Game Making: Start By Healing the Player

There was no doubt that ‘Mirror’ was on fire.

Of course, it was impossible for it to reach the heights of those high-budget, triple A games. 

However, with how it was trending, It would likely cause a shift in the genre, and influence the way future developers would approach this type of game. This happened with ‘Mirror’ in his previous life as well. 

For a period of time, a wave of erotic games were released using the Match 3 + Gal game formula.

Of course, as with all trend chasers, some were of decent quality, while others were just trashy clones. 

Everyone, including players and developers, felt that the quality of 18R games was always going to be low.

Apart from the main content, there wasn’t much to write home about.

But ‘Mirror’ is different.

Match-3 gameplay was nothing new, but with a bit of innovation, ‘Mirror’s interesting gameplay loop was born. 

There’s combat, there’s resources to earn, there are upgrades and gear to collect.

But there was more. High-quality illustrations, touching voice acting, and even thought-provoking storylines. All this in an 18-rated game, it was unthinkable!

As the game’s sales increased, so did its scores fluctuate. After a while, however, it stabilized at an impressive 9.2 out of 10. 

This was a testament to the popularity of the game. 

This version of ‘Mirror’ doesn’t have a long running story, and it only has a few characters compared to the version in Chen Xu’s past life. 

So it is still possible for curious window shoppers to simply download the game, play for a while and then apply for a refund within the available period.

But ‘Mirror’ players rarely get refunds.

It could have something to do with the game costing only 10 yuan, though… 

But regardless, ‘Mirror’ is picking up steam. 

Although its unique nature made it impossible for the mainstream media to cover, it was undoubtedly the brightest star in the realm of cultured gamers.

In the niche community of erotic game designers, ‘Mirror’ was causing many to view their line of work in a new light.

So an erotic game could actually be made in this way? So the sales of an erotic game can actually reach these heights? Such thoughts ran through many minds.

The appearance of ‘Mirror’ shone at them like a beam of knowledge from the vast darkness of the universe. Like an oasis appearing in a dreadful desert. 

Day by day, sales were increasing. And the purchasing power of erotic gamers was on full display. Finally, such a neglected market had something worth buying.

It sold 70,000 copies in its first week and 160,000 in its second.

Two weeks after launch, ‘Mirror’ had generated an estimated 230,000 units sold, according to third party trackers. 

An incredible achievement in the world of erotic games. 

Even within the scope of excellent indie games, these numbers were impressive. 

It also drew the attention and curiosity of many indie developers and designers. 

It was just too amazing, even after the sales trend slowly changed from rising to falling.

But this was the way of the market. 

Ultimately, its nature as an erotic game limited its ability to be shared and spread to a wider audience.

  ………………

Regarding the industry’s surprise at ‘Mirror’s performance.

Chen Xu himself was also busy analyzing the reasons for ‘Mirror’s success.

As a game designer, Chen Xu would not allow himself to take things for granted. A game that was successful in his previous life was not guaranteed to have success in this world. 

In fact, many games from his past life would have limitations in their ability to become popular here. 

For example, if he replicated and released ‘The Legend of Mir 2’ with no changes, Chen Xu felt that it would only meet one end.

That is, it would simply die without hope. 

It had no advantages in artstyle or graphics, its gameplay brought nothing new, and the plot and setting had even less to offer. 

The characteristics of the era were clearly greater than the quality of the game.

In the case of ‘Mirror’, Chen Xu believes that the main reason for its success is the way it stands out from its peers.

First, it brought match-3 and Gal game elements together. Plus it also had high quality 18R elements with emotional storytelling, creating a unique blend. 

There were the two most outstanding factors. 

Just as players enjoy trying to find naughty content within normal games, they also enjoy finding normal content in naughty games. 

But for the time being, Chen Xu had no interest in making more of these erotic games. He had decided to do it this time in order to make a quick profit and gain some notoriety along the way.

Well, mainly the profit.

With a selling price of 10 yuan, and with about 230,000 copies sold, minus taxes and the payment to the platform. Chen Xu was left with an income of about 1.5 million yuan within the first month of release. 

Chen Xu rubbed his chin and nodded thoughtfully.

His startup funds were secure, and he had received an official call for registration from the gaming department in the Capital City.

He would be an officially recognized game designer once he completed the process. 

The only thing that bugged him was his emo points. 

So far, he had only gained about 700,000 points, enough for just 7 draws. Which is absolutely nothing if you’ve ever played a gacha game. 

But if you think about the specific genre of ‘Mirror’, it wouldn’t surprise him if a players’ true emotional peak would only last for a minute or two. 

Maybe the ones with an iron will (and rod) could last for around 5 minutes. 

In that case… forget it, he could understand. 

Chen Xu sat back and stared idly at the dashboard statistics, his mind wandering. It was time to start picking a direction for the immediate future. 

And in his plans, he would still be focusing on single player games. 

On one hand, it was a good avenue to build up the brand of his person and studio. And on the other hand, it was a good way to sharpen his skills. 

As for why he did not choose a more profitable decision like a free-to-play game with microtransactions, the reason is simple. 

It’s not that he was afraid of tarnishing his reputation. In fact, if he really wanted to, there were many microtransaction heavy mobile games which were well received in his previous life. 

But after careful consideration, Chen Xu decided not to. 

The gaming environment of this world was still pure and unsuitable for these tactics. 

In his previous life, mobile gaming grew massively widespread and free-to-play games with in-game purchases became the norm. 

But here, buy-to-play and pay-to-play was still the vast majority. 

This world wasn’t ready for the horrors of mobile gacha gaming.

Besides, mobile microtransaction games had some glaring limitations as well.

For example, card games using this system had to go through several sweeping iterations before finding a working formula. 

First came ‘I am MT’, ‘Big Boss’ and ‘Million Arthur’, kicking off the mobile card game genre. Then came ‘Soul Hunters’, revolutionizing the genre and bringing the world into the era of action card games. 

Then ‘The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Online’ managed to bring SNK back from the brink of death, and even managed to turn a profit large enough to increase their financial statements by 6 times, triggering a wave of other IP-based card games.

At the same time, this is also the stage where mobile card games truly diversified.

Shao San (TL: couldn’t find anything about this game), which followed the traditional solitaire route, the high-quality Onmyoji, and the IP-based Fate/Grand Order, etc. were all good examples.

As far as this world was concerned, Chen Xu had also carefully studied the current mobile card games.

At present, the trend is between high-quality products and IP-based products.

A stable industrial scale chain has been established.

So for his company, which he has named Nebula Games, entering this field would not be as good as creating new standalone titles.

There are still two reasons: a lack of money and channels.

The game can be developed, but if there is not enough money to promote it, it is difficult for it to become an instant hit after launch. In the worst case, it might even be used for the benefit of other game designers.

After all, card games are very different from other games.

Their gameplay and numerical simulations are easy to replicate. 

If the concept of mobile card games in this world is not mature at all, then Chen Xu would be able to take advantage of it. 

But now? There are too many uncertainties.