Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 421 Seven Kingdoms Reach the Top, But Not Tencent
Just like what Xiong Youning said at the opening banquet.

"Right now, all the anime and manga fans on the internet are itching to play them, but can they actually get their hands on them? No, but with our game 'Night Spirit,' you can play it tomorrow!"

"We will win this battle!"

They don't need to beat Azur Lane in tomorrow's promotional campaign; they just need to be the main characters today.

"Server launch countdown: ten, nine, eight..."

"Three, two, one! Server open!"

The moment the Night Spirit server went live, the online player count curve in the background began to rise rapidly, 50,000, 100,000... the numbers jumped rapidly, and soon broke through the 100,000 mark.

"good very good!"

A smile finally appeared on Qi Zhihong's face.

"good very good!"

He waved his hand forcefully, trying to dispel the heavy atmosphere in the office with a loud voice.

"The data is good; the power of our channels is evident! All departments, take note: proceed with the first day of promotion according to the pre-arranged plan!"

"it is good!"

With initial data showing positive results, the operations team immediately sprang into action, quickly producing a report celebrating the launch of the open beta for "Night Spirit," noting that within three minutes of going live, the number of concurrent online players exceeded 100,000.

The news has already appeared in major media outlets.

By continuously releasing positive news, they create a sensation of "the whole internet is buzzing and everyone is flocking to the streets," thereby attracting more casual players to follow suit.

This kind of publicity tactic is actually quite common.

Stars are also frequently used.

However, it is indeed rare for a game like "Night Spirit" to start celebrating with just 10 concurrent viewers.

After all, 10 concurrent users might be a decent number for other companies, but for Tencent, it feels a bit like, "Is that all?"
However, the first poster was sent out quickly.

The poster was released online, and the media went on a whirlwind of hype.

The data for "Night Spirit" continued to climb, and soon it was 11 o'clock.

At this point, an hour had passed since the public beta launch. As planned, the second poster, the celebration poster for reaching the top of the App Store download chart, was ready!
The corresponding reward email address should then be sent out.

These are all things that should be included in the question; without Qi Zhihong saying them, others were already doing them.

Soon, the second poster was also sent out.

The media went on and on about it.

The number of concurrent online players for "Night Spirit" reached 30, and everything seemed to be going in a good direction. However, this relaxed and positive atmosphere lasted for less than ten minutes.

At 11:10, a young man in charge of channel promotion ran over, his face pale and his voice trembling, holding his phone.

"Qi...Brother Qi...something's not right in the comments section!!"

"What's wrong? Did Xingchen hire an online army?"

Upon seeing the report, Qi Zhihong's first reaction was that Xingchen had hired an online army, since they often did such things. However, the young man shook his head.

"No, no, some comments say that we are the best at creating things in the void."

"The first to create something from nothing?"

Qi Zhihong's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason, but he maintained his composure on the surface.

He took the phone, and the first thing he saw was a peaceful sea of ​​comments under his own company's official Weibo account: "Congratulations," "Support," and "Downloaded."

"Isn't this quite normal?"

"No, Brother Qi, please scroll down or click on the comments section to see the live updates!" The young man was clearly in a hurry and shoved the phone back into his hand.

Qi Zhihong frowned and swiped his finger down on the screen. The official Weibo account posted at 11:00 AM, celebrating reaching the top of the free app charts.

The first hundred or so comments were indeed a mix of paid commenters and real fans, creating a seemingly peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.

But as you go further down, the tone of the comments section becomes strange.

"Reached number one? Which dimension is number one? I just came out of the App Store, isn't number one that's called 'Azur Lane'?"

"Hilarious! Tencent is redefining number one, huh?"

Below the comments, there are occasionally screenshots showing that Azur Lane is consistently ranked number one on Apple's free app chart.

"what's the situation!?"

Qi Zhihong's mind went blank for a moment. He took out his phone and quickly opened the App Store.

The rankings have been updated.

First place: Azur Lane.

Second place: Night Spirit.

Absolutely true.

"what happened!?"

He practically yelled it out, and the previously relaxed atmosphere in the office instantly froze, drawing everyone's attention.

"Where's the PR? Where's the operations? When we released the posters just now, we were number one all day, weren't we?! How did we disappear in the blink of an eye?!"

The person in charge of channel promotion ran over, sweating profusely, looking even worse than Qi Zhihong.

"Mr. Qi, when we released the poster, we were indeed number one! But just now, Azur Lane's downloads have indeed surged to number one, and we don't know what happened..."

"You don't know what's going on either!?"

Qi Zhihong's voice rose eight octaves.

"Isn't Azur Lane's open beta only tomorrow? Why is it on the list today? What makes it even worthy of being on the list!?"

No one responded to this. They couldn't control Apple's charts, even though today was supposed to be the day "Night Spirit" was released and the day with the most concentrated promotion.

On the one hand, new players are entering the market in large numbers, and players who had previously registered but did not pre-download are also flooding in today, so it is impossible for the download chart to be overtaken.

But reality doesn't offer "what ifs".

At almost the same time, people from the operations department also appeared.

"Brother Qi, the trending topic we bought has been suppressed."

When the employee opened Weibo, the topic of "Night Spirit" being in the public beta was ranked sixth on the trending list, followed by a purple "boiling" character, clearly a result of financial power.

And above it, the fifth one, is none other than...

#Azur Lane Pre-load Available#
And in seventh place is #YixianClimbsToTheTop#
"What's this mess?"

The trending topic "Night Spirit" was sandwiched between these two trending topics "Azur Lane," which looked rather awkward.

At the same time as the launch of Night Spirit, the official Weibo account of Azur Lane posted a long article announcing the final results and providing a detailed explanation of how all participating players shared the prize money and points.

They even created a giant celebratory poster, not to celebrate their own pre-load topping the charts, but to celebrate servers in seven countries and regions around the world simultaneously launching pre-load and simultaneously topping the local download charts!

The poster also included screenshots of people reaching the top from various regions including China, Japan, and South Korea. At the bottom of the poster, a line of small print read: "Thank you for the enthusiasm of commanders around the world. We are not a small company; we have you."

"puff--"

Qi Zhihong felt a sweet taste in his throat and almost spat a mouthful of blood onto the screen.

(End of this chapter)