Almighty Game Designer - Chapter 52

In his previous world, 《Plants vs Zombies》 was popular all over the world, and in just 9 days, its sales volume exceeded 1 million usd, breaking many records.

According to the calculation of 3 usd per copy, if 《Plants vs Zombies》 sold 1.5 million copy, then it would earn 4.5 million usd, which is nearly 27 million yuan.

And what is the monthly turnover of 《I am MT》?

In the 13 years, when the domestic market of mobile game is still in its development stage, it has reached 55 million yuan.

In contrast, 《Plants vs Zombies》 relied on the global market, while 《I am MT》 only relied on the domestic market.

《Plants vs Zombies》 is a stand-alone game that profits by sales, and its sales will slowly decline.《I am MT》, which is free, has been operating for 3~4 years and is still alive and doing well, it even update the version constantly.

The success of 《Plants vs Zombies》 cannot be replicated, while the model of 《I am MT》 can be mass produced.

By comparing the 2, the domestic card games’ profitability is stronger.

《I am MT》, which has promoted the “domestic card” model, and found a way to make money for domestic game developers. As a good example among card games, 《I am MT》, was repeatedly copied by many games. Till 3 or 4 years later, there were still similar games that are appearing.

Prior to 《Soul Hunter》 making a revolutionary change to card games, 《I am MT》 lives up to its name as the national card mobile game, which has undoubtedly won the first place in the bestseller list for a long time.

Chen Mo wants to make money using domestic games, 《I am MT》 is the first step, since several of its characteristics fit with the current needs of Chen Mo.

The first is to make it well. Most of the art resources of 《I am MT》 are focused on the cards of the characters. Whether it’s numerical value, level, gameplay or concept art, it wasn’t difficult for the current Chen Mo.

The gameplay wasn’t complicated, and the rules are relatively clear, as long as the art resources are in place, the real development time won’t take so much time, 2~3 months is enough.

The second is moderation. 《I am MT》 won’t provoke hatred like the later domestic card games that stimulate players into charging money madly. On the contrary, this game sends a lot of Runes, mainly on holiday., and it’s relatively friendly to free players.

What’s more, the game doesn’t have such a highly-intense national or city warfare PVP and GVG content, and the frustration suffered by free players is relatively weak.

Chen Mo must consider the acceptance of the players in the parallel world. and won’t take drastic measures as soon as he comes up with something for fear that they will not be able to tolerate it and in case they will scold him with torrent of abuse and avalanche of public opinions, it is very like that they will just rage quit.

In this point, 《I am MT》 is a better transitional work.

Third, it is easy to promote.

Chen Mo thought deeply on this point.

What is the core of card games?

Not the gameplay, but IP.

The so-called IP is the abbreviation of intellectual property, which when translated into Chinese is 知识产权[zhī shi chǎn quán].

In the domestic gaming circle, IP is really a popular word. Many game makers are willing to throw a lot of money for some big IP, and many game designers would rather keep their mouth shut for IP, than frequently eat and drink water.

Why is IP so important and valuable?

Because in card games, IP determines the value of the card. In the same card game, your orange cards are Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and my orange cards are Hawk Eyes and Zoro, obviously the 2 games will attract different user groups, and the players are willing to pay different prices to get the orange cards.

The Three Kingdom is basically the worst IP, because there are too many people who make Three Kingdom games, and everyone is too familiar with it.

In his previous world, there are some relatively large IP such as Naruto, One Piece, Fate, Jin Yong’s work, and as long as you get these IP, you will be able to get money in minutes by just changing a set of art resources.

If a card game has no IP, then it is equivalent to having no soul. Uhm yea, it is a bit exaggerated.

To make card games, you must have an IP.

After deciding to make card games, Chen Mo had also thought about how to solve the IP problem.

His first reaction was to buy some big IP in the parallel world, but after checking the offer, he gave up.

In this world, the awareness of copyright protection and authenticity is relatively strong, and the price of IP has risen accordingly.

In his previous world, the IP of some hot works can sell to seven digits. In the parallel worlds, this money will only be higher.

Of course, it is impossible for all IPs to be so expensive. Like some of the not-so-popular novels and anime IP, you may be able to buy them for hundred thousands, but the influence of these works is too limited, and Chen Mo look down on them.

The thing with IP is that you get what you pay for. Buying an unknown IP is equal to not buying it.

Now for Chen Mo, cheap IP is not worth it and he can’t afford expensive IP. Of course, even if he could afford it, he doesn’t want to spend money on it.

Therefore, after Chen Mo thought about it, he decided to make his own IP, and the most suitable for making his own IP is 《I am MT》.

Of course, Chen Mo also has other choices, such as…

To redraw 《One Piece》 or 《Naruto》?

To rewrite 《The Legend of the Condor Heroes》 or 《Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils》?

…are not very reliable.

Things like novels, anime/comic will take a long time from the start of its popularity. Not to mention whether Chen Mo’s current level of concept art can manage 《One Piece》 and 《Naruto》. And at the rate of once a week, how long would it take Chen Mo to draw and raise this work to the same level as the one in his previous world?

While novels are relatively faster, but novel is not suitable for direct game adaptation. It would usually be TV, comic/anime, and then to games, there are very few that skip TV adaptation and directly to games.

Because the images of the novel are imaginary, and the concept arts of the characters in the games are very precise. From imaginary to precise, it is generally necessary to verify through TV adaptation in order to ensure the heat of the IP.

Picking and choosing 《I am MT》 which anime is the easiest to make, and also the best choice for Chen Mo.

In this world, the domestic anime industry is also developing well. Chen Mo only needs to give the character design, concept art, plot, and storyboard for 《I am MT》, and those anime production companies can just follow it accordingly, and the quality won’t be worse than the one in his previous world.

After all, 《I am MT》 was created by several anime game fans, and the cost won’t be high.

《I am MT》 is very popular. On iQIYI(T/N: something like niconico in Japan or well youtube), the first episode of 《I am MT》 has 300,000,000 views. It can be rated as a phenomenal anime work, and has become a common memory of a generation of warcraft players and anime fans.

Therefore, this work can be made into a super IP and let Chen Mo launch the new game.

Of course, there are risks.

The biggest problem is that the popularity of 《I am MT》 in his previous world, to a certain extent, relied on the the story background and huge user base of 《World of Warcraft》, and there is no 《World of Warcraft》 game in the parallel world. Therefore, when the audience see 《I am MT》’s anime, they may not be able to understand many of its settings.

For example, what is MT? What kind of class is MT? What is the need of this class, MT? What are the characteristics of this class? Why is he the protagonist of this work?

These aren’t necessary to explain to WoW players, the idea will be enough, but for the audience of the parallel world, can they understand the WoW game culture hidden behind 《I am MT》?

To take a step back, if they don’t understand it then, will it not affect the heat of this anime?