Galgames, also known as visual novels, are a type of interactive electronic game where players can interact with animated bishōjo (beautiful girls). While their primary audience was once Japanese men, the development of all-ages Galgames has broadened their appeal to include both men and women.
Most Galgames are visual novels (VNs), but some are more interactive.
In simple terms, they are interactive dating simulation games with beautiful girls.
March 1990.
Tokyo, Pokeni Corporation.
The atmosphere inside the company was heavy, with faint sighs heard from time to time.
"Things are looking pretty bleak."
"No way, is the company going to fold just as we're getting started?"
"This time it's probably hopeless. The game's sales were bad, and with this rotten economy, we might go bankrupt."
"Yeah, who would have thought? Last year the economy was booming, and now it's like we've been pushed off a cliff."
"Really? I don't want the company to go bankrupt. I've got a family to support. If I lose my job now..."
Meanwhile, in the president's office, Aoki Haruhi was also sighing, though his reasons differed from those of the employees outside.
"What the hell happened here? Reborn, fine, but to Japan? With dead parents, no car, no house, and buried in debt?"
Yes, Aoki Haruhi had been reborn.
The date was April 1, 1990, not the familiar Shanghai of 2023. He was now the president of Pokeni Corporation.
In this parallel world, Japan had experienced an economic bubble burst the previous year, plunging the nation from its peak into ruin. Homelessness was rampant, with countless people wandering the streets after their companies went bankrupt.
Pokeni, a small game company, was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy after its last game failed. Whether they could even pay their employees on time next month was uncertain.
"Ah... starting on hell mode, huh? Otherwise, I might as well go bankrupt and get a job."
Aoki Haruhi frowned, his hands clasped tightly, his expression bitter.
Still, he had no choice but to stick with game development. If he could manage it, keeping the company afloat would be the best outcome.
Working for someone else? Not in this lifetime.
In 1990, after the Island Nation's economic bubble burst, countless people fell into despair, consumer confidence plummeted, and countless companies went bankrupt. Many industries plunged into abyss, but a few defied the trend.
The gaming industry was one of them.
Although the Island Nation entered an era of economic stagnation and low consumer desire, this precisely became the golden age of the gaming industry.
For the next few decades, games would become the most popular and abundant consumer product for otaku and normies alike.
Moreover, Aoki Haruhi's previous life had been spent working as a game developer.
Before his rebirth, he had been the lead programmer on an anime-style project at Mihoyo. His technical skills were undeniable, and he had even been one of the main developers of Mihoyo's animation engine. With his immense passion for games and a company that specialized in anime-style content, which aligned closely with the gaming industry in the Island Nation, developing games in this life felt like swimming with the current.
What surprised Aoki Haruhi even more was that the original owner of this body had possessed exceptional drawing skills before becoming a producer.
Excellent.
My programming abilities, vast game development experience, outstanding artistic talent, and avant-garde aesthetic sense for the future world...
A faint smile curled the corners of Aoki Haruhi's lips.
In this life, there's simply no possibility of failure in game development.
"Pokeni is in dire straits. We need to find a way to save it."
The most urgent task is to secure investment. For now, we should focus on developing a solid plan.
"We need to figure out which game we should copy first... I mean, develop first."
Aoki Haruhi had plenty of AAA game ideas in mind, but AAA games had several fatal flaws: they required a large team, massive funding, and an immense amount of time.
Yes, that was essentially the definition of AAA.
In simple terms, a typical AAA game refers to a high-budget, high-scope, high-quality game.
Aoki Haruhi couldn't even dare to imagine developing something like Red Dead Redemption 2, which cost 5.6 billion yuan and took nearly eight years to develop.
The only thing Aoki Haruhi could guarantee was high quality.
He opened his computer, created a new text file, and typed a single line:
"Chinese Paladin"
Aoki Haruhi's first thought was of the game Chinese Paladin.
Chinese Paladin, released by Softstar Entertainment in 1995, was a groundbreaking Chinese single-player role-playing computer game. Its grand narrative, steeped in uniquely Chinese wuxia fantasy, and its deeply moving, healing story, cemented its status as a generation-defining classic.
Chinese Paladin 1 achieved considerable success, selling over 200,000 copies in Taiwan alone. A planned port to the Sega Saturn was intended to break into the Japanese market, but the Saturn's failure against Nintendo's consoles meant Chinese Paladin never gained traction on the platform.
Beyond cultural differences, this was simply a matter of bad luck, not a reflection of the game's quality.
In Aoki Haruhi's view, human emotions are universal. If Clannad, an anime with distinctly Japanese characteristics, could still move Chinese audiences, why couldn't Chinese Paladin?
If the DOS version of Chinese Paladin had been far behind international standards, Aoki Haruhi was now standing at the forefront of the global gaming scene. With Pokeni Corporation's current development capabilities, they could probably achieve even better results on the FC. As long as the character art was good, that was all that mattered.
Another crucial reason for choosing Chinese Paladin was that Pokeni's newly released game, Heart of the Sword, had flopped. However, Heart of the Sword was a pure turn-based RPG.
Turn-based, RPG, swordsmen... these elements aligned perfectly with Chinese Paladin. Development time could be cut in half. At least most of the programming work was already done. All that remained was to completely overhaul the art, replace the story and gameplay flow, and add some new features. That would be perfect.
And the Chinese Paladin series, especially the story of the first game, was sure to impress investors.
After staying up all night, Aoki Haruhi roughly outlined the story of Chinese Paladin, including character settings and descriptions. He then called Ishino Mika, the company's copywriter, to the conference room.
"President, what can I do for you?"
Ishino was a petite woman in her twenties, wearing round-rimmed glasses. Her white sweater concealed a figure that belied her youthful appearance.
Though her voice was soft, Aoki Haruhi heard it clearly.
He looked up and handed her the printed document. "Take a look. Can you develop this story into a proposal? I'm planning to pitch it to investors."
"Huh?"
Ishino's eyes lit up. Does this mean the company won't go bankrupt? I won't lose my job?
Author's Note:
Please note that the content of this book does not fully align with the real world, nor does it reflect any real-world events.
Some topics are too sensitive to be written about directly; writing them would result in the book being banned.
Therefore, the story will be rationalized and altered to fit the narrative.
As long as the logic remains sound, please consider this a parallel world created by the author.
If you find any logical inconsistencies, please point them out in the comments section, and I will correct them as soon as I see them.
Thank you for your understanding.