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墨書 Inktalez
Just when Chen Rui was overwhelmed with the World project, Ruan Yu and Gao Zhijie approached him, informing him that it was impossible to complete the Dream Assessment for all graduating students within the next nine months at the current pace. They insisted on adding another team to work simultaneously.
Chen Rui relayed this news to Xiang Xiao, who promptly transferred personnel from Eight Group. To maintain discretion, Eight Group's workspace was not set up in the faculty dormitory but rather mysteriously established on the top floor of the office building—specifically, in the Principal's office.
This arrangement was made with Li Li's consent, and the spacious office was indeed suitable for their work conditions. The second group that had arrived earlier envied them greatly; however, since they were in an office, Eight Group members even spent their own money to buy partitions to create a semi-enclosed workspace.
Chen Rui initially intended to take charge personally, but given the urgency of the tasks at hand, he realized that only by being in the office could their enthusiasm and efficiency be guaranteed.
Reluctantly, Chen Rui called Ruan Yu, Gao Zhijie, Zhuo Rohan, and Li Chunbo together and instructed them to split into two teams for the Dream Assessment. Zhuo Rohan and Li Chunbo would act as Execution Team members accompanying the assessed individuals into their dreams to alleviate their concerns.
"Now, which two do you suggest? After all, you are part of the staff now," Chen Rui said with a smile to Zhuo Rohan and Li Chunbo.
Li Chunbo immediately proposed, "I have a close relationship with Fan Xiaohu, so I suggest we let him go first for the assessment."
Chen Rui nodded and then looked at Zhuo Rohan.
Zhuo Rohan shrugged with a wry smile and teased Li Chunbo, "It doesn't matter to me. I'm on friendly terms with Ye Yi and Li Zheng; it's not like I'm as close as you are with someone. I even suspect those two might have some dirty dealings!"
Li Chunbo chuckled knowingly and asked, "So who are those two you’re referring to? There are only five of us in our class; isn't it all pretty much the same?"
Ruan Yu, wanting to cut through their banter, directly told Zhuo Rohan, "You should assist Ye Yi; after all, he has a good impression of you, making it easier to collaborate."
Zhuo Rohan's face paled instantly as he exclaimed in surprise, "Wait! Are you guys conducting surveillance? How do you know this? Are you spies sent by the security department?"
Chen Rui laughed and explained, "We're not from the security department; however, they do have an obligation to cooperate with us. Alright then, it's settled: we'll arrange for Fan Xiaohu to enter his dream today and Ye Yi tomorrow. Let's stagger them to avoid drawing too much attention."
Zhuo Rohan questioned, "It's all from our class, there are only five of us. If two leave at once, it will definitely be noticed."
Chen Rui shook his head. "No, only one person will really notice, and that’s Li Zheng. The others aren’t very familiar with each other, and since Fan Xiaohu is also from the Programming Department, he won’t ask too many questions."
After arranging the plan, Chen Rui arrived at the top floor of the Teaching Building in the Planning Department's Office Hall. After Chen Rui had insisted on the feasibility of their planning, their work efficiency skyrocketed. Ye Yi now had two assistants by his side, yet even with three people, they were still overwhelmed, with piles of documents stacked on each desk.
Chen Rui walked over to Ye Yi, smiling as he patted his shoulder and asked, "How’s it going? Tough work, huh?"
"Yeah, it’s tough. I wish I could find someone else to help me handle all this," Ye Yi replied with a wry smile, pointing at the mountain of documents in front of him.
Since they were following standard corporate procedures, all plans had to be submitted in written form to the supervisors. After review and approval, the documents would be passed on to the Programming Department and the Art Department. Of course, these documents were merely formalities; once approved, the plan would be sent via email to the relevant Research Department.
This arrangement alleviated some pressure for both the Research Department and the Planning Department; however, it significantly increased the pressure on planning reviews. Therefore, Ye Yi was eager to find another assistant to help out, which was quite understandable.
Although most students had little exposure to planning, the core of game planning actually revolves around writing proposals. The main task is to articulate an idea clearly in writing so that those in the Programming Department can easily understand it.
In game companies on the market, at least half of a Planning Department's work involves writing proposals. Very few people are responsible for crafting game background stories, setting game rules, designing interactive scenarios, or developing game formulas.
Specifically speaking, a planner responsible for quest design primarily focuses on writing documents! They must detail: what the city is called, its coordinates, what the quest NPC is named and what they look like, what language they use, what items they provide; what the target city is called and its coordinates…
It’s such a simple logic for a seemingly ordinary task that requires thousands to nearly ten thousand words in documentation while ensuring clarity of meaning. The difficulty of a quest must correlate with its rewards—simple yet troublesome.
The review process is even more cumbersome. The reviewers are responsible for assessing whether these plans are qualified, reasonable, and usable. If approved, they are forwarded to the Research Department; if not approved, they are sent back for revision.
While this seems like a relatively straightforward job, its tedious processes can be disheartening. Many planning supervisors in game companies have dedicated teams to handle these tasks; however, Ye Yi manages everything personally. One can only imagine how heavy his workload must be.
Chen Rui casually picked up a copy of the Plan and, after reading just two lines, his eyes lit up. This proposal had been submitted by the person in charge of system planning, and its main content called for a replacement of the currently used UI interface and operation pages.
The ancestor of the UI interface in VR games could be traced back to Activision, which introduced the classic Corner Interface in the first VR First-Person Shooter that continues to be used today.
As the name suggests, the Corner Interface features relevant operational systems in all four corners: the upper left corner displays personal character information, the lower left corner shows the character's current status, the upper right corner indicates time and current tasks, while the lower right corner lists equipped items and real-time messages, commonly referred to as the chat channel.
The Corner Interface borrowed its design concept from traditional PC games, meaning it had not made any significant innovations. Its acceptance by the public was largely due to its classic influences.
However, the current UI proposal aimed to break this mold. The plan had been modified based on player feedback and game screenshots. Notably, only the time indicator appeared in the player's field of vision, which was quite minimalistic.
Turning to the second page, Chen Rui was presented with a visual representation of the new UI. According to the proposal, when players clicked on or focused on the time indicator for three seconds, an operation page would pop up.
This operation page was also very simple, offering just a few options: log out of character, exit game, personal information, chat channel, and so on.
On the third page of the Plan, detailed descriptions of each section's interface design were provided. Even so, each interface design was very straightforward and lacked the complexity found in other VR games. Looking at the first image, Chen Rui covered the time indicator with his hand and suddenly felt a spark of inspiration.
Wasn't this a whole new world?
The Plan also included a manuscript suggesting the removal of traditional VR game interface settings such as character status and weapon inventory. This would make it quite unclear how much stamina players had left during battles. Switching weapons would no longer be as simple as pressing a button; players would have to physically act to change their weapons, adding a layer of realism to the game.
Of course, this would significantly reduce convenience.
Chen Rui handed the proposal to Ye Yi. Ye Yi took it and flipped through it before looking at Chen Rui and asking, "Isn't this too risky? The convenience has decreased too much. No game currently dares to do this!"
Chen Rui laughed heartily. "Yes, indeed! No game has dared to eliminate clear numerical values yet. But you have to understand—how convenient is reality? How many things can be measured entirely by numbers? Most data is actually misleading or approximate."
Ye Yi pondered for a moment, surprised. "Are you saying that players can infinitely believe in themselves and unleash their potential?"
"That's the fun of the game. After all, in reality, how easy is it to tap into one's potential? The real world is completely dominated by money and power."
Ye Yi picked up the signature stamp and pressed it onto the planning document, placing it aside on top of the stack of approved files.
Chen Rui smiled at Ye Yi, picked up the pile of documents, and said, "I'll take these down for you. Just send them the electronic version."
"Thanks for the trouble!"
Looking at the changes before them, He Quanli and Liang stared at Chen Rui in astonishment. After all, this kind of change was almost revolutionary; if successful, it would bring fame, but if not, it could lead to significant losses.
"Anyway, there's no guarantee of returns, and it's time to change this lukewarm situation! Let's just do it! I want to see these adjustments updated on the client before Midnight Twelve!"
Seeing the hesitation in the two, Chen Rui immediately issued a clear directive.
"Understood!" Liang and He Quanli nodded and then dove into the group of programmers.
Since touch keyboards didn't perform as well as mechanical ones and were prone to mistakes, most of these programmers used their own mechanical keyboards instead of the provided touch keyboards. The entire office was filled with the sound of clattering keys.
Chen Rui looked at the live feed from the development department on the big screen and smiled with satisfaction.
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