Xie Yunfan created a group chat named “Graduation Project Squad” and pulled his three roommates and Zhou Shiyue all into the group.

Zhou Shiyue: “Hello everyone~”

Xie Yunfan said: “Welcome Shiyue to the Graduation Project Squad [Applause]”

The few roommates immediately sent a string of flower-scattering and applauding emojis.

Ji Yan was very confused. Zhou Shiyue normally had no interactions with them and barely even spoke to them. Why would she suddenly join their graduation project team?

Perhaps her reason for joining was similar to the three of them—she still didn’t have a clue about her own project, and since Xie Yunfan was recruiting publicly, she decided to give it a try. Anyway, there were still 10 months until graduation. If the project couldn’t continue, there was still time to switch.

Xie Yunfan asked in the group: “Do any of you know how to play an instrument? Traditional Chinese instruments would be best. Our game needs track selection and processing a massive amount of musical notes.”

The three roommates shook their heads one after another.

Ji Yan: “I’m tone-deaf and often sing out of tune [Awkward]”

Zhang Zizheng: “I only learned piano for a year, then gave up [Awkward]”

Xu Kairan: “I was born without a single music cell in my body [Awkward]”

Xie Yunfan: “Impressive.”

Clinging to his last trace of hope, he asked, “What about Shiyue?”

Zhou Shiyue said, “I haven’t learned any instruments, I’ve only learned calligraphy~”

Xie Yunfan helplessly facepalmed. A team making a rhythm game, and a whole group of people didn’t understand music? How were they supposed to make this?

It seemed they had to find a professional music talent.

Xie Yunfan said, “We’re still short one person. I’ll ask in the class group chat later. Once the team is completely formed, we can start working.”

A moment later, a message appeared in the Design Department Class 1 group chat.

Xie Yunfan: “Our graduation project team is short one person. Is there anyone who understands traditional Chinese music? Guzheng, pipa, bamboo flute, erhu—knowing one or two instruments is fine. Classmates interested in joining, please PM me. Thank you.”

The message was sent out like a stone sinking into the ocean.

Most people felt that this rhythm game Xie Yunfan was planning wouldn’t pass the graduation project review, and joining his team would be a waste of time. A few interested classmates didn’t meet the requirements because they didn’t know how to play traditional instruments.

A whole day passed, and absolutely no one PM’d Xie Yunfan.

Ji Yan was a bit anxious and suggested: “How about we proactively look for someone? I remember our class’s entertainment committee member Lin Shu knows how to play instruments. At last year’s department gala, she even performed a guzheng solo on stage.”

Xie Yunfan: “Okay, try contacting her.”

He didn’t know his classmates very well. Ji Yan had better social relations than him, so having A-Yan contact her might be able to pull someone in.

Ji Yan hurriedly messaged Lin Shu: “Hi Lin Shu, we are making a rhythm game and need a classmate who plays an instrument to help. We’d like to invite you to join. Are you interested?”

Lin Shu said very coldly, “Sorry, I already have a team.”

Ji Yan was helpless: “Oh, sorry to bother you.”

He then immediately PM’d a few other classmates who had studied music, and without exception, they all rejected him.

Ji Yan sighed with a bitter face: “Sigh, do they all think our skills aren’t good enough to produce a good piece of work? Why is no one willing to come!”

Xie Yunfan had expected this. After all, his past self was a terrible student; it was excusable that everyone didn’t believe in him.

There was no need to force the formation of a team; sometimes it also depended on fate. He patted his roommate’s shoulder and said, “It’s fine, I’ll figure something out.”

Students in the Game Design Department had learned various programming and level design skills. Finding a design department teammate who knew traditional music would yield twice the result with half the effort.

Unfortunately, the few people in their class who knew instruments were unwilling to join his team. He could only settle for the next best thing and find a teammate from another major. It didn’t matter if they didn’t understand game design; anyway, he would personally oversee the game making.

Where could he find a classmate who knew traditional music?

Rong City University was a comprehensive university, not an art academy, so it didn’t have a music major. However, the school had many independent student clubs.

If he remembered correctly, there was a Traditional Music Club.

Xie Yunfan searched the “Clubs Section” of the campus forum and indeed found the activity location of the Traditional Music Club.

After school, he went alone to Rong City University’s club department.

Nowadays, children from well-off families would learn artistic skills, and instruments were very common. It was just that more people learned piano or violin. Traditional music had been going downhill in this world, and the reason was related to the loss of culture.

The history of this parallel world could only be traced back to a hundred years ago, and all records related to “dynasties” were lost.

Just as the people here had never heard of the “Underworld” or “Meng Po,” people also had only a superficial understanding of the origins of these instruments.

For example, the straight-necked pipa appeared during the Qin and Han dynasties, and during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the ancients communicated with the Western Regions via the Silk Road, and the bent-necked pipa was introduced from Persia.

Today’s pipa was a fusion and evolution of the “straight-necked pipa” and “bent-necked pipa,” and the playing method had also undergone great changes.

If you wanted to clearly explain the origin of the pipa, you would have to explain what the Qin dynasty, Han dynasty, and Northern and Southern dynasties were, and what the Silk Road was…

Due to the loss of historical culture, these historical materials were impossible to verify.

The people of this alternate world only knew that instruments like the pipa were “things left behind by the ancestors,” but their specific origins were not very clear.

Fortunately, most famous music pieces had been passed down in the form of sheet music. Xie Yunfan didn’t have to compose original songs himself, making rhythm game development much easier.

Traditional music in this alternate world was quite niche. But the instruments themselves had special tones, so of course, some people who liked instruments continued to learn them. It was just that fewer people learned traditional music, and the Rong City University Traditional Music Club was also very small; even their activity venue was borrowed.

Today happened to be Friday. As Xie Yunfan approached the club activity room, he heard a mess of sounds coming from inside.

There were the crisp notes of a pipa, as well as the blended sounds of flutes, guzhengs, and other instruments. The melody was very unfamiliar and messy, sounding very much like they were arranging their own music.

Xie Yunfan stood at the door and listened until they finished playing this messy tune and the room quieted down before he stepped forward and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” a girl’s voice called from inside.

Xie Yunfan pushed the door open and entered. He saw a girl with her hair in a bun sitting in the middle, holding a pipa in her arms. Several students sat around her, holding familiar instruments like flutes and erhus.

Seeing Xie Yunfan, the girl was somewhat surprised. She narrowed her eyes, sized him up, and said, “Classmate, do you need something from us?”

Xie Yunfan looked at everyone and said politely, “Hello, I am Xie Yunfan, a senior from the Game Design Department. Our graduation project work is a rhythm game related to traditional music, and I would like to ask for everyone’s help.”

The people in the room looked at each other.

Game Design Department? Why did he come all the way to the Traditional Music Club?

The girl put down the pipa, walked up to Xie Yunfan, and said, “Hello, I am the president of the Traditional Music Club, Yan Ke. The Traditional Music Club is just a small club formed by a group of students who like traditional music. We know absolutely nothing about game production!”

A burst of laughter rang out in the room. Someone teased, “Senior Sister, let alone making games, she doesn’t even know how to play them.”

A boy chimed in, “Yeah, last time we took her to play Wilderness Survival, she landed and instantly turned into a loot box. Who knows how many times she died.”

Yan Ke glared at him over her shoulder: “You sure talk a lot!”

Xie Yunfan smiled and said, “It’s fine. I sought you out not to have you write game code, but to help select tracks, record music demos, and adjust the rhythm of the notes. I will be responsible for how the game is specifically made.”

The few of them exchanged glances and began to discuss softly.

“A rhythm game related to traditional music? Isn’t that too niche?”

“I’ve only played Rock Band, and that game is almost dead. Using traditional music for a rhythm game, I feel like there wouldn’t be much playability?”

“Are the requirements for the Game Design Department’s graduation projects really low? As long as they make something and pass the review, it’s fine, right?”

“Don’t know. People from the Game Design Department all feel quite mysterious.”

Yan Ke hesitated for a moment and said, “We indeed don’t understand much about making games. How about we discuss it and give you an answer later?”

Xie Yunfan: “Okay. Let’s add each other as friends first. Contact me anytime.”

The two added each other as friends, and Xie Yunfan turned and left the activity room.

After he left, the room instantly exploded into a commotion.

“Damn, someone from the Game Design Department actually came looking for our Traditional Music Club. Never seen that before.”

“How is he going to make a traditional music-related rhythm game? Is he going to put in a bunch of tutorial videos and have players learn to play the guzheng?”

“Stop joking, who has time to learn to play an instrument in a game.”

A girl raised her hand and said, “Senior Sister, I’ve never made a game before, it sounds quite fun. Should we give it a try?”

Yan Ke thought the same. She didn’t understand game code, but selecting and recording tracks wasn’t difficult for her.

On her personal Weibo page, she frequently posted some recorded songs, rearranging pop songs into pipa versions and playing them—this was one of her hobbies.

She had never been exposed to game production before, but since a schoolmate came knocking to ask for help, it was worth a try. Giving it a shot wouldn’t hurt anyway; she could just treat it as enriching her university experience.

Yan Ke made up her mind and said with a smile, “Then let’s give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll retreat promptly.”

She sent Xie Yunfan a message: “Hello Classmate Xie, we are willing to participate in your graduation project. You can detail exactly what we need to do, since we are all laymen after all.”

Receiving the message, Xie Yunfan finally breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s great. I will clearly explain the requirements to you. Let me pull you into the group first.”

Yan Ke’s avatar was a 2D anime character with a bun. Xie Yunfan pulled her into the Graduation Project Squad’s group chat.

“Welcome to the president of the Traditional Music Club, Classmate Yan Ke [Applause].”

Everyone lined up to send clapping welcome emojis.

Ji Yan was shocked.

Xie Yunfan actually ran to the Traditional Music Club to find someone? He simply possessed extreme socially fearless energy; he could even pull someone in after running to an unfamiliar club!

“Hello everyone.” Yan Ke sent a smiley face.

“The team is complete. Tonight at 8 PM on the second floor of the Moon Lake Cafeteria, I’ll treat everyone to a late-night snack, and we’ll have a meeting to discuss the detailed division of labor in passing.”

“Your efficiency is so high,” Yan Ke said in surprise. “We’re starting already?”

“Yunfan, is your planning proposal already written?” Zhou Shiyue was also very surprised. She had thought they would slowly write the planning proposal, why were they directly dividing the labor?

“It’s already written,” Xie Yunfan said. “See you at 8 PM.”

Ji Yan and the two roommates looked at each other in dismay.

Xie Yunfan was truly decisive and swift. It had only been a short two days since he proposed doing the graduation project together, and he had already assembled a full team and was holding a meeting to arrange tasks?

Ji Yan guessed: “Did he run off somewhere for further study during the semester he disappeared? Why does it feel like he suddenly became so formidable.”

Zhang Zizheng asked: “Don’t you know where he went for the past half year?”

Ji Yan said with a bitter face: “He only said he went to the Imperial Capital for the past half year to participate in some game project. I don’t know the specifics either.”

Xu Kairan said mysteriously: “Perhaps he met an industry big shot in the Imperial Capital and interned on some game project for a period of time?”

The three of them exchanged glances and finally reached a conclusion—

During the half-year Xie Yunfan took a leave of absence, he received guidance from a master in the Imperial Capital. Therefore, he had so much confidence in game design.

Who was that master? Everyone was extremely curious.

---

At 7:30 PM, Rong City University, second floor of Moon Lake Cafeteria.

This cafeteria had a very good view, with the school’s artificial lake right outside the window. Therefore, many student unions, clubs, and class committees liked to come here to discuss matters while having late-night snacks.

Xie Yunfan arrived here early to wait for his team members.

He surprisingly discovered that several classmates from his class were also holding a meeting here tonight; it was the team formed by the class monitor, Liao Meng.

Upon seeing Xie Yunfan, those few people suddenly stopped their discussion. They lowered their voices and acted sneakily, as if they were conspiring some big event.

Were they afraid he would eavesdrop?

Xie Yunfan smiled lightly, hugged his laptop, and sat further away.

This was a corner of the cafeteria with no one around. Xie Yunfan opened his laptop and typed rapidly on the keyboard.

He had WeChat open and was chatting with Ning Sha: “Sister Sha, when is the earliest you’ll return to Rong City? I’ll arrange accommodation for you in advance.”

Ning Sha: “I’m handing over my work for the next few days. After I finish the handover tomorrow, I want to go home and pack my luggage first. Is it okay if I go to Rong City the day after tomorrow?”

Xie Yunfan: “No problem. How is the situation on Chu Yue’s end?”

“He’s still drawing the scene art for the Mount Baodu Ghost Village. It’ll probably take him about a week longer than me to finish the handover.”

Ning Sha had long decided to follow Xie Yunfan and work together.

A boss like Xie Yunfan, who handled matters cleanly, organized work methodically, and had a good temper and was easy to get along with, was practically going extinct. Compared to the boss of her previous company, it was like the difference between clouds and mud.

Although being a freelance artist was very sweet, working under an impressive boss with a stable income and year-end bonuses… was even sweeter.

Xie Yunfan said: “The day after tomorrow, I’ll send someone to pick you up at the airport. I also have a mini-game here that needs you to help draw a few characters.”

Ning Sha asked curiously: “Boss, what kind of game is it this time?”

Xie Yunfan said: “A casual rhythm game. Endowing instruments like the guzheng and pipa with souls, and based on the characteristics of the different instruments, drawing characters that match their traits.”

Ning Sha was startled. Instrument anthropomorphism? It sounded quite interesting. She typed: “Okay, send me the settings later, I’ll look for some inspiration.”

Xie Yunfan: “Mhm, we’ll talk when you return to Rong City.”

Right at this moment, the three roommates arrived together. Xie Yunfan closed the chat window and waved at them: “Over here.”

Ji Yan stealthily glanced at the group of classmates in the distance, walked over quickly, and whispered in Xie Yunfan’s ear: “Damn, Liao Meng’s team is also here. Being all mysterious, I wonder what game they’re making.”

Xie Yunfan smiled: “Don’t worry about others.” He pointed at the cafeteria window, “Grab whatever you want to eat, take a bit more, it’s my treat tonight.”

Ji Yan was a foodie. Hearing this, he immediately grabbed a tray to pick out food. The other two roommates also followed to get food.

When the three of them came back holding their trays, Zhou Shiyue and Yan Ke had also arrived.

The time was exactly 8 PM.

Xie Yunfan greeted everyone to sit down: “Eat first, I’ll talk to you guys about the design concept of this game in a bit.”

This was Yan Ke’s first time participating in a game planning team, and she was extremely curious. She sat opposite Xie Yunfan, ate a bowl of rice noodles, and then wiped her mouth clean, waiting to listen.

Zhou Shiyue only ate two pieces of pastry.

Ji Yan ate very happily—a chicken leg and many grilled meat skewers. No wonder he was chubby; he clearly didn’t care about weight loss issues.

Xie Yunfan didn’t eat. His gaze was constantly fixed on the laptop screen, occasionally frowning slightly and occasionally typing rapidly on the keyboard, looking incredibly focused.

Yan Ke sneaked a glance at him and found that this classmate was actually quite handsome when working seriously!

After everyone was full, Xie Yunfan finally distributed a stack of printed materials to the crowd: “This is the preliminary planning proposal. Take a look first.”

Ji Yan looked at the planning proposal and immediately widened his eyes—

The planning proposal Xie Yunfan wrote was clear and detailed. If submitted as an assignment, the professor would definitely have to give it an A+.

He remembered how Xie Yunfan used to frequently copy his homework and skip class at every turn. He hadn’t expected that after not seeing him for half a year, his level would improve so rapidly; it truly made one look at him in a new light.

Ji Yan became even more steadfast in his guess that “Xie Yunfan had guidance from a master.”

Yan Ke… didn’t understand it, but felt it was awesome anyway.

Zhou Shiyue said, “The game is called Soul of Music, instrument anthropomorphism, endowing each instrument with a unique story, and having players clear levels to collect instrument character codex entries—it’s quite novel.”

What she cared about most when playing games was the plot. Xie Yunfan’s idea of “endowing instruments with souls” truly made her eyes light up.

Zhang Zizheng, who had played many games, couldn’t help but praise: “Current rhythm games don’t have the design of instrument anthropomorphism, let alone traditional music, which almost no one makes. Our design is innovative enough, passing the review should be no problem, right?”

Xie Yunfan said, “Our game must not only innovate in design but also have some changes in gameplay. Traditional rhythm games mostly follow the rhythm of the music by pressing directional arrows or light circles.”

“We are taking traditional music as the theme and integrating the characteristics of the instruments into the operating interface. For example, the guqin has seven strings. When the player plays a guqin track, the operating interface will be designed to look like a guqin. The notes will appear on the strings, and the player will need to collect various long and short notes according to the rhythm of the music.”

“If you keep up with the rhythm, it will feel as smooth and satisfying as truly playing the instrument.”

“We will call all the notes ‘Music Soul Fragments’. Collecting a certain amount of fragments can be redeemed for instrument codex entries, unlocking the instrument’s initial story.”

“When the proficiency of each instrument reaches a certain level, it can unlock the next stage of the story and higher-difficulty music tracks.”

“I plan to make ten kinds of instruments, including the guqin, guzheng, pipa, yangqin, bamboo flute, dongxiao, konghou, bianzhong, erhu, and suona. Every instrument will have its unique character image.”

“In the beginner stage at the start, we’ll give players some simple tunes to let them familiarize themselves with common instruments; in the mid-game, more instruments will appear; and in the late-game when the difficulty increases, we can release some ensemble tracks.”

“The early game will be single-player. For the ensemble tracks in the mid-to-late game, players can play an ensemble with the system by themselves, or share it with friends to play an online ensemble together.”

“We can solve the two-player online ensemble tracks via local sharing. Good friends playing harder levels together will give a greater sense of achievement when clearing the level.”

Everyone: “…”

A rhythm game with ensembles? This had not yet appeared on the market. Moreover, this game encompassed 10 kinds of traditional instruments, and even the suona was brought onto the battlefield.

Once the sound effects of the suona came out, it would definitely make players’ scalps tingle.

The more Yan Ke listened, the more excited she became: “This game won’t just let more people familiarize themselves with these niche instruments, it can also promote traditional music, right? Maybe some players, after playing the game, will develop an interest in traditional music and go learn an instrument!”

Xie Yunfan said, “Yes. My original intention in making this game is also to promote traditional ethnic instruments. To let more people understand these instruments.”

Hearing this, the few of them felt somewhat excited in their hearts.

They originally thought what Xie Yunfan wanted to make was just a niche rhythm game, but after hearing his description, everyone suddenly felt…

This game might actually become popular!

Who said graduation projects had to be done perfunctorily?

The school making design department students do graduation project works wasn’t just to pass a review, but to let students unleash their imaginations and make a fun original game, providing a satisfactory conclusion to their four years of university learning experience.

Unfortunately, many students perfunctorily approached it with a “just complete the task” mentality.

Xie Yunfan was completely different.

He could come up with so many interesting ideas for a simple rhythm game!

Traditional music was indeed niche, but there were also many beautiful music pieces. By adapting them and turning them into music with a strong rhythm, players could collect notes. The collected notes could be exchanged for instrument character codex entries, unlocking the stories behind the instruments.

For collectors, playing the game wouldn’t be so dull. Some completionist players might even spend a massive amount of time beating this game just to collect all the instrument codex entries and stories.

Xie Yunfan said, “Next, let’s divide the labor.”

He looked at Zhou Shiyue: “Shiyue will be responsible for all the story scripts. Suppose instruments had souls; they accompanied different masters and witnessed different stories. Use this as a starting point to write the plots.”

“I’ll give you a few story outlines as references, like the story of the main characters Boya and Ziqi from the famous tune High Mountains and Flowing Water, and the story of Three Variations on the Yang Pass Theme, etc.”

“Does the style of the stories need to be unified?” Zhou Shiyue asked.

“No need to unify them,” Xie Yunfan said. “Different instruments give people different feelings. Later, go to the Traditional Music Club with Yan Ke and listen to her selected tracks, then see which tunes are suitable for weaving into stories.”

“Okay, I’ll look for inspiration.”

“Yan Ke is responsible for track selection and arrangement. Choose classic pieces with a relatively strong rhythm. For those very long music pieces, you can extract a certain section of them. Keep the duration of each song under 3 minutes.”

“Understood!” Yan Ke paused and asked seriously, “There are simple pieces and exceptionally difficult ones. Should I submit them to you according to different difficulties?”

“Exactly. Simple, medium, and ultra-high difficulty—divide them into these three categories to submit. It’s best to choose music with open copyrights. Once the track selection is confirmed, we’ll find a recording studio to record them.”

“No problem!” Yan Ke said straightforwardly. “I’ll select 10 songs first. Recording songs also takes time, let’s take it step by step.”

“Mhm. For the specific level design…” Xie Yunfan looked at Ji Yan, “A-Yan, how many stages to clear to unlock the plot, what rewards each stage drops, the ratio of fragments for redeeming instrument codex entries—all of these will be handed over to you.”

“Okay!” Ji Yan nodded excitedly.

Xie Yunfan looked at Xu Kairan and said, “The UI of the operating interface and the note combo special effects, these will be handed over to Kairan.”

Xu Kairan: “Okay.”

As for the last remaining Zhang Zizheng, his hand speed was very fast, and his gaming experience was exceptionally rich. Xie Yunfan said, “Ah-Zheng is responsible for game testing. In the early stages, when the game hasn’t been made yet, you can first help Yan Ke record the music. On my end, every time I produce a song, I’ll hand it over to you for repeated testing.”

Zhang Zizheng said excitedly: “I’m good at this!”

Xie Yunfan smiled slightly: “This is the division of labor for now. I will write the main framework of the game. We’ll have a meetup meeting next Friday night to report on our respective progress. I hope everyone completes their work on time. If there is anything you don’t understand, contact me anytime.”

He paused and said, “Later I will post an agreement in the group for everyone to sign. The game will definitely involve issues like profitability, creative ideas, and copyrights. Let’s agree on this in advance so there won’t be any unclear disputes in the later stages.”

Listening to his calm voice, everyone felt deeply moved.

Xie Yunfan’s arrangements perfectly combined everyone’s strengths, letting everyone do the work they excelled at.

At first, Ji Yan and the others still felt that this game project was very likely to have a difficult birth. They were just carrying a “give it a try” attitude in doing the graduation project with Xie Yunfan.

But today, the first meeting… Xie Yunfan’s clear line of thought and reasonable division of labor suddenly multiplied their confidence!

Xie Yunfan wasn’t just playing around; he was going to seriously make a game.

With such a chief planner guarding the pass, Soul of Music would definitely be successfully made!