Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 453 Huh?
Privately, they also felt that they had at least reached the pinnacle of pixel games, and even surpassed it in some areas, such as pixel action games.

But now, Xingchen suddenly pulled out an Eastern Travel Record.

It feels like you've finally run past the first-place runner after all your might, and you're just about to catch your breath and say hello.

In the blink of an eye, the person pulled out a jetpack from behind their back, and with a "whoosh," took off vertically.

While admirable, it also leaves one somewhat disheartened.

"Do you think we could borrow some of these technologies from the technology used in the treatment of dead cells?"

Bennett's statement is actually the core of today's meeting.

"Forget it."

Art director Adam was the first to step forward and pour cold water on the idea.

“We’ve already reached a high level of completion. This technology clearly started from the underlying framework, and it’s even possible that only the StarCraft game engine can do it.”

"What we need to do now is finish the game and prepare for its release early next year, instead of thinking about these other things."

Logically speaking, Adam was right.

For a small studio, survival is the most important thing.

However, Benner clearly doesn't see it that way. As a producer who has created games that have sold over ten million copies, he has his own principles to some extent.

"I remember when we founded MT, we didn't say that. We wanted to make the coolest pixel game, not the coolest one within our capabilities."

These words quickly made the atmosphere in the meeting room heavy.

For an independent studio struggling to survive, the most terrifying thing is not the lack of direction, but the sudden shift in direction.

The producer is the captain of this small boat. When the captain is just a step away from the harbor, he suddenly points to the storm in the distance and says, "There may be treasure there." The sailors will not feel excitement, but rather fear of capsizing.

So after hearing Bennett's declaration, Adam held back for a few moments, but finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Change the engine now? Start all over again with the technology development? Benna, wake up! You know better than I how much money we have left in the account! If this game isn't released by early next year, we'll all be packing our bags and getting out of here to find our next jobs!"

Adam's words quickly brought the already tense atmosphere in the conference room to an even lower level.

Surprisingly, however.

Benna didn't refute this statement; instead, he nodded.

“You’re right, Adam. Realistically speaking, we really don’t have any room for trial and error.”

Upon hearing this, Adam paused for a moment, about to say, "You know that's good," when Bennett changed the subject.

“We definitely can’t do R&D from scratch. But since we can’t do it ourselves, why don’t we just ask them for it?”

"???"

"Ask...ask whom?"

"Ask the Starry Sky Game."

"No, Benna, are you still a child?"

Although it sounds like there's nothing wrong with Benna's opinion—just ask if you don't know—in reality, anyone who thinks about it for even a second longer would realize that this suggestion is utterly absurd.

The absurdity lies not only in Bennett's wild ideas.

More importantly, Motion Twin Studios and Starry Sky Studios have absolutely no connection at present; in fact, the two may even have a minor grudge.

StarCraft Europe's branch once wanted to invest in "Dead Cells," but it was rejected by Bena.

The reason for the refusal is that after PUBG became a huge hit on the StarCraft gaming platform in the second half of this year, Steam updated its partner promotion agreement. The biggest change in the agreement was that Steam would prioritize promoting games from its own platform.

What does that mean?

This means that if your game is released on both Steam and the StarCraft Games platform...

Well, sorry, Steam will prioritize promoting other games that are only available on Steam.

It has to be said that this move was quite ruthless. It basically meant they were going head-to-head with the Starry Sky Games platform. Although they didn't explicitly say they were going to pursue an exclusive strategy, they were definitely taking action.

This tactic is actually irrelevant to large companies.

For example, companies like Capcom, Square Enix, EA, Ubisoft, and Blizzard don't rely on Steam for marketing and promotion. In fact, many large companies are still developing their own platforms.

However, this applies to small and medium-sized developers.

Steam's move can be described as a fatal blow.

For all small and medium-sized manufacturers, marketing and promotion are a shared nightmare.

When Steam was the only platform available, the 30% commission was high, but at least there was no choice involved, as Steam was the only major player in the PC gaming market.

However, with the rise of the Starry Sky Games platform, and after the explosion of "PUBG", dual-platform login has gradually become a new norm.

At the time, many companies were both StarCraft and Steam, but then Steam came down hard.

Do you want StarCraft's low revenue share or Steam's high traffic? That becomes a math problem, especially since many developers have actually sold quite well after listing on the StarCraft gaming platform.

Especially in the China region, Kexingchen's market share in Europe and America is indeed not enough.

As a result, many small and medium-sized manufacturers in Europe and America ultimately chose to wait and see. Motion Twin was no exception. The reason they did not accept StarCraft's investment was because they were worried about being hindered in their promotion on the Steam platform.

Therefore, when Benna said he would go and ask the stars.

Not only was Adam speechless for a long time after being choked by Bei's words, but everyone else in the conference room also looked at each other in bewilderment.

Fortunately, since Bennett brought this up, he must have been prepared.

He quickly clicked on the official website of Starry Europe, where there was a news item in bold.

[TGS Breaking News: The Starry Sky 'Project Stars' adds a new chapter, with a 48-hour global game development competition starting in mid-November!]

Adam frowned and quickly scanned the news content.

This game developer competition is clearly part of the Starry Sky platform's promotion strategy.

Because this developer competition isn't for "amateur college students," the promotional material clearly states that this competition is open to game developers worldwide.

So it's clear that the purpose of this competition is to use prize money and investment to attract more developers to the Starry Sky platform and expand the platform's content ecosystem.

Such events are not uncommon in the industry, but Xingchen's event this time seems to be on a rather large scale.

But so what?
"so what?"

"You want us to drop what we're doing and do this 48-hour game? Benner, this doesn't solve anything."

"Of course Adam can solve our problems, not only our technical problems, but also our marketing and distribution problems."

"You mean... to lean towards the stars?"

Benner shrugged.

"Give it a try, there's no harm in it. Steam can't just stop cooperating with us because we participated in the StarCraft competition, can they?"

(End of this chapter)