Chapter 43: Version Update
Chen Mo explained, "What I mean is, your thinking is too limited. These two design plans basically have no innovation at all; they just slightly expand on the outline I wrote."
"Uh..." Su Jinyu was a bit stunned.
When Chen Mo had given her the document outline earlier, he did mention "add more of your own design," but Su Jinyu hadn't taken it to heart.
Most of the time, a game designer's assistant does repetitive work, and many designers are dictators who don't like their assistants making changes to their designs—not even minor tweaks.
So Su Jinyu had simply followed the outline and expanded on Chen Mo's design document without adding any of her own ideas.
But the result was the opposite; Chen Mo wanted her to design according to her own thoughts.
Chen Mo said, "It's okay. I'll give you three more days. Remember, I want to see your own ideas."
Su Jinyu nodded vigorously. "Mm, okay!"
Back on the first floor, Su Jinyu continued to rack her brains.
After Su Jinyu left, Chen Mo read her design document twice more.
Indeed, her fundamentals were solid, and her logical thinking was good, but the biggest problem was a lack of inspiration. For now, Su Jinyu could only handle the role of an executor, but to become a qualified designer? She still had a long way to go.
Persistent, willing to work hard, and well-rounded in skills, but lacking in inspiration—that was Chen Mo's current assessment of Su Jinyu.
It might be a long-standing habit of her thinking, or it could be her personality.
Chen Mo could certainly just use Su Jinyu as an assistant and let her fully take on the executor's role, but then Su Jinyu's growth would be minimal.
With a personality like Su Jinyu's, she was too rigorous and not creative enough, so Chen Mo still needed to guide her appropriately, at least training her into a more well-rounded designer within a few months. That way, Chen Mo could save more of his own energy.
...
Su Jinyu spent every day racking her brains to revise the design plan.
Second draft: some improvement, but still not up to standard.
Third draft: one or two highlights appeared.
Fourth draft: Chen Mo finally nodded.
"Mm, although it's still a bit off from what I envisioned, it's acceptable." A faint smile appeared on Chen Mo's face.
Su Jinyu's face lit up with joy. "Really? That's great!"
Chen Mo nodded. "Mm, good work. Take a break. I'll revise it again tonight, finalize it, and send it to you tomorrow."
"Okay, thank you, boss!" Su Jinyu left work full of joy.
These four drafts of the design document took Su Jinyu nearly two weeks to write, and she finally got Chen Mo's general approval.
Actually, what Chen Mo cared about most were the highlights in the design plan. If a plan had no highlights, even if Chen Mo approved it, the players wouldn't.
Chen Mo could tell that the few ideas in the fourth draft were already the best Su Jinyu could come up with after racking her brains. Asking her to think of more wouldn't yield better results.
Plus, time was dragging on. Chen Mo had originally planned to complete development in two weeks, but now it was overdue. Delaying further would affect the progress of the next game, and Chen Mo didn't have that much time to wait.
Chen Mo turned on his computer and pulled up the design document he had written himself.
Actually, while Su Jinyu was revising her design document over and over, Chen Mo had already written his own. However, Chen Mo didn't want his ideas to influence Su Jinyu, so he didn't tell her.
Comparing the two design documents, Su Jinyu's multiple revisions immediately looked terrible—from the interface UI to the specific functions, it was completely outclassed.
Chen Mo compared Su Jinyu's document and added the better design solutions from his own document piece by piece, along with annotations explaining his design intent.
For things that could be changed or left as is, Chen Mo kept Su Jinyu's design.
He worked until late at night and finally finished. Chen Mo reviewed the compiled version update document and found no major issues.
Since this update was still within the framework of "Plants vs. Zombies," there was no need to create a new project; he could just modify the existing one.
...
The next morning, the experience store opened on time.
Chen Mo yawned and said to Su Jinyu, "I sent you the revised design document. Follow the rules and update the content in the editor for 'Plants vs. Zombies.'"
"Mm, okay." Su Jinyu nodded.
Chen Mo was still a bit sleepy and went back to the second floor for a nap.
Su Jinyu turned on her computer and checked the design document Chen Mo had revised.
"...He changed this much!"
Su Jinyu was shocked. The design document Chen Mo sent was more than twice the size of her original. Looking at the details, almost 70% of the content had been modified.
However, Chen Mo hadn't deleted Su Jinyu's original plan; he had inserted the revised versions in between and added comments with revision suggestions.
"Amazing..."
Su Jinyu flipped through the changes in shock. The interface had been completely overhauled, and many functions had been changed.
As she read, she worked on the editor, feeling like her previous design document was fake.
"The boss is really amazing. He revised all this in one night? This work efficiency is terrifying!"
Su Jinyu's admiration for Chen Mo grew even more.
Actually, Chen Mo had written all of this in advance...
...
A week later, the new version of "Plants vs. Zombies" was officially updated!
After the new version was ready, Chen Mo first updated it on the experience store's computers and played it with Wen Lingwei and Jia Peng for a few days, fixing a few minor bugs.
Once Chen Mo felt it was basically fine, he submitted it to the app store.
Soon, players of "Plants vs. Zombies" noticed a 40+ MB update package and started downloading it.
"Huh? 'Plants vs. Zombies' has a new version update?!"
"A single-player game getting a version update? That's generous!"
"Awesome! I wonder what new content there is? New plants or zombies?"
"Check the update notes! There's a developer tool and a multiplayer versus mode!"
"Whoa, is this going to be epic? I'm going to check it out!"
Players downloaded it immediately, and the major player communities for "Plants vs. Zombies" exploded, all discussing this completely unexpected version update.
Generally speaking, in the parallel world's gaming circle, single-player games rarely got version updates because updates couldn't generate additional revenue. Most designers didn't want to do something with no return.
This was different from the previous world; these designers hadn't yet figured out the skill of selling DLC as the main product.
Moreover, "Plants vs. Zombies" had been online for less than two months and was still quite popular. Although the earliest players were getting a bit bored, new players were still pouring in.
Updating the version now was a bit too proactive!