Chapter 569: Chen Mo Is Fooling You!
The current mobile game market was basically in a state of blooming flowers, with no single game genre holding a dominant position.
In this parallel world, the development of mobile games had gone through several key stages. The first stage was the wave of card-based mobile games that emerged after the release of *I Am MT*. Designers discovered that these card games had strong profitability, were simple to produce, and made excellent use of intellectual properties, sparking a craze in the market.
The second stage was the trend of heavy games brought about by *Rate the Land*. Although *Onmyoji* was also a landmark mobile game, it was more of a culmination of card games rather than an innovator. It perfectly harvested the market but didn't stimulate a new shift. Meanwhile, *Rate the Land*, though a relatively niche strategy game, made many designers realize that mobile games could still be made more complex. Some mobile game designers were inspired and began trying to adapt MOBA games for mobile, but due to time constraints, they hadn't yet found a good way to port them.
...
Zhang Bei was in a lot of pain right now.
On his computer screen were several revised design drafts for the *Ancient Cataclysm* mobile game, but none of them had been finalized.
Chen Mo's earlier comment had made Zhang Bei feel as miserable as if he'd been kicked by a dog. The main issue was how certain Chen Mo had sounded, as if it were an indisputable fact...
The traditional control method for MOBA mobile games definitely wouldn't work—it needed to be changed!
But how exactly should it be changed? Obviously, Chen Mo wasn't going to reveal that...
Zhang Bei instinctively didn't want to change it, but as the lead for the *Ancient Cataclysm* mobile game project, he felt uneasy about such a critical design decision. So, he had privately come up with several revised drafts. But no matter how he tweaked them, he wasn't satisfied.
The phone screen was only so big, and Zhang Bei really couldn't figure out how to change the control scheme.
One relatively obvious idea was to switch the entire control method to tap-based, meaning players would tap the screen to last-hit minions or attack heroes. But the problem was that this design had already been tried in other mobile games, and the results were poor. It worked great on tablets, but on phones, the experience was absolutely terrible. Most mobile game players in the country still used phones, not tablets, so this design was a non-starter.
Zhang Bei felt like his head was about to explode. He really wanted to grab Chen Mo and ask him directly: how should it be changed?!
There was just no way to change it!
Zhang Bei sent a message in the internal chat group for designers at Emperor Dynasty Interactive Entertainment: "Everyone, take a look at these design plans I've come up with. Are they viable?"
This group had many designers from Emperor Dynasty, including some working on mobile MOBA games. Soon, someone replied: "Brother Bei, you're overthinking this. The mobile MOBA market has already had several games, and the control scheme is pretty much settled. It's not like Chen Mo can reinvent the wheel. Besides, he's not even working on a mobile MOBA, so why are you taking his words so seriously?"
Another designer chimed in: "Yeah, I've heard Chen Mo is working on a mobile game called *Honor of Kings*, but it's supposedly a casual game. It's definitely not a MOBA. In terms of mobile games, Chen Mo is a god-tier figure, but he's never made a MOBA before. Why are you so worried?"
Zhang Bei replied: "But Chen Mo is a god-tier figure in both PC games and mobile games. He suddenly says something like that, and I can't help but worry..."
As they were chatting, Jin Jieguang suddenly appeared.
"Whoa, don't let Chen Mo fool you! He's definitely setting up a trap to trick you! That's exactly how he screwed me over! He loves this trick—pretending to accidentally let something slip, and conveniently you overhear it. There's always a scheme behind it. Don't fall for it! Stick to your own design!"
Other designers quickly chimed in.
"Exactly, exactly. Zhang Bei, don't change a thing. Several mobile MOBAs have already been released, and their control schemes are all pretty traditional. After all, your left hand needs to control the virtual joystick for movement, and your right hand has to press four skills. There's no room on the screen for extra buttons. The screen space is limited. Do you really think Chen Mo can pull off some miracle? I'm sure he's just messing with you!"
Everyone agreed that Chen Mo's words couldn't be trusted—he was probably just bluffing!
If you believed Chen Mo, you'd probably miss the New Year...
With everyone's advice, Zhang Bei felt a bit more at ease. In the end, he decided to stick with his original design!
...
Over at Chen Mo's place, the prequel to *Dark Souls* and *Honor of Kings* were being developed simultaneously without interfering with each other.
As a mobile game, *Honor of Kings* had relatively complex settings, but since Chen Mo already had experience making *League of Legends*, creating a mobile game was a breeze—he could do it with his eyes closed.
In fact, Chen Mo didn't even need to oversee much of the process. He basically left everything to Qian Kun to handle.
Of course, Qian Kun would still come to him with questions about uncertain issues.
When Qian Kun first took over *Honor of Kings*, he was a bit reluctant. But after reading through the detailed settings, he suddenly fell in love with the game!
The reason was simple: it was a pay-to-win game!
Qian Kun had always had an unusual passion for monetized games, but Chen Mo had been making fewer of them lately, so Qian Kun hadn't had many chances to shine.
After seeing some of the settings for *Honor of Kings*, Qian Kun was ecstatic. He felt that this game perfectly aligned with his own ideas!
For example, using diamonds to draw runes, buying heroes with coupons, and the special treasure-hunting system—this was basically gambling!
And all the various treasure chests scattered throughout the game were just fancy ways to trick players into spending money. All of this made Qian Kun incredibly excited!