Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 75 The Adorable POPSA
Time flies, and two days later.

Shanghai, early morning.

as usual.

Qiao Wei got up early, washed up, got ready, and went to work.

Those who know him say he does an excellent job; the words "Tencent Investment Department" seem to inherently carry a sense of dominance.

However, only Qiao Wei himself knew that his job was only glamorous on the surface.

As a new intern at Tencent, he was basically treated like a handyman in the office.

But then again, nothing in life is perfect.

Having just graduated, having a stable job at a big company and being able to live in Shanghai is something many people envy but can't have, so Qiao Wei didn't dare to ask for too much.

Moreover, being an intern isn't all bad.

At least he doesn't have to attend the morning meetings when others do. After all, he's an intern in the investment department, and it's normal that he doesn't have the authority to access many things.

~~~
Looking at the empty office area, Qiao Wei sighed and took out his phone.

Light up the screen.

A cute white-haired girl appeared on the screen, followed by a speech bubble.

"Commander~ It's been a long time. Did you sleep well last night? Did you dream about me?"

Looking at the girl on the screen, Qiao Wei felt much better and chose a reply.

"I dreamed about it."

"Really? Hehe, just between you and me, Commander, I dreamt about you yesterday too."

A smile appeared on Qiao Wei's lips as he watched the chat box flash across the screen.

"Ah, PPSh is definitely the cutest."

The screen saver on Qiao Wei's phone was downloaded yesterday from a QQ group for civil service exam takers. It's supposedly an interactive wallpaper developed by a game company.

One of the reasons that attracted him to download it was that Poposha, one of the three selectable mascot girls, was just too cute.

What could be cuter than a white-haired loli wearing white stockings?
That might be because this white-stockinged loli can still have conversations.

Although Qiao Wei is usually very busy with work, he hardly plays mobile games except for social games like Honor of Kings.

But during his high school years, he actually quite enjoyed watching anime.

He was immediately drawn to the wallpaper app after seeing it shared by a fellow member in the group. After downloading and installing it, the app lived up to his expectations.

His first reaction after getting started was...

Is this really just a wallpaper?

Normally, it's a static wallpaper. Tapping the screen can activate a dynamic character portrait based on Live2D, and it can initiate a conversation once every hour.

Every so often, a short, random storyline will appear after waking up.

Moreover, these short storylines seem to change over time.

The software is quite mature, showing no signs of being a small workshop or an experimental product. There are also many details that are astonishing.

For example, at 1 a.m. last night, he knocked on the POPSA and received a reply.

"Whoa! Still not asleep so late, Commander?"

"That won't do! You need to get a good night's sleep to be energetic for the battle tomorrow, Commander!"

Qiao Wei grinned foolishly for most of the day after hearing just that one sentence.

Although he didn't know why he was smiling foolishly at the screen, he didn't want to admit that he had actually been comforted by a virtual character.

But after hearing those words, he did feel much better.

On his way to the company this morning, Qiao Wei checked and found that the character in the wallpaper was from a game called "Final Front".

He was quite familiar with the name of this game; he seemed to hear it frequently lately on Bilibili, in QQ groups, and even at the company.

I vaguely remember hearing someone mention the name of this software in the meeting room a couple of days ago...
If I have some free time today, I might download it and give it a try.
Just as Qiao Wei was looking at his phone, lost in thought, wondering whether to log off now before the morning meeting or wait until noon.

Suddenly, a deep male voice reached his ears.

Is this wallpaper app interesting?

"Holy crap!!?! Oh no, no, Mr. Xiang!!!"

Qiao Wei felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

As everyone knows, the scariest thing about school is having the head teacher standing behind you while you're using your phone!

When Qiao Wei heard the voice, he turned around and was completely stunned to see the person behind him.

Because standing behind him was none other than Xiang Lixuan, Senior Investment Director of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group, a top-tier "carnivore" in Tencent's workplace at this moment.

He was bending over, staring at the live wallpaper of the characters from "Final Front" on his screen, which he hadn't had time to close yet, looking exactly like the "ghost of the headmaster".

Crucially, at that moment, PPSh on Qiao Wei's phone screen leisurely yawned.

A message popped up: "Ha~~ Commander, do you feel sleepy when you're working in the morning?"

I'm not sleepy!!

I'm not sleepy at all!!!

"Xiang, Mr. Xiang..."

Qiao Wei was shaking so badly it was like he was on vibrate mode.

However, the expected reprimand did not come. Xiang Lixuan glanced at him, said nothing else, and simply asked him again what he thought of the Starry Night Live Wallpaper software, and where he downloaded it from. After receiving Qiao Wei's answer, he nodded inexplicably.

Then, he left.

You... left?
Only Qiao Wei remained, standing there bewildered, unaware of what had happened.

It took Qiao Wei at least a few minutes to recover from the shock he had just witnessed. Still dazed, he picked up his water cup and headed towards the tea room.

Drink some water to calm your nerves.

Before Qiao Wei even reached the tea room, he heard two people chatting ahead of him.

"Hey, do you know who I just saw at the front desk?"

"Who is it? Why are they being so mysterious?"

"President Xiang, Xiang Lixuan!"

"Mr. Xiang? What's he doing at the front desk?"

"Hey, you guys wouldn't know this."

Upon hearing Xiang Lixuan's name, Qiao Wei instinctively stood still, switching into eavesdropping mode.

"I just heard from the young lady in administration that General Manager Chen is coming over today."

"Which Mr. Chen?"

"Which other CEO Chen could have President Xiang personally greet him at the front desk? Of course, it's young CEO Chen!"

Who is Xiao Chen?

"The one called 'Final Battlefront'!"

"Huh!? Chu Chen from 'Final Front'? He's here? What for? To talk about investment? Didn't we say that deal fell through?"

"That's not necessarily true. A few months ago, when the Final Battlefront wasn't hot, President Chen came over here quite often. If you ask me, Lao Wan really misjudged us this time."

"Even if we continue negotiating, it doesn't have to be that President Xiang personally waits there..."

"Not at all? You'd say I'm way over the top!"

"If President Xiang can finalize the investment deal, given the current state of Starry Sky Games, I reckon even the top boss, Mr. Ma, would have to give President Xiang a thumbs up on his WeChat Moments."

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

Upon hearing this, Qiao Wei suddenly understood.

Could it be that Mr. Xiang happened to be on his way to pick up Mr. Chen and saw me playing something related to Starry Sky Games, so he casually asked me about it?
what..
So, does that mean my rambling about this live wallpaper just now was a lucky accident? Will it leave the boss with the impression that I'm a "space whiz"?

That's just how people are; once they're out of danger, they start having all sorts of wild thoughts.

While Qiao Wei was lost in thought...

A commotion erupted from the entrance of Tencent's investment department, followed by two figures walking in one after the other.

Walking on the left was a young man, around twenty years old, just like him, wearing a white T-shirt that seemed out of place in this place, and looking quite carefree.

The person walking on the right was none other than Xiang Lixuan, who had just patted him on the shoulder.

Xiang Lixuan was wearing a suit and had a smile on his face.

This smile was very unfamiliar. At least since he joined the company, whether he had seen it with his own eyes or heard others talking about it, this General Manager Xiang had always been a very serious person.

It is said that he always has a stern face during meetings and never smiles when he speaks.

However, at this moment, the face of this important figure was full of enthusiastic smiles.

"Ah, so Mr. Xiang can smile."

At the same time, almost everyone in the office had the same thought.

Qiao Wei is the same.

He watched Xiang Lixuan and Chu Chen pass by him, followed by a group of men and women in suits behind them, and saw them all smiling broadly in front of Chu Chen.

"That's what a man should do."

For no apparent reason, this sentence suddenly popped into Qiao Wei's mind.

~~~
"Mr. Chen, congratulations! The Starry Sky Wallpaper really made a splash the other day, topping the download charts on the Chinese Apple App Store, and it seems to have broken into the top ten on the Japanese App Store today too?"

"No, no, it's all luck, luck."

Chu Chen also had a smile on his face.

He came to Tencent today with a specific purpose, so his facial expressions were handled very well.

"Stop being modest. If this is just luck, then we wouldn't be able to survive. Come on, the meeting room is all ready."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xiang Lixuan turned to the side, raised his arm slightly, and made a gesture of leading the way. Then, the two walked side by side toward the conference room.

These few steps, though not a long one, filled Xiang Lixuan with a mix of emotions.

In just a few months.

He watched Xingchen rise step by step, and as Xingchen rose, his attitude towards Chu Chen was constantly changing, and this change was very subtle.

From initially thinking Chu Chen was a bit pretentious and ungrateful, to feeling regretful after Tencent decided to shift its focus to Gun Girls, to now feeling fortunate.

Just like Wan Wanggang said, having a good eye is very important when working in Tencent's investment department.

After Xingchen's "Final Battlefront" became a hit, Xiang Lixuan, who had long dealt with Xingchen, did indeed gain some influence within Tencent Investment.

This voice has grown stronger as "The Final Front" has become increasingly popular.

(End of this chapter)