Ma Yang was initially skeptical of his own work. However, Pei Qian’s affirmation had ignited his confidence.
Looking at how seriously Ma Yang was taking his work, flowers blossomed in Pei Qian’s heart.
He hadn’t found the wrong person!
Setting Zhou Cang as a dragon lady and Lu Meng as a dragon slaying lolita?
Look at the sort of talented drivel this was!
That was something that Pei Qian definitely would not have been able to come up with himself!
Once he finds a cheaper artist to screw up the designs of a proposal that’s completely unreliable from the get go, there’s no way the game’s original art could be bearable to watch!
Imagine when gamers draw Cao Pi only to find out that he’s a tentacle monster…
Drawing Ma Chao to find out that he’s a centaur…
Drawing Lu Meng to find out that this great general had turned into a dragon slaying lolita…
Wasn’t this something that fans who loved the three kingdoms series would flame?
Some famous international star had once claimed, “Making and adapting films from history isn’t to destroy the source recklessly.”
But this was precisely to destroy it recklessly! Once this game comes out, the masses are going to spurn it and the three kingdom fans would be weeping endlessly!
Pei Qian’s past couple of dazed days were swept clean as he felt his future turning bright once more!
Losing 300,000 to earn 300,000!
Pei Qian could envision a beautiful life beckoning towards him!
Seizing the opportunity while Ma Yang was filling up the form, Pei Qian checked out the artists on the resource website.
ESRO’s resource website compiled all the resources for games domestically, including manpower.
Be it designers, artists or programmers, one could provide their services on the resource website with a price.
The buyers could check out the past works of the freelancers and if they were pleased with what they saw, they could negotiate a partnership.
For example, how many original art pieces of an artist they wanted to purchase.
Pei Qian filtered out the artists that specialized in original arts and began the elimination process swiftly.
All of the famous artists were eliminated.
All of the artists with a better reputation were eliminated.
He focused on searching for his artist amongst the newcomers who were selling their original arts for around 700 yuan each!
After looking through multiple examples of various artists, Pei Qian realized that they all seemed similar.
There was a barrier of entry to the resource website so it wasn’t a place where any random art student could make a post on.
ESRO’s personnel would conduct a vetting process and hence, any newcomer artists that could list their services would have a decent foundation in sketching at the very least.
Pei Qian searched back and forth and finally decided on a newcomer artists who had not much to display in his portfolio.
The artist’s portfolio consisted of 2D cute style designs and there wasn’t any realistic aspects to it.
That was a clear sign that he must not be good at drawing realistic designs which was what Pei Qian wanted for his game!
“He’s the one!”
Pei Qian decided on the spot!
But of course, Pei Qian couldn’t settle on a single artist – there were too many original art pieces he wanted.
Some card games would want their original arts to be designed so exquisitely it looked like a poster. For something like that, even an experienced artist would take an entire week to complete it.
For Pei Qian’s requirement, he just wanted the original art to be a card on a mobile screen. Because of that, the quality could be lowered greatly. However, even under the circumstances that the artist is capable and he puts in quite a bit of effort, that would take around two days to complete.
Meaning to say, an artist who slogs tirelessly for an entire month without any regard for the quality level would at most be able to produce 15 pieces of original art.
Of course, when Pei Qian said he wanted 200 pieces, it did not mean 200 completely different original arts.
There were only 50 characters. Each of them would have four original arts representing different stars.
Take Zhuge Liang for example. Getting from one star to four stars would just change some details and special effects – it isn’t a complete character redesign.
Therefore, each character would form a complete set with their four different original arts.
Even then, with a safe estimate, Pei Qian would require around seven artists to ensure that the content is completed on time.
He decided to start negotiating prices with an artist before looking for the rest.
“Hi, our company is preparing to produce a mobile card game and we want to mass order custom-made original arts. I would like to discuss with you about the prices and completion timeline. If you’re interested, please reply.”
Pei Qian left a message for that artist named Ruan Guangjian. He waited for a couple of minutes and received no response before concluding that the other party should be offline.
Pei Qian was in no rush since Ma Yang should only be done with the requirement form by the next day.
Checking the time, Pei Qian saw that it was already night and his stomach was growling.
“Old Ma, shall we go eat?”
Pei Qian got down from the bed and looked at Ma Yang on the upper bunk.
Ma Yang was still in the midst of squeezing his creative juices while tapping on the keyboard – the requirement form was already filled with chunks of texts.
“… You don’t have to get that serious. Let’s go and eat,” Pei Qian said.
Even though Ma Yang was still engrossed in work, he was indeed hungry as well as he leapt off the bed.
“Canteen?” Ma Yang asked.
Pei Qian shook his head and patted his chest. “No, let’s head out to eat today! My treat!”
10 minutes later.
The attendant served a bowl of ramen and a plate of egg fried rice, placing it before the both of them.
Chapter 15
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Boss, another serving of meat for the ramen and another fried egg for the egg fried rice! Get me a side dish too! Cold cucumber will do!”
Pei Qian spared no expenses in order to reward Ma Yang who slurped happily at the meat-filled ramen before him. “You’re really something, Brother Qian! You’re not even acting anymore and you’re showing your traits as a rich second-generation heir! But… this amount of money is enough for us to order at the restaurant beside…”
Pei Qian waved it off. “Man, nono. Even though the restaurant beside isn’t that expensive, it’s not filling.”
“To tell you the truth, we should actually be eating something better to celebrate our start of work. However, all of my money’s saved for creating the game right now so it’s a little tight for me.”
In truth, it was because the Personal Wealth converted was too little. He only had 700 yuan – that was not enough for him to splurge.
Ma Yang nodded his head while eating the ramen. “I understand, I do! That’s only right. We’re in the fighting phase and we mustn’t waste money.”
“Once this game is out, I’ll take you to a barbecue buffet that costs 50 yuan per person!”
Ma Yang nodded furiously. “Sure, sure!”
At that time, buffets cost around 30 yuan per person. A 50 yuan buffet like the one Pei Qian suggested was considered high class.
But of course, the price of buffets had increased to around 1-200 per person 10 years later – there’s just no comparison.
To Pei Qian, if he could lose the entire 300,000 and have it converted to his Personal Wealth, he could have any good food he wanted.
“That’s right, the contract,” Pei Qian dug into his egg fr
ied rice. “I’ll go get a template when we get back. Let’s sign an internship contract for you with a salary of 3,000 to be settled at the end of the month.”
Ma Yang replied hurriedly, “Brother Qian, you’re being too polite. Money is really not the most important thing. Besides, I don’t think there’s a need for the contract?”
Pei Qian shook his head. “That won’t do. You’re giving me your hard work so you can’t take a single cent less. We’re a legitimate business so we have to follow the proper procedures. The contract’s a must.”
“Alright then, we’ll do as you’ve arranged,” Ma Yang did not insist further – who wouldn’t want free money?
He just felt that 3,000 was a little too much and he was embarrassed.
In truth, Pei Qian had wanted to give him more but the system did not allow it!
The system had stated that Pei Qian must not exceed the reasonable standards of an employee’s salary. After testing it out, Pei Qian confirmed that this reasonable standard referred to him not exceeding twice the reasonable salary outside.
Take Ma Yang for example.
If he were to go help out at a games company, given the basic salary of the interns currently, he would be at a 1,500 yuan standard.
Of course, there would definitely be some exceptions where some companies are more generous or some interns have to do more work and thus receiving higher pay.
However, he had to take into consideration that with Ma Yang’s capabilities, he would be a burden to the company at most…
Therefore, Pei Qian decided on a 3,000 yuan intern salary – that was the highest permissible salary allowed by the system.
As he ate his ramen, Ma Yang suddenly slapped his thighs.
“My! Brother Qian! I suddenly thought of a great idea! Say, what if I were to convert all the generals in the three kingdoms to be women? Say, is that an overhaul or what?”
Pei Qian nearly spat out his fried rice.
“No!”
He rejected the idea decisively.
Ma Yang was puzzled. “Why not? Didn’t you say that you wanted an overhaul?”
Pei Qian was speechless.
Why not?
That’s because there’s a high chance that idea would succeed…
In truth, the idea of having a gender reversed three kingdoms had been tested out in mangas and animes and it was rather successful.
Even though this was 2009 and the 2D games genre wasn’t that popular yet, there were signs that things were moving in that direction. Since many mobile card games were making their designs cartoonish, it meant that they were embracing that trend objectively as well.
What if the game were to attract the homebodies because of it being gender reversed and ends up getting popular?!
Pei Qian would not permit something like that to happen.
But of course, Pei Qian could not tell Ma Yang his actual thoughts.
Coughing, he explained himself, “That idea won’t work because that would cause all the characters to lose their distinctiveness!”
“For example, if Ma Chao, Zhao Yun and Gong Sunzan were all women… and so is everyone else, there would be nothing distinguishing about their characteristics!”
“Your current proposal is good as it is. Ma Chao’s a centaur, Guan Yu’s a dragon – it’ll be easy to differentiate them!”
“That’s why I think your current proposal is still better.”
Coming to a realization, Ma Yang nodded his head. “Ah, so that’s the case. Got it.”
Pei Qian let out a long heave of relief – seemed like having an employee may not necessarily be a good thing either.
Even though he could give out more salary, Pei Qian’s strategy could lead to them having doubts and questions. At that time, he would have to come up with a logical explanation.
Otherwise, the employees might truly suspect that Pei Qian’s intentionally trying to cause the company to lose money. Once doubt steps in, it will be a clear violation according to the system’s rules.
“Thankfully, Ma Yang isn’t too smart.”
“If I were to hire more people in the future, I would have to get more people like this.”
Pei Qian lamented to himself internally.
…
After the meal, they strolled back to the dormitory.
Ma Yang climbed to the upper bunk energetically and got to work passionately, filling the requirement form.
As for Pei Qian, he turned on his laptop and entered the resource website – his previous message had gotten a reply.
Ruan Guangjian: “How many pieces do you want? What are the general requirements?”
Pei Qian noted down his general requests including the number of cards and generic style et cetera.
Of course, the detailed requirement form was not done yet so Pei Qian could only describe it simplistically.
“Art style must not be cartoonish. Everything else is up to you.”
“There’s a total of 50 characters. Each one of them would come in a set of four original arts. A total of 200 pieces.”
“Still working on the requirement form. I’ll give it to you later.”
After three whole minutes, Pei Qian received no reply – he presumed that Ruan Guangjian must be stumped.
My portfolio is filled with cartoonish drawings and the first thing you tell me is that you don’t want anything cartoonish?!
After a period of time, Ruan Guangjian replied.
“Alright. The price would be 2,000 per set, is that okay? I know that this price may seem a little steep for a newcomer artist. But, don’t worry. My quality is definitely top tier. It’s just that I don’t have much of a portfolio because I’m still schooling.”
2,000 per set? Doesn’t that mean every piece costs just 500?!
Pei Qian was displeased right away – that was too cheap!
Doesn’t that mean he wouldn’t be able to spend his money completely?!
He had initially planned on paying for 3,000 per set and now the price had dropped to 2,000.
For 50 characters, won’t he be spending 50,000 yuan less?
No, that won’t do!
“I think that the price needs further negotiating,” Pei Qian replied.
Ruan Guangjian: “How much do you suggest then? That’s more or less my bottom line.”
Pei Qian: “The situation is a little special on my side.”
“That’s because what we want to achieve is a style that no one else has done before. We want an image that’s going to be disruptive! So, the difficulty level is actually higher, do you get it?”
“Besides, we’re not too good with art on our design side. So, our requirements are going to be more vague.”
“Because of that, I’m going to need you to work harder on designing it.”
“With those considerations, I think that 2,000 per set is too unfair for you. 3,000 per set would be a more suitable price!”
“That includes the initial design of the original arts along with modifications later on. At the same time, I hope that you’ll be able to draw more detailedly, how’s that?”
Ruan Guangjian’s side fell into silence once more.
It was clear that he hadn’t met much clients like Pei Qian who bargained in reverse…
This guy had just given him an additional 1,000 yuan per set!
However, Pei Qian’s behavior was not a violation of the rules and hence the system did not sound out any warnings.
That was because Pei Qian’s demands were perfectly reasonable. The additional amount of money covered the troubles stemming from the unclear specifications, raising of the work’s quality as well as future amendments.
Ruan Guangjian only replied after a few minutes, “Alright. A total of 50 sets and 200 original art pieces at 150,000. This will include 20 major and 50 minor amendments.”
Pei Qian grinned.
I can indeed use money to purchase amendments options, but I can choose not to use them as well!
After all,
it’s for the best if the art pieces come out to be undesirable.
The both of them agreed on it and prepared to complete the digital contract on the resource website.
Suddenly, Pei Qian recalled something. “How many original pieces can you produce in three weeks? I’ll edit the total sum on my end of the contract.”
The system stated that Pei Qian must not have any unannounced products a week before settlement.
If Pei Qian wanted to publish his game a week before settlement, that leaves Ruan Guangjian with three weeks of time to work with.
Ruan Guangjian: “I definitely can’t produce 200. However, I can share this job with my same dormitory schoolmates. Don’t worry, I’ll be supervising so that will not only guarantee their quality, I’ll ensure the style is consistent as well.”
Pei Qian was delighted. “That’ll work! I’ll hand everything to you then!”
Ruan Guangjian was still schooling. Even if he could reach the standards required by the resources website, that didn’t mean that his schoolmates would be able to!
This could be considered as a small loophole as well, to spend the money while objectively decreasing the quality of the original arts.
Amazing!
Chapter 16
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The next afternoon, Ma Yang handed the modified requirement form to Pei Qian.
Looking through it, Pei Qian was fully pleased with what Ma Yang had written.
It was as good as writing nothing at all!
Even though Pei Qian hadn’t worked in the games industry before, the requirement form was a template off the resource website and there were basic instructions written at the top of the form.
Basically, the more detailed, the better.
The designer would propose an image, usually imaginary and vague while the artist would draw the image, usually concrete and detailed.
It was easy for something to go wrong during the process.
For example, the designer might want a ‘Extremely handsome male character’. This was a standard that was vague and hard to measure.
How does one define ‘extremely handsome’?
The artist would then draw a character he takes to be extremely handsome, but would that please the designer? Not necessarily.
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 10