Chapter 176: The Awards Ceremony
The exhibition lasted for three days, and the content was largely the same. On the first day, the staff from Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment were locked in a fierce battle with Chen Mo, but by the end, they had wilted. The main reason was that they had trotted out their VR games, only to have Chen Mo's "Happy Match" steal the spotlight. It was a huge blow to morale!
The exhibition itself was quite successful, and everyone's enthusiasm was high. Even after returning to Beijing, many people were still reluctant to leave.
...
Inside the experience store.
Qian Kun said with lingering excitement, "That exhibition was really great. When will we get to set up our own booth again?"
Su Jinyu said, "Still thinking about next time? It'll probably be at least half a year from now. There shouldn't be any exhibitions like this before the new year."
Qian Kun was a bit regretful. "I didn't get enough of it. I strongly suggest we have more events like this in the future!"
Zheng Hongxi said, "Speaking of which, the hottest game at this exhibition was 'Happy Match.' That's hilarious. Those big game companies must be completely baffled. What the hell is this?"
"Yeah," Su Jinyu laughed as well. "So many game companies went to all that trouble to bring out their unreleased VR games, and then the players were all playing 'Happy Match' while waiting in line. It's killing me."
In the days following the close of the YouPlay exhibition, many gaming media outlets published their reports. What also shocked these media outlets was that the hottest game at the exhibition wasn't some VR game, but a very simple match-three game.
This also became one of the hot topics of discussion among the netizens recently.
Subsequently, "Happy Match" was simultaneously released on the Thunder Game Platform and the official app store. As soon as it launched, its popularity began to skyrocket, reaching 460,000 downloads on the first day, crushing other casual games of the same period with overwhelming force.
This data was already terrifying, but it was within Chen Mo's expectations. He knew that in his previous life, "Happy Match" had reached 3.5 million downloads within 15 days of its release, with 1.5 million daily active users.
In this parallel world, Chen Mo's Thunder Game Platform was already one of the more influential game channels in the country. Coupled with Chen Mo's own appeal and the game's strong viral nature, achieving this result was only to be expected.
Players and gaming media could only sigh in amazement. This guy Chen Mo was really something else; he could even make a match-three game bloom!
After returning from Shanghai, the recruitment matters were mostly settled. All candidates were ultimately approved by Chen Mo. Among them, four or five didn't pass the final review, but most were acceptable.
These people generally had strong professional skills and clear responsibilities for their respective work. Their main role was to help share the workload. The specific game planning was still entirely decided by Chen Mo, with the three assistants each responsible for different content, and the others executing the plans.
However, these people wouldn't officially join until after the new year, so the period before the new year was relatively relaxed.
Chen Mo had Su Jinyu and the other two work on some small games to practice their skills. If they did well, they could be promoted on the Thunder Game Platform. As for himself, he was considering what games to make after the new year, as well as the annual game awards ceremony.
Not long after returning from Shanghai, Chen Mo received a notice from the Game Committee asking him to attend the annual game awards ceremony, where he would be officially granted the title of honorary committee member.
Chen Mo also did some research on this awards ceremony.
The annual game awards ceremony was somewhat similar to the Game Developers Conference in his previous life, but with some differences.
This awards ceremony was hosted by the Game Committee and was held once a year, usually in mid-January, before the Spring Festival.
This awards ceremony only included domestic games and domestic designers for selection, serving as an official recognition and encouragement for outstanding designers and excellent games.
In addition to announcing the list of new honorary committee members for the year, the ceremony also presented many awards.
Furthermore, there were activities such as design idea exchanges and teaching lectures.
In terms of awards, there were categories like Game of the Year, Best Innovation, Best New Designer, Best VR/PC/Mobile Game, Best Story, and many others. The Game of the Year award, in particular, was a highly valued honor among domestic designers. Anyone who won this award would generally become a very influential game designer.
After all, this was an official certification. It might not mean much abroad, but its value was very high domestically.
Actually, Chen Mo didn't particularly care about winning awards. So far, although he had been active in the game industry for over two years and had produced many high-quality games, he had yet to truly enter the realm of large-scale game development.
In the game industry of this parallel world, the major awards and classic works were still concentrated in the VR field. While some special game types on PC could also win awards, they were ultimately in the minority.
As for mobile games, it was basically impossible for them to win an award like "Game of the Year."
So, for Chen Mo, he still had a lot of room for growth. At this awards ceremony, he might have a chance to compete for awards like "Best New Designer" or "Best Mobile Game," but he could basically forget about the other major awards.
Of course, for a new designer, being able to achieve this level in just two years was already enough to make countless designers green with envy.
...
On the day of the awards ceremony, the weather was nice.
This awards ceremony was organized by the Game Committee and held a high status in the game industry. However, it generally wasn't live-streamed. After all, this wasn't the entertainment industry, and few players cared about these awards. At most, some players would check the results after the gaming media published the list of winners.
So, although this awards ceremony was important, its popularity wasn't that high.
The venue was at the Imperial Capital Cultural Center. Chen Mo arrived at the venue on time, and staff members were there to receive him.
Although this event was called the "Annual Game Awards Ceremony," it actually involved much more than just the awards.
According to the schedule, this event would last for two days. The daytime was filled with various exhibitions, networking events, design idea exchanges, teaching lectures, and other activities. The formal awards ceremony would be held on the evening of the second day.
For many designers, while the awards ceremony was important, these networking and exchange activities were also essential. The organizers would invite some well-known game designers to give lectures, which all other designers could freely attend to learn about advanced game design concepts.
For the Game Committee, the annual game awards ceremony was not only for selection but also an opportunity to promote communication among designers and foster the development and progress of the entire game industry.