Chapter 392: Did Chen Mo Overdo It?
The final match wasn’t set to start until November 5th, leaving less than a week to go. As the S1 World Championship’s hype continued to build, the Three Kingdoms game solicitation event was also underway.
During this time, some Three Kingdoms-themed games had already begun appearing on the official app market, mostly mobile games. A few designers were working on PC games, but it was clear most knew that PC games weren’t easy to win with. PC games had their own evaluation standards, and mobile games had theirs. Unless a PC game reached the level of *Righteous Slash Three Kingdoms*, it would be hard to crack the PC bestseller charts.
These mobile games were largely the same—either RPGs or card-based games with some minor innovations, mainly in gameplay and story.
On November 2nd, many designers suddenly noticed a new mobile game on the Thunder Game Platform: *Conquer the Land*. Chen Mo hadn’t posted on Weibo or done any promotion; he just quietly uploaded *Conquer the Land* to the Thunder Game Platform and the official app market, and that was it.
He was calm, but these designers were anything but.
“Holy crap, what the hell? Chen Mo suddenly made a mobile game? *Conquer the Land*? From the screenshots of the generals’ artwork, it looks like… a Three Kingdoms theme?”
“Damn it, isn’t this just to participate in the Game Committee’s Three Kingdoms game solicitation? Didn’t we say Chen Mo wouldn’t enter?!”
“Seriously, your *League of Legends* is so popular, and the World Championship is going great—why suddenly come back to make a mobile game? Are you sick or something?”
“I’m so pissed! Chen Mo, can you give us a break, huh? Is it that easy to join a game solicitation? Do you have to take first prize? I’m furious!”
“Exactly, just stick to your PC and VR games, run your World Championship! Stop snatching food from us weaklings, okay!”
“I’m furious! My game’s only half done! Should I even bother releasing it now?!”
“Strong protest! To keep this game solicitation event suspenseful, we demand Chen Mo’s disqualification!”
Though these designers were in despair, there was nothing they could do. The solicitation was open to all designers, and if Chen Mo wanted to join, no one could stop him!
After calming down a bit, these designers all downloaded *Conquer the Land* to see how good it really was, so they could gauge their chances. Everyone knew that while Three Kingdoms games were plentiful, they weren’t easy to make. Chen Mo had long earned the reputation in the domestic gaming circle of “Chen Mo’s work is always a masterpiece.” So, what kind of innovation would he bring to a Three Kingdoms game?
But after playing for a bit, these designers were all a bit confused. They couldn’t figure out how to play the game.
“This game… what’s going on? It’s a completely unfamiliar genre?”
“It should be a strategy game, an SLG, but… I’ve never seen this kind of gameplay before.”
“I gave up after less than ten minutes—I can’t understand it!”
“Yeah, the map is just a bunch of squares pieced together. Players have their own city and their own generals, but I have no idea about the rest of the gameplay.”
“I’m baffled too. This game has no dungeons, no story, no player levels—what the hell? No mainstream map-clearing mechanics? How do you pace the player’s progress? Just mess around?”
“It seems like you just fight over land. Each tile has enemies with different levels, starting from level one. I only got to level three before quitting, because the monsters on each tile seem random—I didn’t get it.”
“It looks like you can fight other players too, but it’s not that interesting.”
“And is this really a Three Kingdoms game? There aren’t even Wei, Shu, or Wu! You choose your starting province directly, and players within the same province can fight each other—what’s that about?”
“Too many innovations! Chen Mo has completely created a different game genre here, with nothing in common with current mobile games!”
“I feel like Chen Mo’s overreached. He’s bound to screw up this time, right?”
“Players won’t accept it, will they?”
“It’s definitely iffy.”
“I think with Chen Mo’s reputation and the Thunder Game Platform’s user base, a lot of players will still try it.”
“That won’t help. If the game’s quality isn’t there, the platform can’t prop it up.”
“Let’s wait and see the game data.”
After playing *Conquer the Land*, many designers expressed pessimism about it, because the changes were too drastic!
In fact, *Conquer the Land* was completely different from any mainstream mobile game on the market, with zero similarities. Not only that, but its presentation also broke from traditional Three Kingdoms games. There was no division of Wei, Shu, or Wu; instead, the entire map was split into different provinces. While the concept of “provinces” existed in the Three Kingdoms era, it wasn’t very clear-cut, since the territory changed so rapidly that a single province could belong to two or three lords.
Moreover, the game’s mechanics were incredibly unfriendly to newcomers. Without similar games to build on, players entering *Conquer the Land* were completely lost, having to learn everything from scratch. Worse still, *Conquer the Land* was a high-learning-cost SLG that was hard to grasp, making it very unfriendly to players.
Card-based mobile games like *I Am MT* and *Onmyoji* became popular because they were easy to pick up—whether combat or daily activities, you understood them at a glance and learned them quickly, plus the story drew you in. But *Conquer the Land* was different. Its combat system and daily gameplay were complex, it had no story, and worst of all, its core fun was deeply hidden.
So for average players, first encountering *Conquer the Land* would be very confusing, with no idea what made it fun.
Still, the designers didn’t dare jump to conclusions, having been proven wrong by Chen Mo too many times. Almost every game Chen Mo made was a success. Even *Minecraft*, which initially seemed like a simple block game, became a hit across mobile, PC, and VR platforms. *Diablo*, which seemed dead, was revived by a single DLC. And this was Chen Mo’s first foray into the mobile game space?
Many had thought that with Chen Mo’s involvement, the Three Kingdoms game solicitation would be a foregone conclusion. But after playing *Conquer the Land*, some began to hold out a sliver of hope.
Maybe this time, Chen Mo had really over-innovated and screwed up?