Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 384 So that's what I was thinking!

[Beginner tutorial complete]

You have unlocked both Standard and Competitive modes for the "Pseudo-Holy Grail Feast".

You have unlocked more "Pseudo-Holy Grail Feast" challenge scenarios.

After completing the tutorial, Kenji Sato could confirm that this gameplay style was definitely underrated! And that's where it comes in.

The stars also gave Kenji Sato a new surprise.

The surprise is the "Challenge Scenario," which is essentially another way of saying "Tutorial." As a new game, FGO's tutorial covers a lot of material.

For example, how to complete each task, how to use skills, including reasoning skills and lying skills. But if you cram all of these things into the basic tutorial, it will be too bloated.

Starry Sky's approach was to first go through it briefly with animation, then turn the most basic parts into a tutorial, and disguise the rest as a "challenge" script.

People are strange like that. You might suggest letting players continue with the tutorial.

At least half of the 100 players would be unwilling, but if you set it up as a "challenge scenario" and give some rewards, it will feel completely different.

"This game is much more fun than I imagined; it's nothing like Werewolf at all,"

"And this way of playing with Heroic Spirits is really interesting!"

"This tutorial is quite interesting. It actually has voice acting for every NPC, and the lines are quite fitting for their characters."

"This doesn't feel quite like the PVP I imagined? It's not the hardcore hack-and-slash kind?"

"Hey streamer, stop standing there! Start a real-person match already! I can't wait!"

Kenji Sato was somewhat surprised as he looked at the scrolling comments.

Because his live stream usually doesn't have many viewers, and there's rarely such a dense barrage of comments.

Looking at the number of simultaneous users in the upper left corner, it was only a little over 400, a bit more than usual, but not by much. The number of users didn't change much, but the number of comments was increasing like crazy.

This only proves one thing: it wasn't just him who found the game fun; the people watching the video also enjoyed it.

The audience became more active, and Sato's passion was also ignited.

"Let's play a real game right now!"

He took a deep breath and clicked the official matchmaking button for "The Holy Grail of the False Believers". This time, the matchmaking time was a little longer, about ten seconds later, he entered the game room.

On the left are the portraits of 12 Heroic Spirits, and on the right is the church. Players can select a Heroic Spirit from the left, and the selected Heroic Spirit will appear at the round table.

"Huh? So you can choose your own people..."

While Kenji Sato was still sighing, those who acted quickly had already chosen their Heroic Spirits.

~~~
at the same time.

Tokyo, the editorial office of a well-known gaming media outlet, "Game Frontier".

Yukio Takada, a senior review editor at GameFront, stared intently at his computer screen with a serious expression.

His expression didn't suggest he was playing a game.

In fact, he wasn't actually "playing games".

Unlike typical gaming magazines, Game Frontier, a magazine that leans towards industry analysis, focuses more on deconstruction in the work of Yukio Takada.

What he wants to tell readers is not "whether this game is fun or not," but "why the developers did this, and how well they did it."

This is why the magazine "Game Frontier" has been able to survive from the Famicom era to the present day.

Although sales are not as good as before.

However, there is still a core group of fans who ensure the magazine's normal operation. And although sales are not high, the magazine's influence remains, and many well-known figures in the gaming industry use the magazine's arguments online. In fact, some people in China even share these comments.

In some ways, the reason why the magazine "Game Frontier" has survived to this day is similar to Chu Chen's live streams—both are about "dissecting an ox with expert skill."

What players want to see is the process of a master butcher carving up an ox.

Different goals lead to different ways of playing games, compared to the pure player mentality of Kenji Sato who dives headfirst into the game.

After entering the game room, Yukio Takada frowned slightly, the mouse pointer slowly gliding over the portraits of the various Heroic Spirits, his brain working at lightning speed as he pondered a question.

Why is it a self-selected role, instead of a randomly assigned one?

This question sounds silly.

However, it touches on the underlying logic of the game.

In traditional "Werewolf" games, the roles players play are completely randomized to ensure absolute fairness and information asymmetry.

However, in this mode, the game allows players to freely choose which Heroic Spirit to play as. Although there are only 12 Heroic Spirits to choose from, this approach is indeed quite unusual.

If we start by analyzing it from the most basic level, the primary purpose of allowing players to freely choose their Servants is definitely a commercial consideration.

As a game that focuses on characters as its core selling point, FGO allows players to choose their own characters, meaning that each Servant could potentially become a player's "frequently used hero".

Once something is used frequently, a sense of belonging develops; with a sense of belonging, the desire to consume will naturally follow.

It is foreseeable that in the near future, StarCraft will definitely release all kinds of skins, accessories, and even exclusive knockback animations for these heroic spirits.

But if it's just for selling skins, then that would be underestimating Starcraft.

In particular, Yukio Takada had just played the tutorial level, and he could generally tell that this mode was interesting, based on this inference.

When writing this article, this "anatomical" article should lean towards the "hype" part.

In this way, simply selling skins is clearly not enough to create a buzz or generate enough traffic.

So soon, Yukio Takada started looking for nails with a hammer.

"I see... A role is not the same as an identity."

He opened the game's built-in rules description and focused his attention on the "Faction Assignment" section.

[Faction Assignment: At the start of the game, the system will randomly assign each participant to one of the following classes: 'Heroic Spirit,' 'Pseudo-Servant,' 'Survivor,' or 'Evil Spirit.' The Servant you choose will only serve as your avatar for this game.]

This sentence is the core of the entire design.

Simply put, because the game only has factions and no identities, it gives players the space to choose their own heroes.

For example, Joan of Arc can be a good person, a werewolf, or a traitor. Players can choose a character, but they cannot choose their in-game identity.

Therefore, even if a player chooses Joan of Arc every single time.

It does not affect the normal reasoning in the game.

On the contrary, the more you play, the better you know how to speak and how to use your skills, and your skill level will improve.

Business considerations, game depth, player engagement...

Starry Sky uses a seemingly simple "separation of character identities" design to perfectly connect these three core elements, making it a seamless and artistic creation!
Yukio Takada's eyes shone with an astonishing light, and his writing flowed like a divine inspiration!

It's as if I can already see my own headline on the front page of the next issue of the magazine.

The only problem might be that even Chu Chen would nod and say, "So that's what I was thinking!" after reading what he wrote.

(End of this chapter)