Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 430 The Aftertaste
Monday, April 8th.

Monday is a magical time; theoretically, it's the day with the highest concentration of company gossip during the week.

Who got scolded at the morning meeting? What did your colleagues do over the weekend? Who in the industry got into trouble?
There are many things to "talk about," especially in the gaming industry, but today, in the break rooms of almost every company in the entire Chinese gaming circle, from south to north, the topics are surprisingly consistent.

That's like a star colliding with Tencent, finally producing a result.

From its launch on the 18th to the 21st, Azur Lane's various metrics have soared, briefly dethroning Honor of Kings from its top spot on the best-selling charts in the domestic market.

Although it only lasted a few hours, it was enough to shake the entire industry.

And overseas, especially in Japan.

After its release, Azur Lane immediately topped the charts and then went toe-to-toe with FGO until the FGO variety show aired on the evening of the 19th.

After a new round of promotion, it was pushed down to second place by "FGO".

In contrast, "Night Spirit" is a free fall.

After barely breaking into the top ten of the best-selling charts on its first day of release, it fell out of the top thirty on the second day, and by yesterday, it had completely settled outside the top fifty. The player community was flooded with negative reviews, and the rating continued to decline.

By yesterday, Tencent had already begun to withdraw all promotional activities for "Night Spirit".

The most direct reaction to this decision was that all the players discovered a surprising fact this morning.

"Night Spirit" has "disappeared".

Game media outlets that used to "speak up" for Night Spirit, saying things like "it doesn't deserve this" and "it's still a good game," have stopped making any statements.

All the featured and advertising slots that "Night Spirit" had previously purchased at great expense on video websites and live streaming platforms have disappeared.

Those top content creators and streamers who were promoting "Night Spirit" just two days ago seem to have collectively lost their memory today, playing other games in their live streams.

The latest video makes no mention of the word "Night Spirit".

Even Tencent's own app store and game center, where "Night Spirit" was originally placed at the top, has been quietly moved to an inconspicuous corner.

The whole process was incredibly fast and incredibly quiet.

In fact, Tencent canceling projects is not uncommon, but such decisiveness and speed are indeed rare. Therefore, not to mention the media, even companies like NetEase and Wanmei have expressed their opinions.

The person who was asked to "review how Azur Lane succeeded" on Monday was quite taken aback.

~~~
NetEase, Comprehensive Publicity and Operations Department.

Among the many people asked to "review and study how Xingchen succeeded once again" was Lin Tao.

Actually, he really didn't want to come to the meeting.

Is this kind of review meaningful? Isn't it just like when parents tell their children to learn from the good kids in their class?

Aside from making the "parents" above feel it's useful, it's a complete waste of time.

The most ridiculous thing is that during this "debriefing," the leader gave a very bizarre requirement, saying that the debriefing should include Tencent and that we should find a way to defeat Xingchen.

No, what's there to look for? Ren Chen already said that in an interview.

"Making a good game is the only way to defeat the stars."

Unfortunately, Lin Tao couldn't say these words; it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

In short, despite the complaints, the debriefing meeting still had to be held. Fortunately, this time it was a debriefing meeting held on behalf of "others," so the atmosphere of the meeting was relatively relaxed.

"I really don't understand, what kind of move is Tencent making?" "They invested so much money, and now they're just going to throw it away? Even though the reviews were bad, 'Night Spirit' was probably still around 50th place yesterday, so they definitely didn't lose money... To just pull the marketing team away like that, that's too ruthless!"

"That's nothing. If they can't help it, they cut their losses immediately. That's their style."

"Style is style, but I feel this is a terrible move."

"Indeed, how could they pull the release date now? What are Tencent doing?"

For the NetEase operations team, seeing Tencent in such a sorry state evoked rather complex emotions, with one side certainly feeling schadenfreude.

On the other hand, there is also a strange feeling of "the rabbit mourns the fox's death".

Why did NetEase's leadership ask them to view this matter from Tencent's perspective? Because NetEase is essentially a "smaller version" of Tencent.

It is precisely because of this stance that, at this debriefing meeting, you know what, NetEase's operations team really hit the nail on the head.

Although Tencent's withdrawal of the release date is a normal procedure.

From a strategic perspective, the withdrawal of the release date for "Night Spirit" was indeed a controversial move.

This withdrawal not only canceled "Night Spirit" but also made it clear to the outside world that Tencent's ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) venture had failed.

In a timeline without stars, Tencent's failure wouldn't have a significant impact on Tencent itself. But in a timeline with stars...

The sudden passing of "Night Spirit" carries a completely different meaning.

It might not be immediately apparent, but many things are changed over time.

~~~
With the release of "Night Spirit" cancelled, the stage was taken over by "Azur Lane".

Three days after its launch, the popularity of Azur Lane's open beta did not decline; on the contrary, it soared due to the sensational miracle of "slaying the Tennis Rider."

This has attracted the attention of more people outside the industry.

Once these players, who downloaded the game out of curiosity, entered the game, they quickly discovered its "addictive" nature.

Admittedly, some players who came for the grand narrative and hardcore battles of Final Frontline may feel somewhat disappointed after experiencing the relatively simple battles and more slice-of-life storylines of Azur Lane.

"To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I thought it would be a movie-level story like 'Final Battlefront,' but it feels more like a dating simulator."

"Indeed, the combat system feels a bit monotonous; it's just a grind game."

However, whenever I see these comments...

Fish ball enthusiasts are not ashamed of it, but rather proud of it.

The reason is simple: Azur Lane was positioned differently from Final Battle from the very beginning. Final Battle started as an auto battler game, with added PVE elements and a relatively grand storyline.

It follows a "hardcore romance" theme, which is essentially similar to "FGO".

It uses a grand storyline to create the characters' charm, and then adds elements of romance as embellishments.

Azur Lane has always followed a "gentle and peaceful" approach. For a game like this to have a battle system that is considered a grind-based game is already quite remarkable.

that's the truth.

During these few days of testing, while some players left, others enjoyed the experience.

"Depth? What depth? My wife is the cutest person in the world, that's the greatest depth!"

(End of this chapter)