Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 84 Animation
Question: What is the best way to present cutscenes in a game?
There are many answers to this question.

However, for the current state of StarCraft, for the anime/manga genre, or more accurately, for anime/manga games that primarily feature 2D character illustrations.

Transition animations are absolutely a powerful tool for creating emotional impact.

Contrary to many people's first impression, the production cost of animation is actually not high.

The production cost of a typical 24-minute TV anime in Japan is around 1500 million yen, which is equivalent to between one and two million yuan.
Some high-budget anime, such as Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan, have slightly higher per-episode costs, but they are generally around 2500 million to 3000 million yen.

Moreover, part of this cost is due to the fact that TV animation needs to be timely, so it is often subcontracted.

If you have your own employees.

Extending the production time will lower the cost.

For example, Makoto Shinkai's first personal animation, "5 Centimeters Per Second," had a production cost of less than 30 million yen, and "The Garden of Words" cost less than 60 million yen.

This is so much cheaper than doing CG.

Moreover, animated cutscenes have another advantage: their production is relatively independent and does not interfere with game development; they can even begin production simultaneously.

Therefore, when constructing the plot.

In the first chapter, Chu Chen had already planned about 30 minutes of animation content.

After he made the decision, the news was reported in a very small circle, especially within the gaming industry.

At the time, compared to the excitement shown by players regarding this news, the gaming community generally ridiculed Chu Chen's actions.

Many people think that Chu Chen has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it.

are you crazy.

If you can make money with character portraits and dialogue boxes, why make animations?
Adding a voice actor to a cutscene would be good enough, but making an animated cutscene is just a gimmick! It's purely for hype!
In fact.

These criticisms are valid to some extent.

Looking at future development.

Most anime and manga game companies do not have their own animation production departments.

This is partly due to the cost considerations mentioned earlier. Compared to animation, visual novel-style cutscenes are sufficient, and the few parts that require expertise can be outsourced.

On the other hand, it was after the emergence of 3D anime games like Honkai Impact 3 and Onmyoji at the end of 16.

The entire Chinese anime and manga gaming community has already tacitly agreed that 3D games are the future.

3D games naturally require 3D animation presentation.

At this point, no one will pay attention to 2D animation anymore, which is why many people think that Chu Chen's action is just a publicity stunt.

However, Chu Chen didn't really think so.

On the one hand, he believed that 2D animation and 3D animation were not in conflict. Even in 3D games, the animation at the end of each chapter of the later "Black Myth" could still evoke emotions.
Many games, including Nikkei Victory, use animations at the climax of chapters.

Secondly, Chu Chen believes that the future of 2D games is not as mainstream in the industry suggests, that they will disappear directly under the impact of 3D games.

On the contrary, Chu Chen felt that 2D games were more of a visual style, and that 2D could also be combined with 3D.

Players have a wide variety of tastes.

Even in 2025, games like Arknights, Azur Lane, and Return of 1999 will still be around, won't they?
Furthermore, the success of popular anime-style games such as Genshin Impact, Honkai Impact 3rd, and Naruto Shippuden demonstrates that viewers of anime-style games enjoy animated presentations.

3D anime-style games can gain wider popularity through 3D cutscenes, including miHoYo and Kroger, and later a batch of new games led by Alien Ring and Infinite.
They're all moving towards 3D anime-style rendered cutscenes.

If 3D games can invest heavily to build a competitive advantage, why can't 2D games do the same? Why can't they break into the mainstream with 2D animation?
It is based on this judgment.

Chu Chen then had the idea of ​​using animation to further enhance the emotions, and he actually did it.

However.
The idea was wonderful, but when Chu Chen actually started working on it in March, he realized that there was actually a reason why this domestically produced anime game didn't need animation for background scenes.

On the one hand, compared to the mature Japan.

The level of domestic traditional animation production industry is too low.

Due to the impact of domestically produced 3D animation, 2D animation can truly be considered a "sunset industry" in China today.

The few animation companies that exist, such as Haoliners Animation, which produced "Fox Spirit Matchmaker," and the relatively well-known Seven Stones Animation Studio, actually have insufficient production capacity and their schedules are very full.

The remaining teams also focused on the field of animated film production.

Further down the line, companies that outsource to Japanese animation, while available, often lack the overall outsourcing capabilities due to profit motives and the need to cater to the "industry chain."

Those who draw in-line sections only know how to draw in-line sections, those who draw backgrounds only know how to draw backgrounds, and those who do coloring only know how to do coloring.

The few or two artists who could be outsourced entirely did not meet Chu Chen's requirements in terms of drawing skills.

Moreover, this is not a problem specific to any one company.

Rather, it's the overall market downturn and unfavorable circumstances that directly mean that even if you have money in China, you can't assemble a top-notch 2D animation team.

Even money won't work.

Conversely, a large number of domestically produced 3D animations have formed an industry chain, making it relatively easy to recruit a 3D animation production team.

However, Final Frontline is a 2D game. If we were to make a 3D animation, it would mean starting the entire animation from character modeling. At that time, we simply did not have the capability to do that.
Even if it were possible, the workload would be too enormous.

Unable to find a solution domestically, Chu Chen had no choice but to pin his hopes on collaborating with a Japanese company.

Then, he came into contact with the group of people who had just stormed off. Those people weren't actually from an animation production company; they were simply "brokers," acting as intermediaries connecting domestic clients with Japanese animation production companies.

Chu Chen had a very good impression of them when they first met.

Because they gave Chu Chen sample videos from many Japanese animation companies and promised that as long as he paid a portion of the money first, they could make more sample videos, and if he wasn't satisfied, he wouldn't have to pay the rest.

Therefore, even though this company's quote was nearly four times the cost of a normal Japanese animation, considering that animation companies need to make a profit, and that the sample footage was indeed very good, they decided to accept it.

Chu Chen agreed to the cooperation at the end of March.

They spent 500 million, plus Starry Sky Games provided the complete cutscenes, to purchase 30 minutes of animation.

This collaboration is actually quite bold.

Because at that time, "Final Front" only generated less than 30 million in revenue per month. After deducting costs, Chu Chen spent most of the profits on voice acting and animation.
Chu Chen was so confident in the future profitability of "Final Front" that he dared to spend so much money.

And the final result was indeed quite good.

The voice acting and animation, these two unsung heroes, did indeed bring the effect Chu Chen had envisioned to "Final Front" 1.0.

So before the 1.0 public beta, after the 1.1 version project was launched, Chu Chen had the already established Japanese branch try to find suitable Japanese animation companies to cooperate with, outsource, or acquire.

On the other hand, they renewed the contract with the other party for another 500 million.

Chu Chen's idea at the time was to use money to buy time, since version 1.1 was scheduled to be released in July, which was a rather tight timeframe.

Even if Li Suhao finds a suitable Japanese animation outsourcing company, integrating resources will take time, and it is very likely that the film will not be released in time for July.

Therefore, by using the previous "broker" channels, even if it costs more, we can at least ensure that version 1.1 of the animation can be delivered on time and in the required quantity.

In fact, the plan is progressing very smoothly.

Before "Final Battlefront" became popular, Lee So-ho was having no luck in finding animation outsourcing work, but after "Final Battlefront" became popular in Japan...

The situation then becomes quite different.

Animation professionals who were previously unwilling to meet Li Suhao are now willing to meet with him, even though he is a "top 5 best-selling company on the Apple charts," and they are able to find out some clues that were previously impossible to obtain.

If all goes well, it will be after version 1.1.

Starry Sky can then complete a self-closing loop for the animation channel.

However..
I don't know, but maybe it's because "Final Battlefront" has become so popular recently, and the money it's making is making people a little envious.

Just when Chu Chen thought "there were no surprises".

The unexpected happened.

The "broker" company, which had already signed the animation outsourcing contract for version 1.1, probably believed that it held the key to Starry Night Games' success.

After all, Chu Chen himself said in an interview that using animation for the main storyline is one of the reasons why the main storyline of Final Battlefront is so popular.

So they approached Chu Chen, using various excuses to claim "insufficient funds."

They wouldn't dare threaten to withhold animation if you didn't pay more.

After all, a contract had already been signed.

"You mean? Sign a framework contract for 300 minutes, worth 5000 million, all at once?"

"Yes, yes, that makes sense. With a framework contract in place, the Japanese animation company can hire people with peace of mind. Mr. Chen, you don't know, they've already hired quite a few people to make your animation a success."

But the implication was that if Chu Chen didn't sign this framework contract, then not only would the quality of the future be compromised, but even the quality of the already signed 1.1 version of the animation couldn't be guaranteed.
To be honest, when I heard this threat...

Chu Chen felt a strange urge to laugh.

So all that effort for the 1.0 version's animation was just a ploy to lure me in?
Then he sighed again.

Starting a business is truly treacherous.

This is why Starry Sky Games has the confidence it has now. If it were a less successful game company, being scammed like this would be a disaster.

If you don't agree, the animation quality won't be guaranteed.

I said yes, but guess what? There's still no guarantee.

If they can ask for money the first time, they can ask for it a second time. This time it's a framework agreement, but next time they might just be robbing you.

Ironically, the lack of development of the domestic industrial chain has created opportunities for these scalpers to operate.

On second thought, it seems that in the past, there were also many game companies that went to Japanese companies to make animations with a "dream-chasing" mentality, only to be ripped off and left with nothing but tears.

I never expected that I would be the one to encounter this situation.

Chu Chen took another sip of cola, then smiled.

"It seems that I was too easy to talk to before, which led them to misjudge me."

"You thought I'd be like everyone else?"

"Fifty million? They really dare to ask for that much."

"My trip to Japan seems to have put in much more work pressure than I imagined."

"You really think I can't find the company you're outsourcing to?"

(End of this chapter)