Chapter 386: One jin of pears!
The chairman of the Cultural Industry Revitalization Committee is very pleased.
Because finally, there is someone willing to step forward and promote a collaboration project involving intellectual property (IP).
This is the first one, so he is particularly attentive to it.
That day, he immediately contacted someone from NHK Television Station and briefly explained the matter.
The producer at NHK who was previously in charge of the legal drama series didn't think much of it.
It's just making a derivative game, and electronic games were not their focus before, nor did they make much money from them. So, handing over the game production to a capable game developer is actually a good outcome.
However, he felt uncomfortable with the chairman's request for full game copyright and a completely unrelated new script.
It's like the other party completely looks down on the TV drama they've worked hard to produce.
After all, this series is now considered a national hit, with viewership about to skyrocket to the top. And then, the party responsible for making the game shows complete disregard for this series. It's quite annoying.
But this is a policy driven by the government anyway, and NHK doesn't care much about the small profits from adaptations, so they agreed to it for the sake of the government's face.
Of course, they can't concede too much either. It wouldn't be appropriate to give everything away for free. Sharing a small portion of the copyright split, say three to five percent, can be negotiated. Also, they want to review the game script before production to ensure it's not too far-fetched from their legal drama's style.
The chairman readily agreed.
The other party's requests are reasonable. Even if Takayuki doesn't want to share the split, the government can provide this money. They have no shortage of it, so consider it a benefit for being the first to take the plunge.
Asking for the game script isn't a big deal either. After all, the game will be produced sooner or later, and there's no need to keep it secret. NHK won't leak this information prematurely.
The producer didn't really care about these things. He's more focused on producing the drama series now.
The series is currently at a critical juncture, with the protagonist and the antagonist engaged in intense courtroom battles, vowing for a "winner takes all" outcome. This part of the story needs to be handled very carefully. Dealing with the adaptation of the TV drama into a game shouldn't consume too much of his energy.
After settling matters with NHK, the chairman contacted Takayuki again.
Takayuki had no objections to NHK's two requests; they just want a small share of the copyright, which is negligible.
Ace Attorney initially relied solely on word of mouth to rise to prominence. But if there's a nationally popular drama series as a selling point, it will attract more players. The copyright split can be considered part of the promotional costs.
Once they have the copyright split, they also need to do something. They can include a few seconds of advertisement for the game at the end of their TV series to drive traffic to Takayuki's side.
As for the script, they can start working on it. The specific details of the defense arguments can be arranged slowly, but Takayuki can start working on the main storyline now if they need it.
Next, Takayuki starts arranging for some members of his development team to participate in a few public courtroom debates.
To create an excellent game, especially one set in a modern context, experiencing environments similar to the game's background is crucial.
This is similar to when Takayuki asked employees to participate in martial arts training to help with the production of Street Fighter.
After assigning some employees, Takayuki starts brainstorming the outline of the script with the team's writers.
The main storyline of Ace Attorney has a slightly fantastical element at first, involving communicating with ghosts, to attract players' attention. If it were initially presented as a simple courtroom story, players' interest would have been greatly reduced.
It becomes more realistic starting from the second installment.
Additionally, because this series is highly representative in the genre of text adventure games, its producer, Capcom, has almost reset it every two or three years, making it a model of low-cost, high-return game production.
After several resets, the first installment added a lot of plot points to set the stage for the subsequent main storyline in the second and third installments.
When Ace Attorney was first produced, they certainly didn't anticipate its popularity. Therefore, they didn't consider releasing a second installment. But because of its excellent performance and high profitability, they gradually expanded the story. The first installment was also replanned with new plots, and then they rehashed old stories to capitalize on their success.
The king of rehashing is more or less solidified from two thousand years later.
However, even though Ace Attorney has recycled its content many times, its sales have always been very good. There are always enthusiastic fans willing to buy it repeatedly, which is quite addictive.
Perhaps it's because the plot and gameplay of this text adventure story are truly fascinating.
Even after more than a decade, the gameplay will never become outdated.
This also indirectly shows that Capcom is truly skilled.
They have arranged a courtroom drama, originally quite dull, to have twists and turns.
Players, as defense attorney Phoenix Wright, cleverly deduce key contradictions in various false testimonies and eventually unravel the true culprit of each case.
The most iconic line in the game, "Take that! (Objection!)," has become one of the most popular memes in the gaming industry.
Takayuki definitely wants to retain these features. Additionally, if possible, he hopes to further explore the intricacy of puzzle-solving with the buttons.
This depends on the efforts of the scriptwriters and puzzle designers in the development team.
"Huh? Aya Tsukino, why are you here?"
Takayuki was discussing the progress and foreshadowing of the plot with the writers when Aya Tsukino suddenly entered the office.
Recently, her main job has been to solve all the company's computer technology problems, going wherever needed. But apparently, there were no technical problems here.
"I heard you're developing a detective game, so I wanted to take a look."
Aya Tsukino's expression is as calm as ever, but there's curiosity in her eyes.
She can be considered a fan of detective stories, and this is her first time creating one in a game. Aya Tsukino is very interested in seeing how this type of game is created.
Of course, she doesn't think she can create such a game herself because she's not good at coming up with puzzles. She prefers to showcase the quality of the game's graphics and technical gameplay.
"Well, you can watch from the side. There might be something you can help with later."
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