The theme of Hero must die., scheduled to be released next February, is how to best live out your last few days.
In the last column, using Hero must die. as an example, I talked about how universal themes have already been dealt with many times by high-quality works. If you break them down, you will find parts that can fit together easily. You can kill two birds with one stone, using these proven pieces and not having to think something up from scratch! So convenient!
Of course that was all a lie (lol). The world’s not so sweet.
If you want to make something new and interesting using only pre-existing material, you will need a unique combination, arrangement, and distribution of those parts. Besides, you cannot borrow everything from outside. You may find that the parts you want aren't all to be found in existing content. What do you do in such a case?
The answer is simple. Make your own! So the third topic is: “How to make original parts?” when you can't procure from existing content. In other words, how to make unique parts. Original parts are likely to be a unique point of the work and a differentiating point as a product.
Drawing unknown things
Entertainment works often recreate scenes that no one has seen or situations that no one has ever experienced. The audience, readers, and players expect and pay for the experience and surprise.
Talking about movies nowadays, for example, no one has seen or experienced things like this: How would humanoid robots sent from the future appear in the present age? How would humans react when they see real dinosaurs? Therefore, we get excited.
What about games? Let’s have Oreshika! as an example. You will ask, “How different is a non-human child from a human being?” If it is about Hero must die., you will ask, “How quickly should a hero weaken with five days of life expectancy?” No one knows the answer to these questions either. Only the game designer can decide these things.
Well, how do you reproduce a scene or situation that no one has seen or experienced?
Speaking of the conclusion, no can do! (lol). No creator is so creative as to reproduce what he has never seen or experienced. Even if a genius once in a hundred years can completely reproduce it, it would be hard to be understood or convince ordinary people. It’s no good as an entertainment work, at least initially. Then what should we do? This is the point! Are you ready?
Painful tooth cavities are also useful
Here is the tip to realistically reproduce situations that no one has seen or experienced. Replace them with familiar experiences that you have seen and heard, experience that can be imagined by ordinary people.
Let’s have Hero must die. as an example. The hero starts the game with the strongest stats and weakens over the remaining five days. When making this piece, the first thing I imagined was the difference between my 20s and 40s and my current physical strength. Roughly speaking, I assumed a day of the game to be a decade in reality.
I wrote about what I could do when I was young and how I feel inconvenienced now. I can't run up stairs. Efficiency is low after an all-nighter. I get exhausted just from travelling by airplane...
I expected to see only negative factors due to aging. But when I started writing, I was pleasantly surprised because that expectation was betrayed. That means I found plenty of things that were difficult when I was young but have become easier for me in my fifties. For example, I have lots of friends who know more than me. If I ask them about anything, including cheats, they will immediately tell me most of the things. I realized that this was my best asset.
In Hero must die. you can cover up the negative effects of low physical strength with the skills of your friends. I thank my own friends for coming up with this game balance.
The next thing I imagined was that when I was in my forties, I ignored a cavity because I was busy. That was terrible. I split the process of this deterioration into five stages and divided them into five days.
Day 1. Almost no subjective symptoms. Sometimes I felt discomfort momentarily. Day 2. I got some pain when strongly chewing or drinking iced water, but it did not hinder daily life. Day 3. It hurts if I did not consciously bite on the opposite side of the decayed tooth, but painkillers worked. It did not hinder daily life. Day 4. Constant dull pain. Severe pain when touched. Also fever and stiff shoulders. Nevertheless, I could still work if excellent staff are there for me. Day 5. I couldn’t do anything and it was too late to go to the dentist. Something like that..
From this disastrous experience, I learned that the hero can somehow manage to accomplish his mission until the fourth day. I can tune the real game with such a balance. Also, I learned a valuable lesson: see a dentist before it’s too late.
Left: Status at the start of the game. - Right: Status after 5 days