Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 80 Strong Performance

Meanwhile, Mihoyo headquarters
Honkai Impact 3rd project team, sofa rest area.

The afternoon sun slanted in, and a faint aroma of coffee filled the air.

This rest area has been a part of Mihayou since its inception. In the first year or two, Dawei and several founders often held meetings here.

We sometimes chat here.

Even today, although Mihayou has grown and developed, Dawei still likes this place very much. Firstly, it's a familiar place, and secondly, the atmosphere here is more relaxed compared to the conference room.

More suitable for non-technical discussions.

At this point in time, any conversation inevitably revolves around StarCraft Games. Even during a meeting of the Honkai Impact 3rd creators, the conversation inevitably turned to StarCraft Games' recent news.

That wallpaper rendering contest is incredibly popular.

"This marketing tactic is brilliant!"

"Exactly! Some people in our group even asked me if they could use characters from Honkai Impact 3rd... Tell me, what are these people thinking?"

For miHoYo at this point, or rather for the Honkai Impact 3rd project team.

The biggest problem is not game development.

It's about game promotion.

It's fair to say that ever since Honkai Impact 3rd was scheduled to launch in October, Dawei has been thinking about how to break out of the mainstream.

So, seeing that Starry Night Games actually became popular because of a wallpaper app, even though what others did had nothing to do with me, I couldn't help but feel like, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Perhaps it was because of this emotion that David waved his hand.

"Alright, let's stop talking about wallpapers and talk about anime."

Do you think that strong performances will be the mainstream approach in the future?

No matter where you are, now or in the future.

If you succeed, someone will definitely study your success.

This is almost 100% certain.

With the remarkable success of "The Final Battlefront," it's no surprise that people are studying it, trying to understand "why the Final Battlefront succeeded in just over ten days."

Many people have already provided answers to this question.

And almost all of these answers frequently mention one word.

"Strong performance"

The term "strong presentation" refers to the innovative approach taken by *Final Battlefront*, which deeply integrates animation into the game and utilizes a large number of presentation effects throughout the main storyline.

That's why there's so much research in this area.

This is because this is the most "simple" thing, something that is easy to understand at a glance, and there is a strong connection between the method and the final result.

It's easy to conclude.

The conclusion is that users are more receptive to the show because Terminal Battlefront invested more in its presentation and used animation.

From the very beginning when this answer was presented.

David had actually noticed this as well, which is why he brought it up again in this discussion.

David asked a question.

Tao Yuqing, the lead creator in charge of animation direction, then spoke out.

"Actually, the concept of Final Frontline is very similar to that of Honkai Impact 3, except that they use 2D animation, while we use 3D rendering."

"In terms of visual presentation, 3D performances are actually better in some respects."

After listening, David tapped his fingers lightly on the sofa armrest.

"So this is good news for us?"

Tao Yuqing nodded.

"Based on the existing data analysis, this is indeed the case. Among the positive reviews of Terminal Battlefront, many praise the plot and performance, saying that the immersive experience is strong and the emotions are stirred up."

"Especially the climaxes, which are presented directly with high-quality animation, are indeed very impactful."

The head of the operations department also chimed in.

"Moreover, they turned these performances into a promotional point, ignoring the subsequent promotional tactics of Terminal Front. The reason it initially gained popularity was because of its cutscenes."

"Do you remember when Liu Cixin posted on Weibo that he was surprised? That wave of traffic was actually quite high. I heard that Xingchen also took the opportunity to get some of Liu Cixin's not-so-worthy IP adaptations."

David also knew about what the operations manager was talking about.

"The reason why Da Liu's Weibo post became popular is not only because it was posted by Da Liu, but also because of the current popularity of the terminal front."

If we're talking about game development...

David isn't actually that professional, but when it comes to market sense and vision, he is.

David is quite capable; he explained in just a few words why Liu's Weibo account suddenly became so popular.

But then again.

The fact that it has reached this point means that even in the eyes of outsiders, the popularity of "Final Front" is almost the same as that of Liu Cixin, which is quite remarkable.

"Can we do that too?"

David's question was clearly not about whether animated cutscenes could be added to Honkai Impact 3. After all, Honkai Impact 3 already has animated cutscenes, so what he was actually asking was whether it was possible to create some "animated clips" that could become popular, like in Final Frontline.

As soon as these words came out.

Tao Yuqing, who had been talking non-stop just moments before, suddenly fell silent.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the show while experts appreciate the details. The two highlight animations in "Final Battlefront" are a space elevator encounter and a circular track counterattack.

These two animations may seem like just animation, but in essence, they are closely related to the game content.

Moreover, the reason why the animation became popular was not so much due to its quality as outsiders might imagine, but rather to these two animated segments.

The director's application of storyboards.

The storyboarding of an animation determines its potential.

It is obvious that the storyboarding of "Final Front" is excellent, very violent, with long stretches of slow motion. If it is used poorly, it will easily fall apart.

But the final result was quite good.

Tao Yuqing also visited the official website of Final Frontline and saw the official scenes and animation storyboards. He could only say that the level of quality was quite high.

Even if you only look at the storyboard, it's hard to tell whether it's an animation or a movie.

The final animation has a strong cinematic feel. If Honkai Impact 3 were to produce an animation like this, a good storyboard would be essential, along with increased costs and time.
Moreover, the effectiveness of the opening animation in "Final Battlefront" is not solely due to the opening animation itself.

"Well, Dawei, if we want to achieve that kind of effect, we might need to do more than just CG."

The original opening sequence of Honkai Impact 3rd is set in Canghai City two years after the Third Honkai Impact 3rd, with the Valkyrie Kiana Kaslana making her debut on the battlefield as the opening CG.
From the perspective of game CG.

This CG is actually okay. Kiana, wearing a tight-fitting uniform, leaps out of the hatch from space, and the screen goes dark.

Then it connects to a scene of falling similar to that in "Your Name".

There are still some memorable points.

For example, Kiana's butt.
However, compared to Final Frontline, the initial impact of this is clearly lacking. After all, Honkai Impact 3's entrance CG is essentially just a prelude to a new player's combat tutorial.

It lasted for about ten seconds, and also after this CG sequence.

The following scene then enters the "charming" moment of the dynamic PPT presentation.

The entire sequence, including Kiana "fainting" after the battle and entering the "St. Freya Academy" storyline, is presented as a dynamic PowerPoint presentation.

These storylines don't need to be animated, and if they were, the cost would be too high.

Tao Yuqing hadn't finished speaking when Dawei sighed.

"Doing this is quite costly, isn't it? Especially the animation part."

Tao Yuqing gave a wry smile.

"Yes, although Honkai Impact 3rd also has cutscenes, they are mainly static performances. If we really want to move towards 'strong performances', our existing team and processes may need to be adjusted significantly."

"And then there's the copywriting aspect."

"Final Frontline features the Commander as the protagonist, but the protagonist of our story is actually Kiana."

David leaned back on the sofa and stopped talking.

His personal feelings about "Final Front" are quite complex. Initially, he didn't actually regard "Final Front" as a typical anime game.

Because the opponent's auto chess mode is clearly following the path of a regular game, just with a two-dimensional skin.

But when the other party launched the public beta, they suddenly slapped him to the ground with a powerful blow.

The success of the public beta version of "Final Battlefront" caused quite a stir even within miHoYo.

Prior to this, although there was competition in the domestic ACG mobile game market, the overall structure was stable and lacked truly phenomenal masterpieces.

The release of "Final Battlefront" immediately raised the ceiling for monthly revenue to the hundreds of millions.

This is an encouragement for miHoYo, who is currently working hard to polish Honkai Impact 3, after all, the success of Final Frontline has proven that there is great potential for anime-style games.

However, at the same time, the pressure also increased sharply.

Although, in theory, "Final Battlefront" and "Honkai Impact 3" are not in the same category, competition is never just about content.

Just as the 1.0 version of "Final Frontline" was launched, the closed beta test of "Honkai Impact 3" on iOS had just ended.

Within the player community, some voices have begun to emerge, complaining that the pressure to spend money in Honkai Impact 3rd is too great, with some even directly comparing it to the benefits offered by Final Frontline.

In the view of the Honkai Impact 3rd development team, such comparisons are pure nonsense, as the two games are completely different in terms of genre, investment, and cost structure.

But no matter how the Honkai Impact 3rd development team views it, the players' feelings are real.

This is like a vegetable market where there is beef and mutton. Right now, mutton is cheap, only 10 yuan per jin (500g), while beef costs 100 yuan.

Although you could say that beef and lamb are different.

But for players, in this market environment, whether they are willing to pay such a high premium for this flavor is a question worth pondering.

"I remember, a Suzhou-Hangzhou Metropolitan Daily interviewed Chu Chen. Does anyone have a copy of that report?"

　This is a prison in a parallel universe, and it has nothing to do with reality.

　　I simply wanted to speculate on what would happen to Lao Mi if there were a worldline containing the stars.

　　In addition, the real-world secondary gaming community is already quite chaotic, so just enjoy the show here.

　　Let's have a good time watching the "electronic crickets" from StarCraft and various manufacturers.

　　(* ^ ▽ ^ *)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)