Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

If he had known that the portrait was for his own project, Pei Qian would have forcefully given more guidance.

For instance, he would have made unreasonable requests for the painting style, details, character's expressions, and the like.

However, Pei Qian had just praised the portrait to no end. He could not possibly raise objections now that he had found out it was for his own project, could he?

That would be too obvious and illogical.

He had no choice. Pei Qian forced a smile and said, "Ah, that's quite nice."

Ruan Guangjian clicked his tablet a few times with his pen to open a folder.

"There are other sketches here, too. Boss Pei, please take a look and see if there are any problems. At least we'll be able to make edits earlier."

There were various sketches and thumbnails in the folder, but each one was attached to a photograph.

Obviously, after deciding on the characters in the game, Hu Xianbin had sourced for motion capture actors who fit the criteria.

Motion capture actors did not have to look completely identical to the characters in the game, but they had to look largely similar. If the two looked too different, the data would turn out weird after the movements of the actor had been captured. The entire mechanism could break down.

To draw the best effects from the motion capture system, the motion capture actors had to be carefully selected. What's more, the characters in the game had to look very similar to the real-life actors.

Clearly, while Pei Qian had been occupied with Deposit Fitness, Hu Xianbin had made huge progress with Struggle.

Isn't he a newbie? He's way too efficient, isn't he?

Am I that unlucky? Did I accidentally promote an outstanding employee to become the chief planner?

Eh?

As Pei Qian thought about it, he realized that something was wrong.

Even if Hu Xianbin was extremely efficient, he could not have found so many foreign actors within such a short period, could he?

Such problems could not be solved with efficiency!

Pei Qian took a closer look at the photographs.

They were looking increasingly familiar!

Pei Qian pondered hard for two minutes and suddenly remembered where he had seen the actors before.

Weren't they the freaking foreigners who had played supporting roles in Tomorrow is Beautiful?

The three local actors had had the most scenes in Tomorrow is Beautiful, but there had also been many supporting actors in the background. They were of various nationalities and skin colors. Huang Sibo and his team had searched high and low in Jingzhou for friends from all over the world.

However, they had had too little screen time in the film. What's more, so much time had already passed. Pei Qian's memory of the film had become blurry, and so he had not recognized them immediately.

Now, Pei Qian could be sure that Hu Xianbin was not that efficient. He had just been cheating!

He must have found a way to contact Huang Sibo and then copied his homework!

It was no wonder that the people in the photographs looked so familiar!

Pei Qian was speechless.

Hu Xianbin, Hu Xianbin… you with big eyes and thick eyebrows… you looked so loyal and honest. Why did copying others' homework come so naturally to you?

Pei Qian looked through the photographs and sketches.

The actors were of various nationalities and skin colors. It was obvious who were to act as the poor characters and who were to act as the rich.

That was to be expected. After all, the poor and rich existed in reality as well. It wasn't easy changing the posture that one accumulated over a long period.

Pei Qian tried hard to find a critical angle from which he could criticize Ruan Guangjian's work.

However, he couldn't no matter how hard he tried!

Everything made too much sense!

Hu Xianbin had obviously selected the actors based on their family and financial background in real life. They fit perfectly into their roles in the game.

On top of that, Ruan Guangjian had used the photographs as the foundation and added just the right amount of emphasis on certain characteristics of the actors. The fictitious images were not that detached from reality.

Pei Qian could not find anything wrong with the sketches at such short notice.

He fell into deep thought.

Er… images only form one aspect of games. This game would primarily be turning gamers away with its content and gameplay. I should be able to relax about the drawing style…

Wait. I can't have this wrong mindset!

That's what I thought about Repent and be Saved, too!

Pei Qian had wanted to let it go, but he suddenly recalled the lessons that he had learned from Repent and be Saved and jolted.

He could not make the same mistake twice!

Since he had already seen the weapons that Ruan Guangjian had prepared to stab him in the back, Pei Qian had to think of a way to make the weapons malfunction!

Any magnanimity that he showed now would come back and hurt him in the future!

Quick, think of something to mislead him…

Er… the portraits prioritize a sense of proportion…

Aha!

Pei Qian realized that, while creating the images, Ruan Guangjian had been worried that excessively art-processing the photographs would cause them to look too different from the original actors. Thus, Ruan Guangjian had exercised some restraint.

That made Pei Qian think about Lu Zhiyao's acting skills back then.

Lu Zhiyao's greatest problem had been his excessiveness.

Pei Qian had attempted to offer wrong advice, so that Lu Zhiyao's acting would become more restrained. However, Lu Zhiyao ended up being praised.

That had been a serious mistake on Pei Qian's part!

Ruan Guangjian's attainments in art were obviously much better than Li Zhiyao. He understood that going beyond the limit was as bad as falling short, and so he knew how to hold back when creating new works.

That was an entry point for Pei Qian!

All he had to do was ask Ruan Guangjian to be excessive, right?

Pei Qian cleared his throat. "The drawings are nice, but I have a minor suggestion."

Ruan Guangjian immediately paid close attention. "Oh? Boss Pei, please tell me about it in detail. I'll make the changes at once."

After all, Boss Pei was the chief designer of the game. Of course, he could make the final call about the game's art resources.

With a somber expression, Pei Qian said, "The images don't look that different from the real-life motion capture actors. You exercised a lot of restraint while drawing these images, right?"

Ruan Guangjian, "That's right. Adding too much artistic exaggeration would cause these images to lose their sense of reality."

Pei Qian clapped. "That's right! That's exactly what I want!"

Ruan Guangjian, "Huh?"

"Hehe." Pei Qian realized that he had been too excited, and so he quickly regained his composure.

"I want the images to lose their sense of reality.

"I want to express the game in a more extreme and artistic manner. Adjectives like 'realistic' and 'reserved' should not be used to describe this game.

"All in all, you should make the images look as weird as possible. Try hard to make them look excessive!"

Ruan Guangjian frowned and fell into deep thought.

Hu Xianbin of Tengda Games had not specified those requirements when he briefed Ruan Guangjian about the project before.

In fact, Hu Xianbin had not even made specific requests.

Of course, that didn't mean there was a problem with Hu Xianbin's work attitude. It was just the Tengda Games' culture.

All of the past and present heads of Tengda Games knew about Ghost General. Back then, Boss Pei had given Big Boss Ruan complete freedom to work on the game's art. That was what gave rise to the classic artwork for Ghost General.

From then on, Ruan Guangjian had been given free rein to create the art resources for Tengda's games including Game Designer, Repent and be Saved, and the like.

Naturally, Hu Xianbin had kept to the tradition when he briefed Ruan Guangjian about Struggle's art requirements. Ruan Guangjian had been left to decide on the style on his own.

However, Boss Pei was making a specific request now. Ruan Guangjian had to take that into consideration.

"Er…" Ruan Guangjian frowned, still in deep thought.

Pei Qian could not help but feel overjoyed. Excellent!

This is the expression of a designer being pressed by a retarded customer!

Pei Qian could relate to that feeling especially well. Ruan Guangjian had already finished the sketches for all of the characters. The images were more or less complete, and he was only left with the details. Yet, his client was suddenly requesting an overhaul.

Which designer wouldn't feel pissed?

That was exactly what Boss Pei wanted!

He had already prepared himself. Once Ruan Guangjian tried to reason with him, he would play the role of an unreasonable client and a domineering President, just as he had mastered. Then, he would reject every one of Ruan Guangjian's reasonable suggestions.

Pei Qian could almost taste the sweetness of revenge.

Ruan Guangjian quietly pondered for five minutes with a deep frown on his face. He was obviously holding back his response to Boss Pei's words.

However, what Pei Qian found strange was that—after suppressing his emotions for five minutes—Ruan Guangjian did not utter a single objection. In fact, he did not even show any intention of discussing with Pei Qian!

After a long time, Ruan Guangjian made up his mind. He sucked in a deep breath and looked at Pei Qian.

Pei Qian braced himself.

It's time! He's finally going to battle with me!

Come on, I've already prepared my unreasonable speech as a customer!

'I don't care about what you think; I only care about what I think. What you think won't work well, but what I think would. Change everything. I don't care what excuses you have. Just change everything!'

All of those words were already at the back of Pei Qian's throat. He was just waiting to turn them into bullets and shoot them at the top person in his little notebook!

However, Ruan Guangjian set his jaw and said, "Alright! No problem!

"Boss Pei, I haven't thought about a good way to do it yet, but don't worry. Since you've made the request, I'll fulfill it for sure!"

Pei Qian, "?"

He was light-headed.

What was going on? That was not how things were supposed to go.

Shouldn't Ruan Guangjian have tried to reason and battle with Pei Qian?

Hadn't Pei Qian prepared his script in vain, then?

Could it be that Ruan Guangjian did not dare to offend Pei Qian because the former was relying on the latter's charity? Was that why he insisted on trying his best to fulfill any unreasonable requests Pei Qian had, no matter how much he personally disagreed?

That was horrible!

Pei Qian felt like he had become a vile man, and he instantly felt guilt.

Hurriedly, he said, "Er… don't force yourself!"

Ruan Guangjian nodded. "Don't worry, Boss Pei, I won't. I understand what you mean!"

Pei Qian, "?"

Ruan Guangjian continued speaking. "In the creative work industry, one has to strike a balance between satisfying the customer's request and fulfilling one's desires. Only by doing so can one create perfect works.

"I believe that Boss Pei must have a deeper intention for making this request.

"Although I haven't thought of a good resolution, I've already chewed on it for a while earlier. I think that I can use other methods to achieve your requests.

"I can always go down a different line of thought. For all we know, we might reap greater rewards!

"Don't worry, Boss Pei. I will prioritize quality and hold myself to a strict standard. No matter what sort of style I choose, I will make sure that you're satisfied!"

Pei Qian, "…"

For some reason, Pei Qian felt like he was fighting with a great grandmaster when dealing with Ruan Guangjian.

Whatever he did proved ineffective. In fact, he was being defeated with little effort from Ruan Guangjian, who seemed to be leveraging on the power of Pei Qian's attacks.

All of a sudden, Pei Qian was overwhelmed by an ominous feeling. As a customer, he really wanted to say 'let's just stick to the first draft'.

However, on further thought, he feared that people would think he was suffering from intermittent psychosis.

Since he had already said what he did, he could no longer take his words back.

Pei Qian had no choice but to nod reluctantly. "Alright, I'll leave it to you, then. Hopefully, the final product would fulfill my expectations…"