Pei Qian had already considered that, since he intended to directly collide with Cute Three Kingdoms, the game had to be based on the Three Kingdoms theme.
The Three Kingdoms was, after all, a decent IP—not the best, but certainly not the worst.
To ensure players hated these Three Kingdoms characters, the best approach was to radically twist them, completely subverting their traditional images!
This way, players who loved the Three Kingdoms would see these bizarre distortions, curse angrily, leave negative reviews, and ultimately lower the game's reputation.
The responsibility for such drastic modifications naturally fell to Ma Yang.
Pei Qian had complete faith in Ma Yang's abilities. As long as Ma Yang put sincere effort into the work, failure was practically guaranteed!
Looking at the list of characters, Ma Yang's face showed hesitation.
He poked his head down from the top bunk and whispered, "Brother Pei, I… I've only watched the Three Kingdoms TV series. I don't even recognize most of these characters..."
Pei Qian's eyes lit up. That's absolutely perfect!
If you were intimately familiar with these characters, I might reconsider giving you this important task!
"It's fine, I believe in you. Remember, the goal is to overthrow traditions. Just unleash your imagination! The more bizarre, the better!"
"Don't worry. Ultimately, it's up to the artists to interpret your instructions. You just need to give them a direction."
"Feel free to go wild! Since you're deliberately subverting the characters, nobody can criticize you for being historically inaccurate."
Pei Qian reassured him repeatedly.
He couldn't risk Ma Yang backing out and leaving the task incomplete.
Finally, Ma Yang nodded hesitantly. "Alright, I'll give it my best."
Still somewhat uneasy, Pei Qian reminded him again, "Remember, make it outrageous! The crazier, the better!"
Ma Yang sat on his bunk, scratching his head and frowning in concentration.
After ten minutes without any progress, he couldn't hold back and poked his head down again.
"Brother Pei, maybe I should first go buy a copy of 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'…?"
Pei Qian immediately rejected the idea. "Absolutely not! Your greatest advantage is that you have not been influenced by traditional images of the characters. That's exactly why you can achieve such imaginative subversion!"
"Forget the traditional depictions. Don't think about who these characters originally were. Just trust your instincts and make wild changes!"
Ma Yang sighed helplessly, withdrew his head, and went back to brainstorming.
A few moments later, he leaned down again.
"Brother Pei, what if I make Guan Yu into a dragon? Would that work?"
Pei Qian nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely perfect!"
A little while later:
"Brother Pei, how about making Ma Chao into a centaur?"
"Great idea!"
And then again, after a bit:
"Brother Pei, can I make Zhou Cang into a dragon-girl, Zhuge Liang into a mad inventor, Huang Yueying into a mechanical puppet, Xu Chu into a tiger, Cao Pi into a tentacle monster, and Lu Meng into a dragon-slaying loli girl?"
Pei Qian clapped his thigh in delight. "Brilliant! Incredible! Ma Yang, you're an absolute genius! Keep going exactly like that!"
Ma Yang, who's originally uncertain about his strange ideas, grew confident seeing Pei Qian's overwhelming approval.
Watching Ma Yang earnestly dive into his task, Pei Qian felt sheer happiness in his heart.
I definitely chose the right person!
Zhou Cang becoming a dragon-girl? Lu Meng as a dragon-slaying loli?
Who else but Ma Yang could dream up such spectacular nonsense!
Such absurd designs would never have crossed Pei Qian's own mind!
Imagine when players draw Cao Pi and discover he's a tentacle monster—
Or Ma Chao as a centaur—
Or Lu Meng, the prestigious military commander, turned into a cute little girl warrior—
Wouldn't the hardcore Three Kingdoms fans go absolutely berserk?
A certain famous international film star once said, "Dramatization is not nonsense; adaptation is not random fabrication."
But now, what they were doing was precisely nonsense and random fabrication. Once released, the game would undoubtedly be scorned by thousands of players, breaking the hearts of Three Kingdoms fans everywhere!
The gloom that had clouded Pei Qian's mood for days vanished instantly. He suddenly felt like his life was becoming brighter again!
If he loses 300,000 yuan, he's going to earn 300,000 yuan!
Pei Qian could almost hear a better life calling out to him!
While Ma Yang worked diligently on the requirements, Pei Qian browsed the official ESRO resource marketplace to find suitable illustrators.
This ESRO marketplace was a centralized platform gathering resources from across the domestic game industry, including human resources.
Whether designers, illustrators, or programmers, freelancers openly displayed their services and rates. Buyers could view their portfolios and hire them accordingly.
Pei Qian searched specifically for illustrators skilled in character illustrations and quickly began eliminating candidates.
All renowned, famous artists? Immediately excluded.
Industry-leading illustrators with good reputations? Excluded as well.
Instead, he deliberately focused on low-priced, rookie illustrators—ones whose work was priced around seven or eight hundred yuan per illustration!
After browsing many portfolios, Pei Qian realized most of these artists were quite similar.
This platform had certain quality thresholds, and not just any art student could gain approval. ESRO staff reviewed portfolios carefully, so even newcomers listed here had decent artistic skills.
Finally, Pei Qian selected a newcomer illustrator with very few samples in his portfolio.
This particular illustrator's portfolio consisted entirely of cute, anime-style artworks, without a single realistic-styled illustration.
That likely meant he wasn't skilled at realistic styles!
And Pei Qian's game required a realistic style!
"He's the one!" Pei Qian instantly decided.
Of course, Pei Qian couldn't hire just one illustrator, given the quantity of art he needed.
Some card games required illustrations detailed enough to serve as posters, meaning even senior illustrators would spend an entire week per piece.
But Pei Qian's game only required artwork suitable for mobile screens, significantly reducing the required detail. Even so, a skilled illustrator working diligently might finish at most around 15 illustrations per month.
Though Pei Qian required roughly 200 illustrations, it wasn't exactly 200 completely different designs.
They were 50 characters with 4 variations each, representing upgrades. For example, Zhuge Liang's four variations would differ only in details and special effects, rather than requiring entirely separate designs.
Still, to be safe, Pei Qian estimated he'd need around six or seven illustrators to comfortably finish all tasks within the deadline.
Pei Qian decided to start by contacting this particular illustrator to discuss pricing and scheduling, then proceed to hire others afterward.
He sent the following message to the illustrator named "Ruan Guangjian":
"Hello, our company is currently preparing a card-based mobile game. We require a large number of custom illustrations. I'd like to discuss pricing and scheduling with you. Please reply if interested."
Pei Qian waited a few minutes without a response—perhaps he was offline.
Pei Qian wasn't worried; after all, Ma Yang's requirement sheet would likely be ready no earlier than tomorrow anyway.
Glancing at the time, Pei Qian realized it was already evening, and his stomach began growling.
"Old Ma, ready to eat?" Pei Qian climbed down from his bed and glanced up at Ma Yang.
Ma Yang was still deep in thought, diligently typing on the keyboard. The requirement sheet was now densely filled with text.
"...You don't have to be so serious. Let's go get dinner first," Pei Qian said.
Ma Yang hesitated briefly, absorbed in his newfound sense of responsibility, but hunger prevailed. He climbed down.
"Cafeteria?" Ma Yang asked.
Pei Qian shook his head, proudly patting his chest. "No, we're going out tonight. My treat!"
Ten minutes later:
The server placed a bowl of noodles in front of Pei Qian and a plate of fried rice in front of Ma Yang.