Chapter 436: The Suspense of Game of the Year
Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment did have a few games of decent quality this year, but overall, none of them met the qualifications to be selected as Game of the Year.
Industry insiders had generally favored *The Grand Tang*, after all, *Three Realms* was an MMORPG. To ensure profitability, player retention, and other metrics, some gameplay quality would inevitably have to be sacrificed, which naturally carried a penalty in the selection process.
*The Grand Tang*, on the other hand, was a single-player game with a very strong Chinese cultural flavor. Its other aspects were also relatively balanced, and aside from a relative lack of game content, it had no obvious weaknesses.
However, after *Overwatch* burst onto the scene, the "Game of the Year" award immediately became shrouded in uncertainty.
Many designers realized that *Overwatch* was fully qualified to compete for this award!
Although it was a competitive game, with its main fun derived from player-versus-player combat, it also had very distinct characteristics. Two points in particular had the potential to sway the judges.
First was the construction of its world view and the rich character designs of its heroes. The futuristic setting, the coexistence of humans and machines, heroes from various countries with superpowers... the entire backdrop possessed strong artistic merit and was sure to be very appealing.
Second was its innovation in gameplay mechanics. Although "FPS with skills" had appeared before, none had formed a complete and polished system. Designers were generally afraid that this model would affect the core fun and balance of FPS games, so they approached it cautiously, unlike *Overwatch* which made bold and sweeping changes.
Based on current player feedback, *Overwatch* had done an excellent job balancing the fun of traditional FPS mechanics with MOBA-style gameplay. This was extremely important.
Ideas are worthless; it's turning an idea into a finished product that holds value.
The process of turning an idea into a product is filled with a vast number of detailed settings. If any single detail goes wrong, the final product can end up completely different from the original vision.
Therefore, the fact that *Overwatch* successfully executed the concept of "FPS with skills" was already a remarkable achievement in itself.
Furthermore, the main problem *Overwatch* faced in terms of awards was its lack of content richness. Simply put, the game had no story campaign, not many maps, and certainly no open-world content.
However, these three points were not fatal, because *Overwatch* had other corresponding content to compensate.
It had no story campaign, but it had background lore. Moreover, the maps were filled with Easter eggs, and the backstories of all the heroes were integrated into a cohesive whole. In terms of narrative, *Overwatch* simply didn't tell the story to players in a traditional way; in reality, its narrative strength wasn't weak.
It didn't have many maps, but each one was unique. King's Row, Hanamura, Lijiang Tower, Hollywood... the architectural styles of every single map in *Overwatch* were completely different, and all featured innovations. They showcased the cultural characteristics of different countries while incorporating a sense of technology. This kind of map design was itself a bonus point.
It lacked open-world content and wasn't rich enough in content overall—this point couldn't be resolved. But as a free VR game that innovated on mainstream FPS gameplay, *Overwatch* had received an excellent response from players. Could this become some kind of bonus point? No one could say for sure.
Although many designers still felt that *The Grand Tang* was the most deserving game for the award, they had to admit that *Overwatch* was a very strong contender.
All of this would only be revealed at the final awards ceremony!
...
In the master designer chat group, many designers were chatting.
"I've already arrived at the venue. Has everyone else arrived?"
"I'm a loser stuck at home, envious of the big shots who can go to the annual awards ceremony..."
"Same envy..."
"Old Qiu, have you arrived? And where's the dog group owner?"
"Let's gather in the lobby!"
"Hey, I see Big Shot Chen Mo!"
This chat group consisted of independent game designers. A few were regulars at the annual game awards ceremony, like Li Feng, who made *Spirit Wings*, Zhou Haibin, who made *Dream Journey*, and Zhu Fanglin, who made *Earthly Fiend Walk*.
These people usually chatted idly in the group, scattered across the country and rarely able to meet up. On such an important occasion, they naturally wanted to get together properly and catch up.
After all, the small circle of these independent game designers was relatively closed off. They didn't have much connection with the designers from Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment or Zen Interactive Entertainment, and basically had no competitive relationship with them, so their relationships were very good.
Of course, there were also many designers in the group who weren't qualified to attend this ceremony, and they could only silently envy.
Just as Chen Mo walked into the lobby, he heard someone calling him.
"Big Shot Chen Mo! Over here!"
Turning his head, he saw Li Feng, the designer of *Spirit Wings*, who was always very active in the group.
Four or five people had already gathered around Li Feng. When they saw Chen Mo approaching, they all greeted him.
Chen Mo knew everyone present. After all, they often chatted in the group, and they were all relatively famous figures among independent designers. Chen Mo had also made a point of looking at their photos and information.
Soon, Qiu Hengyang and the group owner, Zhang Xiaokong, also arrived.
These were all old acquaintances from the group, but they hadn't seen each other in real life for a long time, so they were all quite excited.
Zhang Xiaokong said, "Alright, let's not block the way here. Let's head inside. By the way, are we going to the lectures or the exchange meeting?"
Li Feng asked, "Either is fine, up to you guys. Oh, by the way, Big Shot Chen Mo, do you have a lecture this year?"
Chen Mo was a bit helpless. "Can you guys stop calling me 'big shot'? It's really embarrassing."
Li Feng chuckled. "Hey, it's just a habit."
Chen Mo said, "No lecture. Maybe it's because a few of the games I made this year were a bit controversial, and the Game Committee was afraid I'd cause trouble if I spoke."
Qiu Hengyang expressed understanding. "True. Look at the games you made, *Getting Over It* and *Outlast*, two player-tormenting games. Especially *Outlast*, I bet it caused quite a stir within the Game Committee. Didn Minister Qiao Hua criticize you?"
Chen Mo smiled. "Why would he criticize me? If Minister Qiao and Chairman Zhang hadn't given the nod, do you think my horror game could have passed the review?"
Qiu Hengyang chuckled. "That's true too."
Zhang Xiaokong said, "Hey? That's not right? Why aren't you mentioning Chen Mo's two heavyweight works from this year?"
Qiu Hengyang said, "You mean *League of Legends* and *Overwatch*? *Overwatch* just came out a few days ago, there wasn't time to arrange anything. As for *League of Legends*, it was very successful, but it's on PC, which isn't favored. And as for e-sports, the Game Committee's attitude is rather ambiguous. It should still be controversial, definitely not fully supported."
Li Feng nodded. "Yeah, e-sports has always been considered a gray industry. The line between clubs and studios is blurry. The committee's stance is neither encouraging nor promoting, but they haven't explicitly banned it either. They're probably still in a wait-and-see mode."
Chen Mo smiled. "Not having to give a lecture myself is a good thing. I couldn't be bothered anyway."
Zhang Xiaokong looked at the morning lecture schedule. "There doesn't seem to be any lecture I'm particularly interested in. Hey, do you guys want to go to an exchange meeting or something?"