The Success of “Detention” and People Was Just a Pawn Under “The White Terror”
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投稿類別:英文寫作類 篇名: The Success of “Detention” and People was just a Pawn Under “The White Terror” 作者: 周韶奕。市立台中家商。應用外語科三年1班 曾奕菁。市立台中家商。應用外語科三年1班 指導老師: 李偉綾老師 The Success of “Detention” and People was just a Pawn Under “The White Terror” I. Introduction I.1 Motivation Video games are an indispensable part of a lot of modern people’s lives. We can decrease the frown and beat fatigue that have been accumulated for a whole day by playing them, and they are even a kind of industry whose economic value is growing rapidly. There is a wide variety of gaming genres such as Kuso, Music, Strategy, Adventure, Role-playing, Horror, and so forth in this industry. Each game has its own exclusive charms and markets. Video games not only help players kill their boring time but provide gaming production teams an opportunity to be creative. Therefore, under the concern that the time that gaming industries are taking the lead is rather limited and have a high rate of being knocked down, how to make their game hold a small portion of the gaming industry is the most important issue that should be noticed by gaming production teams. We have had strong interests since we learned “Detention” was going to be launched by Red Candle Company. We immediately searched and watched videos that were about some gaming YouTubers playing it. Thus, we were attracted to Red Candle Company’s excellent work and wanted to probe into the details of the White Terror and the motivation why they decided to create the game which is a little sensitive after we knew the plot of this game and the information it provided. In this way, we can shed some light on how the Taiwanese gaming production industry can stand out in the keen market. I.2 Research Questions 1. What are the characteristics of Detention? 2. What are the key factors in leading to its success? 3. What are the issues that Detention attempt to explore in the White Terror period? I.3 Research Procedure II. Body II.1 Introduction 1 The Success of “Detention” and People was just a Pawn Under “The White Terror” II.1.1 Red Candle Company "Red candle" is a Company Limited that consists of six males who are passionate about playing games. So far they have made two games which have much to do with Taiwanese cultures, such as their first game 《Detention》, whose background focused on the histories of Taiwan. 《Devotion》, the second game of Red Candle Company, also creates the horror that is the closest to our life with a great deal of Taiwanese local cultures. RED CANDLE GAMES CO., LTD., whose original name is Overlooker studio, was founded in September, 2015. The company is composed of Shun Ting Yao, Guang Han Wang, Han Yu Wang, Dong Yu Jiang, Jing Heng Chen and Shi Wei Yang. Detention and Devotion were both released in 2017, and respectively on January thirteenth and February nineteenth. Both two games became a great sensation after being released. (Wikipedia,2020) II.1.2 Detention II.1.2.1 Origin The literal meaning of Detention is "Returning to school", and it's a 2D atmospheric horror side-scroller puzzle game, which combines with various Taiwanese cultures about religion. This game was inspired by George Orwell, who is a British composer. Shun Ting Yao wanted to create "1984" in Taiwanese version in 2013 and he created the first edition "Devil" immediately. Soon after this, the other five founders became members of the Red Candle Company and together started to create "Detention". In contrast to the trend of global marketing strategy, the content of Detention is designed according to Taiwan local elements. Its historical setting is the Taiwan White Terror period under martial law and political oppression of 1960-1980s (Chen Ling-Hui, 2019). "We want to create a game like "1984" in Taiwanese version and about dystopia, but we also want to strengthen the game's connection with Taiwan. The basic element is that there are several victims, or there are some unfair events that occurred that lead to compilation.'' (Shun Ting Yao, 2017) The core of Detention is simple and clear, that is, freedom (CommonWealth Magazine, 2017). II.1.2.2 Characters Detention narrates some nobodies’ sadness at that time with limited angles of the game. The background was set in 1960, which Taiwan was under the White Terror Period. It used a great deal of Taiwanese local beliefs and cultures, such as Cheng Huang Temple, Black and White Variable, Mengpo’s soup, fortune poems, incense burners, dices, funeral offerings, Tatung Automatic Cooker, Bagua combination locks, Figure 1. 2 The Success of “Detention” and People was just a Pawn Under “The White Terror” puppetry, four Chinese ghosts called lingered, and so forth. The localized features are one of the reasons that attracts the attention of the public. They were also making good use of "Teng Yu-hsien's creative ballads, Longing for the Spring Breeze, Rainy Night Flower, Blushing the Year Round and Sorrow on a Moonlit Night"(Yi-Jie Haung, 2018), which were banned under the Post-Martial Law Period respectively reflected changes of female lead’s mood in different phases. Also, they created an awful and serious atmosphere by using suona horns and Si-So-Mi in Taiwanese traditional funeral musics, and used the slogan, “Reporting spies is everyone's responsibility, please inform government immediately if you find any suspect, “ as well as “Whistle-blower” make Detention truer. In this way, players can personally experience the situation and realize the implication behind the stories of detention. II.1.2.3 Summary Fang, whose academic performances were excellent and future was very bright, bored in a functionary family. After she underwent her parents’ disharmony, she made great regress in her studies and her emotion turned into extremely unstable. At the same time, Yin Tsui-han (the following will be abbreviated to Yin) who was a music teacher of Greenwood High School introduced Fang to Chang Ming-hui (the following will be abbreviated to Chang) who was an art teacher as well as Figure 2. teacher-counselor. After counseling again and again, Chang and Fang developed affection. However, Chang couldn’t help but break up with Fang because of Yin’s caution about their relationship and his position as one of the illegal study circle’s organizers. Unexpectedly, Fang thought that Yin also adored Chang so she wanted to break up with them. What's worse, Fang's father was sent to jail due to her mother's denouncement. Fang felt resentment at lots of frustrations. Therefore, she borrowed lists of banned books from a junior student, Wei, who also took part in the study circle and adored her, by cheating that she actually Figure 3. was interested in reading banned books as well. Afterwards, she headed over lists of banned books to a military instructor, who got along well with her father. In addition to saving her father, she hoped her romantic rival, Yin, would be fired by the school by her denouncement. To her unexpected, her behavior led to the death of all the numbers of the study circle. To her much more unexpected, Chang was one of the study circle organizers, and he must be executed as the study circle was denounced. Although making such a severe mistake, Fang received great praise from the authorities concerned owing to the current political situation. A sense of guilt appeared in Fang’s mind, and it was getting heavier and heavier. Hence, her spirit couldn’t reincarnate and just could be wrapped in the Greenwood High School again and again after she jumped out of the window. The one and only solution to escape from the 3 The Success of “Detention” and People was just a Pawn Under “The White Terror” situation was to face her own mistake, save survivors, and remember everything that is difficult to gain. II.2 Achievements of Detention Table 1. Milestones from 2014 to 2020 ● March: Devil was released. 2014 ● July: Devil was changed into 2D and renamed Detention. 2015 ● January ○ eighth: Wang brothers’ first time saw the original version of Detention. ● May ○ nineteenth: The Overlooker Studio setted up Detention's fan page on Facebook. ● July ○ twenty-fifth: The Overlooker Studio took part in "Game On Weekend in Taipei" held by Bahamut. ● September ○ tenth: The Overlooker studio formerly named Red Candle Company and set background in the 1960s. 2016 ● January ○ twenty-eighth: The Red Candle Company displayed the PC version of Detention on Taipei Game Show. ● April ○ twenty-third: The Red Candle Company provided the demo of Detention for home and foreign streamers. ● May ○ thirtieth: The Red Candle Company released the demo of Detention on publication. ● June ○ first: The Red Candle Company gained the selling platform Greanlight of Steam. ● July ○ thirtieth: The Red Candle Company displayed Detention on IndiePlay in Shanghai, China, and was nominated by Best Limited Company and Best Music Effect. 2017 ● January ○ thirteenth: Detention was formally released on Steam. ○ seventeenth: Detention won the top three of the Steam Game Chart. ○ nineteenth: Detention was displayed on TGS and won Best Design of Indie Game Award. ● May ○ sixteenth: Detention was displayed on Casual Connect in Singapore. ○ twenty-fourth: Detention was nominated by Best Narrative by BIG Festival. ● June ○ thirteenth: Displayed on E3 in the USA and was nominated by Best Advantage Game of IGN. 4 The Success of “Detention” and People was just a Pawn Under “The White Terror” ● September ○ twenty-first: Detention was displayed on the Tokyo Game Show. ● October ○ third: Detention was displayed on IndieCade in the USA and won the Journey Award.