[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature":3,"chapter-this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-16":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1472374,1919,"Chapter 16: Customized Art Solution","this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-16",16,"\u003Cp>A new day starts with checking the game sales.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not bad, today’s game sales have increased quite a bit compared to yesterday, probably because the Steam Platform gave it a \"Indie Game\" showcase recommendation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ba is in a pretty good mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because when he woke up this morning, he surprisingly saw foreign currency settlement symbols in the developer’s backend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What does this mean?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It means Cold Window Study Simulator actually has foreign players purchasing and playing it, which completely upends his understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The game’s language options only have English and simplified Chinese!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them, the English translation of the game documents is full of flaws, just slightly better than machine translation; after all, he didn’t really value it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Can’t blame him for not valuing it...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who would have thought this game would catch the interest of foreign players? He never considered this possibility, so he just did a rough translation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sudden appearance of foreign players surprised Chen Ba but also left him a bit puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where did they come from?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cold Window Study Simulator has no reputation abroad, so where exactly did these foreign players hear about the game?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He flipped to the bottom of the game details page and sorted the comment section by \"time\", and it seemed Chen Ba found the answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tricked!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These overseas reviews are either in traditional Chinese or a mix of Chinese and English, anyone could tell they are overseas Chinese.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I was wondering where the foreign currency settlements were coming from; so that’s it...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ba suddenly realized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had been happy for a while, almost thinking Cold Window Study Simulator had captivated foreign players, unlocking a new achievement in cultural export.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Turned out the foreigners were indeed foreigners, but not genuine ones, and then there were those orders from the \"Panpas District\", and all the comments were from domestic players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Steam Platform has the concept of high-priced and low-priced regions, and due to local policy restrictions, some games may be unavailable for purchase or download.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This led to the operation of \"region-switching\", making many seemingly foreign purchase orders actually domestic players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there were also overseas Chinese.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling a bit foolish, Chen Ba shook his head and exited the Steam developer backend, skillfully typing in the Dream Building Engine forum URL and clicking on the commercial collaboration section.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is an industry forum he frequents; he learned a lot here when he first entered the field and started studying the Dream Building Engine, and consulted many industry experts; he likes to come by when he’s got nothing better to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But today he wasn’t there to loiter, but to scour the forum for a few good and cheap \"2d artists\" to outsource art work for Tianba Game Studio’s new game project.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator is a 2D game, Chen Ba directly searched for the \"2D artist\" tag and quickly saw a string of job application posts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Freelance UI design, 2D character design.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hello everyone, thanks for visiting! My name is Kent.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ve been working as a game UI designer and 2D artist since 2018...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Joined the industry only in 2018?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as he saw this introduction, Chen Ba immediately shook his head, not even bothering to open his portfolio, just passed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These newcomers with less than three years in the industry might be cheap, but honestly, how many can really meet the demands?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even taking a step back, even if this Kent turns out to be a rare talent, he wouldn’t be looking for work on a forum; he’d already be snapped up by a big company.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Missing out on talent is not impossible, but the probability is about the same as hitting the lottery, and Chen Ba has no interest in spending a lot of time on a newcomer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, this is also an outsider...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not looking down on outsiders, but foreign game artists might find it hard to meet the actual needs of Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator in terms of art style.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, cultural differences are something that needs to be considered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second one was much more normal, a Chinese artist with 12 years of experience, with many representative works, had created a small team specializing in game art outsourcing for major studios.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ba added his WeChat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Probably because the other party was busy, it took half an hour for them to accept Chen Ba’s friend request, and after a conversation of less than ten minutes, Chen Ba gave up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The prices were just too high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although you get what you pay for, and the quality of a single original artwork is indeed worthy of their asking price and not deliberately costly, unfortunately, Chen Ba couldn’t afford such high prices in the thousands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There are cheaper options too!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What price range are you looking for? We can discuss based on your needs.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Probably not wanting to miss out on Chen Ba as a client, they expressed they could customize an art package according to his requirements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My requirements?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Chen Ba was immediately tempted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t afford the expensive art resources, but it wasn’t necessary to use the most expensive ones either! He could completely have a custom art solution according to his budget and needs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, for promotional artwork, it could be made more exquisite and detailed since it’s the game’s selling point packaging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the rest, there was no need for them to be too refined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, players are already used to being deceived by beautiful promotional graphics only to find the actual game falling short.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using real in-game shots for promotion?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Come on, you’re not serious!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How confident do you have to be in your game to use real in-game shots as promotional material? Surely you’re talking about a triple-A title?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Game promotional graphics, UI design, character design, map and scene design, character illustrations...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire artistic scope of a game is enormous; even though the Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator is a small game, packaging everything up results in an astonishing figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After discussing for about an afternoon on WeChat, Chen Ba finally reached a preliminary resolution regarding the art resources, with both parties agreeing to have further detailed communication in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it comes to outsourcing responsibilities, it’s not possible to make a decision with just a few words; at the very least, the other party must clearly understand party A’s needs before further cooperation discussions can follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To put it bluntly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if it’s the much-mocked \"colorful black\" client joke, at least it proposes specific requirements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether or not party B can fulfill party A’s demands is one thing, but at the very least, party A can’t just say \"whatever\" or \"anything goes\" without being clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The art needs must be precise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more precise the needs, the better the outcome will be, and those ambiguous requests might end up with a \"neither fish nor fowl\"!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were quite a few art resources needed for the game, and Chen Ba needed help from Yang Dong and Lu Jing, each responsible for submitting a part of the art requirements, so they could collaborate to ensure that the game development schedule wouldn’t be delayed by the art.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, relying on him alone, who knows how many brain cells he might lose and how much hair he might shed just to finish the game!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cold Window Study Simulator?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That thing didn’t have any art requirements; it was all free public templates Chen Ba used, with at most a little \"Van Gogh\" art style infused into the character design.\u003C\u002Fp>",1268,"2026-06-06T03:03:37.341Z",1,"novelbin.me","ef9917798418d26da3fb20a8d41dda38ae0f5e1ce3e4d6034362a83a3deff3a4","this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-17","this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-15",479,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthis-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-cover.jpg"]