Recruitment proceeded steadily.
It was early May, and there were still plenty of people looking for work online.
Thanks to the widespread fame of Dark Forest, Meng Shu received a massive number of résumés and inquiries in just three days.
It forced him to temporarily put aside the final chapter he had been developing and start screening the applications.
Some people even took the initiative to call him and arrange interview times.
Before long, after screening them, he selected several relatively suitable candidates and sent them notifications.
Yet even among that group, there were people who had fabricated their résumés or exaggerated their abilities.
For example, there was a twenty-eight-year-old man who claimed to have nearly six years of work experience. His portfolio looked quite good, but he fell apart during the practical test. He could not even draw the simplest image properly, and his perspective was wrong too. Whether it was because he was nervous under pressure or not, Meng Shu did not hire him.
Then there was a twenty-three-year-old girl who had started working in 2021 and somehow had three years of work experience by 2022?
After asking, he learned that she had counted an unrelated customer service job from her university internship as well.
Others asked for outrageous salaries, opening with a monthly wage of twenty-five thousand. They seemed highly capable, but when asked why they had left their previous jobs, the answer was that they had argued with their supervisor.
Some complained that clients did not understand a thing yet made random demands, so they quit in frustration.
In short, there was every kind of reason imaginable.
Although the art positions he was hiring for depended on professional skill, that did not mean he would hire people who quit at the drop of a hat or were difficult to get along with.
So he screened out another large batch of applicants.
Fortunately, after about a week, Meng Shu still managed to hire suitable people.
3D modeler, Qiu Yuan, male, twenty-eight years old.
He had six years of work experience. He had spent his first two years at an e-commerce company, so part of his portfolio consisted of various products. For the following four years, he had focused on game character modeling. He had created ancient-style, sci-fi, and mechanical-style characters, among others, and his models were almost identical to the original concept art. His technical skills could be called exceptionally strong!
Environment designer, Xia Nianzhen, female, twenty-four years old.
She had two years of work experience. After graduating from university, she had joined a mobile game company and steadily improved her skills, never changing jobs. She was highly proficient with all kinds of software, and her portfolio featured a variety of styles. However, due to the limitations of mobile games, the quality was not particularly high. Still, it was clear that she had considerable ability; the platform had merely held her back.
Animator Xu Hong, male, twenty-nine years old.
He had six years of work experience and was especially skilled at refining body movements, facial expressions, and mannerisms captured by motion-capture equipment. He had previously worked at a well-known domestic game company and had also participated in action direction, giving him experience in that field. The movements of the first boss, the Colossus Guardian, in the famous RPG Magic Knight from several years ago had been designed by him, giving players a solid combat experience.
Finally, there was Accountant Sister Mei, thirty-nine, experienced, with nothing more that needed to be said.
Because the company was small and time was tight, these four were all he needed to hire for now. There was no need for anyone else yet.
Once that was done, Meng Shu immediately took down the recruitment advertisement.
There were only three weeks left until the one-month deadline. He had to begin developing the VR Game at once!
So, he gathered the three new employees for a brief meeting, explained some of the VR Game's processes, and assigned their respective tasks.
At that moment, Meng Shu was seated at the head of the small conference room, using his laptop to explain the concept design PPT for 21 Points.
"First of all, our game environment is not large. It is roughly just a small dark room, and you can use our conference room as a reference. We do not need to clutter it with unnecessary objects. It only needs to match the concept scene in the PPT. Can you understand that, Nianzhen?"
Meng Shu looked up at Xia Nianzhen.
The girl, who was the same age as him, was taking notes with complete concentration. With her long straight black hair and round-framed glasses, she looked especially quiet and elegant. She froze for a moment upon hearing his question, then immediately nodded.
"I understand. The PPT is already very clear, President Meng. I can do it, and I will restore it as faithfully as possible!"
Meng Shu nodded and turned to the next page to continue.
"Qiu Yuan, your workload will be relatively heavy. This is a VR Game, and there are quite a lot of objects and props in it. Aside from the protagonist controlled by the player, who only needs a pair of hands, everything else that should be there will be there. So you will have a harder time afterward."
Qiu Yuan nodded seriously.
At twenty-eight, he was no longer like he had been when he first entered society. Overtime was routine in his industry, and he had long since stopped having any complaints about it.
Besides, the moment he saw the PPT, he already knew what he needed to do.
At the same time, he could not help but admire the boss before him, who was four years younger than him. Alone, Meng Shu had actually produced more than a hundred pages of concept design.
It included character design, environment design, plot design, gameplay design, style design, prop design, multi-angle item displays, and more.
As expected of someone who could create Dark Forest!
He was practically a whole team by himself!
"Don't worry, President Meng. There is a lot, but none of it is particularly difficult. The concept designs are already right in front of me. I'll get it done."
"Good. I'll be counting on you."
Meng Shu flipped through several more pages until he reached the character movements.
"Our company has already purchased the best motion-capture equipment currently available and cleared out a room to use as a filming space. But because the company is small and there are only a few employees, I hope that when we need to capture movements later, you can all help out as needed. Xu Hong will guide everyone through that."
Then he looked at Xu Hong.
"Xu Hong, as I said, this game only needs movements for three people, and they are all small movements. There will not be any large, sweeping motions, and we will not even need facial capture."
Xu Hong looked at the projection screen and nodded.
"I understand, President Meng. But the character named Lucas in the PPT shows his face. Are we going to make a Mask to cover it later?"
Meng Shu glanced at the PPT and smiled.
In the original game, Lucas, that deranged killer, could be said to have a face full of sinister energy.
The game also showed players his punchable face through a television screen.
However, the original game's facial model had been a foreigner, and the system had not provided Meng Shu with that asset.
If he followed the original approach, he would need to find a face model actor and replace the face with Lucas's.
But constrained by the production schedule, Meng Shu thought about it for a long time and decided to remove facial capture entirely, having Lucas appear in a Mask instead.
After all, players in this world did not know Resident Evil 7, did not know its story, and knew even less about how punchable Lucas was.
Rather than abruptly presenting him and forcing players to accept the setting without any introduction, it would be better to put a Mask on him directly. Calling him a killer would be simpler and more convincing that way.
"Yes, just put a Mask on him. But the Mask will need to be designed. I'll draw a design draft for Qiu Yuan later."
The two nodded, indicating that they understood.
Meng Shu flipped through the PPT again and found that he had covered nearly everything that needed explaining, so he gave a final summary.
"The company has only just been established, and there are still many areas where we are not mature yet. I hope everyone can understand."
"But I will not feed you empty promises or paint a rosy picture. Your salary, benefits, bonuses, and commissions will be exactly as stated in the contract. Not a cent less. But if you want to earn more on top of that, there is no problem. One simple rule: the capable rise, and everyone earns through their own ability."
"So, now that you are here, settle in. You work, I pay you. Let's all be happy and make this VR project well."
"Some of you may doubt whether a VR Game can really be made, or whether it can be made well. After all, even major foreign companies have not done it well. Can a small company like ours, one that has only just been founded, really do it?"
"Here, I can tell you: we can! As long as everyone does their own job well, works together, and puts in the effort, we will definitely achieve results!"
"When this VR Game comes out, the sense of accomplishment from being recognized by players will not belong to me alone. It will belong to all of us!"
"So, work seriously, unite as one, and complete this project together. Let the market witness what our small team is capable of!"
"Alright!?"
The three looked at one another, somewhat at a loss. But as they watched the confident smile on their young boss's face, as though everything was under his control, their expressions immediately turned serious.
Then they nodded together and answered in unison.
"Alright!"
Before you continue