If Pei Qian had known earlier that this was an image for his project, he would have forcefully offered some direction.

For instance, he could have made some unreasonable demands regarding the art style, details, character expressions, and other aspects.

However, Pei Qian had just praised this portrait enthusiastically. How could he suddenly raise various objections after learning it was for his project?

That would be too obvious and completely unreasonable.

There was no choice; Pei Qian could only squeeze out a slight smile: “Mm, quite good.”

Ruan Guangjian clicked a few times on his digital tablet with his pressure-sensitive pen, opening a folder.

“The other line drawings are also here. Take a look, Mr. Pei. If there are any issues, we can make modifications early.”

The folder contained thumbnails of various line drawings, though each thumbnail was accompanied by a photograph.

After Hu Xianbin had finalized the characters in the game, he found suitable motion capture actors who met the requirements.

The appearance of motion capture actors didn’t need to match the character models in the game perfectly, but they had to be broadly similar. When two people with completely different face shapes perform motion capture, the resulting data would also differ, and forcibly applying one to the other would certainly cause problems.

To achieve the best results from the motion capture system, motion capture actors had to be carefully selected, and the game characters had to closely correspond with real people.

While Pei Qian had been busy arranging Managed Fitness and other work, Hu Xianbin had significantly advanced the preparations for “Struggle.”

“Isn’t he a novice? How is his efficiency so incredible?”

“Am I so unlucky that even a randomly promoted lead designer is so capable?”

“Hmm?”

Pei Qian considered for a moment and suddenly felt something was off.

Even if Hu Xianbin was highly efficient, it didn’t make sense that he could find so many foreign actors in such a short time.

Finding people wasn’t something that could be solved just by increasing efficiency!

Looking more carefully at these photos.

They seemed increasingly familiar!

Pei Qian pondered for two minutes before suddenly realizing where he had seen them.

Weren’t these all the foreign extras from “Beautiful Tomorrow”?

When filming “Beautiful Tomorrow” previously, the three main actors who appeared most frequently were Chinese, but there were also many extras serving as background characters, including people of various skin colors and nationalities. These were all foreign friends that Huang Sibo and his team had worked hard to find in the areas around Jingzhou.

But these people had too little screen time, and after so much time had passed, Pei Qian’s memory of the movie’s plot had become somewhat blurred, so he didn’t recognize them immediately.

Now, Pei Qian confirmed that this wasn’t a matter of Hu Xianbin’s high work efficiency—he had cheated!

He must have asked Huang Sibo for these people’s contact information and then directly copied the homework!

No wonder these photos looked so familiar!

Pei Qian was speechless.

Hu Xianbin, oh Hu Xianbin, you look honest with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, but how are you so adept at copying homework?

Pei Qian examined each of these photos and line drawings one by one.

Various ethnic groups, various skin colors, actors from poor families and rich families—the differences were visible.

This was also normal, after all, poor and rich classes exist in reality, and this kind of temperament accumulated over a long time is very difficult to change.

Pei Qian tried very hard to find a picky angle to give Ruan Guangjian some reverse guidance.

However, he simply couldn’t find an angle!

Because everything was too reasonable!

Hu Xianbin’s casting was based on these extras’ real economic conditions and family backgrounds, which matched very well with the characters in the game.

When Ruan Guangjian used these photos as the basis for artistic creation, he also paid close attention to a sense of proportion, merely amplifying the characteristics they already possessed, without letting the virtual image stray too far from the actual image.

In his urgency, Pei Qian couldn’t find an angle to start from.

Mr. Pei fell into deep thought.

“Hmm… for a game, the visuals are just one aspect, and this game’s core competitiveness in deterring players lies in its content and gameplay. Perhaps it’s not so bad to relax a bit on the art style…”

“Wait, I can’t have this mistaken mindset!”

“I thought the same way with ‘Turn Back to Shore’!”

Pei Qian had originally intended to let it go, but considering the lesson from “Turn Back to Shore,” he suddenly became alert.

The same mistake absolutely could not be made twice!

Since he had already seen Ruan Guangjian’s weapon for backstabbing him, he had to find a way to make this weapon malfunction!

The water released now would become the blood flowing from future backstabs!

“Think quickly about how to mislead him…”

“Hmm… this painting is very attentive to proportions…”

“Got it!”

Pei Qian discovered that when shaping these images, Ruan Guangjian was concerned that excessive artistic processing would cause these characters to deviate from their original true images, so he exercised restraint.

This also reminded Pei Qian of Lu Zhiyao’s acting at that time.

Lu Zhiyao’s biggest problem should have been trying too hard.

And when Pei Qian gave him reverse guidance, making Lu Zhiyao’s acting more restrained, it was highly praised.

That was a very serious mistake!

Ruan Guangjian’s accomplishments in painting were much higher than Lu Zhiyao’s. He clearly understood the principle of moderation, so he was very restrained in his creation.

So, this was a breakthrough point!

Wouldn’t it work to make Ruan Guangjian’s paintings “try too hard”?

Pei Qian coughed lightly: “The painting is quite good, but I have a tiny suggestion.”

Ruan Guangjian immediately gave his full attention: “Oh? Please elaborate, Mr. Pei. I’ll make changes right away.”

After all, Mr. Pei was the game’s chief designer, so he naturally had the final say on the art requirements for this game.

Pei Qian said with a serious face: “These images haven’t deviated much from the motion capture actors’ real appearances. When creating, you seem to have been very restrained, right?”

Ruan Guangjian nodded: “Yes, because excessive artistic exaggeration would make these images lose authenticity.”

Pei Qian clapped his hands: “That’s exactly it! That’s what I want!”

Ruan Guangjian: “Huh?”

“Ahem.” Pei Qian realized he had become a bit carried away and quickly restrained himself.

“I want them to lose authenticity.”

“I want a more extreme, more artistic expression. Words like ‘real’ and ‘subtle’ have nothing to do with this game.”

“In short, make these images as bizarre as possible, try to achieve the effect of trying too hard!”

Ruan Guangjian frowned slightly, falling into thought.

When Hu Xianbin from Tenda Games had interfaced with him, he hadn’t raised similar requirements.

Hu Xianbin hadn’t provided very detailed art requirements.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that Hu Xianbin had a problem with his work attitude; this was the tradition of Tenda’s game department.

All past leaders of Tenda’s game department knew about the “Ghost General” incident and knew that at that time, Mr. Pei had completely delegated authority, allowing Master Ruan to express himself freely, which resulted in that batch of classic original drawings for “Ghost General.”

So for subsequent games, including “Game Producer” and “Turn Back to Shore,” Ruan Guangjian also had absolute control over the art style.

This time, when Hu Xianbin raised the art requirements for “Struggle,” he naturally continued this tradition, letting Ruan Guangjian decide the specific art style.

But now, Mr. Pei had personally requested this, and it had to be taken into consideration.

“Hmm…” Ruan Guangjian frowned deeply, lost in thought.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but secretly rejoice. Good!

This seemed to be the expression of a designer encountering an unreasonable client!

Pei Qian could particularly understand this feeling. The outlines for these characters had already been drawn, the general image shaping had been completed, and they just needed refinement. Then, suddenly, the client came over and said they wanted major changes.

Which designer wouldn’t be angry?

But this was exactly what Mr. Pei wanted!

He had already prepared himself. When Ruan Guangjian argued based on reason, he would fully embody the unreasonable characteristics of a client, transform into an overbearing CEO well-versed in the art of bullying, and reject all of Ruan Guangjian’s reasonable suggestions.

Pei Qian seemed to see the dawn of revenge.

Ruan Guangjian considered for five minutes, still frowning deeply. He still had reservations about Pei Qian’s words.

But what Pei Qian found strange was that Ruan Guangjian had been struggling internally for five minutes but hadn’t raised any objections, not even the thought of negotiating with him!

After a long time, Ruan Guangjian seemed to finally make up his mind.

He took a deep breath and looked at Pei Qian.

Pei Qian instantly prepared himself.

Here it comes! Finally ready to battle with me!

Come on, I’m already prepared with the most unreasonable client quotes!

“It’s not what you think, it’s what I think. Your opinion doesn’t work; my opinion works. Change everything. No matter what reason you have, all these original drawings must be changed!”

These words were already lodged in Pei Qian’s throat, just waiting to become bullets fired at the number one person in his little black book!

However, Ruan Guangjian gritted his teeth and said: “Alright! No problem!”

“Mr. Pei, although I haven’t thought of a good solution yet, rest assured, since this is your requirement, I will try my best to fulfill it!”

Pei Qian: “??”

He was dumbfounded.

What does this mean? The script shouldn’t be written like this, right?

Shouldn’t you argue based on reason and battle with me?

Then all the lines I prepared would be wasted?

Could it be that Ruan Guangjian, dependent on others for shelter, didn’t dare to offend him? So, even if he strongly disagreed internally, he had to do everything possible to fulfill the unreasonable client’s requirements?

That’s too miserable!

Pei Qian felt like he had become a villain, and inevitably felt a tiny bit of guilt in his heart.

He hurriedly said: “Uh… don’t force yourself at all!”

Ruan Guangjian nodded: “Don’t worry, Mr. Pei, I’m not forcing myself. I understand what you mean!”

Pei Qian: “?”

Ruan Guangjian continued: “In artistic creation, one must find a suitable balance point between the client’s requirements and one’s desire for expression. Only by finding this balance point can the most perfect work be created.”

“I believe that since you, Mr. Pei, have raised this requirement, you must have deeper considerations.”

“Although I haven’t thought of a very good solution yet, after thinking just now, I also feel that this requirement might be fulfilled in other ways.”

“Trying a different approach isn’t a bad idea; there might even be unexpected gains!”

“In any case, rest assured, Mr. Pei. I will set strict standards for myself with quality as the primary goal. No matter what style, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied!”

Pei Qian: “…”

For some reason, facing Ruan Guangjian always gave him the feeling of battling a Tai Chi master.

No matter what move he made, it had no effect at all. Instead, he was being redirected with minimal effort, his force used against him.

Pei Qian suddenly had a bad feeling and very much wanted to say that famous client phrase: “Let’s just use the first version.”

But after thinking about it, if he said that, people might mistakenly think he had intermittent mental illness…

Words once spoken couldn’t be retracted.

Pei Qian could only very reluctantly nod: “Alright, then I’ll leave it to you. I hope the final product aligns with my expectations…”