Chapter 152: No Need to Control Costs 2/17
The overall framework for "Onmyoji" was relatively clear. Although after countless iterations of card games, its gameplay had diverged significantly from "I Am MT," the core remained the same: card collection, cultivation, and team composition as the primary fun.
In terms of production, the more challenging aspects were the visual quality and modeling. Especially the models—the model precision in "Onmyoji" was very high, even surpassing Chen Mo's previous works like "Warcraft" and "Martial Arts Heroes."
Beyond the models, background music, voice acting, character art, and so on also required a lot of effort, but these were relatively easier to solve; it was mainly a matter of money.
In Chen Mo's plan, the design outline for "Onmyoji" was mainly divided into six aspects: the Shikigami and Onmyoji system, story exploration, PvP combat, social modules (guilds, mail, chat, etc.), Soul and shop-related content, and other systems (summoning, bestiary, etc.).
The most fundamental part was still the combat system related to Shikigami, Onmyoji, and Souls, followed by story exploration. Once these two parts were done, everything else was easy.
The gameplay of domestic card mobile games was actually relatively simple. The main difficulty lay in card attributes, stats, and derivative gameplay. So, the basic concept draft didn't take Chen Mo much time; he finished it quickly.
Chen Mo sent the concept draft and the line art of Abe no Seimei to Su Jinyu, then went downstairs.
...
After receiving the concept draft from Chen Mo, Su Jinyu hadn't even had a chance to look at it carefully when Wen Lingwei and Qian Kun gathered around.
The two of them were probably the most invested in this game. As soon as they heard the concept draft was out, they immediately crowded around.
Seeing the line art of Abe no Seimei, everyone was stunned for a moment.
"What the hell is this, Abe no Seimei? Isn't that a famous onmyoji from Japanese history?" Zheng Hongxi exclaimed in surprise.
Wen Lingwei said, "Yeah, and the clothing style is also Japanese. Is the boss going for this theme?"
Zheng Hongxi hesitated a bit and said, "Will it work? Right now, card game IPs are getting more and more impressive. The theme of onmyoji isn't particularly mainstream in China. It looks like the boss is planning to create his own IP again?"
Su Jinyu browsed through the design concept draft. "The boss wrote in the concept draft that he wants to make a premium game and even hire professional voice actors for Japanese dubbing? From the concept draft, this game is way more complex than 'I Am MT.'"
"I don't know if it'll work. I'm just worried it might not fit well in the domestic market!"
Everyone was a bit concerned.
As they were discussing, Chen Mo came downstairs.
"Let's go to the meeting room. I'll briefly go over the development plan for this game," Chen Mo said as he walked toward the meeting room.
Wen Lingwei followed him. "I want to sit in too!"
Chen Mo nodded. "Alright, suit yourself."
Once they were seated in the meeting room, Jia Peng couldn't wait to ask, "Boss, what kind of game is this? Is it similar to 'I Am MT'?"
Su Jinyu also asked, "Is it a cash-grab game?"
Chen Mo said, "Oh, this time it's a very heartwarming and wholesome game."
Su Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, that's good."
Qian Kun looked confused. He flipped through the concept draft again. "Huh? Are you sure, boss? From what I see, the summoning system and Shikigami cultivation plan don't look wholesome at all."
Chen Mo said, "When I say heartwarming, I'm mainly referring to the story. In this game's backstory, it's an era where humans and ghosts coexist. Onmyoji must maintain the balance between the yin and yang realms. Plus, there are many touching stories about monsters and humans. Most of the monsters have tragic pasts. Isn't that story heartwarming?"
Zheng Hongxi flipped through the concept draft. "Hmm... the story does seem pretty heartwarming."
Qian Kun scratched his head. He felt something was off, but he couldn't find a reason to argue.
Chen Mo continued, "Actually, you can think of this game as an advanced version of 'I Am MT.' The core is the same—a game centered on card acquisition, cultivation, team building, and combat—but the presentation has changed from cards to 3D models."
Qian Kun perked up, his eyes lighting up. "So, boss, it's still a cash-grab game, right?"
Chen Mo's mouth twitched slightly. "Yeah, you could say that."
Zheng Hongxi said, "Then, boss, I have a question. Since it's a card game, IP should be important, right? All the card games on the market right now wouldn't dare to show their faces without a big IP. The theme we're working on might be decent in Japan, but in China, the number of players who actually care about the onmyoji theme is still a minority, right?"
Chen Mo nodded. "Right, it's a minority for now."
Wen Lingwei asked, "So how does the stingy boss plan to hype up this IP? Are you going to make an anime like with 'I Am MT'?"
Chen Mo shook his head. "No anime, nothing at all. This game itself has the ability to create its own IP."
Everyone was stunned. "Huh? Really?"
Chen Mo smiled. "Really. That's why we have to make the game quality top-notch—art, models, scenes, music, dialogue, voice acting, everything. It has to crush any other card game on the market."
Su Jinyu frowned slightly. "Crush every other card game? That's a bit tough."
Chen Mo shook his head. "Not tough, not tough at all. In the end, it's just a matter of money. So, Jin Yu, when you look for outsourcing companies, go straight for the highest-tier ones. It doesn't matter if a single piece of art costs twenty thousand yuan. This time, for art and music, we spare no expense. As for voice acting, contact those famous Japanese voice actors. Give them plenty of money. We have to make sure the dubbing meets our standards."
Everyone was dumbfounded. Twenty thousand yuan for a single piece of art? And hiring famous voice actors?
The art for "I Am MT" was only two thousand yuan per piece. This was a tenfold increase! They were really going all out! With the models and animations added, the cost for a single Shikigami would be sky-high, even more expensive than the models for "Warcraft"!
Although Chen Mo had money now, it was still surprising that he was willing to burn through it like this.
Qian Kun hesitated and said, "Boss, if we really spare no expense, the development cost could easily hit the tens of millions..."
Chen Mo nodded. "Yeah, so what? Is tens of millions a lot? The CG for 'Warcraft' cost over thirty million."
Jia Peng scratched his head. "Well, you can't compare it to 'Warcraft,' but this is a mobile game..."
Chen Mo said, "Don't worry. Its profitability won't be any worse than 'Warcraft.' Let me put it this way: there's no need to control development costs. Especially for art and music resources that affect game quality, we need the best. Don't worry about the money."
Wen Lingwei clicked her tongue in amazement. "Oh my god, the stingy boss is actually being generous! I'm not used to this!"
Genius remembers this site's address in one second: