Horrible! Actually playing this kind of game!

Tokyo.

Ginza.

pokeni co., ltd.

In the morning, Qing Zhiyuan called Mikami into the president's office.

After sitting down, Qing Zhiyuan poured him a cup of tea and started chatting while drinking.

“Princess Mononoke has come to an end, and it’s time to make a new game.”

Qing Zhiyuan asked, "Mikami, you are the supervisor now. Do you have any ideas?"

After the development of Princess Mononoke is completed, the manpower equivalent to Mikami and Gen Urobuchi will be released, and they should continue to move forward. The company is in the expansion stage, and it should be forge ahead with determination.

That's why Qing Zhiyuan first approached Mikami today to talk about this matter.

"It should be "Border"." Shinji Mikami responded.

Ah, hello, president, didn’t you propose this project?

Why are you asking about me now?

Since NVIDIA delivered a new discrete graphics card in the first half of this year, this project has been put on the schedule.

In the spring of next year, NVIDIA's discrete graphics cards will be released.

If such a game that particularly demands 3D performance comes out, it will help Nvidia dominate the market.

"What about other than that?" Qing Zhiyuan continued to ask.

"There are only so many of us." Shinji Mikami complained.

Now, except for the Pokémon project team, which has about 200 people, other studios are quite tight.

Although Pokeni does not restrict members from staying in the same project team, but adopts a flat flow management system, in fact there will still be a differentiation in the end.

For example, the brothers who originally followed Lisa Asano to make Pokémon, will definitely be more inclined to continue making Pokémon with her later.

Of course, this all depends on the needs of the company.

It is easy for President Qing Zhiyuan to allocate personnel.

But currently, although Pokémon has a lot of manpower, there are also quite a lot of projects being developed at the same time. There is still a shortage of personnel, and the projects are in a saturated state.

As for Shinji Mikami, although he has the title of supervisor, he actually does not do much work at all.

I have been busy with the "Princess Mononoke" project before, and I also have to take time to check out the status of "The Witcher 2" from Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Now that "Princess Mononoke" has come to an end, there are only so many idle staff, and at most they can only support the development of a new shooting game.

"Shooting games are quite complicated," Mikami said. "We are also asking Akanishi-san to help develop firearms debugging tools and basic shooting simulation systems."

Shooting games are equivalent to a new field, and everything has to be explored from scratch.

Not that easy.

Take the shooting system as an example. The flight of sub-objects, ballistics, weight of the firearm, recoil... these all need to be designed and adjusted.

As for programmers, they stopped following up on development last year because there was no hardware support.

Now that Nvidia's graphics card is out, the programming department is complaining repeatedly. Akanishi Ken is frowning every day. He was already a bald middle-aged man, and now his beard has turned white from torture.

In a while, Ken Akanishi will follow Toshio Suzuki's route.

After listening to Mikami Shinji's complaint, Qing Zhiyuan was amused.

Hey, these fools.

"We can continue to recruit people." Qing Zhiyuan said with relief, "You don't have to worry about manpower. What kind of people you need, go to Ayase, she will definitely be able to solve it.

If Ayase can't solve it..."

"Huh?" Shinji Mikami looked at Qing Zhiyuan longingly.

Could it be that the president is going to die personally?

"If she can't solve it, then Ayase doesn't have to hang around." Qing Zhiyuan said.

People are no longer so scarce since the economic bubble burst, but talents like Mikami are still in short supply.

Nowadays, it is difficult to recruit people who can serve as producers and lead a team to make games independently.

Isn’t it easy to recruit workers?

"Okay, President." Shinji Mikami nodded.

"I mean……"

Qing Zhiyuan thought about it and said, "Look, isn't the development of "Princess Mononoke" finished? The response from the industry has been very good, right?"

"Yes." Mikami nodded obediently.

"But, Famiton deducted 4 points from us, leaving us with only 36 points." Qing Zhiyuan was very angry.

"That's because..." Mikami said quickly, "That's because the plot is not original to us, and I really feel that the game we made is good enough."

"right?"

"Hmm, yes."

"So, we have done so much work, and if something as good as Princess Mononoke is not reused, it always feels like a waste." Qing Zhiyuan pondered.

"Huh?" Shinji Mikami blinked, as if he had heard something extraordinary.

"Reuse of resources." Qing Zhiyuan said, "We are so good at animation rendering. The scenes of Princess Mononoke, forests, fields, even Dadala City, are all dreamlike. "

This is true.

Mikami Shinji nodded. Although it was always a little weird to hear his president brag about his games, he had to admit that what Qing Zhiyuan said was the truth.

"The game resources cannot be reused, which seems to be a bit of a waste."

"Do you have any new ideas?" Qing Zhiyuan looked at Mikami with burning eyes, full of expectation.

Seeing this, cold sweat broke out on Shinji Mikami's back.

"President, it's not that we don't want to do it, but..." Mikami said hesitantly, "Whether there can be a sequel to "Princess Mononoke" depends on Ghibli, right?

Will they agree to let us develop a sequel? "

According to the general game tradition, if a game can reach the level of a hit like Princess Mononoke, then a sequel will definitely be developed.

However, Princess Mononoke has its own special characteristics.

This game is based on Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" movie.

The copyright is in the hands of Ghibli. If they have no idea of ​​developing a follow-up movie, then pokeni will have nothing to do no matter what.

And judging from Mikami's knowledge of Hayao Miyazaki, if this old man is willing to develop "Princess Mononoke 2", he will really be in trouble.

After all, this movie has been expressed very completely here.

The contradiction between human beings and nature remains unresolved, and everything starts over again. This is also a philosophical proposition that Hayao Miyazaki wants to express and leave it to future generations to think about.

If we develop a second part, it would be a bit superfluous.

It's not necessarily that Hayao Miyazaki can do better.

Mikami felt bitter and said, President, you are making things difficult for me.

Qing Zhiyuan smiled lightly.

"I didn't say I was going to make "Princess Mononoke 2""

"What do you mean, President?"

"Resources are reused, and then we create our own stories ourselves," Qing Zhiyuan said.

"Hmm... In this case, it seems possible." Shinji Mikami crossed his hands and thought.

Princess Mononoke is actually very powerful at this level. It contains a lot of resources, including game combat mechanisms and so on. Just change the skin and it can become a powerful game product.

Just like when the Onmyoji series was produced, many art resources can be reused in the same era.

In addition to saving costs, this actually saves time.

"Then just let Wada come up with a good script." Mikami said.

"Hmm... let me think about it."

Qing Zhiyuan folded his hands and also fell into deep thought.

"If there is anything that is more suitable for Princess Mononoke's resources," Qing Zhiyuan frowned, "then forests, villages... these will all have to be used."

What is a game with beautiful animation-like scenery?

"ah!"

At this moment, a flash of lightning lit up in Qing Zhiyuan's mind.

He came up with something that was very interesting and could perfectly inherit the current art resources of "Princess Mononoke".

"Well, Mikami, please call Asano over."

"Huh? Asano? Asano Lisa?"

"Yes." Qing Zhiyuan nodded.

…

A few minutes later, Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano knocked on the door of the president's office.

"President."

Asano bowed slightly.

"sit down."

Qing Zhiyuan smiled and invited the two of them to sit down.

Mikami Shinji was very puzzled, wasn't Asano a Pokémon maker? Why did he ask her to come over?

"It's like this," Qing Zhiyuan repeated what he had just discussed with Mikami to Lisa Asano, "The original intention was to reuse the resources of "Princess Mononoke"."

"Okay president, but do you need anything from me?" Lisa Asano asked curiously.

Her first instinct was that the president must have had his own intentions when he called her over.

So is it possible to combine Pokémon with Princess Mononoke?

In this case, are the beasts in Princess Mononoke considered Pokémon?

Mountain beast gods, business owners, elves, etc...

If you think about it carefully, it's actually quite interesting.

"That's what I think." Qing Zhiyuan said, "I want to make two games."

"Um."

The two men nodded slightly and listened carefully to what he said next.

"The first game," Qing Zhiyuan raised a finger, "It's called "Insect Master""

"Mushishi?" Mikami and Asano both asked in confusion.

Insect Master is Qing Zhiyuan's favorite animation work in his previous life.

The original author is Urushihara Yuki.

"Insect Master" depicts the complex "insects" in the world and the theme of "insect masters" who are engaged in the coordination work related to them.

Compared with the mainstream neon anime themes, it is obviously different from the shounen comics that are prone to fighting and killing and the shojo comics that have ups and downs of love.

In this animation, "worms" are neither animals nor microorganisms, but a ubiquitous force in nature with unique life forms that occasionally intersect with humans.

The Insect Master tells about some strange events that happened after the intersection, and then when the protagonist Gingani solved these events, he encountered people and things, as well as [Insects]

Each episode is a separate little story.

Warmth heals and touches people's hearts.

Qing Zhiyuan likes the fantasy world and setting of Mushishi very much, and also deeply loves every warm little story in it.

He raised his palms and explained to the two people:

“In the world of the insect master, there live a group of creatures that are completely different from common animals and plants.

Since ancient times, people have called them "worms" with awe. "

"You can understand it as a kind of creature that has its own shape and survival habits, but also has power beyond common sense. They do not necessarily look like insects."

Qing Zhiyuan stretched out his palm and said to the two people as described in Mushi Master, "If our world is a palm, there will be people, animals, and plants on it..."

With each word, he raised a finger.

“These things make up our world.”

"Then, [worm] is something at the lower level, the root."

Qing Zhiyuan pointed to his wrist.

The two of them seemed to understand each other.

“When the insect world and the human world overlap, the insect master Yingu will appear.

These worms are obviously not little things that look like writhing flesh, but a creature that is closest to the origin of life and is similar to a spirit body.

They have their own way of survival, which may go against human common sense and even endanger human survival.

As a result, the profession of "insect masters" emerged. They travel around the world, conduct research on the life forms and survival methods of insects, and accept people's entrustments to solve strange events that may be caused by insects.

The protagonist Yin Gu is one of them. "

Qing Zhiyuan spent almost two hours telling them the settings of the insect master and some more classic stories.

This transition is so smooth.

The art resources of Princess Mononoke can be fully absorbed and utilized by Mushi Master. The scenes only need to change some orders, make a few changes and additions, and it can take on a completely new look and become the world of Mushi Master.

Then the remaining thing is to make those weird [insects].

Oh, and the people living here.

Of course, it is not impossible to modify the characters on the basis of "Princess Mononoke".

The styles of the two actually match up quite well.

After listening to this, Mikami and Asano were extremely shocked.

The two people looked at each other with doubts in each other's eyes.

The president’s imagination...

Simply amazing.

It feels like there are endless ideas in his mind.

Even more open, deeper, and more wonderful than Wada and Maeda Jun...

After listening to the story of the insect master, Asano Lisa was deeply attracted by it.

"But how to play this game?"

"The game itself is about the intersection and survival of humans and insects. Each follows its own trajectory, which is a more natural thing." Qing Zhiyuan said, "I don't want to make this game a combat type. "

"Eh?"

Shinji Mikami was surprised.

Isn't this kind of theme just suitable for combat?

Think about it, there are so many weird [insects], how brilliant we can be in battle.

"What's going on?" Lisa Asano swallowed silently. She didn't quite understand what the president was thinking.

"That's why I asked Asano to come here." Qing Zhiyuan said, "I want to make a game without combat, but in which [insects] can be collected, captured, driven away, eliminated, and raised."

The two men nodded in understanding, then shook their heads.

"Have you ever played rock, paper, scissors?"

"Um."

“There is a food chain in nature,” Qing Zhiyuan said. “Tiger eats deer, and deer eat grass. The grass absorbs nutrients from the soil, and then the animal feces and carcasses decompose and add fertility to the soil.”

“After there is no fighting, collecting bugs, understanding their habits, and finding ways to crack them is the fun of the game.”

"For example, there is a bug that can burrow into human skin, but it is afraid of low-frequency sounds.

There is another kind of insect that sings at this low frequency, but it sings at a time every day.

In this way, singing insects can drive away the bugs that burrow into human skin and heal humans. "

"Oh, I understand." The two of them nodded, feeling suddenly enlightened.

Lisa Asano laughed, "It seems to be somewhat similar to Pokémon."

But there is a big difference.

How do you describe this feeling?

It's amazing, just like how the president described the world view of [Mushi Master].

The gameplay is fun while also serving the game well.

“The big map can be cut into many modules, and then we put different events into them and plant them inside,” Qing Zhiyuan said. “However, we do not force players to follow a fixed route to experience the game.

Create a completely free and open world for them to explore and find ways to solve events.

Then experience the stories and understand life through these events. "

This is the insect master.

The two of them sat motionless, carefully savoring the game world and gameplay described by Qing Zhiyuan.

This game is really different from every one they have come across before.

If you really want to talk about it, maybe the closest one is Patma.

But only some of Patma's decryption elements share common characteristics with this one.

The overall big world composition, 3D operation... are all a brand new game.

It's as if such a world of bugs really exists, and then you truly play the role of a bug master, walking around the world just to solve the troubles that bugs inadvertently cause to humans.

Then during the journey, witness all kinds of people and things.

People’s lives and stories between people become part of the journey.

This kind of game is really interesting.

Interesting does not mean fierce battles and conflicts. Perhaps it is like what pokeni said: "Games are life."

It is enough to be able to create such a wonderful life.

"It's great, such a story, such a setting, such a game." Lisa Asano smiled.

"Well, if it can be done, it should be quite meaningful." Shinji Mikami said.

But what he was not sure about was whether a game without combat could be done well.

And it still uses the resources of Princess Mononoke.

Whether players can calm down and experience "Insect Master" is also unknown.

But Mikami likes it very much, which is equivalent to adding a new gameplay to the company.

"I will write the script then." Qing Zhiyuan said with a smile, "You can all recruit people to cooperate with me in this game. I am going to be the producer in the name of Furuhara Chunqiu."

Nani?

Is Guyuan Chunqiu actually going to make a comeback?

…

"What about the second game?"

Qing Zhiyuan looked at Asano Lisa, and then shifted his gaze to Mikami.

"I want you to jointly start a project, and the name of the game is "Monster Hunter""

"monster hunter?"

…

…

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No updates tonight

thank you all

See you tomorrow (end of chapter)