hidden boss or the final boss first.
I returned to my desk and stretched.
My gaze drifted to the calendar.
‘2018 is already over.’
Time had flown by.
It was now December, the true start of winter.
Beyond that, it had been 11 years since I returned to the past.
It was a strange feeling. It felt like all I'd done was work, yet the world was gradually starting to resemble the one I knew.
People's once-ridiculous fashion had become more subdued, as had their speech, behavior, and the general atmosphere online.
Above all, the advancement of technology was dazzling.
A world that hadn't even known of the existence of smartphones was now launching countless businesses centered around them.
In just a few more years, nearly every daily necessity would be manageable with the small device in one's hand.
And there was a tide of the times that I, for one, could not simply ignore.
‘Exactly one year left.’
In December 2019, it would arrive.
COVID-19, the global virus that would strike the entire world.
Its outbreak would cause all sorts of social problems and endanger the economy, but ironically, certain industries would expand precisely because of it.
One of them was the game industry.
‘People won't leave their homes. It's to avoid risk, but... staying inside all the time is boring.’
Thus, businesses like OTT services, webtoons, and web novels—all accessible on smartphones—would expand exponentially, and at the same time, the game industry would experience a dazzling boom.
The records showing a sharp increase in new console players during that period prove this.
Of course, most of them were Nintendo players, and the casual nature of its platform couldn't be replaced by PlayStation or PC, but the absolute increase was by no means small.
In other words, if you know the trend, you can ride the wave.
And the way for me to ride that wave steadily was already set.
‘Let's release it in the middle of next year.’
Release *Hellic 4* in 2019.
The goal, as always, was GOTY, but the business benefits it would bring this time would be on a completely different level.
Because when COVID hit at the end of that year, the new wave of players entering the market in 2020 would first turn their attention to the latest and greatest games.
The best is the GOTY.
The proven latest is the 2019 GOTY.
In other words, that year's GOTY lineup would be the one to best capitalize on the COVID boom.
The returns from a GOTY win would be longer and more sustained than in any other year.
I made a plan.
‘The marketing has to be more aggressive.’
Fortunately, in 2019, there were no competitors so formidable they'd be considered insurmountable.
Of course, they were all good games.
However, Studio Rewind had grown large enough not to be overshadowed by them.
My only slight concern was that the new title from the main house, Flare Soft's *Sejiro*, was the one that swept the GOTY awards that year....
‘...Competition is fine. That's why I aimed for a Souls-light. With a much lower barrier to entry, we can win in terms of sales. Even taking just two of the big five awards would be a win.’
Setting aside the premium of the original developer, *Hellic 4* was far superior in terms of casual appeal.
We don't even have to win at TGA, which is considered the sole standard.
Since the goal is commercial success, two of the big five awards, or three if possible.
Just as I was solidifying this plan.
“President!”
Yang Gil-sang rushed over to my desk.
He shoved a smartphone in my face.
It was a gaming news article.
After reading the contents, I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
[End of Us 2, 2019 Release Confirmed.]
This was wrong.
*End of Us 2* was originally supposed to be released in 2020.
In other words,
‘...The butterfly effect.’
And one that wasn't positive for me.
Of all the times for this to happen.