Chapter 826: Art Resource Library
After watching this video, the players all had black question mark faces.
What the hell?
Wasn’t this supposed to be a game promotional video? What was this? Some kind of black technology?
And even if it was black technology, wasn’t it too ridiculous?
“A brand-new program built on memory gene research results? Put it in a VR game pod and you can travel back in time?”
“They spent the first half hyping up how technology changes lives, wrapping this thing in a mysterious veil... but after thinking it over, isn’t this just a VR game?!”
“...Memory gene research results? Keep blowing smoke, I almost believed it!”
“Yeah, it just hit me too. Isn’t this just a VR game? So, Chen Mo is making a game related to history? And the content is super rich, covering past Europe, the Americas, even ancient Egypt?”
“Damn it, why not just make a proper promotional video? Why act like some kind of cult leader!”
“Hahahaha, memory gene research results, Animus, I almost bought it!”
“Full English voice acting, even gave it an English name, really sold the multinational corporation vibe 23333, but Thunder Interactive is Chen Mo’s private property!”
At first, the players were a bit confused. How did memory gene research results even come up? Hadn’t they heard that technology had advanced to the point of cracking genetic memory?
Later, many players caught on. This was just a marketing gimmick! It was nothing more than a fancy wrapper for “traveling through history.” As for the “memory gene research results”... who were they trying to fool?
What frustrated the players was that this video basically revealed nothing. The occasional glimpses of actual game footage were just highly blurred background scenes.
In short, the whole video was just a guy droning on, plus some abstract background images. It was like a hardware company’s product launch—rambling on and on, mysterious and vague, but when you looked closely, there was no substance at all...
Actually, it made sense that there was no substance. Chen Mo had just started development, so where would substance come from...
Still, many players guessed that Chen Mo’s new game would focus on the historical genre.
Before this, Chen Mo had barely touched anything history-related. The games he made either downplayed historical settings or were entirely fantastical and fictional. A game so heavily reliant on history was extremely rare, not just domestically but internationally as well.
The reason was that such games required extensive research, and creative freedom was severely restricted.
No matter which country’s history was being depicted, the game had to faithfully recreate every aspect of that era, including clothing, architecture, culture, and more. Even a wrong pattern on a piece of clothing could be pointed out by players or experts in the field, greatly diminishing the game’s appeal.
For fantasy or fictional games, it was easy—just add settings. The gameplay and combat systems could be wildly imaginative and unconstrained.
But for a game so dependent on history, there couldn’t be overly absurd superpowers or anything that deviated from real human combat data. This imposed limitations on every aspect.
That was also why similar historical-themed games were very rare in the parallel world. Even when they existed, they were niche genres with die-hard fans but struggled to become influential global IPs.
Regardless, this initial promotional video still gave players something to look forward to regarding Chen Mo’s new game. Maybe it really could let them travel to the past, just like the trailer claimed?
...
“Alright, these are all the members of Abstergo Entertainment. This is Lin Mu, the designer of ‘Flourishing Tang.’ Everyone should know him. He’ll be working with us for a long time, handling historical research and background settings for the entire project. Let’s cooperate well.”
Chen Mo was introducing Lin Mu to the newly formed Abstergo project team.
In reality, the so-called Abstergo could also be called the development team for “Assassin’s Creed,” mostly pulled from previous projects. As Lin Mu listened to Chen Mo introduce everyone’s resumes, he felt a bit pressured.
The vast majority of these people had development experience on “Dark Souls,” “Uncharted,” and “The Last of Us.” This team lineup was incredibly impressive...
Lin Mu felt a little dazed. Was he really collaborating with a top-tier team that had won World Game of the Year? It felt like a dream...
After the introductions, Chen Mo led Lin Mu to the art department.
“This is our art resource library, including art assets for various styles and historical backgrounds. There are clothing, architecture, characters, and more... If you have any art needs, just bring them up.” Chen Mo picked a random development computer and opened Thunder Interactive’s art resource library for Lin Mu to see.
Lin Mu’s eyes went wide: “So much!”
It was hard not to be surprised. The library had an overwhelming amount of stuff!
In fact, Chen Mo had established this art resource library a long time ago. It not only preserved all the art assets from previously developed games but also pre-made assets for games that hadn’t been developed yet.
These art resources came from many sources. Some were bought or custom-ordered from online sources or other art companies, some were modified from existing assets, and others were purely original, drawn piece by piece by the art team.
Even when games were in their final stages of development or after release, the art team never idled. They were always searching online for art assets from various historical periods and game genres, modifying them, and adding them to Thunder Interactive’s art resource library for future use.
Thanks to this library, the game development process was greatly shortened. Many art assets could be reused with just minor tweaks. As the library grew larger and more comprehensive, this time would be further reduced.
Chen Mo’s ultimate goal was that, in the future, when designers under Thunder Interactive wanted to create a new game, over 90% of the assets could be taken directly from the library, with only 10% needing to be made from scratch. Of course, this was just a hopeful vision; it wasn’t achievable yet.
But even the current richness of the art library was enough to leave Lin Mu stunned.
Because the art assets in Thunder Interactive’s library were already several times richer and more complete than the official Fantasy World Editor’s art assets.
“This is European medieval architecture, this is American architecture, Egyptian architecture, fantasy-style architecture, steampunk-style architecture...”
Lin Mu was overwhelmed. Under each architectural style, there were various types of buildings, all with very high completion rates, ready to be used directly.
“No wonder top-tier teams are different...” Lin Mu sighed.
Back when he was working on games like “Flourishing Tang” and “London,” art resources were always a huge headache. Not only did they have to spend a fortune outsourcing to other teams, but they also had to communicate back and forth, making endless revisions, which was very inefficient.
But here, there was none of that wasted effort. Whatever background art assets were needed, just search the library. Except for certain special scenes, everything could be used with minor tweaks. It was incredibly convenient!