Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Project Start
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Enson GT headquarters, 7th floor, RA Studio conference room.
After the official launch of Project RA, the first order of business was a meeting with Seol, who had helped brainstorm the next game.
"D-Did you call for me? Division Head…."
"You're here. Have a seat."
"Y-Yes…!"
At those words, Seol cautiously sat down in the chair, and I handed her some documents.
"Before I explain, here's a summary of the development direction. Take a look."
"Ah, yes…!"
Her expression turned serious at the mention of the summary for the next game's direction, something she'd been eagerly awaiting.
Seol quickly skimmed through the summary.
Watching her, I turned on the beam projector.
The screen on the wall began displaying the pre-loaded PPT slides.
By the time I'd finished preparing the PPT and taken a sip of coffee, Seol had read the entire summary and spoke up with a serious look.
"Uh… this looks good…?"
"Yeah?"
"Well… honestly, when we were brainstorming the next game, there were so many abstract ideas that I was worried about how to implement them…."
"Worried?"
"Um… could I give my thoughts after hearing the full explanation…?"
"Sure."
Seol set down the documents and looked at me, ready for the PPT explanation.
Feeling her gaze, I began.
"First off, I've set three main development directions for our next game, Reverse Arcadia. No need to explain what they are, right?"
"Ah, yes…!"
"Good. Starting with the first one. We wrestled with unit (tower) placement and settled on a square tile system. The advantages of this square tile method are…."
"Since players only need to check four directions—up, down, left, right—it's easy for beginners to adapt… and it's highly intuitive…."
Seol had jumped in with my explanation, her face brimming with anticipation.
Less like a developer and more like a gamer finally seeing a long-awaited game.
Her heightened energy was a far cry from her usual demeanor.
"Exactly. That's why I judged it the most suitable for a mobile game platform."
"I think this is the right answer too…."
I nodded at her positive response and continued.
"Alright, second one. We're fusing tower defense with character progression RPG elements."
"Character progression…?"
"Yeah. Why? Doesn't sound good?"
Seol shook her head at my question.
But her expression suggested something was nagging at her.
"N-No… it's not that, it's just a bit different from what I imagined…."
"Yeah?"
"Yes… I was thinking of something simpler, divided by positions…."
"That's the way it is, though?"
"Huh… yes?"
"If we weren't doing role-based play with defined positions, we wouldn't slap the RPG label on it."
"Ah…."
"Just think of it as adding a persistent character progression system on top of that."
Life really is unpredictable, as they say.
I never imagined the RPG development experience I hated so much before my regression would come in handy.
Though the sub-genres differed, defining role positions and designing leveling was the same across any RPG.
"Four melee classes, four ranged… that's more classes than I expected."
"You need this many for strategic depth."
I pressed the remote, and the PPT slid to the class introduction.
Melee Classes
> Warrior, Knight, Thief, Paladin
Ranged Positions
> Hunter, Mage, Priest, Witch
"With this variety, combinations will definitely add strategic elements…."
"You'll see combinations beyond your imagination."
Suddenly, a horrifying realization hit her, and Seol's face paled as she asked,
"…W-With eight classes, doesn't that mean balancing around all eight…?"
"That's right."
"Th-Then balancing patches for all those classes…."
"Obviously, that's the planning team's job."
"…C-Couldn't we just cancel and limit classes to three or so…?"
"Nope, can't do that."
Seol slumped over the desk in despair.
I felt bad for her, but it was unavoidable.
This class differentiation and character progression were the core of Reverse Arcadia.
Still, I'd assigned plenty of planners for balancing… so it shouldn't be too tough.
After a brief commotion, the explanation continued.
"Finally, for variable elements, instead of tweaking minor things, giving variables to enemy paths like this seemed best."
I finished and pressed the remote, bringing up a rough sketch on screen.
"In certain stages, indestructible objects force enemies to detour, or…."
Another press showed a different image.
"Use character skills to smash the path. Of course, we'll keep adding variable creation methods during development."
Her reaction to the full explanation could be summed up in one line.
"It's perfect…?"
"Yeah?"
"Y-Yes…! I never imagined the issues I raised would be fleshed out like this…."
"So, ready to kick off the project like this?"
"Of course…!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ With confirmation from the lead concept designer, it was time to divvy up tasks.
In the conference room with all senior developers gathered.
"Art team first. Most urgent is main character designs. Schedule's tight, so once Yerin finishes designs per the planning doc specs, get my approval and pass roughs to the designers for finals."
"Got it."
"Yena, once main character finals are done, model one in SD proportions as 3D. No schedule issues?"
Yena, who was sitting next to Yerin jotting notes, nodded hurriedly.
"I sent all the official comic manuscripts for a month's worth, so definitely doable."
"Good. No rush like the Operator job, so max out quality."
"Will do."
I nodded to Yena and turned to Taeseon next.
"Development team next. Nothing specific now, so focus on playable prototype. I'll give you equipment purchase requests later—don't forget to submit. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!"
His fresh enthusiasm was endearing, like a true rookie ace—different from Myunghoon.
"Planning team. Most urgent: synopsis and Chapter 1 main story for trailer release. Once done, spec out class characters. Then trailer storyboards, so hustle a bit. Got it?"
"Yes…."
Seol's face soured under the task avalanche, but no helping it.
"Next, Chaeyoung Senior… Sound's urgent is trailer OST. I'll head to the recording studio myself. Cool?"
Chaeyoung nodded readily.
"Sure."
That wrapped it.
Tasks assigned as much as possible.
Time to close.
"Alright, meeting adjourned! Everyone, get to work."
"Yes!"
Taeseon answered with the most zeal, as expected.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Work schedules kicked in, and things got busy.
Yumi was shuttling between the business team and our office like any PM in a project's early days,
and Yerin looked strained, probably agonizing over character designs.
I wanted to help, but…
All I could do was provide detailed specs.
Drawing the characters from them was Yerin's job—no way around it.
Cheering her on silently before she noticed, I headed to the recording studio where Chaeyoung was.
One floor down from the studio office, I entered the familiar recording room.
Beer cans piled on the table.
Headset dangling from the mic stand.
Scattered sheet music everywhere.
The chair was empty, so she must've stepped out to the bathroom.
Leaning against the wall, I waited briefly until Chaeyoung entered.
Her ash-blue hair tied up, sharp eyes under large round glasses.
Spotting me, she frowned slightly and stowed her toiletries in a drawer.
"Pulled an all-nighter again?"
"Can't you tell?"
"Rest when there's no project work."
She tossed me the towel she'd used and flopped into the chair.
"If you're gonna nag, cut my workload."
"That's why I said use assets for most things?"
"…You know my style."
"You and Yerin, both so…."
Unable to bear the awkward silence, I spoke up again.
"Anyway, Senior. One work thing."
"…Again?"
"Can't help it. Once Project RA's on track, we'll outsource Girls Memorial work, so hang in there."
Chaeyoung sighed at my plea.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
"How about making the Reverse Arcadia trailer BGM more epic?"
"Hmm… what vibe are you going for?"
I pondered her question before replying carefully.
"Highlight needs explosive impact. Trailer concepts are escape, resistance themes."
Chaeyoung pulled out a notepad and jotted it down.
"And?"
"Intro should be gloomy, low post-apocalyptic mood, then explode into electronic sounds at the highlight."
She mulled the conditions before responding.
"Sounds feasible, but let's finalize direction after seeing the storyboard."
"Yeah, no rush anyway."