Chapter 58: Such an Unreliable Design Document!
A very interesting phenomenon is that the more reluctant players are to spend money in a game, the more they care about the money the game gives them for free.
You can't keep playing, right? No problem, I'll give you diamonds. As long as you log in today, I'll give you 100 diamonds. Clear a few levels, and I'll give you another 500 diamonds. Reach level 30, and I'll give you more...
These players will start calculating: 100 diamonds is ten yuan. I can get ten yuan just by logging in, fifty yuan for clearing levels, a hundred yuan for leveling up...
And quitting the game? That means losing dozens of yuan every day.
At this point, a large portion of players will stay for the sake of that money.
Many people think this happens because players are poor. If they were rich, they wouldn't be tempted by a few dozen yuan.
This view is completely wrong.
Whether a player cares about the money the system gives them is only related to their personality, and the vast majority of people do care about it.
In Chen Mo's previous life, he had seen a big spender who had recharged over a hundred thousand yuan in a game, yet still cared deeply about the few hundred diamonds the system gave out daily.
Once these players stay for the money the system gives them, they've actually already accepted the "spend money for power" model and gradually come to terms with the exchange rate between in-game items, diamonds, and real currency.
After that, some of these players who originally didn't want to spend money might convert into paying players during a particularly cost-effective recharge event.
From the first recharge, to the monthly card, to the lifetime card, and then to the first large recharge, they'll end up spending more and more money.
Even if they never convert, it doesn't matter. Even if a player spends zero yuan, they can at least serve as a playmate for paying players, which is also beneficial to the game's ecosystem.
Game companies welcome these completely free-to-play players just as much. As the saying goes, those with money contribute money, and those without contribute their presence—that's the idea.
Of course, the third type of fun is built on the foundation of the first two. Players must fully identify with the gameplay and content before they're willing to become Pavlov's dog, shelling out money for virtual cards and power in the game.
...
Planning the entire framework of the game took Chen Mo two days. After that, he began writing the basic rules documents, which took a week to fully detail.
This time frame was similar to when he made *Plants vs. Zombies*, because although the rules of domestic card mobile games seem simple, there are many details to write out, which takes time.
Of course, the line art for the card illustrations was being produced throughout this period.
There was a large volume of cards, but Chen Mo didn't need to finish them all at once. He could just release them as the outsourced artists completed them, so it wouldn't take up too much time.
Additionally, Chen Mo also checked on the progress of the illustrations and animation production. Everything was going smoothly. By the end of the week, Guo Feng would send Chen Mo the first episode of the *I Am MT* animation.
After all the design documents were completed, Chen Mo found Su Jinyu and asked her to input all the design document rules into the editor to generate the initial project for *I Am MT*.
Su Jinyu and Wen Lingwei had each finished coloring four cards. Chen Mo took a look and had to admit that their hand-drawing skills were excellent. The detail and aesthetic quality of the cards were fully comparable to the original.
Of course, some details weren't exactly the same as the images from his previous life, but that didn't matter. Such minor differences wouldn't have a big impact.
Su Jinyu received the design documents Chen Mo had sent.
Chen Mo said, "All the design documents are here. Only the numerical values, level structure, and specific card attribute configurations are missing. First, complete the basic rules in the editor, and we'll add the rest gradually."
Su Jinyu was astonished. "All the documents? Completed in a week?!"
No wonder she was surprised. When Chen Mo had asked her to implement two small features for the new version of *Plants vs. Zombies*, it had taken her nearly two weeks. Yet Chen Mo had finished the entire game's design documents in just one week!
This efficiency was like cheating!
Chen Mo said, "Open the documents and ask me if there's anything you don't understand. I'm going to work on the numerical values and levels."
After a brief explanation, Chen Mo went back upstairs to the second floor.
Su Jinyu opened the design documents Chen Mo had sent. She was also curious—what kind of game was Chen Mo planning to use for such an important bet?
Earlier, he had arranged for card illustrations and contacted an animation production company. What was he trying to do? Especially the animation—what did that have to do with the game?
Based on the current situation, Su Jinyu couldn't guess what kind of game Chen Mo intended to make.
Wen Lingwei and Jia Peng also gathered around.
Wen Lingwei leaned against the bar counter. "Let's see what kind of game the boss plans to develop."
Jia Peng coughed dryly. "Senior, can you actually understand this document?"
Wen Lingwei glanced at him. "No, so what? Goldfish, explain it to me."
Su Jinyu: "..."
She went through the documents one by one.
Interface layout.
Basic combat.
Daily activities.
...
Throughout this process, Su Jinyu's confusion didn't diminish; it only increased.
After closing the last document, Su Jinyu was completely baffled.
"That's it? Just this? This is way too simple! The content of this game seems far inferior to *Plants vs. Zombies*!" Su Jinyu exclaimed.
Wen Lingwei frowned. "What's wrong? Explain it. How is the game?"
Jia Peng wiped his sweat. "Although I basically don't understand... it feels like these documents don't really say much. Isn't the content a bit sparse?"
Su Jinyu opened the basic combat document again and reread the battle rules.
On a vertical phone screen, our side and the enemy side each occupy six slots (the layout might change slightly if the enemy is a boss), and attacks are launched in order from the first position...
Su Jinyu reviewed the battle rules again.
"Really, that's all there is! This is way too simple! It's not even as good as *Plants vs. Zombies*!"
Su Jinyu couldn't believe her eyes. She couldn't believe that Chen Mo would so carelessly throw out a design document like this.
To think, *Plants vs. Zombies* was at least a real-time game, and now the new game had regressed to turn-based!
Turn-based was bad enough, but the key was that during combat, it was just a bunch of cards fighting each other. The player didn't need to do anything except change the card positions!
It was practically child's play.
Su Jinyu couldn't picture the battle scene in her mind; it just seemed incredibly cringeworthy. A bunch of cards brawling? Could it get any dumber than that?
And what was this nobility system?
V12 required 500,000 runestones?!
The exchange rate for buying runestones with real money was 1 yuan for 10 runestones, meaning becoming V12 would cost 50,000 yuan?!
Fifty thousand yuan!
Su Jinyu couldn't understand the point of this. Who would spend 50,000 yuan on this game?
With 50,000 yuan, you could buy so much good food!
So many clothes!
Watch so many movies!
Buy so many electronics!
How could anyone spend 50,000 yuan on this game?!
And look at these VIP privileges!
Increased daily stamina purchase limits, increased leadership, increased attempts for various activities! Plus exclusive VIP gift packs!
And what was this recharge reward? Why did the recharge rewards include cards? Recharging 20,000 runestones gave you an exclusive card, Big Sister!
2,000 yuan—that was outright robbery!
Su Jinyu had only one expression for these design documents: "No words to say!"
"Boss, even though you're betting on monthly revenue with someone... isn't the intention to milk money a bit too blatant?!"
"I have to go ask the boss what's going on!"
Su Jinyu went upstairs.
Jia Peng looked at Wen Lingwei, and Wen Lingwei looked back at Jia Peng.
"What do we do, senior?" Jia Peng asked.
Wen Lingwei: "I don't know. Just pretend nothing happened. Everyone goes home, everyone finds their mom. Don't meddle in things you don't understand. Let Goldfish and the boss argue it out."
Jia Peng: "..."
Why are you so carefree about this, hey!