Chapter 359: Arthur Morgan (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

In Nebula Games' office, Chen Xu was gradually refining the content related to Red Dead Redemption.

In his previous life, Red Dead Redemption had two series.

The first installment of Red Dead Redemption made the series a globally renowned IP and established its gameplay tone.

As for the second installment, although it told a prequel story, it more perfectly presented the Western tale of savagery and civilization in alternation to players.

It also featured Rockstar's usual brilliant and highly satirical dark humor script.

Of course, some balance points still needed adjustment, as there was quite a bit of retconning by Rockstar.

For example, the depiction of John Marston in the first game was that this man was an incredibly formidable presence.

He was the second-in-command in the Van der Linde gang, second only to the leader.

However, in the second game, the protagonist was clearly not John Marston, but Arthur Morgan.

This left players who had played the first game quite dissatisfied.

After all, because Rockstar wanted to make Arthur Morgan more prominent, John Marston was mostly in situations where he was rescued by Arthur Morgan.

From the beginning, through the middle, to the end.

In the second game, John Marston's life was one of being rescued.

He was either in the process of being rescued or on his way to being rescued.

Therefore, when Chen Xu later released a sequel, he established a tone.

That is, when Arthur Morgan was around, John Marston hadn't fully come into his own, but after Arthur completed his own redemption, many years later, John Marston became more mature and capable, no less than Arthur.

Besides these, there were many other game details that needed to be addressed.

Because in Red Dead Redemption, in pursuit of realism, some settings felt a bit excessive.

For instance, riding a horse required players to continuously press the accelerate button to maintain speed.

This led players to complain that the game was great in every aspect except for being a bit hard on the fingers.

Such a setting was clearly intended to immerse players more deeply in the story, while also simulating the realistic feeling of riding a horse with reins.

Similar operations included the fishing mini-game, which required players to continuously rotate the joystick.

Initially, it certainly felt fresh and highly immersive, but as time went on, it became somewhat user-unfriendly.

Of course, this was also a characteristic ingrained in Rockstar.

It's worth noting that before making games, Rockstar's founders were in a rock band.

It was this rebellious spirit that made Rockstar's games unique and full of satire; they dared to say what others wouldn't and make games others wouldn't.

Social issues, historical problems, including sensitive topics like school bullying—Rockstar tackled them all.

“I know this setting will make your experience uncomfortable, but I'm just not going to change it.”

It must be said, this behavior was indeed very Rockstar.

But individuality aside, this would clearly be a frustrating setting for players, and the solution was simple.

Just add an option that players can freely choose.

………………

During this period, the popularity of 'Warzone' hadn't faded at all.

Many people began experimenting with the Battle Royale gameplay.

This included NetDragon, which had a partnership with Nebula Games; while Rainbow Six wasn't taking off, NetDragon also had some well-known FPS titles, so they could test the waters with some content.

Beyond this, the most attention-grabbing news in the industry was Atrai's new game.

There were also new games from other developers released concurrently, but compared to 'Beautiful World,' they clearly fell short.

After all, it was Atrai's new game, meant to save face and serve as Zeus's flagship title.

Antorini's recent performance was also very high-profile, showing great confidence in the new game.

And player expectations were continuously rising.

After all, Antorini himself was a relatively excellent producer, and most of his games were quite interesting.

The only unstable point was that this designer liked to pull some tricks with the plot.

This time, 'Beautiful World' was an adaptation of a novel, ensuring the plot's quality, and as a novel, unlike film and television, it could give the designer more creative space.

So, it looked like a very reliable game from every angle.

“Damn it, why was my plot idea rejected? The story of 'Beautiful World' could actually be cooler, and don't you think the combination of robots and cowboys is incredibly cool?” Antorini said, a little displeased, looking at the supervisor sent by Atrai.

He was very satisfied with the background setting of 'Beautiful World,' the adapted novel story. It was just that he felt the story wasn't 'cool' enough; although the plot was indeed thrilling, he thought he could incorporate some cooler elements.

For example, adding the Grandfather Paradox and the concept of time travel.

In the future, robots occupy Earth, and humanity, led by a Savior, rises in rebellion, on the verge of victory.

At this moment, the robot leader uses a time travel machine to send a Robot Assassin back to the era of Western expansion to kill the human Savior's grandmother.

Similarly, humanity also sends battle-hardened warriors back in time to the West, hoping to find and protect the Savior one step ahead. However, due to the causality of time, neither robots nor humans dare to cause too much impact to prevent the butterfly effect, as no one knows whether it would be good or bad.

Under this premise, both the human warriors and the Robot Assassins transform into Western cowboys.

And finally, the human warrior and the Savior's grandmother fall in love, but the future Savior does not disappear.

He believed that combining the Western theme with these new plot elements would create a killer concept.

Then what?

Then his proposal was rejected.

After all, Atrai bought a famous IP, and a novel IP at that, which was convenient for designers to show off their skills, but not for you to 'be cool'.

Moreover, Antorini himself wasn't a designer known for his plot skills, and Atrai certainly wouldn't dare let a designer mess around with this project.

They asked you to do a Western theme, is your proposal even Western?

This damn thing has turned into sci-fi.

What Atrai needed was stability! To properly execute the Western theme and deliver a killer blow, without getting involved in all these irrelevant things.

“Teacher Antorini, news has come from Nebula Games and Chen Xu's official Weibo account. It seems they have a new project, and it's also a Western-themed game!” At this moment, his assistant ran over, panting softly.

Hearing this, Antorini stopped thinking about his rejected cowboy-versus-robots idea.

He quickly opened Chen Xu's official Weibo.

There was no text content, only an original concept art image.

The image showed a tall, strong middle-aged man with light blonde hair and a full beard.

His light blue eyes stared straight ahead. He wore a black cowboy hat, cinched with a multi-colored hemp rope, a blue shirt, and a worn yellow jacket. A bandolier and backpack were slung over his shoulder, and a revolver was tucked into the holster at his waist.

Below it was the character's introduction—'Arthur Morgan, third-in-command of the Van der Linde gang, one of the West's strongest gunmen.'

(End of Chapter) <>