Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 46 Influence

The reason Chu Chen suddenly thought of writing a game design proposal was...

This all started with a Weibo post by Liu Cixing last night.

The content of the Weibo post was actually not complicated; it was just a repost of a MAD video made by a player using cutscenes from "Final Frontline," along with a caption.

"interesting."

However, this seemingly innocuous Weibo post was like a bomb dropped into a calm lake, quickly going viral. The comment section was instantly flooded with messages, and the number of reposts skyrocketed at a visible speed.

The Weibo post went viral for two reasons.

Firstly, the timing coincides with the period when "The Three-Body Problem" began to become a sensation in China.

Since August 2015, when "The Three-Body Problem" won the 73rd Hugo Award for Best Novel, becoming the first Asian science fiction to win the award.

Liu Cixing's name began to be mentioned repeatedly by the media.

By the beginning of this year, the entire "Three-Body Problem" series had sold over one million copies. Many entrepreneurs and celebrities came out to endorse "Three-Body Problem," and the reputation of "Three-Body Problem" itself began to spread as the number of readers increased.

As Liu Cixing's works gained immense popularity, he himself gradually became a "hot topic."

Various media outlets reported on him one after another, and CCTV interviewed him. It's no exaggeration to say that Liu Cixing's popularity at this time was truly astounding.

Whenever he posts something on his Weibo, no matter what it is, it gets reposted by major media outlets and becomes countless news stories.

Secondly, the number of fans of "Final Battlefront" is quite large now.

During the peak of these two days, the daily active users were close to one million, and the number of players nationwide was in the tens of millions, not to mention how many people actually played it.

But if you're a gamer, you've definitely heard of this name.

Under these circumstances, Liu Cixing suddenly shared a cutscene from the game "Final Front" on his Weibo account. The subtle yet strange, strange yet reasonable emotions quickly ignited the entire Chinese gaming community.

"Holy crap! It's Liu Cixin! It's the real Liu Cixin!"

"Liu Xiyu plays games too?"

"Liu Qiangdong is doing well; he's even managed to ride the coattails of 'The Final Front'."

"What animation is this? It looks interesting."

Countless sci-fi fans, gamers, and even many casual observers who don't usually follow the gaming scene were drawn to this Weibo post.

Immediately afterwards, fans of the Final Frontline started frantically tagging Chu Chen, urging Starry Sky Games to release a collaboration game.

Chu Chen, thinking that he might as well take advantage of any trending topic, left a comment under Liu Cixing's Weibo post.

Unexpectedly, they actually connected. The two chatted briefly via private message on Weibo, and then the other party even took the initiative to call. During the call, they talked about various things, and Chu Chen casually mentioned the copyright issue.

"Haha, too bad, the copyright to The Three-Body Problem has already been sold."

"Anything else is fine too."

"Are you serious?"

Hearing Chu Chen say that, Liu Cixing became a little more serious.

Like many authors, Liu Cixing did not entrust his copyright to others; he managed it himself.

Of course, since he managed it himself, there were many interesting stories along the way. For example, in 10, Liu Cixing sold the film and television rights to The Three-Body Problem for 10 yuan.

In the future, every time the film and television rights to The Three-Body Problem change hands, the media will hype it up, raising the price from 10 to tens of millions, and then to 1.2 million...
The price of this copyright, in a sense, reflects the changing popularity of The Three-Body Problem. However, from the perspective of that time, Liu Cixing himself could not have foreseen the future.

If we don't look at how things unfold, this deal can't really be considered a scam or not.

After this incident, Liu Cixing became much more cautious about copyrights. Between 10 and 15, he sold several more film and television copyrights.

Things went relatively smoothly until the game and anime copyright issues came up, which were less smooth.

After all, Liu Cixing's novels are best suited for the big screen, or at least television and animation. In any case, Chinese game companies have little interest in them.

Moreover, before 15 years ago, Liu Cixing's novels, apart from The Three-Body Problem, basically did not have a cross-cultural impact.

So after "The Three-Body Problem" became a hit, Liu Cixing sold the game rights to Yoozoo, but no one wanted the other rights.

Until yesterday.

While browsing Weibo, Liu Cixing came across a video related to "The Final Battlefront".

As a writer, a science fiction writer, he is quite interested in all videos related to science fiction.

In an interview, he also mentioned that the films of Spielberg, Scott, and Nolan have accompanied him throughout his entire science fiction writing career.

When he has nothing to do, he often watches a movie or two.

I occasionally watch videos.

So when he came across this animated video of a space elevator, it instantly left a deep impression on him, especially the shuttle that uses a rocket launcher to ascend.

This thing is unscientific, but it's certainly romantic.

When emotions arise, they naturally need to be expressed, which is why Weibo came about.

Then, on a whim, he called Chu Chen, but when the topic of copyright came up, Liu Cixing wasn't very enthusiastic and even felt a bit disappointed.

This feeling of disappointment is subtle.

It's kind of like I'm talking to you about science fiction, but you're talking to me about business.

But since the person had come specifically because of his Weibo account and had taken the initiative to call him, Liu Cixing didn't show it. He just chuckled and said that his novel was difficult to adapt.

The original meaning of this sentence was actually a polite way of refusing.

However, Chu Chen didn't see it that way.

He seized the opportunity and immediately offered to create a rough proposal.

Upon hearing Chu Chen mention that he was going to write a project proposal, Liu Cixing became interested again. As a science fiction author, he couldn't tell a good story without curiosity, so he immediately said that if Chu Chen really wanted to write one, he would really like to read it.

So the two chatted for a while longer, and after hanging up the phone, Chu Chen really started writing.

Although people today believe that Liu Cixing's most valuable IP is "The Three-Body Problem," Chu Chen believes that Liu Cixing's most valuable IP is actually Liu Cixing himself.

Why do you say that?

Because in the next two years, Liu Cixing's "The Three-Body Problem" will rapidly gain influence worldwide, and this influence will be significant.

Musk, Canterbury, Zuckerberg, Hawking, Cameron, Bezos, Cook, Obama, Hideo Kojima, Yu Irie
A multitude of globally renowned figures have recommended this book, contributing to its global sales of 400 million copies. This extensive network of celebrities has also given most people a basic, general understanding of Liu Cixing.

Even if you haven't read the novel, you know this person exists, and you know he's a formidable individual.

(End of this chapter)