Chapter 4. What? Turn Onmyoji into a Galgame?
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"Is it about profit sharing?" Kiyoshi Yuuma asked.
Investors aren't stupid. They wouldn't make an angel investment just to let you make a game where they lose money. If there's profit to be made, profit sharing is naturally part of the deal. And by general rules, the side putting up more capital usually takes the larger share; a 70-30 or even 80-20 split is possible.
The smaller portion would go to Pokeni.
This raised the bar for the game itself. If it didn't meet a certain sales figure, even with the investment, Pokeni might still not make a profit.
Of course, this also applied to the investor. If DUN invested 70 million, they would certainly hope to earn it back.
"Hmm… as for profit sharing, I'm actually quite lenient on that," Tsuda Nao smiled. "Let's go with a 50-50 split. Since this is our first collaboration, I hope to earn your company's trust."
Eh?
Everyone, including Mika Ishino and Asakawa Hiroki, was stunned by this proposal.
A 50-50 investment partner was practically an angel.
This president was either naively foolish, or she had absolute confidence in Pokeni's product—on par with Kiyoshi Yuuma himself.
Kiyoshi Yuuma was a little dumbfounded.
"But the additional condition I mentioned isn't about that," Tsuda Nao continued. "Regarding your company's project, I have only one request, and that is: please make it into a GALGAME."
Nani?!
Kiyoshi Yuuma felt like he'd been struck by lightning! This was even more shocking than the 50-50 split.
Galgame, also known as "bishoujo games."
It is a type of video game where players interact with animated beautiful girls. The original audience was primarily Japanese men, but with time, all-ages galgames have developed storylines that appeal to both genders.
Most galgames fall under the VNs (visual novel) genre, though there are also interactive types.
Simply put, it's an interactive game about falling in love with beautiful girls.
Bishoujo games have existed since shortly after the invention of personal computers. In 1982, Japan's Koei released a galgame called Night Life.
Early galgames didn't gain much popularity.
Although that game was quite different from the bishoujo games of the early 21st century, it is the earliest known recorded example of the genre.
Early galgames often had strong adult content, but it does not mean that all galgames are adult games. Some can be pure and innocent love stories.
But still, in the 1990s, they carried a bit of a "dirty" reputation.
When Tsuda Nao requested that Onmyoji be made into a galgame, Kiyoshi Yuuma was completely stunned.
How can this be possible?!
His instinct was to reject the idea.
Onmyoji was a painstaking work crafted by him and Ishino over many intense days and nights. Its soul is The Legend of Sword and Fairy.
Think about it—turning The Legend of Sword and Fairy into a galgame? Would that make sense?
Even if the galgame was purely about sweet romance and courting girls, players would inevitably imagine certain things…
Not just Kiyoshi Yuuma, but even Mika Ishino was stunned. She blinked her big eyes, struggling to imagine what Onmyoji would look like as a galgame.
Suppressing his inner shock, Kiyoshi Yuuma coughed and responded: "President Tsuda, forgive me for being blunt, but I don't think this game is suitable for a galgame format. Our story and character design are focused on a pure love route, and this is primarily a turn-based combat game. The conflict between humans and youkai, the clash of duty and fate—that's the core of the game. If we turned it into a galgame, it might become skewed."
Mm-hmm.
Ishino, beside him, didn't speak but nodded repeatedly.
Tsuda Nao smiled as she looked at Kiyoshi Yuuma. Once he finished explaining, she continued: "But that's exactly why I'm interested in it."
"I don't know how much you understand about DUN, President Kiyoshi. At this point, DUN can be considered a large-scale entertainment company. Besides making children's toys and anime-related merchandise, our main revenue in recent years has come from the adult industry.
So we've conducted detailed and thorough research on the adult market and its potential future expansion.
DUN's goal is very clear—that is, to invest in a galgame. We just hadn't found one that truly satisfied us… until I encountered your company. This proposal is exactly what I was looking for."
What Tsuda Nao said was true. She had received quite a number of project proposals during this time, but most of them felt very mediocre.
Galgames have existed for quite a while, but up until now, most of the games on the market of the same type can be described as fast-food-style. Just like early AV films, the male lead walks up to strike a conversation, and the girl is instantly willing to "play cards" with him.
There's no process at all—simple, crude, and completely lacking in aesthetic value.
Although adult content is driven by human instinct, today's audience and gamers have long grown tired of such blunt and aggressive approaches.
As the president of an adult-content company, Tsuda Nao naturally understood this.
So when she saw Pokeni's proposal, Tsuda Nao couldn't help feeling a wave of excitement within her, because this was exactly the answer she had been seeking all along.
Tsuda Nao looked up and stared into Kiyoshi Yuuma's eyes and said, "Love is the most beautiful experience in life. I hope players can find the feeling of being in love through your game."
She hadn't outright demanded Pokeni to turn Onmyoji into a full-on adult game—Kiyoshi Yuuma felt that this woman was already being merciful.
Ishino and Hiroki, sitting nearby, blushed bright red. Frankly, it was a bit embarrassing that they still hadn't experienced the joys of love themselves.
But in Kiyoshi Yuuma's view, it was precisely that kind of purity that allowed Ishino to write such good stories.
"The romantic elements in your story are already touching enough. This game absolutely has the potential to redefine galgames on a whole new level. The key is whether you have the ability to make it happen."
Tsuda Nao had her own considerations—
The feeling of being in love was something that was hard to convey perfectly in film or TV, or at least difficult for audiences to fully experience.
Was it possible to achieve that through games?
Tsuda Nao was very much looking forward to the answer.
This Onmyoji from Pokeni might just be the key to open the sacred door in the realm of games.
...
Damn it!
This woman!
She actually understood men's preferences so well!
Everything she said nearly convinced Kiyoshi Yuuma, because he deeply knew Tsuda Nao was speaking the truth. Two years later, in 1992, a company called ELF would release a game named Classmates, which would elevate the entire galgame genre to a level it was never supposed to reach.
Before Classmates, the entire galgame market could be described as a primal, animalistic space. People were simply after crude and straightforward pleasures. But Classmates moved players with pure love and, through detailed portrayals of different heroines' personalities, allowed players to truly experience the process of falling in love.
Fall in love first, then go adult—that was what made it a classic and laid the foundation for future galgames.
And now, Tsuda Nao was already aware of this, ahead of her time. It only proved how sharp and vicious this woman's foresight was.
But Kiyoshi Yuuma, from the bottom of his heart, didn't want to do this. On one hand, if Pokeni's breakthrough hit turned out to be a galgame, then both the company and he himself, as the producer and president, would be permanently branded as such. It wouldn't be easy to come ashore, and he wasn't sure whether future transformation would succeed.
On the other hand, he genuinely cherished the game Onmyoji. He didn't want such a good game to be tainted by anything else.
Even if the galgame could be made clean and proper, without any adult content, due to the times, it would inevitably lead to bad associations in people's minds.
And now, this woman was pushing him into an abyss of eternal damnation.