Chapter 103: Arthas's Line Art
Planning out the unit types and buildings was quick. With the help of the Memory Recall Potion, it was completed in just two days. Of course, what Chen Mo presented now was a pure table, without any images.
In the "Azeroth Universe," Chen Mo had also posted some concept art, including line art for gryphons and hippogryphs. However, most of the unit concept paintings still needed to be completed.
Chen Mo had too many things on his plate right now to handle these immediately, so he first sent the unit and building plans to Qian Kun.
Qian Kun would need to roughly construct a numerical system based on the attack types, armor types, and counter-relationships of each unit and building, achieving a dynamic balance between the various races and units.
Su Jinyu, on the other hand, would need to create the concept paintings for some of the units based on existing concept drafts, which would later be handed over to an outsourced art company for unified production.
As for the storyline, Chen Mo only gave Zheng Hongxi the relevant story outline for "The Frozen Throne," asking him to produce a first draft of the plot (including the campaign planning), which would be revised gradually later.
After arranging these tasks, Chen Mo began working on the most critical part: the basic rules for the maps.
The map editor for Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WE) was incredibly powerful. The later flourishing of RPG mini-games all originated from this editor.
Moreover, it gave birth to the era dominated by "Chaos 3C" and "DOTA."
Blizzard had no idea at the time just how powerful this map editor was, but Chen Mo knew. And precisely because this map editor was so powerful, Chen Mo had to do it even more carefully, even better than in his previous life.
For this map editor, building the main framework wasn't the end. The mechanics of various heroes (resurrection, rebirth, invincibility, etc.) would all need to be continuously added later, becoming integral parts of the editor's content.
Furthermore, the map elements in Warcraft were also very rich.
Map settings included map size, terrain, ground textures, land-water divisions, and so on.
Basic settings also included time (day and night). Time affected the vision range of neutral creeps, whether they slept, and even influenced the combat strategies of different races.
For example, Night Elf heroes and units could become invisible by standing still at night, had increased health regeneration, and could upgrade their night vision. All of this became part of the game's design.
Limited by its engine, the Warcraft from Chen Mo's previous life wasn't as smooth in terms of controls as later games like StarCraft II or MOBAs. For Chen Mo, this was also a point that could be improved.
...
After that, the development process proceeded steadily.
Chen Mo spent most of his time each day working on the World Editor, and a smaller portion of his time producing concept line art for units, buildings, and scenes, which he then handed over to Su Jinyu for coloring and completion.
These line drawings didn't need to be as detailed as card illustrations, because players would see the models in the game, not these images.
After all, concept art had to be made into models, and then the models needed animations and collision volume adjustments, followed by a huge amount of subsequent work. So Chen Mo's concept drafts had to come first; otherwise, all this work would be held up.
On the first floor of the experience store.
"Jinyu, give me a hint about the new game's genre, will you? Is it an RPG?" Wen Lingwei said.
Su Jinyu replied, "Oh, don't rush. You'll know once it's done."
Wen Lingwei said, "It's just that these concept drawings are really good. I can barely stop myself from wanting to help you color them."
Jia Peng also chimed in, "Looks like it's still related to Azeroth. But this time it's not chibi-style. Could it be a realistic version of 'I Am MT'?"
Su Jinyu was speechless. "You guys really underestimate the boss. Do you think he's that shameless? Just reusing art assets to scam people for money again?"
Wen Lingwei facepalmed. "What do you think?"
Zheng Hongxi said, "You're all overthinking it. The new game has basically nothing to do with 'I Am MT.' It's entirely based on the storyline of the Azeroth Universe."
Jia Peng asked, puzzled, "Aren't the Azeroth Universe and 'I Am MT' the same thing?"
Zheng Hongxi shook his head. "Of course not. Haven't you noticed? The content the boss updates in the Azeroth Universe is the grand setting for 'I Am MT.' But the characters from 'I Am MT' have never appeared in the Azeroth Universe."
Jia Peng thought for a moment. "Uh... I guess so."
Wen Lingwei was also confused. "Why is that?"
Zheng Hongxi explained, "You still don't get it? Names like Dai Zei and Mu Si are clearly not normal Western fantasy names; they're just homophones for 'Rogue' and 'Priest.' I suspect the boss was worried that people wouldn't accept a Western fantasy theme, so he made this chibi-style, down-to-earth anime and mobile game for promotion."
"In other words, 'I Am MT' is essentially a side story, completely unrelated to the main plot of Azeroth."
Everyone suddenly understood. "I see! The boss really is far-sighted."
Wen Lingwei frowned. "So, does the boss think the time is right now, and he's planning to release the actual content from the Azeroth Universe?"
Zheng Hongxi nodded. "Exactly. I can't reveal too much, but I can tell you this: the story is absolutely mind-blowing. Yes, that's the word, mind-blowing."
Everyone: "...Are you sure it's as awesome as you're making it out to be?"
...
Just as they were talking, Chen Mo came downstairs.
"I've sent you the new batch of line art, Jinyu," Chen Mo said.
Su Jinyu received the zipped file of line art, and everyone crowded around to take a look.
It was a young man clad entirely in dark armor, with completely white hair and a hint of sinister cunning in his eyes.
In other parts of the image, there were additional line drawings: a skeletal horse with demonic flames leaping from its four hooves, and a two-handed sword engraved with magical runes.
The line art was labeled with the character's name: Arthas Menethil, along with his mount, Invincible, and his weapon, Frostmourne.
Su Jinyu: "A new Undead hero? So cool!"
Wen Lingwei: "So cool! Is he the protagonist?"
Jia Peng: "Hmm... seems like a villain. That smile gives me chills down my spine."
Zheng Hongxi: "The line art for Arthas is finally out? Let me see! Awesome! This feeling is just too awesome!"
Everyone was full of praise for this line drawing.
Chen Mo's line art captured the ambiguous, neither-good-nor-evil nature of Arthas to the core. Especially when paired with Invincible and Frostmourne, everyone could almost imagine the majestic sight of Arthas leading the Scourge to sweep across all of Azeroth.
Just this one piece of concept art was enough to get everyone's blood pumping!
Everyone looked through this batch of line art one by one, still feeling like they wanted more.
Although the completion level of these line drawings wasn't high, they captured the typical characteristics of the characters with just a few strokes. In terms of design, this was top-tier, basically comparable to "The Supreme God Ring"!
Wen Lingwei said, "Alright, I've decided. I'll color this line drawing myself. For free!"