Chapter 824: A Quick Lesson on Egyptian History
In the experience store, Chen Mo was reviewing the new game development plans submitted by the cooperative designers of Thunder Game Platform.
In the new year, many independent game designers in the country had arranged new development plans, with varying projected research and development timelines. Actually, before this, the designers under Thunder Interactive had always set their own R&D plans, releasing their games to the Thunder Game Platform upon completion. Chen Mo basically never bothered to check the quality of these games; he would just give recommendations according to the relevant rules and adjust based on player feedback.
This could essentially be seen as a laissez-faire policy—whichever game performed well would get promoted.
However, starting last year, Thunder Game Platform introduced a new regulation for its designers: to coordinate their R&D directions as much as possible. This wasn’t meant to restrict their creative freedom; rather, it was to better utilize the platform’s existing resources and avoid game clashes and resource waste as much as possible.
Although the user base of Thunder Game Platform was still growing steadily, players’ attention was ultimately limited. If two games of the same type were released simultaneously, and both were of decent quality, it would split the player base, making it difficult for either to achieve great results.
So, Chen Mo considered having all designers cooperating with Thunder Game Platform submit their new game development plans uniformly. On one hand, this would allow him to get a clear picture of upcoming games in the near future, making it easier to arrange recommendation slots. On the other hand, it would prevent internal conflicts among designers, thus making more efficient use of channel resources.
This was also good for players. For example, if some players particularly loved RPGs, but RPGs came out in a glut one month and then disappeared entirely the next, replaced by strategy or casual games, they would feel at loose ends during that time.
By coordinating and properly scheduling the release order of games about to launch on Thunder Game Platform, it benefited both designers and players. So, the designers were generally supportive. Although this regulation wasn’t mandatory, they cooperated well.
“Lin Mu… ‘Greece’?”
Chen Mo was just going through the motions, skimming through the plans, but when he saw Lin Mu and the name of this new game, he couldn’t help but pause.
Lin Mu was the designer who had previously developed “The Flourishing Tang.” In that year’s Game of the Year awards, he had lost to Chen Mo’s “Overwatch” by a narrow margin. After that, Lin Mu developed two more games: “London” and “Babylon.” While neither was a blockbuster, they received good feedback in the country and even sold well in overseas markets.
The reason they didn’t become huge hits was the same issue as with “The Flourishing Tang”: the scenes and cultural backgrounds were exceptionally well done, but the games lacked significant strengths in other areas.
This was also related to Lin Mu’s personal preferences as a designer. He enjoyed delving into history and cultural connotations but had weaker control over gameplay mechanics and the traits that attract players, such as satisfying moments.
“The Flourishing Tang” was set in Chang’an City, and “London” was set in 18th-century London. Both games referenced a large amount of historical facts, even consulting professors and scholars from famous universities, aiming to recreate the history of those eras. “Babylon” incorporated more fantastical elements, but its reception was mediocre. So, for this year’s new work, “Greece,” Lin Mu had clearly decided to return to his old path, prioritizing historical recreation as the primary goal.
This choice wasn’t necessarily wrong. After all, “faithfully recreating history” was a decent selling point. For some players, Lin Mu was unique in the country for his meticulous research and similar games, and even abroad, there weren’t many designers like him. So, players interested in history had become his core fans. Even if the gameplay of “The Flourishing Tang” and “London” wasn’t particularly outstanding, they would still support him.
Now, with Lin Mu setting his sights on “Greece” for his next sequel, barring any surprises, this game should still be considered a competent follow-up.
However, Chen Mo felt that having a designer like Lin Mu focus on just one city each time was somewhat underutilizing his talent. After all, Lin Mu was an independent game designer with very limited funds, so his development cycles were long, sales were hard to boost significantly, and the overall scale of his games was difficult to expand.
Chen Mo thought for a moment and decided to give Lin Mu a call.
“Hello? Lin Mu, it’s Chen Mo. Let me ask you something: how familiar are you with Egyptian history?”
…
After receiving Chen Mo’s call, Lin Mu immediately said he would come over to discuss it in detail.
After hanging up, Chen Mo had about half an hour before Lin Mu arrived, which he could use for a lottery draw.
This time, Chen Mo used a Lucky Capsule and finally got a burst of luck, drawing several skill books on world ancient history. However, since this draw was relatively close to the last one, he hadn’t accumulated many draw chances.
Given Chen Mo’s current expertise, creating a game with an authentic ancient foreign background was still somewhat challenging. But with Lin Mu handling the overall cultural and historical oversight of the project, there would basically be no major issues.
Soon, Lin Mu arrived.
Chen Mo and Lin Mu had met and known each other for a while. However, their paths were quite different. Lin Mu insisted on making independent games, while Chen Mo took a commercial game route. With Thunder Interactive’s scale rapidly expanding in the past two years, the gap between them had become enormous.
Still, Lin Mu surely didn’t regret his original choice. After all, everyone has their own aspirations, and independent game designers have their own principles and persistence. For him, creating games like “The Flourishing Tang” for players, spreading and promoting ancient cultural knowledge, was quite fulfilling. Moreover, he wasn’t good at taking the commercial route; following the path of Imperial Dynasty Interactive or Zen Interactive would be far harder for him than making games.
The two didn’t exchange too many pleasantries. Since they were both designers, they spoke directly.
“You mentioned on the phone that you want to make a game set in Egypt? And you want to collaborate with me?” Lin Mu asked.
Chen Mo nodded. “Yes. I think among the domestic designers, you’re the most suitable person. I’ll handle the overall gameplay structure, story, combat, and other aspects, while you’ll take care of the historical research and cultural content.”
Lin Mu hesitated for a moment and asked, “I want to know, why Egypt? Are you hoping to create a sequel to ‘Uncharted,’ something along the lines of an adventure theme?”
Chen Mo shook his head. “Actually, it’s not just Egypt. There will also be North America, Jerusalem, Florence, Paris…”
He paused, then continued, “This will be a series of games, even encompassing many major historical events from world ancient history.”