The core players of domestic RTS games were also discussing this brand new RTS game.
In a certain Legion Conquest group.
"I heard there's a new RTS game in China. It's been quite popular lately, everyone's talking about it."
"I heard it's called Warcraft, it's a Western Fantasy game."
"… Are you serious? Aren't Western Fantasy and RTS games forbidden in China? Both Emperor Dynasty and Zen Entertainment had already lost a lot of money. Who else would dare to mess with them? And two at once? "
"Thunderbolt Entertainment, Chen Mo's company."
"Chen Mo? Never heard of them. "
"Plants vs Zombies and I Am MT I'm sure you've heard of them."
"Huh? Isn't that a mobile game company? They're making PC games? And they're making RTS games? "
"They're really not afraid of death …"
"But I've heard that this guy is weird, making any kind of game, and every game he makes gets more popular. I'm downloading Warcraft now, I'll share my thoughts with you guys! "
"Go, warrior! The villagers will be waiting for you to come back alive! "
…
This group consisted of RTS enthusiasts, and most of them were playing Legion Conquest.
A group manager with the nickname Kaiser asked in the group, "Is that so? A new RTS game? Send me the address, I'll try it out. "
A lot of people popped up as soon as he spoke.
"Wow, is K god going to test it himself? Sure, I'll wait for the noobs. "
"K god has popped up. Wow, that's cool, let's take a picture."
"K god, Warcraft has to be downloaded on Thunderbolt Gaming Platform, you can find it if you look it up."
This guy with the ID Kaiser was a well-known figure in the Chinese RTS gaming circle. Kaiser was one of the few famous players in Legion Conquest.
However, Kaiser was not one of the top players. He was, at most, one of the top ten players in China. The reason he was famous was because he often complained about the shortcomings of Legion Conquest on the forums. He also often wrote suggestions to foreign developers. Of course, none of his suggestions were ever accepted.
Kaiser was also considered a leader in the local RTS player community. He had a group of fans, and his Legion Conquest tutorial video had also influenced a large number of RTS players.
Originally, this guy had been lurking in the group all year round, very much in line with the cold image of the Almighty. However, today he heard that a new RTS game had come out, and he couldn't help but come out.
In fact, the so-called K-God, who had a large number of fans on the Internet, was nothing more than a second-year high school student.
Xue Kai, ID: Kaiser, 17 years old, godly player of Legion Conquest.
Xue Kai came from a wealthy family and was very passionate about RTS games. Through his videos and livestreams, he gained a large number of fans. However, he still had a strong opinion about Legion Conquest.
He had written a lot of suggestions, but this was a foreign game after all. Even if Xue Kai found someone to translate the suggestions into English, the developers of Legion Conquest wouldn't take it seriously.
Therefore, Xue Kai had always been troubled by the lack of a better RTS game. He heard that a domestic designer had developed an RTS game, and he wanted to try his luck.
What if, I mean what if, this game is fun?
He found the Thunderbolt Gaming Platform, registered for the Thunderbolt Game Pass and downloaded Warcraft.
It didn't take long before the download was complete.
The game icon was a young man with an evil aura. Although a small icon couldn't express much, it felt great.
Xue Kai double clicked on the icon and entered the game.
First was a cutscene CG, Thunderbolt Gaming's logo flashed across.
The whistling wind blew past, and the camera swooped down from the clouds like a bird soaring freely in the sky.
Accompanied by the howling of the wind, a melodious melody played.
A crow flew over a range of snowy peaks, flew over a barren valley, and finally arrived at a prosperous human city.
Human Palace, Lordaeron Kingdom.
Countless voices were discussing, while the old King Terenas was deep in thought on his throne.
At this time, the crow flew in out of nowhere and landed in the middle of the palace, in front of the old King.
The background music became muffled. This strange crow caught the attention of the old King.
Just as everyone was arguing, the crow's body suddenly glowed with a strange green light. Under everyone's astonished gazes, the crow actually turned into a person.
Medivh.
His face was hidden under a hood, but his voice echoed throughout the palace.
"Humanity is in a crisis. The tides of darkness will strike again, and the world is on the brink of war!
"Your people's only hope is to move to the West, to the Forgotten Continent, Kalimdor!"
The old King's expression was solemn as he stood up from his throne, "I don't know who you are, nor do I know what you believe. But now is not the time for prophecies. Our country is being invaded by war, but it is up to us to decide how to protect our people! Not you! "
At this moment, the melody became somewhat melancholic.
Medivh's voice sounded a bit sad, "I once lost my humanity, but I won't do that again."
"If you can't solve this problem, I'll find someone else who can."
Medivh turned around and left, leaving behind only a whisper that sounded like he was talking to himself.
"I've already given them a warning. Now, their fate is in their own hands."
The screen turned black, and the CG ended, entering the game.
This CG was very short, but it contained a lot of information. Xue Kai didn't pay attention to the story of Azeroth before, but from this CG, he still learned a lot of information.
At this time, the human kingdom was being invaded by the Orcs, and an unknown plague was spreading. A mysterious prophet came to the human palace, but his words didn't attract the attention of the king.
A short CG highlighted the suspense of the whole story. Although Xue Kai didn't know who Medivh was, nor did he know what this human kingdom was, this CG successfully aroused his interest, and that was enough.
Moreover, the CG was very well made.
In this world, there were good animation and CG companies in China, and there were also good sound effects companies and voice actors. The only thing they lacked was money.
As long as the money was given, they could make great CG works. Even if it couldn't reach the level of the top foreign CG works, it wouldn't be too far off.
But the only problem was that most game developers weren't willing to spend this kind of money.
Since CG was usually two to three minutes long, the money spent on a single CG was almost the same as making a high quality mobile game.
How much did Chen Mo spend on CG?
There was no conclusive data on how much Blizzard spent on CG in his previous life, but it was said that WLK's CG cost was five million US dollars for three minutes.
In the parallel world, animation and CG were more advanced, which reduced the cost of manpower. Coupled with the more advanced real-time computing technology, the price was much lower.
Chen Mo didn't even choose the most expensive CG, but chose the cheaper ones that he could afford.
Even so, Chen Mo still spent thirty-seven million US dollars.
And this was the result of cutting down the story like crazy. Chen Mo had already cut and deleted the not-so-classic plots as much as he could. He had almost crazily compressed the budget, and only managed to squeeze it down to thirty-seven million.
For example, Warcraft's opening animation was changed to Medivh's warning to the old king, cutting down the CG before that.
In order to make these CG, Chen Mo basically spent all the money he got from scamming others. There were even parts where he didn't have enough money, so he could only make do with real-time computing, or use voice-overs to save as much as he could.
To be honest, if he didn't have the support of a scamming game like I Am MT, Chen Mo wouldn't have the money to make something like this. At most, he would make a weaker version of it.
Chen Mo felt that if he were to make these CG, the cost would easily be over a hundred million US dollars. There was no way he could afford to spend that much money on it.
The cost of the game itself, including art resources, was nothing compared to the cost of making CG. Chen Mo finally understood the saying, "Ten years making games, nine years making CG."
Su Jinyu and the others didn't know about this, only Chen Mo and the person in charge of Dazzling Aurora Studio, Guo Feng, knew. If Su Jinyu and Qian Kun knew about this, they would be shocked.
It was too risky after all. What if no one bought into Warcraft? Wouldn't that be throwing away tens of millions of US dollars?
If all that money was used to make a scamming mobile game like I Am MT, how much money could he make?
But Chen Mo knew that it was worth it to make CG.
It might not be for other CGs, but it was definitely worth it for Warcraft! Every CG here would go down as a classic in video game history. It would still be worth it even if the money was doubled!
The reason why Chen Mo was willing to spend all that money was because he knew that it was a guaranteed profit. If he could make Warcraft famous, there would be plenty of other ways to make money in the future.
Moreover, thirty-seven million US dollars was only around six million US dollars, which was pretty cheap!
…
Even Xue Kai was impressed by the quality of the CG. It was rare for a Chinese video game company to spend so much money on CG. Even for a foreign company, there weren't many that were willing to do so.
Moreover, this CG wasn't just high quality, it also had meaning!
Xue Kai was instantly stunned as he clicked on story mode.
After Prince Arthas and Uther the Lightbringer exchanged some pleasantries, the battle officially began.
There was a relatively simple tutorial that guided Xue Kai to use the left mouse button to select units and the right mouse button to move.
"Hmm? It's different from Legion Conquest? "
Xue Kai was surprised as Legion Conquest was the benchmark for RTS games. Very few RTS games would dare to change their basic controls.
As an experienced RTS player, Xue Kai didn't start the battle immediately, but looked into Warcraft's controls first.
After selecting units, there were many buttons at the bottom right of the screen, including movement, stop, maintain position, attack, patrol, and hero skills.
Moreover, there were shortcuts for these controls.
"Maintain position? Patrol? "
Xue Kai clicked on the [Patrol] button and selected another location on the map. Arthis immediately ran back and forth between the two locations.
"What a variety of controls, much better than Legion Conquest." Xue Kai was quite surprised.
Moreover, the hero skills made him feel special. Although there were some special units in Legion Conquest, there wasn't a concept of a 'hero'.
In Warcraft, heroes were part of the game's settings. There would be a portrait of the hero in the top left corner. Heroes would also have special skills that would play a crucial role in battle.
Moreover, there was an inventory bar at the bottom right. Although there weren't any items yet, it was obvious that the game supported the use of items.
"Interesting, there's so many innovations."
Xue Kai controlled Arthas to challenge the story quests.
Arthas was constantly talking as he completed the story, responding to Xue Kai's commands.
"Of course."
"For glory!"
"May the Holy Light bless my people."
This was similar to Legion Conquest, but the localization for Legion Conquest wasn't perfect as many of the translations were a bit awkward.
On the other hand, the dialogue in Warcraft was done by Xue Kai himself. With the translation from his previous life as a reference, the dialogue felt very natural to Xue Kai. It had a Western Fantasy feel to it without the heavy translation accent.
Xue Kai quickly cleared the first level with Arthas.
Since Xue Kai had a strong foundation in RTS games, it wasn't difficult at all for him.
After completing the first stage, Xue Kai did not continue with the next stage. Instead, he switched to the desktop and sent a message to the group.
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