Chapter 190
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Worldview (1)
I have sworn time and time again that I remember what I saw in Hell with absolute certainty, without the slightest error.
This wasn't some baseless confidence in my own memory.
Nor was it a visual manifestation of images caused by a mental illness.
To put it another way, if one were to compare memories to words etched in sand, those memories alone were categorized as 'carved in stone,' and that is why I remember them.
Therefore, it is impossible for me to forget the various events of Hell and the nature of that place.
At the very least, they remain vivid even now, more than ten years after my return, so it is unlikely to be much different in the future.
And that is why one thing puzzled me.
—Don't you think these look just like stars?
I have a memory, though I cannot recall when I even experienced it.
A hazy memory that left behind only a sense of wonder.
No matter how hard I try to recall it, all I can conjure is a voice tinged with the rasp of metal, a dry, wrinkled hand, and a few words.
—They're not so different from stars. You can't grasp them, no matter how much you wish.
—They exist, yet they feel like illusions, which brings despair. And in that despair, you come to yearn for them. In that sense, 'stars' is the most fitting word.
—That's why it's a miracle. When one, by chance, draws near without even realizing it, and offers its embrace….
Thinking back, I still don't understand.
When did I hear the words of that man, who I presume was elderly? What was the conversation we shared? And beyond all that, if this was certainly an event from Hell, how could that old man perceive and speak to me?
Despite all these uncertainties, one thing was clear.
—Are you hoping, too? That among those stars, there is one for you.
It was not a fabrication, but something I had truly experienced.
—Don't look so desperately. Desperation and misery are such intimate friends.
The sight I witnessed that day was just that wondrous.
—Simply hope with a humble heart.
In a black world, on a patch of land no larger than a few square meters, adrift in the cosmos, I gazed upon the void with the old man's words as my companion. Densely packed and shining like stars were…
—That a salvation meant for you will appear in this place.
Countless salvations, and the golden doors that led to them.
—Just as those before you have.
In other words, I was standing in the heart of Hell.
* * *
Every game needs a story.
This is an indispensable element not only for console package games but also for online games and even casual flash games.
This is because the story is the core element that serves as the pillar for the game's setting.
To give an easy example, the 'XX Run' series, a main genre in the early days of smartphones, needed a story for its concept—'why,' 'how,' and 'for what' the characters run, what obstacles they overcome, and what items they use in their respective worlds.
If it's a game about riding a mythical beast through a fairy-tale land, the beast shouldn't be a mecha dragon, the items shouldn't be Aladdin's magic lamp, and the reason for running shouldn't be for the glory of the Nazis.
Because that would be incongruous with the story that forms the setting… that is, the worldview.
Of course, one could attempt such a thing.
But if it's not supported by a plausible narrative coherence, the worldview becomes nothing more than a flimsy tower swaying precariously without a pillar.
Without a narrative center, a game's setting collapses that quickly.
Thus, a solid worldview is an essential element in a game.
And, in an open-world RPG, there was another reason why the story acts as a key game mechanic, beyond the reasons mentioned above.
“The final objective is the bare minimum guideline.”
To tell the story of 'a certain character who has fallen into a certain world' in an open-world game, you need a narrative explaining why that person (the playable character) is there.
Only then can you establish what they will do and what they will become, and only then can the player understand what they are supposed to do.
In the case of *Hellic 5*, the player is a scholar who has fallen into the Hell of Hedonism.
They are wanderers who roam Hell in search of truth, and they are sinners who have committed unpardonable sins.
In that case, the final objective.
Isn't it all too clear what should be placed at the end of the path they must travel?
“They uncover the secrets of Hell.”
Not just the Hell of Hedonism, but the secrets of all of Hell.
At the end of that arduous path of scholarship, there needs to be a truth they finally come to realize.
As the truth to be placed there, I chose the memory of a certain place that remained only faintly.
“They’ll be transported to the middle of a cosmos, where golden doors are strewn about like stars. After they defeat the final boss.”
“Hmm… I’m not sure I follow. Should I just place the character in the middle of space? You didn’t call me here separately just for that, did you?”
“Right, I called you separately for a reason.”
When we began this development, I had mentioned that the art for *Hellic 5* should follow the direction of the planning side.
Han Seo-rim had been following that well, and she had graciously accepted requests for revisions to the deliverables.
However, this was an exceptional case.
“For this part, I think you’ll need to create it based on your own judgment.”
“Just this part?”
I nodded.
‘Because I can’t remember it properly myself.’
That space, which I arbitrarily called the heart of Hell, had too many aspects I couldn't describe myself.
Everything other than a few of the old man's words and the feelings I had looking at the scenery was blurred, as if someone had carved it out of my mind.
But I want the feeling of that sight to be properly brought to life.
That's why I need Han Seo-rim's intuition, capable of artistic thought, rather than my own.
“You don’t have to express it as stars embedded in the cosmos. The emotion I want to capture is that of countless golden doors adorning the space. I want it to be so overwhelming that when viewed from the protagonist's perspective, the feeling of vastness, of awe, is properly conveyed.”
“……”
Han Seo-rim's eyes narrowed.
“That’s like asking for something delicate yet burly.”
I have nothing to say to that.
I averted my gaze and said.
“…I believe you can do it.”
Han Seo-rim didn't reply.
All I heard was a small sigh.
…Well, I suppose that means yes.
Besides, I'm the president.
If I tell her to do it, she has to.
* * *
We steadily completed the core development elements.
Now it was time to branch out from the established foundations and make the worldview more solid.
To summarize what we've done so far:
The genre is an open-world RPG, the setting is the Hell of Hedonism, the hell of scholars, the main system is the transmission of techniques from various academic schools based on a group called the Scholarly Faction, the gameplay style is exploring Hell, and the main story is about uncovering the secrets of Hell to approach the truth.
In that case, there is something that needs to be reinforced next.
‘I need to solidify the main story.’
Now that we have a starting point and an endpoint, we need the process in between.
We have to plausibly explain how the player, who has fallen into the Hell of Hedonism, reaches the truth.
Of course, I have a plan for this part.
In the first place, I created it as an open-world RPG because that was possible, so it wouldn't do to not have one.
“*Hellic 5* has seven maps. Each map has a different theme, and these maps are organically connected to form a single worldview. The protagonist has one goal: to delve into the center of each map and collect the map's heart.”
The seven lands in the Hell of Hedonism all have different themes, and these are themes that deal with macroscopic concepts.
The protagonist explores maps with different themes, and by collecting all the treasures called 'hearts,' which hold the core secrets of each place, they come to understand everything about this place.
“It's simple but effective. Above all, if we set the 'heart's ability,' which corresponds to the map's theme and is the chapter reward, as a skill, the sense of growth will be significant.”
For example, the theme of the Green Hell, where the player starts the game, is 'life.'
Man-eating plants and grotesqueries roam there, representing the blossoming and death of life.
Therefore, it has periods of rest and activity, and an ecosystem.
“The heart's ability obtained by clearing the Green Hell is growth interference.”
Its applications will be to create passages by adjusting the character's size, or to 'assist in crafting usable items' for the Yuras Faction.
Next example.
“The Violet Hell is a hell themed around time. Clearing this will enable a playstyle where you can temporarily stop an enemy's time, or stop the time of objects in space to create paths and use them as walls.”
There are many others.
From the Black Hell's sensory control, the White Hell's consciousness control, the Yellow Hell's spatial control, to the themes of elements and emotions in the Red and Blue Hells.
The reason these become gameplay variables is, again, because *Hellic 5* is an open-world game.
Mr. Park Ho-su pointed that out.
“The player starts in the Green Hell, but they can walk to another hell without necessarily clearing it, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then the order in which they obtain the treasures will also change, so the method of clearing each map will be different. Since you said it should be playable in any order, the level design will also have to be planned considering various aspects…”
I nodded my head.
“That's right. There should be no hell that cannot be cleared unless a specific hell has been cleared.”
The core of *Hellic 5* comes from not setting a fixed order of gameplay.
“So that for any type of play, there is at least one way to clear it, so that even if the user moves as they wish, they ultimately remain within our intentions and reach the ending.”
To control all of that, so that they mistake the branching of choices that comes from the vastness of an open world for 'freedom.'
“From now on, it's calculations. Now that we have the concept, we have to calculate how well it actually works and how much we need to cut.”
“If we make a prototype…”
“We’ll have to run it through QA to find what needs to be fixed.”
Mr. Park Ho-su's face turned grim.
Mr. Kang Ji-seok was the same, as were the other members of the planning team.
I could understand.
Even though I was the one who proposed it, calculating all the variables and controlling and setting them was an unbelievably terrible task.
Mr. Kang Ji-seok asked.
“Should we send some coffee over to the QA department?”
Rewind's QA team—I hired them myself, but they are true-blue perverts who find pleasure in finding the developers' flaws, denouncing them, and reprimanding them.
They'll pull off some ridiculous play and say, ‘Why is this happening? Shouldn't you have considered something like this?’
It stresses me out too.
But that's precisely why they are the most necessary people.
“No, we’re not sending coffee.”
That way, they’ll be even more ruthless, so this is good.
A plan gets better when it gets beaten down.
Programming gets better when it's ground down, and art and sound get better when the creators are not of sound mind.
That's the kind of job it is.
Being a game developer.
“Alright, shall we start by solidifying the implementation direction for the hearts?”
Unfortunately, there's no time to rest until launch.