"What's going on? Nebula Games actually made an animated series?"
"Wow! I take back everything I said about them being a company that got sidetracked by games. Nebula Games isn't sidetracked at all!"
"And they partnered with WIS? WIS's animated series have been top-notch these past few years, right? How did they end up working with Nebula Games?"
"Ahem, friendly reminder, WIS and Nebula Games aren't in the same league."
"WIS: We didn't want to, but Nebula Games offered too much!"
Players and casual onlookers online were stunned.
Of course, it was pretty much as they suspected. While WIS had indeed gained a reputation in the animation scene recently, they still lagged far behind traditional animation film studios.
Furthermore, producing a high-quality animation requires a massive budget. Even for a company of WIS's current size, investing heavily in a premium animation without guaranteed commercial success wouldn't bankrupt them, but it would definitely be a major blow.
This is where Nebula Games came in, waving its money around. Although WIS was essentially doing the work for them, the payment offered was just too good to refuse!
As players debated, the first season of 'Dragon's Blood' quickly became available on major video streaming sites.
Many players who hadn't paid attention to the news beforehand were drawn in and decided to check it out.
Upon watching, many players actually found it quite good.
Although the plot didn't have the shocking twists and turns of games like Bioshock, it initially presented a traditional adventure story of a dragon slayer and a princess.
However, with the introduction of Lunar Goddess Selemene, Invoker Kael, and Terrorblade the demon, it unfolded into an elaborately planned revenge story. The powerful magic of Invoker Kael, along with his towering abode and its library, immediately reminded many Warcraft players of a certain old wizard: Medivh.
The launch of the first season attracted a significant audience, mainly for two reasons.
First, compared to the original 'Dragon's Blood' from his previous life, since there was no shortage of funds, the script from Lucas was expanded. The original 8 episodes were stretched to 10, including details about the past of the Luna Plains disaster, making the animation much more refined.
At the very least, in terms of visuals and scene presentation, it was absolutely on par with the top tier.
Second, and importantly, since the animation was produced to promote DOTA, it was free to watch, which indirectly boosted its rating.
"This is actually pretty good!"
"Yeah, I'm a bit curious about what happens next."
"But honestly, Kael is a bit annoying. Isn't this just a husband seeking revenge on his ex-wife?"
"Isn't Selemene more annoying? Forcing Kael to worship her, and when her daughter refused, she just let her die. I was cheering when that old hag got beaten up by Terrorblade!"
"No! Don't you see the main issue! Why is Nebula Games, or rather, Boss Lucas, making this animation? It's not like he genuinely wants to fulfill some animation dream, right?"
"Agreed! This is clearly meant to serve a new project, a new game! The setting and world of the animation should be from the game. And characters like Invoker Kael, Davion, and Mirana are clearly major characters in a new title!"
...
As the episodes were released, more and more players focused on the impact of 'Dragon's Blood.'
Judging by the game's background lore, this looks like a full-blown fantasy epic!
After all, it involves gods, demons, and dragons.
Could it be an ARPG?
Many players, including game industry designers, were making such assumptions.
After all, games with such themes are naturally suited for the genre, and Nebula Games has a successful track record with titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
As for an MMORPG, that hadn't even crossed anyone's mind. Given the enduring popularity of World of Warcraft, why would Nebula Games make a suicidal move to compete with itself in the MMORPG space?
However, as more information gradually emerged, it soon caused a huge stir among players and the industry.
Because from the additional details revealed, this game, named 'DOTA,' turned out to be a PC platform game.
What surprised players even more was the rumor that this game was developed from a DOTA RPG map on Warcraft.
This left many players utterly bewildered.
"What's going on? Turning an RPG map into a standalone game? Is it a small game or a minor project?"
"How is that possible!? If it were a small project, why would Nebula Games go to the trouble of making a whole animation to promote it? This kind of treatment is unprecedented for any game, and this one is called 'DOTA'!"
"Looking at the promotional material, it seems to be a multiplayer competitive game with a top-down perspective, so is it an RTS?"
"It probably isn't, right? And it seems to have only one map!"
"What is Lucas even doing?"
Players on various game forums were in an uproar, all expressing their confusion.
Major game companies, especially those with upcoming titles like Atari and FOW, were equally puzzled.
It was unexpected that Nebula Games wasn't releasing a new title on the VR platform, but it wasn't entirely surprising.
After all, despite the industry discussion about PC gaming potentially waning due to VR's rise, the sheer size of the PC user base represented a massive market.
Thus, some bestselling games would receive VR adaptations, with scaled-down graphics and adjusted controls for the PC version, which would then be sold separately.
What truly baffled many was that Nebula Games' new title was adapting a Warcraft RPG map, and they were investing heavily in it.
The idea of turning Warcraft RPG maps into standalone games wasn't unheard of. In fact, many such maps had significant popularity and player bases. The crucial problem was that the content of these maps was typically one to two hours long, or at most five to six hours for the longer ones.
While sufficient as RPG maps within Warcraft, they felt lacking as standalone games.
Moreover, there were often copyright issues. For popular RPG maps turned into standalone games, while there was some profit, they were far from becoming massive hits.
Yet, Lucas was venturing into this territory. The key point was that it wasn't based on Warcraft's existing assets. Nebula Games was even actively trying to distance itself from Warcraft.
The world-building, lore, and characters had no connection to Warcraft, which was particularly intriguing.
Grayson, from FOW's Glory Warrior project team, stared at the different versions of the maps on his computer, deep in thought.
Grayson felt he was unlucky. His first major title, "Lost and Cursed," clashed with the DLC "Blood and Wine" from Nebula Games' "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt." Later, his work on the Wasteland series with Alex faced competition from "The Last of Us."
Yet, in a way, he felt fortunate.
Although he kept getting crushed by the competition, due to scheduling reasons, he never had his own projects ruined.
So, should he risk it again this time?
Grayson was in a state of indecision. Although Nebula Games hadn't revealed much, as FOW, the primary subsidiary under Zeus, they could easily get some information about "DOTA," including insights from employees poached from Atari and FOW, and the maps they worked on.
Looking at these map versions, Grayson could only say that the ideas and creativity were somewhat interesting, but the crucial question was, could this gameplay style be accepted and become popular with players?
If it were any other game company, Grayson would have confidently charged forward. But with Nebula Games, he was unsure.
...
In contrast to Grayson's dilemma at FOW, Lucas at Nebula Games was in a much better mood.
The development progress of "DOTA" was going very smoothly.
Most of the heroes had already been created.
The upcoming promotional plan had also been largely finalized.
The timing was set to be right before the Lunar New Year. A significant detail was that it was the Year of the Monkey, and there was a fitting hero in "DOTA" that could be used for promotion: The Monkey King.
Besides the Monkey King, there was also a very fun hero.
In reality, promoting environmental protection meant no fireworks. But that could be allowed in a game, right?
The three explosive brothers, these would also be among the heroes Lucas planned to release in the initial version of DOTA.
Additionally, beloved heroes by both new and old players like Pudge, Sniper, Invoker, Storm Spirit, and many others were on the list.
(End of this chapter)
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