In the past two years, virtual idols have suddenly become a very hot topic, and all kinds of newcomers have sprung up like mushrooms. Recently, there is a very special virtual idol that has attracted everyone's attention:
She is the first virtual fashion blogger in China, and also appeared on the influential Jiangsu Satellite TV variety show "2060" in the virtual idol circle. Both her visual performance and dance quality are very close to the "ceiling" of the current domestic virtual idol. She even let countless fans go crazy @ Tencent in the comments section, hoping to see more about her.
She is Star Pupil, an "NPC" from QQ Dance. At present, she has 145,000 followers on the B station, and the number is still rising.
How did "QQ Dance" think of making Star Pupil debut as an idol? Recently, Tencent Game Academy's "Ask a Burst Gamer" column interviewed Mr. Todd, the publisher of the "QQ Dance" series, and listened to him talk about the experience of the dance team in operating the virtual idol Star Pupil, and their views on the emerging industry of virtual idols.
You can learn about this interview via video, or read the article below:
I. "A Front-Facing Exploration"
Q
How do you rate what Star Pupil has achieved so far?
Todd: At the beginning of '21, we never thought we would get to this point. We felt at the time that as long as we could complete a relatively good live broadcast this year and interact with users, it would be a big breakthrough.
But in fact, we now have live broadcasts every month, and we have tried more performance content, and even completed technical tests like 24-hour live broadcasting. Now the star pupil may be quite far from the virtual idols in the head, but for us, this has completed our idea, and we are confident to continue to move forward.
How was the role of Star Pupil first born?
Todd: The original Star Pupil was actually one of the NPCs in the QQ Dance mobile game (hereinafter referred to as "Dance"). At that time, when the mobile game was launched, we wanted these NPCs to do some things, such as promoting the game operation node, or the carrier when we did linkage cooperation in the later stage.
As a music and dance game, the main elements of "Dance" are music, dance steps and costume appearance. These things need to have a carrier, and the cooperation we are looking for is also in this direction, such as clothing, fashion, or music and dance cooperation.
So we chose the star pupil in the NPC as the carrier of these contents, and let her become the spokesperson of "Show Dance" from the NPC, as an interactive image for the operator to communicate with the player.
By the last two years, her influence had expanded several times. One of the 2019 we let Star Pupil participate in the virtual catwalk at the Shanghai Fashion Week event, and in 2020, we cooperated with Li Ning, which turned her from an NPC into a model carrying game costume design; later we worked with Yang Liping to make her a performer carrying dance.
[ The linkage between Star Pupil and Yang Liping ]
At this time, we think it is best to spend a little more effort to make her more three-dimensional. So we set our sights on virtual idols.
So why weren't other NPCs selected?
Todd: This is a choice of multiple constraints. The players in our games are basically girls in the middle of 19 years old, but unlike other women's games, players want to substitute for characters. Their appeal in the game may be to relax listening to songs, or to dress up their own image, and then to socialize through dance play.
So these few elements are distilled out, among our 4 NPCs, robot pets or male NPCs are not very suitable, compared to each other, only Star Pupil and our player group will be more similar, so we chose her. She is a girl with some talent in dance, and at the same time she is very diligent, and these advantages are very suitable for the virtual idol role we want.
How did you learn about virtual idols at that time?
Todd: We happened to be working with Hatsune IP. We saw that they did a good job in virtual concerts and so on, so we did a special background study in this area, understanding the process of Hatsune from the initial appearance to the later formation of a huge impact, and Hatsune as a typical representative of virtual idols, what technologies have accumulated behind it.
Our original idea was to introduce this set of technologies into the game. But for us, the first is too expensive, and the second is that Hatsune is more like a traditional idol and is not suitable for timely interaction with the audience. In the end, we feel that the current popular virtual anchor model is more suitable for us.
At that time, the main point that limited us was technology. Virtual anchors need real-time capture, but we don't have this technology in our own projects. At that time, we saw some virtual anchors on the B station 2D plane, and we thought, if the technology can't support it, we will also start from 2D. So when we made virtual idols, we didn't really think about making a very powerful 3D effect at first.
But we still contacted Tencent internally to find out if there was a department that would capture technology in real time. Then we found that there are actually many departments with this technical foundation. There happens to be a team here, and this team has a full-process technical pipeline in the virtual person real-time drive, and is also willing to use the star pupil as a case to build, so we hit it off.
You just said that if 3D can't be done, you can also do it in 2D. Why are you so obsessed with virtual idols?
Todd: The goal of being a virtual idol is, first of all, because the "Dance" IP needs a content that can be passed on. In the past ten years, its main highlights have been the three elements of "music, dance, and costumes", but it has not had a strong player perception of the characters or stories. So we want a carrier that can run through and pass on these elements.
On the other hand, we want a more vivid and three-dimensional character that allows the player to invest a certain amount of emotion to communicate with the player, and it is best to let some content be perceived by the player without entering the game.
Overall, we made Star Pupil a virtual idol, more like a pre-exploration. If we really consider doing some new business under IP in the future, there may be higher requirements.
According to my observation, it seems that the Star Pupil and Show Dance series are not so tightly bound now?
Todd: Yeah, that's one of the more interesting things we found after the livestream. Our current live broadcast main position is Station B, because they are the platforms that began to do virtual anchors earlier in China, and they also have certain support for this part.
But our players are not the kind of players who take station B as an active area, they are a little bit sunken in the city and other aspects, about 60% are women; the fans on station B are very enthusiastic about the core circle of virtual idol live broadcasting, 80% are men.
But after all, Star Pupil came out of our game, so the groups on both sides actually interact with this character, just because this side is a virtual idol, so their emotional connection will be stronger.
So do you think it would be better to make the star pupil and the game deeper, or to maintain the status quo?
Todd: Of course, we hope to extend this to Tencent's own position, so that Star Pupil can assume the status of an idol or spokesperson carrier of the whole show dance.
Although there are now differences in audiences on both sides, game users are also very receptive to these virtual idol content. One proof of this is the amount of materials purchased, and the materials related to the star pupil are better than other materials.
But it takes a process, and we don't push it too hard. At present, only when Star Hitomi brings the musical works, costume resources or node activities of "Show Dance", we will let her take on this role responsible for communication.
We even joked with R&D that if Star Hitomi really brings a large number of core male fans in the future, then we may wish to consider doing a "Dance" spin-off game around these groups.
Second, do not consider rapid realization, first accumulate operational experience
What are the key reasons why Star Pupil can achieve its current results, in addition to technical expression?
Todd: We actually had a long period of technical accumulation before, and that's one reason. These accumulations have given us a clearer understanding of the characteristics and differences of this project, and the initial ideas are clearer.
Another thing is that our team has a love for this. The team will go down on their own to build the capture site and adjust the shooting shots. Many of the details in the middle are not mandatory, but the team has a strong spontaneous motivation to do everything well. Everyone wants to make Star Pupil a virtual idol that they and the players like.
[ Discussion of Star Pupil by users and other virtual idols ]
Have you encountered some unexpected difficulties in the process of operating Star Pupil?
Todd: I think the most immediate difficulty is her input cost. The cost was far greater than we thought, so it was hard for us to prove that it made commercial sense. If we want to keep doing it, not only do a lot of good ideas need to be rebalanced between cost and effect, we also have to consider her business logic and find a business model that she can walk through.
However, we still do not intend to consider Star Pupil from the perspective of rapid monetization.
Why not rush to commercialize?
Todd: We've done a lot of brand linkage when we're making games, so we have some experience with business collaboration. We feel that in the short term, we are not in a hurry to seek break-even through brand cooperation, unless there is just some tonality that matches, it will not damage the image of the brand. Digging too far is bad for us.
In fact, there are still many domestic virtual idols, so how do you differentiate?
Todd: There are a lot of virtual idols out there right now that make a difference by personality or live content. But we don't want to make a difference for the sake of difference, but to prioritize whether she can be a representative of the show dance series and express some of the characteristics of the music and dance game. If she can express these characteristics well, she will naturally form different characteristics that are different from others and gain a position of her own.
Because Star Hitomi has the game "Show Dance", it can continuously provide her with music and dance content works, such as costumes, games and virtual idols are also interconnected. So we don't need to worry about content output, just focus on doing a good job of interacting with users.
What do you think is the difference between Star Pupil and the head virtual idol now?
Todd: First of all, it may be the management aspect of the fans, the head team tends to be more professional, and it is more meticulous than us.
In addition, although our level of technology may be the first echelon in the market, the final content presented is not only technical, but may also involve lenses, or more detailed things. We are also accumulating these experiences, including the planning of basic programs, the final dissemination and so on.
Have you studied the operation of reality idols?
Todd: We've been in contact with entertainment companies because we're exposed to some music content. They are more experienced, especially in the part of the creation of the work. Although there are fundamental differences in the technology behind us, some of the basic production concepts, such as the use of lenses, are similar. There is also the promotion and promotion of works, the business interaction of fans, and we can learn a lot from them.
I feel like both sides are watching each other, and there are some companies that do real idols that are also trying to transform, so I think everyone will go in this direction in the future.
Have you considered the development of the field of short video in the past?
Todd: We're really thinking about moving into short video. Although we can now achieve real-time motion capture, if the data of the current motion capture is post-processed, the effect can be better. And if we make the high-quality content in the live broadcast into shorter slices, it will be more conducive to dissemination.
So what new content do you have in mind for the Star Pupil project this year?
Todd: On the one hand, we want to further learn the operating experience of real idol groups; on the other hand, we want to continue to strengthen the connection between virtual idols and games, so that Star Pupil can become the accumulation of IP and incubate new games.
III. "A Stepping Stone to the Next Stage of the Game"
The concept of virtual idols has been around for a long time, why do you think it has only caught fire in China in the past two years?
Todd: I think the first thing may have to do with the fact that the second dimension has generalized from a small circle to a more popular content in the past two years. Everyone's acceptance of virtual characters has risen, and there is a foundation for the virtual idol market.
The second is cost and condition. Like the Japanese side from the beginning of hatsune, they build venues, screens, and produce a whole set of related technologies offline, the cost is very high, but there is no such big investment in China. In the past, there may not even be such a deep background setting in China as it is now. But now it's obviously different.
The third point is technological breakthroughs. After the popularization of technologies like motion capture, our cost is going down, and the production level and finished product quality are going up, plus there are now engines like Unreal 5, and the effect that can be done in the future will definitely get better and better.
Finally, there is another point that may also have something to do with the current entertainment environment. After all, relatively speaking, virtual idols are indeed not so easy to "collapse".
If there are other companies that also want to enter the virtual idol industry, what can they do to make an effort?
Todd: I feel like I just said "there is love", which has to be expressed as something practical. You want to really let users see your work, and the work is showing a better and better process.
Technology may not be the most difficult thing, because technology is constantly being explored, and now that there are more and more laboratories or mobile hunting houses, some things will slowly open up.
Virtual idols are a complex project, the same as making film and television works. Initially you have to have a setting for him, design some script and worldview and something like that.
In the production process, there are also many links involved, such as the selection, training, and management of the middle people; as well as the construction of the technical team, we need to have the guide, lens, lighting effects.
After the production is completed, there must also be personnel responsible for promotion and packaging operations, which is a very complicated link. Every time we broadcast live, there was a team of twenty or thirty people following up on this matter.
According to your observation, what is the business logic of the current virtual idol market?
Todd: The business logic of virtual idols is first to get the support of fans through some interactive behaviors; and then after you gradually form an influence in a certain category direction, you may have the opportunity to cooperate with some brand projects, which may be a bigger source of income now. But to be precise, at present, there is no domestic incubation of such a very mature business logic as games around virtual idols.
If we look at it from the logic of IP creation in Japan, virtual idols can actually form IP committees, use IP stories to promote a series of peripheral industries such as animation, and even use IP to make games to complete commercial achievements. I think these logics and patterns are all referenced. At present, domestic virtual idols may also have peripheral industries, but they are still far from the widely licensed genre in Japan.
What impact do you think the rise of virtual idols will have on the gaming industry?
Todd: I think for many games, we can completely enhance the user's perception of the game character through the virtual idol mode, so that the character becomes more realistic, which actually helps to enhance the influence of the IP. Because only if the user has a strong emotional investment, can they afford to support the IP thing.
When it comes to characters and stories, virtual idols can provide a platform and carrier for display outside of the game. If you want to do the game as a work of art or cultural products, virtual idols can actually enrich your entire available space and means.
What other possibilities do you think is in the virtual idol market?
Todd: I think the industry could be a stepping stone to the next phase of the game.
Virtual idols are actually a technical process for realizing the so-called "metaverse" avatar. In fact, when we first had QQ, the virtual identity that could be substituted for everyone had already appeared, and there was a visual image of QQ Show. Then to the dance, our visualization is stronger, but there is still room for expression.
The current virtual idol is actually a more complete virtual image, and they can have their own works, their own influence. With the continuous breakthrough of technology, we will definitely slowly approach the concept of metaverse through the virtual idol industry.