Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

How to use the cutscene in Chapter 192?

Although these characters' stats after the upgrades don't reach the level of being very strong at five stars, their stats are still at a usable level for five stars.

Chu Chen did this in order to gain more fans.

Giving players a desired five-star character as their "waifu" at the start of the game can greatly improve early-game retention and also prevent players from giving up the game simply because they didn't get their favorite character from gacha pulls.

Therefore, the decision to give away five stars in the remake was made a long time ago.

Not only should you give gifts, but you should also give them generously and in a way that surprises people.

In fact, this tactic is quite effective.

For example, right now, Li Mingzhe is looking at the smiling knight on his phone screen, and he has only one thought in his mind.

He's determined to jump into this pit! No one can stop him!

Even if I'm going to quit this game, I should at least raise my wife to a full level first.

Even if this belief doesn't last long—he'll say the same thing to his next wife—that's what Li Mingzhe thinks right now.

After obtaining the new character, with the subsequent guidance, Li Mingzhe drew another four-star character, became familiar with the team formation mode, and then went through two more battles.

A new animation has appeared.

A woman wearing a white Chaldean uniform and with long silver hair is running down the street, followed by a group of skeleton soldiers.

"Ah! I'm so annoyed!"

After saying "This is so annoying," the woman turned around and released a beam of magical light.

However, it was clear that the beam of light had no effect on the skeleton soldiers; in fact, a group of skeleton soldiers, despite having no expression, made mocking "hahaha" noises.
This is Olga Marie, another character with a significant role in the prologue of FGO, who is also the director of Chaldea.

After her appearance, the prologue of FGO gradually unfolds.

Actually, this prologue is not complicated.

The story is roughly about how the Fuyuki Holy Grail War went out of control in 2004, Saber was corrupted by the Holy Grail and turned evil, and the Servants killed by Saber were all corrupted by the black mud.

Caster Cú Chulainn, as a surviving Servant, witnessed the player being attacked by a corrupted Servant. After rescuing the player, both he and the player worked together to stop the corrupted Saber.
The story is clear, and more importantly, the development team added about 20 minutes of animation to the remake of FGO.

These animation presentations are quite different from those in "Final Battlefront".

The animation presentation of "Final Battlefront" tends to be more focused on grand narratives. When animation appears, it is often to showcase "magnificent scenes" or "evoke emotions".

The animation of the FGO remake takes a different approach; its animation is more like a deluxe, dynamic version of a "setting manual".

Aside from the occasional fight scenes showcasing skills, most of the action serves to advance the plot and setting.

Each cut to the animation represents the appearance of a new character and the unfolding of some settings. Basically, any part that might confuse casual players will be presented in the form of animation.

From the explosion at Chaldea in the prologue, to Mash's transformation, and then to Cú Chulainn's appearance, it's all the same.

The production team seemed to be saying...

I know you're too lazy to read the text, and I'm afraid you won't understand it. No problem, we'll just show you.

This approach is a godsend for new players like Li Mingzhe who have only scratched the surface of FATE.

Chu Chen and his team clearly understood the core appeal of the game "FGO" and were also well aware of its biggest obstacle in promotion.

Instead of taking the easy way out by piling up a lot of text, they paved the way for new players in a more costly but also more effective way.

So much so that when Li Mingzhe was playing the prologue, it felt more like watching an interactive animation. This approach undoubtedly greatly stimulated the player's curiosity about "this world" itself.

Once curiosity is aroused...

The biggest advantage of FGO, namely its storyline, is naturally given greater expression.

Another benefit of animated cutscenes is that they encourage players to draw cards.

Anyway, when Li Mingzhe saw Black Saber appear, his first reaction wasn't that the BOSS had arrived, but rather, "Black Saber is so beautiful! I'd definitely want to marry her!"

~~~
The prologue wasn't very long; the fight started at noon and lasted until 2 PM.

Li Mingzhe used his phone to complete the game while in the restroom.

Hey...you're asking why it's in the toilet?

Well, that's because after eating takeout, Li Mingzhe wanted to go to the bathroom, but he didn't want to leave his computer because he wanted to keep playing. So he held it in until he downloaded FGO on his phone.

I went to the toilet and then sat there for twenty minutes.

Finally, the prologue ends.

Li Mingzhe let out a long sigh on the toilet, feeling a little unsatisfied.

This remastered version of FGO is completely different from what he imagined.

There are no annoying red dot notifications, no pop-ups like "Recharge 6 yuan for the first time and get an SSR", it's an immersive single-player adventure from start to finish.

The story presentation is comparable to a well-made theatrical anime film. The battle system is not complicated and is interspersed in the plot in a way that is just right, neither making people feel annoyed nor making them feel more involved.

In particular, the optimization of the battle background and monster models in the new version made him feel no repetition or boredom.

Moreover, it's quite obvious that the prologue's storyline doesn't require a certain level of character progression.

Towards the end of the prologue, you are informed that challenge mode has been activated, and you are told that you must complete challenge mode to proceed to the next chapter.

Li Mingzhe gave it a try, but was quickly overwhelmed by the skeletons he had previously "crushed".
Clearly, the developers are telling players here that it's time to start raising a waifu (wife/wife).

"I've wanted to have a wife for a long time."

~~~
The character development system in the previous version of FGO wasn't entirely devoid of gameplay, but most people who experienced it never wanted to experience it a second time.

There is no sweeping or automatic combat.

The effort put into creating fake materials and promotional activities feels even less effective than simply mass-producing screws on an assembly line.

After such a large number of tedious and time-consuming character progression systems, FGO offers very few gameplay options to relieve the pressure of battle.

Therefore, Chu Chen made some changes to the character development system in FGO.

The core of this change stemmed from a "sharpening theory" he developed himself.

Chu Chen viewed the character development system as "sharpening a knife," and the act of sharpening a knife itself is not fun, just as most character development systems in games are not fun.

So why do players keep going to "sharpen" this knife?
Because when sharpening a knife, players automatically imagine the exhilarating feeling of the knife swiftly slicing through an enemy after sharpening.

This part is about "wielding the knife".

The more enjoyable it is for players to swing their swords, the more motivated they are to sharpen them. And during these swings, they'll collect "sharpening stones," a material used to enhance their swords.

(End of this chapter)