Almighty Video Game Designer

They were shocked to see Chen Mo going off script!

Those two words completely changed the meaning of the title!

“This was a pitfall that many designers fall into. I Am MT’s gameplay was really fragmentation, but what about Onmyoji? Without a doubt, it’s a very replayable game.

“Even though it’s a replayable game, and even though it doesn’t fit what mobile games are used to, it was really successful, why? To put it simply, if your game was the same quality as Onmyoji, you could make it a replayable game too, and you could even make more revenue…

“… And the third point, although it’s easy to pivot when the cost is low, but once it’s faced against high quality games, your game will be out-competed, which is why other mobile card games were dumpstered…

“The fourth point, although IP is important, you don’t have to throw everything down just to get it. The highest point of mobile card games are games that are their own IP. Buying IPs are just opportunities, it’s just a skin for your game, it still depends on the game as to how well you can execute it.

Chen Mo went through the points at his own pace as there were only a few points that were noteworthy among mobile card games. He could fill out an entire talk just by using knowledge from the top of his head.

The audience were both surprised and dumbfounded as they listened.

“He completely changed Qiu Bin’s powerpoints for the last three points. He even completely overhauled the conclusion page?”

“Yeah, and it’s the complete opposite too.”

“Which one’s right?”

“I think it makes sense.’

“Yeah, I need to digest this a bit.”

“But according to Onmyoji, Chen Mo is right.”

“Onmyoji did overhaul the idea of mobile card games, but I didn’t really pick up on how he did it?”

“Did he mean that once the quality is good enough, you could do as you wish?”

“That’s not possible right?”

“So should I focus on replayability or fragmentise gameplay? Should I buy an IP? I’m so confused!”

-Two hours passed in a blink of an eye.-

Chen Mo reached the last page of the powerpoint, “Mobile card games have a limited lifespan. It might’ve grown a lot in this year, and many mobile card games made a lot of money, but in the long term, players will get bored of it, and the genre will eventually fall out of favour.

“It’s hard to say how long the downfall will last, but I’ll leave you guys with this: Think about how the game plays, make sure it’s high quality. Mobile card games are only here temporarily and will not be able to sustain us indefinitely.

“Lastly, I hope you guys have learnt something from this, and I hope that you guys can make excellent games in the future. This concludes my talk, thank you.”

Chen Mo bowed and left the stage with roaring applause from the audience.

“That’s excellent! There’s no way Qiu Bin could give a talk of this quality!”

“Yeah, it’s Chen Mo after all. His knowledge in mobile card games is really deep! His views are completely different from ours.”

“Yeah, but there’s still parts I don’t understand.”

“Take your time and digest it. It’s a blessing that he was willing to tell us so much.”

“I thought Chen Mo was crazy, but he seems quite humble today. It’s nice that he was willing to share so much too!”

Many video game designers came forward to greet Chen Mo and exchange their contacts. Chen Mo didn’t deny them as many of them genuinely wanted to become friends.

Chen Mo knew exactly what he was saying. There are only so many things with mobile card games, but knowing is one thing, executing is another.

Just like Onmyoji, so what if they knew that the game was profitable, how many developers were actually willing to match their game to that quality?

The various settings of the game tie in directly with the finished game. Even if Chen Mo revealed his settings and decisions, most designers wouldn’t be able to recreate a successful mobile card game.

There were even some designers that uploaded Chen Mo’s speech online.

Qiu Bin died a little bit inside, I wasn’t at the ceremony, why is my name showing up!

Why did Qiu Jiang egg him on? Why did you drag Chen Mo on stage?

And Chen Mo too, couldn’t you have declined? Why did you actually deliver the talk?

And even then, why did you use my powerpoint?

And you even changed it? Isn’t that just saying that all my thoughts were wrong?

Qiu Bin felt helpless as he got tied into it even though he wasn’t even there.

Damn you Chen Mo!

—

The event continued on the second day.

The talks were still the focus during the day. Chen Mo would listen to anything he came across as the contents were mostly similar, just on different topics.

The main event finally started during the night.

The talks during the day were just supporting events for the main award ceremony. Many designers worked hard for an entire year just for recognition from this event as it would help a lot for their future development.

A few people whom Chen Mo met greeted him as they entered the venue.

“Chen Mo? You’re here!”

“I hope you get the mobile game of the year, I’ll even congratulate you ahead of time.”

“Your talk was great yesterday, when are you going to talk about RTS games??”

“Chen Mo, can you tell me if there’s any strategy for drawing SSRs in Onmyoji?”

Chen Mo answered every single question.

“Well, I’m just here to learn.”

“It’s hard to talk about RTS games, maybe next time.”

“There’s no secret, the players don’t buy it, but you don’t believe it as a videogame designer either? It’s all random.”

Soon, the award ceremony started.

A member of staff came up to Chen Mo and whispered to him, “Mr Chen Mo, in case you get an award, be sure to think of what to say.”

“I have an award?”

“No, I’m saying if you do get it. I don’t know who’s receiving the award either.”

Chen Mo laughed, “Alright, you don’t need to tell me twice.”

Chen Mo claimed that he was just here to learn, but he actually really wanted to get the reward. Chen Mo was in a different world, and also had a different goal. In the previous world, he’d be happy just to have clothes on his back and a roof over his head, but Chen Mo wanted to make more better games in this world.

Chen Mo had already made plenty of money and didn’t need to worry about clothes on his back or a roof over his head, but Chen Mo wanted to make more better games, and receiving an award from the officials would do wonders in helping him achieve that goal.