Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 420 Don't panic!
Music and parody sections, along with a ton of fan-made content, started appearing.

This kind of officially guided fan creation only appeared in large quantities in the past, around the time of "Genshin Impact" and "The Tide of Time". After all, to create fan creations, you either need passion, money, or traffic.

Without these things, relying solely on passion for creative works won't last long. The previous Touhou Project was a clear example; even with the popularity of Touhou, it couldn't sustain the production of fan fiction.

Other IPs will naturally have a similar difficulty.

Therefore, in later generations, official support for secondary creation has basically become the norm.

Of course, if a game is popular enough, even if the support is a little less, there will still be a lot of fan-made content. For example, games like "Final Battlefront" and "FGO" are frequent subjects of fan-made content on Bilibili.

As for games like Azur Lane that haven't been released yet, they basically have to rely on official support.

Moreover, secondary creation alone is not enough.

The lack of viewers for derivative works is a major problem. To address this issue, Azur Lane has partnered with Bilibili to launch the "Mirror Incentive" campaign.

Simply put, if a fan-made video that you've watched and saved appears in the final top 10 winning entries, the corresponding player will also receive game points as a reward!

This rule is essentially a way to "boost popularity".

Essentially, it's the same as ordering takeout and getting a cashback reward for positive reviews, except this time it's not about getting a cashback for positive reviews, but rather encouraging players to like, comment, and share after reading.

Incidentally, this also gives the simple act of "watching second-generation creations" the attribute of "horse racing".

Since I've already watched it, I might as well like, comment, and subscribe and add it to my favorites. What if this video makes it into the top 10? I'll just get some free points, right?

The emergence of this event directly led to a rapid increase in the promotional weight of videos related to Azur Lane. Although Azur Lane itself is still a new game, the promotional weight of these videos increased after the event.

It hasn't become particularly exaggerated, but for some exceptionally good derivative works, this rule is a great help.

Of course, the reason why Starry Sky can do this is essentially because of Bilibili's shareholders. Obviously, Bilibili cannot allow all manufacturers to do this.

Appropriate measures can improve the quality of derivative works and increase the activity of anime and manga game players on Bilibili.

If everyone does this, it will distort Bilibili's algorithm.

~~~
"Have they no shame?! Their global marketing campaign has already cost tens of millions! How dare they say they were forced to abandon the campaign because we pushed them too far?"

"Give up my ass! If you really give up on promotion, will I still be able to see these events?!"

Tencent headquarters building, Mill Workshop complex, Night Spirit Studio.

Qi Zhihong was reading an interview with the producer of "Azur Lane" when he was cursing and slamming his fist on the table.

What does it mean to say, "We're a small factory, we don't have the money to burn with Tencent"? What does it mean to say, "Instead of letting distributors make money, let's give it back to the players"?
This makes it sound like Tencent is some kind of bully who exploits players and monopolizes distribution channels, while Star Alliance is a tragic hero forced to fight back and distribute wealth to the people.

Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!
You're telling me a game company that dares to spend tens of millions of dollars and launch global events simultaneously is a "small company"?
What small factory would dare invest so much money in marketing?!

Not to mention, don't you spend money to appear in front of players for these marketing campaigns?!

Damn it! It’s so damned!
Of course, what angered Qi Zhihong the most, or rather, what frightened him the most, was...

The combined effect of this strategy was unexpected.

The first event, "Find Your Favorite Ship Girl," used ten million yuan in cash as an incentive, directly stimulating players' gambling instincts.

People who buy lottery tickets for the first time often experience a subtle sense of excitement.

In essence, Xingchen's event was giving everyone a zero-cost lottery ticket, and bringing in new users would give them an extra chance to win a prize.

Therefore, the speed of fission propagation is quite exaggerated.

The second event, "The First Encounter with Ship Girls," was even more absurd. Tencent also invested in content creators (UPs), but most of the content from *Night Spirit* received only average views. *Azur Lane*'s views were also average to begin with, but then Chu Chen created an event where viewers could earn rewards by watching videos, and suddenly *Azur Lane*'s fan-made content surpassed *Night Spirit*'s in viewership.

Moreover, when he approached Bilibili, wanting to collaborate and organize a similar event.

Bilibili has explicitly stated that this is an internal agreement and is not open to the public.

Fuck you!

What kind of insider are you? It's just because the Chinese version of FGO is making money that Chu Chen has you cornered. I, Tencent, am offering you money, and you don't even dare to accept it. You're such a coward.

This is so frustrating, so incredibly frustrating!
However, after all that cursing, nothing has changed the current situation.

"Brother Qi, what do we do now? Should we follow suit and organize a similar event?"

"and?"

Qi Zhihong rubbed his forehead.

"How can we compete? They can play the victim, but we are Tencent. If we play the victim, people will only think we are hypocritical! If we also launch a money-giving campaign, the approval process is too late now, and the results are not guaranteed."

Many activities cannot be effective simply by following along.

Especially considering that the server launch date of the 17th is so close.

"So, what do we do now?"

Qi Zhihong paused for a moment.

"Don't panic, I'll go find Boss Xiong. The group hasn't used up all the ammunition they gave us yet, and we're a day ahead of them. It's still too early to tell who will win."

~~~
October 17th, the autumn wind was bleak.

A tense atmosphere, like the impending storm, filled the air.

This day marked the official launch of the open beta for "Night Spirit".

Tencent's marketing machine is running at full power like never before.

QQ pop-ups, WeChat ads, splash screen recommendations in major app stores, and front-page headlines in partner media—the entire internet seems to be covered by ads for "Night Spirit."

Even due to Azur Lane's "money-spraying" plan, Night Spirit also joined a "ten million Q coins plan". However, compared to Starry Sky's plan, which directly gives money to players regardless of whether they enter the game, Night Spirit's plan is purely a promotional plan.

Tencent has more restrictions on using Q coins, so the final plan became to allow players to enter the game and reach a certain level to receive Q coins ranging from 1.88 to 18.8 yuan.

Q coins are limited in quantity and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Play games and get 100% guaranteed QQ coins."

Although the event lacked hype, Tencent's distribution channels were still very effective. In its previous life, Girls' Frontline 2 received rave reviews during its closed beta test, and thanks to Tencent's channels, it still achieved 475 million pre-registrations across all platforms.

Although fireworks were set off in the end, it must be said that Tencent's massive channel advantages did give Qi Zhihong courage.

Besides the distribution channels, what Qi Zhihong was extremely grateful for was that when they were doing competitive marketing, Tencent's senior management chose to launch Azur Lane the day before it did.

This is a lifesaver!

If it hadn't gone live a day earlier, Qi Zhihong probably wouldn't be smiling at all right now.

(End of this chapter)