Chapter 271: A Game Company That Doesn't Make CGI Isn't a Good Game Company! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 271: A Game Company That Doesn't Make CGI Isn't a Good Game Company! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

With the appearance of the transformation event in Monster Hunter: World, two brand-new quests, and the Kingdom of Lordaeron on the official Minecraft server,

A huge uproar quickly erupted among players.

Because they felt that Nebula Games must be hinting at something.

Although they couldn't produce any concrete evidence,

From the style alone, they could already guess with near certainty.

In Monster Hunter: World, whether it was the transformed weapons or the monsters like the Frost Dragon and Chimera, they were completely different from the original monsters in Monster Hunter: World.

In terms of difficulty, it could only be described as moderate—most players could clear it with their own skill.

And cheesing tactics that bypassed the need to fight elder dragon-level threats were equally effective against the Frost Dragon and Chimera.

After all, it didn't need to be too hard. This was just a warm-up promotion, meant to give players some new weapon skins and a sense of novelty.

Similarly, the Kingdom of Lordaeron in Minecraft sparked extensive discussions among players.

In terms of scale, players had already built many grand structures.

For example, in previous multiplayer servers, players had constructed Sky Cities and Lava Cities, most of which were already half-completed, clearly showing their magnificence.

While the Kingdom of Lordaeron was exquisite, it wasn't quite awe-inspiring or jaw-dropping—after all, players had seen so much.

But the key was its implied meaning. After all, it appeared on the official server, and previously, most building complexes on the official server were related to Nebula Games.

'Along the River During the Qingming Festival,' 'The Forbidden City'—these were building complexes created early on by Nebula Games purely for demonstration purposes. But what about this Kingdom of Lordaeron?

Searching through all games released under Nebula Games, there wasn't a single trace of it.

So many players made a bold speculation:

This might be content from a new game Nebula Games was currently developing.

As a result, online discussions among players became heated and endless.

"There's only one truth: the Kingdom of Lordaeron, along with the Frost Dragon and Chimera, must be content from Nebula Games' new work!"

"Unlikely? Monster Hunter: World has only been launched for a little over a month—how could there already be a sequel?"

"Why not? Nebula Games isn't some small indie studio anymore."

"I still think it's a bit far-fetched."

"But if it really is a new game, the fantasy theme is a given. Nebula Games excels at this. But what genre do you think it'll be? RPG, ARPG, or an action type like Monster Hunter: World?"

"I don't know the genre, but I do know Chen Xu will definitely pour his love into this game again. This time, I won't fall for it!"

"+1! Whether it's RPG or action, Chen Xu is seriously toxic. Never thought Monster Hunter: World would actually be Monster Hunter: Us!"

"Hehe, you two Bros upstairs, stop fooling yourselves, okay? You two combined have over 2000 hours in Dark Souls. You claim to have eight livers? You played Monster Hunter: World for 210 hours in such a short time? That's averaging seven hours a day!"

"What can we do? We just can't get the Attack Jewel!"

"Exactly! Other than the one given at the start, I haven't gotten a single one since!"

"Hey you two upstairs, if I told you I've played less than 100 hours and already got three, you wouldn't get mad, would you? Big Bro!"

"Ouchimao, get lost!"

……

Online, players debated animatedly about the news from Monster Hunter: World and Minecraft, while flooding Chen Xu and Nebula Games' official Weibo account with comments,

Hoping to get some definitive answers.

However, at the moment, Chen Xu had not responded.

Let everyone discuss a bit more—interest hadn't even peaked yet. Adding fuel to the fire now would be premature.

So right now, Chen Xu remained steadily at Nebula Games, working on the development of Warcraft—or rather, designing the CGI cutscenes.

Slowly but surely, the skeleton of Warcraft was being assembled.

The outsourcing was still handled by the same few companies that had previously collaborated with Nebula Games.

For Chen Xu, he preferred to work again with companies he'd already partnered with.

After all, it was more convenient. With prior experience, employee handovers were smoother and efficiency improved significantly.

Of course, re-collaborating with past partners depended on whether they could meet Chen Xu's requirements.

Otherwise, no matter how cheap or favorable the price, Chen Xu wouldn't continue working with them—after all, if quality couldn't be guaranteed, what good was a low price?

For modeling, Chen Xu provided detailed annotations on in-game dimensions, special requirements, and action design.

As a result, the other party's efficiency in both art assets and animation was quite high,

Because they clearly understood exactly what the client wanted.

Although it was an RTS game, Chen Xu had very high standards for it.

The remaining part was the in-game CGI production—after all, a game company that doesn't make CGI isn't a good game company!

Storyboarding was technically the job of the CGI company.

But Chen Xu planned to design it himself. After all, his skills were now quite good, and with his previous life's memories of Warcraft's presentation, he understood better than anyone else what kind of actions, visuals, and expressions he wanted to achieve.

As for why he chose CGI over real-time rendering?

Simple—better visual impact.

In both this world and the previous one, many games used real-time rendering for in-game cutscenes.

The biggest advantage? Saving money.

Since it used only existing game resources, and with the advancement of game graphics technology, the results were definitely not bad.

But upon close inspection, the difference between CGI and real-time rendering was still clearly noticeable.

Of course, this refers to comparisons within the same technological era. Comparing a few-year-old CGI animation with several years later' game graphics would be cheating.

For example, the 'Wrath of the Lich King' CGI produced by Blizzard in the previous life remained cutting-edge even a decade later.

For Warcraft, Chen Xu placed immense importance. With no shortage of funds now, he naturally aimed for the best.

Of course, he didn't plan to use CGI for the entire game—otherwise, the total runtime might reach fifteen to twenty hours, which Chen Xu really couldn't afford.

After all, CGI was incredibly expensive. There were game companies that nearly went bankrupt due to CGI costs.

For instance, in the previous life, many said Blizzard was a CGI animation company that got sidetracked by games.

But in the CGI field, Blizzard could barely be considered second-tier. The true giant was Square Enix, creator of the Final Fantasy series.

Blizzard would say, "I spare no expense to make CGI animations."

Square Enix would reply, "That's nothing. I'm too lazy to even make CGI animations. If I do, I'll make a full CGI movie—even if it costs me my life!"

One CGI movie, The Spirits Within, nearly bankrupted the company. Desperate, they thought about marrying off to an honest person, merging with a wealthy company.

Years later, they got ambitious again—first making a 10-minute CGI short as a trial run. "Hey, the audience response seems pretty positive!"

"Then why not continue? This time, let's change strategy—let's target the DVD market, not the big screen."

"Wow! Made a fortune!" That CGI movie was the legendary Advent Children.

Then they got cocky again. Square Enix declared to other game developers, "What do you use for game promotion?"

"Promotional videos? Pathetic! We'll launch ours alongside a full CGI movie!"

Then? They almost lost their underwear.

So even though Nebula Games had money now, going full CGI for the entire game would still be unsustainable.

Chen Xu's idea was to focus on key story moments and grand scenes—such as Arthas's transformation, the final battle between Illidan and Arthas, and Jaina's emotional father-daughter performance leading to Rexxar killing Daelin in the battle on Theramore Isle...

Even doing just these scenes would still incur extremely exaggerated costs, but in Chen Xu's eyes, it was absolutely worth it.

Establishing the Warcraft IP meant endless future profit opportunities.

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