Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 417: So wise and so close to a demon
So, which of these three points does Night Spirit achieve?
It can be said that it failed to achieve any of these. Let's start with the plot and immersion. Although at first glance, the main plot of "Night Spirit" is the same as that of "Final Battlefront".

The first chapter of "Final Front" is a siege by omnics, in which players launch an attack; the first chapter of "Night Spirit" is a siege by zombies, in which players lead a girl armed with melee weapons in a charge.

To enhance the sense of immersion, Tencent even used animation in the prologue.

Even this easiest part to copy, "Night Spirit" didn't copy correctly.

On the one hand, there is a problem with the world setting of "Night Spirit", since the background is a magical medieval period.

Since there was no position of commander, Tencent made the protagonist the "Special Operations Team Captain".

Without the Earth Federation, Tencent added an "Olympic Empire".

In Final Frontline, the commander has a clear superior, so in Night Spirit, a lord is also created.

Every setting in "Final Front" and every NPC that appears in "Final Front" can be found in "Night Spirit".

This is Tencent's unique feature.
The problem is that the world of Night Spirit is set in a magical medieval period, so the relationships between NPCs cannot be the same as in Final Frontier.

Give the simplest example.

The commander's superior is the Federation Commander-in-Chief, while in Night Spirit, the superior is the Lord.

This seemingly insignificant setting makes the whole plot of "Night Spirit" feel very strange.

During the first test, Tencent, in order to create a sense of novelty and also to avoid "overdoing the plagiarism,"

This lord is portrayed as a greasy, stupid, and mean-spirited villain. In the story, his role is to force players to go to larger areas.

To put it bluntly, he's just a tool.

This type of character is quite common in traditional film and television dramas, but in the second game, the appearance of this type of character is very annoying.

Not to mention, in order to portray the evil of this character, there is a classic scene in the story where the lord harasses the female members of the main character group during his appearance.

Actually, at this point, anyone with a bit of copywriting knowledge would know that the person who wrote this script was 100% a former employee of the film and television industry. After all, many of the top-tier copywriters for the second-generation games in my previous life also came from the film and television industry.

These people, you could say they have absolutely no professional ethics.

Actually that's not right either.

But to say they can handle game scriptwriting is a bit of a stretch. For example, the plot I just mentioned could be used in any movie or TV show.

It's perfectly normal for the protagonist to endure humiliation and hardship.

The problem is, this is a game, and the player's sense of immersion in the protagonist is completely different.

For the Night Spirit project team.

The only good news is that Tencent values ​​data highly, so some beta testers suggested that the lord's interactions with the female characters in the main character group might be a form of NTR (Netorare) with the protagonist.

The production team removed the scene where the lord flirted with the female members of the main character group.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly, however, in Chu Chen's view, the biggest problem with this character was that the character should never have existed in the first place.

Just like the famous "spiritual travel" in his previous life, Raymond in "Exiled 2".

Due to space limitations, I won't go into detail here. In short, Raymond in "Exiled 2" is a typical example of a character who shouldn't exist at all, not one that needs to be changed.

The mere presence of this character in "Night Spirit" makes one feel uncomfortable.

In Final Frontline, for whom do players fight? For the survival of human civilization, for the fallen comrades, and for the homeland that needs to be protected.

Players' battles are valuable and meaningful. But in *Night Spirit*, the game tells you right from the start that you're fighting for a stupid lord.

There are many similar plot holes that arise from blindly applying existing settings.

Aside from the storyline, the so-called 'smoother action system' and 'more strategic combat design' are actually nothing more than adding a few more monster attack patterns and a few more classes that require real money to obtain.

This level of optimization might be somewhat appealing to players who haven't played "Final Frontline".

But for core players attracted by the slogan "the student surpasses the master"
"So what you need to do is not to engage in a war of words with them, but to go back to your studio and tell your team to just execute the plan."

"Of course, you can also say so in an interview, and complain about your troubles."

"Want to complain?"

Chu Chen's lips curled up. Tencent wanted to engage in competitive marketing, but why did Azur Lane have to go head-to-head with them?
"Don't you find the story of a small factory, initially underestimated by everyone, but ultimately achieving a comeback under the pressure of a giant like Tencent, very appealing?"

Fishball nodded, then shook his head.

To be honest, he still didn't quite understand, but this time Chu Chen didn't explain further and just waved his hand.

Although there was still one thing she didn't quite understand, as Yuwan stepped outside, she felt that the gloomy mood she had when she arrived had indeed been swept away.

After he left, the other people in the office also left Chu Chen's office one after another.

As the group walked out, Guan Lei, who hadn't said much, suddenly started talking to Jiao Xiaofei next to him.

"Don't you think President Chen is getting more and more impressive?"

Jiao Xiaofei was stunned by Guan Lei's abrupt question.

"What do you mean? Hasn't President Chen always been this capable?"

Anyone who has communicated with Chu Chen, regardless of anything else, will understand the importance of game development.

Chu Chen has always given people the impression of being very capable, so Jiao Xiaofei couldn't keep up with Guan Lei's train of thought for a moment.

"do not mean that."

As Guan Lei walked, he also organized his thoughts.

"Think about it, Mr. Chen's analysis just now was very reasonable and logically sound. But the problem is, Tencent's publicity campaign has only been going on for a few days?"

"Three days."

Jiao Xiaofei blurted it out.

"Yes, today is the third day."

"If, and I mean if, in ten days or so, 'Night Spirit' really does crash and burn as Mr. Chen said, with its reputation plummeting, while our 'Azur Lane' emerges victorious..."

Guan Lei didn't say anything more, but Jiao Xiaofei already understood what he meant.

Today's meeting may seem ordinary, but the problem is that it is being held just over ten days before the launch of Azur Lane.

Instead of analysis after the launch of Azur Lane
If all of this comes true, then it means that Chu Chen is not analyzing, but making a prediction.

Someone who can accurately predict the fate of a game half a month before its release is beyond the realm of business genius; they are truly almost supernaturally intelligent.

(End of this chapter)