Chapter 160: Subversive Gameplay Innovation 10/17
As the game screen loaded, Abe no Seimei stood at the center, gently waving his folding fan. The scene resembled a yin-yang master's residence from the Heian period, bathed in the cool tones of moonlight, with a beautiful cherry blossom tree swaying softly, scattering countless petals.
"Lord Seimei—!!"
"Lord Seimei—!!"
Amid the calls of a white fox shikigami wearing a mask, the story unfolded.
The entire game screen was very clean, lacking the cluttered UI of other card mobile games. The topmost operation area only had the character panel, mail, and chat buttons. Beyond that, there were only the exclamation marks above the characters' heads and dialogue prompts in the scene—not a single redundant element module.
This layout, paired with the stunning scenes, exquisite character models, melodious and elegant music, and distinctive character voice acting, gave the entire game a very strong sense of immersion.
It was completely different from other card mobile games.
Every time a new character appeared, a character illustration and introduction would pop up, helping players quickly integrate into the story.
Soon, with the story featuring the dog guardian, players began experiencing the first guided battle.
It was then that players realized the game was actually 3D, and they could freely rotate the camera?!
"What the hell, whoa, wasn't this supposed to be a card mobile game? You can freely rotate the camera—it's pure 3D!"
"And the model detail is insane, it feels almost as good as a PC client game, right?"
"The skill effects and attack animations are flawless too!"
"I noticed these monsters keep turning their heads to follow moving people, wobbling around—so cute."
"It's still turn-based, but you can control it yourself, so much freedom!"
"I won! Oh, I can draw cards now!"
"Huh, this card-drawing format is really novel too—it's drawing talismans?"
"Wow, I got a cute girl, a purple SR Snow Woman!"
"Don't get too excited, I got her too. Looks like it's a guaranteed first draw..."
"Ahhh, hurry up and get through the story, I want to recharge and draw cards!"
Soon, players were fully immersed in the game.
The early flow of "Onmyoji" was also carefully planned, with various features unlocked sequentially through the story, perfectly managing players' psychology.
The story of the dog guardian and the sparrow also sparked a wave of complaints from players.
"This Akita dog has so much drama!"
"Wow, it feels so honest and warm."
"A cross-species romance... The ending wasn't bad, though the story was short, it was really heartwarming."
"The story is great, and the visuals and voice acting too. I feel like Chen Mo really put his heart into this. After all, he's the designer who made 'Warcraft,' and now that he has money, even a card mobile game feels so high-end!"
"I'm hooked, I'm hooked!"
...
It wasn't just players; other card mobile game designers also downloaded "Onmyoji" one after another, wanting to see what kind of innovation Chen Mo, who had pioneered the card mobile game genre, would bring this time.
But once they started playing, they realized the game was completely incomparable to "I Am MT." Even the newly released "Demon Slayer 2" was utterly outclassed!
"The visuals, the voice acting... For Chen Mo to make a game like this, it must have cost at least tens of millions, right?"
"Yeah, the spending must have been huge. Chen Mo really doesn't hold back!"
"He's got money now."
"Even with money, this is no way to play. Doesn't Imperial Dynasty Interactive have money? The thing is, the key to a card mobile game is the gameplay; visuals aren't that important. Wouldn't it be better to spend that money on marketing and promotion?"
"Chen Mo did market and promote, and the results were explosive."
"I thought Imperial Dynasty Interactive's ambitions were big enough, but Chen Mo's ambitions are even bigger! Imperial Dynasty Interactive planned to test the waters with 'Demon Slayer 2' and then carve up the market with several card mobile games using different IPs. But Chen Mo? He wants to swallow the entire card mobile game market with just this one game!"
"I think it's possible, but Chen Mo's taking too big a step. This gameplay is completely different from 'I Am MT.' The battles are turn-based now, and the entire card training system has been overhauled. Can players accept it?"
"Whether they accept it or not, we'll only know after the monthly revenue comes out."
...
Qiu Bin was probably the most nervous person. As soon as "Onmyoji" launched, he downloaded it immediately and played nonstop, trying to quickly understand the game's mechanics and see what changes Chen Mo had made to card games.
But once he played, he was completely baffled.
This was nothing like "I Am MT"!
Originally, Qiu Bin thought Chen Mo's new game was just a new theme with the same core as "I Am MT." But after playing, he realized it wasn't just the theme and packaging—the gameplay had completely changed too!
Take training shikigami, for example. "Onmyoji" had completely abandoned the training system of "I Am MT." Leveling up and star promotion were relatively easy to understand, but what were awakening and soul?
And there was a protagonist concept now, with four different onmyoji and a ton of skills?
Then there was the world map exploration, story progression, shop, and card-drawing methods. While these elements vaguely resembled card mobile games, the packaging was all new, the gameplay had changed, and it no longer looked like a card mobile game at all!
What baffled Qiu Bin the most was that, in his view, "Onmyoji" had almost completely overturned his understanding of card mobile games. The three key points he had mentioned earlier—fragmentation, low cost, and big IP—none of them applied to "Onmyoji."
Fragmentation? This game was way too exhausting to play. On the first day, it practically forced players to play for five or six hours, and it never let up afterward. As long as you logged in, there was always something to do, with no sign of fitting into fragmented time slots.
Low cost? The cost was definitely not low. They burned money on visuals and voice acting. The entire development of this game was easily a tens-of-millions-level investment, higher than most PC client games!
Big IP? What IP did "Onmyoji" have? This theme was only known among a niche audience. The vast majority of players wouldn't care about the stories and monsters from that era!
At most, they knew Abe no Seimei and Shuten Doji. They basically didn't recognize any of the other demons and monsters!
Qiu Bin had spent so much effort summarizing the three key points of card mobile games, only to have them completely overturned by Chen Mo's "Onmyoji."
"Impossible, I don't believe it. Players' tastes aren't that easy to change. You come out with a completely new set of mechanics—innovative, sure—but have you considered the players' learning curve and acceptance cost?"
"With 'Onmyoji' being this tiring to play and having such high prices, I don't believe it can become the next national card mobile game!"