Chapter 132: RPG Maps
During this period of *Warcraft III*'s rising popularity, Chen Mo had barely heard any dissenting voices.
Other designers were envious, sure, and some wanted to imitate it, but they simply couldn't learn from it!
Whether in terms of story or gameplay, *Warcraft III* was essentially impossible to replicate. Most designers knew in their hearts that this game couldn't be copied.
So, during this time, it was basically Chen Mo putting on a solo show while everyone else could only watch from the sidelines.
With this high-quality game as his spearhead, Chen Mo had now forcefully broken into the PC market, especially firmly seizing dominance in the RTS genre. His reputation was rising rapidly, making him a well-known designer domestically.
Of course, considering his godlike performance in *Warcraft III* ranked matches, his fame grew much faster than other designers at his level.
The benefit of this was that the distance between players and the designer had been shortened.
In fact, in the eyes of many players, designers were often disliked. Either they recklessly nerfed popular races or heroes, forcibly changed gameplay to "teach players how to play," or focused solely on making money while ignoring player feedback.
Many players even felt that designers had no clue about game balance—they just nerfed whatever was strong, making changes completely at random.
But Chen Mo, with his identity as Silent, had greatly bridged the gap with players. Players felt he was just like them—a gamer who loved playing games, and moreover, a top-tier pro player. This earned Chen Mo even more trust.
For now, *Warcraft III* was nearing a milestone for Chen Mo.
Just like *Plants vs. Zombies*, although many people thought *Warcraft III* would be the breakthrough for real-time strategy games, Chen Mo knew it wasn't the starting point—it had a steep learning curve. So he considered simplifying the controls while also creating a set of easy tutorials, built into the editor for players to learn on their own.
At the same time, he planned to develop several classic RPG maps from his past life, using them as a "brick to attract jade"—sparking players' interest in the world editor.
Relatively speaking, this update was simpler, so Chen Mo quickly wrote up the new version plan and handed it to Su Jinyu and Qian Kun.
...
"This is the new version plan. For the editor tutorial section, Jinyu, you write it. Be detailed, and consider the learning ability of most players."
"Qian Kun, your main task is to create these few RPG maps. Hongxi, you can consult with him on level design and polish the text."
Chen Mo was introducing the new version update document to the three of them.
Qian Kun looked at the document, surprised. "'Defend Athena'? 'Pyramid Escape'? 'Chenghai 3C'? 'Tower Defense'? What... what are all these? Are these maps for *Warcraft III*?"
Chen Mo nodded. "Yes, the general design ideas are written in the document. Take a good look. As for the specific designs, you guys produce a first draft, and I'll review it."
Qian Kun nodded. "Alright, I'll take a look."
By now, everyone had unconditional trust in Chen Mo, especially regarding changes to *Warcraft III*. There weren't many questions.
Qian Kun skimmed through the new version plan. Wasn't this just making a few maps? How was this considered a new version?
But when he looked more closely, it seemed like it wasn't just a few simple maps. The hero skills, items, and so on within these maps all seemed to require changes.
It sounded impressive, but he didn't quite understand why!
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