Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 471 Do we still need to choose?
For overseas players, this system may simply be a showcase of the diversity of countries covered by the platform.

However, for Chinese gamers, this way of showcasing global reviews hits a nerve, especially with some domestically produced games.

To some extent, this is a unique need that only people in large countries have.

When you open a game and see comments from different countries, it gives them the feeling that the platform is truly popular worldwide.

Of course, this applies to Benner and others.

Their most direct impression was that the amount of traffic generated by the competition exceeded their expectations.

"It's not just in China; look at Japan, and also the US, the percentage of comments and downloads."

"That's outrageous!!"

This was the first time Bena and his team had used the Starry Night Games platform's backend, so many things were new and exciting to them.

Compared to Steam's backend.

The Starry Sky backstage looks more modern and presents more information.

Moreover, these data are not just a monotonous list of numbers; some of them are also visualized.

For example, the current global online heat map shows that it's not just regions in China that are glowing; South Korea, Japan, North America, and Europe are also shining.

Next to the heat map are several curves that are constantly rising.

The download curve has the most exaggerated angle, almost a vertical upward straight line, with the top number just jumping from "1,213,450" to "1,219,882".

In just those few dozen seconds of their stunned silence, the number of downloads surged by more than six thousand.

The other curve is the "real-time online players" curve, which is equally steep, with the peak firmly above 300,000.

Although before this, the reason why Bena participated in the Starry Sky competition was because they recognized that Starry Sky had a certain influence on a global scale.

But when this understanding begins to be quantified.

The perceptions of a group of people are another matter entirely.

"my God……"

Adam muttered to himself. He took off his glasses, rubbed his temples hard, and when he put them back on, the numbers on the screen were still as magical as ever.

"It's not just about downloads and online users."

"Look at this official version of the petition."

This Starry Night Games 48-Hour Competition had a strong "commercial" atmosphere, since it was initially developed as a promotional channel for new games.

So after the demo, there was also a formal petition.

After players click on the petition, they will receive a push notification from the developer for the "official version" of the game in the future. Initially, not many people paid attention to this system.

After all, anyone with a brain knows that the conversion rate of such petitions won't be very high.

Can..
When this number goes from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of thousands, this person's mindset changes.

"Of the 570,000 users who made the wish, over 80% were paying users."

The term "paying user" refers to a user who has paid for and purchased single-player games on the Starry Sky Games platform.
"That's an exaggeration!"

Benner's voice was somewhat hoarse as he read these figures aloud.

Before Dead Cells came out, MT wasn't without other works; they started with browser games, but even at their peak, their games didn't have this many players.
A long silence fell over the office, broken only by the hum of the computer fans and the constantly changing numbers on the screens, reminding everyone that time was still passing.

Over the past few months, the future release strategy for Dead Cells has been the focus of debate within the team.

Adam, the master of beauty, is a staunch "Steamist".

His reasoning was sound: Steam is the world's largest PC game distribution platform, boasting the most mature community and the largest core player base.

Dead Cells is MT's last chance.

Don't do things you're not sure you can do.

Benna, on the other hand, preferred to diversify his efforts. He saw the potential in the Chinese market and was very interested in the dynamism shown by the Starry Sky gaming platform.

He made the decision to participate in the 48-hour competition despite opposition from many others.

Thomas, however, didn't care. He was a pure programmer; for him, the platform was just a difference in the code's runtime environment, and he was more concerned with optimizing the game itself. But now, this issue seems to have a completely different possibility.

Benner subconsciously asked Adam a question.

"Should we... still prepare for Steam exclusivity?"

Surprisingly, Adam, who was originally a staunch supporter of Steam, turned around after hearing this question and looked at Benner with an expression as if he were looking at an idiot.

"Are you stupid? What we need to consider now is whether or not we want to monopolize the stars."

Thomas nodded as well.

"I think it's necessary for us to go to China again. If possible, it would be best to join the Star Project directly. That way, we can not only gain a publicity advantage, but also legitimately obtain technical support from Star."

"Indeed, I also suggest going to China again."

Benna opened his mouth, feeling his brain's processor a bit overloaded.

He had prepared a detailed speech, but now, looking at his two partners who were even more radical than himself, he was at a loss for words.

This script is wrong.

A month ago, he talked himself hoarse trying to persuade everyone to participate in this Chinese game development competition.

Adam, in particular, as the team's lead artist and a staunch "Steam supporter," almost pointed his finger at him and accused him of gambling with the studio's future.

The contrast is just too much!
Benna is still a little unaccustomed to the studio's sudden "it's actually pretty good" attitude.

In reality, this shift in attitude is quite normal, because for game developers, "validating the market" is a very, very important thing.

Why do many game development teams have to show up and release videos as soon as they've created a demo?

It's because they "lack confidence."

Now, through this competition by Xingchen, they have seen the "bottom line" and also Xingchen's promotional capabilities and coverage.

Naturally, it started to taste really good.

~~~
Just as the Dead Cells studio decided to revisit StarCraft.

This wave of enthusiasm, which started with the variety show "48 Hours of Stars," was ignited by "Adam's World," and continued with "Echoes of Parallel Worlds," is still growing.

After experiencing these two stylistically different but equally excellent games, countless players, like a pack of hungry wolves, began to pounce on other demos on the special page.

They were surprised to find that this competition was a treasure trove of amazing talent.

For example, a student team from Japan created a game called "The Window".

The protagonist of the game is a person with social anxiety disorder, also known as a "hikikomori" (social recluse). The game's "parallel world" is not a physical space, but a psychological space.

One of the worlds is the protagonist's messy room of less than ten square meters in the real world, where players can tidy up, cook, and feed the cat.

The other world is the online world.

Next to the protagonist's desk, there is a window covered by curtains.

Players can chat with others anonymously, play online games, and read news online. In this process, players will also have many opportunities to communicate with the outside world.

For example, school teachers who come to your home, or deliverymen who deliver packages.

The goal of the game is to gradually overcome fear through limited contact with the "world outside the window," and finally muster the courage to push open the real door.

The game features adorable character designs, and aside from the main character, everyone is portrayed as a positive figure. The game doesn't preach any profound moral lessons.

Ultimately, the protagonist's motivation to go out was simply that he wanted to see the blue sky.

This game is very Japanese.

There are no intense battles, no ingenious puzzles, and it's even a bit boring, but its theme is very positive.

Moreover, the game is short, so short that players haven't even felt truly bored before they've already opened that window. In addition, this theme is considered an absolutely "politically correct" game in Japan.

This has resulted in a very high approval rating for it in Japan, approaching 10 points.

(End of this chapter)