Tokyo: Oreimo

“My name is Makoto Takeda, and I’m a first-year student in the Faculty of Information Science and Engineering,” he said. “I also lined up to buy that doujinshi of Kara no Kyoukai on the second day of Winter COMI.”

He paused, then added a sentence.

“I also posted a recommendation on Aniplex’s Future Dimension Forum.”

Tanaka paused for a moment, then abruptly turned to Ryosuke, his mouth agape, "Wait, you're that 'Lost Child of Akihabara'?!"

Makoto Takeda pushed up his glasses. "That's my ID on the forum."

"Is it you who posted that recommendation thread that got over 400 replies? Because of that thread, an additional 800 copies were printed the next day and sold out in 50 minutes!" Tian Zhongxue became more and more excited as he spoke.

He grabbed his glasses and looked at the tall, thin freshman in the plaid shirt with the eyes of someone who had "found a treasure".

“Takeda,” Tianzhong patted him on the shoulder, “besides browsing forums, what other hobbies do you have?”

"In my spare time, I enjoy playing Aniplex games and have also written some fan fiction. I spend most of my free time learning programming, and I'm currently trying to do some simple practice projects using the Unity engine. Also..." The other person pushed up their glasses, "...I've tried to make some small-scale adventure games."

Tian Zhongxue's eyes lit up.

"You said you've made games yourself?"

"Those...they're all immature works..."

Tian Zhongxue's hands started to tremble.

Ryosuke stood to the side, watching as Tanaka's pupils suddenly contracted and then slowly dilated, as if some long-dormant thought had finally found a vessel to attach itself to.

"Gaocheng."

Tian Zhongxue turned his head and said the second half of the sentence in a deliberately low but trembling voice, "Shall we play a game?"

Chapter 268 The puzzle pieces are complete! (Combined Chapter)

With one hand on Ryosuke's sleeve and the other on Makoto Takeda's shoulder, Tanaka ran back to the manga club's recruitment booth as if possessed by some incredible thought.

Ayumi was explaining club activities to a new student who came to inquire. Seeing Tianzhong's situation, she first said to the new student, "Sorry, please wait a moment," then tidied up the flyers on the table and looked up.

"President, why are you running so fast? Are there dogs chasing you?"

"Ayumi! A major proposal!" Tian Zhongxue braced his hands on the table, his glasses askew to one side of his nose, but he didn't bother to straighten them. "Let's play a game!"

Ayumi's hand holding the flyer froze in mid-air.

"……what?"

"game!"

Tian Zhongxue repeated it, then pulled Takeda Makoto from behind him to the front.

"This is Takeda, a freshman in the Faculty of Information Science and Engineering. He can program! He's even made his own AVG game! And he's the one who sent us the recommendation post at Winter COMI, 'The Lost Child of Akihabara'! And we have Takashiro and you, isn't this the perfect team for making games!"

Ayumi did not answer immediately.

She first glanced at Takeda, who was nodding slightly in greeting, then at Ryosuke, who stood calmly behind Tanaka Middle School, and quickly analyzed the president's words in her mind.

Freshmen in the School of Information Science and Engineering.

This shows that someone can be responsible for the programming, which is definitely better than hiring someone who knows nothing from scratch.

But the problem is...

"President," Ayumi's voice was calm, "do you know how much it costs to make a visual novel?"

Tian Zhongxue's excitement was momentarily interrupted by her words, "Uh, didn't we just earn club funds..."

"Six hundred thousand yen," Ayumi stated the number directly.

"After deducting printing costs, booth fees, transportation costs, and miscellaneous expenses, this is all the net profit that the association has in its account right now."

"But the production cost of a visual novel, even the smallest fan-made work, is several times that amount just for outsourcing music and voice acting. Not to mention the manpower costs for original artwork, backgrounds, UI design, and programming. How are you going to pay for all of that?"

“We can draw it ourselves!” Tian Zhongxue replied without hesitation. “Ayumi, you’ll be in charge of the key illustrations, we’ll give the programming to Takeda, and Takashiro will write the script. That’s zero cost!”

"You make it sound so easy."

Ayumi placed the flyer she was holding on the table and looked directly at Tanaka Middle School. "The original artwork for a visual novel is not like the illustrations for a doujinshi. It's not something you can just do by drawing a few nice pictures."

"The character illustrations need to be broken down into expressions and parts, the SDCG needs to match the rhythm of the plot, and the background needs to be consistent with the style of the character illustrations. The number of sub-illustrations is at least a hundred. I can rely on my passion to carry out the illustrations for doujinshi, but do you think I can handle the commercial-grade game concept art by myself?"

Tian Zhongxue opened his mouth, but Ayumi didn't give him a chance to refute.

"And what about music and voice acting? How do you plan to address that? Using free resource libraries? Players can immediately tell that the finished product is free. And what about voice acting? Hiring voice actors costs money, recording studios cost money, post-production mixing costs money. Where will all that money come from?"

Tian Zhongxue stood there, his mouth opening and closing.

Every word Ayumi said was true, and it was the kind of truth that he couldn't overshadow with his aura.

Just then, Takeda Makoto, who had been standing to the side, cautiously raised his hand.

"Um... I can handle the programming aspect."

Ayumi and Tianzhong looked at him at the same time.

Makoto Takeda pushed up his glasses, his voice not loud but very clear, "I've made some small-scale AVG games before, using the Unity engine. I've implemented the presentation system and save function, and I also have experience with branching script architecture. Although it's not at a commercial level, I should be able to handle the programming side by myself if it's a doujinshi-scale galgame."

"Of course, the layered materials for the character illustrations and backgrounds need to be provided by the artist, but I can guarantee that the technical progress will not be slowed down."

Tian Zhongxue turned to look at Ayumi, his face clearly saying "See?"

Ayumi paused for a moment, then said, "Even if someone else does the programming, the original artwork is still the problem I mentioned."

“Ayumi.” Tian Zhongxue’s tone suddenly became serious. “Don’t underestimate yourself. I think you have great potential in drawing. If you don’t have experience, you still have Gao Cheng’s guidance, right?”

Ayumi was slightly taken aback.

"When Ling Nai came to the comics club last time, she just gave you a couple of pointers, and your drawing skills improved so much. You told me yourself, didn't you? With just a few strokes, she helped you understand the perspective problem that had been bothering you for half a year."

“Ling Nai’s painting skills are indeed overwhelmingly strong…” Ayumi’s tone softened a bit.

"That's great!" Tian Zhongxue excitedly slapped the table. "You'll be in charge of the concept art, Ling Nai will be the director, Takeda will be the programmer, and of course, we'll ask Takashiro to write the game script."

He then turned to Ryosuke, "Takashiro, you can write it, right!"

Ryosuke did not answer immediately.

He stood next to the stall, neatly stacking the flyers that Tian Zhongxue had just given him.

He wasn't surprised when the idea of ​​making games came out of Tian Zhongxue's mouth.

When Tian Zhongxue said yesterday, "I also really want to write a work that would make people come all the way here," he vaguely felt that the president would not be satisfied with just making fan fiction.

understand.

The sense of accomplishment that creators feel when their own writing is transformed into visuals by illustrators, given voice by voice actors, and assembled into interactive works by programs is hard to resist.

"I was thinking about it when I was handing out flyers."

Tian Zhongxue adjusted his crooked glasses.

"During the winter COMI, our doujinshi sold 2,500 copies because Takashiro wrote well, Ayumi drew well, and Ryouno directed well. Everyone did their job well and no one held anyone back."

"We already have so many people working together to produce high-quality finished products."

Tian Zhongxue clenched his fist. "Making games is the same principle. Someone writes, someone draws, someone programs, so why not just make it? Don't you want to give it a try, Ayumi?"

Ayumi didn't respond immediately.

She lowered her head, her bangs obscuring half her face, her fingers unconsciously stroking a flyer on the table with a silhouette of Ryougi Shiki printed on it.

Of course she couldn't possibly not want to.

In fact, Ayumi knew better than anyone else that the president's seemingly unreliable suggestion actually had a certain degree of feasibility.

With Ryosuke handling the script, Takeda handling the programming, and Ayano's guidance on key animation indeed resolved many technical bottlenecks.

But that's precisely why she can't easily agree. If her misjudgment leads to the club's losses and collapse, then she will be the biggest sinner.

"As for the cost, it's not entirely impossible."

Tian Zhongxue counted on his fingers, "Look, we earned 600,000 yen from Winter COMI. With the club funding for the next semester, we should conservatively estimate around 700,000 yen. If we do the script and programming ourselves, we can spend all of this money on music and voice acting. Although it's not enough to hire professional big names, we can still find some new voice actors."

“New voice actors aren’t as cheap as you think,” Ayumi retorted instinctively, but her tone wasn’t as firm as before.

“Ayumi, I didn’t say we had to do it now.”

Tian Zhongxue raised his hands, "Isn't Gao Cheng still preparing for her exams? Let's wait until she finishes them. We can start preparing now and work on the script and project proposal first. Anyway, it takes at least half a year to make a complete visual novel, so there's no rush."

Ayumi did not reply.

She looked up and cast a pleading glance at Ryosuke.

The meaning in that gaze was clear: Gao Cheng, you're the most reliable person, say something. The chairman's head is spinning right now, only you can calm him down.

Ryosuke met Ayumi's gaze.

Then he opened his mouth.

"I think it's possible."

Ayumi was stunned.

"Gao Cheng?" Her voice carried a hint of disbelief.

“I can write the script,” Ryosuke said. “Club activities should be about doing something interesting. Since we can get enough people together, it’s worth a try.”

Ayumi's mouth was open, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

She had thought that Ryosuke would be the most rational person and would extinguish Tanaka's enthusiasm with a simple "too high cost" or "not enough manpower".

But he didn't. Not only did he not do it, he also added fuel to the fire.

"Regarding funding..."

Ryosuke smiled at Ayumi, "Actually, I've already discussed 'Kara no Kyoukai' with Dengeki Bunko. It will be published soon, and the royalties I receive can be invested in the circle. Didn't we talk about that before?"

"Gao Cheng, I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

Hearing him say that, Tanaka patted Ryosuke on the shoulder with satisfaction.

With such members, what more could one ask for?

Recruiting him into the club was truly the most important decision I've ever made in my life!

"Takashiro, since you've said that..." Ayumi rubbed her forehead, her voice filled with a resigned weariness.

"So, all the puzzle pieces are complete now?!" Tian Zhongxue rubbed his hands excitedly, then turned to Takeda Makoto, "Takeda-kun! Would you like to officially join the manga club?!"