After putting on the new VR headset, Pei Qian’s first impression was that the field of view had expanded considerably and the display was much clearer.
Although the clarity still couldn’t compare to scenes in real life, it was relatively sharp for the cartoon-style game world. While it couldn’t quite pass for reality, the immersion factor had definitely improved dramatically compared to before.
Beyond that, the most noticeable change was the field of view.
The previous VR headset had a 125-degree field of view, which had been a compromise solution at the time. Although the effect was acceptable, it ultimately couldn’t completely eliminate the surrounding frame.
The new VR headset, however, had a 200-degree field of view, currently the maximum achievable. With this field of view, players would no longer see any black edges, naturally enhancing the immersion factor substantially.
Obviously, with the improved specifications, many previous games would also offer an entirely new experience.
Pei Qian wasn’t in the mood to check out those old games at the moment, so he went straight to find this new dress-up game.
Cai Jiadong explained, “Mr. Pei, we’ve finally decided to name this game ‘Tailored to Measure.'”
“Though the name might sound ordinary, we mainly considered two aspects.”
“First, this idiom is quite well-known, and most people can easily understand its meaning, which gives them a good psychological expectation of the gameplay. This will help with the game’s popularity.”
“Second, the story behind this idiom actually represents a philosophy behind our game.”
Pei Qian was curious: “What’s the story behind this idiom?”
Cai Jiadong explained, “Actually, we only learned about this after looking it up online. Legend has it that there was once a famous tailor whose clothes always fit perfectly, regardless of height or build. One day, an official asked him to make a court robe.”
“After measuring his waist and size, the tailor asked how many years he had been an official. The official was puzzled—making clothes only required body measurements, so why ask how long he’d been in office?”
“The tailor replied that those newly appointed to high positions were proud and arrogant, walking with their chests puffed out and bellies protruding, so their clothes needed to be shorter in the back and longer in the front. Officials with some years of service had more balanced attitudes, so their clothes should be of equal length front and back. Officials who had served for many years and were near retirement often felt depressed and dejected, walking with heads bowed and backs hunched, so their clothes should be shorter in the front and longer in the back.”
“In other words, the phrase ‘tailored to measure’ doesn’t just mean making clothes according to each person’s physique and dimensions—it also takes into account each person’s mental state. Different mental states would also influence the craftsmanship of the clothes!”
“We all felt this story aligned with the philosophy we want to promote in our game. Players in our game are all clothing designers, whether or not they have professional backgrounds, and every clothing designer should embrace this ‘tailored to measure’ philosophy!”
Pei Qian nodded slightly. The name was quite fitting.
Though it seemed ordinary on the surface—certainly not comparable to the names his own naming genius could produce—it still managed to highlight the game’s deeper meaning.
Pei Qian clicked on the game icon using the controller and entered the game screen.
First came a CG animation.
This was a theme song specially designed for “Tailored to Measure.” The entire theme was in a traditional Chinese style, with a dancing woman in traditional Chinese attire at the center of the screen, dancing gracefully, as light and nimble as a butterfly flitting through flowers.
The dance appeared to have been completed using motion capture, with movements both beautiful and precise. Combined with extremely detailed modeling, it created an almost lifelike impression.
As this ethereal dancer moved, her skirts and sleeves flew about, constantly changing into various styles of clothing.
Midway through, the style transformed, shifting from ancient Chinese to modern styles. Everything changed accordingly—from the type of dance to the clothing worn, to the musical style.
The theme song was like a medley of different styles, yet the music skillfully blended these different styles together.
The dancer’s beautiful face and fluid movements, along with the changing environment, clearly displayed the most elegant and perfect aspects of each different outfit to the players.
Pei Qian asked with some surprise, “Wasn’t this supposed to be just a tailor simulator?”
The implication was that if it were a tailor simulator, it shouldn’t have all these flashy elements!
Why had they created such a complex opening animation?
Cai Jiadong explained, “Mr. Pei, this opening animation didn’t actually take much effort, since the models and clothing are already in the game. We just commissioned a theme song and then selected appropriate outfits and scenes from the game to match it. Most of our time and resources were still invested in developing the game itself.”
Pei Qian had a vague feeling that something wasn’t right. This exquisite opening animation gave him a hint of danger.
After formally entering the game, Pei Qian found himself in a very spacious environment with mirrors all around to check his appearance.
He could also use the controller to zoom in or out, change outfits, or customize faces.
Players could choose a first-person perspective to see themselves in the mirror, or a third-person perspective to see their customized character from a higher angle.
Pei Qian took a quick look and found that theoretically, the face customization system was very powerful. Whether it was eyebrows, eyes, nose, ears, or cheekbones—there were many options for adjustment.
Many players spent two hours customizing faces and only five minutes actually playing, but Pei Qian didn’t have a habit of customizing faces, mainly because the faces he created didn’t look good.
So Pei Qian was already accustomed to using ready-made templates.
The game had provided for this function as well, offering several preset face templates that players could use directly. Additionally, players could also go online to view popular face customization solutions from other players and copy them with a single click.
There was also an interesting feature that allowed players to upload their own photos, and the system would automatically customize a face based on the photo.
The usage was simple: after uploading the image, players would upload clear front-facing photos of their face and body to the system, align them with the body outline, then enter simple data like height and weight. The system would automatically generate a model for the player, requiring only minor adjustments.
Of course, some vain people might upload edited photos or celebrity photos. The game placed no restrictions on this and even thoughtfully prepared multiple character slots for players.
Pei Qian casually selected a standard male template to enter the game.
Although this standard male template had handsome features and a perfect body, Pei Qian felt it still wasn’t even one ten-thousandth as good as himself. But what could he do? The templates were all at this level, so he’d just have to make do!
After entering the game, Pei Qian found that its gameplay was indeed as simple as initially planned.
Each player had their own game space with many background options: garden-style backgrounds, brightly lit urban backgrounds, and even futuristic sci-fi backgrounds.
Different backgrounds allowed for different clothing styles.
Besides common decorations like tables, chairs, and wardrobes, there were also numerous clothing racks where players could display their collected outfits.
The rest area also had a makeup room and a changing room. The makeup room was for re-customizing faces—some people might want to adjust their makeup to match their outfits, making face re-customization very necessary—while the changing room was for changing clothes.
On the other side were a reception room and a clothing mall.
In the reception room, players could invite friends to their space or visit friends’ spaces, though each space had a maximum occupancy limit. To hold larger gatherings, players needed to apply for a special party space in advance.
In the clothing mall, players could see the latest standard outfits released by official developers, as well as highly rated clothes designed by other players.
These clothes required payment to purchase. Some clothes cost in-game currency, while others required real money. The specific payment method depended on the attitudes of both the officials and the designers.
If an outfit was considered unimportant, it would cost in-game currency. If it was considered excellent and worth players spending real money on, it would cost tokens of real currency.
Players had three main ways to earn in-game currency.
The first was by logging into the game daily, which would provide a basic income.
The second was by completing specific tasks to earn in-game currency. For example, players could select a mature design plan and try their best to recreate it using their own clothing creation system. The final product would be compared with the original plan, and the higher the completion rate, the more money earned.
This was to encourage players to design more and to help them gradually improve their design skills and their proficiency with the tailoring functions.
The third method was specifically for clothing design veterans who created brand new designs that were compared with existing ones in the database. As long as they weren’t blatantly plagiarizing, these designs could be listed in the mall and promoted according to system rules for other players to evaluate.
If players purchased these designs, the designer would receive corresponding in-game currency rewards after deducting the official commission. Even without purchases, as long as players liked the design, there would still be a guaranteed minimum reward of in-game currency.
The official commission was just a means of reclaiming in-game currency. In fact, due to the basic income mechanism and various other forms of in-game currency output, currency inflation was just a matter of time. Most people could quickly acquire in-game currency through normal gameplay to buy their desired outfits.
However, the acquisition of in-game currency couldn’t be overly restricted, as that would cause dissatisfaction among most ordinary players. So the only solution was to let in-game currency lose its meaning after exceeding a certain threshold, which also placed some restrictions on studio behaviors.
Beyond that, those truly high-value design plans all required transactions using cash tokens.