"So, I think this is President Pei giving us a test, a set assignment."

"President Pei is best at achieving big results with small investments, using minimal resources to create the best effect."

"Like *Lonely Desert Road* and *Ghost General*!"

"So, we must also try to use the fewest resources to achieve the best results!"

"I've roughly considered the following aspects: characters, scenes, and story cutscenes. We must save wherever possible, otherwise this story mode will definitely be meaningless. We must use the best steel for the blade!"

Bao Xu was confident.

Huang Sibo nodded frequently, agreeing with this.

Bao Xu continued, "Actually, once we've decided to save as many resources as possible, we have very few options."

"First, in terms of characters. The game uses a first-person perspective, which saves the protagonist's character model, only needing two arms and two legs."

"The game can choose a zombie theme. There are two types of enemies in the game: zombies and mercenaries. Both can use common templates. Just modify them randomly to ensure a variety of monsters, and it's ok."

Huang Sibo nodded, "Yes, I understand. That's a good idea. However, with only zombies and mercenaries, I'm afraid we won't be able to show much of a story. There must be supporting characters."

"I've already thought about the supporting characters. Only one is needed, a little girl."

Bao Xu looked at the printout filled with scribbles in his hand, "To save resources, I plan to set this little girl as unable to speak, so there's no need to do story dialogue or voice acting. The entire game only needs some common combat voiceovers."

Huang Sibo was shocked, "Ah? The only supporting character can't speak, so how can we show the story?"

In Huang Sibo's understanding, the supporting characters' lines are key factors in expressing the story and their personalities.

There's already only one supporting character, and she can't speak or have lines. This... is the whole game going to be a mime?

Bao Xu considered it, "Well... there's no way around it. This is the result of compromise. If we let the little girl speak, then we have to find a professional voice actor and adjust the little girl's model's mouth movements, which is a lot of work."

"Moreover, I don't think the little girl not speaking will affect the plot. We can use many ways to show it."

"For example, her behavior, eyes, actions, and so on."

"If it's a mute character, a little girl is the best image."

"The existence of this little girl mainly has two roles."

"First, she is a kind of spiritual comfort and adjustment. Players are fighting zombies and mercenaries throughout the game. This little girl is like a ray of light in the darkness, which can regulate the player's emotions and prevent the game from completely falling into the monotonous emotion of 'shoot shoot shoot'."

"Second, she can participate in some puzzle gameplay. Many large foreign companies have similar practices in their single-player games, which is to have players interact with a certain NPC to solve puzzles. We can do some such levels: the front door is locked, and there is a narrow ventilation duct next to it. The little girl can just climb through and help the protagonist open the door."

"In this way, whether from an emotional point of view or from the perspective of practical help, the little girl will be very important to the player."

Huang Sibo nodded, "Well, sounds good! But I have a question, how should the story background be set? A doomsday theme? This world view must integrate zombies, little girls, and mercenaries at the same time, and it must be reasonable, not far-fetched."

Bao Xu drew a line on the scribbled printout, "This involves the second point, the scene."

"There's a premise, the scene must be reusable. Assuming we want to create a 3-hour story experience, general foreign single-player blockbusters will provide three or four completely different, stylistically different game scenes, which is too difficult for us."

"What I'm thinking is that the story takes place in a large sea fortress, where an evil multinational corporation is conducting virus experiments. Their goal is to use the virus to transform mercenaries into tireless, powerful warriors."

"In this way, the protagonist's goal throughout the story mode is to break out of this large fortress, from the bottom to the top, and finally escape. All the scenes the players see can be the 'secret base' style inside the fortress."

"We can have many ways to distinguish levels, such as changes in monsters, slight adjustments to the scene, and so on. The same 'secret base' style, we can add a little texture and change it to subdivide different scenes."

"For example, some scenes are contaminated by viruses, and the walls and ground are covered with rust and viscous flesh caused by various viruses; some scenes retain the original state of the fortress, but become a mess; in some scenes, mercenaries use heavy firepower to clean up zombies, so there is serious damage..."

"With the same scene, we can create three or four effects, which can directly solve all the scene needs in the game."

Huang Sibo rubbed his chin, "Well, this idea is really good! But, since it's an evil multinational corporation's offshore base, why is there a little girl?"

"This is easy to explain," Bao Xu said, "The little girl carries special antibodies, so she was caught by the multinational corporation for experiments. During the experiment, the little girl lost her ability to speak."

"Wonderful!"

Huang Sibo had a flash of inspiration, "Moreover, this setting seems to be able to be extended. I think we can do this: the little girl's blood can help the protagonist become immune to the virus. For example, if the player is accidentally scratched or bitten by a zombie, the little girl will take the initiative to use a syringe to draw blood to help the protagonist heal."

"Good idea!" Bao Xu also thought this idea was good, "In this way, the little girl will be even more important to the player! Each blood draw can deepen the player's feelings for the little girl, and as the number of blood draws increases, the little girl will become weak and slow, in order not to let the little girl suffer, the player must improve their skills and better solve the enemies, which is also a way to increase player immersion!"

During the two people's brainstorming, many game contents were quickly finalized.

The game takes place in a secret sea fortress. The protagonist is an oriental special soldier who sneaks into the base to investigate, but happens to catch up with a virus outbreak.

The protagonist must constantly seize guns from the enemy, defeat a steady stream of zombies and mercenaries, and kill from the bottom to the top of the sea fortress and escape.

During the escape, the protagonist encounters a little girl who cannot speak, and this little girl becomes the reason why he must escape alive.

And the entire story mode revolves around the protagonist and this little girl.

The whole story is not complicated, but the content is not monotonous at all!

Although there is only the little girl as a supporting character in the game, as long as it is done well, the impression left on the player will definitely be more profound than ten supporting characters!

Huang Sibo kept recording on the computer's document.

Looking back at the entire document, Huang Sibo was even a little shocked.

Such a perfect solution!

This is the result of Bao Xu's several hours of conception?

It not only perfectly solves the problem of limited resources in the game, but also achieves a reasonable plot, self-consistent logic, complete emotions, and is impressive!

Huang Sibo couldn't help but give a thumbs up, "Brother Bao, you're amazing!"

Bao Xu shook his head, "No, I just completed President Pei's assigned assignment. He should have wanted to do this from the beginning, just giving us a small test to see if we can understand his spirit well!"