A game exploring the stories of pre-Qin Dynasty sages has exploded in popularity, with the developers preparing for large-scale sales.
Titled The Chronicles of Eastern Zhou Affections (Chronicles, 東周列萌志), the game follows the development of six male characters who represent six schools of thought: Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, Nominalism, and Yin and Yang.
People can immerse themselves in the world of the six philosophical schools of thought of the Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods in the game developed by three female graduates of the Chinese and Information Engineering departments at National Taiwan University.
Photo: Wu Po-wei, Taipei Times
Chronicles is available for download at the Web site of the developers’ company, www.3chistudio.com, where they are asking for support from the Internet community until the game is released on gaming software sales platform Steam next summer.
Chronicles developer Hsieh Wan-ting (謝琬婷) said that during her years as an undergraduate student she read the Chronicles of Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, which prompted her and fellow developer Chen Chieh-yu (陳婕妤) to think about designing a game.
Hsieh put the idea aside for several years until it came up again while she was preparing for her doctoral program entrance exams.
Reading about the sages of the various ancient schools of thought, Hsieh said she was moved to bring their stories alive in the form of a game and withdrew from her studies to do so.
Hsieh produced the game, while Chen created the original artwork.
The pair recruited classmate Chen Ching-wen (陳敬雯) to produce the soundtrack.
Hsieh said that her two years of experience as a game developer at Softstar Entertainment Inc enriched the development of Chronicles.
She said that to better understand the history of the sages while writing the script, she traveled to China’s Shandong Province to conduct research.
Hsieh said she devoted herself entirely to the development of Chronicles after leaving Softstar.
“In the beginning I just wanted to make a simple game — I just hoped to see the story I held in my heart come to life,” Hsieh said. “I never expected the game would eventually grow into a commercial product.”
The most difficult challenge Hsieh faced developing an independent game was funding, she said, adding that she hopes gamers will continue to support the project through small donations until it is sold online next year.
“Once the game hits the market, the development team will provide gamers with different feedback depending on the level of financial support they provided early on,” Hsieh said.
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