Art is the Daddy of ACG Games

Chapter 8: Art is the Daddy of ACG Games

Xu Fang was a bit anxious, so he quickly switched to another image to change the subject. "Boss, take a look at this one."

Xu Meng glanced 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. No person. Where the body should have been was all air. But even though there was no one there, Xu Meng's brain automatically filled in the body's curves along the outlines of the clothes, conjuring up an image of a girl doing high-knee lifts. "You..."

"Ding Nian draws the body first and then adds clothes, but you've done the opposite—drawing the clothes first and then stuffing a character into them, right?" "Who's this for?"

Having successfully changed the subject, Xu Fang breathed a sigh of relief. "Haven't decided yet."

"Haven't decided?"

"Right." Xu Fang explained, "Isn't it because time is tight and the workload is heavy? Tailoring clothes that are completely opposite to the current style based on a character's personality and traits takes too much energy. So I thought, why not just design clothes that meet your requirements and that players will like first? Then later, pick a suitable character to fit into them and tweak the details. This way, there are fewer constraints, and efficiency will be much higher."

"Mm." Xu Meng nodded. In truth, every creative person had their own habits and unique ways of rushing deadlines, and Xu Meng didn't plan to interfere. As long as they weren't pulling something outrageous like before, he'd just nod and say "mm" to whatever they said.

"Also, there's another benefit." Xu Fang spoke again under the expectant gazes of his subordinates.

"What?"

"In such an open office environment, drawing somewhat risqué characters is a bit embarrassing. If you only draw the clothes and not the person, there's no psychological burden."

Xu Meng's first reaction was that it was nonsense. You're a bunch of artists who've drawn countless bodies, even nude models, and some of you clearly churn out plenty of spicy fan art in private—I'm looking at you, Ding Nian. And now you're telling me you're embarrassed to draw sexy characters in the office? Are you kidding me? Online artists livestream their work, drawing stuff way spicier than this, and they interact with fans while doing it! But looking around, he actually saw some employees with nervous expressions and furtive movements. So he thought of Yang Hui again. In the year and a half she'd been in charge, had she not only failed to unlock her subordinates' potential but also bound their feet? Even drawing sexy characters in front of others gave them psychological pressure now? Damn pests!

Clap clap clap—

Xu Meng clapped his hands forcefully, making everyone look over. "Save your files, pack up your stuff, and get ready to move. From now on, the Operations Department's territory is yours!"

In this world, operations were quite important in the ACG game circle, and their treatment was naturally good—they occupied three private offices. But Dream Builder's operations team was so terrible that Xu Meng was thoroughly dissatisfied. Since they couldn't do their job well, they'd make room. Besides, with the disastrous launch of the Frost Snow Project and the failure of its all-platform, all-channel operations strategy, there wasn't much need for so many operations staff anymore. Starting now, their territory belonged to the art team! From this day forward, art was the strategic daddy of the Frost Snow Project!

"Boss is awesome!"

The office area immediately buzzed with excitement, everyone eagerly flattering him. A few outgoing ones even started high-fiving across their desks. Xu Meng blew on the rim of his thermos, strolled away leisurely, and went to notify the operations team to move out.

All morning, nearly everyone at Zhu Meng was bustling with activity.

Under Sister Chen's direction, almost every department except the Art Staff—who were still painting—had mobilized.

Even the operations team, who had just swapped desks with the Art Staff, joined the preparations, helping move things, lay down the red carpet, set up fog machines, busying themselves with gusto.

At 10:30, three box trucks pulled up at Zhu Meng's entrance, delivering the costumes from the Photography Company.

At 1:50 PM, the first model stepped into Zhu Meng Company.

She had even come by subway herself.

When the front desk led her to the motion capture office, seeing the flowers, the red carpet, the dense array of studio lights, and the rows of professional cameras, Zi Lin stood frozen in place.

This was nothing like the scene she had imagined.

She had expected to stand in a crowd, surrounded by photographers snapping away, with a ring of irrelevant onlookers beyond them, leering at her sensitive areas.

—This wasn't paranoia. A month ago, several of her friends had taken a similar job, also commissioned by a game company.

Afterward, many deeply regretted it, saying they'd never take that kind of work again, and urged her to avoid similar gigs.

But Zhu Meng had offered double the pay.

So she came.

And the friend who said she didn't want to come also came.

"Just looking won't cost you a piece of meat," her friend had said.

Zi Lin thought the same.

But now, it seemed this company was different from the last—not just more generous.

"This is the changing room."

"And this is the lounge. You can rest here for now," the front desk girl said apologetically. "The company doesn't have a dedicated makeup room. Please bear with us and get your makeup done here."

"The makeup artist will be here shortly."

This had originally been the company's "entertainment room," equipped with a coffee machine, beverage dispenser, some alcohol, and plenty of gaming gear—also part of Zhang Yang's "legacy."

The game consoles had been temporarily moved out, more sofas brought in, and carpets laid down, turning it into a makeshift lounge.

Zi Lin sat on the small sofa, ignoring the water and snacks in front of her, and pulled out her phone to frantically message her best friend.

The situation here was way too different from what she had described!!!

After Zi Lin, the models began arriving one by one.

The first few came on their own—some by subway, some by taxi, and even a few by bus, a clear sign that their finances were tight.

Little Assistant Chen Mengling had originally been tasked by her boss to just greet them and see if they needed anything.

To this girl still in school, these models were all tall, long-legged beauties, whose daily routine seemed to be striding through major fashion shows in elegant attire.

Glamorous, stunning.

Almost otherworldly.

But after a few words of conversation, that beautiful illusion shattered.

—She learned that the life of a low-tier model was even harder than that of a corporate wage slave.

At least wage slaves could eat whatever they wanted and collapse into a daze or play games after work.

But these women, to maintain their figures and skin, had to eat nothing but greens, keep up with exercise, and spend a fortune on skincare products...

It was a truly pitiful existence.

After that, probably loosening up, the models started venting about the weird directors, perverted audiences, and brain-dead photographers they'd encountered on the job.

Then one with a loose tongue accidentally let slip:

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

Little Assistant:

(*￣︿￣)

[_?]

Σ(д|||)

Wait!

Little Assistant immediately went on alert, screaming internally, 'Boss, we've got trouble,' while struggling to keep her expression neutral, subtly probing for which company it was.

At 2:27 PM, just three minutes before the agreed time, an agent from the modeling agency finally arrived in a private car with four models.

The difference in treatment was likely because three of those four models were foreign, and the fourth stood out exceptionally in both looks and figure, making them more valued by the agency.

With that, all twelve models had arrived.

This small-scale fashion show, held under the guise of "reference gathering," finally kicked off.