Creating Genshin Impact: Elysia Helps Me Endorse

Chapter 4: "Honkai Impact 3rd"

Mo Li briefly described the gameplay and world-building framework of "Honkai Impact 3rd."

"I came with sincerity. I genuinely want to make this game well."

Everyone exchanged glances.

Bronya and Durandal looked at each other before turning to Mo Li seriously. "Mr. Mo Li, could you give us a few minutes to discuss?"

Mo Li smiled lightly. "Go ahead. I have plenty of time."

With that, he stood up and walked out of the room.

"Big sis, what do you think?"

Durandal thought for a moment, then looked at Rita. "Rita, what about you?"

Rita: "Himeko, what about you?"

"I think... this man named Mo Li isn't bad~"

Everyone: "..."

Seeing this, Himeko chuckled. "Didn't he say it? He wants to seriously make a good game, which matches our original intention."

"And our studio's situation isn't optimistic right now... so if he acquires us, I don't really mind~"

Rita added, "But we need one condition: the IP rights for 'Saving Girl' must be registered under Durandal's personal name."

"That way, if we ever don't want to stay here, we can leave with our own work."

"Saving Girl" was something everyone had poured their hearts into, so they had deep feelings for it.

They even planned to make sequels... though they only had some initial ideas for now.

Besides, this was their first meeting with Mo Li, so they still didn't fully trust him.

Bronya nodded. "That's a good idea. If he agrees, I have no objections."

"That way, there's nothing to worry about."

"Then let's agree to it."

Soon, they settled on their decision.

As for "Saving Girl," Mo Li didn't care at all. Giving them that game would actually reduce the cost of acquiring the studio.

And he wouldn't have to deal with a game that was losing money every month.

Since MiHoYo Studio had no other works under its name, Mo Li felt like he was just buying the studio's name...

Still, he didn't mind. It didn't cost much, and it was all system-provided startup funds anyway.

The name "MiHoYo" sounded nice, and he wouldn't have to bother recruiting new employees or setting up a studio from scratch.

Soon, they finalized the details.

The next day, MiHoYo Studio was registered under Mo Li's name.

And none of Durandal's group left the studio.

Now, they were all employees under Mo Li.

Today was the first meeting under the new boss, and the topic was the studio's new game.

Everyone was a bit nervous.

"Everyone's early~" Mo Li walked into the office, glanced at the girls seated there, and nodded in satisfaction.

"I'm really glad none of you left the studio. Once the game launches, you'll be the core team. I won't be stingy—I'll give you all a share of the profits."

Faced with such a promise, none of the women showed any particular reaction.

Himeko, however, covered her mouth and chuckled teasingly. "Boss~ are you that confident this game will make money?"

Mo Li smiled and nodded. "Of course. If I don't have faith in the game myself, how can I expect players to like it and pay for it?"

"Alright, I'll stop with the small talk."

He took out his laptop and opened the files he had organized last night.

Starting with the backstory of "Honkai Impact 3rd," he began explaining everything to them one by one.

Unlike yesterday, when these girls weren't his people yet and there was no confidentiality agreement, he had only briefly touched on his ideas.

Today was different. He laid out the main storyline, core gameplay, and key selling points of "Honkai Impact 3rd" in full detail.

"Games... can be made like this??"

"That's amazing!"

"Amazing, sure, but... how do we actually do it?"

Although they had made a game before, compared to "Honkai Impact 3rd," the mobile games on the market now felt far too outdated.

It was like playing Contra with an RTX 3090 graphics card.

"Is that already surprising you?" Mo Li chuckled. "You haven't even seen the game's actual content yet."

With that, he clicked on an icon on the computer.

It was a cute girl with white hair and blue eyes, winking and smiling. Beneath the icon was a line of small text—Honkai Impact 3rd.

Seeing this, everyone silently let out a big question mark in their minds.

Then, the computer screen displayed a large MiHoYo logo.

"This..."

Mo Li smiled. "The game's actually already finished. You can give it a try."

He pushed the computer over to the girls, then picked a spot for himself and poured a cup of coffee.

In the time that followed, the room was filled with a series of exclamations.

"So amazing!! The graphics are incredibly beautiful!!"

"Is this character called Bronya??"

"Really, not just the name, but her appearance is exactly like Bronya when she was little!"

"Her personality! Her voice is really similar too!"

"And hey, isn't this Kiana, Durandal's little sister?"

"Himeko's in it too! And Fu Hua! Mei??"

After seeing one character after another in the game, everyone finally turned their gaze to Mo Li.

The girls' eyes were filled with wariness and curiosity.

"Ahem..." Mo Li cleared his throat. "What if I said this is just a coincidence? Would you believe me?"

Naturally, no one believed that.

Seeing this, Mo Li didn't know how to explain either. "I'm not lying to you. Yesterday was the first time I even met you."

The girls: "..."

"Alright, fine, don't believe me then. Let's talk about the game first. After your experience, how did it feel?"

Once the topic was brought back, everyone spoke excitedly. "It's really amazing! Whether it's the impact of the combat or the graphics... I've never seen a game this good!"

It wasn't that the graphics were unmatched, but the impact of this 3D anime-style rendering on these Two-Dimensional girls was just too overwhelming.

"This is still just a test version. You haven't even experienced the story yet. When the game launches, there'll be plenty more to surprise you~"

Hearing this, Bronya looked even more astonished. "This isn't even the full game yet?!"

Mo Li calmly took a sip of coffee. "Of course it's not that simple. Next, I'll assign everyone some tasks."

"The game is fully complete. From now on, you just need to handle the operational tasks."

"I'm not familiar with all of you yet, so Durandal, you'll serve as the operations director and assign tasks to everyone."

"Oh, and the game's voice acting will need to be done by you."

"Bronya, help me set up the server and client."

[Image: Himeko]

Chapter 5: It Really Is Exactly Like in the Game

Just then, Bronya asked in surprise, "Wait... are you saying we don't need to do any of the development work for this game?"

Mo Li nodded. "Actually, before I even found you all, the game was already fully completed. So you don't need to worry about programming, planning, art, or anything like that."

"We just need to think about how to promote it and set up the servers."

"You... did it all by yourself?" Bronya's delicate, expressionless face finally showed a look of shock.

Mo Li thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "More or less..."

He naturally couldn't reveal the system's existence.

So he had to brush it off like this.

But this answer made the girls a little worried.

"Don't worry. The game really was made by me alone. Other than me, only you all know about it."

Hearing this, the girls finally relaxed a bit.

But deep down, they still found it hard to believe.

"3D character modeling, building modeling, terrain editing, art, UI, story planning, level planning, numerical balancing... so much work, and you're telling me you did it all by yourself??"

Mo Li rubbed his forehead. "It's true. I know you don't quite believe it, but this is entirely my own creation."

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to steal someone else's work."

"So just listen to me. Any other questions?"

After hesitating, Durandal raised her hand. "Um... about the characters in the game... could you not use my little sister's likeness?"

Mo Li: "..."

Without you all, can this still be called Honkai Impact 3rd?

Mo Li thought for a moment before speaking with slight apology: "Well... that would mean the character models and storylines inside would all have to be scrapped and redone. That wouldn't just take a lot of time, it'd cost a lot of money too..."

He paused, then added: "It's just that the names and appearances are similar, and besides, I didn't do it on purpose. It's all a coincidence!!"

"How about this—when the time comes, I'll give your sister a big red envelope? What do you think?"

"And what about us?" Himeko stepped forward then, smiling lightly. "You're not just giving it to Kiana, are you?"

"Don't worry, everyone gets a share."

Hearing that, Himeko nodded. "In that case, I think it's fine. Kiana gets money for doing nothing and even gets to be an actress—why not?"

"I don't really have any objections either..." Bronya also nodded. "As long as there's no plot that deliberately slanders me, or any weird storylines."

Mo Li quickly nodded in reassurance. "Don't worry, this is a proper game. There won't be any weird storylines..."

"All good now?"

Just when Mo Li thought everything was settled, Rita suddenly raised her hand.

"And one more thing..." Rita covered her mouth with a smile, her voice still as charming as ever. "All the employees have shown up in the game as characters. As the boss, shouldn't you lead by example and play a role yourself?"

Mo Li: "..."

"Fine..."

It was just a matter of swapping out a model anyway. The system could handle that easily.

But there were too few male characters in the game, and Mo Li couldn't decide which role would be best to play.

His first thought went to the male characters among the Thirteen Flame-Chasers.

But the Thirteen Flame-Chasers only appeared and were fleshed out later on, so that wasn't quite suitable.