Chapter 680 - Linked with the Downloadable Contents of Ocean Stronghold

“Have you realized nothing?

“Don’t rush, take it slow; tell me everything that you felt in detail without missing out any bit.”

Zhu Xiaoce sat on the sofa with Lu Zhiyao in the living room of the suite.

Lu Zhiyao took a sip from the half-drunk cola and started spitting out his complaints towards Zhu Xiaoce.

“Director Zhu, I don’t know if it’s because your method isn’t good or because I have not grasped the essence. In short, I have not realized anything.

“You want me to treat every single unit as a living person.

“I have been reminding myself about that. It was all alright at the start. I deliberately got the soldiers with residual blood to hide behind, and no one died.

“However, towards the end, they would die one after the other if I wasn’t careful…

“I realized later that the more I want to treat these people as real people, the more I can’t do it!

“Because if I were to keep stressing to myself that they were living people, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on thinking rationally and deal with the current battle situation.

“The more I struggled, the more deaths.

“Therefore, the battle got harder and harder towards the end. I couldn’t save these people’s lives in the end.

“Even if I were to repeatedly lie to myself that these are living people, my subconscious mind resists it and constantly denies it. Therefore, I cannot think like what you said…

“In the end, I was confused and lost. I felt indifferent even when a lot of people died. Everything went back to the original point.

“In short, I gained nothing.”

Lu Zhiyao looked at Zhu Xiaoce after he was done with his complaints.

He originally thought he would see a disappointed or comforting expression on Zhu Xiaoce’s face. However, he did not expect Zhu Xiaoce to raise his hand to signal him not to speak while he lowered his head in serious thoughts.

Lu Zhiyao was shocked.

What did that mean? Could Director Zhu actually find some inspiration in what I said?

Were directors so good at filling the gaps?

Zhu Xiaoce frowned, feeling as if he had grasped something but felt a little surreal.

Boss Pei’s requirement was for the soldiers in the game to have their own ideas—combined with the approach of ‘breaking the dimensional wall’, people would naturally think of the idea that ‘the soldiers in the games are real’.

However, this idea had been used previously. If he wanted to come up with something new, he would have to dig deep into it and come up with something new.

Lu Zhiyao’s mental journey might not be able to be used directly in the plot, but it would also provide some ideas that were not thought of before.

For example:

It seemed ironic that their rational judgment would be impaired if they cared too much about whether these units were real people or not and that not treating them as real human beings would be able to reduce sacrifices.

Because of the special medium which was the game, the subconscious would deny and resist the idea that the ‘characters in the game were real-life people’.

When too many people died, life would become a number, and the highest commander would only fall into numbness and despair.

However, was it right to treat people completely as numbers? It seemed like it would give rise to more problems…

Moreover, Lu Zhiyao played ‘Starcraft 2’, not ‘Destiny and Choice’.

Imagine, if it was ‘Destiny and Choice’, every soldier had their own mind and the gap between humans and the Zergs would be even greater…

Many thoughts quickly collided; Zhu Xiaoce suddenly had a wave of inspiration!

“I’ll use your computer!” he quickly said.

Lu Zhiyao stood up quickly. “Alright.”

Zhu Xiaoce exit ‘Starcraft 2’ immediately and created a new document, quickly tapping on the keyboard.

Lu Zhiyao stood behind curiosity and watched for half a minute before saying with some doubts. “Director Zhu, are you… writing a summary of the story from the beginning?”

“Of course not! I have a script with hundreds of thousands of words on my office computer. This is just to note down my inspiration from just now,” Zhu Xiaoce replied hurriedly.

“Don’t interrupt my thoughts and don’t look. I can’t write with you looking on. You sit aside first.”

Zhu Xiaoce continued typing frantically away at the keyboard after he got Lu Zhiyao to shun away, recording all the inspiration in his mind.

Lu Zhiyao had serious doubts in his mind but did not want to look again, and so he could only wait with claws scratching his heart.

Zhu Xiaoce wrote at a good speed, adding and deleting continuously.

“Boss Pei said that there should only be one protagonist that is Lu Zhiyao.

“If there is no one acting against him and all of them are going to be a one-man show, it would mean that the protagonist must undergo many mental changes to hold up the entire length of the movie.

“For now… even five times would not be enough.”

“Hmm… perhaps he could have someone acting against him, but not an actor.

“Artificial Intelligence?

“Well, if you want to break the dimensional wall, the protagonist must control the fleet through the help of artificial intelligence. At the same time, the game itself has to be simplified which also needs a certain amount of help from the AI.

“Since Artificial intelligence is to be present in the movie, it must be opposing the protagonist. Moreover, with the intervention of Artificial intelligence, the protagonist’s mentality will be able to change many times.

“Nine times.

“The protagonist’s mentality changes nine times. Every time, the story would advance a little and closer to the eventual truth.

“Moreover, don’t forget… the protagonist is a determined space fighter who doesn’t have too many expressions so try to present a contradiction:

“The plot is completely unexpected to the audience and brings a strong plot tension, but the protagonist is always strong, calm, and sensible. It is not until the end that there is a little emotional fluctuation, and every emotional change required shows a very subtle expression…

“There is only one protagonist; therefore, this protagonist must impress the audience.

“Tell a story and create a good protagonist. That should be enough to Boss Pei.”

Zhu Xiaoce wrote about 500 words, checked it, and nodded satisfactorily.

That was the essence of the story, but he would have to adjust and refine it repeatedly if he wanted it to turn into a script.

Zhu Xiaoce put the laptop away, thinking about it and putting it into his backpack. “Alright, Movie King, your work is complete. I’m very inspired! I’ll go back and finish up the script, and we’ll then get ready to shoot immediately!”

“Director Zhu, are you sure you are finishing up the script?” Lu Zhiyao asked uncertainly.

Zhu Xiaoce smiled. “It was very far away but not anymore! Take a good rest, shave your beard. I’ll send the first part of the script to you very soon.”

“You’re going to give me the script in parts?” Lu Zhiyao was a little shocked.

Zhu Xiaoce nodded. “Of course, to allow you to better adapt to the character. I’ll get going first!”

Zhu Xiaoce turned to leave after he was done speaking.

Lu Zhiyao scratched his head in confusion.

He felt that what he said really inspired Director Zhu Xiaoce.

However, he still could not imagine how the script would be like…

…

Zhu Xiaoce returned to Fei Huang Workspace and called Huang Sibo and the scriptwriter directly for a short meeting.

“What do you think of my idea? If it’s possible, we will start work immediately and seize the time to finish the script.

“The preparatory work can also be done while we write the script.”

The scriptwriters showed surprise in their expressions. “Awesome, Director Zhu! This story is not only well-integrated with the contents of the game, but the character is also very prominent and the development of the story is also surprising…”

Huang Sibo nodded frequently. “Very good! The content of the movie really fits well with the game. I already have an idea of how to make the game!”

Only one scriptwriter frowned slightly. “But Director Zhu, I think this twist in the ending is a little forced, not natural enough.

“Of course, there will be nothing wrong with this, but a part of the audience might not be able to accept it.

“Is it possible to have some foreshadowing in the front and give them a hint?”

Zhu Xiaoce considered for a moment and thought carefully. “Hm, there might be feelings like this. But… the content in front is already very complicated. I don’t think we can squeeze this in.

“Moreover, if the hint is too obvious, the audiences might guess it directly, which may cause all the buried puzzles to collapse.

“Or…”

“We can lay a little foreshadowing outside the movie to deliberately cause everyone to misunderstand but reveal the final mystery in the movie. It would make everyone feel unexpected yet reasonable.”

Huang Sibo thought for a while. “Yes, we can do it this way! Shang Yang Games is doing the downloadable contents for the original games of Tengda. I’ll ask them to help make related downloadable content. Not only can it have foreshadowing, but it can also warm up the game in advance!”

Zhu Xiaoce nodded. “Alright, everyone will follow the outline of the story I just gave to improve the script. Finish it within these two days efficiently!”

The scriptwriters nodded, filled with motivation for their work.

Zhu Xiaoce, on the other hand, gave Wang Xiaobin of Shang Yang Games a call to explain his intentions.

Wang Xiaobin was silent for a while over the phone. “There really aren’t many suitable games for a sci-fi theme… or should we just do it in ‘Ocean Stronghold’?

“We can make a separate plot for Ocean Stronghold—remake everything from the protagonist to the monsters.”

Zhu Xiaoce was very happy. “Sure, FPS games are more suitable because FPS games use first-person perspectives so it would have a stronger sense of substitution. It would be easier for the players to experience what I want to express.

“Moreover, the publicity effect would be better since Ocean Stronghold has so many players.

“I just don’t know if it would affect your original development plan?”

Wang Xiaobin: “No, I haven’t decided what to do actually. I will certainly use your plan since it is so good. Moreover, Tengda Games is developing ‘Destiny and Choice’. I can use many art resources from it so the workload isn’t that big.”

Zhu Xiaoce was very happy. “Alright, I will send you a summary of the story soon. Let’s release it in the downloadable content of Ocean Stronghold!”