Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 589 The Wandering Earth
As the snap of the fingers fell, darkness engulfed everything.

In the hall, the breathing of tens of thousands of people seemed to disappear, leaving only the beating of their hearts in the darkness.

The large screen lit up dimly, not with the game logo, but with a line of cold white text.

[365 days until the end of the "braking era"]

Global surface temperatures are expected to drop to -83 degrees Celsius.

A storm is coming.

The text disappears, and the scene transitions.

The first thing that catches the eye is an enormous underground cavern. The rough rock walls still bear the marks of explosions, and countless searchlights shine down from the dome, their beams of light clearly visible through the billowing dust.

The steel scaffolding was jagged and interlocking, and the huge lifting platform moved slowly. The welding sparks flickered like fireflies in the dark night in every corner of the cave.

"The sun is rapidly aging and expanding, and in a short time the entire solar system, including Earth, will be swallowed up by the sun."

"In order to save itself, the 'Wandering Earth' plan was launched."

"The so-called 'Wandering Earth' refers to the use of global resources to build tens of thousands of engines and steering engines on the Earth's surface to propel the Earth out of the solar system."

"We will take the Earth with us and head towards another place to live."

"Half the world's population has access to the dungeons..."

"They will enter the underground with hope."

"But our hope is still just a construction site."

The narration ended, but the video continued.

The camera begins to move through the vast underground cavern, past the cold steel skeletons, and finally focuses on a rudimentary command center.

A holographic map flickered in the center, and several people in engineering uniforms were discussing something intensely around the map.

"No! Absolutely not!"

A bespectacled, seemingly refined middle-aged man pointed to an entrance marker on the map, his emotions running high.

"The underground city's life support system has only just completed basic testing. The ventilation and energy systems are not ready yet. It's already difficult enough to support the workers. Letting civilians in now is not shelter, it's murder!"

Before he could finish speaking, a man wrapped in a thick winter coat, his face weathered by the elements, suddenly pushed open the door and entered.

"Old Li, tell me what murder is?"

"Letting them freeze to death outside, to be torn apart by the storm, doesn't that count as murder?"

"We're building a city, not a giant tomb!" The engineer, known as Old Li, stood firm, banging on the table. "Resources! Food! Heating! We're lacking everything! If they come in, they'll only be dead, and they'll drag us all down with them!"

"That's still better than being on the surface!"

"The surface is no longer a place for humans to live! Every day we hold on is a day! Don't you understand?"

The argument grew increasingly heated.

"This place is not suitable for habitation!"

"So they deserved to die?!"

"This is science! Not emotion!"

"Bullshit!! You dare say that while looking them in the eye!"

After saying this, the man in the winter coat tapped the virtual projector, displaying the scene outside. Unlike many game trailers that focus on background and setting, StarCraft's trailers often prefer to unfold by conveying an emotion.

Take, for example, the promotional video for "The Wandering Earth".

It doesn't focus on what the Wandering Earth project is, nor does it dwell too much on the background; it's simply a conflict arising from the fact that a shelter hasn't been built yet, but the public is already impatient.

This conflict had no threshold for understanding; the intense conflict and the cruel reality were presented directly on the screen. Just as the argument reached its climax, everyone in the command center suddenly turned their gaze to the camera.

Or rather, it has turned to the "players" in front of the screen.

"Sir, you decide."

As soon as the words were spoken, the entire scene suddenly zoomed out.

The command center that had just filled the entire screen has now transformed into a scene from a game interface. Above the heads of the two people arguing fiercely, icons representing "Engineer" and "Reconnaissance Captain" have appeared, respectively.

Immediately afterwards, a simple selection box popped up in the center of the screen.

[Accepting more people]
-
Risk: Food, housing, and heating systems will immediately face enormous pressure, potentially leading to citywide rationing cuts or even system collapse.
-
Benefits: Gain access to a large workforce and unlock new technological research and development opportunities.

Refuse them entry
-
Risk: Hope levels drop significantly, and some citizens may stage protests.
-
Benefits: Maintaining the stability of existing resources and ensuring the smooth operation of the city's core systems.

This is clearly showcasing the game's decision-making system, but the PV doesn't elaborate on the system; instead, it switches directly to actual gameplay footage.

A highly technological UI instantly popped up, framing the entire dungeon in the center.

The left side displays the resource list, the bottom right corner is the build menu, and the top displays key data such as time, temperature, and population.

The entire venue fell silent for a moment.

"Holy crap, this is actually a simulation management game!"

After a brief moment of astonishment, the simulation game enthusiasts at the scene erupted in a near-frenzied cheer.

For true simulation game enthusiasts, even if only a short clip of the PV is shown, they're already itching to play.

After all, for a construction simulation game, difficulties and problems are part of the fun.

Amid cheers from the crowd.

The game screen then changed again.

The camera passed through the walls of the command center and entered the deeper underground. The underground city, which had just been a backdrop, was now fully revealed to everyone.

The first thing to show is what makes The Wandering Earth different from other construction games: its layered structure.

The underground city is not very large, but it is divided into many levels.

In the DMEO on display, each floor has been divided into functions and some things have been built. The top floor, which is the one closest to the ground, is the most open space, filled with huge ventilation ducts and various factories, as well as various ores coming down from the outside and a large number of giant resource truck parking lots.

It looks quite hardcore.

Further down is the residential area, where densely packed modular houses are arranged like a honeycomb. The narrow streets are deserted, with only patrolling machinery moving slowly, creating an orderly yet somewhat oppressive atmosphere.

Continuing down, you'll see an open space.

In the PV, the demonstrator clicked on the building icon of a large hydroponic farm.

The next second, a semi-transparent building silhouette appeared.

In the standard case, it's a normal building, but next to the construction options, there's a "Natural Acquisition" option. After selecting this...

(End of this chapter)