Art is the Daddy of ACG Games

Chapter 8: Art is the Daddy of ACG Games

Xu Fang was getting a little anxious, so he switched to another image to change the subject.

"Boss, take a look at this one."

Xu Meng looked up, and another question mark popped up over his head.

He saw a Star Hairpin, a collar, a Lace Bandeau, a bracelet, short shorts, a Leg Ring, and White Socks dancing.

Yes, only the clothes and accessories were dancing.

There was no one wearing them.

There should have been body parts, but there was nothing but air.

Yet despite there being no one there, Xu Meng's brain followed the outlines of the clothes and automatically filled in the curves of a body, imagining a girl doing high-knee lifts.

"This..."

"Ding Nian drew the body first and added the clothes afterward. You did the opposite—you drew the clothes first, then planned to put a character inside them, right?"

"Who did you draw this for?"

Having successfully changed the subject, Xu Fang breathed a sigh of relief.

"I haven't decided who it's for yet."

"You haven't decided?"

"That's right." Xu Fang explained, "time is tight and the workload is heavy. Designing clothes that are tailored to a character's personality and setting, while being completely different from the current style, takes too much effort."

"So I thought I'd first design outfits that meet the boss's requirements and that players would like."

"Then we can pick suitable characters to put in them and adjust the specific details."

"That way, there are fewer restrictions, and it's much more efficient."

"Mm." Xu Meng nodded.

In truth, every creative had their own habits and unique ways of rushing deadlines. Xu Meng had no intention of interfering.

As long as they did not pull something outrageously absurd like before, Xu Meng would nod and say, "Mm," no matter what they said.

"Besides, there's another benefit." Under the expectant gazes of his employees, Xu Fang spoke again.

"What is it?"

"Drawing more suggestive characters in such an open office environment is a little embarrassing. If we only draw the clothes and not the people, there's no psychological pressure from that."

Xu Meng's first reaction was that it was bullshit.

You artists had drawn countless human bodies, including nude models. Some of you obviously drew plenty of lewd fan art in private.

—I'm talking about you, Ding Nian.

And now you were embarrassed because you had to draw sexy characters in the office?

Were you kidding him?

Artists online livestreamed themselves drawing, and every single one was lewder than the last. They even interacted with fans while drawing, okay?!

But when he looked around, he actually saw several employees who seemed awkward and fidgety, their movements furtive and restrained.

So he thought of Yang Hui again.

During the year and a half she had led the team, had she not only failed to bring out her employees' potential, but also bound their feet?

They were even under psychological pressure about drawing lewd characters in front of others?

Fuck, pests!

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Xu Meng clapped forcefully, drawing everyone's attention.

"Save your files, pack up your things, and get ready to move."

"From now on, the Operations Department's territory is yours!"

In this world, operations were extremely important in the ACG Game industry, so their pay was naturally not low. They occupied three entire Private Offices.

But Dream Builder's operations team was truly terrible, which left Xu Meng deeply dissatisfied.

Since they could not do their jobs properly, they could make room.

Besides, the Frost Snow Project had flopped disastrously upon release, and its original all platforms, all channels operating strategy had been declared a failure. There was no longer any need for so many operations staff.

Starting now, their territory belonged to the art team!

From now on, art was the Frost Snow Project's strategic daddy!

"Boss, you're awesome!"

The office area immediately became lively. Everyone excitedly showered him with flattery, while several outgoing employees even started high-fiving across their desks.

Xu Meng blew on the rim of his thermos and leisurely left to notify the operations team that they were moving.

For the entire morning, nearly everyone at Dream Builder was bustling around.

Under Sister Chen's direction, aside from the art staff who were still drawing, nearly every other department got moving.

Even the operations staff who had just swapped workspaces with the art staff joined the preparations, helping move things, lay out red carpets, set up fog machines, and keeping themselves busy.

At ten thirty, three box trucks stopped outside Dream Builder, delivering the outfits from the Photography Company.

At 1:50 in the afternoon, the first model stepped into Dream Builder.

She had even taken the subway there herself.

When the receptionist led Zi Lin into the large motion-capture office, she stopped in surprise at the sight of the flowers and red carpet, the dense array of lighting equipment, and rows of professional cameras.

This was completely different from what she had imagined.

She had thought she would have to stand in a crowd while being surrounded by photographers taking pictures, with a group of unrelated people outside the photographers leering nonstop at her sensitive areas.

—This was not paranoia. A month ago, several of her friends had indeed accepted similar work, also through an invitation from a game company.

Afterward, many of them deeply regretted it. They all said they would never accept that kind of job again and advised her not to accept similar work either.

But Dream Builder had offered double the pay.

So she came.

The friend who had said she did not want to come had come too.

"Looking won't cost us a piece of flesh," her friend had said.

Zi Lin had thought the same.

But now, it seemed that this company truly was different from the previous one—not just more generous.

"This is the changing room."

"This is the lounge. You can rest here first." The receptionist sounded a little apologetic. "The company doesn't have a dedicated makeup room, so please bear with us and do your makeup here."

"The makeup artist will be here soon."

This had originally been the company's "recreation room," with a coffee machine, a vending machine, some alcohol, and plenty of gaming equipment. It was also part of Zhang Yang's "legacy."

After the game consoles were temporarily moved out, more sofas brought in, and carpets laid down, it had been converted into a temporary lounge.

Zi Lin sat on a small sofa. Instead of touching the water and snacks before her, she took out her phone and frantically messaged her close friends.

What was happening here was completely different from everything they had told her!!!

After Zi Lin, the models began arriving one after another.

The first few all came by themselves. Some took the subway, some took taxis, and some even came by bus. It was clear that they were not particularly well-off.

Little assistant Chen Mengling had originally only come over on her boss's orders to greet them and see whether they needed any help.

As a girl who had not yet graduated, she had imagined these models as long-legged beauties who spent their days dressed in gorgeous outfits, moving through major fashion shows.

Glamorous and dazzling.

So beautiful that they seemed removed from the ordinary world.

But after only a few sentences of conversation, that lovely fantasy shattered completely.

—Only then did she learn that the lives of lower-tier models were even harder than those of office workers.

Office workers could at least eat whatever they wanted and lie around after work, zoning out or playing games.

But in order to maintain their figures and care for their skin, the models had to live on greens, keep exercising, and spend huge amounts on skincare products...

Their lives were truly miserable.

Once they started talking more freely, the models began complaining about the bizarre directors, perverted audiences, and brain-dead photographers they had encountered at work.

Then one of them, who had no filter, accidentally mentioned:

"A month ago, another game company invited us over for a shoot. You have no idea how disgusting those people were..."

Little Assistant:

(*￣︿￣)

_?

Σ(д|||)

Something was wrong!

The little assistant immediately became alert. While inwardly screaming, Boss, something's wrong!, she struggled to keep her expression under control and subtly asked which company it was.

At 2:27 in the afternoon, only three minutes before the agreed time, an agent from this talent agency finally arrived in a chauffeured car with four models.

The difference in treatment was probably because three of the four models were foreign, while the remaining one stood out dramatically in both looks and figure, making her more valued by the agency.

At last, all twelve models had arrived.

The small fashion show organized under the guise of "reference gathering" finally began.