"President Tsuda, I'm very grateful for your proposal, but there's something I need to make clear from the outset."
Aoki Haruhi took a deep breath and said, "There's still a fundamental difference between a galgame and the RPG we want to make."
"Hmm, please go on," Tsuda Nao said, raising her hand in a gesture of humble inquiry.
"The core of a galgame is about winning over girls and achieving romance. To provide players with an immersive experience, the visual quality must be exceptionally high. If we were to incorporate animated CGs, the graphical requirements would increase even further. Being able to draw high-quality character portraits and full-body illustrations is just the foundation; the real key is producing exquisite animated CGs."
"Mmm-hmm," Tsuda Nao nodded in full agreement. "President Qing, your explanation has dispelled my previous concerns. The fact that you can draw such exquisite characters and analyze the essence of a galgame so thoroughly proves I haven't misjudged you."
"Your company will undoubtedly turn this game into a classic—perhaps even the future standard-bearer of dating simulations."
President Tsuda's eyes sparkled, as if already lost in endless daydreams of the future.
Heh heh.
This foolish woman never expected to fall into my trap, did she?
Aoki Haruhi chuckled inwardly, then abruptly changed tack. "However, there's a major problem."
Tsuda Nao looked up at him, her expression puzzled.
"It's nearly impossible to achieve the effects we want on the FC," Aoki Haruhi said, pouting as if genuinely disappointed.
"Hmm," Senkawa Hiroichi chimed in, frowning in agreement. "The Red and White Machine's performance is too limited. The graphics just won't cut it. To meet the President's standards, each image would need at least 0.5MB. With 15 characters, each requiring 3 to 4 images, we'd be looking at over 100MB. Even with compression, we might only manage to shrink it to 50MB—an impossible task for the FC."
In plain terms, the most advanced game console on the market at the time was still the Nintendo Red and White Machine. Its 8-bit architecture had inherent limitations in processing power and color support, allowing for only 52 total colors and a maximum of 13 colors on screen at any given time.
This was simply insufficient to support a masterpiece like Onmyōji.
The essence of a galgame lies in its narrative and visuals, especially the blood-pumping character illustrations and interactive CGs. Without them, the game would lose its meaning.
Although referred to as "CGs," these were actually handled through a series of images rather than true video playback. Otherwise, the game's size would have soared to over 1GB—an impossible feat for the hardware of the era.
To put it more simply, early romantic CGs were essentially animated GIFs. The illusion of interactivity was achieved by changing the displayed image when the player clicked, creating the effect of interaction.
To save space and improve performance, images were often divided into multiple parts. For instance, when interacting with the face, only the facial portion would change; when interacting with the body, only the body would change...
Hearing the news, Tsuda Nao couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. "It's such a shame," she said. "It would be a tragedy if such a magnificent work couldn't be realized."
"Exactly!"
Aoki Haruhi nodded vigorously. "But if we make it a pure RPG, as long as the story and gameplay are compelling enough, it could still sell very well."
"Unless..."
Just then, Chikawa, who was sitting nearby, suddenly spoke up, startling Aoki Haruhi.
"Modern home computers are far more powerful than the FC. What if we considered releasing it on PC?" Senkawa Hiroichi mused.
Oh, for fuck's sake.
Aoki Haruhi cursed inwardly. I was almost about to convince her! Chikawa, you're stabbing me in the back! Are you even on the Pokeni team anymore?
"That wouldn't work," Aoki Haruhi argued. "The number of PC users is nowhere near the number of console owners."
At the time, home consoles—especially Nintendo's FC—had sold over 15 million units, and the NES, released in North America and Europe, had sold 35 million units.
And what about personal computers?
The Island Nation only had 1.5 million PCs, a completely different scale.
"If we release it on PC, I can't guarantee sales," Aoki Haruhi said seriously.
In fact, Classmates had been released on PC in his previous life and achieved the miraculous feat of selling over 100,000 copies.
100,000 copies from 1.5 million PC users—what kind of concept is that?
You could only say there were a lot of perverts.
"Is that so..." The light in Tsuda Nao's eyes dimmed again.
"What if we added a chip?" Senkawa Hiroichi asked. "One specifically for image processing and memory issues. That might allow us to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the Red and White Machine while supporting cartridges up to 50MB. Even if it's not particularly refined, it would be enough to make all the Blue Games currently on the market seem utterly outmatched!"
I...
Aoki Haruhi beside him was dumbfounded, nearly spitting up a mouthful of blood.
What the hell?!
Adding a chip? Why don't you just try to fly to the moon?!
Aoki Haruhi was stunned for a long moment. He quickly searched his mind for information about Senkawa Hiroichi's background and found that the man had studied semiconductors in college. The company had hired him as a hardware engineer specifically to develop a next-generation home video game console.
Damn it!
In the 90s, Japan's semiconductor industry was so advanced that no one dared claim the world's number one position.
He had brought Senkawa here today to resolve technical issues and persuade the company president to invest. He never expected things to turn out like this...
Aoki Haruhi felt terrible.
"President Qing, do you have any further questions?" Tsuda Nao asked with a composed smile.
Aoki Haruhi opened his mouth, unsure what to say.
"Frankly, there's only one answer for me," Tsuda Nao said seriously. "If your company can't meet my requirements, then this investment will have to be canceled."
"However, if you're not interested in developing this game, please sell me the project. DUN is willing to buy it outright for 50 million yen."
Dream on!
Aoki Haruhi took a deep breath, straightened his suit, and stood up. He bowed deeply to Tsuda Nao. "Then please look after us, President Tsuda."
After reaching an agreement, the two parties spent the next half-day finalizing the details. With the meeting concluded, DUN Corporation would draft the contract. The investment funds would be disbursed in four installments, with one-quarter of the total amount transferred to Pokeni's company account each quarter.
"Great! President, we finally secured the investment!"
As the three of them left DUN Corporation, only Chikawa was jubilant.
He glanced back at the other two and couldn't understand why Aoki Haruhi and Ishino Mika wore such solemn expressions.
Didn't we just secure the investment? Why do they look like they've lost a battle?
Senkawa Hiroichi chuckled. "President, if I hadn't strongly persuaded President Tsuda just now, who knows what might have happened..."
A fierce glare from the president sent a chill down Senkawa's spine.