Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Honey Trap
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Whether you could call it ‘smooth’ or not, Myeong-gyu’s recruitment was finally complete.
By the time we finished salary negotiations and went over his detailed job responsibilities, it was already June.
It had been just over a year since we started development. Our progress so far: the main map design for Chapter 1 and the modeling for Chapter 2.
Compared to our initial two-year development plan, our pace was less than halfway there, but that was okay.
Now that Myeong-gyu was here, the work would speed up.
“Myeong-gyu, Myeong-gyu! Good morning!”
“Myeong-gyu, Myeong-gyu! A blue shirt today? It really suits your cool undertones!”
“Uh, h-hi…!”
I just hope he can focus on his work.
Even when I tried not to, the thought kept popping into my head.
…Truthfully, I could only hope he’d manage it on his own.
If things got out of hand, I could always have a word with him.
I exchanged a nod with Myeong-gyu as he arrived and then got to my own work.
Today was the day to review the completed map and monsters for Chapter 2.
It was a one-on-one meeting with Han Seo-rim.
“This is good.”
“Right? I worked so hard on this.”
She had seemed quite confident when showing it to me, and it was clear why.
The model was mostly a dark purple, with an alien appearance that looked both 2D and 3D depending on the viewing angle.
From a game design perspective, it incorporated ‘otherworldliness,’ perfect for horror, and ‘visual obstruction’ right from the design stage.
My eye for art wasn’t sharp enough to pinpoint the specifics, but it was obvious that a great deal of technical thought had gone into this model.
Curious, I asked.
“How did you do it?”
“The base concept was an oil painting, right? But oil paintings inherently have a very rough, hard texture. It’s good for creating a sense of volume, but it was difficult to create the shimmering, wavering form you mentioned.”
I nodded.
Sure, in a game made ten years from now, we might be able to create a squirming, liquid-like model, but this was 2010, and we were a small company.
We lacked both the technology and the manpower to sculpt the shimmer of liquid into a human form.
“So I thought, why not use an optical illusion?”
“An optical illusion?”
“It’s called anamorphic art. You know, those pictures where they draw a realistic-looking pit on the floor and then people stand on it for a photo?”
Ah, I get the gist.
Trick art.
Come to think of it, there were even exhibitions for that kind of thing.
“So you used that?”
“You can apply anamorphosis to sculpture, too. It’s basically an extension of the concept of distorting an image.”
Honestly, I had no idea what she was talking about.
I just rotated the monster model around, fascinated.
From the front, it looked like a distorted tree. From the back, a bent human figure. And from the side, a person smiling while twisting their joints.
The sense of strangeness was amplified when it blended with the map.
It was literally an optical illusion.
Depending on the angle, the monster sometimes assimilated with the map, and at other times, it stood out as something completely separate.
That wasn't all.
“I paid special attention to this part.”
Whether it was because the work was done or because she was pleased with the result, Han Seo-rim began a demonstration that was close to showing off.
Appearing on the screen were cylindrical metal pillars placed here and there on the map.
What purpose did they serve?
The reason was soon revealed.
‘Huh?’
The moment she placed the monster next to a pillar, its reflection in the pillar reverted to the shape of an ordinary crying person.
My eyes widened.
Han Seo-rim grinned and explained.
“There’s a technique within anamorphosis called anamorphosis. It’s a method where a distorted object transforms back to its original shape when reflected on a surface. I got the idea from that.”
In that moment, Han Seo-rim’s voice faded away.
As always, the sensation of an idea striking was like a firework exploding in my head.
Seeing the model, a solution to the biggest obstacle in Chapter 2’s level design process came to me.
‘Time.’
With this, I wouldn’t have to represent the flow of time.
The Hell of Hedonism is fundamentally a place where the time of pleasure and the time of reality coexist, half and half.
In other words, to implement that in the game, I would have had to create a flow of time, which would have had a terrible impact on both the system and the game’s pacing.
Naturally.
If I only expressed the flow of time here, Chapter 2 would feel too alien from the rest, and it would be a serious waste of resources.
‘I don’t have to worry about that anymore.’
Now, let’s think about the main gimmick of Chapter 2.
‘Sinners who return to reality and go berserk. In other words, monsters. Sinners who drift through dreams, lost in pleasure. In other words, farmable objects.’
What if I connect the two organically?
For example, I could designate those pillars as ‘locations for farming items.’
The way to farm the item would be to defeat the monster near the pillar.
The moment the monster is defeated, its distorted corpse would vanish in a halo of light, leaving only the intact image of the sinner reflected in the pillar. As if the sinner’s soul had been preserved there.
The player would then approach the pillar with the human image, touch the intact form of the corpse, and pull out the item.
‘Let’s reinforce the lore.’
I’m not making a game for the sake of being faithful to the lore of Hell.
The goal is to make a fun game based on Hell.
So, I’ll add a layer of lore to the pillars Han Seo-rim created.
‘I’ll make the pillars into pieces of flesh, traces, or abilities of the chapter’s final boss, the Mass.’
This would simultaneously express the sinner’s pleasure and reality, which I had originally planned to divide by time.
By doing so, I could provide a plausible explanation for the bizarre sight of a perfectly straight pillar in a distorted world.
Besides the lore, the pillars could offer two other benefits.
First, from a programming standpoint, it simplifies the implementation of the farming system. Since farming can be completed with a single action, the workload will decrease.
This means reduced development time and positive effects on resources and player comprehension.
Second, from a gameplay perspective, the pillars rising throughout the map would naturally mark ‘reward locations,’ guiding the player’s path.
It’s a technique often used in open-world games.
You create prominent structures in the player’s line of sight to foster their curiosity and anticipation.
A dry laugh escaped me.
‘I can make it more intuitive.’
There’s no need to create a flow of time within the game.
According to the initial plan, the monsters you had to hunt would be different depending on the time of day.
That’s negative stress.
The pressure to complete an objective within a time limit and the changing farming routes would just cause fatigue.
But if looting is done this way, through the ‘reflection’ of the monster on the pillar, that stress disappears.
‘Players will be able to focus more on the act of playing itself.’
My thoughts were flowing.
“So? Isn’t this amazing? It took me over a month of revisions just to implement this…”
Han Seo-rim started to ramble.
I learned something new.
Han Seo-rim has a strong tendency to explain, in great detail, any work she is extremely satisfied with.
In other words, she wants to be praised.
Seeing her like that, the words just came out.
“You’re the best.”
“…Huh?”
“You’re the best. Really, it had to be you.”
It was a sincere compliment, without a single grain of exaggeration.
An art director who can expand the director’s ideas with a single model is truly an irreplaceable asset.
The fact that I was able to find Han Seo-rim so soon after my regression was something I could never be thankful enough for.
“You worked so hard.”
I stood up and looked at Han Seo-rim.
Then I saw it.
Han Seo-rim was blinking rapidly.
She was frozen.
The moment I reached out my hand.
“Hiek…!”
“Hm?”
Han Seo-rim stumbled backward.
Her face was flushed red, and a mix of emotions played across it.
Finally, Han Seo-rim’s lips parted as she stammered.
“…So cringey. It’s gross. Just die.”
Han Seo-rim shouted as if having a fit and hid behind a partition.
…She seems embarrassed.
***
In any case, it was time to revise the plan.
Since it was a revision at a stage where it wouldn’t be too difficult, I felt less pressure.
Of course. It wasn’t a revision after the system had been fully implemented or anything.
Revising after the system implementation is finished would be a nightmare; even moving the UI by 1cm is a major task in programming.
So I had prevented such a painful moment from occurring.
Of course, this revision wasn’t the final one either.
Games get overturned right before release.
For the sake of fun, switching to a better direction is always necessary, and compromising on that because of the workload was not an option.
I spoke to the art team.
“Let’s start by revising the map design. We need to change the farming route to be based on the cylindrical metal pillars. The gimmicks will need some detailed adjustments too… Oh, and the workload won’t be too heavy. It’s mostly just repositioning existing objects.”
In Hellic 2, farming for weapons and their materials is the alpha and omega of growth.
As such, the most important thing to consider during the level design stage is the correlation between map progression and growth speed.
The right stimulus at the right place, and the corresponding reward to make growth fun.
The fundamentals of being a game must be upheld.
“I’ve sent the instructions via company email. Just follow that and tweak the object positions and nearby background models a bit.”
“Okay.”
“Next, Myeong-gyu.”
“What should I start with?”
“For now, implementing the weapons made by the art team, and the interaction for the farming motion. Ah, there’s one bug you need to be careful with.”
“I think I know what it is.”
Myeong-gyu gave an awkward laugh, raised his hands above his head, and stretched.
That’s right. The 3-meter Alice bug.
“We found out after the demo release that the size-change trigger is collision-based. But this new farming mechanic involves getting close to the pillars, right? I’ll send you the bug report and solution via company email, so please pay special attention to that part.”
“Got it.”
“For any detailed questions, come talk to me individually. That’s all for the meeting.”
*Clap!*
I clapped my hands.
Jo A-yun wasn’t here today; she had a practical class.
What remained was the schedule.
“We need to finish the framework for up to Chapter 4 before the end of the year. I’m planning to finish the major revisions, testing, closed beta, and the official launch process in the second half of next year. So, let’s work hard. Especially the art team—let me know if you need more people. I can get a few short-term outsourced jobs. Alright, dismissed!”
Everyone returned to their respective stations.
Seeing the office in motion, it finally felt like things were coming together.
Planning, programming, and art—it took almost two years to complete the three core elements of a game.
Adding Jo A-yun for sound, it’s not a bad lineup.
What if we expanded from here? What if we built a team that flows more organically?
The thought flickered through my mind for a moment, and I erased it.
‘Slowly.’
Let’s gather talent slowly.
We have everything we need for now.
***
A chapter’s identity is absolutely determined by its gimmick.
Of course, you can’t say that art, sound, and narrative contribute little to its identity, but in the end, players make their judgments in the realm of ‘experience’ while playing the game, which is why the gimmick is crucial.
Isn’t that so? No matter how new the background and story are, if you repeat the same kind of labor for hours, the stimulation dulls.
Fatigue will increase, and boredom will follow.
Therefore, the gimmick is the one area I, as the director, must pay special attention to, and the one proposition where I can’t receive help from other team members.
I come up with the answer myself.
‘Hellic is a game played with a focus on items and objects.’
That’s why it employs narrative tooltips. And why tool-based gimmicks are the main focus.
In other words, every gimmick in the game must begin and end with an item.
However, this applies not just to combat, but to all progression.
Therefore, the most important thing in expressing the gimmick and the chapter’s identity is the personality and traits of the items.
Once I’ve established that, the remaining answer comes easily.
‘There are four item growth paths in Hellic 2, and there are also four chapters in Hellic 2.’
In that case, I should give each chapter a growth path that excels in it.
The framework is already somewhat in place.
In the previous Chapter 1, the Hell of Heretics, the ranged slingshot build is superior.
The heretics are all melee monsters, and even the boss has patterns whose difficulty changes depending on distance control.
Conversely, the worst-rated path in Chapter 1 was the ‘alchemy route’.
In the actual demo feedback, there were many skeptical reviews of the alchemy route.
Reviews like, ‘It’s fun, but the efficiency is terrible.’
‘I’ll turn that right around in Chapter 2. Make the players realize that no route is useless.’
This chapter, Chapter 2, the Hell of Hedonism.
The themes are ‘restriction’ and ‘fantasy.’
Initially, I set the restrictions to be more prominent than in other chapters, even considering implementing an in-game clock, to express the precarious balance between pleasure and reality.
Even now that the plan has been scrapped, the same principle applies.
‘It’s too good a theme for making the alchemy route stand out.’
Let’s think about the common image of potions.
In game terms, potions are for curing status ailments.
And as a way to make potions shine in the Hell of Hedonism, I’ll adopt that very concept.
Let’s move on.
So, in what form, and how, should I make the player seek out potions?
Spread poison across the entire map?
‘No, watching your health drain away in real-time is just stressful.’
Then what about giving every monster a deadly poison attribute?
‘That’s too boring. Besides, it’s an avoidable element. Depending on their playstyle, a player might not get poisoned at all.’
Especially a cautious player.
So let’s bring in a proven, good precedent.
*Click.*
I operated the mouse and launched a search engine.
And I opened the image tab.
What I saw on the screen was none other than a Mimic.
That’s right.
‘A trap you can’t help but fall into.’
That’s it—a hazard disguised as a farmable item.
In a typical game, it’s like this.
When faced with something like this, the user will have a choice.
Whether to avoid the risk and give up, or take the risk for a greater reward.
However, in Hellic, there is only one choice.
Because Hellic’s traps will grant both a reward and a penalty simultaneously.
The trap will be triggered during the process of looting the monster’s corpse reflected in the pillar.
In other words, I will place a curse on the pillar.
The user will know that looting from a cursed pillar will inflict a status ailment. But they won’t be able to avoid it.
‘Hellic is a game where all stats are tied to items. If you can’t farm items and materials, you can’t grow. If you don’t open the chests, clearing the chapter becomes a distant dream.’
The user will naturally choose the path of farming even while getting poisoned. And as they struggle with the status ailments, they will crave better antidotes, more reliable defenses.
Of course, there are ways to cure the poison without going down the alchemy route.
However, the difficulty will be quite extreme, and the more that’s the case, the more the user will appreciate the alchemy route.
The trap is a sweet threat.
With clear pros and cons, as long as it’s balanced, it will create an appropriate sense of crisis.
What should I call this gimmick… Right.
“Myeong-gyu, Myeong-gyu! It’s lunchtime, aren’t you going to eat?”
“Huh…? I usually skip lunch…”
“Aw, don’t be like that, let’s go together! We know a great pasta place nearby!”
“That’s right! Myeong-gyu, Myeong-gyu, do you like cream or tomato sauce? Ah, but you’re coming with us, right?”
“O-okay…!”
A honey trap.
That sounds good.
“Yeon-ho, Yeon-ho, packed lunch again today? We’ll be back!”
“Boss, boss! Take care of your health!”
‘Kyahaha!’ Laughing, the two women flanked Myeong-gyu and escorted him out of the office as if arresting him.
The last thing I saw was the tips of Myeong-gyu’s ears, bright red.
…A lot of things came to mind.
Nostalgia