Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 593 Super Strong Push-Back Feel

At this time, major game forums, social media platforms, Weibo, and Bilibili have been completely "occupied" by the Starry Night pre-show press conference, with each media outlet's headline more exaggerated than the last.

The topic completely dominated Weibo's trending topics list, with seven out of the top ten containing the words "The Wandering Earth" or "Star Game".

Countless gamers, movie lovers, sci-fi enthusiasts, and even casual gamers have been drawn into this frenzy.

TikTok is responsible for expanding the user base beyond its core audience, while social media platforms such as Star Wallpaper, Star Tap, Bilibili, and Weibo are responsible for generating buzz among different user groups, and news media are responsible for creating hype.

Although in this entire process, Xingchen only targeted Titok, Bilibili, and Xingchen's own channels.

But these three points are the most crucial.

Many people attribute this phenomenon of going viral overnight to "hype," assuming that capital can artificially inflate the profile of a person or thing through forced exposure.

This understanding is correct, but not entirely correct.

Capital can indeed forcefully instill information into the public by controlling information channels.

Before Starry Sky, Tencent was the largest information channel provider in China.

When a new game is launched, the ubiquitous pop-ups, red dots, and shareable links on WeChat and QQ can reach hundreds of millions of users in the shortest possible time.

This is essentially capital "hyping," and even "forced hype."

However, unlike those so-called entertainment capital firms, Starry Sky and Tencent promote popular cultural products, not celebrities.

Therefore, the public's aversion is not that great.

On the other hand, entertainment capital can buy trending topics, hire online trolls, and launch massive marketing campaigns.

But you can't buy the awe that bursts from your chest when tens of thousands of players see Earth trailing a blue tail of flame; nor can you buy the muttered words of an ordinary office worker clutching their phone on the subway.

"It looks like there will be something to watch during the Chinese New Year this year."

Actually, to be honest.

This isn't the first time Starry Sky has used this system for large-scale promotion. Previously, "Cat Cat" was also popular on titok for a while, but the previous promotion...

Xingchen actually held back some of his strength.

On the one hand, although Xingchen has shares in Bilibili and Titok, they are not the owners of these two websites. Utilizing promotional resources requires costs and also "favors."

This is why Chu Chen truly wants to completely control Bilibili.

After all, only by completely capturing Bilibili can we succeed.

Only then can they "threaten" Titok and maintain Xingchen's voice on Titok.

Well, we've gotten a bit off-topic.

In short, although Xingchen had control of the channels, it had never made a full-scale attack.

This time, with the mission of "national" cultural export as a safety net, and with Titok and Bilibili present at the meeting, Chu Chen could exert his full efforts.

In addition, Chu Chen also wanted to test whether this process was effective, so he went all out and stepped on the gas.

Then the acceleration from that moment was much more intense than I had imagined.

Today, countless people realize for the first time that the company behind the game has unknowingly gained the ability to define popular cultural issues.

It wasn't just domestic professionals who noticed this; many Japanese media outlets also took notice.

It's estimated that Chu Chen's title in Japan will be upgraded again soon.

Besides, this celebration also triggered something quite interesting: after the PV for the game/movie "The Wandering Earth" was released, Liu Cixin's Weibo comment section exploded. Liu Cixin, who had just woken up, was stunned when he saw the number 999+.

Whether it's mentioning him, or comments and private messages, everything is exploding.

Goodness, his popularity is even more exaggerated than when he won the Hugo Award.

"Teacher Liu! Have you seen the PV yet?!"

"Da Liu! Your house has collapsed! No, your Earth has run away!"

"Teacher Liu, are you supervising the simultaneous release of the game and the movie? Please don't let the drastic changes ruin the original work!"

In this world, there may indeed be people who don't like to show off.

However, Liu Cixin is an ordinary person, and like many creators, recognition from others can indeed bring him joy, even if it's early in the morning.

Liu Cixin read the enthusiastic yet slightly silly comments with great interest.

In a comment asking, "Did you already know that Xingchen was going to do this?", he thought for a moment and typed a line on the keyboard.

"I never expected that The Wandering Earth would be the first one to be released."

Liu Cixin didn't think much when he sent that message, because when he first talked to Chu Chen, he actually received the proposal for "Micro Era".

That was two years ago. Unexpectedly, two years later, there has been no news about "Micro Era", but "The Wandering Earth" has been officially announced.

And watching the PV is quite interesting.

That's why he made that remark. For Liu Cixin, saying this is like a neighbor casually saying to someone at the market, "I didn't expect the cabbages to sell out first today."

However, when this statement appears on the internet today, its power is no less than that of throwing a magnesium rod into water.

Soon, the screenshot featuring Liu Cixin's image and reply began to spread like wildfire across all social media platforms.

If the previous press conference had pushed players' emotions to a climax, then Liu Cixin's nonchalant reply was like detonating another bomb on top of that climax.

The media, already incredibly busy, gasped in shock upon hearing the news.

"'First out'? What does that mean?"

"You mean there are others?! There are other games that should have been revealed before The Wandering Earth?"

"No way! There are more?!"

"My goodness, Liu Cixin has licensed other novels to Xingchen?"

"Micro Era! I remember now! Starry Sky registered the trademark 'Micro Era' two years ago!"

So "The Wandering Earth" was just an appetizer?!

In the office of a gaming media outlet in China, the sound of keyboards clapping has become a torrential downpour.

All the editors and reporters had red eyes and were frantically typing on their laptops. Zhang Jun paced back and forth in the office with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself.

"Headline! This headline is going to be explosive! 'The Stars' Ambition Goes Beyond Earth! Liu Cixin Confirms Follow-up Plans!'"

"No, this isn't exciting enough! 'The Wandering Earth is just the beginning? A 'sci-fi universe' of stars emerges!'"

Zhang Jun's footsteps in the office almost wore the floor apart.

For the media, time is life, but articles are written by people, and the Starry Night press conference was scheduled to be held in the morning in China, even though many media outlets had already started work at 8 a.m.

(End of this chapter)