Chen Xu stepped out from his office.
At this moment, Qin Yi, Yang Xin, and Ruan Ningxue were sitting in front of the computers in the rest area, teaming up to grind in Monster Hunter: World.
"These Tempered monsters are fully buffed across the board! I seriously doubt players won't get tormented into unconsciousness later," Yang Xin sighed with emotion.
Compared to ordinary players, their saves were clearly far aheadâafter all, they'd been playing since the development testing phase.
Of course, this data wasn't officially included; it was stand-alone.
"I don't know if players will be driven unconscious, but you three definitely got tormented into oblivion," Chen Xu said as he walked over. Just then, he saw four large characters flash across Yang Xin's screen: EXHAUSTED AND COLLAPSED! followed by a mission failure notification.
The culprit was Lavasioth. The dragon wasn't particularly hard, but wasn't exactly easy eitherâit was just annoying.
It loved swimming in lava and had hardened skin, making it a nightmare for melee fighters.
"Mr. Chen, don't exaggerateâwe've only died eight or so times!" Yang Xin protested.
"Exactly, exactly!" Ruan Ningxue chimed in.
"Alright, we have a meeting this afternoon regarding the new work and the upcoming updates and operations for Monster Hunter: World," Chen Xu interrupted, dropping a hint.
"A new work!?" Yang Xin looked surprised.
"Mr. Chen, so soon!?" Qin Yi was equally shocked.
"What's the theme and genre of our new project?" Ruan Ningxue asked, curious and attentive.
"You'll find out soon enough," Chen Xu replied with a smile, not giving it away.
"Alright, keep grinding. I'll go prepare," he said after spending a moment in the rest area, then sent a message in the work group chat before leaving.
In the afternoon, inside the meeting room.
A group of people sat here, each wearing different expressions.
Clearly, they hadn't expected the new project to come so suddenly.
"First, let's discuss the upcoming update plan for Monster Hunter: World. The overall content is mostly finalized. Future additions will focus on introducing new monsters to the base game. As for DLC content like new maps or Iceborne-style scenes, we're not rushing that yet," Chen Xu said, addressing the group.
"Regarding new monsters, we can maintain a pace of roughly one every twenty days to sustain Monster Hunter: World's popularity."
"But pay attention to the development timeline, because midway through, I want to organize a crossover between Monster Hunter: World and the new gameâfeaturing character gear and weapon transmogrifications, plus entirely new hunting quests."
As Chen Xu finished speaking, two massive monsters appeared on the projector screen.
One was a gigantic Bone Dragon, its skeletal frame covered in ice and snow. The other was a Two-headed Beast with a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail, each accompanied by detailed background descriptions.
ăIn ancient times, dragons nearing the end of their lives would fly to the cold Northern Kingdoms of Northrend to await death. Over time, this land became a graveyard for dragons, their countless bones scattered across the continentâuntil dark forces awakened and resurrected them. Now, these icy, undead dragons serve their sinister master with unwavering loyalty.ă
ăThe Chimera from Ashenvale are mysterious beasts living in harmony with the Night Elves. These fearsome two-headed creatures soar above the dark forests, unleashing deadly breath attacks against any who threaten the sacred land of Kalimdor. Many enemies flee instantly at the mere sight of these massive, shadowy beasts.ă
Since these were all IPs owned by Nebula Games, Chen Xu had no qualms about doing a crossoverâafter all, why not leverage their own popularity?
Additionally, the Black Dragon and Seath the Scaleless from Dark Souls could also potentially be added to Monster Hunter: World later.
However, the people in the meeting room looked utterly amazed.
From the two monsters and their descriptions, they could already begin to guess.
"Northrend, Night Elves... Is the new game a fantasy-themed title, similar to Dark Souls?" Yang Xin, the story lead at Nebula Games, began speculating wildly.
"Of course! You can tell just by looking at the monster designs," Ruan Ningxue replied, rolling her eyes.
"But Mr. Chen, we just finished developing Monster Hunter: Worldâwon't this new game push player frustration too high!?" Qin Yi voiced his concern.
In his view, this new project was likely another high-difficulty hardcore game, just like Dark Souls.
Well... in a certain sense, it truly was hardcore.
"Stop guessing randomly," Chen Xu shook his head, then pulled up the design concept drafts for Warcraft.
"Warcraft... an RTS-type game?!" Qin Yi's eyes widened, looking bewildered.
The others in the meeting room wore similarly astonished expressions.
They had never expected their next project to be an RTS-type game.
To be fair, in this Parallel World, RTS wasn't exactly a niche genre.
It featured prominently in mainstream esports tournaments, with sizable audiences and player bases.
Yet RTS was not an easy genre to develop.
In fact, each year, only a few established game developers managed to produce RTS titles that sold well and gained popularity. For example, Human Wars from the domestic Channel Alliance was one of the more popular RTS games in recent years.
Its content and gameplay mainly divided history into distinct erasâStone Age, Feudal Age, then Modern Era, Contemporary Era, and Future Era.
Each era featured different unit types, categorized by cultural regions.
It bore some resemblance to the 'Civilization' RTS version from Chen Xu's previous life, minus the domestic affairs mechanics.
With growing amazement, the team carefully read through the design concept drafts.
"It feels incredibly complex and massive," Yang Xin murmured.
"It seems vastly different from current market RTS titles," Qin Yi nodded in agreement.
The game concept draft didn't go into detailed gameplay mechanics, mainly because the scope was too vast. The Initial Design Concept Draft primarily introduced core systems and gameplay concepts. Even the game editor settings were something Chen Xu hadn't mentioned yet.
Still, the team now had a general understanding of the game.
"Mr. Chen, according to the design concept draft, this game seems to have a massive worldview and storyline!" Yang Xin spoke up first.
"Exactly. The story is a crucial component. And this will become a legendary series. Unlike Dark Souls, which tells its story through fragmented pieces, we'll make this one far more detailed and comprehensive," Chen Xu said with a smile.
Chen Xu had immense confidence in Warcraft.
After all, in his previous life, when Aomei released Warcraft 3 in China in 2002âeven during an era rampant with piracyâit still sold 1.6 million copies domestically. Despite Aomei's numerous impressive tricks that complicated things, that kind of result was nothing short of incredible. Even twenty years later, such sales figures would still be considered impressive.
Hearing Chen Xu's words, the team exchanged glances, unsure about the "legendary" part.
But judging by the scale, it was clear that this RTS titled Warcraft wouldn't be a small-scale production.
"Next, I'll explain each of your responsibilities," Chen Xu said, looking around.
"Qin Yi, you'll be in charge of the game's levels, maps, and numerical design. I'll also be involved to ensure quality control," Chen Xu said, turning to Qin Yi.
As an RTS-type game, Warcraft's numerical framework was incredibly complex.
From the campaign storyline to the design of four distinct racial unit types and their attribute values, everything was critical.
Even a minor numerical adjustment could give rise to an entirely new tactic.
In Chen Xu's previous life, after the release of Warcraft 3 Reforgedâsetting aside its subpar qualityâthe changes in numerical values alone allowed this nearly twenty-year-old game to generate new routines and tactics.
This part was too much for Qin Yi alone to handle, so Chen Xu would collaborate with him on the subsequent numerical model.
As for the game's story, Chen Xu would personally take primary responsibility for its content.
"Ruan Ningxue, I'm entrusting the Art direction to you againâthe game's art style and characters. As before, I'll provide line art later, and we'll discuss and outsource the modeling afterward," Chen Xu said, turning to Ruan Ningxue.
"Additionally, unlike before, Warcraft will require numerous CGI animations to showcase the game's story," Chen Xu added.
This would be expensive. In his previous life, Warcraft had mostly relied on in-game dialogue and modeling to tell its story.
CG cutscenes were limited to just a few key momentsâlike Arthas, the filial son, returning to care for his elderly father, or Medivh delivering his Riddler-like warnings.
This time, Chen Xu planned to expand significantly on that. And frankly, in terms of budget, this was just pocket change for Nebula Games at this stage.
Especially now that the Nebula Games Platform was running smoothlyâthough the commission was low, the volume more than made up for it.
"Yang Xin, I need you to pay close attention to system interactions and the story background," Chen Xu said, looking at her.
For instance, the original creation of Warcraft stemmed from Blizzard failing to secure the Warhammer Fantasy license. Their team simply decided, "Well, we'll just make our own then."
As a result, the game featured many proprietary terms directly inspired by Warhammer Fantasy.
Additionally, there were numerous meme-like Easter eggsâlike the famously addictive Peasant voice lines. Many players remembered just two phrases: "Yes, milord?" and "Off I go, then!" (pronounced in-game as: Ah-Ba-Dou-De), because they were just that catchy.
Later, there were also movie reference linesâsuch as "Are you the king? Well, I didn't vote for you," a direct quote from the 1975 classic comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Similarly, the Undead Acolyte's lines contained references to StarCraft and Star Wars. These would all need to be revised.
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