Chengan AN, lead game designer on Hanki: Star RailHas worked in Parent Studio Miho for more than the first nine years Hanky Impact 3rdAnd then on the current science -fi RPG. This means that most of the company is present for the rise of mature worldwide. Hanky Impact 3rd (2016) was a Early hits With international audiences who will soon be eclipse Gennashi Effect (2020) And yet Hanki is actually the first legendary set for any Meiyyu game, which was introduced earlier Flyam 2 Tamon In 2011, when Mihuvo consisted of it returned Only five developers. Since then, the world of Hanki has expanded a significant extension, and so is Mehuo, which is now proud of more than 5,000 employees.
One is closely familiar with the Hankai franchise at this place, and in his current role, he participated not only in the design but also the design. Hanki: Star RailThe initial version of it, but many of its ongoing refreshments, new characters and war systems, have been included since the first release in 2023.
In a remote interview at the 2025 Game Developers Conference, the spokesperson, Chengan explained to Polygon that almost every decision is about the first and important roles. The cast of the game can be huge (and growing up all the time), but for example, every character should attack the chord with someone.
Character design always comes before the combat design
As a lead fighter designer, I assumed that most of me want to talk about it – but in fact, in that Hanki: Star RailThe character is the king. Explaining, “If we are just thinking about the war system when we are designing the characters, we really, really, went out at a speed.” “So we try not to use this approach for many characters in a game.” In some strong characters, “weapons (they) are actually a weirdest.” For example, the doctor pointed to the proportion, which “has a really heavy book that he uses basically to defeat people,” who tracks, because he is an independent intellectual who is often attracted to illiterate. And then there is a coffee -affected Hemko, whose final attack is offered to solve it with a teaching in the background as the explosion ends.
The design team always hopes new characters will be dear, but on the occasion that a character did not pop up with the players, one said, “We didn’t waste time thinking about it. We will just go to make the next role.” Other times, going for the designers shows that a good idea has come to their hands. “Harita was one of the first characters we realized that we were really capable of being completely viral before we were released,” said ANA. “So Herita has the ability to continue spinning and keep spinning non -stop.
Why every Hankai: Star Rail character is always traditionally beautiful?
After taking a moment to laugh at this question, it was said: “Well, at the beginning of making every character, we will have many interviews with our team members. So after taking many rounds of their opinion and repetition for every character, we are more beautiful and more beautiful than it.” (We were both laughing at this place.)
But what about an unconventional appearance character – probably just a cool stain? “Of course we will not experience with such a character if we believe that the character can be really famous at the end.” “But, if you mean an ugly character, yet, we have no ugly character Hanki: Star Rail.
How to save players from burning
Photo: Meihu
Hanki: Star Rail It’s been two years, and providing entertainment is a great job to the old timers not only in the days or months but in the years, and it involves analysis and rehabilitation of each part of the game on the basis of continuing-not just new material but also old current things.
“Take a fake universe as an example,” said referring them HunkyThe Game-Wit-A Game, the character designed by Horta. “So from the first version of The Simulatory universe, we had already created this Rogyalaic experience for our players, but we soon discovered that for many players, after playing numerous versions of the counterfeit universe, our players really did not have to try to make it very much, but we try to make it very happy, but we try to make it very happy. Give birth, we always try to give birth to new experiences, we always try to give rise to new experiences, we always try to adjust these important games, we try to get our players very careful and encourage.
Is the currency an effective stimulus? “Different players want different things from the game. For an ordinary player, of course, earning prizes is probably one of the highest things that will encourage them. So surely combining the milestone of the version version, or the combination of excellent jade rewards with entertainment events, of course we want to attract players, but we do not want to create it.
“(Burnout) has no cookie cutter solution. We see our players permanently see that the proportion of players is interested in a story, what proportion is interested in gameplay, fighter, and Setira. So we will adjust our game based on our research and make the game a full player.”
Photo: Wes Media
Inspired for Hanki: Star Rail
“Games are a form of artistic creation, and like any form of art, it comes from our daily life and it is for people, it serves people. And so we want to increase the games we create, we want to increase our experiences. These can be our own gaming experiences, or it can be the films that can be very impressive. Galaxy ExpressThat we find very impressive. Because you see that a train travels in the galaxy, visits different planets, stops all these different places and meets new friends, making new friends.
On the prevention of lightning crawling in Hanki’s combat design
Power Crape is a potential problem in any ongoing game that has a “number increase” system. Any newly introduced letters or abilities become more powerful over time, which makes the old mechanics obsolete. According to ANN, this is an important issue that Hanki: Star Rail The team is just taking a look.
“Well, this is one of the problems we are following,” said AN. “I want to say that it is very comprehensive for our characters’ experiences, in particular. In particular, I asked about the players who are still using old characters in the fighting and they are not feeling that they fit in the current meta. There was also an answer for this:” Yes, we are thinking more. And I am sure an official announcement is going to be soon. So yes, please keep in touch. “
What do you think about Power Ringna when it comes to different types of war mechanics? “The new combat systems are not alternatives to older people, and there is no absolute which is good or which is weak,” said ANA. “We always want to keep the pace of repetition keeping in mind our mechanisms. We always want to encourage our players to have a very refreshing experience and encourage them to mix and meet them.
Photo: Meihu
What Honkai: Star Rail will ever use a different financial model from Gacha?
Anyone Hanki: Star Rail The player will tell you that you can still enjoy the game without paying a penny, but Gacha Mechanics are still an important part of the game-especially when the most powerful (which means: Five Star Rated) comes to unlock the characters. And since the game designers have set up the character design in terms of priorities, it is understood that players encourage them to achieve these roles – whether they open their wallets. Open it This is something that is not particularly accustomed to seeing American players, so I was interested that if anyone has ever considered other forms of monetization to make the game more attractive internationally, such as the subscription model.
“We believe that the free -to -play mode is more suitable for our game’s fiction to reach a wider audience, or reach more players,” said ANA. “In the future, we will continue to improve experiences so we can increase the popularity of our game.”
I asked if anyone spoke to any GDC Western developers or players who were not accustomed to Gacha Mechanics, and said that although this particular topic was actually. He did not appear, but he noted that “players from different parts of the world have different habits. But during our journey we met many emotional players in our game – and yes, it made us so happy.”
