Naming this game was quite challenging.
Because its theme wasn’t particularly clear-cut.
The emotional tone of the game Yan Qi designed should be the desolation of chaotic times, like “bleached bones exposed in the wilderness, not a rooster’s crow for thousands of miles,” or “better to be a dog in peaceful times than a human in chaotic ones”—a feeling of rampant monsters where human lives were as worthless as grass.
Comparatively speaking, naming it after the protagonist’s identity or actions wouldn’t be suitable.
Because in the game, players could choose four different identities for the protagonist, with different endings for each.
Naming it after the protagonist’s identity would make it difficult to encompass all four different identities. After all, the philosophies of Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Military Strategy had enormous differences, making it hard to find common ground. Even if common ground were found, it might not be fitting or appropriate enough.
And naming it after the protagonist’s actions wouldn’t be good either.
Because the protagonist’s attitude depended on the player’s attitude. The player might be proactive, actively pursuing a perfect ending and saving the world’s people from calamity, or they might be relatively casual, taking things as they came, simply acting as a wandering knight righting wrongs without any intention of changing the world.
So, it wouldn’t be good to lock in the protagonist’s actions either.
The only option was to name it based on the overall cultural tone, highlighting the feeling of chaotic times and emphasizing how players could follow their own path and make their own choices in this chaos.
Beyond that, the name needed to have a foundation in Chinese culture, not be too direct, otherwise it would easily dilute the game’s prestige.
The game name also needed to be memorable and roll off the tongue, not too obscure.
Yan Qi racked his brains, thoroughly searching his pitiful knowledge of classical Chinese literature, but ultimately came up empty.
He couldn’t think of anything!
The few names that came to his mind were either too direct, lacking prestige, or not fitting enough, somewhat off-topic.
Yan Qi knew his classical Chinese level only went so far, and there was no point in continuing to rack his brains. He could only seek help from outside.
But where to seek help?
This wasn’t like writing a novel where he could reference book reviews or something.
Ask in the player groups?
To ask those mobile game players of ‘Blade of Empire’ to do something so brain-intensive and technically challenging? Yan Qi expressed serious doubts.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.
What about Tuwei Livestream?
Tuwei Livestream had a large group of young scholars and graduate students specializing in classical Chinese!
Although these people didn’t stream every day, there were a few dedicated streamers who were often online. Going to ask them for help would be perfect, wouldn’t it?
This was indeed a technical task, best handled by professionals.
With this thought, Yan Qi immediately opened Tuwei Livestream and selected a top streamer’s channel.
At that moment, the streamer was chatting casually with viewers about poetry, songs, ballads, history, and classical texts.
These scholars didn’t usually have very high viewer counts during their streams. After all, livestreaming itself was a low-information-density activity, and when combined with academics, streaming indeed didn’t have much effect.
But their previous lecture compilations had very high view counts, which continued to grow steadily.
These scholars could earn money from their lecture videos, from creating content for the Useful App, and also received some income from gifts during streams.
More importantly, chatting with viewers and sharing knowledge was itself an interesting thing to do, so several “dedicated streamers” often streamed and had become familiar faces.
The scholar in this livestream channel went by the online name Murong Tieshuang. From his username alone, one could tell he had a sense of humor and was quite witty. He had lectured on classical texts and some history, and was one of the dedicated streamers on the Tuwei Livestream platform, quite popular and many people’s first choice for accumulating watch time.
After some thought, Yan Qi first sent some small gifts, then posted in the chat that he hoped the expert could talk with him privately, as he had a favor to ask.
Since there weren’t many people in the stream to begin with, and Yan Qi had sent some small gifts, he quickly attracted Murong Tieshuang’s attention, who sent a phone number via private message.
Soon, the two were on a call.
Yan Qi described the game’s story background, emphasizing several requirements.
First, it needed to highlight the desolation of chaotic times.
Second, it would be best to have a classical allusion, with a certain level of prestige and cultural depth.
Finally, it needed to be easy to pronounce and remember, not too obscure, and the name shouldn’t be too long.
In other words, it needed to reference classical texts but not be excessively literary. It needed to embody certain cultural connotations without being too obscure.
Murong Tieshuang also fell into deep thought. Clearly, these were quite demanding requirements.
However, being a professional who had organized and summarized related topics while creating content for the Useful App, he quickly had some ideas.
“I can think of two names now, you can choose one yourself.”
“The first name is ‘The Great Way Hidden.'”
“This allusion comes from ‘The Book of Rites,’ which discusses two different states of society. One is ‘When the Great Way prevailed, the world was a commonwealth,’ and the other is ‘Now the Great Way has become hidden, and the world is a family possession.'”
“‘The Great Way Hidden’ indicates that the current society is not an ideal one, but rather a society of selfishness, full of contradictions and struggles, a terrible reality where ‘those in power depart, and the masses suffer.’
“In this state, people fight for power and wealth, subjects murder their rulers, sons kill their fathers, brothers slaughter each other, uncles and nephews harm one another, just as recorded in ‘The Spring and Autumn Annals’: thirty-six rulers murdered, fifty-two states perished, and countless feudal lords fleeing, unable to protect their realms.”
“Of course, the interpretation of this text is quite complex. As ancient philosophy, the social view it represents isn’t entirely correct, but it can express the meaning you want to convey.”
“The second name is ‘Millet Separation.'”
“This allusion comes from ‘The Book of Songs’ in the ‘Odes of the States,’ a poem expressing emotions about the rise and fall of nations.”
“‘Those who know me say that my heart is troubled, those who do not know me, wonder what I seek’ comes from ‘Millet Separation.'”
“The background of this poem is a traveler passing through the capital of Western Zhou, seeing the ruins of ancestral temples and palaces. Instead of the prosperity and glory of a city, there was only a field of lush millet growing freely. Thus, ‘lamenting the overthrow of the Zhou house, wandering around unable to leave,’ the poet composed this to express feelings about the nation’s rise and fall.”
“This poem has been passed down for ages and has had a significant influence. Later literati, whenever writing historical poems, would often follow this tradition, such as Cao Zhi’s ‘Poems of Feeling,’ Xiang Xiu’s ‘Reminiscence of the Past,’ Liu Yuxi’s ‘Wuyi Lane,’ Jiang Kui’s ‘Yangzhou Slow–Famous Capital of Huai Left,’ and so on.”
“Later, this feeling of lamentation about the rise and fall of nations was called ‘the sorrow of Millet Separation.'”
“What do you think of these two names? As the original creator, which name is more fitting is ultimately your decision.”
Yan Qi was absolutely delighted.
As expected of an expert, he had come up with ideas so quickly, and even offered two names to choose from!
After some consideration, he said, “I think ‘Millet Separation’ is a bit better.”
“On one hand, ‘The Great Way Hidden’ speaks of Confucian thought, which shows a certain bias, while the game includes four systems—Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Military Strategy—and shouldn’t show obvious favoritism.”
“On the other hand, ‘The Great Way Hidden’ is four characters, while ‘Millet Separation’ is two characters, making it more concise.”
“And I suddenly realized, the entire story is fictional, but the historical background could be set further back, giving people the feeling that it’s in a more ancient past, better matching the background of ‘Millet Separation.'”
“Thank you so much!”
Murong Tieshuang smiled. “It’s nothing, just a small favor. Your decision to make a game with a Chinese cultural background is a good thing, and I’m looking forward to it!”
“If you have any questions in the future, feel free to ask me anytime. I’d be more than happy to help!”
After expressing his gratitude many times, Yan Qi left the livestream.
Yan Qi had always thought Tuwei Livestream was an unusual streaming platform, but at this critical moment, he discovered it was truly useful!
And the Useful App that complemented Tuwei Livestream—when you really wanted to do something meaningful, in specific professional fields, you could actually find the answers you were looking for.
The only pity was that the content on the Useful App was being filled in too slowly, making people a bit impatient. After all, it involved knowledge from various industries and required professionals to input bit by bit, which was labor-intensive.
With the name settled, Yan Qi spent some more time completing the design concept for ‘Millet Separation.’
He even thought of the promotional image for the game.
An ordinary person with no special talents enters chaotic times, sees rampant monsters and people unable to make a living, and naturally develops a compassion for heaven and mankind.
The protagonist’s silhouette walks forward with a sword in a palace ruin overgrown with lush millet, while in the distance, a pale red sky filled with monsters and rising smoke.
Many previously undetermined details were also sorted out along the way.
However, Yan Qi quickly realized a more serious problem—the scale of this game seemed a bit too large.
It completely exceeded what his small studio could handle!
Of course, if he were to push the limits, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
With an official editor available and significantly improved technical levels, if everyone in the studio worked overtime to the point of exhaustion, and if they went all in—investing all the previous earnings from ‘Blade of Empire,’ or even mortgaging a house…
Perhaps they could develop it, but the timeline was hard to determine.
It might take a year, or it might take two to three years or even longer.
This was still assuming they had access to an official editor, which would significantly shorten the game development time.
However, this approach seemed too extreme.
Or rather, too foolish, leaving no backup plan.
Yan Qi felt he couldn’t be headstrong like an impulsive youth; he needed to think of other solutions.
For instance… seeking investment and recruiting people?
Currently, he was lacking in both funds and personnel. If they forced the development and the game’s quality didn’t meet standards, wouldn’t that waste a good idea?
Creating just a half-finished product with this concept would be very painful for Yan Qi.
Recruiting people was relatively easier to address, since ultimately it came down to money.