How a Japanese card game shaped a multi-billion dollar RPG
In short: Genshin Impact isn't just a game; it is a massive narrative engine where characters are the primary drivers of both profit and plot. By shifting away from traditional story-serving designs, the developers created a parallel narrative structure where every hero carries their own weight of history.
Unlike many traditional RPGs where characters exist primarily to move a linear plot forward, Genshin Impact utilizes a narrative centered on characters. Producer Cai Haoyu notes that the production team deliberately designed a system of multi-plotline parallel narratives under a single worldview. This structural shift allows for a diverse roster of 118 playable characters (as of August 2026) to feel like distinct entities rather than mere tools for progression. This design philosophy is heavily derived from the mechanics of Japanese card games.
The creation of these characters is a collaborative team effort rather than the vision of a single director. The process begins by establishing a character's background and residence, followed by internal brainstorming to align their art style and gameplay mechanics with player preferences. To ensure visual consistency, the team continuously reviews 3D models during the modeling stage. A notable technical distinction exists in the rendering: while the game's scenes use deferred shading, the characters use forward rendering. This allows developers to maintain precise control over lighting effects to meet specific artistic expectations.
Beyond aesthetics, the characters are the game's primary economic engine. Most revenue is generated through a gacha system where players spend in-game currency for a chance to acquire characters on time-limited banners. While some characters like Zhongli and the Raiden Shogun have generated massive profits, others have faced scrutiny for combat performance or cultural appropriation. This balance between high-fidelity cultural representation—such as the Liyue adepti being based on Taoist Xian—and commercial viability defines the game's complex production model.
The game also integrates complex AI systems developed since 2017. These systems categorize humans, wildlife, and NPCs into independent pipelines using decision trees to determine skills and movements. This allows for unique behaviors for boss-type characters and distinct personalities for NPCs, ensuring that the vast world of Teyvat feels inhabited by distinct lives rather than static assets.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: List of Genshin Impact characters
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