The anime 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was scheduled to release its first episode at two in the morning on January 7, while the game 'Warship Girls Collection' would be released by Frontier Legend on January 5. Kamiyā Yuu's public announcement that Yosuganosora Animation Studio was the production team behind 'Warship Girls Collection' also carried some intention of promoting 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
Once 'Warship Girls Collection' made its move, it shocked everyone.
The game's once-every-six-months content update stunned both gamers and outsiders watching the excitement. This update was simply too massive. It was practically no different from remaking the entire game.
All of this was the result of Kamiyā Yuu tinkering with the game whenever he was bored. He had simply never released it before.
The game systems, music, concepts, art UI, and so on were worlds apart from mainstream games today.
It was like the commotion caused when 'Pokémon Go' first appeared in his previous world. After a year of accumulated popularity, combined with the game's own quality being countless levels beyond 'Pokémon Go', 'Warship Girls Collection' caused an explosive sensation in the gaming industry, even without hiring professional paid promoters.
The games developed by imitating 'Warship Girls Collection' were left far behind. And with operational support from Frontier Legend, the greatest drawback of 'Warship Girls Collection' was also erased.
Frontier Legend's massive resources allowed Kamiyā Yuu to add the "wild ideas" he had never dared to implement before. Frontier Legend's all-out promotion would also push this game onto the altar!
After the Japanese New Year, discussions about 'Warship Girls Collection' in the gaming world grew more and more frequent. Some even wealthy players had long coveted the game and rented a week's worth of advertising space on Tokyo trains.
'Warship Girls Collection', which had originally only circulated by word of mouth among veteran players, began reaching more and more ordinary players on a wider scale, letting them know that there was actually such a legendary game in the industry capable of causing such a huge player sensation.
All sorts of dramatic halos were placed upon 'Warship Girls Collection'. Now, it was like a massive creature hidden in the shadows had suddenly been exposed before the public, naturally drawing everyone's attention.
Explosive topics in the online gaming world emerged one after another: exploration of the old game systems, anticipation for the new systems, and on top of that, the character illustrations personally drawn by legendary animation creator Kamiyā Yuu. Every topic related to 'Warship Girls Collection' drew players' attention.
More and more 'Warship Girls Collection' communities appeared. Whether on Facebook or Twitter, dedicated game discussion sections were established.
In Akihabara Electric Town, the advertising space on a building at the busiest intersection had already been rented out. Displayed on the giant screen was an original illustration showing Mental Model versions of famous historical warships such as Bismarck, Yamato, Queen Elizabeth, Fletcher, and others commanding actual battleships into action.
This original illustration was a dynamic promotional artwork personally drawn by Kamiyā Yuu. The exquisite shipgirl character designs attracted the eyes of countless ACG enthusiasts.
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Frontier Legend General Game Discussion Board
[Comprehensive Analysis of the Innovative Content in 'Warship Girls Collection'! The Most Complete Game System in History! Fun, playability, and longevity all at one hundred percent! As expected of the 'wild idea' of Mr. Kamiyā Yuu, the prodigy of the animation industry! — Yokoyama Jirō." Views: 1,625,372. Replies: 93,846.]
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Main comments:
[Brilliantly written! You can tell the author is definitely a veteran player of 'Warship Girls Collection'. His insights into all kinds of content are extremely on point. I'm really looking forward to the Battlefield System! Let the other players tremble beneath my 460mm main guns! — Blade of Gale.]
[The author helped me understand this game much more clearly. I won't say anything else. I'm just waiting for January 5! — Half-Dead Ninja.]
[The person upstairs said 460mm main guns. You actually have Yamato! Unforgivable! Accept the spears of us African admirals! Cough, cough~ Yokoyama-kun! So it really is your thread. I knew you'd write a related guide article. Mm! The content is pretty good. — Big Fool Charge! Charge! Charge!]
[The game looks like it might be fun. I'll look forward to the official release for now. — Oda Yuu.]
[Everyone around me is discussing this game, but none of them are actually players of it, haha. — Shuten Dōji.]
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Yokoyama Jirō stared blankly at the guide article he had posted. In less than three days, it had surpassed one million views.
At this moment, his feelings were incredibly complicated.
The public release of 'Warship Girls Collection' made him, as an old player, feel reluctant to part with it, yet also excited. It was like a father watching his daughter get married.
Coming into contact with 'Warship Girls Collection' had forced him to go out and work to earn money. After more than a year, his body had changed from its original plump shape into that of a sturdy young man. No one who saw him now would associate him with the gloomy shut-in he used to be.
Over the past year, he had not failed to grow at all.
The fact that he had been able to earn money himself as a shut-in to support his hobby already showed that he had a sense of responsibility. The monetization of 'Warship Girls Collection' had pushed him to take the first step, and his personality had matured considerably while working.
Although he still spent money on 'Warship Girls Collection', he had also begun consciously saving part of his income for emergencies.
He was now a veteran employee at a convenience store. Outside of work, his greatest joy was still 'Warship Girls Collection'. His relentless spending and grinding had allowed him to experience more than ninety percent of the game's content and fun, and by sharing related guides online, he had even earned a small amount of money.
His understanding of the game allowed him to publish a detailed analysis of the update content online.
From the bottom of his heart, he admired the creator of this game. The creator had built a complex yet complete game system. Even after playing its simple game mode for a full year, he still never grew tired of it.
He opened his account's private messages to check the opinions and approval players had left him.
Suddenly, a private message with an official verification mark caught his attention.
"Dear Mr. Yokoyama Jirō:
Hello. I am Kamiki Yui, Deputy Director of the Operations Department at Frontier Legend. Our operations team is very interested in the analysis paper you published. This paper of yours, written from a player's perspective, is highly pioneering...
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We look forward to your reply."
The official operations team of 'Warship Girls Collection' had actually sent him a reply?
And the contents were full of genuine praise for his analysis!
Yokoyama Jirō's heart surged. He slapped his own face hard. Because of his excitement and the impact, his fleshy face turned as red as a burning iron brand.
The website's private message also vaguely revealed an intention to recruit him.
If he could propose even more constructive ideas, then becoming an employee of a top-tier Japanese game company would be just around the corner!
That would give him a much higher social status than his older brother Yokoyama Ichirō, whom everyone had always considered more outstanding than him!