I Never Expected You to Make This Kind of Game!

"Magic Mirror" could be called a very unique little game.

It combined Match-3 and RPG elements with the galgame format of multiple endings.

That made the game's overall gameplay quite compelling.

As for the Match-3 gameplay itself, it was essentially an extension of tile matching, and this world already had games of that kind.

They were fairly popular too, so Chen Xu was not worried about whether players would accept this Match-3-style gameplay.

Besides, the selling point of "Magic Mirror" was not just Match-3.

The rest lay in its story and CG illustrations.

But Chen Xu was not worried about that at all, because the Ruan Ningxue from his memories had the ability.

Chen Xu himself had that ability as well.

He quickly completed a basic GDD-related design document.

Match-3 gameplay, with different upgrade paths.

After finishing that, Chen Xu began writing the stories.

For the first story, the female character was a Drow Elf Thief who set out to rob a Lord's treasury to help the poor, only to discover that the Lord's hidden identity was a demon. She then fell into his hands.

The subsequent development offered players two choices: the Pure Love Warrior route or the Minotaur Warrior route.

The second story was about a Female General who traveled from ancient times to the modern era and encountered an otaku. Because of the time travel, the Female General became completely powerless.

The later development featured two different endings. The Pure Love Warrior route naturally led to a happy ending, while the other was somewhat dark yet moving in its course.

In modern society, the otaku committed evil acts against the Female General, and the two of them traveled back to ancient times together. After spending some time together, with the war about to be lost, the otaku chose to die alongside her even though he could have returned to the modern era.

Later on, there would also be stories about a zombie bound by reincarnation and fate, as well as a Dragon Knight.

Of course, Chen Xu only planned to make these four stories in the early game.

The main reason was that he did not have enough savings left.

After all, the Match-3 gameplay, a voice actor, and background music licensing would all require a considerable amount of money.

As for where the money would come from, that was not much of a problem.

His savings of just over ten thousand were clearly not enough to rely on, but ZhiFuBa's JieBei, JingGou's JieJie, and Credit Cards could still hold up.

The next morning, in Chen Xu's apartment.

Ruan Ningxue, carrying her drawing tablet and notebook, sat beside Chen Xu and looked over the story outline and storyboards he had drawn by hand. Her expression was strange.

"I never expected you to make this kind of game, Chen Xu!"

"Sure enough, being a manga artist or game designer isn't your true talent at all. Come draw doujinshi with me!"

"With your talent and mine, I'm sure we can make it. We'll build up fans as doujinshi artists and become famous manga artists. Quite a few well-known masters took this path."

Looking at the materials Chen Xu had rushed out overnight, Ruan Ningxue began introducing her strategic detour plan again.

What a waste!

How could talent like this be used to make games?

Her greatest shortcoming was her lack of storytelling ability.

That was why she had decided to support herself by creating fanbooks while gradually honing her skills.

But now, looking at Chen Xu's short stories, they were simply wonderful.

Pure love, Minotaur, reincarnation—every kind of element was there.

Listening to Ruan Ningxue's admiration, Chen Xu's mouth twitched.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'll pass," Chen Xu said tactfully.

"Next, Senior, you should create the illustrations in order. But unlike manga pages, they all need to be colored and more detailed."

"Of course, the story itself does not need to be shown through the pictures. The plot will mainly be conveyed through dialogue."

Chen Xu spoke to Ruan Ningxue.

"I understand. Make the illustrations more detailed while mainly showcasing the female characters' charm. It's like every picture is the cover page of a fanbook. I'm a professional in that area, so don't worry!" Ruan Ningxue said energetically.

"Mm, that's not a bad way to understand it." Chen Xu nodded, then took a deep breath. "If there are no problems, let's start work today!"

Hearing Chen Xu's words, Ruan Ningxue smiled faintly, gave him a thumbs-up, and opened the relevant software.

The development of "Magic Mirror" went far more smoothly than Chen Xu had expected.

Most of the less important art assets were outsourced.

The dark-skinned elf, Dragon Girl, Female General, and Zombie Moe Girl were the four initial characters for the time being.

As for the soundtrack, it was not as if Chen Xu could not compose it himself.

But that would take time and effort, and he did not have that much money. It was simpler and more straightforward to buy a license directly.

That only left the voice acting.

The music and background music could be cut back on.

But the character illustrations and voice acting were the only two things that could not be skimped on.

Those two were the most important Core Points of "Magic Mirror."

"Mm, perfect! But it still needs a few adjustments."

Looking at the illustration Ruan Ningxue had just finished coloring, Chen Xu could not help showing a trace of amazement in his eyes.

In his previous life, he had not been a nobody in the gaming industry.

He had met and spoken with some of the industry's big names at various summits.

Naturally, he knew a little about art. In his previous life, there had been top-tier concept artists in the industry.

For example, Yang Qi, who had worked on "Asura"; Shigenori Soejima of the Persona series; and Tetsuya Nomura, the character concept artist behind Tifa in "Final Fantasy VII."

Chen Xu had studied the designs of those famous industry figures in depth in his previous life.

But when it came to character art, Ruan Ningxue had truly given Chen Xu an incredibly stunning impression. Her ability could not be underestimated!

Of course, it was not without disadvantages. After all, game art and manga had different forms of expression.

Even as illustrations in a galgame, they were different from manga.

"I see! It really is different from drawing fanbooks." Hearing Chen Xu's words, Ruan Ningxue fell into thought.

"Mm, even for visual novel games, the illustrations in between are completely different from manga." Chen Xu nodded lightly at Ruan Ningxue.

Inside the rental apartment, Chen Xu and Ruan Ningxue discussed some of the key points.

At present, the game as a whole was basically nearing completion.

All that remained was the voice actors.

For this kind of beautiful-girl game, voice acting could be considered a rather important part.

The budget allocated to that area accounted for one of the largest portions of the entire game.

Of course, Chen Xu was not planning to have full voice acting throughout. That would exceed the budget. Voicing a few more important lines would be enough.

As for the male protagonists in each story?

Should they get voice acting? Of course not!

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