Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 185 Masters in "Clash of Waves"

The fact is that StarTap has launched two super games within a month, with monthly revenue expected to reach 500 million or even 1 billion yuan.

Whether it was pure luck or some kind of miraculous magic, it doesn't matter.

That's the gist of it.

Manufacturers who once held a wait-and-see, skeptical, or even dismissive attitude towards Startap have now undergone a complete change in mindset.

After the initial shock came deep reflection, followed by an irrepressible desire. The platform they once considered a "troublemaker" had now become a magnificent temple in their eyes.

While the entire gaming community was still reeling from the immense impact of Onmyoji and hadn't fully processed this fact...

A new name has quietly begun to appear in everyone's field of vision.

FGO, or more accurately, the remake of FGO, will be officially launched in late October, just a few days away.

However, various promotional campaigns have already begun.

Previously, the news of the game's remake did not cause much of a stir.

While this timeline of FGO was relatively successful in Japan, it wasn't as spectacular as its predecessor.

In addition, it is an IP adaptation game. Although the original work is extremely popular in a small circle, whether it can be accepted by the mass market has always been an unknown.

But now, no one dares to think that way anymore.

October's Star Tap has already demonstrated its ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Are the successes of Honkai Impact 3rd and Onmyoji simply due to the high quality of the games themselves, which happened to be capitalized on by StarTap? Or does StarTap possess some kind of mysterious "hit aura" that can forcefully elevate a game to legendary status?
No one can answer this question.

But everyone knows that the answer is about to be revealed. In late October, the remake of FGO will be officially launched as the final installment of StarTap's "Crazy October" campaign.

Is it to continue the glory, perform a hat trick, and completely establish the new king's status?
Or did it rise to its peak only to decline, ultimately suffering a crushing defeat, thus exposing the fragility of this once-dreamlike rise?
In an instant, all eyes were focused once again.

The enemies of Star Game are praying, praying for FGO to fail.

This time, Tencent and the Hardcore Alliance have joined forces, even though they had just had a heated argument over revenue sharing between Tencent and the Hardcore Alliance.

However, when it comes to targeting FGO, their goals are aligned.

StarTap can't succeed anymore!

Star Tap! We absolutely cannot succeed again!

If StarTap really achieves the goal of having three games succeed in one month.

So regardless of what the future holds, for now, StarTap will directly become the "big brother" of Android game channels, which is something Tencent and the Hardcore Alliance cannot tolerate.

Especially for Tencent, you can succeed in anything else, but you can't succeed in distribution channels.

The meeting room of the Hard Alliance was filled with smoke.

The atmosphere, like Tencent's, was oppressive, like a soaked rag.

"Everyone, what are your thoughts on FGO?"

The man in the lead broke the silence by tapping his fingers on the table.

"Mr. Wang, we've analyzed it."

A project manager adjusted his glasses and opened the PowerPoint presentation.

"The original work is a text adventure game from more than ten years ago. It has a very small audience, a complex world view, and is extremely unfriendly to casual players. The gameplay is a traditional turn-based card game with nothing new."

"In Japan, the data has fluctuated since Hoshino took over."

"Our internal assessment suggests that even if this project is a star project or has been redesigned, it is unlikely to become a hit. It doesn't fit the logic of a blockbuster."

Wang Xuyang nodded, but there was no joy on his face.

“A month ago, the 'Honkai Impact 3' and 'Onmyoji' in your PPT were also illogical.”

The conference room fell silent again.

That's a question you can't answer.

"Alright, let's forget about this data analysis."

Wang Xuyang's voice became stern.

"Since Tencent shares the same idea as us, they've set the launch date for WEGAME on the same day as FGO, which should at least attract some attention..."

"However, that's far from enough. Immediately contact the media outlets and KOLs we're working with and bombard them with these analyses! I want everyone to know that FGO is just a niche, self-indulgent thing, and that the Starfall event is just luck!" "Remember, the media outlets we hire must be professional, objective, and well-researched, making it seem plausible."

"Don't waste your money on those shrewish people who resort to vulgar language."

Even though the Hardcore Alliance had suffered losses due to online trolls not long ago, and had even been summoned by its superiors, it was still facing a life-or-death situation.

They couldn't care less about that anymore.

However, they no longer dared to use those low-level online trolls.

The only option is to go through traditional channels and spend money to hire media.

"In addition, we'll find some self-media outlets to write advertorials saying that StarTap's exclusivity is detrimental to the interests of manufacturers!"

"Why shouldn't manufacturers be allowed to freely choose their distribution channels?"

It's quite interesting that before today, the Hardcore Alliance was wielding the "choose one of two" card, dragging things out for two whole months. Countless manufacturers ultimately gave up on logging into the StarCraft Tap because of their threats.

Now they're raising the issue of "righteousness," trying to get people to shout that "manufacturers have the right to choose their own distribution channels..."

All I can say is that a pen is indeed a valuable tool.

Before the Hardcore Alliance even entered the fray, Tencent's big players had already made their move, with countless "professional analyses" going viral online.

In-depth analysis: Why is FGO considered a high-stakes gamble by Startap?

"Examining the Roots of IP: FGO Cannot Replicate the Success of Onmyoji"

The Twilight of Turn-Based Card Games: Fate's Gameplay Flaws

Why did the art style from ten years ago become so popular throughout Japan?

Do Japanese gamers prefer "old" games? What is FGO really like?

These articles, full of quotations and seemingly promotional material for FGO, actually contain their own agendas and make no mention of the FGO remake.

Instead, they used screenshots from when FGO launched in 15 to promote the game everywhere. They didn't mention the traffic on StarTap, but only focused on criticizing the game itself.

This wave of traffic didn't elicit much reaction from players, but game developers clearly noticed that there were once again skilled players "battling it out" in the "Forbidden City."

Hardcore + Tencent
The propaganda war between the two is quite terrifying.

Moreover, they can influence not only the media, but also some game developers in the industry.

"Hey Zhang, did you see that? That guy called Game Grape also published an analysis article, saying that FGO is unlikely to be popular."

"Do you believe him?"

"Last month they were saying that the art style of Onmyoji was off-putting, but now? These media outlets are like weather vanes, they just go whichever way the wind blows."

"But what if? What if they're right this time?"

What if FGO really fails?

"Once, twice, can it happen a third time?"

Sometimes, people's feelings are really amazing.

It's like flipping a coin. After flipping it twice and getting heads, even if you know the probability of getting heads a third time is still 50%, you still feel that the third time probably won't be heads.

This is why there's a saying that things shouldn't happen more than three times.
The same applies when FGO is released. In theory, whether FGO becomes popular or not has nothing to do with Honkai Impact 3 or Onmyoji.

If these three games weren't associated with Star Tap, everyone could make the correct judgment. But unfortunately, all three games are related to Star Tap.

As a result, inexplicably, most people, even those working in the game industry, were fooled by the Hardcore Alliance and Tencent's big hand.

Let's not even talk about other practitioners.

Even the Hardcore Alliance and Tencent themselves, after the promotion, felt that the Chinese version of FGO was doomed.
"Even Liu Bei couldn't rebuild the Han Dynasty three times, so how could Chu Chen really achieve three victories with one shot?"

Anyway, regardless of whether the analogy is accurate or not, Zhao Ming of WEGAME and Wang Xuyang of Hardcore Alliance definitely have this kind of mentality.

In short, whether you're gritting your teeth and praying that the game called "FGO" will die immediately, instantly, and on the spot.

It's still those who are waiting to see Startap pull off a hat trick.

In the second half of October, the entire Chinese gaming industry held its breath in anticipation.

We want to see what kind of result Starry Sky Games will ultimately deliver.

　I'm experiencing some writer's block, and the following content is quite important, so I'll stop here for today and let me polish it up.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)