Producer of "Like a Dragon": Win globalization with highly original and unique content

"The common feeling of all countries in the world must exist"

In the past two years, going to sea has become a compulsory course for game companies.

Overseas gold panning is certainly one of the purposes. However, as a cultural medium, games are naturally also given the mission of cultural export.

Because the cultures of each country and region are inherently different, any game that wants to break into the global market must overcome the challenges posed by cultural barriers. This is true of Chinese manufacturers, and it is also true of Japanese manufacturers. What's more, European and American games are very popular in the Japanese market, and with rich content and excellent quality, they have greatly squeezed the living space of Japanese manufacturers. Japanese games must not only defend their position in the domestic market, but also compete with many strong opponents on a global scale.

How do Japanese manufacturers face such a crisis? At the 2022 N.GAME NetEase Game Developer Summit, which opened today, The President of Mingyue Studios and the chief producer of the "Rulong" and "Eye of Judgment" series, Mingyue Minoru, shared the innovative concept of the production of the series and his views on the globalization of the game.

Nagoshi Minoru confessed that when the first production of "Like Dragon" was positioned as a Japanese adult male, it was eventually found that many young people and even female players were interested in this work. He believes that this is due to the unique charm of the game itself. In other words, as long as a product has a unique interest, mass acceptance will naturally expand.

This concept also runs through the process of iteration and game creation of the famous Yue Minoru products. In the end, the game is still the art of plot and gameplay, and the "unique charm" of the game is the result of user screening, with the target group, developers can better do targeted innovation and improvement.

On the issue of game globalization, Mingyue Minoru said that the standards of a global product cannot be defined, and there will be no absolute standard answers, but there are still traces to follow. One is to keep up with the trend of the world, and invite people who understand the culture to join the team to create after proper investigation; the other is to compete with originality and uniqueness, and to be full of confidence and stick to the heart to show the unique charm of the game.

"The common feelings of all countries in the world must exist." Nagoshi Minoru said. In the face of globalization, everyone is a challenger, and The famous Yue Minoru is no exception, and this is also his original intention to join NetEase Games.

The following is the full text of the speech of The President of Mingyue Studio, Minoru Nagoshi, slightly edited.

User screening brings a unique charm to the game

Western games have been selling well in Japan since 2000, and while we're happy that the market is more prosperous, they make us feel like a big enemy in terms of content and quality. We also had a great sense of crisis, and at the time about how to compete in cost and other aspects, my personal idea was to take uniqueness as the direction of our fight. We prefer to decide the winner with content, and win with content that the West will not do or cannot do. As a result, you can see it now.

At first, we had a challenger mentality, using such a subject to try it out, we did not think about doing research, whether the subject matter could be accepted such a meticulous consideration, just to discover what we really wanted to do.

To be honest, when "Like a Dragon" was made for adult men in Japan, we made it with the mentality that only a few people would be interested, but after the real release, I found that many young people would also come to play, and even some female players were also very interested. But I think this unique charm is precisely because of the screening of users, and it is precisely because its charm is very unique, this uniqueness even in the eyes of overseas players will feel that only this game has such a unique and interesting experience.

If you ask me if I foresaw this, although I often say in interviews that I have calculated it, but to be honest, I did not foresee it at the time, so to be honest, this is more of a coincidence. However, what I learned from this is that if you are conscious of making interesting things, you will definitely make something that will be recognized by the public, which benefits me a lot.

And as game sales have grown and started to bring benefits to the company, we are no longer a challenger. It happened to be the 4th and 5th installments of the series, and we were under a lot of pressure to make sales more stable. However, due to the increase in the number of fans, I don't think I need to pay too much attention to the fact that the original fans will not run away. In order for more people to feel the charm from the work, we ourselves should not waver, not only can not simply be satisfied with the growth of sales, but also those who like "Like Dragon" fans like what places, we must not forget, this is the problem I have been thinking about.

Regarding the series, I think that as the number of works in the series increases, how to go further in the next work is the most important. For example, the evolution of a piece of hardware can shorten our working time and make our processes more coherent, which can increase the quality of our plot.

Now, I don't think there's a big gap in the development cycle of every type of game in the world, but if we talk about Dragon Alone, we've really been adjusting its workflow, so when the first one is completed, the assets will accumulate a lot. In this regard, development does become more efficient, but every time the project is completed, we will reflect on it, such as when I did it earlier, and then I did that kind of decision earlier, even if it is a small accumulation, do not ignore, summarize what was not done well last time, seriously share it with everyone, and improve our workflow.

In the latest game 7, we changed the genre to RPG, and whether it's the era dramas that are interspersed with them, the zombies that appear, we're all constantly trying new content so that fans don't get bored. In addition, along with the advancement of technology to make the gameplay smoother, and finally take all these parts into account, so that they are balanced in front of the audience is where we pay the most attention.

Honestly, every time I am very worried about whether this work will be accepted, but as long as we have always adhered to our most essential original intentions and emotions, I believe that it will definitely bring good results. In fact, sales have indeed increased, and now I think there is nothing wrong with this idea, but honestly, now I still worry about whether it will be accepted next time, or whether it will be accepted next time, because there are no absolutes in the entertainment world, so I feel that I have to think hard every time to come up with an answer.

"Trade-offs" in plot and gameplay

Regarding story production, to be honest, I have played a big role in the study of film, in general, the film's touch is generated through audiovisual, but the "play" link in the game is inevitable, play and then moved, the two are still very different.

Even if you have an interesting story, it doesn't matter if it's still interesting when you put it in the game. Even if you can write an interesting story, if the story is not suitable for playing in the game, it means that it is not a good story for the game, no matter how interesting the story is, so this must not be mistaken. That's what I say to young people to this day.

Since I have studied filmmaking before, personally, the impact of the plot on the game design is very large, but in the end play is our goal, so whether the plot can be suitable for play, after first judging whether the plot itself is interesting, we must think again from the gameplay, and we must repeat the problem.

On the contrary, no matter how interesting you think the plot is, if I come to the conclusion that it is not suitable for the game, I will simply abandon the plot, and then have the courage not to drag the mud and water.

Anyway, you will end up going back to a trade-off, focusing on what you want to take. If you want to convey what you want to convey as well as possible, it is best to produce it with minimal material.

In conclusion, the gameplay is a priority, and I don't think that interesting things will change much, whether it is past, present, or future, but I think that the current era is very demanding on speed.

Unlike in the past, there are a lot of performances like comics or other media that suddenly go to orgasm. Maybe today's young people are more growing up watching YouTube and TikTok than watching TV, such as recent songs, many of which are strangely constructed, why is this? That's because a lot of it doesn't need a prelude anymore, it's like suddenly starting with the chorus of the song, the best place to listen.

So shouldn't the plot of the game be designed in this way? Finding a way to apply to the game from the production methods of different types of works like this, I sometimes think in this way, rather than starting from the prologue to appreciate, and then slowly starting to lay the groundwork in this part, it is better to give a big impact at the beginning, and then slowly return to the story content to understand the process, such a style may be more acceptable.

I think that the more acceptable styles will continue to change in the future, not only how to build the story of the fun and acceptable styles, but I think the game will always face the same questions in the future.

Global globalization: Stick to the heart, content is king

I think the progress of the times is always marked by the progress of science and technology, just like PlayStation launched PS2, 3, 4 and now PS5 is also born, technological progress in various aspects means digital progress, speed progress. For example, in past action-adventure games, when looking at cutscenes from adventure games that required combat, that era was bound to load.

This loading time is now getting shorter and shorter, even so short that it doesn't need to be loaded and becomes seamless. Playing like this is getting smoother and smoother, the immersion is also increasing, the touch can be more smoothly conveyed to the user, and in general, the progress of technology is not only to make the game smoother, we still have to make the game able to convey the touch.

In addition, VR and AR are the same, the device itself will not move you, how do we use these devices in what way or means to make users feel moved, I think here is a very test of your creativity.

I'm very, very interested in all kinds of technologies, and I'm paying attention to them, but the advancement of hardware, the increase in device choices, the increase in infrastructure like metaverses, while it does make me happy, I don't think that these alone can satisfy users or make them happy. What else can we do on top of these devices, after figuring out what you have to do, and then start there, I've been thinking about it this way.

As for what is interesting about entertainment in essence, I think that the common feelings of the world must exist, and to be honest, I do not have this awareness that is unique to Japan, but on the other hand, whether it is European and American manga or movies, I am still not interested in imitating them.

I think one of the advantages of Japanese games is that they are well-made, I'm not saying that overseas games are rough, and there are well-made games abroad, but there is a feeling of craftsmanship on the japanese side, like the feeling of concentrating on every detail to make games, so I think Japanese games are very good.

But that is not because as long as you do carefully, so the sales volume can grow such a simple thing, but this care should be effectively conveyed to the user's heart, so that the user feels that it is doing a good job and is moved. We, especially as producers, have to make sure that this care is rewarded, and that's what I'm thinking about right now.

The current gaming crowd, which covers everyone from children to adults, including those in their 50s and 60s, has also increased quite a bit, and I think the gaming population itself is growing, and while it's a business practice to want to expand its audience for granted, almost anyone can think of that, but I think it's still too greedy.

If the concept of a certain work is interesting, I think the number of people who can accept this interest is still limited, if you can satisfy these people to the maximum, then there will be the next version, then the next version of the crowd will increase, in short, it is to gradually expand and then slowly expand, and eventually gain a very wide range of users. Developing fans like this down-to-earth and then slowly catching fire is the best short path for me.

"Only this can work", "to sweep the world only with this method", I think there is no such thing. But if you want to keep up with the trend, do the proper research and invite people who know the culture well to join the team, and then everyone works together to work together I think it's important. On the other hand, if you want to compete with originality and uniqueness, then you need someone who is confident that they can make such content to confidently complete this content in the best form, and I think there are roughly two types of content. If it were me, I would choose content with high originality and uniqueness to decide the winner or loser, and eventually this may also become the style of our studio.

In general, now my studio, myself, wants to produce the next work on the premise of challenging globalization. In the past, although I said that it is difficult, in other words, I am also determined to challenge globalization again, and only joined NetEase Games, so I will definitely fulfill my promise.

"Moved a small bench to class"

N.GAME is an annual industry exchange event organized by NetEase Interactive Entertainment Learning and Development, which has been successfully held for seven sessions so far. The theme of this year's year is "The Future is Now", inviting 20 heavy guests at home and abroad, university scholars to gather together to share industry research and development experience, cutting-edge research results and future development trends.