Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 175 Echo Wall

When the emotions of a million people begin to be released, the player community can form a circle that spreads outward. At this stage, a large number of players who were previously inactive will be quickly attracted in.

If you monitor the backend data for "Final Front" today, you can easily see that with the version update, its daily active users quickly increased from one million to two million, and then to three million.
In addition, the core of the main storyline in version 1.2 is a roller coaster ride that incorporates elements of "feel-good" novels, similar to "The Wandering Earth".

The first half of the story is relatively lighthearted, starting with the player taking the space elevator to the "Jade Plate," mainly highlighting the human marvel of the lunar ring project. Many of the smaller plot points in the middle are used to lay the groundwork for these details.

Then, after landing on the lunar ring, with the second round of explosions, a tense and oppressive atmosphere began to permeate the air.

Further investigation into the base revealed the truth. The closer one got to the center, the more one could sense the dedication and commitment of everyone in their respective roles to protecting the lunar ring and humanity's hope.

For example, there's a scene in the game where the lunar reactor is damaged, and without identifying any danger, a small Russian team leads the way into it.
These stories are so moving.

It's because such situations actually exist in reality; for example, this small team is clearly a tribute to the Soviet firefighters who participated in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
After this period of suppression.

Following closely behind was the much-talked-about "orbital drop" animation, featuring the appearance of 4417 Ina, who carried the second half of version 1.2.

The skeleton is there, and the flesh and blood are there too.

Even if this story isn't a perfect 10, it's at least above average.

Furthermore, the ending animation, with children's voices singing about the jade plate, amplified all the previous experiences once again.
Such a performance ultimately has a very moving effect.

Moreover, this entire long plot is not the kind of mindless, gratuitous action or angst.

When things are going well, they'll tell you why they're going well, like the protagonist stepping onto the landing pod after witnessing so much that has happened, and then simply saying, "This is our duty."

There's no need to explain why they went to their "deaths."

And when they give you the knife, they'll tell you why they're giving it to you.

"Let humanity endure, not perish."

All of this led to an unprecedented surge in popularity for version 1.2 of "Final Front".

When Hu Wen finished the new version and exclaimed "Starry Sky is really awesome", there were millions of other Hu Wens in the world who made similar remarks.

As the second day after the update arrived, discussions about "Final Battlefront" swept across anime-related websites worldwide like a tidal wave, and from there began to spread further.

Yes, this time the phenomenon isn't just happening in China.

When the 1.2 version of "Final Front" was released globally, the same emotional tsunami swept across overseas regions.

Japan was the first to react.

As a country with a highly developed gaming industry and anime culture, Japanese players actually place more emphasis on the storyline when playing anime games.

If you observe carefully, you'll find that Japanese players prioritize "story" when choosing anime-style games.

Leaving aside the success of story-driven games like Fate/Grand Order (FGO), let's take a more direct example: Heaven Burns Red.

The biggest selling point of this game is the script written by Jun Maeda, a writer from Key.

After its release in China, the game didn't even make a splash, and its highest ranking was 60th on the Apple App Store.

However, this game topped the Japanese best-selling charts three times in six months after its release. Besides Jun Maeda's excellent script, the key reason for this was that Japanese players were able to tolerate the lengthy text that "anti-mobile game logic".

Many Japanese gamers who have continued from the GalGame era place great importance on the game's storyline.

After two iterations, the animated presentation and cinematic storytelling of *Final Battlefront* version 1.2 was a dominant force in the Japanese re-release market.

The most direct manifestation of this is the "Jade Plate" ending animation in version 1.2 of "Final Battlefront".

On the night of the game's release, "Jade Plate" not only topped the list of most viewed videos on Bilibili, but also garnered over a million views on Nico Nico Douga, reaching the number one spot.

By the afternoon of the next day.

On the Chinese internet, some people have started sharing Japanese players' reactions to version 1.2 of "Final Front".

[Confirmed! "Final Battlefront" tops the Japanese App Store download charts and is trending number one on Twitter!]

On Twitter, hashtags related to "Final Battlefront," "Jade Plate," and "Sakamoto Kazuken's Five Seconds" have even surpassed the popularity of the season's hottest new anime.

These trending terms on Japanese Twitter are actually quite interesting. I won't discuss the first two, as the feedback from Japanese players is similar to that from Chinese players.

The other two entries are actually quite interesting.

The entry “Sakamoto Kazuken’s Five Seconds” comes from a Japanese fan-made work.

In fact, after the 1.2 update of "Final Battlefront," similar fan-made content appeared in China. For example, the next morning, a voice actor group created a "recording of the incident."

"Shock wave is approaching in compartment 301. Electronic locks have failed! Our 012 engineer team voluntarily locks the compartment manually. Over!"

"This is compartment 302. We have visually assessed damage to compartment 301. My 056 engineering team..."

"This is compartment 303."

"...421..."

"...642..."

This fan-made video doesn't even have any visuals; it's just a series of alternating audio recordings. But precisely because it lacks visuals, the video garnered hundreds of thousands of views in just one morning, and it continues to climb.

While both works focus on this particular storyline, Japanese fan art doesn't have such a grander perspective.

"Sakamoto Ikken's Five Seconds"

The first half of the entry states that Kazuken Sakamoto was one of many engineers who sacrificed their lives, and he only has one name in the game's storyline.

This is why this term became a trending topic.

It's because ONE, the original manga artist of "One-Punch Man," drew an extremely simple fan art piece on his Twitter account. The plot is roughly about Kazuki Sakamoto becoming his own superhero in those five seconds.
This tweet went viral on Twitter in Japan as soon as it was posted.

On one hand, many Japanese fans of "Final Battlefront" were surprised, exclaiming, "Oh? You play Final Battlefront too?"

On the other hand, this short fan comic does indeed have a strong ONE personal style.

With just a few strokes, the character Kazutake Sakamoto, who only had one name in the original work, came to life. In addition, this was in 2016, and the One-Punch Man anime had just become a huge hit in Japan the previous year.

Just like Liu Cixing's fan base exploded after the huge success of "The Three-Body Problem," ONE's popularity also soared after the anime "One-Punch Man" became a hit.

"Does ONE also play 'Final Battlefront'?!"

"With just a few strokes, he captured the soul of Kazuken Sakamoto; that's what a true manga artist is."

"In those five seconds, he was my own hero, I cried so much..."

In just one afternoon, ONE's tweet was retweeted over 100,000 times and the number of likes was rapidly approaching 300,000.

Kazuken Sakamoto, a name that didn't even have a single line in the game and only appeared on the list of casualties, has become a hero remembered by countless people through this fan-made creation.

Interestingly...
The immense popularity of Final Frontline version 1.2 in Japan echoed back to China.
~~~
It's the third day of version 1.2 of "Final Front".

Wang Xiong, head of the Youth League's new media center, has just finished a three-hour special meeting.

The theme of the meeting was "Promoting the entry of the Youth League into online platforms where young people gather." He recognized every word on the document, but when put together, it always gave him a subtle sense of distance.

He rubbed his temples, returned to his office, and casually opened the app he had just downloaded—the one that had been repeatedly mentioned in the meeting and was the most popular app among young people.

With almost no swiping required, the most popular videos on Bilibili appeared right in front of him.

[Jade plate, jade plate]

[A global phenomenon! "Final Battlefront" tops the charts in Japan and South Korea!]

[A 10,000-word analysis of the Jade Plate Divine Song! Why is it called a song of Chinese civilization?!]

[Cultural export! Japanese gamers go crazy for the "Jade Plate," achieving one million views on Nico Nico Douga!]

[Breaking News Translation: ONE-sensei is also playing Final Frontline? "Sakamoto Kazuken's Five Seconds" goes viral on Twitter!]

(End of this chapter)