Chapter 35: Hell of Pleasure

Chapter 35: Hell of Pleasure

I should say it went smoothly; we finally managed to recruit Myungkyu.

After finishing the salary negotiations and conveying detailed work instructions, it's already June.

It's been over a year since we started development, and the progress includes Chapter 1's main map design and Chapter 2's modelling.

Although the work speed is less than half of what was initially planned for the 2-year development, it's okay. With Myungkyu now on board, the work should pick up speed.

"Myungkyu, Myungkyu oppa! Good morning!"

"Myungkyu, Myungkyu oppa, are you wearing a blue shirt today? Cool tone suits you well."

"Uh, hello!"

I should really focus on my work.

Even though I try not to, these thoughts keep popping into my head.

...In reality, I can only hope that they'll figure it out on their own.

What's the point of giving them guidance separately?

I exchanged greetings with Myungkyu as he just arrived at the office and started my work.

Today was about reviewing the completed map and monsters for Chapter 2.

It was a one-on-one meeting with Han Seorim.

"Is it good?"

"Yes, it is. You have put a lot of effort into this."

She seemed quite confident not just for show.

The models were mostly a dark purplish colour, and depending on the angle you looked at them, they had an otherworldly appearance, visible in both 2D and 3D. From a game design perspective, it made sense to incorporate this "otherness" and "obstruction of vision" right from the design stage.

Although I couldn't pinpoint art specifics, it was clear that a lot of technical thought went into these models.

I was curious and asked, "How did you do this?"

"The base concept was oil painting, right? But oil paintings typically have a rough and hard texture. It's great for creating depth, but as sunbae mentioned, creating a fluid shape was difficult."

I nodded my head in agreement.

Certainly, if this was a game from ten years later, we might have had the technology and resources to create a liquid-like shape with more ease, but it's 2010, and we're just a small company. We lacked the technology and manpower to realistically depict the fluidity of liquid in a human form.

"So, I thought about it. What if we use anamorphosis?"

"Anamorphosis?"

"Yes, it's called anamorphic. You know those pictures where someone paints a pit on the ground, and when you stand on it and take a photo, it looks like you're inside the pit?"

Ah, I roughly understood.

It's like optical illusions.

Come to think of it, there were exhibitions related to this.

"Did you use that?"

"You can apply anamorphism to sculptures too. Essentially, it's an extension of the concept of distorting statues."

To be honest, I didn't quite understand what she meant.

I just rotated the monster model in amazement.

When viewed from the front, it looked like a distorted tree, from the back, a bent human figure, and from the side, a person happily flexing their joints.

The sense of otherness when this merged with the map was intensified.

It was indeed an optical illusion.

Depending on the angle, the map and the monster could either blend together seamlessly or appear entirely separate.

But that wasn't the end of it.

"I paid special attention to this."

Whether it was because the work was finished or because she was proud of the result, Han Seorim began to demonstrate it to me.

What was floating up on the screen were cylindrical metal pillars scattered throughout the map.

What purpose did they serve?

The reason was soon revealed.

"Hmm?"

When she placed the monster next to one of the pillars, the reflection of the monster on the pillar transformed into the image of an ordinary crying person.

My eyes widened.

Han Seorim explained with a mischievous smile, "There's a technique called anamorphic transformation. It makes distorted objects return to their original form when reflected on a surface. I got the idea from there."

At that moment, Han Seorim's voice faded away.

As always, the sensation of an idea popping into my head felt like fireworks going off in my mind.

When I looked at the model, it became clear that in Chapter 2, the most challenging element in the level design process was the concept of 'time.' If I can solve this, I won't have to represent the flow of time.

The Hell of Pleasure fundamentally coexists with pleasure time and real time equally. So, to implement that within the game, I'd have to create a concept of time, which is not good either system-wise or in terms of the game's pacing.

Of course, it isn't. If I only represent the passage of time here, it would create a stark contrast with the rest of Chapter 2, and it would lead to significant resource wastage.

"But I don't have to worry about that."

Now, let's think about the main mechanic of Chapter 2. "Returning to reality and becoming frenzied prisoners, in other words, monsters. Drifting through dreams and revelling in pleasure, in other words, farming objects."

What if we organically connect these two concepts?

For example, we can designate those pillars as "farming item locations."

The way to farm items would be to defeat the monsters near the pillars.

When you defeat a monster, the distorted corpse is erased in a burst of light, leaving behind only the intact image of a prisoner on the pillar, as if the prisoner's soul was preserved there.

Players could approach these pillars, touch the intact prisoner's form, and retrieve the item.

"Let's enhance the setting."

I'm not creating the game for the sake of Hell's realism. The goal is to make an enjoyable game based on Hell.

So, I decided to add more depth to the pillars created by Han Seorim.

"Let's make the pillars represent different aspects of the final boss in Chapter, such as pain, trace, and abilities."

This way, we can represent both the pleasure of the prisoners and reality simultaneously through the passage of time. With this approach, we can quite convincingly explain the incongruent appearance of the pillar in the distorted world.

The thought crossed my mind briefly, and I erased it.

"Slowly."

Let's take our time with talent acquisition.

We have everything we need for now.

***

The distinctiveness of a chapter is determined primarily by its mechanics. Of course, art, sound, and narrative also contribute to the distinctiveness, but ultimately, players judge the game in the realm of "experience," which is why mechanics are crucial.

Isn't it true that, no matter how new backgrounds and stories unfold, if players keep repeating the same laborious tasks for hours on end, their engagement will diminish? Fatigue will increase, and boredom will set in.

Therefore, mechanics are the most critical aspect I, as the director, must focus on, and it's the one proposition that I can't receive much help from other team members on.

I find the solution to this myself.

"Hellic is a game cantered around items and objects."

That's why I adopted narrative tooltips. Furthermore, I emphasized mechanics based on tools.

In other words, all the game's mechanics should start with items and end with items.

This applies not only to combat but to all aspects of progression.

So, when it comes to expressing the uniqueness of mechanics and chapters, the most important thing is the individuality and traits of the items.

Up to this point, the remaining answers come easily.

"There are four item growth paths in Hellic 2, and there are four chapters in Hellic 2."

Therefore, each chapter should provide a superior growth path.

Some outlines have already been set.

In Chapter 1, "Hell of Heretics," the long-range shotgun build is the most superior.

The heretics are monsters that exclusively engage in melee attacks, and even the boss has patterns that change in difficulty depending on distance control.

On the other hand, what performed the worst in Chapter 1 was the "Drug Route."

In the actual demo version evaluations, there were a lot of sceptical comments about the Drug Route, such as, "It's fun, but the efficiency is too low, isn't it?"

"We'll reverse that in Chapter 2. We want players to realize that there are no useless routes."

The theme is "constraint" and "surreal."

Initially, I set constraints to be much more pronounced compared to other chapters, even to the point of implementing in-game time. Through this concept, I wanted to express the precarious balance between pleasure and reality.

Even now, after the planning has been discarded, "drugs" remains a fantastic theme.

Think about the universal image of drugs. In terms of the game's interpretation, drugs represent the cure of abnormal states.

So, in Hell of Pleasure, I adopted drugs as a way to highlight that theme.

Now, let's move on.

How can we make players search for drugs and in what form?

Should we spread poison throughout the entire map?

"No, seeing your health constantly depleting would be stressful."

Should we give all monsters a venom attribute?

"That would be too dull. Besides, it's something players can avoid, depending on their playstyle. We can't have players getting poisoned against their will."

Especially for players who are prone to scepticism.

So, let's bring in a proven and good precedent.

Click

I operated the mouse to activate the search engine.

Then I opened the image tab.

What I saw on the screen was none other than a "trap."

That's it.

"A trap that you can't avoid."

The introduction of a hazard element in the form of farming items is precisely that.

In most games, when players encounter such elements, they face a choice.

Will they skip the risky elements and give up, or will they take the risk, even if it means facing more significant consequences in pursuit of greater rewards?

However, Hellic offers only one choice.

Since Hellic's traps provide both rewards and penalties simultaneously.

The trap will activate during the looting process of monster corpses reflected on the pillars.

In other words, we will plant a curse on the pillars.

Players will realize that they will suffer from an abnormal state when looting in front of the cursed pillar, but they won't be able to avoid it.

"In Hellic, all stats are increased through items. Without farming items and resources, there is no growth. If you don't open the boxes, the clears will become more difficult."

Players will follow the natural course and get poisoned, all while choosing the path of farming. They will struggle with the abnormal state and seek better antidotes and more reliable defences.

Of course, there is a way to detoxify without going through the drug route.

However, the difficulty of doing so will be quite severe, and the more challenging it becomes, the higher players will regard the drug route.

Traps are sweet threats.

Once the balancing is completed for the gains and losses, they will create a suitable sense of danger.

What should I call this mechanic? Yes.

"Honey Trap."

That would be fitting.

"Yeonho, are you having lunch today as well? We'll go get it!"

"Sunbae, sunbae! Take care of your health!"

With laughter and excitement, the two friends grabbed Myungkyu, who was sandwiched between them, and left the office.

The last thing I saw was Myungkyu's reddened ears.

...I had a lot to think about.