Xia Cheng was already used to it. Chief Engineer Ming was indeed Chief Engineer Ming; he could always come up with brilliant ideas at unexpected times.
It feels like a famous detective who can suddenly deduce the key to solving a case from completely unrelated conversations among people around him.
Although the famous detective is indeed very capable, the person he's chatting with will be completely baffled.
That said, Xia Cheng was at Blue Star Studio mainly to handle business related to Morning Star Game Incubation Park.
Even though they are a young couple, they still need to follow the proper procedures.
Mingyan officially hired Xia Cheng as the CEO of Morningstar Incubator, and also gave him a seat on the board of directors. Then Xia Cheng started running around.
Although Mingyan wanted to help, he was practically a burden in this regard...
Xia Cheng kissed him and said, "You silly baby, just be a director who only puts money in and doesn't do any work. I have my business, and you have yours—when are you planning to release the new game?"
Mingyan said, "Dragon Hunter is a relatively small game, and it will probably be released around New Year's Day next year."
Unlike previous games, the new project does not plan to feature a rich storyline, lengthy main quests, or a vast open world.
Or rather, the focus is on the real-world experience rather than on the creation of virtual content.
This is a policy that Mingyan had planned and set from the very beginning.
In his design, Dragon Hunter should be a more casual game, allowing people to take it out and play for a while on their way to work, or at a party, or while hiking to challenge a dragon...
In short, it's a casual entertainment option for when you're out and about, not an immersive AAA game that you can fully immerse yourself in at home.
Moreover, in "Dragon Hunter," the most important element is, of course, the dragon.
This week, Blue Star officially entered the first phase of new project development: the designers are working themselves to the bone!
Specifically, Mingyan led a group of designers into a small dark room.
This group-designed dark room is different from the programmer's dark room; it's filled with all sorts of strange things.
The room was decorated like an entertainment room, with many beanbag chairs arranged in a circle in the middle, and a large whiteboard on the floor in the center.
The room was surrounded by many shelves and whiteboards, and all sorts of toys, musical instruments, snacks, drinks, electronic devices... were scattered on the shelves and the floor.
There are three reasons why these things are placed here:
First, presenting more and richer elements can inspire designers.
Secondly, it gives the designers something to play with while they discuss things;
Third, create a relaxed and fun atmosphere in the small dark room.
This kind of small dark room is a model that was finally determined after many years of development experience on Blue Star.
The designers brainstormed inside.
Some people like to lie in strange positions on beanbag chairs, playing with a yo-yo in their hands, and discussing issues with the person next to them;
Some people are more classical and like to wear glasses and ponder alone in front of a whiteboard in a corner;
Some people are more playful and might try out each musical instrument one by one, or scribble on the already messy wall with crayons.
Some people, with a more unconventional mindset, will simply lie on the floor and switch to a completely new game of the same genre every three minutes...
There are two small meetings here every day to gather everyone's inspiration.
These small, dark rooms are sometimes called "rainbow rooms" by the staff because they contain all sorts of things, and because the designers always come up with colorful and wonderful ideas in them.
When they came out this time, they all had dark circles under their eyes and looked completely exhausted.
But they were all in high spirits, as if the group was drunk and in a magical state of mind.
They contributed 77 unique dragon species!
The most effective way to promote Dragon Hunter and introduce the game to players is naturally by showcasing some of the most representative dragon species that exist in reality.
Gold dragon, silver dragon, three bronze dragons (bronze, brass, and copper), white dragon, red dragon...
Then, extending from reality, the designers also imagined:
A red dragon born on Valentine's Day has a chance of mutating into a pink dragon;
The pairing of a white dragon and a black dragon will produce a zebra dragon, which only hybridizes and does not produce dragon eggs naturally.
When a day-dwelling dragon and a dream-eating dragon interbreed, they can produce a "day-dwelling dream dragon"...
Everyone was overjoyed when they saw the initial design draft!
Varian said, "Red dragons are such a majestic species, hahaha, what the hell are these little pinks! I bet they're thinking of saying 'mmp' to you right now!"
He took the list and went to have some fun with his art group members.
The game development lifecycle quickly transitions to the next stage:
The designers continued working tirelessly, turning their initial inspiration into detailed documents. These documents contained detailed information about each dragon species, including its appearance, attributes, personality, habitat, habits, history, and so on, leaving no detail overlooked, and even including its interactions with other dragon species.
The artists also began to work, taking the first few design documents and turning them into initial concept drawings, then into original design drawings, and finally determining the 3D image, which was then handed over to the modelers to begin the production of the first batch of dragons.
At this time, the programmers are relatively relaxed, mainly because the senior developers are still working on the overall game program framework and anticipating technical requirements and potential bottlenecks.
At this point, Mingyan could start considering a game demo.
A demo is a projection of what a game might look like in the future, much like creating a virtual model before building a bridge to show everyone how it will look in the future.