August 16, 1995.
Tokyo.
Pokeni Co., Ltd.
A sigh escaped Aoki Haruhi in the Producer's office.
"Ah~ This is really too much of a coincidence, isn't it?"
"I'm really having a hard Time."
Aoki Haruhi had just checked his email and found an invitation from Sony.
The Electronic Entertainment Industry Association, led by Sony, was going to hold an exhibition for all game companies in the second half of this year.
Yes, this electronic exhibition was the very famous—
[Tokyo Game Show]
The specific dates were tentatively scheduled for September 27th to September 30th, a total of 4 days.
As one of the members, Pokeni was also among the invited.
However, Aoki Haruhi was very worried about this.
Because this year's ace had already been played, which was "pokémon 3d world."
He didn't know which game to exhibit in the second half of the year.
Currently, the only game with a chance to be released in the second half of the year was "to the moon."
"Damn it."
Aoki Haruhi covered his forehead, feeling it was truly tricky.
They didn't organize it earlier, insisting on dragging it out until after September.
Otherwise, just imagine how eye-catching "pokémon 3d world" would have been if it had shone brightly at the Tokyo Game Show?
It would definitely add to the game's achievements.
However, games that had already been released were not entirely excluded from exhibiting, but it went against the original intention of the game show.
Such electronic exhibitions are generally used by major game manufacturers to showcase future products and whet players' appetites.
As for the game "to the moon," it's not that it's not good, but its goodness isn't immediately apparent.
It's the kind of unexpected move that hits you after you've played through the entire game.
Although it was "to the moon," Aoki Haruhi still made some changes.
There was nothing to adjust in terms of the plot; the key points were the picture quality and art style.
Although the previous life's "to the moon" was released in 2012, its overall art style and picture quality were relatively retro, even inferior to some early pixel-style RPGs.
Aoki Haruhi seriously considered whether to adopt the retro pixel style of its previous life.
After much thought, he decided against it.
When the original Author, Gao Kan, created this game, there was a sense of being somewhat stretched thin; using RPG Maker itself already had significant limitations.
This tool was excellent for pixel art style support, but the software itself was old, originally developed specifically for creating retro pixel-style games.
When Gao Kan developed the game, it was because he only had so many materials, coupled with insufficient manpower, insufficient resources, and not much funding; it was fundamentally a game polished by Time and ideals.
However, we at Pokeni are not short on money.
Nor do we lack technology and art.
There's no need to restore it one-to-one in a pixel style; that would be a bit pedantic.
Aoki Haruhi himself, up to now, has hardly ever seriously restored any game one-to-one.
The only one that was relatively restored, "famous academy," also fell flat.
…
Now that he has the strength, Aoki Haruhi still hopes to do a good job with the game "to the moon."
The lead artist for "to the moon" was not Ninjin Makoto, because Ninjin Makoto was transferred to the "princess mononoke" project team.
However, Yokoyama as the lead artist was not bad either.
His "Quilt Man" from back then, with its bold use of color and dreamy fairy-tale style, was even more suitable for the game "to the moon."
So, it was finally decided with Producer Ishino Mika to make this moving story in the style of "Quilt Man."
"to the moon" itself already had a hint of romantic, dreamy fairy-tale meaning.
Aoki Haruhi personally thought it was very suitable.
However, as a text-based story-driven galgame, "to the moon" had almost no advantages in terms of game expression and game playability.
Taking it to the Tokyo Game Show would be equivalent to not showcasing its strengths.
This was quite a headache.
But there was no other way; Aoki Haruhi could only bite the bullet and exhibit "to the moon."
Some of the company's large projects had relatively long development cycles and were games that would likely only be released next year.
For example, "the witcher 2."
And for example, "princess mononoke."
In terms of gameplay and expressiveness, Aoki Haruhi was full of confidence in "princess mononoke."
However, considering that this game had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Ghibli, it was actually unlikely to be exhibited. When to reveal it, all these had to be coordinated with Ghibli.
Only when both sides reached an agreement and formed a joint force could the best exposure effect be achieved.
Especially before the animation was released, Aoki Haruhi didn't even dare to leak a tiny bit of information to the media.
But then again.
This was actually good; he had some ace cards up his sleeve.
Although Aoki Haruhi felt his company couldn't be the brightest star at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Pokeni would definitely be the most eye-catching at next year's game show.
…
Before the employees of the Pokémon project team were about to go on a team-building trip, Aoki Haruhi called Producer Lisa Asano into his office.
"Director, I'm here. Is there anything?"
Lisa Asano sat obediently on the sofa, but her mind was racing.
We're all going on a team-building trip; under such circumstances, is Director still going to assign me tasks?
No way?
Aoki Haruhi wouldn't be so inhumane, would he?
"Hmm, it's like this."
Aoki Haruhi smiled and turned to face Lisa Asano.
"Where are you planning to go for your team-building trip?"
"Hmm, we plan to go to the Maldives as a group," said Lisa Asano.
Director, didn't you approve it?
And you're asking us where we're going?
The expenses would ultimately be reimbursed by the company, and this matter was also approved by Aoki Haruhi.
This guy was still playing dumb here.
"Wow, the Maldives, that's great. If I wasn't so busy, I'd want to go with you too."
Oh, please don't…
Lisa Asano's heart sank.
That would be too terrifying.
If Director was there, the employees wouldn't be able to relax at all and wouldn't have a good Time playing.
Even Lisa Asano herself felt she was redundant, after all, she was a small leader now.
As the Director of the Pokémon project team, these subordinates would probably love to kick her out too.
It wasn't because Lisa Asano was unsociable; it was mainly because she held a title, which would make everyone unable to relax while playing game.
Fortunately, Aoki Haruhi was busy with work and couldn't participate, otherwise, it would have been truly awkward.
Lisa Asano thought to herself.
"This Time, Pokémon 3d achieved complete success, and I am sincerely happy and proud of you all."
"Thank you, Director."
"But," Aoki Haruhi said, "I'm thinking, now that Pokémon 3d is done, we need to consider what to do next."
"We have a plan for that," Lisa Asano quickly interjected, "According to the original plan, Pokémon 3d will have an English version in the coming Time, expected to be released in Europe and America by the end of the year.
At the same Time, didn't we add over 50 new Pokémon to pokémon 3d world?
We plan to add these over 50 Pokémon to the next handheld Pokémon game.
The tentative name is Pokémon light/dark."
To enable interaction, battles, and Pokémon exchanges between players, it always had to be made into two versions.
Light/Dark was actually named after the attributes of Lucifer and Ophelia, the two opposing Pokémon in 3D Pokémon.
This matter itself was also in the development plan.
It had been decided last year.
After all, a lot of effort was spent developing 3D Pokémon and adding so many new Elf; it would be a shame not to reuse them.
The workload was not light either, equivalent to converting all these 3D models into 2D versions.
Fortunately, these 3D characters already had original designs, making it much easier to re-export them to 2D.
The estimated development cycle was also half a year.
Mm-hmm.
Aoki Haruhi nodded, indicating his understanding of these development plans.
"These will proceed according to the original plan."
"What I mean is, look."
Aoki Haruhi smiled and moved his chair closer to Lisa Asano.
The latter felt unprecedented pressure.
"Now, didn't pokémon 3d world get off to a good start and even be hailed as a milestone in the 3D Time?
My idea is to capitalize on this momentum and continue moving forward.
We have one 3D Pokémon, so why not make another 3D Pokémon?
You can think of it as a separate branch within the Pokémon series. Not only should pokémon 3d world continue, but we should also develop more 3D Pokémon spin-off games.
Strive to build Pokémon into a grand empire, an empire that can encompass different types of games.
And I personally believe this is very suitable.
Pokémon itself is an IP with infinite possibilities."
The main thing is to play, but some tasks need to be arranged in advance, which is also like giving them homework, so they can find some inspiration while traveling.
After listening to Aoki Haruhi, Lisa Asano felt like stabbing Aoki Haruhi.
However, she felt that Director made a lot of sense.
If a game becomes a huge hit, then a sequel must be developed next.
pokémon 3d world now has the potential to become an independent branch.
It is indeed Time to make more 3D games.
"I have a few directions for you to consider."
"Mm-hmm." Lisa Asano nodded.
"The first is to continue along the direction of the Big World, still a 4-player multiplayer game. Make it "pokémon 3d world 2.""
This game, for Lisa Asano, might just be one of many achievements in her life.
But for Pokeni, for Aoki Haruhi, it had strong strategic significance.
Because the appearance of this game successfully helped him enter the all-age family-friendly game market, a field that many game companies struggled to enter, even breaking their heads.
It was basically firmly held by Nintendo, after all, their core and starting point were here.
Suitable for all ages, fun for the whole family, multiplayer game, easy and enjoyable.
Don't think such games are simple; however, it is precisely such games that have the widest audience and highest sales.
Currently, "pokémon 3d world" has, through the 3D tag and new expressive forms, forcibly carved out a large chunk of Nintendo's territory.
But if it doesn't continue to expand, it will soon be reclaimed by Nintendo.
Aoki Haruhi naturally hoped to continue his efforts and seize this momentum to grab more of the pie.
Therefore, continuing to make sequels was extremely important.
"Mm-hmm."
Lisa Asano kept nodding, firmly remembering every word Director said.
"And then," Aoki Haruhi continued, "among the spin-offs, I hope for more single-player or two-player 3D Pokémon games."
"Huh?" Lisa Asano blinked, not quite understanding.
"Lisa Asano, do you know that things ascend in a spiral?"
"Spiral shape?"
"Yes, spiral shape."
Aoki Haruhi gestured in the air.
"There are similar patterns in the game industry too.
In the traditional electronic game industry, it started with extremely simple games like Tetris and super mario, then gradually evolved into games for older age groups, like dragon quest, fire emblem…
Then came galgame…
games also progress from simple to complex, and game storylines are the same.
The 3D field will also follow the same pattern."
Aoki Haruhi said, "Now we have essentially opened up an action-adventure game in the 3D market, which is a recreation of super mario in 3D.
In the future, in this world, there will also be 3D RPGs, 3D SLGs, and various other types of 3D games will be filled in."
"The new blue ocean will soon be divided up by various game manufacturers, then turn into a fiercely competitive red ocean, and then enter a new cycle of entering new fields.
All of this will constantly repeat.
Do you understand what I mean?"
"Mm." Lisa Asano nodded, "So we also need to do everything we've done in 2D games in 3D games."
"Right."
Aoki Haruhi smiled.
This girl's mind was quite sharp.
"No wonder you need to make single-player or two-player games. That means you want to make more complex Pokémon RPGs with storylines, right?"
"Hmm, you can understand it that way," Aoki Haruhi said, "But you can also broaden your thinking and make different types of games, even a racing game would work."
"Racing?!"
Lisa Asano was a bit confused for a moment, not yet having figured out how Pokémon would drive racing cars.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Take advantage of this holiday to relax well. Maybe you'll get some inspiration during your trip."
"Okay, Director."
Lisa Asano didn't look very willing.
"But then, we won't have enough manpower," Lisa Asano frowned.
"No problem. Tell Ayase how many people you need and what kind of people you need directly; she'll help with the recruitment."
Recruiting people at Pokeni was easy now; after all, it was one of the well-known game companies and was very popular with young players. Many graduates from famous academy were scrambling to get into Pokeni and still had to be screened.
So, there shouldn't be a big problem with talent.
"Hmm, I see. Then I'll go back and think about it carefully."
Ugh…
Coming out of the Director's office, Lisa Asano was not very happy.
The burden on her shoulders suddenly became very heavy.
How could anyone relax and go on vacation like this?
Director is truly hateful!
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