Chapter 27. It's Time to Develop New Games
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"Eh? Are we giving up on making galgames?"
When everyone saw the first draft of the new project plan that Kiyoshi Yuuma brought out, everyone in the meeting room was taken aback.
Akanishi Ken flipped open the proposal in front of him. On the cover, two large words were boldly printed:
"Prestigious Academy"
"Yes," Kiyoshi Yuuma nodded.
Prestigious Academy is a reworked version of the game Pocket Academy from his previous life.
Originally developed by Kairosoft in 2013, Pocket Academy is a mobile simulation management game where the player runs a school, cultivates various students, and aims to improve the school's reputation and ranking through student success.
Although it is a 2013 mobile game, Kiyoshi Yuuma had deliberately chosen it as the first project after "coming ashore," and it was a carefully thought-out decision.
First off, Kairosoft itself is a rather unique company. They exclusively made one type of game—pixel-style simulation management games. From running a bookstore to a game company… from a ramen shop to a city builder… the theme varied, but the style was instantly recognizable as Kairosoft's.
In terms of visuals, Kairosoft's pixel art style wouldn't feel out of place even on a 1990 Famicom. With a bit of refinement from Kiyoshi Yuuma, it could potentially become the pinnacle of pixel aesthetics for this era.
More importantly, Kairosoft games were simple, small in scale, had short development cycles, and were perfect for quick profit.
Pocket Academy was one of Kairosoft's top ten most popular games, massively downloaded and relatively easy to develop.
Pixel-style, replayable, fun, simulation management, quick to develop, and low cost… it was practically tailor-made for this time period.
For a small company like Pokeni, with just 20 people, Kiyoshi Yuuma couldn't think of a better "coming ashore" project than a Kairo-style game.
In fact, back in the day, Kairosoft only had nine employees, yet they managed to produce about six sim games a year. They were known for high output, lightweight design, small scope, agile development, and low costs—all hallmarks of Kairosoft games.
Kiyoshi Yuuma estimated that developing Pocket Academy wouldn't even take two months, and the budget could probably be kept under 18 million yen.
Once the first version was built, re-skinning for future versions would be much easier.
Every Kairo game had its own gimmick, but the core stayed the same—simulation management. Whether the focus was on map design or deep numerical systems, the differences between titles were minor.
If they could gain a foothold with this Kairo-style game, they could later expand into other genres and explore new game ideas.
Once they had enough funding and tech capabilities, Kiyoshi Yuuma aimed to move toward developing AAA titles.
Just the thought of that bright future beckoning made him a little excited.
…
After listening to Kiyoshi Yuuma's explanation and reviewing the core gameplay of Prestigious Academy, everyone gradually nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, considering our company's current situation, developing a quick simulation management game like Prestigious Academy is a good move," said Sakata Taiji, the chief artist, tilting his head as he studied the proposal.
"But President, isn't it a bit of a waste to give up on Onmyoji so quickly?" asked engineer Asakawa Hiroki, an honest fellow, voicing the question that everyone had on their minds.
It was a fair point. Based on the usual development cycle of a game company, if a game becomes a major hit, there's no reason not to work on a sequel.
Especially now that Onmyoji had surpassed 100,000 units sold, there was even less reason to abandon it.
Aside from Valve's boss, who "can't count to three," most companies that create a hit game will release at least three entries in the series.
Otherwise, it would be foolish to leave money on the table.
Regardless of how the sequel turned out, just riding on the popularity of the first game would guarantee a decent amount of sales.
And Kiyoshi Yuuma fully understood this logic.
"Mm-hmm~" He shook his head. "I haven't given up. My plan is to continue developing Onmyoji 2, but it won't be a galgame."
"Huh?!"
Everyone present was visibly shocked.
"Why is that?" asked Asakawa Hiroki.
"It's all for the long-term development of the company," Kiyoshi Yuuma said with a frown. "If Pokeni gets labeled as a 'galgame company,' it'll be very hard to shift gears in the future. Right now, while players haven't formed a fixed impression of us, it's still not too late to reshape our image through Prestigious Academy."
"But why?" Asakawa Hiroki was completely puzzled. "Why can't we keep making galgames and become a giant in the galgame field?"
Ah, this spineless guy… Kiyoshi Yuuma really wanted to smack him.
"Because the President has bigger dreams," Mika Ishino stood up and spoke in Kiyoshi Yuuma's defense. "To be blunt, galgames don't exactly leave a great impression on most people. So what if you're the best in the galgame field?
Even Koei made galgames back in the day and still transitioned away from them.
If we can, why not try expanding into broader fields?"
Koei, after all, had made a few galgames in the 1980s, such as Night Life. Although technically a galgame, it was more like an educational guide to… bedroom activities.
But they quickly gave that up and shifted their focus to major strategy titles like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series and Nobunaga's Ambition, which brought them huge success.
In fact, Night Life could even be considered Japan's first small-scale galgame.
"Exactly."
Kiyoshi Yuuma nodded. "If our company only has the ability to make galgames, then maybe we'd see short-term success. But in the long run, it would hold us back. On the other hand, if we first establish a successful non-galgame title and expand into other genres, then making a few galgames later on wouldn't matter at all."
But starting with galgames and trying to shift later? That would be a real headache.
Kiyoshi Yuuma's dreams weren't limited to this small scope.
If possible, he wanted to turn Pokeni into the number one game company in Japan.
…
After a meeting that lasted over four hours, Pokeni confirmed its next two game development projects:
First: Prestigious Academy
Second: Onmyoji 2
In a way, Pokeni had evolved from a single-project game company into one handling two projects—a small but definite step forward.
But for Kiyoshi Yuuma…
This was only the beginning.