The Gacha Game

If Tang Yao were asked to immediately come up with a plot concept suitable for a gacha game, her first thought would definitely be the Fate series.

Whether in terms of its plot or its successful examples, it really was the most suitable choice.

The Servant system, which fit gacha games exceptionally well, along with its existing titles, classes, Skills, Noble Phantasms, and other settings.

And then there was the mobile game Fate/Grand Order, which, although its operation had grown increasingly poor in its later years, had indeed once enjoyed great glory.

All of these were advantages.

More importantly, the original Fate itself was very interesting, not to mention Fate Zero, a more adult-oriented work with Gen Urobuchi responsible for the original concept, and one of Ufotable's most painstaking productions.

In truth, most anime carried a certain filter when people watched them at the time. Many masterpieces from one's memories might seem merely so-so when revisited a few years later... but Fate Zero clearly did not belong to that category.

It was the kind of work that could still be called a masterpiece even after being revisited years later. The fact that Ufotable had never again produced a work that surpassed it was proof enough.

FZ's distinctive characterizations and tightly paced narrative were both exceptionally memorable.

As an introduction to a game, it could not have been more suitable.

Although many people in Tang Yao's previous life joked that gacha-game players were stupid and rich,

in reality, most players were rational. They would never spend one extra cent if they could spend one less. If one wanted them to spend money for love, they first had to give them feelings of love. Hastily producing a shoddy gacha game and expecting players to pay on a large scale based solely on attractive character illustrations was neither prudent nor anything but an arrogant, conceited idea.

When gacha games had been making huge profits in her previous life, hadn't quite a few copycats fallen flat on their faces? Thinking that drawing a few pretty illustrations at random would make players pay was indeed far too naive.

As for how to make players develop feelings of love, character illustrations were only one aspect. Many other elements had to work together: voice actors, plot, character development, and even gameplay were all important.

But with Tang Yao's current abilities, she truly had no way to exert herself in those areas.

So she could only take a shortcut in a certain sense.

For example... a good enough source work.

Anime was certainly impossible to produce for now, but manga was feasible.

Of course, the impression manga created was bound to be inferior to that of anime, because they were two completely different media.

And unfortunately... Fate Zero's success was inseparable from its extremely abundant animation resources. Recreating the feeling of the anime in manga was simply impossible.

Though the two media were extremely similar, they possessed entirely different qualities.

For example, the best anime work Tang Yao had watched before her death in her previous life was Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Most readers who had seen the battle scenes in the original manga probably could not help sighing, Shouldn't this just be left to the animation team?

Still, even an excellent work had flaws. If it could be loved, that proved it must have strengths capable of completely overwhelming those flaws.

The original Frieren's battle artwork was indeed not very good, but that did not hinder it from being enjoyable in the slightest.

And even if one removed the battle scenes in Fate Zero that had been piled up with extremely abundant animation resources... relying on its distinctive characterizations, tightly paced narrative, and exceptionally excellent ideas, it could still make readers exclaim, This manga is really interesting.

As long as the manga gained a certain level of popularity, as long as Fate's Servant system could plant a seed in readers' hearts, and as long as the characters in the work could earn readers' affection,

the settings in the mobile game would become easier to accept and understand. Moreover, some of the characters who had already appeared in the manga could directly gain players' goodwill, thereby tricking them into spending money... no, thereby inspiring players to want to obtain them.

Therefore.

The first step for this game was not drawing beautiful girls.

It was drawing a good enough manga based on the original Fate.

The most suitable choice, of course, was Fate Zero.

"..."

Tang Yao slowly wrote the words "Draw the Fate Zero manga adaptation" on the paper.

Of course.

Doing this first step well would not be easy. Leaving aside the difficulty of adapting animation into manga, spreading that massive body of lore through manga alone was enough to give one a headache, not to mention the battles... and how to promote the finished work was another headache.

But this was clearly not a problem that could be solved in one step. She could only take things one step at a time and do her best.

The second step, obviously, was the game itself.

She had to consider the framework of the entire game. Gameplay that was too difficult or troublesome, requiring too many resources and too much effort, was definitely unsuitable to copy, and gameplay with an excessively high difficulty was unsuitable as well.

Then there was Fate/Grand Order... its later operation had truly been terrible.

Tang Yao had abandoned the idea of copying it wholesale from the very beginning. She could imitate the command battle system, since that system was relatively simple.

But everything else required further consideration. It could not be too crude, making players feel that they could breeze through battles and wonder why they should draw characters, nor could it be too difficult, exceeding the greatest effort she could manage at this stage.

She planned to determine the framework of the entire game first, then fill it in step by step and make adjustments according to the circumstances.

It was troublesome.

But Tang Yao still patiently listed the various good gameplay elements in gacha games, sorting out which were interesting and easy to make and which were difficult to make and worthless, then subdividing them further according to difficulty.

In the cramped room,

Tang Yao bent over her desk and continued writing.

When Tang Xun finished washing the dishes and entered the room, she saw that a large pile of papers had already accumulated beside her sister. They were covered in terminology she did not understand very well.

Things like battle systems, enhancement systems, gacha-resource allocation, and banner design.

And there seemed to be more and more of them.

"What are you doing?"

Tang Xun watched for a while before asking curiously.

"A game design document."

Tang Yao raised her head. "We'll talk later... Xun, I'm having a brainstorming session."

"..."

Hearing this, Xun stopped speaking. She simply took out the hair dryer again and began drying her sister's hair.

Tang Yao did not seem affected either. Soon, she put down her pen, opened the laptop in front of her, and began typing rapidly, writing the design document.

Her speed was astonishing.

While drying her hair, Xun would sneak a glance whenever she had a moment, and each time she did, she found another dense mass of text on the computer.

The terminology she had just seen—battle systems, enhancement systems, and so on—had all been expanded upon. They were often followed by a series of numbers, and some sections even included descriptions for illustrations.

What was she doing?

Tang Xun did not really understand.

But she felt that her sister... seemed to have become even more amazing.

Although she had always been amazing.

Even after Tang Xun finished drying her hair, Tang Yao continued writing, showing no sign of hitting a bottleneck.

Her typing grew faster and faster, and from time to time she would take out drawing paper and sketch something.

Seeing this, Tang Xun hesitated for a moment. Instead of moving on to the next task, she first went to hang up the clothes to dry, then dealt with quite a few other chores.

By the time Tang Xun returned to the room, it was already nearly midnight.

Tang Yao finally stopped typing and began checking for omissions... There were still quite a few things that could not be written down and would have to be adapted to circumstances during production, or constantly adjusted during testing.

She had merely tried her best to outline the framework of the entire game. On the one hand, it was to organize her own thoughts; on the other, it was to help others understand what she intended to do.

"So next, I need to draw the original manga for the Fate Zero that will serve as the introduction, then decide which characters will appear in the game, and add the plot and character illustrations."

Tang Yao checked everything from beginning to end. Seeing that there were no major problems, she raised her arms and stretched hard.

To be honest,

even she was a little surprised by the birth of this result.

Because it had been too fast.

Even with the help of her memories from her previous life, this was still too fast.

Aside from being interrupted briefly by Xun, she had seemed to see the games she had played, all kinds of gaming news, and the game-related articles she had browsed with interest constantly surfacing before her eyes.

...Could this be what being in the zone felt like?

She had no idea.

But it should be a good thing.

The general plan had been confirmed. First, she would draw Fate Zero, then finalize the illustrations and stories for the main characters appearing in the game—in other words, the SRR units—and finally begin production...

Of course, there were still problems. Investment, subsequent promotion, production, and other stages remained unclear.

But overall, she could move forward...

"Are you finished?"

At that moment,

Xun's voice rang out, rousing Tang Yao.

Tang Yao came back to herself and turned to look at the girl standing prettily beside her in hot pants, revealing a pair of smooth, pale legs. She realized what time it was. "Sorry, do you want to sleep? I'll turn off the light right away. So, what time is it..."

As she spoke, she picked up her phone and glanced at it, then froze.

"...Huh? It's already midnight?"

Tang Yao was startled. She had not expected time to pass so quickly, and immediately began to apologize. "Xun..."

"I'm not tired. I was waiting for you."

Before she could finish,

Tang Xun interrupted her sister and continued, "Wait a moment."

With that, she turned and walked to the small rack beside the bed. After searching briefly, she returned to Tang Yao with a tape measure in hand and said, "Stand up and move around a little. I'll measure you, then we can go to sleep."

"Hm? Measure what?"

Tang Yao stood up and asked doubtfully at the same time.

Tang Xun did not answer. She simply handed the tape measure to her sister, then took a step forward.

Tang Yao accepted the tape measure, then faced her sister as she moved into her arms. She instinctively wrapped an arm around Xun's waist. "Are you going to... Eek! What are you doing? What are you doing?"

Before she could finish,

a cool sensation suddenly came from her back. It was Tang Xun's little hand.

Tang Yao shuddered, her whole body bristling as she instinctively tried to break free. "Why are you taking off my bra?!"

"Don't move."

Tang Xun wrapped her arms around her sister in return, preventing her from escaping. She raised her head slightly, and Tang Yao's breathtaking face was reflected in her eyes. "It hasn't been fitting lately, has it? If you want to embarrass yourself outside, then go ahead and run."

"..."

Tang Yao's struggle abruptly stopped at those words. Compared with being at home, she was indeed more worried about embarrassing herself outside.

And it really had stopped fitting... She had originally intended to make do with it.

Now that Xun had taken the initiative to help, it was indeed a good thing.

But...

"Still, don't launch a surprise attack on me! You could at least have told me and given me time to prepare myself mentally."

Tang Yao glared at her sister in front of her, her face bright red. "And aren't you being a little too perceptive? I never said anything about this!"

"If I had asked, you definitely would have made do with it and refused me."

Tang Xun lowered her head again and placed the warm clothing on the stool as she replied, "As for being perceptive, you occasionally twist around uncomfortably. Who wouldn't notice?"

"I didn't notice!"

"That's because you're slow. Don't move."

"..."

She seemed to have been insulted.

Tang Yao pressed her red lips together. She could only remain still, turning her head to the side while lightly clutching Xun's clothes with both hands.

Tang Xun's beautiful eyes shifted, and she glanced slightly to the side. For some reason, her movements slowed a little.

Of course, Tang Yao did not notice. She was very nervous. "Why isn't it done yet?"

"Almost."

"It doesn't actually need to be that accurate."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Xun, I'm your sister, not an automatic measuring robot."

"Done..."

Finally.

After Tang Yao urged her several times, Tang Xun put away the tape measure and muttered, "So which one of us is going through puberty?"

"What?"

A flush still lingered on Tang Yao's pretty face. After pulling down and straightening her clothes, she looked up and lightly glared at her sister.

What was she talking about?

Did her sister not have any dignity?

Although she had indeed lost all dignity just now...

"I'm saying that I'll go buy one after school tomorrow."