Mobile Gacha Game Stopped Updating After the Only Artist Got Pregnant

Cecil Gao -- Superpixel

Promise of Destiny is a very well-received Otome dating game from China. The game developers recently made a surprising announcement that they had to stop updating for six months because their only artist is pregnant.

Character Art is the most important thing for a dating game like Promise of Destiny. Players are coming for the characters and would pay to unlock new art for their favorite characters. Not realeasing character art for six months, especially for a game just getting some momentum, is a very risky move.

The developers of Promis of Destiny did not make an easy decision. The otome and anime gacha games in China are highly competitive and saturated. Many games have their own nuanced style and finding good artists who can understand the game's charm while satisfying the players' needs is extremely difficult.

The team started with only three people, and after three years of development, they only had 11 members. Their lead artist is the only person responsible for all the character art and some scene designs.

At the beginning of the development, the artist seems to be overwhelmed by her duties. The game was often criticized for its art lacking detail and flairs. However, her skill grew with the team and found the niche of her style. Her later work are generally prasied by the players and considered successfully delivered the charm of the characters.

                  A comparison of early and later work of the same artist.

The developers of Promise of Destiny tried to find someone to do their lead artist's work during her pregnancy, but it has proven to be almost impossible. Eventually, the team decided to wait for their lead artist, and stopped updating the character art for six months and promised to keep optimizing the game's UI, story, and voice acting during the postponement.

The attitude of the players towards this is unexpectedly tolerant. Most of the players said they were happy to see the artist's progress in drawing skills and were very willing to wish and wait for her to bring more great character art after coming back.

Some players also hope that the studio can adjust some game details in this half year. There are still some characters that need new voice lines, and some stories still need adjustment as well.