Starting as a Manga Editor

Chapter 195: Dou Pai Progress

The promotional campaign for FGO's spring update progressed steadily.

Meanwhile, Dark Night Decree was also intensifying its marketing efforts.

Clearly, they were getting anxious.

However, ANF enjoyed overwhelmingly favorable conditions... Through recent operations, the platform had acquired premium anime series with heavy investments, hosted popular manga, featured hit 2D mobile games, and boasted countless excellent derivative works and UGC content.

This website was no longer just a haven for hardcore anime fans.

It had also attracted a large number of young users who might not typically pay much attention to anime culture.

These users were naturally inclined toward anime aesthetics, showing no resistance to beautiful anime-style characters—whether female or male—nor to anime-related content.

In fact, they constituted a significant portion of the target demographic for 2D mobile games.

Tang Yao recalled that in her previous life, the explosive popularity of 2D mobile games was largely due to this group.

While relying solely on hardcore anime fans could still generate substantial profits, it would never be enough to sustain the massive market for anime games, let alone achieve the unparalleled success of that one game whose name shall not be spoken. Thus, having ANF in this world during the early stages of 2D mobile games was like wielding a devastating weapon for Tang Yao.

Initially,

Due to issues with Rumi's mother, Avalon couldn't launch large-scale promotions.

Now that the obstacles were gone, with Avalon going all out and leveraging the ANF platform, the impact was truly overwhelming.

Moreover, Avalon wasn't the same company it used to be.

Under the management of Li Xue and Tang Yao, the company had expanded significantly. Beyond the content department, it was gradually shedding its previous amateurish image.

Their marketing campaigns were executed with remarkable proficiency.

Dark Night Decree could certainly reach its target audience by placing ads on external anime forums, fan communities, and gaming platforms.

But comparing its reach to ANF's?

Tang Yao almost wanted to puff out her chest, adopt the smug expression of Strong Tyrant from Shaolin Soccer, and declare, "They're all my people!"—except Li Xue wasn't around to witness it, so she reluctantly let it go.

Soon,

The tides turned.

The hype for FGO's new update completely overshadowed Dark Night Decree.

Of course, Dark Night Decree refused to back down.

As instructed by Ji Fuliang, they began spreading claims that FGO's crossover event was half-hearted, just empty hype, and that the truth would be revealed upon the game's official launch.

Most FGO players dismissed them as delusional.

Anyone with eyes could see—just like Ji Fuliang's own staff had realized—that the probability of their claims being true was minuscule. With such an impressive trailer, how could they possibly neglect the actual game? What a joke! And when had FGO ever disappointed its players? How could they spout such blatant lies?

Add to that Tang Yao's snide remark about "dog-eat-dog competition," and many players suddenly caught on.

Wait, wasn't it Dark Night Decree that kept insinuating FGO's crossover event would be terrible?

But who had actually played it?

They weren't insiders—they were direct competitors.

Competitors—

Oh—

Soon, most people pieced together the whole story.

However,

Even if FGO players now held Dark Night Decree in low regard, FGO wasn't exactly a national phenomenon. Its player base, though unrivaled among mobile games, still paled in comparison to the broader gaming community—let alone manga readers who might not even play mobile games.

Thus,

Even if Dark Night Decree faced growing skepticism, with its daily pre-registration growth slowing down, it still managed to attract some fans of Dark Night.

Moreover, with Dark Night Decree so adamantly insisting that the "truth would be revealed upon launch" and constantly emphasizing its status as the "authentic adaptation," some players remained convinced.

They began waiting for the official release.

So Dark Night Decree's popularity didn't exactly plummet.

Still, Tang Yao couldn't help feeling curious.

She had played their game herself.

Its quality was blatantly a shoddy imitation of FGO, with no attempt to hide its cash-grabbing nature. How exactly did they plan to compete with FGO?

She wasn't lying.

FGO's crossover event had been in preparation for a long time, and Avalon had treated it with the same care as the main storyline, packing it with genuine effort.

Had they completely overhauled their game in such a short time?

That seemed impossible.

Then why were they so confident about the "truth upon launch"?

Tang Yao pondered for a while but couldn't figure it out. Soon, she gave up, avoiding unnecessary mental strain, and shifted her focus back to work.

With FGO's crossover event already in the promotional phase, it didn't require her direct involvement.

What needed her attention was Dou Pai.

During this period, despite Avalon's expansion and FGO's busy schedule, the Dou Pai project team remained unaffected.

This game, originally from Mingyu Technology, was gradually transforming, breathing new life into itself.

Tang Yao watched as it slowly shed its Dou Pai identity, inching closer to the Hearthstone she knew so well.

By now,

Though it lacked Warcraft's aesthetic, the gameplay had fully evolved into Hearthstone's format.

"Let the flames consume all!"

As the voice of Ragnaros the Firelord boomed,

Tang Yao even experienced a brief moment of disorientation.

"The voice actor nailed that line—so cool!"

Meanwhile,

Si Jinliang, oblivious to Tang Yao's momentary daze, stared at the card effects on the screen and grinned. "The effects are awesome too! We did great! And this card is really fun—we've been calling it the 'Ball King' during internal testing."

He paused before adding,

"But... why did we keep Ragnaros's elemental form for the artwork? Wouldn't a pretty girl or handsome guy be better?"

"..."

Tang Yao snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at him.

Of course it felt familiar—she had personally interviewed the voice actor. As for the artwork...

"If it's all pretty characters, players will get bored quickly."

She explained, "Sometimes mixing in some bizarre creatures among the pretty boys and girls is good. It spices up the gameplay and adds visual variety... Focusing too much on one aspect can actually dilute the game's appeal.

Besides, Dou Pai isn't FGO. The focus isn't on selling characters—it's gameplay first, cards second."

"I see..."

Si Jinliang nodded thoughtfully.

"Mhm."

Tang Yao responded, her fair face the picture of seriousness.

But in truth... she wasn't entirely confident about her decisions.

Though the gameplay followed Hearthstone's formula, the shift to fragmented storytelling and a complete anime-style art overhaul meant countless adjustments required her input.

For instance,

Tang Yao had noticed that if every card featured flashy anime-style character art, the game might feel slightly cheap, and card recognition could suffer.

So she tweaked the ratio of human characters to creatures in the card artwork.

That was how these changes came about.

But as for how effective they'd be... she had no solid guarantees. These were judgments based on her past experiences as both a player and an artist.

Regardless of her confidence, she couldn't show hesitation in front of Si Jinliang.