Chapter 174

Chapter 174: What is the Ninth Art

Mei Fang saw in Guo Yun’s portfolio a short-haired, white-triangle skirt-wearing girl with pencil-thin legs. The character design was very simple.

The teenage girl in the character design looked up at the sky, leaving only her silhouette, which seemed somewhat desolate.

“Guo Yun, where did you find inspiration for this character?”

“This… I found inspiration from some picture books, like those fairy tale storybooks, not too childish, but… how should I say it—have you seen them before, Mei Fang?”

Xia Yuan reminded him, “I once read a storybook called ‘The Little Prince,’ with a very simple drawing style and a healing story, something like that…”

“Yes, yes… That’s right. Girls love reading them. This one has a different art style, though. The characters in the book I read had more distinct polygonal designs…”

Mei Fang was currently thinking about his next game project. Although he didn’t have a clear theme yet, he had a firm direction.

To create an independent game that could be called the “Ninth Art.”

He had countless ideas for hit games in his mind. Based on his current team’s integration status, as long as the art resources were in place, he could quickly get the project off the ground.

But he didn’t want to do just another project; that wasn’t his true pursuit.

He always hoped that his beloved gaming career would receive more positive recognition domestically, rather than being seen as a spiritual sedative by adults and elders.

The reason why the domestic gaming environment was so bad was due to traditional educational concepts, which undoubtedly bore responsibility. However, developers’ obsession with guiding players to spend money through various profit-driven projects was also self-inflicted.

Games have long been referred to as the “Ninth Art” because they have the potential for interaction compared to works like literature, film, and animation.

Players can role-play within the game world, complete missions or make choices themselves, achieving high levels of immersion and engagement.

This interactivity shouldn’t just exist in player-versus-player combat and virtual world pursuits; it should also exist in genuine emotional communication and exchange between developers and players through the game.

An excellent independent game is most important for its innovative gameplay, but a game that can be called the “Ninth Art” cannot lack musical and artistic expression.

These two elements are not prerequisites; many timeless masterpieces of independent games may have simple graphics, but their music touches the soul.

For example, the renowned IGN-perfect-score masterpiece, “Undertale,” gained much acclaim for its 8-bit dynamic music design, leading to numerous fan creations;

Even without considering such far-reaching examples, the success of “To the Moon” certainly wasn’t due to its visuals. Its perfect plot combined with beautiful piano music was its winning card.

Mei Fang now had abundant resources in the music domain. Not only himself and Yuan Yuan, but he also knew the composer of “To the Moon,” Gao Gan, who was an exceptionally talented game music designer. Now, Guo Yun’s art skills had grown to the point where she could stand on her own. Mei Fang naturally had higher expectations for his first “Ninth Art” work.

“I plan to use this character designed by Guo Yun as the protagonist of the story. Her color scheme might need some adjustments, but we’ll use her to develop a platform-jumping puzzle game.”

“Platform-jumping…” Xia Yuan scratched his head. “Fang, can you not use such technical terms? I don’t quite understand.”

“Super Mario, the game we played on the Xiao Bao Wang before.”

“Oh! Are you going to use this girl as Super Mario? It feels a bit comical…”

Lin You Xi added, “What Fang means is similar to the control method of ‘Super Mario,’ left, right, and jump buttons… The actual experience will be quite different.”

“So what kind of story do you plan to write? How many words will it be?”

“This story will lean towards a journey of self-discovery. We won’t use too much text in the story… or rather, there will be almost no text.”

Mei Fang explained, “This concept is called environmental storytelling. We will show the story’s essence through the scenes and interactions drawn by the art and cutscenes, allowing players to fill in the intended meaning of our story themselves.”

“It sounds a bit like a silent movie. Isn’t writing dialogue more interesting… why not let them speak?”

“In other words… like ‘Machinarium,’ right?”

“The game with the robot that collects trash! I remember, we played it together at Fang’s house when we were in junior high. That game was really hard; I always had to look up the guide to finish it.”

“Machinarium,” an ancestor-level independent game, was released in 2009. At that time, still in junior high school, Lin You Xi and Xia Yuan played it at Mei Fang’s house.

“To be precise, the game I plan to make is even more silent. The protagonist often communicates through graphic text, and there are actually many dialogues.”

Mei Fang gestured to everyone:

“The female protagonist is a princess from a black-and-white world who embarks on an adventure to find colors for her own world. Different colors represent different countries, each chapter featuring a different color, and each chapter presents the female protagonist with different challenges, all of which have parallels in the real world.”

“There are parallels in the real world…” Xia Yuan thought for a moment. “So, Fang, you mean…表面上是在写童话故事，实际上是在写一个普通女孩的内心世界吗？”

“Not bad, our class representative, Yuan Yuan, you get it immediately.”

Mei Fang rubbed Xia Yuan’s cheek to encourage her, “In fact, I want to tell a story about a shy girl opening her heart, striving to find herself, reconciling with herself, and reaching the shore of her dreams. This is the core of our work.”

Shy girl opening her heart, striving to find herself, reconciling with herself…

As soon as Mei Fang finished speaking, the perceptive Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi immediately turned their gaze toward Guo Yun. Guo Yun also realized Mei Fang’s intention and blushed instantly.

“Fang… Is the prototype of the game’s main character based on Yunyun?”

“Well… to some extent, there is definitely Guo Yun’s influence.”

Mei Fang smiled, “And with this topic, I think Guo Yun has a lot of artistic inspiration and expression. What do you think, Guo Yun?”

“I… I… I can give it a try. But I’m not sure if I can do well…”

After hearing this, Mei Fang immediately encouraged Guo Yun:

“Don’t worry, your aesthetic sense is already top-notch in my eyes. But the workload for the art will be huge, so I think some resource requests might need to go to outsourcing. Or… your classmates are all studying art, maybe there are some who can help out. Communication will be easier when working together.”

“I… look for someone?”

Mei Fang nodded and said to Guo Yun, “In the future, you’ll be the main artist at our Ximilu studio, so you’ll definitely need helpers. I can pay them. Then, I’ll give you an idea of the amount of art resources we need. Let me think…

Hm…

Jealous.

Seeing Mei Fang and Guo Yun chatting enthusiastically, Xia Yuan felt a bit jealous, but she wouldn’t truly show it on her face.

She didn’t want to disturb her beloved childhood friend chasing his game dream.

Maybe Fang likes music, or perhaps roller skating or other sports.

But what he truly loves, and even seems to love more than her and You Xi, is games.

Like Lin You Xi, she quietly watched Mei Fang talk enthusiastically, supporting her chin.

While Mei Fang and Guo Yun were discussing the art, Xia Yuan quickly brought over the milk tea, as if feeding him.

“Fang, you’re really amazing.”

“You’ve just determined the game character, and now you’ve already come up with a whole string of storylines.”

“This… is just a preliminary idea. Implementing it will take a lot of time.”

Lin You Xi looked at Mei Fang without saying anything, just placing her hand on his leg.

It seemed like she was just habitually wanting to touch Mei Fang and didn’t have any malicious intentions. She occasionally stroked his leg back and forth, and Mei Fang didn’t say anything.

When Mei Fang saw Guo Yun’s character design, he immediately thought of “Gris,” known in Chinese as “Grace’s Journey.”

It was a platform-jumping adventure game. Although its puzzle design and script expression were also quite good, in Mei Fang’s view, it still had some distance from legendary masterpieces.

However, its art style could indeed be called a great work of the “Ninth Art.” Almost every interface could be considered a wallpaper.

This time, Mei Fang didn’t directly copy the art from “Gris.” Apart from the impressive art, he had forgotten most of the game’s flow and story, but he still had vague impressions.

The creation of a game is often a fusion of the creator’s rich game experiences and life insights, both of which are indispensable.

Now, as Mei Fang conceived this work, his mind was already filled with the excellent cores of games like “Monument Valley,” “Celeste,” “Gris,” “Journey,” and “Sky: Children of the Light.” This was something he could only achieve as a seasoned game veteran and lead planner.

Actually, this was Mei Fang’s true advantage—a talent that had never been fully utilized in his previous life.

Now, no boss would order Mei Fang to make pay-to-win mobile games anymore.

Mei Fang didn’t have to hustle for meager wages.

Now, Mei Fang was his own master.

“Besides the art, the music and sound effects will be very important as well. I need your help here, Yuan Yuan,” Mei Fang said seriously, looking at Xia Yuan. “Excellent music and art are both essential.”

Xia Yuan nodded, her expression filled with gentleness. “Fang, just tell me what you need. I’ll fulfill everything.”

Lin You Xi, who had been quietly watching Mei Fang with affection and admiration, gently spoke up:

“Recently, C Station doesn’t have much work to handle. The programming design for this game can all be handled by me. Just focus entirely on the planning case, Fang.”

“That’s exactly what I planned… You really understand me, You Xi.”

After saying that, Mei Fang turned to look at Xia Yuan and Guo Yun. “Once we finish the mid-term exams, we can start working on this game’s development.”

“Yeah… the mid-term exams!”

Xia Yuan was surprised and anxious. “By the way, are there any rules regarding this? If… If I don’t perform well, will I be expelled from Jiangcheng No. 1 High School directly?”

“No… Just perform at your usual level. Don’t worry about the grades.”

Mei Fang gently patted Xia Yuan’s head and then smiled, “Think about it. Isn’t this why we originally applied to Jiangcheng No. 1 High School?”

(End of Chapter)