Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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With the sound of a door being locked, footsteps grew closer, and the sound of leather shoes stepping on the metal plate was very uneven, indicating that the owner of the sound was not very mobile.

At that moment, a deafening clap of thunder sounded, and a bolt of lightning struck the sky.

Taking advantage of a fleeting flash of lightning.

Huang Wenfeng finally saw the scene. This was clearly the cockpit of the huge cruise ship from before. The footsteps were coming from an old man, whose exact age was unclear.

Using the light of the lightning, he shakily turned on the light.

As the dim light came on, more details appeared in the picture. The old man was wearing a white navy uniform, but the clothes were already somewhat tattered.

His face was covered with wrinkles, and his hair and beard were stained with large patches of gray.

The old man looked very tired, holding a rifle, with a wound on his arm that was still bleeding.

"What is this? A gun? A shooting game? It can't be zombies, can it..."

The more details there are, the more it sparks the imagination.

The old man in the picture is sitting in the captain's seat. He begins to look around the small house, his eyes filled with a feeling of nostalgia, which makes him look very warm.

His hand swept across the photo on the table. It was a picture of a port, which looked very familiar to Huang Wenfeng because it was the scene from the first act.

In other words, this person is the captain of this ship, but why?

The camera provides new clues but also lays the groundwork for more plot developments.

Followed by.

A series of "beep beep beep" alarm sounds followed.

A mechanical voice rang out from the captain's waist.

"Attention Captain 01251: The current crew size is 0. As the only crew member capable of action, you should follow the Ark's instructions..."

"Beep beep beep..."

"Captain of Ship 01251~~"

The old man picked up the machine at his waist but did not respond; he simply pressed a few buttons, presumably to turn the volume down to the minimum.

As the machine at his waist gradually quieted down, the cabin fell silent again. Then, another clap of thunder boomed, and rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.

The old man ignored the sound of rain outside, and simply walked unsteadily to a vinyl record player next to the cabin, found a record, put it in the machine, and turned it on.

A soft, soothing female voice began to sing, and the melody seemed to instantly calm the emotions a little, even making the cabin lights seem warmer.

The singing was soft and peaceful.

The old man returned to his seat, opened the box, took out a pill, popped it into his mouth like a candy, then walked to the rocking chair, sat down, and began to rock back and forth.

He threw the gun in his hand to the ground, picked up the small machine at his waist, and casually tossed it onto the table.

The machine, with its strong futuristic feel, contrasted sharply with the ship's cabin. He then closed his eyes and began to enjoy the music. As the old man closed his eyes, the screen went dark again.

In the darkness, the sound that the man had just turned off rang out again.

"Drip drip"

"The captain is dead. As per the Ark's instructions, captain's authority has been transferred..."

"Captain's authority has been successfully transferred. Crew member 00001, please note that as the only crew member with full mobility, you must follow the Ark's instructions..."

Chapter 478 Suspense

The sound stopped abruptly here.

A logo with black background and white lettering appeared.

Project Ark

[PS5 Launch Titles]

[Spark Games]

More information will be revealed at the PS5 launch event.

~~~

"Huh!? No, that's it?!???"

"Wasn't that person supposed to be the last one on the ship? What the heck is 00001?"

"Could it be a character played by a player?"

"What's going on with this ship? And what's going on with that huge tree?"

"Were the pills you took for suicide? Why would you want to commit suicide?"

Huang Wenfeng's mouth was like a machine gun, constantly firing off questions. In fact, it wasn't surprising, because the purpose of Xinghuo's trailer was to set a trap.

Project Ark is an experimental work inspired by Spark.

From the very beginning, the project has focused on high-quality art and a suspenseful plot.

When promoting such a work, it is natural to highlight its strengths.

Many games think that showing a few cool shots and some montages is enough when they are promoting them, but in reality, after watching the whole trailer, players have no idea what the developers are trying to show.

But in this promotional video...

The first half is designed to showcase the game's art style, especially the final concept art from Suzuki Sane.

The final design of this ship is quite remarkable. Suzuki Sane revised it at least dozens of times, and even spent two or three days teaching herself some basic ship design, looking at a lot of real-world cases, and consulting many experts.

The final draft was completed only after so many revisions, and the reason for these revisions was Lin Li's almost obsessive pursuit of this ship.

"You must make sure your eyes shine at first glance."

Others might just be joking when they say this, but Lin Li really meant it. After Suzuki Sane finished drawing, he went to other studios in Xinghuo to have 100 people rate the work.

This is the final version.

During this time, Suzuki Shana almost had a complete breakdown, but in the end, one night, Suzuki Shana sent Lin Li another version, which was the final version.

When Lin Li first saw the night view of the cruise ship drawn by Suzuki Saon.

The whole thing was a revelation. The control of light, the outline and texture of the cruise ship's shape, although the details were a bit lacking, it was still quite eye-catching.

So Lin Li used this painting, which was originally an art design, as the starting point of the first scene of the PV.

Since this painting could catch his eye, it can naturally catch the viewer's eye as well. In addition, the second half of the painting showcases another feature of the game.

That's suspense.

After showcasing the scenes in the first half, the second half naturally presents the plot to the audience.

The core storyline of "Project Ark" is actually quite interesting, incorporating elements of the end times, AI logic, and even borrowing some elements from "The Wandering Earth".

In The Wandering Earth 2, the artificial AI, namely MOSS, is portrayed as a villain in some sense.

As a form of digital intelligence, MOSS can exist anywhere connected to the internet, including surveillance cameras. The numerous close-ups of cameras in The Wandering Earth 2 emphasize the constant presence of MOSS through the lens.

The same applies to Project Ark. As the name suggests, Project Ark is a plan designed to deal with disasters.

There is also an AI in the game.

The key to the game's plot is actually the question: "Is the AI's search for a way to save humanity truly the way humanity wants to be saved?" This is a very interesting core theme.

The unfolding plot is also very interesting, but the script is still being polished at the moment, so this promotional video is mainly to leave clues.

Ultimately, after the video finished playing, the enthusiastic response from the players fully proved that Lin Li had successfully achieved both of the points he wanted to promote.

Why are you so sure, Lin Li?

Very simple.

Because Lin Li was also watching videos, and he was also browsing the comments section.

Almost all the discussions revolve around the various storylines in the PV. If it weren't for the paid PR team hired by Sony, most players wouldn't even have noticed that this game is also associated with a PS5 title that boasts long battery life.

"Holy crap, yeah, PS5!"

"Sony has confirmed the release of the PS5? That's amazing."

"This is now confirmed. Who would have thought that Sony would give Spark their first PS5 promotional video?"

"Spark's reputation is truly off the charts."

Even Huang Wenfeng only realized this when he watched the video a second time after being reminded by the comments that the game's promotional video actually contained such big news.

However, he only made a brief remark before quickly bringing the topic back on track.

"No, no, I mean, look here, there's something wrong with the decor of this captain's cabin, buddy. As a veteran Starfire player, I can tell you this with absolute certainty."

"The scene of Spark could never be a chaotic scene; there must be something profound in it."

"Did you notice that besides the pager-like device on the old man, the high-tech-looking things in the PV also include the surveillance cameras hanging in the room..."

"Yes, yes, that's it. You see, when the old man came in, when the background was still black, there was this red dot in the upper left corner..."

"This is 100% foreshadowing, trust me 100%, brothers."

After only briefly mentioning the PS5, Huang Wenfeng quickly shifted his focus back to the story of the PV itself, as well as the official website for Project Ark that was launched alongside the PV.

Deciphering secrets is definitely a hobby for many people.

Many people, or rather many manufacturers, know that players really like suspense, but they don't really understand why players like suspense.

Just like many people who engage in BDSM, they are seeking that kind of stimulation, rather than actually wanting to be tortured.

This is why some content creators can use niche topics like "finding the location where a photo was taken" to gain hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of followers.

Some manufacturers release promotional videos that they think are full of suspense, but nobody watches them at all.

Because when using suspense for promotion, firstly, you need to make sure people can understand the question, and secondly, the question needs to be interesting enough. Only by combining the two can you generate traffic and create buzz.

A pretty girl is showing off her long, white legs, crossing them, and asking you to guess what color she's wearing today. It's like a math problem; both are problems, so which one would you choose to solve?

Take the promotional video for the "Ark Project" by Spark as an example. You might say the story is profound, but it's not. It's clearly about a ship's journey from departure to its accident.

Chapter 479 If this continues, problems will arise.

Everyone understands the basic theory, but putting it into practice is not so simple.

Lin Li used the ship's shape and art design to pique players' interest in the story, and then extended that interest to a suspenseful mystery.

That's why, as soon as the video is uploaded, player discussions start going on and on. Players need to understand 80% of the plot, and the remaining 20% ​​is used to create suspense and puzzles for players to solve, which is how you keep them interested.

Ultimately, it turned out that Lin Li's judgment was correct.

Almost immediately after the video was released, various decryption videos and discussion threads began to appear, providing a foundation for the publicity and promotion.

Combined with the fact that the video itself already had a certain level of discussion, it easily generated considerable feedback.

The video not only caused a huge stir in China, but also overseas, because it included the official confirmation of the PS5.

Before this, no matter how many insiders announced that the PS5 was coming, it was still coming.

But when the boots landed, they still made an echo.

Of course, besides these, there was also a comment Lin Li made under this video on Bilibili.

We at Xinghuo are also working very hard, please take a look at us.

This really pushed the video's popularity to its peak that night, with many netizens leaving hilarious comments under the numerous posts, and the number of likes for the comments themselves rapidly increasing.

That evening, after Sony released the video, several other manufacturers followed suit and joined in the fun.

Time continued to ferment until the next day.

As the next day dawned, various media outlets returned to work, and major gaming news websites around the world began publishing news.

"PS5 Confirmed! First Game Revealed!!"

"Spark's first AAA single-player game? Project Ark's first PV released."

"NetEase's 'Return to the Moon' reveals new footage."

"The Golden Age of Chinese Games! Several Domestic Game Companies Announce New Plans!"

"The Spark PV has gone viral, with nearly 10 million views across the internet!"

"Microsoft is in a panic, Sony unexpectedly launches PS5, and Spark Games exclusively supports it?"