Chapter 17 (1/2)

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Translated by Coldtaco

Edited by Aelryinth

Chen Mo continued, “I think many video game designers have this problem. They are unable to compete with B-grade and A-grade video game designers due to their limited ability, and yet they don’t try to figure something else out, insisting on going head to head against them. That’s just stupid.”

After giving it some thought, Lin Mao replied, “I still don’t quite understand.”

Chen Mo explained, “Since we are close, I’ll just give it to you straight. If you were a gamer, what type of games would you buy?”

Lin Mao was shocked. In his view this was a question with an obvious answer, so simple that he had never given it any thought.

After thinking it over, he replied, “Umm… quality? Sincerity?”

Chen Mo replied, “Sincerity is very intangible. If a video game designer uses feelings to promote their game it can only mean one of two things: they’re past their prime time, or they are desperate.

“As for quality, you’re a D-grade video game designer. Can your quality compare to a B-grade video game designer?”

Lin Mao’s mouth was open, though nothing was coming out of it.

Chen Mo continued, “I’m asking why gamers would want to buy it, but really I’m asking if the game has any gimmicks. Does it have anything special to make it stand out?

“I think you haven’t fully opened your mind. I’ll use your game as an example, and give you a few perspectives for you to consider.

“One is from the coding perspective. You could spend another two months of time improving your combat system. Say you add another eight to fifteen weapons and over twenty different mobs.”

Lin Mao asked, “But isn’t that too complicated for a mobile game?”

Chen Mo shook his head, “It isn’t. Do all mobile games need to be casual games? I don’t think so. You should know that the simpler it is, the harder it gets. At this stage, I’d rather go overboard than stop now.

“Improving the combat system would be very complicated, but at least when it comes to advertising your game you could say ‘A choice from twenty different weapons’, ‘Mind boggling combat, can you pick the right weapon every time?’, etc.”

1Lin Mao looked like he was deep in thought.

Chen Mo continued, “A second scenario, in terms of difficulty. Make the game very difficult and add in unexpected traps.”

Lin Mao asked, “Unexpected meaning?”

Chen Mo pointed at the game and said, “For example, it looks like a hill here, but once you step on it spikes will come out to kill the player. Or here, a seemingly unassuming NPC, but as you walk past them, they stab you in the back, killing you. Jumping behind him and talking to him from behind will also kill you. The only way to get through this would be to step on his head.”

1Lin Mao’s mouth was slightly ajar, with a dazed expression saying ‘Wow, mechanics like that?’

Chen Mo continued, “If you use the second method, you could say that the game is the most surprising game in history. You could even call it “Knight’s bizarre adventure” or something like that.

5“There’s also a third way of thinking, from the perspective of the story! For example, you could let players pick a different story path at each point or react to situations differently. For example, before meeting an heavily injured opponent, you could choose to save or not to save. This would allow for many different paths to different endings.”

“You could set up five to eight different endings, some succeeding, some failing, some totally unexpected.

“If you chose this path, you could advertise it as ‘Eight different endings, dozens of options’, or ‘Can you see through the lies and discover the truth’ or something along those lines.”

1Lin Mao scratched his chin. Chen Mo had dropped a knowledge bomb, which required some deep thought.

Chen Mo wasn’t in a hurry, either. After eating another mouthful, he waited for Lin Mao to fully absorb the three scenarios he had just pitched.