However, Aoki Haruhi didn't place all his hopes on Urobuchi Gen and Maeda Jun.
After all, work still had to progress.
He left Urobuchi Gen and Maeda to think about the game they wanted to make.
Aoki Haruhi also had a game he wanted to make.
Overall, Aoki Haruhi planned to proceed in two steps.
As for Shinji Mikami and Urobuchi Gen, they would continue developing the sequel to The Witcher; once they had a plan, they would initiate the project.
For Maeda Jun, Aoki Haruhi let him think about new game scripts, and work would begin once a good script was ready.
Then, Aoki Haruhi called Ishino Mika into his office.
...
Upon entering the President's office, Ishino Mika had an ominous premonition, because every time the President called her into his office alone, she would be given an exceptionally large number of tasks.
It was the same when she worked on Quilt Man, and later when she worked on CL and LL.
For CL and LL, Ishino Mika was still the Executive Producer.
Aoki Haruhi said, "Who told you that you are my exclusive executive?"
"Who else can I find if not you?"
Aoki Haruhi really liked Ishino because she was a very good executor.
Otherwise, if Gen Urobuchi and Shinji Mikami were to do it, the final product might exceed expectations.
They have many ideas, sometimes positive, but once they lose control, it's hard to say what the outcome will be.
The term 'executor' itself is not derogatory, because being able to implement and realize Aoki Haruhi's ideas precisely shows that Ishino Mika is a talented Producer.
However, thanks to Aoki Haruhi's blessing.
Ishino Mika is now considered a somewhat well-known Producer.
However, it was also thanks to Aoki Haruhi's blessing.
Ishino Mika received the second-highest number of 'blades' (criticism/complaints) in the entire company, second only to Furuhara Tsubaki.
And during the period when Furuhara Tsubaki was in seclusion, Ishino received the most 'blades'.
"President, are we making a new game this time?" Ishino Mika asked after entering the President's office, obediently taking out her notebook to prepare for note-taking.
Aoki Haruhi frowned. This fellow could even answer questions before they were asked?
"Yes. That's right."
Aoki Haruhi nodded, "The company can't be without new projects, so I came up with a plan myself, but I need you to help me realize it. You will be the Producer for the new project. You can recruit anyone you want to form the team."
"Oh." Ishino Mika nodded calmly.
But her heart was filled with sorrow.
Good heavens, this hateful scoundrel of a President, he used to at least show her the script outline for projects, but now he's directly assigning work without even a script outline?
President, you're getting lazier and lazier, aren't you?
"So what is this new project?" Ishino Mika asked.
"to the moon."
"Hmm?" Ishino looked up, staring at Aoki Haruhi with wide eyes, waiting for his next description.
It couldn't just be the words 'to the moon', could it?
...
to the moon is a visual novel game developed by Gao Kan and the independent game development team Freebird Games, also considered a galgame.
It was released in 2011, but in reality, this game is very simple, so simple that it could even be implemented on a Famicom from the 90s.
It's a pixel-style game with no complex combat, played through RPG-like presentation and character dialogue, interspersed with puzzles and clue-gathering elements.
Although this is a pixel-art mini-game, the gameplay only lasts a few hours and there is no real combat;
However, this work received many positive reviews for its exquisite and delicate presentation and touching story development.
Especially in GameSpot's 2011 Game of the Year awards, it won the Best Script award, surpassing many major titles like Catherine and Portal 2.
The game is known for being "deeply touching, making even tough men shed tears."
Aoki Haruhi developed it also because to the moon is a very good game, and relatively simple, with a short development cycle, which could quickly fill the gap of no new development projects for Pokeni this year.
"I'll first tell you the story in normal chronological order, but afterwards, you need to turn it into a reverse chronological puzzle game," Aoki Haruhi said to Ishino Mika.
"Okay, President." Ishino nodded, tensing up a bit, listening intently to Aoki Haruhi's story.
About an hour passed.
When Aoki Haruhi finished telling the entire story of to the moon, Ishino Mika was already in tears in the meeting room.
"Wuwuwu... It's so touching."
"As expected of the President, even without a script outline, he can still create such an interesting and touching story."
"Right?"
Aoki Haruhi's eyes lit up, and he smiled as he handed a tissue to Ishino Mika, "Do you have confidence in doing a good job this time?"
"I don't have confidence in doing a good job, but I will give it my all," Ishino said.
Aoki Haruhi: "..."
"President, I will do my best."
A dead pig doesn't fear boiling water.
Anyway, Ishino Mika had already received quite a few 'blades,' so a few more wouldn't matter.
"So I can choose my own team, right?" Ishino Mika asked.
"Mm."
"Then can I ask Urobuchi to be my script Author?"
"No."
...
Ishino Mika's face was covered in black lines. Just now, he said she could choose her own team.
"Maeda can be yours," Aoki Haruhi said, "Anyway, you two have collaborated so many times. His writing style is actually more suitable for this game than Urobuchi's. Urobuchi is too gloomy; he might write it into a horror story."
"Oh, that's true."
But Maeda doesn't seem to be much better.
"Still finding Shirakawa for the music?"
"Mm."
"Can I have more people for art?"
"No, why do you need so many people for a galgame? Do you understand standard configuration? Otherwise, just stick with Yokoyama and Ono, and then have Akanishi-san find you a programmer to support you. That should be enough."
...
Ishino felt very uncomfortable.
This setup looked all too familiar.
From Quilt Man to CL and then to LL, it seemed to be the same setup.
"You said I could choose my own team?
Do I have autonomy, President?!"
"Of course, once the team is assembled, all the remaining content is up to you. I'll just look at the final result."
...
Alright, same old same old.
And this time, even a great master like Hayao Miyazaki was gone from the production process.
However, Ishino Mika's mischievous heart refused to die, and she still wanted to struggle a bit more.
"For art, can I have Shinkai as my original artist?" Ishino asked.
"You can."
Aoki Haruhi casually agreed, but after just one second, he quickly called out, "Shinkai can't, he has other arrangements. And for this game's art style, Yokoyama is already enough. You have to believe in Yokoyama's skill."
"Oh, okay, no problem, President."
Ishino Mika only felt her head buzzing.
There was no point in struggling anymore.
After explaining the follow-up matters, Ishino Mika stood up to leave.
Just as she reached the door, Aoki Haruhi called out to her again.
"Oh, right, after you leave, call Shinji Mikami over, and bring Akanishi Ken and Sakata too. Hmm... also call Shinkai."
"Okay, President."
...
About 5 minutes later, Shinji Mikami and the others opened the door and entered Aoki Haruhi's office.
After everyone was seated, Aoki Haruhi smiled mysteriously.
"Now, the company has a difficult task to entrust to you all. It's a new game.
But I haven't quite figured out a key point yet, so let's brainstorm together."
The few people exchanged glances, growing nervous.
Although it was called brainstorming, everyone knew perfectly well that this clearly meant to "discuss a solution" and then implement it.
However, Akanishi Ken and Sakata Taiji weren't under much pressure; they knew they were just there to assist.
Most likely, Shinji Mikami would end up being the Producer.
"It's like this," Aoki Haruhi said, "We have a collaboration with Studio Ghibli, you know that, right?"
"Yes, President."
The few people responded in unison.
However, among them, only Ninjin Makoto's voice trembled slightly.
Upon hearing the words 'Ghibli,' Ninjin Makoto's pupils constricted, and his heart pounded violently.
Nani?!
Ghibli?
Could it be what was mentioned before...
Is the President going to hand over the project with Hayao Miyazaki to us?
At this moment, Ninjin Makoto felt a surge of excitement about collaborating with an old senior he had long admired, and his fingers trembled slightly.
This was Ghibli, this was Hayao Miyazaki.
That means I finally have the opportunity to collaborate with Senior Miyazaki and receive his guidance.
Is that right?
The reason Aoki Haruhi brought Ninjin Makoto into the project was simple: this guy was a future master of Japanese animated films, hailed as the most influential new generation animation giant after Hayao Miyazaki.
It was a good opportunity to let him hone his skills.
Moreover, Shinkai could not only learn a lot from this, but also potentially help improve the game, making it a symbiotic relationship.
"And then, this project is called princess mononoke, you're familiar with it, right?"
The few people shook their heads slightly, indicating they weren't familiar.
At most, they had only heard the name; they didn't know the specific content.
"Let me explain the premise first. princess mononoke is an animated film that Studio Ghibli plans to release next year, at the latest the year after. Then, Pokeni will produce a corresponding game shortly after its release.
This is called 'film-game linkage.' If done well, it will greatly boost the popularity of both sides, thereby attracting more viewers and players.
It's equivalent to us and Ghibli joining forces to expand this pool."
Film-game linkage.
This was the first time they had heard this term.
It sounded very impressive.
"With only one to two years, we don't have much time left.
So this project needs to start being initiated and produced now," Aoki Haruhi said.
The few people lowered their heads, falling into a moment of silence.
Indeed, generally speaking, unless it's a simple reskin game or has very low development difficulty, it's quite normal for a game to take one to two years to develop.
It's also normal for it to take three to five years.
So the President was right; if they didn't start now, they might not make it in time.
They couldn't just hope that Ghibli would delay, could they?
"Come, come, sign the non-disclosure agreement first."
...
Aoki Haruhi placed the pre-prepared non-disclosure agreements in front of everyone, in triplicate, requiring them to sign before he would reveal further details.
Everyone present was considered a veteran of the company, so they were no strangers to non-disclosure agreements.
What's more, this was princess mononoke, a collaboration with Ghibli; it would be somewhat strange not to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Shinji Mikami read it quite carefully.
But there was one clause he didn't quite understand.
"President, I understand all the preceding clauses, such as not being allowed to disclose any content related to princess mononoke, including game gameplay, assets... animation plot, character designs...
But why is there a final clause that says, 'No game content shall be disclosed to anyone outside of project members, and Ghibli personnel are no exception'?
Good heavens, something given by Ghibli, but Ghibli can't know about it, right?
Is this level of secrecy a bit excessive?
Are we guarding against ourselves?
"Hmm, this is for safety reasons."
Aoki Haruhi spoke nonsense with a straight face, "If necessary, I will communicate with them. What if there's a bigmouth at Ghibli? In short, let's do our best to maintain the strictest confidentiality, understand?"
"Understood."
Then Aoki Haruhi picked up a stack of documents from the table, three copies in total, and placed them in front of the three people.
"This is the script for princess mononoke that you wanted."
Although it was called a script, in reality, no matter how much Aoki Haruhi asked, Ghibli would only provide a portion of the storyboard script and character design original drawings.
It wasn't that they didn't want to give it, but mainly because Ghibli's development progress was simply too slow. Storyboards were revised again and again; often, when they had new and better ideas, they would overturn the original ones and start over. So, up to now, they only had storyboards for less than 20 minutes of content.
Even with only 20 minutes, a lot of content could actually be discerned.
Aoki Haruhi, as the only person present who already knew the plot and had watched the film, wrote a text script himself to help his employees understand the animation.
So, in each folder, there was both the 20-minute storyboard and Aoki Haruhi's text script.
"You all should go back and read it carefully first."
"But, there's one thing I must emphasize."
Aoki Haruhi once again emphasized, "Don't let Ghibli know, especially about the text script content provided here."
Damn, if they found out, wouldn't my identity as a reborn person be exposed?
Exposing his identity as a reborn person was a minor issue. At worst, he would just say that this text script was created according to his own personal ideas, and if there were any similarities, it was purely coincidental.
But if it affected the creation of their princess mononoke due to spoilers, that wouldn't be good.
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