After rebirth, I found out that I have a childhood sweetheart

Mei Fang explained, "This concept is called environmental storytelling. We use artistically drawn scenes and some in-game interactions and cutscenes to show the story, allowing players to complete the purpose of our story themselves."

"It sounds a bit like a silent movie, but wouldn't it be interesting to write dialogues...why can't we talk?"

"So... like Machinarium, right?"

"It's the robot that picks up junk, right? Now I remember, we played it together at Ah Fang's house in the second grade of junior high school. That game was so difficult that I had to look up the walkthrough in the game every time to pass it."

"Machinarium", which can be regarded as the ancestor of independent games, was released as early as 2009. Lin Youxi and Xia Yuan, who were in the second grade of junior high school at that time, played it at Mei Fang's house.

"To be precise, the game I plan to make is even more silent than Machinarium, because the protagonist often uses graphic text to communicate in the story, and there are actually quite a lot of dialogues."

Mei gestured to everyone:

“The heroine of the story is a princess from a black and white world. She embarks on an adventure in pursuit of the colors of her own world. Different colors represent different countries. Each color represents a chapter. Each chapter makes the heroine face different hardships, and these hardships have their reflections in the real world.”

"The real world is reflected..." Xia Yuan thought for a moment, "Ah Fang, what you mean is... on the surface you are writing a fairy tale, but in fact you are writing about the inner world of an ordinary girl?"

"As expected of you, you are our Chinese class representative. Yuanyuan, you understand things very quickly."

Mei Fang rubbed Xia Yuan's cheek to encourage her. "I actually want to tell the story of an autistic girl who opens her heart, strives to find herself, and finally reconciles with herself and reaches the other side of her dream. This is the spiritual core of our work."

The autistic girl opened her heart and tried hard to find herself and reconcile with herself...

As soon as Mei Fang finished speaking, the sharp-eyed Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi immediately turned their eyes to Guo Yun. Guo Yun also realized Mei Fang's intention and her face immediately turned red.

"Ah Fang... the prototype of the story of the protagonist of your game was not based on Yunyun, right?"

"Well... to some extent, there is definitely Guo Yun's shadow."

Mei Fang smiled and said, "And if we use this subject, I think Guo Yun has more artistic inspiration and expression. What do you think, Guo Yun?"

"I...I...I can try. But I don't know if I can do it well..."

Mei Fang immediately encouraged Guo Yun after hearing this:

"Don't worry, your aesthetics are already top-notch in my eyes. But the workload for art will be huge, and I think we may have to outsource some resources. Or... your classmates are all studying painting, so if there are any who can help out, you can look for them. It's easier to communicate when working together."

"I... look for one?"

Mei Fang nodded and said to Guo Yun, "You will be the chief artist of our Ximilu Studio in the future. You will definitely need helpers to make things together. I can help you pay them when the time comes. Then, I will tell you about the amount of art resources we need. Let me think about it..."

Ok……

Jealous.

Seeing Mei Fang and Guo Yun chatting enthusiastically, Xia Yuan felt a little jealous, but she didn't really show her jealousy on her face.

She didn't want to disturb her beloved childhood sweetheart from pursuing his gaming dream.

Maybe Alfang likes music, or sports like roller skating.

But the only thing he likes from the bottom of his heart, and I even feel that it likes him more than me and Youxi, is games.

Like Lin Youxi, she rested her chin on her hand and watched Mei Fang talk quietly.

When Mei Fang and Guo Yun finished talking about art, Xia Yuan quickly handed him the milk tea as if she was feeding him.

"Afang, you are really amazing."

"We just decided on the game characters, but now we can immediately think of a long storyline."

"This... is just a preliminary idea. It will still take a lot of time to implement it."

Lin Youxi looked at Mei Fang without saying anything, but just put his hand on Mei Fang's leg.

She seemed to just want to touch Mei Fang out of habit, and there was nothing too bad in her actions. She just rubbed back and forth occasionally, and Mei Fang didn't say anything.

The moment Mei Fang saw the character of Guo Yun, she thought of [GRIS], which is the Chinese translation of the work "Gris's Journey".

It was a platform jumping adventure game. Although its puzzle design and script expression were very good, in Mei Fang's opinion, it was still some distance away from the classic masterpieces.

However, its artistic style can indeed be called a great work of the "ninth art", and almost every interface can be called a wallpaper.

This time, Mei Fang did not crudely copy the game "Grace's Journey" based on his own memory. Apart from the impressive art, he himself had almost forgotten the process and story, but only had a vague impression of them.

The creative design of a game is often the result of the game creators combining their rich gaming experience with some life insights; both are almost indispensable.

Now, in the process of conceiving this work, Mei Fang has gathered in his mind the excellent cores of many works such as "Monument Valley", "Celeste", "GRIS", "Journey", "Sky: Children of the Light", etc. This is something he can do as a game player with many years of experience and his previous life's skills as chief planner.

In fact, this is also Mei Fang’s true golden finger - a talent that he himself did not have the opportunity to display in his previous life.

Now there is no boss who would order Mei Fang to make a crappy pay-to-win mobile game.

Mei Fang no longer has to work hard for a meager salary.

Mei Fang is now his own master.

"In addition to art, the design of music and sound effects will also be very important. I need your help here, Yuanyuan." Mei Fang looked at Xia Yuan with a serious face, "Excellent music and art, we can't do without both."

Xia Yuan nodded, her expression full of tenderness, "Fang, just tell me what you want, I will satisfy you in any way you want."

Lin Youxi, who had been resting her chin on her hand and quietly watching her beloved Mei Fang display her passion and talent, now spoke softly:

"C Station doesn't have much work to do recently, so I can take care of the programming for this game. Fang, you can just focus on the planning."

"That's what I was planning... Youxi, you really understand me."

Mei Fang turned to look at Xia Yuan and Guo Yun, "After we finish the midterm exam, we must work hard to start the project of this game."

"Yeah... there's still the midterm exam!"

Xia Yuan was surprised and a little anxious, "By the way, is there any mention in the school rules? I...if I don't do well in the exam...I shouldn't be expelled directly from Jiangcheng Normal School, right?"

"No... Just perform at your normal level and don't worry about the results."

Mei Fang patted Xia Yuan's head gently, and then smiled slightly, "Think about it carefully, isn't this the reason why we applied to Jiangcheng Normal University in the first place?"

Chapter 174 Autumn Foot Bath

Mei Fang, the other two and Guo Yun were chatting enthusiastically about the project plan for the new game. Before they knew it, it was almost evening. Mei Fang turned on her phone and saw a missed call from Liu Xiaoyu. She and Xiang Bingbing had already taken a bus back after shopping.

"That's it for today... We promised our family that we would go back for dinner today, so we won't have dinner together."

"Ah...it's okay. I don't eat so fast at night."

Guo Yun exchanged a few more pleasantries with Mei Fang. Even though Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi were behind Mei Fang, she was not at all nervous. It can be seen that she is now much more confident than before.

The four of them said goodbye at the entrance of the shopping mall. Mei Fang stopped a taxi at the intersection and went straight home.

Because Youxi gets carsick very easily, Mei Fang and Xia Yuan have agreed that they should try to make Youxi as comfortable as possible on future long-distance trips.

"There are new projects to develop, new music to write, and midterm exams to prepare for. I don't think you guys are going to sign up for any events in the sports meet? This schedule is really packed."

Xia Yuan stretched out his body and made a pleasant meowing sound. "I'll have a good rest today. I'll start doing homework and preparing for the exam tomorrow."

"We still have a long time today, so we can study in the evening, right?"

Lin Youxi smiled and said, "Even if you choose to major in liberal arts in the future, it would be good to learn a little physics, right? It won't do you any harm."

"Uh—well—"

Xia Yuan nodded hesitantly, "I, I know! Class monitor Youxi is really strict."

It is already late October. During the National Day, everyone was still wearing short sleeves and short skirts, but within half a month they started wearing autumn clothes.

The three of them were walking on the way back to the community at night. The cold wind was blowing, and the chill was blowing in their faces. Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi both used Mei Fang as a human shield and pushed him forward.

Although it was very cold outside, I felt inexplicably warm when I returned home.

Liang Meijuan had already prepared dinner. After everyone washed their hands, they started to eat. Lin Youxi told Liang Meijuan about her experience at the intersection today. She served soup to the three little ones while listening to Lin Youxi talk.

"Is the buffet really all you can eat? It sounds great. But if I secretly take some food back, won't the restaurant lose a lot of money?"

"Haha, Aunt Liang, it's not as easy as you think. There are surveillance cameras everywhere, and it's usually hard to bring people along. I feel the quality of the buffet dishes is average, but they are really filling. There's a girl in Fang's class who eats a lot..."

Everyone was talking happily at the dinner table. Liang Meijuan clapped her hands and said, "By the way... the weather has turned cold recently, so we don't need to take baths so often. Let's start sponging baths today. I just bought some mugwort leaves today. We can use them to soak our feet. It can drive away the cold and is very good for the body."

"Yeah! Got it, Aunt Liang."

After dinner, everyone was very self-disciplined and did their homework and read together in the living room. Liang Meijuan did not watch TV in order not to disturb them. She just brought over some fruits occasionally and then took a nap on the sofa in the living room.

Around nine o'clock, Liang Meijuan woke up and the three little ones had almost finished their homework. After asking them if they were almost done with their studies, she started to boil water for them to soak their feet.

Different from the habit of bathing every day in the south and infrequently in some northern regions, people in Chubei Province are accustomed to bathing every day in spring and summer, and once a week in autumn and winter. At other times, they end the day's washing with a sponge bath. After bathing, underwear is changed every day to keep it clean and tidy.

The process of taking a bath generally consists of four conventional steps: washing your face, washing your hands, washing your butt (you need to change the towel at this time) and soaking your feet.

Foot soaking is the most sacred part of the four steps, and it is also a pleasure that is almost impossible to enjoy while taking a bath standing up.

The three of them completed the three preliminary tasks one after another. Mei Fang finally came out of the bathroom carrying a foot basin and saw Liang Meijuan pouring boiling water into Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi's foot basins.

wow-

Hot rising steam gushed out from the foot basin in front of the two people, and the mugwort steam fumigated Xia Yuan's eyes, making her feel very comfortable.

Xia Yuan put his feet on the edge of the basin and glanced at Lin Youxi, who also did not move his feet.

"Youxi, the water in your basin must be cold, why don't you try the water temperature?"

Lin Youxi shook her head. "I'll wait a little longer."

"You're so afraid of burning your feet. They won't be steamed."

Mei Fang sat down next to Lin Youxi with a foot basin in her hand and said to Xia Yuan with great interest, "When I was in elementary school, Youxi stayed overnight at our house once. I remember it was a very cold winter. My mother wanted her to soak her feet, but she refused to do so because she was afraid of getting burned. In the end, she stepped on my feet to put them in, and it really burned me."

As soon as Mei Fang finished speaking, Lin Youxi hit him hard with an elbow. Xia Yuan's eyes widened:

"You two actually soaked your feet together when you were kids! Wouldn't that be dirty? And you could get something contagious, um, I mean... that... is..."

"Uh, it's okay! We used to soak our feet together when we were little. Children's feet are small, and the footbath in my house was very big, so we used to wash our feet together."

"Come to think of it, Xiaoya used to love soaking her feet with me, but she was completely the opposite of Youxi. She put her feet in first and lied to me that the water temperature wasn't hot at all, but it ended up scalding me so much that I screamed..."

Although she was a troublesome sister, Mei Fang hadn't seen her for almost half a year and missed her a little bit.

At this time, Liang Meijuan came over with a kettle and added mugwort leaves and boiling water to Mei Fang.

"You are living in a good time now. It was very difficult for us to soak our feet in the past. We had to wait for the coal-fired kettle to boil. Everyone rushed to use the footbath first, and in the end, everyone soaked their feet together."

Liang Meijuan walked up to Lin Youxi, squatted down and tested the water temperature.

"It's almost cold, Youxi, why aren't you soaking it yet?"

"I...go slower." Lin Youxi pursed her lips.

Mei Fang was laughing at Lin Youxi's reserved expression, and was glared at by Lin Youxi.