Chapter 764 The Wind's Inkmaster: Ruan

Meanwhile, at Tengda Games.

Min Jingchao was, as usual, browsing the forums, gleaning inspiration from the players' ideas.

He had to admit, the players' creativity was boundless.

Take the Traveler Bao Xu concept, for example. Min Jingchao had taken one look and thought it was fantastic – rich hero mechanics, a fitting image, and most importantly, perfectly aligned with Bao Xu's persona.

So, he had immediately adopted it.

However, such brilliant ideas weren't always easy to come by.

After all, only a small number of players were well-versed in game mechanics and design. Most of the ideas had some flaws.

Min Jingchao's daily routine had been to sift through the vast number of player-submitted ideas, find the suitable ones, pass them on to the design team for refinement, and then begin the production process.

In the process of selection, Min Jingchao also had some unwritten rules.

The designers in the games department did not participate in this activity.

For example, Min Jingchao himself had designed several heroes, but he didn't take the revenue from those. Because Boss Pei already paid him enough for his work, and would also give bonuses based on the game's reputation and investment, he felt that there was no reason to earn a second income.

He felt embarrassed competing with the players for that 5% revenue share.

Secondly, when choosing heroes, Min Jingchao would try to select different creators as much as possible.

Unless a certain hero was significantly better than the others, and the idea simply had to be used, Min Jingchao would consider adopting two hero concepts from the same designer.

Because this activity was meant to be a nationwide participation event, and the total number of heroes in GoG was limited, with a finite number of rewards, if one account took too many rewards, the motivation for others to participate would be greatly reduced, which was not conducive to maintaining a healthy ecosystem for the entire community.

Of course, it was also necessary to comprehensively consider whether the hero's mechanics were compatible with the game's mechanics, whether the hero's characteristics were obvious, whether the hero's positioning overlapped with existing heroes, and whether there were any conflicts, among other factors.

As Min Jingchao browsed, he suddenly noticed that the upvote count on one particular post seemed pretty good.

He clicked on it instinctively and found that it was a pure hero mechanic design post.

The hero's first skill was a short-range damage skill. After being used three times, it could knock enemies into the air. The second skill was…

"Hmm? This game mechanic looks quite interesting."

Min Jingchao carefully pondered it for a moment and felt that the hero's positioning was very clear, and the mechanics themselves were quite entertaining. As long as it was paired with a suitable package, it should be quite popular.

But the question was, what kind of package should he give it?

If this enthusiastic player had revealed the hero's general backstory, that would at least give them a general direction, but right now, apart from the fact that he was a warrior-type, assassin-leaning hero, there was absolutely no entry point.

Min Jingchao clicked on the player's profile, hoping to find some inspiration.

After all, the hero's concept came from this player, so it would be even better if the image design could be related to the player in some way.

"Hmm? They have all of Tengda's games? This is a hardcore Tengda Games player."

"Oh? The purchase time for *A Lonely Desert Road* is so early? This is a super hardcore player."

"..."

"Isn't this Boss Pei himself?!"

Min Jingchao didn't know until he checked, but he was shocked to discover that it was Boss Pei's personal account!

He confirmed it again and again. That's right, it was Boss Pei!

But next, Min Jingchao fell into confusion.

If Boss Pei wanted to create a new hero, wouldn't it be easier to just tell me directly?

Why did he have to post it on the forum, going to so much trouble?

What if the players didn't recognize the brilliance and didn't upvote it? Wouldn't this design be wasted?

Could it be that Boss Pei was very confident in his design, feeling that even if it was mixed in with the players' many proposals, it would definitely stand out?

Well, judging from the results, that seemed to be the case.

But it seemed that this reason alone was not sufficient.

Min Jingchao began to think divergently again, after all, "thinking more" was an essential quality for every Tengda employee.

Why didn't this hero have a specific image designed?

Was it that Boss Pei couldn't design a specific image?

Definitely not!

Then Boss Pei must have done it on purpose.

Min Jingchao repeatedly pondered it and finally summarized the two intentions behind Boss Pei's actions.

First, Boss Pei had left the hero's packaging blank, seemingly to test the ability of the GoG development team, to allow the development team to understand his intentions, and to complete the hero's appearance and backstory.

Second, given the fierce competition between GoG and IoI, Boss Pei didn't want to favor either side, since they were both precious. So, he didn't point it out explicitly, but instead used this subtle approach.

In other words, Boss Pei didn't want others to know that he had participated in the design of GoG, he was just secretly giving it a boost.

This warmed Min Jingchao's heart. As expected, the GoG project was Boss Pei's favorite child!

As for the 5% revenue, Boss Pei obviously wouldn't care about that. What Boss Pei cared about more was probably the title of "Designer for xxx".

"So, I should hide the fact that this hero was designed by Boss Pei and treat it completely as a design from an ordinary player."

"Then the next question is, what kind of packaging should I give this hero?"

"There's already a hero based on Boss Pei. Then, this hero should obviously be designed based on someone else."

"Based on whom?"

"Boss Pei must have someone in mind, but he's just too shy to write it down."

Min Jingchao thought carefully and found that this hero seemed to be able to synergize well with Modest.

Because Modest's second skill had a road-blocking + knockback effect, and this knockback was actually a floating + displacement state. Theoretically, it should be able to connect with this new hero's ultimate.

In other words, Modest would directly flank and use his second skill to block the road + knock back the enemy's key hero, the new hero would follow up with his ultimate, and then Modest would activate his ultimate to absorb damage, and the new hero would cooperate with him to start frantically dealing damage.

Hmm, a perfect partner!

And who was Boss Pei's perfect partner in real life?

Obviously, it was Ruan Guangjian, Big Ruan!

Moreover, this hero's skills were quite consistent with the qualities of Big Ruan Guangjian.

An artist's abstract image should be light and elegant, and at the same time, although Ruan Guangjian looked like an ordinary person on the outside, he was influenced by art all year round, and his every move had the characteristics of ancient literati.

Thinking of this, Min Jingchao had an idea.

Hero Name: The Wind's Inkmaster – Ruan.

Ruan was an ancient Chinese calligrapher and painter, whose weapon was an oversized calligraphy brush.

The first skill was to use the calligraphy brush to write wild cursive script. After three times, he could summon a gust of wind through the spirit of the wild cursive, dealing a knock-up effect to enemies in its path.

The second skill was to quickly draw a misty landscape painting in front of him, blocking projectile skills.

The third skill was to ride the wind, allowing him to quickly shuttle between enemies.

The ultimate skill was Illusion, casting an illusion on enemies in a knocked-up state. At the same time, Ruan rode the wind, arriving directly next to the target from thousands of miles away, completely suppressing the target and dealing damage.

After Min Jingchao matched the hero's packaging with the skills, he carefully checked it again and found that it was surprisingly fitting.

"Could it be that this hero was originally tailor-made for Big Ruan?"

"It's just that Boss Pei is embarrassed to make it so obvious?"

"Hmm, that's very likely. After all, before, in order to take care of Ruan's studio, Boss Pei had specifically raised the money given to outsourcing companies, in order to allow Big Ruan to overcome the difficulties as soon as possible after coming to Jingzhou."

"Ah, the friendship between bigwigs, is it all so subtle?"

Min Jingchao couldn't help but imagine the scene of Modest and Ruan fighting side by side in the Valhalla in the future.

Just thinking about it made him feel excited!

Min Jingchao immediately began to organize the original art requirements for the hero Ruan, preparing to send them to Ruan Guangjian as soon as possible.

Since it was Big Ruan's hero, then of course the hero's appearance should be personally designed by Big Ruan.

After the Traveler Bao Xu went online, the next hero would be The Wind's Inkmaster – Ruan!

Min Jingchao's work efficiency was very high. In less than two hours, a hero requirements document for The Wind's Inkmaster was completed.

He immediately sent this requirements document to Ruan Guangjian.

…

In the Halo Studio, Ruan Guangjian was drinking coffee and continuing to work busily.

Suddenly, the chat software icon in the lower right corner of the computer flashed, and a window popped up to accept a file: The Wind's Inkmaster - Hero Requirements Document.xlsx.

"Hmm?"

Ruan Guangjian couldn't help but be stunned. The hero design came out so quickly.

Was it last Thursday or last Friday that the Traveler Bao Xu's requirements had just started to be scheduled? So quickly, there was a new hero?

Ruan Guangjian received the requirements document, opened it, and couldn't help but be stunned.

Surname Ruan, also likes calligraphy and painting...

He suspected that this hero was based on himself, but he also felt that this idea seemed a bit too narcissistic.

At this moment, Min Jingchao sent a message.

"Big Ruan, that's right, this is the hero that Boss Pei designed based on you. I've added a little bit of detail."

"However, Boss Pei seems to be relatively low-key and doesn't want others to know that this is his work, so you shouldn't be too obvious, just understand it in your heart."

Ruan Guangjian couldn't help but be stunned. He had just met Boss Pei when he went to buy coffee.

In other words, Boss Pei had already designed the hero based on me before that?

But when he was at Mo Yu Internet Cafe, Boss Pei didn't mean to mention it at all...

Hmm, it really was in line with Boss Pei's usual subtle personality.

Last time when the Halo Studio moved to Jingzhou, Boss Pei was also cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He didn't say anything, but in fact, he secretly raised the pricing for outsourcing, helping the Halo Studio overcome the difficulties.

This time it was even more subtle, quietly creating a custom hero for me in the game.

The corners of Ruan Guangjian's mouth couldn't help but reveal a smile as he replied: "Don't worry, I will definitely design the original art very handsomely!"

Min Jingchao then said: "Then, for the first skin, let's release a collaboration skin with Modest, and set the backstories of the two heroes as close friends, can we?"

Ruan Guangjian smiled knowingly: "Of course, that's what I want."