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墨書 Inktalez
The production model announced by Chen Rui indeed alleviated much of the initial pressure on the Planning Team, but it significantly increased the stress on the programming team. After all, the tedious operations required to write everything into the game were far from ordinary; a normal programmer might very well be driven to despair.
As time quietly passed, the members of Dusksar had settled into Zhi Cheng Entertainment Co., Ltd. Originally a team of over forty people, they were now joined by four idle production teams from Sincerity, totaling a massive programming team of two hundred thirty-three members. This could possibly be one of the largest gatherings of programmers in modern gaming history.
For convenience, under Li Xue's strong insistence, the Dusksar team moved to Jinghua University alongside Sincerity's employees, setting up their office in the planning Record Office located beneath the teaching building. This was originally the classroom for Class Four, Section Two and Class Three.
As for accommodations, Li Xue had never considered such matters. After receiving a check, the more than two hundred programmers casually rented an entire local hotel about a kilometer from the campus main gate as temporary housing.
The game was still in the planning stage, with the programming team only having begun work on character models and animations; other aspects remained in preparation mode.
More and more planning documents were being sent back by Ye Yi for rework, with only a few surviving his scrutiny. However, due to the scarcity of approved plans, Li Xue decided to implement a reward scheme: anyone who could get a plan approved would receive a recommendation letter from the board of Dawn Group upon graduation; if two plans were approved, they would be guaranteed a position in any company under Dawn Group upon graduation; and if more plans were approved...
With such incentives in place, it undoubtedly served as a stimulant for all planners—specifically, the graduating students of Jinghua University—resulting in increasingly rich and complete content in their proposals.
Even Chen Rui, who was beside Ye Yi, couldn't help but nod in agreement, thinking that this idea was truly brilliant.
Under such high-intensity work conditions, the overall World History for "The World" was quickly established. The continent was designated as a national-level map, with detailed planning completed for twelve character birthplaces and their surrounding areas.
Once the planning was confirmed, the art team immediately began their work and soon illustrated the entire continent. The human territory took on an inverted trapezoidal shape, with the largest nation occupying half of it.
This largest nation was named "The Empire," governed by a monarchy [it is a monarchy, not a constitutional monarchy], with its territorial outline resembling an irregular handgun.
The capital of the Empire was named "Eternal Peace," which comprised three hundred twenty-eight states under ten divisions. The central government operated under a system of three provinces and six ministries, with ranks categorized into eighteen levels across nine grades.
Holding this plan tightly, Chen Rui raised it and loudly asked, "Who wrote this?"
Everyone glanced at Chen Rui before returning to their work silently. Although they knew he was holding a Plan document, it was impossible to see what was written from such a distance.
"Who wrote this 'Planning Document for the Largest Nation of Humanity—The Empire'?" Chen Rui realized his mistake and hurriedly read out the title aloud.
This immediately caused an uproar among the planners in the office. It was clear that this could not have been one person's idea; moreover, this plan must have been highly controversial within the Planning Team.
A girl stood up slowly and said, "That was my plan."
The crowd fell silent, as it was clear that Chen Rui had something to say to her. However, they could not discern any change in his facial expression, leaving them to speculate in their minds.
Li Zheng quietly stood up and walked in front of Chen Rui with a faint smile. "Although I am not part of the Planning Team, as the game's lead Producer, I can at least make some decisions regarding this setting."
Chen Rui frowned in dissatisfaction, thinking to himself that even if that girl was his dream lover, Li Zheng shouldn't be so protective of her.
"This is also a setting? Tell me, what is the name of the greatest human empire?" Chen Rui placed the plan on Ye Yi's desk and asked Li Zheng loudly.
No one in the office spoke or dared to speak. Although the empire's setting did not explicitly state anything, its land, official titles, and ranks all hinted at one of the most powerful dynasties in Chinese history.
"There is currently no established name for the empire, and it doesn't necessarily need one. The name of this country is simply 'Empire,' and besides this nation, no other country dares to call itself an empire," Ye Yi explained as he stood up, clearly trying to share some of the responsibility with Li Zheng. After all, this plan had been approved by him.
"This country is called Tang! The world refers to it as the Tang Empire!" Just as Ye Yi finished speaking, Li Zheng boldly stated what no one else dared to say.
Chen Rui narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling a surge of anger. Such a significant matter had not been discussed with him—neither by the planners nor by Ye Yi or the artists and programmers involved in building the game.
No one had informed him.
After a moment of silence, Chen Rui finally sighed helplessly. "You need to understand that we are creating a world-class game. The players are not just from our country; how will players from other nations accept such a human-centric setting?"
"And it's not just about foreign players; there are difficulties in execution as well. Can we really avoid scrutiny from the broadcasting authorities? This kind of historical alteration will never be approved."
Li Zheng shook his head lightly with a smile. "You are mistaken, Teacher Chen."
Chen Rui was not surprised but silently awaited his next words.
"First, this is not a historical game; it is a fantasy game. Second, while the Tang Kingdom may be the most powerful at the start of this world, that is just the beginning of the game. Third, there are many magical professions available for humans in this game, but learning magic in the Tang Kingdom will be fraught with challenges. When you look at it this way, it seems quite fair."
Li Zheng's words calmed Chen Rui down. He silently glanced at Li Zheng and said, "Continue."
"First, the national military strength of the Tang Empire is essentially that of an ordinary army, while the Tang Cavalry is the only mobile force in the world composed entirely of cavalry, aside from the city defense troops. This is why the Tang Cavalry is renowned. Second, the Tang Empire itself does not have any mages, sorcerers, or wizards; these professions are unique to only a few countries at the start of the game. Therefore, individual Tang warriors may not be as powerful as those from neighboring nations. Third, as the largest empire in the world, the Tang Empire bears the responsibility of standing against other races; as long as there are Tang people, there will be no extinction of the Tang. Thus, the Tang Kingdom is also the only nation that cannot surrender in battles against hostile races."
Chen Rui analyzed carefully. Although it seemed that the national power was strong and the country was formidable, it also represented great danger and a loss of many unique professions in this magical world. In other words, choosing to play as a Tang person would be akin to participating in an ordinary historical game.
With this in mind, for players, whether they chose other nations or the Tang Empire, the benefits would actually be quite similar.
"But how do you know that players from other countries won't have objections to this setting?" Chen Rui asked seriously. "Players are the fundamental source of game interest; if they reject it on their end, there's no need to consider anything else. Moreover, our game is aimed at a global audience rather than just our own country; we need to create this game from the perspective of players from various nations."
Li Zheng laughed heartily, as if he found Chen Rui amusing. "To put it simply, American game companies often set protagonists as Americans fighting against some major Asian country in a bunch of games. Isn't that a clear implication? Yet even so, there are still plenty of Chinese players enjoying themselves. So tell me, why is that?"
Chen Rui gradually understood Li Zheng's point and slowly nodded. "Because they want to play."
"Exactly! Because the game is interesting and fun, they want to play and are playing. Players are quite simple; they engage with games merely to find a form of entertainment to relax themselves. We don't need to overthink it because very few players think deeply about it. What they need is merely a form of mental pleasure, unrelated to politics."
"He's right." Gao Zhijie smiled and patted Chen Rui on the shoulder. Chen Rui understood his meaning since Gao Zhijie was also someone who loved online games.
Chen Rui shrugged and smiled wryly. "I’m not wrong; is there something up?"
Gao Zhijie nodded and glanced around the office before walking out directly. Unlike Ruan Yu, Gao Zhijie had little interest in substitute teaching matters; Chen Rui was more than happy to take on their tasks.
Thus, Gao Zhijie and Ruan Yu did not involve themselves in any aspects of this World game but simply handed all their students over to Chen Rui's jurisdiction before leaving.
After greeting Zhu Ruohan, Chen Rui quickly exited the office and joined Gao Zhijie on stage, where Ruan Yu was also standing at the edge of the stage looking at the sea of cherry blossoms.
"What’s going on?" Knowing that all three had gathered for a discussion, Chen Rui skipped pleasantries and got straight to the point.
"It’s nothing major; just prepare yourself. The dream teaching should be starting soon," Ruan Yu said as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket, tossing one to Gao Zhijie before offering one to Chen Rui as well.
Chen Rui waved his hand dismissively and asked, "Are we starting with our class?"
"Of course," came the blunt reply.
This dream teaching could only begin with a smaller group, as the assessment had to be conducted one by one. A tailored teaching plan needed to be developed based on each student's personality, which meant teaching according to their individual needs.
If the five students from Chen Rui's class were placed at the end, after Classes One and Two had completed their sessions, Zhu Ruohan and the others would surely notice what they had experienced in such a short time. This could lead to them uncovering the teaching process during the dream assessment.
"What will you do then? This will definitely become more obvious as it goes on!" Chen Rui crossed his arms and inquired.
"You're so naive!" Gao Zhijie lit a cigarette and took a puff. "By the time we reach halfway through the teaching, your game planning will likely be wrapping up as well. At that point, we can transfer the students who have already entered the dream to the operations department."
"The remaining students will gradually be moved to different teams within the operations department, so the chances of being figured out are quite low," Ruan Yu added with a smile. "Also, the reason we’re placing the five from your class at the front is that they are all responsible for developing that game. Their perspective is broader, and they are more sensitive to collective psychological changes. So it makes sense to put them up front."
Chen Rui was somewhat surprised; these two hadn't even been on the top floor of the teaching building in recent days, yet they seemed to know so much about the game development process, even being aware that all the team leaders for setting up offices were students from Class Three.
"Alright then, when do we start?" Chen Rui nodded.
"Tomorrow! The equipment and personnel have already arrived at the faculty dormitory; you'll need to handle the specifics yourself..."
Gao Zhijie flicked off some ash from his cigarette, which scattered into the air with the wind. Suddenly, a loud voice boomed from the exit.
"You three! No smoking on campus!"
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