Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 438 Just because of a letter?

Meanwhile, the Arknights studio...

The atmosphere in the office area was somewhat subtle.

Near the corner, several young copywriters were gathered around a girl, whispering excitedly about something.

Lin Xi was the one surrounded in the middle.

At this moment, she wore a reserved smile, enjoying the admiring or adoring glances from her colleagues.

"Sister Xi, you're so brave! You really submitted that joint letter?"

A young copywriter who had just joined the company asked, his voice full of excitement.

"of course."

Lin Xi nodded slightly, picked up the coffee on the table, took a sip, and moved with elegance.

“We are creators, not assembly line workers. The freedom and independence of creation must be respected. The rating system is simply a desecration of copywriting.”

Lin Xi's voice carried an inexplicable confidence.

"But... that was a proposal put forward by President Chen after all. Would it be... inappropriate for us to oppose it so directly..."

"What are you afraid of?"

"No matter how capable Chu Chen is, he's not our boss. He may understand games, but does he understand literature? Does he understand art? We're helping him correct his mistakes and upholding the soul of the game."

"Besides, the law doesn't punish everyone. With so many of us signing, how could he possibly fire us all from across the company?"

Lin Xi looked around at the faces around her, some agreeing and some hesitant, and felt increasingly smug.

She enjoys the feeling of being the center of attention and the self-image of a "thought leader".

From being the president of the university's literary society to entering the workforce.

For a period of time, she felt like she had completely lost her focus and couldn't integrate into her work at all. What she wrote would be rejected seven or eight times out of ten submissions by that lunatic named Su Qing.

The remaining two or three times, she had to have other people write the answers for her to pass.

This matter already annoyed her, and then this whole "real-name registration system for copywriting" thing popped up.

Now she was even more annoyed.

So she started contacting other people and tried to write a joint letter, just like she did in college. To her surprise, there were actually people who thought the real-name system was bad, just like her.

Since she started encouraging people to write a joint letter, Lin Xi felt like she had returned to her comfort zone.

My back doesn't hurt anymore, and my back is straight.

As more and more people joined, she became more and more confident, especially after the recent surge in popularity of "Azur Lane". As another key development project of the Star Alliance, their "Arknights" project is also gaining momentum.

The staff has grown from a dozen people at the beginning to dozens, and now it has more than a hundred people.

Umineko is another "newcomer".

At the company, she doesn't really act like a boss. That's why she agreed to this collaboration, betting that HaiMao would never cut off its own arm at this time and shake the morale of the copywriting team.

She has even come up with the script for the sequel.

After receiving the letter, the company's senior management will inevitably send someone to "negotiate" with her. At that time, she can represent all the signatories and raise more "reasonable demands."

And if she can do this, then every single person who signs her autograph, even if they are not from Arknights, will be indebted to her.

At that point, her influence in the company will far exceed that of a junior copywriter.

Just as Lin Xi was immersed in her beautiful fantasy, the glass door of the office was pushed open.

The sea cat walked in.

In a situation like this, a normal boss would probably call the other person to their office, but Hai Mao had no such thought at the moment, because just now...

He actually went to read the copywriting Lin Xi had written.

To be honest, before he came into contact with Xingchen and received the "training" from Su Qing's copywriting team, he might have thought that the copywriting was a bit pretentious.

It's barely acceptable.

But after seeing the correct answer, Lin Xi's copywriting became too eye-catching.

The characters in her stories are basically nonexistent; they're all just stories she wants to write, disguised as Arknights.

There's even an ambiguous relationship between the mascot girl and some random passerby in the story??

This is a big no-no.

Even the sea cat could tell something was wrong.

Normally it would be fine, but today, after receiving Chu Chen's call, I realized there was a problem. It's essentially like a homeroom teacher being called to the principal's office, being singled out for criticism, and then returning to their own class to find that there really is a problem.

They were both shocked and angry.

Everyone felt the unusual aura emanating from the sea cat, and they all sat up straight, pretending to be working seriously.

The people around Lin Xi quickly dispersed and returned to their seats.

Only Lin Xi remained seated calmly in her original position. She even straightened her skirt and wore a composed smile, ready to face the upcoming "negotiations".

However, Hai Mao walked straight to her workstation and stopped.

The air in the entire office seemed to freeze at that moment, and everyone pricked up their ears, secretly observing this side out of the corner of their eyes.

"Lin Xi?"

"Yes"

Lin Xi responded with a smile. Even now, she still thought that Hai Mao had come to comfort her, so her tone was naturally calm.

"Regarding that letter, I think we can..."

"."

In Hai Mao's mind, he thought of a whole bunch of things, like, "Do you know what Chu Chen said? How should the copywriting be done?" and so on...
However, he overestimated his social skills.

When he got to Lin Xi, he hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter a single sentence.

"Pack your things, you're fired."

However, that's enough. "..."

Lin Xi's smile froze.

The office was deathly silent; you could even hear the faint hum of the central air conditioning.

Fired?

She suspected that she had heard wrongly.

"what?"

She stared blankly at Hai Mao, as if trying to find a trace of a joke on his face.

Sea Cat actually repeated it.

"I told you, you're fired. Your HR colleague will be here soon to process your resignation."

However, when Hai Mao said this, Lin Xi was completely stunned. Shock, astonishment, disbelief... all sorts of emotions exploded in her mind, especially since this was in the office.

With so many people watching, these emotions eventually coalesced into an uncontrollable rage.

"Why!?"

"Just because of that letter? This is retaliation! I'm going to file for labor arbitration!"

Hai Mao's emotions had calmed down by this point. He felt that the woman in front of him was acting strangely. He should have just said that the company would process his resignation.

Does this woman not understand human speech?

"The reason for your dismissal is that your professional philosophy is seriously inconsistent with the company's development direction."

"Professional philosophy?" Lin Xi thought she had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"My professional philosophy is to create good copy! It's you!! You're trying to stifle art with KPIs and scores! You don't understand what creation is at all!"

"I understand!"

"It was Chu Chen! Chu Chen made you do this, didn't he!? You're just his dog! He tells you who to bite and you bite whoever he tells you to!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the temperature in the entire office seemed to drop several degrees.

Goodness, if you're talking about teasing Hai Mao a couple of times in the office, that's not a big deal, because Hai Mao does sometimes make some silly mistakes.

But you dared to confront Chu Chen in front of Hai Mao?
Wow, that takes a lot of guts.

However, to everyone's surprise, Hai Mao did not fly into a rage; he simply shook his head.

"It seems that you not only do not understand the company's development direction, but you don't even understand what your own work is for."

After saying that, he didn't look at Lin Xi again, but turned around and nodded to the HR manager who had arrived not far away.

"Take her to complete the formalities."

After saying that, Hai Mao turned and left.

With Hai Mao gone, Lin Xi lost her "target" and started to panic.

The "negotiation" she expected didn't happen, the "law doesn't punish the masses" she thought she knew was a joke, and her proud "resistance" only earned her a cold "you're fired."

When she saw the resignation agreement handed to her by the HR manager, the courage that had been sustained by anger instantly crumbled, replaced by endless panic.

It's like many death row inmates who were clamoring the day before, but when they actually knelt on the execution platform, their emotions completely collapsed.

If Lin Xi had been laid off by a regular company, she might have been in a slightly better mood.

However, as a core member of the Star Alliance, the Arknights studio enjoys excellent benefits, including project bonuses that would make her proud at her class reunion.
If the project succeeds, even if financial freedom isn't guaranteed, you'll at least be a "high-class" workhorse.

When she joined Arknights, she specifically sought connections and found a senior in the HR department. In addition, her own academic qualifications were quite good, which is how she got into the company.

Now, is all of this going to be gone?
Just because of a letter?

~~~
That evening, in a private group called "Copywriting and Planning Exchange," someone cautiously sent a message.

"I heard that Arknights really got serious today, and the person who initiated the petition was fired?"

There was silence in the group for about ten seconds.

"I heard that N+1 is settled on the spot, and HR and security escorted them out. It's very respectable."

"Not only her, but many copywriters were also taken in for questioning. It seems like this is going to be a major purge."

"Holy crap, that's ruthless? Didn't StarCraft say they were very humane?"

"Humanization is for talented people and those who get things done, not for parasites."

“I heard from Fangzhou’s friend that the copywriting that woman wrote was a disaster, and she was always forming cliques and engaging in office politics, acting like she was someone important.”

"Hilarious! She added me on social media before, wanting me to sign autographs, saying it was for 'creative freedom.' Luckily I ignored her, or I would be the one getting kicked out today."

"Me too. Her argument sounds like something a student council member who hasn't graduated would say. Trying to pull this kind of thing in a company? Does she think the boss is a pushover?"

"So, the rating system and real-name registration system are definitely going to be pushed back?"

"Definitely. I heard that Xingchen Copywriting Studio has already started its trial operation. Boss Su Qing is personally in charge, and the results are excellent. In the future, outstanding copywriters will have their names directly listed in the game's production staff, and their salaries and project bonuses will be linked to their performance ratings, with no upper limit."

"Really? Does that mean a top copywriter might earn more than the lead planner?"

"Theoretically, yes. Didn't you read President Chen's open letter? 'Let those who create value receive rewards far exceeding industry standards.'"

Silence fell over the group chat again.

But this silence is completely different from the one before. If the silence before was out of shock and curiosity, then this silence is filled with restless thoughts.

A few minutes later, the group admin, who was a copywriting team leader at a second-tier game company, posted a message.

"Hey, Xiaoling, could you ask the HR department of Arknights for me? They've opened so many copywriting positions, are they hiring? Me? No, I have a friend who wants to ask about opportunities."

"+1 for the same question"

"+2, I'm not helping a friend, I just want to ask myself."

"+10086! Count me in!"

(End of this chapter)