Anonymous;Code

Anonymous;Code is a visual novel video game in development by MAGES. and Chiyomaru Studio, and is planned to be released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in Japan. It is part of the larger Science Adventure Series. The game is expected to be released in 2022.

Plot
On the 6th of February, 2036, an event that would later be known as the Sad Morning occurs.

Due to an NTP Rollover, a large-scale computational error occurs in the guidance system of several military satellites (including the SA4D, or Strategic Attack For Defense). This results in the satellites launching payloads at various important cities on Earth.

New York, Shanghai, London, Moscow, and Shinjuku are completely devastated. The total death toll from the incident is 120 million, and a further 500,000 are left injured directly in some manner.

Scientists, fearing disaster from an even greater potential computational error in the year 2038, use the supercomputer “Gaia” to run an Earth Simulation. Through use of the Arecibo Message, they manage to insert humans into the simulation as well. Unfortunately the humans within the simulation react the same way, running a simulation inside the simulation. The original scientists are horrified and begin to question the authenticity of their own existence.

Our story takes place in Nakano City, the year 2037, during a period of great unrest and unease.

Development and release
Anonymous;Code is being developed by Chiyomaru Studio and MAGES., and is being written by MAGES. CEO Chiyomaru Shikura. It is the first standalone work developed by Chiyomaru Studio. In contrast to the concept of infinitely expanding horizontal "worldlines" used in MAGES.' Steins;Gate, Anonymous;Code uses the concept of infinitely expanding vertical "world layers", with the main character being able to manipulate layers lower his. The game is largely themed around hacking, and many of its characters engage in the activity—much of the game's promotional material centers around the idea of "hacking god ". According to Shikura, the game's role is, in part, to resolve unanswered questions from titles the Science Adventure series.

Shikura stated that he initially wanted to increase the game's immersion by applying a unique artwork to every scene and using full animation during major events. However, he realized the game would need at least 3000 different pieces of artwork (in contrast to the standard 100 found in most visual novels), not counting the cost to produce the animations, and thus discarded this idea. His research on how to lower the cost of an immersive visual novel led him to consider reusing old animation, and Steins;Gate Elite was developed from this idea.

Trivia

 * The subtitle underneath the Anonymous;Code logo is machine translated according to Shikura. There were certain terms he specifically wanted in it, and he searched the English equivalents of those terms to insert into the machine-translated subtitle.