Chapter 51: The New Game Is Set
Qiu Bin felt his emotions slowly calming down as he looked at the Weibo posts he had just made. He found it a bit unbelievable.
"So impulsive. What's wrong with me today? Why can't I keep my cool?"
Qiu Bin felt a twinge of regret, but the die was cast. The words were already spoken, the Weibo posts were already sent, and at least tens of thousands of players had witnessed it. There was no backing out now.
In a few hours, this news would likely be spread by major gaming media outlets, potentially catching the attention of the entire gaming circle, and it might even trend on the hot search list.
"Sigh, so irrational!"
Qiu Bin wasn't the type of hot-blooded youth. He was already in his thirties. If he truly had a fiery passion, how could he have made a game like *Spring Guardian*?
He knew full well that this game had borrowed ideas from *Plants vs. Zombies*, and in many places at that. If he could have stayed completely rational, he would have just ignored Chen Mo and let him rant.
The main issue was that now that this had blown up, although Chen Mo had taken a huge risk, he also stood to gain!
The previous war of words between Chen Mo and Shi Huazhe had done the same thing—it had directly hyped up *Plants vs. Zombies*. This time, the conflict was far more intense than the one with Shi Huazhe. It was essentially free publicity for Chen Mo's new game!
Qiu Bin, who was naturally cautious and meticulous, couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Why was Chen Mo so confident? Did he really have that much certainty?
Suddenly, Qiu Bin's phone rang. It was actually Lin Chaoxu, the CEO of Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment.
Qiu Bin was startled. How had this already reached his boss's ears so quickly?!
Qiu Bin answered cautiously: "Hello, President Lin. About the bet between me and Chen Mo, I..."
Before Qiu Bin could explain, Lin Chaoxu cut him off.
"You did well in this matter," Lin Chaoxu said.
Qiu Bin was stunned: "President Lin?"
Lin Chaoxu chuckled: "This Chen Mo is playing a clever game. In my view, he's not acting out of anger at all. His real goal is to use Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment for free publicity for his new game. But with this commotion, isn't it also free publicity for *Spring Guardian*?"
"For the next four months, do your best to optimize *Spring Guardian* and come up with a few new gameplay modes! When it launches, the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform will promote it!"
"Chen Mo came knocking this time, and your response was tough. You didn't bring shame to Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment. I was a bit worried that your overly cautious nature might make you afraid to respond. Remember this: it's always us, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, who bully others. No one gets to provoke us! If anyone dares to defy us, we crush them!"
Qiu Bin's heart surged with excitement as he quickly replied: "I understand, President Lin!"
Lin Chaoxu said: "Good. Work hard. Don't overthink or hesitate. You're part of Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment. Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment never loses. Got it?"
Qiu Bin said excitedly: "Yes, President Lin!"
After hanging up, Qiu Bin's worry turned to joy. Not only had Lin Chaoxu not held the unauthorized bet against him, but he had actually praised him. What did that mean?
Lin Chaoxu's stance was clear. First, even if the game was indeed a copy, it didn't matter. With Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's scale, they could do whatever they wanted in the domestic gaming circle. Anyone who disagreed could just suck it up! As a designer for Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, you couldn't back down in a situation like this!
Second, Chen Mo wanted to use this for hype, but *Spring Guardian* could also use this opportunity for hype! With the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform backing it up, they could directly push *Spring Guardian* to the top. Wasn't that also publicity?
As for the bet, it could only be said that Chen Mo had lost his mind. Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment was the biggest distributor in the country. If they really wanted to promote *Spring Guardian*, what could Chen Mo do?
In this bet, Chen Mo had no chance of winning!
Having figured this out, Qiu Bin actually felt a bit relieved. He was glad that he had lost his cool for some unknown reason earlier and accepted the bet.
Qiu Bin silently resolved: "Alright. For the next four months, I'm not going anywhere. I'll bury myself in revising *Spring Guardian*. I refuse to believe that with the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform promoting me, you, Chen Mo, can beat me!"
...
On the other side, Chen Mo had already answered several phone calls.
Lin Mao, Zhao Zihao, and Su Jinyu had all called to ask why Chen Mo was so reckless. This bet was too disadvantageous—he was practically throwing himself into a fire pit!
Chen Mo, however, was very calm and reassured them one by one.
The experience store opened as usual, and Su Jinyu was already waiting at the entrance.
"Boss, you were way too impulsive! I never thought you were the type to lose your cool like this!" Su Jinyu said anxiously.
Chen Mo shrugged: "Oh, didn't we already talk about this on the phone? This isn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. I'm prepared."
Su Jinyu asked: "What preparations do you have to go head-to-head with Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment?"
Chen Mo said nonchalantly: "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."
Su Jinyu: "@#¥%&*!!!"
Chen Mo tossed her a can of coffee: "Alright, it's no big deal. Starting today, we're developing a new game. Four-month development period. Don't take any time off unless it's something special."
Su Jinyu said excitedly: "Really? Do you already have a preliminary design draft for the new game?"
Chen Mo shook his head: "No, I haven't written a single word yet."
Su Jinyu facepalmed: "Boss, can you be a little more reliable?!"
Chen Mo said: "Alright, don't rush. Wait until tomorrow, and I'll assign you tasks."
"Fine." Su Jinyu reluctantly sat down at the counter. "Boss, you'd better hurry! We only have four months!"
"I know, I know." Chen Mo waved his hand and went upstairs.
"I wonder if he can pull this off," Su Jinyu muttered under her breath. "It's unbelievable that such an unreliable guy is the designer of *Plants vs. Zombies*..."
...
Back in his studio, Chen Mo didn't rush to write the design document. Instead, he opened the drawing software first.
Chen Mo's concept art skills were now quite decent. He casually sketched on the drawing tablet, making adjustments here and there. About half an hour later, a classic image from his previous life appeared on the computer screen.
It was a somewhat goofy-looking tauren.
Big head, small limbs, very chibi. Two large eyes, thick eyebrows, giving it a straightforward and adorable look. A trapezoidal face with tiny ears and horns on top. A large nose ring pierced through its nostrils.
This was a chibi-style tauren, but it didn't feel overly childish.
Chen Mo looked at the line art in front of him and felt like something was missing. After thinking for a moment, he added three black dots under each of its eyes.
"Yeah, that's about right."
Chen Mo nodded.
This silly cow was a classic image from his previous life. Its name was Ai Mu Ti.
That's right. Chen Mo's next game was going to be the previous life's national-level card game, *I Am MT*.
If placed in his previous life, the gameplay of card mobile games like *I Am MT* would have been outdated and stale. Most players would have grown tired of it. But in this parallel world, players had no idea that a game genre called "domestic card games" even existed.
Chen Mo was very clear about Qiu Bin and Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's strategy.
*Spring Guardian* imitated *Plants vs. Zombies* in terms of gameplay and creativity, so Chen Mo had a rough estimate of its profitability.
Even if *Spring Guardian* had richer game content and stronger promotional capabilities than *Plants vs. Zombies*, it would still have to rely on selling copies—this type of game wasn't suited for selling value-added services.
If Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment really changed *Spring Guardian*'s monetization model, then Chen Mo would only win even more decisively.
It was precisely because he knew this that Chen Mo dared to bet with Qiu Bin on monthly revenue.
When it came to making money, single-player games were far behind domestic mobile games. It had nothing to do with game quality; it was purely a matter of monetization methods.
That's right, *Plants vs. Zombies* had higher quality and more refined production, but when it came to making money, it couldn't compare to *I Am MT*.
Many times, the gaming industry was just that unreasonable.