Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 252 Chu Chen, you old thief!

Considering the nearly 4000 million monthly active players worldwide of "Final Front," the monthly subscription payment rate is not high. If Tencent were to analyze this...
This is definitely because StarCraft gave out too many "free" coupons. Honkai Impact 3rd next door has 2000 million monthly active users, and its monthly card revenue is almost the same as your 4000 million monthly active users. Aren't you ashamed?
But still the same sentence.

Chu Chen didn't feel ashamed because he thought the paid user ratio was healthy. Honkai Impact 3rd's monthly active users had been declining slowly since its peak of 2000 million last year.

However, the number of monthly active users of "Final Front" has remained stable for almost half a year after reaching its peak in October and November of last year.

In short, this is a comparison between long-term and short-term returns.

Besides "fleecing" monthly pass players, the second key focus of this model is mid-level spenders.

Because the unit price of in-game purchases in "Final Frontline" is low, if you really encounter this kind of limbo situation, you can grit your teeth and spend two or three hundred yuan, which is enough to get you on track after 200 pulls.

The expected return is proportional to the effort put in.

In the game "Final Battlefront," a significant number of players are willing to spend a hundred or two hundred yuan to max out the constellation of their favorite character, given that a character is guaranteed to be a pity after 50 pulls and each pull costs 3 yuan.

For heavy spenders, the burden is much lighter. Even with skins, rings, and other items, they only need to spend around two thousand yuan to complete each version.

Overall.

This model sacrifices the upper limit for heavy spenders and reduces the enthusiasm of ordinary players for paying for a "monthly card".

It doesn't make you "big money," but it strikes a delicate balance, allowing free-to-play, mid-level spenders, and heavy spenders to all have a decent experience.

Moreover, it's not like you can't make a lot of money every time.

For example, when a popular character in a game gets a special promotion, the advantage of having a large user base often results in an unimaginable surge in revenue.

Because the barrier to entry for paying is low, some "free-to-play" players may still make one or two purchases on the most popular characters.

Just like this time.

Final Front: Origins uses the scale of a "mini" single-player game to create an A-017, along with character illustrations and a "reverse coupon" mode.

The 60 yuan coupon that 500 million people have given back seems like a lot, but in reality, it's not much. You can only do 20 gacha pulls, and if you want to guarantee a minimum number of pulls, you have to spend the money for another 30 pulls.

Even if you buy a skin, 60 yuan isn't enough; you'll have to pay more.

However... this kind of "mindset" of paying extra is different, because if you don't use this 60 yuan coupon, you're literally losing 60 yuan!
You've already bought the game, and I've given you the coupons.

Don't you need it?

Moreover, the gacha pulls in A-017 are far from over. Chu Chen will make those players who clear the stage and obtain 60 no-threshold tickets truly understand what "malicious" intentions mean.

What does it mean to say, "Go, tell him you like him, and ask him to spend another 800?"

After the players finally managed to "return" A-017 to their base, a brand new pop-up window appeared.

[New Doll with Oath-Forming Capability Added: A-017]

是 的
When all players obtain A-017, the character is automatically at full affection level. Of course, given the storyline, why would players need to pursue their childhood sweetheart?

Isn't it normal to lose money?
Okay, the first question right now is, are you going to buy the A-017 wedding ring or not?
In addition, three brand-new Live2D animated skins have been quietly launched in the store.

【Pure White Promise】【A-017 Anniversary Limited Edition Dress】

The moment I opened the skin preview.

All players who completed "Final Front: Origins" felt their hearts skip a beat.

In the picture, A-017 has shed its cold combat exoskeleton and put on a pure white strapless dress.

Her long, silvery-white hair was carefully styled and adorned with a few delicate blue flowers. A faint blush appeared on her face, which always carried a cool or resolute air. Her eyes sparkled with a shyness that could melt anyone's heart.

This outfit...

The players remembered it almost immediately.

Isn't this the same outfit A-017 wore when she sent "herself" to school at the end of the story?
At the time, everyone was amazed by it through the screen. Now, it has been released as a Live2D dynamic skin and has been labeled as an "anniversary limited edition" and "oath".

The meaning is quite clear: that old scoundrel Chu Chen is about to rip the players' faces off!

Next up is the second skin.

【Maid's Heart】【A-017 Exclusive Skin】

This skin has a completely different style. A-017 is wearing a classic black and white maid outfit with a skirt that only reaches her knees and cute ruffled hair accessories.

In the animation, she bows slightly, making a standard maid's bow, then raises her head, her eyes filled with a hint of cunning and a smile.

This outfit also has a backstory: when the player was in junior high school, the Commander kept pestering A-017 to wear a maid outfit, and A-017 eventually gave in.

This fulfilled the wish of the "Little Chef" commander.

She changed into a maid outfit.

Don't say it, really don't say it.

The maid outfit itself was quite ordinary, but once the background setting was revealed, the feeling was instantly brought to life.

Following the tradition of StarCraft Games' premium skins having storylines, the storyline for this maid skin will definitely be about "teasing the little chef" commander!!!
Wow, just thinking about it makes me pretty excited.

Before players could even recover from their memories, the preview images of the third skin dealt them a fatal blow.

【Love Blossoms】【A-017 Exclusive Skin】 This is a very casual-looking girl's outfit, a light pink dress with a white knitted cardigan over it.

A-017 let down her long hair, which was tied up in a bun, and simply tied it back with a hairband. She held a teddy bear and stood there somewhat awkwardly, her eyes darting away, not daring to look directly at the player in front of the screen.

According to the skin description, this is an outfit that A-017 secretly bought when she was in high school and suddenly no longer wanted to be just the player's "little sister" or "maid".

She wanted to stand before him as a "girl," a feeling that had quietly sprouted within her but which she dared not even utter aloud.

Three skins, three memories, three completely different feelings of excitement.

The players looked at the store interface, then at the lone 60 yuan coupon in their inventory, and fell silent.

"Grass!"

I don't know who started it by shouting in the forum.

"How the hell am I supposed to choose?!"

"The first outfit looks even prettier than a wedding dress! And it's a limited edition, it would be a huge loss not to buy it! But the maid outfit is my first love after getting into anime!"

"Stop talking, the high school version is the real deal! Who can resist that feeling of unrequited love!"

"Only children make choices, I want them all! ...Wait, my wallet!"

This isn't selling skins; this is outright robbery!
"Star, you have no heart."

A player who had just spent 200 yuan to get all the A-017 skins was speechless when he saw these three skins.

He was just feeling the pinch of spending money on the gacha pulls, but now, he only had one thought in his mind: what's the difference between not buying this skin and marrying a wife but not having a wedding?
"A demon...this must be the whisper of a demon..."

He muttered to himself as his hand trembled as he clicked the buy button.

This scene was playing out simultaneously on the screens of countless players around the world.

The plot development of "Tracing the Origins" is like an extremely long "character advertisement" lasting several hours, no wonder the entire story is so "exhilarating"!

Unlike the main storyline, it sometimes throws in some heartbreaking moments.

Good guy..
The most ridiculous thing is that the people who are willing to spend money to buy the single-player version are exactly the same group of players who are most willing to pay for "Final Front".

After experiencing this part of the story, you will receive another coupon.

Let's return to the main storyline.
This combination of attacks was almost unstoppable, and the results were quite astonishing.

Starting at noon that day, the revenue of "Final Front" began to soar at an extremely terrifying speed, a "rocket curve" that no one could understand.

It ranked number one on the overall best-selling list of the App Store in China.

It ranked number one on the overall best-selling list of the Japanese App Store.

In South Korea, it ranked number one on the overall best-selling list.

Southeast Asian countries are number one! In the Asian market, "Final Front" almost swept through the charts with overwhelming force, and what shocked the industry even more was that this time, the storm even swept into distant Europe and America.

Prior to this, The Final Front had not performed well in Europe and America.

Although it has accumulated a core fan base through its excellent quality and conscientious operation, it has never been able to break into the top of the best-selling list, usually hovering outside the top 20.

However, this time.

It's ranked #6 on the US App Store top-grossing chart!
7th in the UK!
Germany, 8th place!
France region, 6th place!
This marks the first time since its release that "Final Front" has broken into the top ten of the best-selling charts in major European and American markets!
This surge in sales on the bestseller lists in Europe and America was something even Chu Chen hadn't anticipated.

Judging from the player online curve, the number of overseas players for "Final Front" has increased somewhat compared to previous versions for this anniversary update.

However, there wasn't much growth.

However, the strategy of using single-player games to create characters is actually very effective against Western players, as many Western players usually only play PVP in Final Frontier.

Because they skipped all the scenes.

Some don't even play PvE.

However, they have a completely different understanding of single-player games, and coupled with the previous success of "Final Survival Guide," many Western players also bought "Final Front: Origins."

The mindset of single-player gamers when playing through the story is completely different from that of free-to-play online gamers.

Because the storyline in single-player games is "purchased" with money.

So, unless the plot is truly awful, people will at least glance at it. And it's precisely because of that one glance that they end up spending all their coupons and then returning to *Final Battlefront*.

The "medicinal effect" came on immediately.

Countless industry insiders stared in disbelief at the bizarre chart curve.

It's not that I'm surprised that "Final Battlefront" topped the charts in Asia, but rather that I'm not quite sure how so many Western players suddenly started paying for it.

They couldn't understand how a two-dimensional game could make Western gamers, who were not usually interested in "waifus," willingly open their wallets.
Perhaps, as a highly upvoted comment from a North American gamer on Reddit put it:

"I'm not paying for a bunch of data, I'm buying a beautiful wedding dress for my girlfriend."

(End of this chapter)