Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

Chapter 321 The Happiest Thing

The artist used in the previous Final Fantasy VI games was a very distinctive person.

As for the seventh installment, it wasn't that Takeyusei deliberately didn't want to use other people's works anymore.

Final Fantasy VII itself was a transformation made to be more market-oriented and to satisfy players.

The appearance of Final Fantasy VII also established the flamboyant style characteristic of the Final Fantasy series.

Later on, there weren't many characters who were easily angered in Final Fantasy, and sometimes we didn't know what to do.

However, for some reason, if this were placed in a role-playing game from another region, it would feel completely out of place, making people not want to continue playing.

However, if this "Shamate" (a subculture characterized by flamboyant and outlandish fashion) image were created in Japan, then everyone would find it perfectly reasonable and be able to accept the concept very quickly.

This time, Takeyusei entrusted the character illustrations for Final Fantasy VII to talents trained entirely by the industrialized system.

They are the group of people who understand the industrialized production process best, and it is something that Zhuyouxing has been persisting in doing for a long time.

By leveraging robust industrial processes, unnecessary steps in game development are reduced.

The results were quite good. There were about six full-time illustrators in the three development teams, and more than thirty illustrators as assistants.

With so many people helping, creating the original artwork wasn't difficult.

After the original artwork was arranged, the next step was the production of sound effects and music.

The first and foremost element must be Final Fantasy's iconic Crystal Prelude.

Secondly, this time, Zhu Youxing also requested that each character with a certain position be given an independent piece of music.

For example, the villain Sephiroth from the previous life had his own unique one-winged angel theme song.

Whenever he appears during a climax, the background music immediately changes to this music, giving people a very obvious sense of tension.

Sometimes, well-chosen music can greatly enhance a game.

This is the same as the music effects in the film and television industry.

Besides Sephiroth, each of the other characters also needs to compose their own music.

Main characters include Aerith, Tifa, Cloud, Barrett, Red XIII, and others.

All characters, from those in the early game to those in the late game, must be included.

This improved the overall atmosphere of the game, but it also placed a much heavier burden on the sound engineers and musicians.

Fortunately, music production has now become a streamlined process, with established game music producers leading the teams and incorporating their unique musical styles to add new charm to the game.

In this way, the music-related issues can be temporarily resolved.

Neither of these requires Zhu Youxing to spend too much time supervising; he only needs to issue the task, and the employees will get to work on their own.

The sound engineers, concept artists, and other staff from the three game development teams immediately got to work upon receiving the assignment.

According to Zhuyouxing's estimated development time, this game will have to wait at least a year before it can be released.

This is based on the premise that the basic framework has already been built. If the basic framework of the game had not been built before, it would take another six months to complete.

The production of the original artwork and music took approximately two months.

Neither of these is too slow.

What's truly slow is the game's fully 3D environment, 3D characters, and the continuous enrichment of gameplay and content.

After all, Takeyusei's previous proposal had a whole host of requirements; a thick stack of papers was filled with Takeyusei's requirements for this game development.

Of course, it's impossible to complete so much content in a short period of time.

Significant investment and long-term development.

That sounds extremely risky.

This time, Zhu Youxing did not try to hide anything from the public.

Once the marketing and promotion of GS1 were on track, he announced that he would focus on developing a new game.

This new game is a work to which I have poured a lot of effort. It is the first game in the world to have a development investment of more than one hundred million US dollars. This is only the development cost of the game. The subsequent marketing and distribution costs have not yet been included.

As soon as Zhu Youxing finished speaking, he immediately surprised many of his colleagues.

"What? Youxing Electronic Entertainment is preparing to develop a game with a huge investment? Over one hundred million US dollars? That's insane."

"Isn't he afraid of losing everything? Haven't some companies tried investing more than ten million dollars in development before, only to end up with dismal returns?"

"Perhaps a hundred million dollars could have a qualitative change from a quantitative one?"

"Hehe, don't dream about it. If such a thing were to happen, would it be your turn? But speaking of which, if other game companies were to make such outrageous statements, I think we could completely ignore them. However, if it's Yuxing Electronic Entertainment that's saying this, I actually think the chances of success are quite high."

"Huh? You think the same thing as me? I also think that Youxing Electronic Entertainment has a higher chance of success."

Some people in the industry are cheering, feeling that they can see firsthand the effects of such a large investment. If it really results in losses, they can remain bystanders and perhaps witness firsthand the fall of Yuxing Electronic Entertainment from its pedestal.

For the players, they didn't have a clear concept of this so-called large investment.

However, they knew that this game development was unprecedented and of an incredibly large scale.

Furthermore, Takeyusei had previously announced that this big-budget game was the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series.

Players who had been loyal fans of the Final Fantasy series before were naturally overjoyed.

What could be happier than witnessing a massive game development project firsthand?

Players began to spontaneously organize themselves and take on the responsibility of promoting the game. They proactively introduced the game to players who were not very familiar with Final Fantasy, believing that it was definitely worth playing.

This is because the game's developer is Yuxing Electronic Entertainment, and it was personally handled by Yuxing Zhu, the god of games.

However, most people still think this kind of thing is unreliable.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment is indeed very impressive, but not every game they develop is a blockbuster.

Yusei Electronics Entertainment still has titles that have sold less than 100,000 copies. It is a very niche text-based game and was the last game released before the Super Famicom was about to be open-sourced.

This has some historical factors involved, but it also shows that Yusei Electronics Entertainment has not always been able to produce excellent games.

Ultimately, they are still a company, and they still need to serve profits. In times of crisis, they will still produce some mediocre games to make money.

Chapter 322 So heartbreaking, so heartbreaking.

Zhu Youxing and his employees did not pay much attention to the support and criticism from the outside world.

Zhu Youxing ignored it because he genuinely didn't care, as he had already achieved his dream to a certain extent: to create and lead the world's gaming industry.

If he were to call himself the godfather of gaming now, no one would deny it.

Now, he wants to bring those legendary games to this world so that people can experience the same passion he had for games in his past life.

As for Zhu Youxing's employees, they became even more calm when they saw that Zhu Youxing had no reaction.

Leaders often play a decisive role, as the Chinese proverb "A bad general makes a bad army" aptly illustrates.

In the game development floor of Yuxing Electronic Entertainment, an area of ​​about 7 square meters has been divided up and is dedicated to the development of Final Fantasy VII by three development teams and occasional support staff.

Zhu Youxing stayed here almost all the time and rarely went out.

It was as if he had vanished into thin air; even tabloid reporters found it extremely difficult to locate Zhu Youxing during this period.

At this moment, Zhu Youxing was standing in front of a whiteboard, checking his recent goals.

First, Takeyusei plans to complete the initial chapters of Final Fantasy VII's storyline and gameplay, and then, after the official release of GS1, offer them to players as a trial chapter.

The initial chapters cover the explosion operation of Mako Reactor No. 1.

Through this initial chapter, players can gain a general understanding of the world's lore and the basic gameplay.

The demo can then end precisely at the moment the first female protagonist, Alice, makes her appearance.

And on the whiteboard at this moment is an introduction to this game's storyline and world view:

In the world of Final Fantasy VII, there exists a substance called the Life Stream, a power that continuously circulates and regenerates on this planet.

The life stream allows life to be born continuously on this planet, and when life dies, it returns to the life stream to await the next cycle.

However, with the advancement of technology by intelligent life, scientists discovered a way to utilize the source of life, developing it into Mako, which is like clean and pollution-free oil and coal power, and then exploiting it on a large scale.

The company's name is Shinra, and it's a terrifying company whose influence extends across almost the entire planet.

The main story of Final Fantasy VII begins with the protagonist, Cloud, a Yorozuya henchman, accepting a commission to help a group of members from the underground organization Avalanche blow up one of the Mako Reactors in the Mako city of Midgar.

That concludes the contents of the initial chapter.

This role-playing game's storyline is completely different from previous ones featuring dragons, heroes, or princes and princesses in love.

This story is closer to modern life, and the characters are no longer those high and mighty princes and princesses or descendants of heroes, but vivid ordinary people who will grow and eventually face their own destiny.

Of course, its ultimate fate was somewhat tragic.

In its previous life, the storyline of this game moved countless players to tears, because as they became more and more immersed in the game, they grew accustomed to the companionship of these characters.

When a few characters finally leave the world, it's hard not to feel emotionally devastated.

However, while driving players to emotional breakdowns, this game also achieved legendary status, securing its unshakeable position in the history of role-playing games.

Zhu Youxing would naturally not change the plot of the story; sometimes, necessary emotional pressure is also an excellent catalyst for video games.

Yusei Takeshi had already completed the overall script for the Final Fantasy VII game ahead of schedule and had given it to the three project managers and a few trusted individuals to review.

As for the developers, they will each be responsible for their own part, which also ensures that they will inevitably leak information because they know the plot in advance.

If the plot of this kind of game is leaked, it will be a fatal blow.

However, just as Takeyusei was checking the work done during this period, Hayasawa Airi suddenly ran over.

When she came over, her eyes were still a little red, as if she had been crying.

This surprised Zhu Youxing quite a bit.

Hayazawa Airi has always been a very optimistic and cheerful person, and she rarely shows any sadness. She is currently one of the company's most capable assistants, in charge of five engineering development teams. In terms of status, she is probably second only to Takeyusei.

"Airi, what's wrong with you...?"

"Zhuyou! Why did you write a story like this?!"

Hayazawa Airi took out a slightly crumpled notebook, then stared at Takeyusei with reddened eyes and questioned him.