[Visual Arts] We asked about the development behind "False Alice"
table of contents
My name is Fujisawa and I am in charge of public relations and recruitment
This is the first in our "Customer Visit Series."
On October 3, 2019 , Visual Arts released the idle RPG for smartphones, " False Alice "
This time, Beyond is "Fake Alice"
- Cloud/Server Design and Construction
- Stress testing
- 24/7 operation and maintenance
I am in charge of the following
So, why they chose Beyond we visited Visual Arts and interviewed them!
▲ Right: Mr. Takeuchi, Director of the ICT Business Division, Development Headquarters, Visual Arts Inc
▲Engineer Yamada was interviewed online from the Tokyo office...!
What kind of company is Visual Arts?
Fujisawa
This time, I would like to ask you about "Fake Alice," for which our company provides server maintenance. Thank you!
Takeuchi-san
thank you!
Yamada-san
(Online) Thank you!
Fujisawa
First of all, please tell us roughly what kind of business your company is involved in
Yamada-san
We mainly produce PC games and anime
Takeuchi-san
We also plan and manage music events
Fujisawa
Do you hold events regularly?
Takeuchi-san
Yes, at least once or twice a year. We either create it ourselves or have someone participate in it
Fujisawa
Is this an anime or game event?
Takeuchi-san
That's right. We've been doing orchestral versions of songs that have been adapted into anime in the past, and we've also been holding concert-like events
Yamada-san
Our company has always been strong in music, and we only started playing social games about 5 or 6 years ago
Fujisawa
I see! When creating a social game, do you start by writing the scenario?
Takeuchi-san
That's right. Up until now, we've been planning games based on titles created by " Key " in the game or anime business, and then turning them into social games, but this is the first original game that our team has created solely.
Key Official Website: http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/
Fujisawa
I see! Do you design the characters from scratch?
Takeuchi-san
Regarding this project, I was able to assign all the voice actors to each character from the very beginning
Fujisawa
That's amazing!! I was really excited because the voice actor for "Fake Alice" was the same as the voice actor for my favorite "certain magical girl anime"
Takeuchi-san
Ah, that's right. You're absolutely right, I also like that "certain magical girl anime" (laughs)
Fujisawa
Ah, is that so?!
Information on the stellar voice cast: https://itsuali.jp/character.html
Takeuchi-san
Yes, that's it. Basically, casting is pretty much a matter of personal preference (laughs). I like this person, so I'll choose that person
Fujisawa
Isn't that the best!!
Takeuchi-san
In that sense, it's fun to create something original, because you can make it according to your own tastes
Fujisawa
That sounds like a lot of fun, but it must be hard to come up with a story and develop it at the same time
Takeuchi-san
As for the scenario, I and the game's scenario writer, Seishiro Tomioka, decided on the general worldview to a certain extent, and then Tomioka dug deeper into the worldview and each individual character
Fujisawa
In False Alice, you can choose from three main characters, but does the story change depending on which one you choose?
▲You can choose from these three characters as the main character
Takeuchi-san
The basic gist remains the same, but the tone of voice when something happens does change slightly
Fujisawa
I see. By the way, I chose the Hunter Girl, but I was happy to be able to hear the voices of the other two characters as well
Takeuchi-san
Yes. The voice actors are well-known, so I thought that might be a good hook
Fujisawa
Thank you. I really enjoyed it (lol)
Why did you choose Beyond?
Fujisawa
Now, I'd like to talk about Beyond's services. last interview , and you asked Beyond for help again this time. What was the reason you chose our company?
Takeuchi-san
This time, the team is in a rather unique situation
Fujisawa
law
Yamada-san
I'm the only full-time server-side engineer in the company
Fujisawa
Eh, is it just Yamada-san?
Yamada-san
When we first started developing this game, we were working on another project, so we didn't have any server-side engineers at first
Fujisawa
Zero?! How many people are there on your team?
Takeuchi-san
The entire team consists of six people, including Yamada
Fujisawa
6 people! !
Takeuchi-san
Yes. So those six are everything. It's too small (lol)
Fujisawa
It's amazing that we can make one game with all that. The power of six people
Yamada-san
The client's engineer was also in charge of the server side, but he didn't know what to do because it wasn't his specialty. For the previous project, Beyond handled almost everything, so it turns out that the people connected to us understand each other better, so we decided to ask them to do the same this time
Takeuchi-san
I really just leave everything to them when it comes to the server
Yamada-san
Exactly (lol)
Takeuchi-san
I was pushed to the point where I had no choice but to do so (laughs)
Yamada-san
I think there's more of a passing-the-buck approach than there was last time
Fujisawa
Is that so? Thank you!!
Takeuchi-san
As they had handled the previous title without any problems, we decided from the beginning that Beyond would be the server, without even thinking about handing it over to someone else
Fujisawa
That's great!
Yamada-san
Another big factor was that Beyond is an Osaka-based company, so they were able to come
Takeuchi-san
I think the reason I keep asking them is because we are close in distance
Fujisawa
I see, that's good that it's Osaka (laughs). We recently opened an office in Yokohama, so I think we'll be able to quickly get to the Tokyo office too!
Takeuchi-san
So if something were to happen to Yamada, in both Osaka and Tokyo
Fujisawa
Please feel free to contact us anytime!
What are the challenges of operating "False Alice"?
Fujisawa
Were there any issues that you noticed when starting operations?
Yamada-san
First of all, it's the lack of people in our company. Beyond seems to be a fairly flexible company, so it was helpful to be able to ask them things like, "Can you help me think about it a bit?"
Fujisawa
You can easily ask for even a small question through chat
Yamada-san
I was grateful that the members could ask questions immediately and receive answers right away
Takeuchi-san
That was very reassuring. The team had zero experience on the server side, which was not good, so we basically set up a system where if anything happened, we would immediately ask Beyond
Yamada-san
The server-side programming itself was still there from when I was there last time, but we didn't understand the infrastructure
Takeuchi-san
There were many times when we thought, "Let's just ask Beyond first." I think that was reassuring both during development and after release
Fujisawa
That's good. We operate with the mindset of "Please concentrate on your main business!", so that's exactly what has been achieved
Takeuchi-san
That's true. It's possible even with no full-time staff (laughs)
Fujisawa
That's true (lol)
Takeuchi-san
I think this is a pretty amazing story, but I think it's unprecedented for there to be no one in charge of the servers on the day a game is launched (laughs)
Fujisawa
That's quite nerve-wracking (laughs)
Yamada-san
However, Beyond took care of the infrastructure, so I didn't have to worry too much about it
Takeuchi-san
It was really reassuring
Yamada-san
I'm glad I asked Beyond to help with that as well
Fujisawa
That's great! Thank you
Takeuchi-san
Thank you very much
Fujisawa
So, are there any requests you have, like, "I'd like you to do this?" Or, "I'd like you to help me out in this situation!"
Takeuchi-san
That's true
Yamada-san
At the moment I'm getting a lot of help
Fujisawa
I see! (laughs)
Yamada-san
In the previous work, I never said anything like "This is impossible." But this time, when I looked at the logs, I saw that they even did things that I thought "That's not something you should ask," so I thought they'd do anything
Fujisawa
It's true, we're a jack-of-all-trades, so we don't have any restrictions. We don't have any rules like we can't accept questions after the regular hours
Takeuchi-san
I see, that's very helpful
Yamada-san
This time we asked them to carry out load tests as well, so I was impressed that they can do things like that too
Fujisawa
That's right! We currently operate under the service name "Fukamil."
Fukamiru service page: https://beyondjapan.com/service/loadtest/
Takeuchi-san
Oh, I see
Fujisawa
This is one of the services we recommend
Takeuchi-san
It was extremely helpful. Writing a scenario is difficult, and to be honest, none of us had ever done a load test. I was like, "What is a load test?" (laughs)
Fujisawa
I see!
Takeuchi-san
That's how it all started. I was like, "I don't know, if Beyond is going to do it, then let's ask them to do it all!" (laughs)
Fujisawa
That's right (laughs)
Takeuchi-san
I decided to ask Beyond for everything I could. I asked them for everything
Fujisawa
Please feel free to throw it all at me!
Yamada-san
Recently, I've been getting requests from engineers in Osaka to do certain things, but I tell them, "You'd be better off just handing it all over to Beyond!" (laughs)
Fujisawa
Our engineers are here to help, so feel free to ask any questions you might have!
Takeuchi-san
thank you!
What is the future of Visual Arts?
Fujisawa
So, my last question is, is there anything in particular you would like to do to develop your service in the future?
Takeuchi-san
I see, that's true. First of all, regarding the current service, I would like to steadily increase the number of users, and increase it by 5 or 10 times. The content of the game and the worldview have been carefully considered, so it may be difficult to say whether it is possible, but I would like to do a media mix. For example, turning it into an anime
Fujisawa
That's right! The voice actors are great and the story is solid, so I think it would be interesting if it were made into an anime
Takeuchi-san
That's what I want to do as a goal. As I get older, I might be able to work with a variety of voice actors. It's also because I like it
Fujisawa
That's great! That's the most fun part
Takeuchi-san
It's fun. It's the only job I enjoy doing (laughs)
Fujisawa
The only one (lol)
Takeuchi-san
For example, when checking the voice of a voice actor
Fujisawa
That's certainly fun! You get to hear it first
Takeuchi-san
That's right. No one's heard that yet
Fujisawa
It's really nice to hear someone say the lines you came up with
Takeuchi-san
That's right. Sometimes I think, maybe I should add some completely unrelated text, or maybe I should add my own name (laughs)
Fujisawa
"That's the story," he said (laughs). "That's great. Sounds fun."
Takeuchi-san
In this sense, media mix is one of our major goals. As a team, we are currently working on one title, but if this title becomes larger, we would like to expand the scale of development and continue to develop and manage other titles in parallel
Fujisawa
Yes, I'd love to see more!
Takeuchi-san
Of course, this is not limited to social games, and it's purely my personal hobby, but I like Vtubers, so my goal is that if this title sells well, I'll create a Vtuber as well
Fujisawa
Wow! That would require a different type of development
Takeuchi-san
Yes, it will be something completely different, so I think there will be a lot of difficulties, but it's something I'm looking forward to
Fujisawa
Vtubers have become amazing recently, aren't they? You can watch idols singing in a virtual space
Takeuchi-san
That's right. I'm totally hooked and watch it all the time (laughs). That kind of content that's a cross between 2D and 3D has been popping up a lot recently, so I thought it was new, and I'm sure this kind of thing will become more widespread in the future, and I think we'll see an era where everyone has their own. I'd like to be involved in the development and management of that kind of thing as well
Takeuchi-san
That's just an excuse, the real reason is that I want to do it as a hobby (laughs)
Fujisawa
(lol)
Fujisawa
But that's how it is. It's fun to do what you want to do
Takeuchi-san
That's right
The future of "Fake Alice"
We would like to provide you with more information regarding this server outage
would like to once again apologize to all our users for the inconvenience caused
.Thank you for your continued support of Fake Alice. #Itsuripic.twitter.com /0KSXAEA0Ab
— Fake Alice Official Account (@itsuwari_alice) December 18, 2019
▲The official Fake Alice account became a hot topic on Twitter for its "overly polite response to the issue."
Fujisawa
Are you incorporating user feedback into the currently operating "Fake Alice"?
Takeuchi-san
Yes, we are currently trying to incorporate user opinions, and if we receive opinions via Twitter or inquiries that seem like they can be implemented quickly, we will incorporate them immediately, or say, "Okay, let's add this the day after tomorrow."
Fujisawa
Wow!
Takeuchi-san
I try to pick up as many ideas as possible that I can implement immediately. Of course, there are some difficult ideas as well
Fujisawa
You can write as much as you want on Twitter
Takeuchi-san
If there are any shared opinions or opinions that can be sympathized with within the team, we will consider whether it can be implemented and implement it immediately
Takeuchi-san
The fastest we could do was to immediately incorporate feedback that came in just an hour before maintenance began. Of course, the implementation was not difficult, so if it was something that could be done quickly, we would do it
Fujisawa
That's impressive flexibility. You did some emergency maintenance yesterday, didn't you?
Takeuchi-san
Yes, it was done in 15 minutes
Takeuchi-san
When Yamada was working on "Rewrite IgnisMemoria," the shortest time was three minutes. Users called it "Cup Ramen Tech" (laughs)
Fujisawa
That's a good point (lol)
Yamada-san
I finished it in 3 minutes
Fujisawa
So you announce that it will take 3 minutes, but then actually finish it in 3 minutes, right?
Yamada-san
Yes, that's right
Fujisawa
Those three minutes are quite stressful
Yamada-san
But since it was my own words, I had to finish it in three minutes! (laughs)
Takeuchi-san
There is chat on users' Twitter accounts and within the game, so we check there, and if there is a bug on one of the servers, we immediately shut down the server, find the cause, and fix it
Fujisawa
When you look at the chat in the game, you can see that many people are very dedicated to the game, and there are many comments that make you feel like they've really put a lot of research into the game!
Takeuchi-san
Yes, there are users who give very accurate opinions, and people who cooperate with us from other industries are also paying a lot for some reason, so it's like, what are you doing? (laughs) They periodically compile the opinions that come up in the world and send me messages like, "I've put it all together!"
Fujisawa
That's amazing! (laughs) In that sense, users are like team members
Takeuchi-san
That's right. It's difficult to fulfill all of the requests, but the idea is to create it together with the users. I hope to continue incorporating user opinions as much as possible in the future
Fujisawa
I see, that's the good thing about social games. As long as the service continues, we will continue to operate it, so we will do our best together!
Takeuchi-san
Yes, thank you!
Yamada-san
thank you!
Fujisawa
Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights with us today. We look forward to your continued support!
Beyond will continue to support you!
"False Alice" has been blessed with many users and has become a popular content. Beyond will continue to support the content from behind the scenes so that users can enjoy the game comfortably
Thank you to Visual Arts for agreeing to this interview!
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