Visiting Shenzhen Jiachun Digital

Recently, according to the “2019 China Game Industry Report” released by the Game Industry Commission, the actual sales revenue of China’s game industry in 2019 reached 230.88 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%. The number of Chinese game users reached 640 million, an increase of 2.5% over 2018.

Although the game development in China is booming, according to the survey, there founded 9,247 new game companies from 2015 to 2019; the number of write-off and revoked game companies has skyrocketed, about seven times the number of newly established companies.

As a widely used communication medium, the development of the game company depends on technology and contents. The indie-games companies pay more attention on contents and brand value.

Under such circumstances, the development of game companies, especially small and medium-sized, face more difficulties. How do these companies survive and keep growing? Today, we will talk with an independent game company that focus on self development and research, Shenzhen Jiachuan Digital Technology Co., Ltd.,to discuss how an independent company finds its way of development.

CGGE: Can you briefly introduce Jiachuan Digital to our readers?

JC: Jiachuan Digital Technology Co., Ltd. Started from 2006 with the founder of Mr. Ben Yan. And it’s officially established in 2008. Jiachuan Digital (hereinafter referred to as “Jiachuan”) is a company committed to game animation creation, 3D model production, and independent technology R&D. It is composed of a team of professional elites who have been in the industry for many years. It has successfully participated in developing many products with good quality and keep good relationship with many game companies for a long time.

CGGE: Your team has many years of industry experience . Why did you choose game art as the company’s main business?

Jiachuan: On the one hand, it is because of the bright future of the game industry and the huge market size; on the other hand, it is because of the team members’ love and passion for the game. During the recent decades, the average annual compound growth of the domestic game industry far exceeds that of most other industries. More and more Chinese games have begun to enter the foreign markets as well as cover the domestic market. We are not only witnesses but also participants. We want to be part of it。

CGGE: What is the biggest requirement for the team in game production? What skills are necessary for team members?

Jiachuan :Our basic requirement to the team members is enthusiasm and love for games. For game creation, if the creative team itself has no sense of the product; nor enjoy the creative process; or the team doesn’t constantly digs for new ideas, no passion for making an excellent game, in result, this game wouldn’t have its soul.

As for the necessary skills, in my opinion, it should be introspection. Our R & D team is comparatively a young team. There is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of the team structure, creative ideas, and technical reserves. Then, only through continuous self-examination and introspection, can the team have a better future.

CGGE: The team has also participated in many excellent game. During the production, are there any particularly impressive stories to share?

Jiachuan: When we were making a mobile game with a theme of Warring States, all the company members participated in a small round of happy tests. During the process, we discovered some exotic creativity which is beyond our expectation. For example, a general’s skill is AOE (Range of Attack) damage and can be triggered again with a certain probability. However, with a bug that the same general can enter the battle with the five five doppelgangers play together, the last screen of the test member’s computer shows up “I’m invincible!” with freeze-fame of war and artillery…After restarting the  computer, everyone thought it was very interesting and decided to keep this bug and scheme … Of course, we must optimize it.

CGGE: Has the team encountered some difficult issues ? Do you think these problems are encountered only by your family; or  by other production companies as well? Is there a solution?

Jiachuan:Even after the R & D team successfully overcomes these difficulties, you will find that there are countless troubles in front; which is no less than another battle of epic difficulty. I believe many start-up teams will encountered such troubles.

Based on our experience, we recommend that small and medium-sized independent development teams should find a publisher company that agrees with the creative idea after the products is almost completed. The strength of the publisher is not the first choice because it may not pay a lot of attention on your products, even less then those some small products. Unless you are very confident in your product, it may be better to find some small scaled publisher.

CGGE: As a senior team in game production, do you have any opinions on the development of China’s current and future game industry?

Jiachuan: Although the game industry has experienced a cold winter in recent years, we believe that this is actually a process of creating something new. At present, the demand for game quality is constantly increasing in the local market.With the encouragement of the environment, the survival rate, recognition, and profitability of high-quality games are gradually improving, This is a good trend.

CGGE: Do you have any plans in the future?

Jiachuan: In the future, we plan to make a layout in the stand-alone game market, mainly promoting high-quality two-dimensional games on the steam platform. Currently, a game temporarily named “Lonely Starry Sky” is in production, and we look forward to publishing it soon.

In addition, we will try some offline, animation and virtual reality technology application projects; such as the interactive experience of science fiction combining high technology such as VR, optical motion capture and high quality animation production.

The projects Jiachuan participted.

The projects Jiachuan participted.

The development of the Chinese game market not only faces competition, but also how to face the problems of how to develop the industry ecology, improve user experience and monetization. All will affect the development of a game company. I hope this chat with Jiachuan Digital Technology can also inspire colleagues in the industry.

Here, we also hope that China’s independent gaming companies can develop better in the future.

By:Sophia