Chapter 41: Project Start

Inside the conference room of RA Studio on the 7th floor of Anson GT headquarters.

The first task after the official launch of Project RA was a meeting with Seol, who had helped brainstorm the next game.

"Y-You called for me, Director?"

"Come in. Have a seat."

"Y-Yes...!"

As Seol cautiously sat down, I handed her a document.

"Before I explain, here's a summary of our development direction. Give it a read."

"Ah, yes...!"

Seol's expression turned serious at the mention of the long-awaited summary for the next project.

She quickly skimmed through the summary.

Watching her, I turned on the projector.

The pre-loaded PowerPoint presentation appeared on the wall-mounted screen.

After finishing the PPT setup and about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, Seol, having finished reading the summary, spoke with a serious expression.

"Um... This looks good...?"

"Yeah?"

"Well... When we were brainstorming the next project, there were a lot of abstract ideas, so I was worried about how to implement them..."

"And?"

"Hmm... Can I give you my detailed thoughts after hearing your full explanation...?"

"Sure."

Seol put down the document and looked at me, ready to hear the PPT explanation.

Feeling her gaze, I began my explanation.

"First, we've set three main development directions for our next game, 'Reverse Arcadia.' I don't need to explain what these three are, right?"

"Ah, no...!"

"Good. So, let's start with the first one. After considering how to handle unit (tower) placement, we decided on a square tile system. The advantages of this square tile system are..."

"It's easy for beginners to adapt since there are only four directions to check—up, down, left, and right... It's also very intuitive..."

Seol's expression was filled with anticipation as she finished the explanation I was about to give.

She looked more like an excited gamer who had just seen a long-awaited game rather than a developer.

Seol's elevated mood was quite different from her usual self.

"That's right. That's why we judged it to be the most suitable method for the mobile game platform."

"I think this method is the right answer too..."

Nodding at Seol's positive response, I continued.

"Good. Now for the second point. We're going to fuse the tower defense genre with character-raising RPG elements."

"Character raising...?"

"Yeah. Why? Does it not sound good?"

Seol shook her head at my question.

But her expression suggested something was bothering her.

"N-No... It's not that. It's just a bit different from what I had in mind..."

"Oh?"

"Yes... I was thinking of a simpler system where players would just choose different positions..."

"That's right, though?"

"Huh... What?"

"If we weren't going to follow a role-playing style where each position has a defined role, we wouldn't have slapped the RPG label on it."

"Ah..."

"Think of it as adding a character progression system that doesn't reset to that style."

Life works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?

I never imagined that my pre-regression experience developing RPGs, which I hated to death, would come in handy.

Although the specific sub-genre was different, defining role positions and designing leveling systems were common to all RPG games.

"Four melee classes, four ranged classes... That's more classes than I expected."

"We need at least this many for strategic elements to come into play."

I pressed the remote button, and the PPT screen changed to introduce the classes.

Melee Classes:

Warrior, Knight, Thief, Paladin

Ranged Classes:

Hunter, Magician, Priest, Witch

"With this variety, there'll definitely be strategic elements through combinations..."

"The combinations will exceed your imagination."

Suddenly, as if a terrifying realization had struck her, Seol asked with a pale face.

"...If there are eight classes, doesn't that mean we have to balance all eight of them...?"

"That's right."

"T-Then, all those balance patches for so many classes..."

"That's naturally the job of the planning department."

"...C-Couldn't we just cancel this and stick to about three classes...?"

"Nope, not happening."

At those words, Seol collapsed onto the desk with a look of despair.

I felt sorry for Seol, but it couldn't be helped.

This class diversification and character progression were the core of our next game, Reverse Arcadia.

Well, we've assigned plenty of balancing planners, so... it shouldn't be too hard.

Anyway, after a brief commotion, the explanation continued.

"Lastly, for enhancing variable elements, rather than tweaking small things, I thought it would be best to introduce variables in the enemies' movement paths like this."

As I finished speaking and pressed the remote, a crude quality image appeared on the screen.

"In certain stages, we'll move indestructible objects to force enemies to detour, or..."

I pressed the remote again, and another image appeared.

"Like this, we can use character skills to destroy paths. Of course, we'll keep adding more ways to create variables as we develop."

Seol's reaction to the final explanation could be summed up in one word:

"It's perfect...?"

"You think so?"

"Yes, yes...! I never imagined the ideas I mentioned could be fleshed out like this..."

"So, do you think we can start the project with this?"

"Of course...!"

***

Now that we had the approval from the person who oversaw the concept, it was time to officially distribute the workload.

In the conference room where all the senior developers had gathered.

"First, the art team. The most urgent task for the art team is the character design for the main characters. The schedule is tight, so Ye-rin, once you finish the designs according to the specifications in the proposal, get my approval and immediately pass the rough materials to the designers. We need to produce the final versions."

"Okay, I got it."

"And Ye-na, when the final versions of the main characters are done, you'll need to create a 3D model of one character in SD proportions... Is that doable with your schedule?"

Ye-na, who had been writing something next to Ye-rin, hastily nodded.

"I've sent in all the manuscripts for the official comics for the month, so it's definitely possible."

"Good. There's no need to rush like with the previous operator job, so try to maximize the quality."

"I'll do that."

Leaving Ye-na, who bowed to me, I turned to Tae-sun, who was next in line.

"Next is the development team. At this point, there's not much to assign, so just focus on implementing a playable prototype... I'll give you the equipment purchase request form later, so don't forget to submit it. Got it?"

"Understood!"

I liked his eagerness, befitting a new employee.

Compared to Myung-hoon, he gave off a different vibe of an ace.

"Next is the planning team. The most urgent tasks are completing the synopsis to be revealed with the trailer and the first chapter of the main story. Once that's done, let's immediately start on the settings for each class's characters. We'll also need to work on the trailer storyboard after all this is finished, so try to hurry a bit. Understood?"

"Yes..."

Seol's expression turned slightly gloomy at the bomb of work dropped on her, but it couldn't be helped.

"Alright, next is Senior Chae-young... For sound, the urgent task is creating the OST for the trailer. I'll come to the recording studio myself for this. Is that okay?"

Chae-young nodded readily at my question.

"Sure, do that."

That's it.

I've assigned as much work as possible for now.

Time to wrap things up.

"Alright, that's it for today's work meeting! Everyone, go start on your tasks."

"Yes!"

Once again, Tae-sun was the most enthusiastic in his response.

***

The work schedule was starting to get busy.

Yu-mi was bustling back and forth between the business team and our office, as most PMs do at the start of a project.

Ye-rin seemed to be racking her brains over character designs, judging by her troubled expression.

As much as I wanted to help...

The most I could do was write detailed settings for her.

It was Ye-rin's job to create characters based on those settings, so there wasn't much else I could do.

Before Ye-rin could notice, I silently cheered her on and headed to the recording studio where Chae-young was.

Descending one floor from the studio office to Chae-young's recording studio, I was greeted by a familiar sight.

Beer cans piled on the table.

A headset hanging on one side of the microphone stand.

Sheet music scattered here and there.

The empty chair suggested she had stepped out, probably to the restroom.

I leaned against the wall of the recording studio to wait, and soon enough, Chae-young entered.

Her ash-blue hair was tied up, and sharp eyes peered from beneath large round glasses.

Seeing me waiting, Chae-young slightly furrowed her brow and put her toiletries in a drawer.

"Did you pull an all-nighter again?"

"Can't you tell?"

"You should rest when there's no project work."

At those words, Chae-young, as if irritated, threw the towel she had been using at me and plopped down in her chair.

"If you're going to say that, how about reducing my workload?"

"That's why I told you to just use assets for the less important stuff."

"...You know my personality."

"You and Ye-rin, both of you..."

Unable to bear the awkward atmosphere that followed, I spoke up again.

"Anyway, Senior. Let's talk about work for a bit."

"...Again?"

"Can't be helped. But once Project RA gets on track, we'll outsource the Girls Memorial work, so bear with it a little longer."

Chae-young sighed at my request and asked.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I was thinking we could make the BGM for the Reverse Arcadia trailer a bit more grandiose."

"Hmm... So what kind of feeling are you looking for?"

After pondering Chae-young's question for a moment, I cautiously began.

"First, I'd like the highlight to have some impact. The trailer concept will involve themes like escape and resistance."

Hearing my words, Chae-young took out a notepad and started writing.

"And?"

"For the intro, I think it would be good to start with a gloomy atmosphere befitting the post-apocalyptic setting, keeping it low, and then have it explode into electronic sound at the highlight."

After considering the conditions for a moment, Chae-young spoke.

"From the conditions alone, it doesn't sound too difficult, but let's decide on the direction after seeing the storyboard."

"Sure, there's no rush anyway."