Chapter 15: Missing a Highlight
At four in the afternoon, a red Ferrari pulled up at the entrance of the experience store.
Zhao Zihao climbed out of the car, took one look at the storefront, and exclaimed, "Whoa! This experience store is no small fry. That Chen Mo really hit the jackpot."
Lin Mao rolled his eyes. "A store this big—don't you have a few of those at home?"
Zhao Zihao replied, "Hey, those are my parents', not mine. Chen Mo earned this himself—it's different. Come on, let's check it out inside."
The two of them called Chen Mo and waited for him to open the door.
Zhao Zihao wore a white t-shirt on top, jeans on the bottom, and a pair of sneakers. If he hadn't just climbed out of a Ferrari, no one would guess he was a rich second-generation kid. Actually, his whole outfit was pretty expensive, but somehow, the way he wore it made it look like it came from a street stall.
Lin Mao dressed more formally—a short-sleeved shirt and casual pants. He was usually more steady and composed, which made him seem more reliable.
The door opened.
"Come on in." Chen Mo welcomed them inside.
Zhao Zihao wandered around the first floor a couple of times, checking out the layout. "Not bad, Chen Mo. This store is really something. From now on, I'll call you Internet Cafe Boss Chen Mo."
Chen Mo chuckled. "Cut it out. This is a legitimate experience store."
Lin Mao looked around with some envy. "All this stuff was provided by the organizers? Really nice. I still don't have my own experience store."
Chen Mo said, "You could always enter a competition too."
Lin Mao laughed. "Ah, I've tried. Winning the championship is too hard. The main issue is that the audience has weird tastes. Last time I entered, the game I made was clearly good quality, but the audience didn't buy it. I got second place. Where am I supposed to go to complain about that?"
The three chatted for a while, then found a nearby restaurant to eat.
There were only three of them, so they didn't order too many dishes. Even though Zhao Zihao had money, he wasn't particularly picky about food. They casually ordered five dishes and two bottles of beer, eating and chatting as they went.
"Zhao Zihao, how's your studio been lately?" Chen Mo asked.
Zhao Zihao picked up a bite of food. "Same as always. I never expected it to make money anyway. It's just for playing games with me. If I run into someone I can't beat in the game, I call my guys and we gang up on them."
Lin Mao said, "Look at you, so pathetic."
Zhao Zihao grumbled, "Well, what else am I keeping these guys around for if not to be my muscle?"
Chen Mo asked, "So you just run rampant in the game?"
Zhao Zihao shook his head. "Hey, speaking of which, I've been pretty pissed off these past couple of days."
Chen Mo asked, "What's up? Did someone bully you in the game?"
Zhao Zihao said, "That new VR game that just came out, the foreign one, *Earth Online*. I've been playing it lately, and this game nearly drove me crazy."
Chen Mo asked, "What happened?"
Zhao Zihao said, "Don't even mention it. The game designer is insane! Let me tell you, everyone who enters the game just spawns on the street with only five hundred bucks. Everyone has to work and earn money just like in real life!"
"Tell me, am I playing your game to experience being a wage slave? And the worst part is, you can't even recharge money!"
"The most infuriating thing is that there are always these idiots who come to provoke you, picking fights on purpose. But if you hit them, the cops arrest you. I kept getting into fights, so I wanted to call my underlings to come help, but these bastards didn't spawn in the same city as me—I'd have to take a damn train!"
Chen Mo laughed. "That's way too realistic, isn't it?"
Lin Mao sighed in admiration. "Foreign designers are really something else. They can make a game like this?"
Zhao Zihao said indignantly, "Hey, they're talented, sure, but I still think the designer has a screw loose. What's the point of making players miserable? With that kind of technology, why not do something useful?"
Chen Mo said, "It does seem a bit pointless. We've already experienced all that stuff countless times in real life. What's the fun in experiencing it again in a game?"
Zhao Zihao continued, "And on top of that, you can't spend money in this game. Recharging doesn't buy you anything—you have to earn everything yourself! And they crack down hard on private transactions, banning accounts if they catch you. It's so frustrating that I don't even want to play anymore."
Chen Mo smiled. "Don't worry. I'll make you a game where you can spend money to directly boost your combat power. You can have as much fun as you want."
Zhao Zihao perked up. "Really, Chen Mo? Then I'll be waiting for that pay-to-win game of yours! When it comes out, I won't say a word—I'll just recharge a thousand bucks first!"
Chen Mo chuckled. "A thousand bucks? With a thousand bucks, I can guarantee you'll die with at least a little dignity in the game."
"Huh?" Zhao Zihao was stunned. "A thousand bucks isn't enough? The beta key for *Earth Online* only cost a little over five hundred bucks."
Chen Mo took a sip of tea. "Alright, you'll understand when the time comes."
Lin Mao said, "Hey, we're getting off track. Zhao Zihao, what specific business is your studio doing now? How many players do you have?"
Zhao Zihao thought for a moment. "Players? Well, our company runs a studio. We don't directly manage guilds. The guild leaders are the ones who have the players. We're one step removed."
Lin Mao asked, "So how many guild leaders can you reach? When my game comes out, can you help me pull in some users?"
Zhao Zihao said, "That depends on how many you want. I know about a dozen guild leaders, and together they have a few thousand players. If you're thinking of relying solely on these people to boost your game's revenue, that'll be tough. But just to fill the seats, it's no problem."
Lin Mao sighed. "The indie games I make are hard to promote anyway—they're niche. The distribution channels don't really favor them, so I get too few resources."
Zhao Zihao said, "Can't you just put it on the app store?"
Lin Mao shook his head. "If I just put it on the app store, no one pays attention. Users still won't see it."
Zhao Zihao thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll ask around for you. I'll try to think of a way to hype up your game's popularity. If nothing else, at least I can make your data look decent. By the way, Chen Mo, do you have any suggestions?"
Chen Mo said, "I haven't seen your game yet."
Lin Mao pulled out his phone and handed it to Chen Mo. "Take a look. It's about eighty percent complete."
Chen Mo took the phone and opened the indie game Lin Mo was developing.
After playing for five minutes, Chen Mo had a clear picture.
It was a side-scrolling platformer with a medieval European theme. The story was the cliché plot of a knight rescuing a princess, complete with a boss battle against an evil dragon.
From Chen Mo's perspective, the various designs were actually decent for a D-level designer, but there were still some flaws.
Although everything was passable, it would be hard to get players to actually pay money. Even if the game were priced at ten bucks, players would still hesitate and wonder why they should buy it.
Story? Gameplay? Art? They were all okay, but nothing stood out as exceptional.
Chen Mo thought for a moment and said, "I think you might have a mental blind spot."
Lin Mao asked, "What blind spot?"
Chen Mo said, "I think your positioning is off. You're making an indie game, which is indeed niche, but you don't have to position your own game as a niche game."
Zhao Zihao scratched his head. "What do you mean? That's a bit confusing. Chen Mo, explain it more clearly."
Chen Mo said, "It's obvious that you've put effort into every aspect of this single-player mobile game. But you've made it entirely according to the standards of a niche game. In other words, you're only targeting that small group of players who like this genre, and their numbers simply aren't enough to support the game's sales."
Lin Mao was a bit puzzled. "But isn't making a game about targeting the needs of your target audience?"
Chen Mo said, "What I mean is, you can expand your target audience. To put it simply, you need to get more people to play your game."
Lin Mao looked confused. "Easier said than done. I know that too, but how do I get more people to play?"
Chen Mo said, "It's simple. Find a highlight."