Chapter 40 Baffled

If Pei Qian had known that this was a picture from his own project, he would definitely have given some forceful guidance.

For example, he would make some unreasonable demands regarding the art style, details, character expressions, and so on.

However, Pei Qian had just praised this painting, so he couldn't immediately offer various opinions after learning it was his own project, could he?

That would be too obvious and unreasonable.

Helpless, Pei Qian could only force a smile: "Yeah, it's pretty good."

Ruan Guangjian clicked a few times on the digital tablet with the stylus and opened a folder.

"There are other line drafts here as well, President Pei, take a look. If there are any problems, we can modify them as soon as possible."

The folder was full of thumbnail images of various line drafts, but each thumbnail also had a photo.

Apparently, after Hu Xianbin finalized these in-game characters, he found some motion capture actors who met the appropriate criteria.

The appearance of the motion capture actors didn't have to be exactly the same as the character models in the game, but they had to be generally similar, because the data produced when two people with completely different face shapes perform motion capture would also be different. Simply copying and pasting would definitely lead to errors.

In order for the motion capture system to achieve the best results, the motion capture actors had to be carefully selected, and the in-game characters and real people had to correspond closely.

Clearly, while Pei Qian was busy arranging the trustee fitness and other tasks, Hu Xianbin had already made a lot of progress in preparing for *Struggle*.

"Isn't he a rookie? This efficiency is ghostly!"

"Could it be that I'm really so unlucky that any chief planner I promote is so capable?"

"Huh?"

Pei Qian considered it for a moment and suddenly felt that something was not right.

Even if Hu Xianbin was very efficient, there was no reason for him to be able to find so many foreign actors in such a short period of time, right?

Finding people is not something that can be solved by improving efficiency!

Looking more closely at these photos.

The more he looked, the more familiar they seemed!

Pei Qian pondered for two minutes and suddenly remembered where he had seen them.

Aren't these all the foreign extras that were found in *A Beautiful Tomorrow*?

When filming *A Beautiful Tomorrow*, the three main actors who appeared the most were all Chinese, but there were also a large number of extras who served as background, with various skin tones and nationalities. Huang Sibao and his team had worked hard to find these foreign friends around Jingzhou.

But these people appeared too few times, and after so long, Pei Qian's memory of the plot in the movie was also somewhat vague, so he didn't recognize them at first glance.

Now, Pei Qian confirmed that it wasn't that Hu Xianbin's work efficiency was high, it was that he was cheating!

He must have asked Huang Sibao for these people's contact information and then directly copied the homework!

No wonder these photos were so familiar!

Pei Qian was speechless.

Hu Xianbin, ah Hu Xianbin, you thick-browed, big-eyed guy looks honest and loyal, how come you're so skilled at copying homework?

Pei Qian looked at these photos and line drafts one by one.

Various ethnic groups, various skin tones, actors from poor families and actors from rich families, the differences were obvious.

This was also normal, after all, there were rich and poor classes in reality, and this kind of long-term accumulated temperament was difficult to change.

Pei Qian tried very hard to find a tricky angle to give Ruan Guangjian some reverse guidance.

But he couldn't find an angle!

Because everything was too reasonable!

Hu Xianbin's casting was obviously based on the actual economic situation and family background of these extras, and it was very consistent with the roles in the game.

When Ruan Guangjian was creating art based on these photos, he also paid great attention to the sense of proportion, and only made simple amplifications of their characteristics, without letting the virtual images deviate too far from the actual images.

Pei Qian couldn't find an angle to start in a hurry.

President Pei fell into deep thought.

"Well... for a game, the graphics are just one aspect, and the core competitiveness of this game that dissuades players lies in its content and gameplay. It seems that it's okay to relax a little on the art style..."

"Wait, I can't have such wrong thoughts!"

"I thought the same thing when I was doing *Is There No Turning Back*!"

Pei Qian originally wanted to let it go, but considering the precedent of *Is There No Turning Back*, he suddenly woke up.

The same mistake must never be made a second time!

Since he had already seen the weapon Ruan Guangjian was using to stab him in the back, he had to find a way to make this weapon malfunction!

The water released now will all turn into blood flowing from being stabbed in the future!

"Quick, think about how to mislead him..."

"Well... this painting pays attention to the sense of proportion..."

"Got it!"

Pei Qian found that Ruan Guangjian was worried that too much artistic processing would cause these characters to deviate from their original real images when shaping them, so he restrained himself.

This also reminded Pei Qian of Lu Zhiyao's acting skills at the time.

Lu Zhiyao's biggest problem should have been overacting.

And Pei Qian gave him some reverse guidance at the time, which made Lu Zhiyao's acting skills become more restrained, and the result was well received.

This was a very serious mistake!

Ruan Guangjian's attainments in painting were obviously much higher than Lu Zhiyao's. He knew very well the principle of 'too much is as bad as too little', so he was very restrained when creating.

So, this was a breakthrough!

Just make Ruan Guangjian's paintings "overact", right?

Pei Qian cleared his throat twice: "The painting is pretty good, but I have a little suggestion."

Ruan Guangjian instantly became highly attentive: "Oh? President Pei, please explain in detail, I'll change it immediately."

After all, President Pei was the chief designer of the game, so he certainly had the ultimate decision-making power over the art demands of this game.

Pei Qian said seriously: "These images do not deviate too much from the real images of the motion capture actors. You seem to be very restrained when creating, right?"

Ruan Guangjian nodded: "Yes, because too much artistic exaggeration will make these images lose their authenticity."

Pei Qian clapped his hands: "That's right! That's what I want!"

Ruan Guangjian: "Huh?"

"Cough, cough." Pei Qian realized that he was a little carried away and quickly restrained himself.

"What I want is to lose authenticity."

"I want a more extreme, more artistic expression. Words like 'real' and 'restrained' have nothing to do with this game."

"In short, make these images as weird as possible for me, and strive to achieve the effect of overacting!"

Ruan Guangjian frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

Hu Xianbin from the Tengda Games department did not make similar demands when he contacted him.

Hu Xianbin didn't even make very detailed art demands.

Of course, this was not to say that Hu Xianbin's work attitude was problematic. This was the tradition of the Tengda Games department.

All the former heads of the Tengda Games department knew about *Ghost General* and knew that President Pei had completely delegated power and allowed Master Ruan to give full play to his abilities, which was why there was that batch of classic original paintings for *Ghost General*.

So later games, including *Game Producer* and *Is There No Turning Back*, also gave Ruan Guangjian absolute control over the art style.

This time, Hu Xianbin proposed the art demands for *Struggle*, naturally continuing this tradition and letting Ruan Guangjian decide the specific art style himself.

However, now that President Pei had personally made a request, this point had to be taken into consideration.

"Well..." Ruan Guangjian frowned tightly and fell into deep thought.

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel secretly pleased, good!

This seemed to be the expression of a designer when encountering a mentally challenged client!

Pei Qian could especially understand this feeling. These characters had already been outlined, and the general image shaping had already been completed, and it was just a matter of refinement. As a result, the client suddenly ran over and said that he wanted to make major changes.

Which designer wouldn't be angry?

But this was exactly what President Pei wanted!

He had already made preparations, and when Ruan Guangjian argued with reason, he would give full play to the unreasonable characteristics of the client, transform into an overbearing CEO proficient in *Mingxue* (明学, a meme based on the overbearing attitude of a celebrity), and reject all of Ruan Guangjian's reasonable suggestions.

Pei Qian seemed to see the dawn of revenge.

Ruan Guangjian considered for five minutes, still frowning tightly. Obviously, he still had reservations about Pei Qian's words.

But what made Pei Qian feel strange was that Ruan Guangjian had been suffocating here for five minutes, but he didn't make any protests, or even have the idea of negotiating with him!

After a long time, Ruan Guangjian finally seemed to have made up his mind.

He took a deep breath and looked at Pei Qian.

Pei Qian instantly prepared himself.

Here it comes! He's finally going to battle with me!

Come on, I've already prepared the most unreasonable client quotes!

"Don't think what you think, I want what I think. What you think doesn't work, I think it works. Change them all. No matter what reasons you have, these original paintings must all be changed!"

These words were already stuck in Pei Qian's throat, waiting to be transformed into bullets fired at the number one person on this little notebook!

However, Ruan Guangjian gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! No problem!"

"President Pei, although I haven't thought of a very good way yet, don't worry, since it's a demand you made, I will definitely try my best to satisfy it!"

Pei Qian: "??"

Dizzy.

What does this mean? Isn't this how the script should be written?

Shouldn't you argue with reason and battle with me?

Then the lines I prepared, weren't they all prepared in vain?

Could it be that Ruan Guangjian, who was living under someone else's roof, didn't dare to offend himself, so even if he disagreed with this very much in his heart, he still had to try his best to complete the demands of the mentally challenged client?

This was too tragic!

Pei Qian felt that he seemed to have become a big villain, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty in his heart.

He quickly said: "Uh... don't force yourself!"

Ruan Guangjian nodded: "Don't worry, President Pei, I'm not forcing myself, I understand what you mean!"

Pei Qian: "?"

Ruan Guangjian continued: "Artistic creation must find a suitable balance point between the client's needs and their own desire for expression. Only by finding this balance point can the most perfect work be made."

"I believe that since President Pei, you have made this demand, there must be a deep-seated consideration."

"Although I haven't thought of a very good solution yet, after thinking about it just now, I also feel that this demand seems to be able to be completed in other ways."

"It's also possible to try a different approach, maybe there will be unexpected gains!"

"In short, President Pei, don't worry, I will definitely strictly demand myself with quality as the primary goal. No matter what style it is, I will definitely make you satisfied!"

Pei Qian: "..."

He didn't know why, but when facing Ruan Guangjian, he always had the feeling of fighting against a Tai Chi master.

No matter what moves he made, they had no effect at all, and instead, they were deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces, using force to fight force?

Pei Qian suddenly had a bad feeling and really wanted to say the famous client saying "Let's use the first version."

But after thinking about it, if he really said it, it might make people mistakenly think that he had intermittent mental illness...

The words had already been spoken, and there was no way to change them.

Pei Qian had no choice but to nod very unwillingly: "Okay, then I'll leave it to you, I hope the final product is consistent with what I expected..."