NPC Character Profile

With the help of numerous NPC character profile references, Lu Wu and Bei Li finally finalized the character profile for their first NPC and named him Lu Mo.

In the game, his background was that he was the adopted son of the King of Beiqi.

To Players, Lu Mo served much the same purpose as the village chief in other games' beginner villages. He could answer questions about everyday knowledge of the land of Beiqi, and once Players reached Level 20, they could pay Lu Wu 50 Soul Coins to establish a guild.

Of course, since Lu Mo was an NPC who truly possessed a soul, he had complete self-awareness. Aside from the NPC settings that had been programmed into him, he would also have his own hobbies and thoughts.

This would fill the game with uncertainty and make it more playable.

After Lu Mo was placed in the underworld, he began wandering around the Netherworld Palace on his own. Whenever he turned to look at the ruined palace, a trace of sorrow appeared on his face.

Once that was settled, Lu Wu opened the notebook already filled with all sorts of settings once more.

At this stage, there was no issue with the game experience itself, but the game's content still needed plenty of enrichment.

For example, class skills, the settings for future NPCs, and even several expansion packs once the Player count reached a certain scale. One of them would be the Duel Arena, meant to add a competitive element.

Of course, those ideas still existed only in Lu Wu's mind and had yet to be specifically designed.

Meanwhile, Wu Guoyi, who was in a meeting with 173 Game Company, received a game CG video sent by Lu Wu.

Wu Guoyi had originally intended to watch it after the meeting, but when he saw Lu Wu's signature, he paused the meeting and impatiently opened the game CG video.

When he saw hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers locked in a bloody battle with exotic beasts descending from the sky, the sovereign flag of Beiqi standing unyielding amid the howling netherwind, and the King of Beiqi's heroic, self-sacrificing strike, he could not help but slam his hand on the table in excitement. "Good!"

Seeing the confused looks from his subordinates, Wu Guoyi immediately transferred the CG to the computer reserved for meetings. "Put on your Virtual Helmets and watch this game CG."

Although everyone was puzzled, they still obeyed and picked up the Virtual Helmets placed beside every seat.

These Virtual Helmets were often used during meetings. After all, every meeting involved discussions about the development of the gaming platform and game testing, and they often needed to put on the helmets to experience things firsthand. However, using them to watch a game CG was a first.

After everyone put on their helmets, Wu Guoyi put on his own Virtual Helmet as well, then had his assistant play the CG video.

At the start of the video, the four dark-gold words Battle Online slowly emerged from the darkness.

Then the darkness dispersed, revealing the underworld. A black colossal dragon led countless monsters down from the sky, roaring as it declared its ownership over the land to the armored man below.

When hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers marched out of the Black Mist alongside Lu Wu's shout, the blood of many people in the room was set ablaze. They eagerly anticipated Lu Wu leading the ghost soldiers to defeat the dragon.

The battle that followed was less like a CG and more like an epic war film. The atmosphere was masterfully built.

When the King of Beiqi finally transformed into flames and lunged at the dragon, everyone's hearts clenched. They had been completely drawn into the battle, as if they themselves were one of those hundred thousand ghost soldiers.

In the end, the world became a sea of fire. Burning sparks ignited the Netherworld Palace and set the land ablaze. All the warriors lowered their heads and knelt on one knee in mourning for the fallen King of Beiqi. Then the screen slowly darkened, and the words Battle Online appeared once again.

At the end of the video, there was also a line of text: Filmed in-game.

After taking off their helmets, the meeting room erupted into noise. Everyone was asking what kind of game Battle Online was, to have produced such an incredible game CG.

However, many people doubted the claim that it had been filmed in-game, because the CG looked far too realistic. There simply was no game on the market with that level of realism.

Enhancing game visuals in CGs was also a common practice among game companies.

Still, they had to admit that this game's CG had completely won them over.

Wu Guoyi gave a mysterious smile. "You'll find out soon enough. This game will appear on our homepage in the next few days. You can try it then—I guarantee you won't be disappointed!"

The meeting then continued, but the stunning CG scenes from Battle Online still surfaced in everyone's minds from time to time.

After the meeting ended, Wu Guoyi took out a cigarette, lit it, and smoked with a frown.

In the email, Lu Wu had asked him to offer some advice on how the CG could be improved.

But honestly, he had experienced the game himself and knew the CG had absolutely been filmed in-game. Even after watching it several more times, he still could not find anything to criticize, which left him rather helpless.

Still, he took out his phone and called Lu Wu.

After Lu Wu answered, Wu Guoyi said with a smile, "Brother Lu, I watched your CG. Honestly, I can hardly believe your team made it so quickly. Were you preparing it long ago?"

Hearing that, Lu Wu went along with Wu Guoyi's words and admitted that the CG had been made beforehand. After all, they had only mentioned it yesterday, and a CG appearing today was simply too fast not to arouse suspicion.

"Honestly, I really can't believe your team is an unknown newcomer in the gaming industry. Your technical level has completely reached the world's peak. Do you have time to introduce your team to me?"

Lu Wu found that rather difficult to answer. He could hardly say, You met our entire team that day—it was just the two of us.

He could only brush it off vaguely.

After chatting for a while, Wu Guoyi suddenly said, "Brother Lu, honestly, there's nothing wrong with your game CG, but it's missing something beyond the CG itself."

Lu Wu was taken aback and quickly asked, "What is it missing?"

"The visuals of the scenes and the sounds of the fighting are flawless, but it lacks the one thing that best sets the mood: music. And if a game wants to grow big, the BGM itself is extremely important. That's what your game is missing."

Wu Guoyi's words struck straight at the heart of the matter, making Lu Wu realize the problem. What kind of CG had no BGM to build the atmosphere? That really was a major issue.

And from that issue, Lu Wu also realized that the game's theme song had yet to be decided.

However, Lu Wu knew nothing about that field, so he could only seek Wu Guoyi's advice.

Wu Guoyi chuckled. "What's so difficult about that? For the theme song, just spend some money to hire someone to compose the music and write the lyrics, then find a popular celebrity to sing it!"