Chapter 56: Mobile Game Planning
After seeing off Guo Feng, Chen Mo once again buried himself in the studio.
For now, Chen Mo hadn’t written a single word of the game’s design documents, but he wasn’t worried. The rules for a card-based mobile game were relatively simple; only the combat system, stats, and level configurations were a bit more troublesome, so there was no rush.
Right now, Chen Mo had to first finish the anime’s script and storyboards.
Only after using the anime to build up the IP for "I Am MT" could the mobile game make money. So the anime’s release would definitely come much earlier than the game’s launch, since it would take some time for the anime to gain popularity.
The game’s development period was set at four months, and Chen Mo roughly planned it out like this:
In the first week, he would provide all the character designs, scene concept art, scripts, and storyboards for the first season of the "I Am MT" anime, then arrange for the anime production.
The anime production time would be about one episode per week, with each episode lasting ten minutes.
Considering that each episode was short—about half the length of a typical new anime series—Chen Mo worried about insufficient early buzz. So he planned to release the first three episodes together, which would happen exactly one month from now.
For subsequent episodes, they’d release one per week, and the entire first season would wrap up in exactly three months. Whether to seamlessly continue with a second season would depend on the development schedule at that time.
During the anime production, game development would proceed simultaneously, but the timeline for that was more relaxed, with the main work focused on adjusting various stats.
The card illustrations and other art resources should, barring any surprises, be resolved smoothly as well.
Chen Mo’s goal was to finish the game in about three months, leaving plenty of time for testing and optimization.
In short, the first step was to spend a week creating all the scripts and storyboards for the first season of "I Am MT."
Over the next few days, Chen Mo transformed into an illustrator, using memory recall potions to revive fading memories while recording scripts and storyboards.
Additionally, for each scene’s setting, Chen Mo had to roughly sketch a concept art piece for the anime production team to reference.
During this period, Chen Mo didn’t plan to use the super accelerator again. The last time he used it, the side effects were a bit severe, and he still felt uneasy about it.
...
One week later.
Guo Feng came to the experience store again, and Chen Mo showed him the completed scripts, storyboards, and scenes.
Guo Feng flipped through them, surprised to find that Chen Mo’s storyboards and scripts were very complete and fairly standardized. Just by looking at the storyboards, he could roughly imagine the entire anime.
Moreover, the character designs were novel—the main character was actually a cow?
“Hmm...”
Guo Feng stroked his chin. He had initially thought Chen Mo was like some wealthy production teams, just dabbling for fun and making the anime purely for enjoyment. But after seeing these storyboards and scripts today, while they weren’t perfect, the story had a good hook and potential for development.
If this were their studio’s own project, Guo Feng would likely allocate the best resources to produce it.
Furthermore, Chen Mo’s scripts and storyboards were very detailed, even including notes on dialogue design intent and voice acting considerations.
What Guo Feng didn’t know was that Chen Mo had made some minor adjustments to the "I Am MT" script, replacing overly obscure jokes with content that would be easier for the audience in this world to understand.
After all, Chen Mo’s current story ability was at the first stage’s maximum score, making it easy to tweak such script content.
“If you have more professional opinions on the scripts and storyboards, feel free to bring them up. They’re not set in stone,” Chen Mo said.
Guo Feng nodded. “Alright, if I have better ideas, I’ll discuss them with you. But I’m honestly surprised—your script is pretty good. At least in my view, this anime has the potential to become a minor hit.”
Chen Mo chuckled inwardly. A minor hit? You’re underestimating this anime.
But that was normal. In his past life, while "I Am MT" was praised when it first launched, who could have predicted it would become that popular?
Even when Leyou Zhuoyue spent 3 million to buy the rights to "I Am MT," many people thought the big boss had lost his mind.
Now, it seemed most people had underestimated the potential of this anime and this game.
Guo Feng had initially worried that Chen Mo’s scripts and storyboards might be unreliable, but after seeing what Chen Mo brought today, his doubts vanished.
The negotiations went smoothly, and they finalized a contract signing for the beginning of next month, after which production would officially begin.
Zhao Zihao specially sent an employee from his company’s legal department to help Chen Mo review the contract. After confirming everything was fine, Chen Mo officially signed and paid.
"Plants vs. Zombies" earned over 2.6 million in its second month, with 1.8 million of that used for the production costs of the "I Am MT" anime. The remaining portion was set aside for purchasing art resources like card illustrations.
...
With the anime production settled, Chen Mo now waited to see how the final product would turn out.
Next, Chen Mo would officially start planning the rules for the "I Am MT" mobile game.
When "I Am MT" first launched, its gameplay and systems were relatively simple. But after many version updates, its features grew more numerous and bloated.
Chen Mo didn’t plan to copy all the system features directly, because updating a mobile game with new versions and adding system mechanics was often a last resort. Many times, it was forced stuffing to give players new content, preventing them from losing interest and churning.
In the game’s early stages, Chen Mo needed to “slim down” and not dump too many mechanics on players all at once, leaving them overwhelmed.
After roughly envisioning the game’s final form, Chen Mo began writing the framework for the design documents.
These documents included: main interface layout, basic combat system, card development system, dungeon planning, special battles, account attributes (level, rank, stamina, etc.), shop and VIP functions, friends, guilds, backpack, chat, mail, and daily activities.
With the help of memory recall potions, the framework for these documents was quickly written. Since these systems were basically standard features in later domestic mobile games, with similar mechanics that had been proven countless times through mature designs, there was little need for overthinking.
Chen Mo’s main work focused on two areas: the card development and combat system, and the stat balancing for levels and cards.
He initially considered delegating some of the design documents to Su Jinyu, but then thought better of it. These features were completely unfamiliar to her, and if she wrote them, Chen Mo would likely have to revise everything anyway, wasting time.
Moreover, it would be hard to explain the game’s design intent to Su Jinyu, and that time would be better spent having her produce more card illustrations.
Once all the design documents were finished, he could have Su Jinyu input them into the editor.
With the framework set, Chen Mo didn’t delay. He took a ten-minute break and immediately started writing the most important combat system document.