Chapter 46: Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's New Game
Chen Mo returned to his workspace on the second floor, opened the app marketplace, searched for recently released new games, and then checked online for projects currently being tested by several major game companies.
Most game companies would place their new games in experience stores, so even if a game hadn't officially launched on the app marketplace, some news would still leak out once development was complete.
Eventually, Chen Mo found a short gameplay video of Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's new game on a certain video site. The game was called "Holy Spring Guardian."
"Hmm? Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment is getting involved too, huh? Just as I expected."
"Games made by Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment still warrant a bit of attention."
Chen Mo clicked on the gameplay video and began studying "Holy Spring Guardian."
...
When a game with an innovative model becomes popular, it inevitably sparks a trend and leads to copycat works.
"Plants vs. Zombies" had already been popular for two months. If other designers wanted to copy it, two months was enough time for them to develop their own games.
Chen Mo had mentally prepared for this, but he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.
"Plants vs. Zombies" could be seen as a variation of the tower defense genre, but its popularity far exceeded most tower defense games because its strategic depth crushed all competitors.
For designers in this world, figuring out the key to "Plants vs. Zombies"'s success wasn't difficult. Any C-grade designer willing to shamelessly copy it could create a game similar to "Plants vs. Zombies."
"Moon Defense War" was exactly that kind of game—a notorious company and an unknown designer spent two months reskinning a game.
"Moon Defense War"'s strategy was clear: leverage the advantage of being free to poach some players from "Plants vs. Zombies," then recoup costs through ad placements.
They targeted players unwilling to pay for "Plants vs. Zombies" and those who had grown tired of it.
However, Chen Mo knew their approach was doomed to fail, so he didn't need to worry about it.
There were three reasons.
First, "Moon Defense War" was afraid to make too many changes to "Plants vs. Zombies"'s rules. Due to the designer's lack of skill and fear of ruining the original's highlights, they chose to copy everything wholesale.
This caused most "Plants vs. Zombies" players to find it unplayable due to the high degree of repetition. If it was identical to the original, why not just play the original?
Moreover, the early levels of "Moon Defense War" repeated the tutorial, which was already stale content for "Plants vs. Zombies" players, severely impacting the gaming experience. Most people lacked the patience for it.
Second, this type of game wasn't suited for a free-to-play model.
Whether adding ad slots or selling premium services, it made players feel the game was greedy. When compared to "Plants vs. Zombies," all that awaited "Moon Defense War" was a flood of negative reviews.
Third, the gameplay, skill settings, and level designs of "Plants vs. Zombies" perfectly matched its world view. Forcibly replacing the art assets would only create a sense of incongruity.
The result was that many players found it unfun but couldn't articulate why. Replacing plants and zombies with turrets and insectoids caused subtle shifts in player perception, severely affecting their mindset while playing.
So, Chen Mo didn't care about "Moon Defense War" at all. That game had gone wrong from the start and would only drown in player criticism, struggling even to recoup costs.
This was a classic example of "not even knowing how to copy."
Besides Flying Limit Interactive Entertainment, which made "Moon Defense War," a few other small companies were producing knockoffs of "Plants vs. Zombies." But a quick glance told Chen Mo these games were even worse than "Moon Defense War" and not worth worrying about—they would only end up as laughingstocks.
The only game that caught Chen Mo's attention was Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's "Holy Spring Guardian," currently in development.
The designer behind "Holy Spring Guardian" was Imperial Dynasty's B-grade designer Qiu Bin, who had previously created several successful games.
From the video, "Holy Spring Guardian" resembled "Plants vs. Zombies" in many ways, but calling it plagiarism felt forced because many similarities were vague and superficial.
The game map of "Holy Spring Guardian" wasn't neatly arranged into five lanes like "Plants vs. Zombies." Instead, it featured slopes, valleys, and elements like walls.
Players needed to place various defensive structures around the "Holy Spring," such as magic barriers, crystal towers, dragon lairs, and hero barracks, to fend off demonic attacks.
In terms of unit skills, level difficulty, and expanded gameplay, "Holy Spring Guardian" deliberately distinguished itself from "Plants vs. Zombies," with only a small number of units sharing overlapping traits.
If someone accused "Holy Spring Guardian" of plagiarizing "Plants vs. Zombies," many players would likely rush to defend it.
Copying the spirit without copying the form—that was the highest level of imitation.
Moreover, at this level, it was hard to call it "copying." The core combat content had been changed, so how could it be considered plagiarism?
But clearly, the game's creativity and inspiration came from "Plants vs. Zombies," and even its core enjoyment was similar.
Chen Mo had a feeling that once this game launched, its performance wouldn't be bad. With Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's backing, it wouldn't be surprising if its sales completely suppressed "Plants vs. Zombies."
That was the power of distribution channels.
However, the game was still in the testing phase. According to Imperial Dynasty's plans, it would be about three months before its official release.
The reason for such a long development time was that "Holy Spring Guardian" needed to create many additional features. Perhaps, fearing that the core gameplay would make players think it was copying "Plants vs. Zombies," they wanted to dilute that impression with plenty of extra content and mechanics.
Chen Mo knew he needed to speed up.
This "plagiarism" incident, while not yet a threat to Chen Mo, proved one thing: the game companies in this parallel world were just as sharp and shameless as those in his previous life.
In some ways, they were even worse.
"Plants vs. Zombies" had only been out for two months, and many game companies had already produced knockoffs. That was much faster than in his previous life.
Companies like Flying Limit Interactive Entertainment with "Moon Defense War" had already thought of using a free-to-play model to carve out a different path, while Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment knew how to leverage their massive user base to "imitate" and steal "Plants vs. Zombies"'s gameplay model.
Clearly, these game companies weren't docile sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They were all wolves that devoured people without spitting out bones—they just hadn't wised up yet.
Once these companies caught on, Chen Mo's advantage would vanish completely.
Chen Mo knew it was time to develop the next game.