Chen Mo gave it some thought, "Don't worry, they only started a month or two earlier, it doesn't mean they'll get first place."
Lin Mao nodded, "That's true, the Game Committee's judges are quite picky. It'd be hard to get first place if it wasn't a revolutionary game."
Chen Mo thought.
Lin Mao asked, "I'm planning on making a Wuxia game, what about you?"
Chen Mo replied after some thought, "I'm planning on making a Wuxia game."
Lin Mao was shocked, "Wuxia? It's not easy to make a Wuxia game! "
Chen Mo nodded, "I know, that's why I'm planning on doing it."
Lin Mao said, "That's true, if you can make a Wuxia game, you'd be unique and stand a good chance of getting first place. But it's too difficult as it's hard to make something special out of it. Even Zen Entertainment hasn't been able to make a name for it after working on it for so long."
Chen Mo replied, "I know, that's why I'm still thinking about it."
Lin Mao nodded, "Alright, good luck! I believe in you! You've even made Warcraft, a game that's known to be difficult to make in China. As long as you have the idea and make a good Wuxia theme, you're pretty much guaranteed to get first place. "
Chen Mo nodded, "Yep, good luck too. Let's both get a good ranking!"
…
Chen Mo returned to the experience store after lunch and started thinking about the new game.
The range of games that included China's traditional culture was quite narrow, with only Wuxia and Wuxia themes being the most popular ones.
In the parallel world, when it came to China themed games, most designers and players would think of Wuxia games. For example, the popular VR game Legend of the Sword was a Xianxia game.
The reason why Xianxia games were so popular was that they could use Xianxia as a cover for the popular RPG game combat system. Therefore, the gameplay was relatively mature and very controllable, so there wouldn't be any serious deviations.
Western Fantasy RPG games had Warriors, Mages, and Archers that could engage in close combat, ranged attacks, or fly on Griffins. All of these could be perfectly replaced with Wuxia packaging.
In Xianxia games, players could fly on swords, attack enemies with spells, explore immortal mountains, caves, and other mystic realms, which were very compatible with Western fantasy RPGs.
This was especially true for the combat system. Xianxia's spells could be applied to a Western fantasy RPG's spell system. Players would not feel out of place.
Therefore, the popular Xianxia games on the market were essentially Western fantasy RPGs with a different skin. It was precisely because the Xianxia theme could be made using the core of Western fantasy games that it was very controllable. The game system was also very mature and there was no risk involved.
So, why not Wuxia?
The biggest problem was the combat system.
Xianxia was a high-magic world, while Wuxia was a low-magic world.
In Xianxia novels, one could fly on a flying sword, slay demons, and summon tens of thousands of swords with a wave of one's hand. There were many forms of expression, and it suited the battle style of "casting skills".
In Xianxia novels, I would use my magic treasures to attack you, dealing damage and adding additional effects. These could all be expressed through skills and debuffs.
But Wuxia was different. Traditional Wuxia novels focused on countering every move, and the martial arts in it were often a set. For example, Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms would be too many if it was made into eighteen skills, but it would be too few if it was made into one skill. If it was made into one damage skill, it would be difficult to express its unique and cultural meaning.
Moreover, there wouldn't be that many demons and monsters in a Wuxia world, so it would be a lot less expressive. There wouldn't be any super large bosses, and all the enemies would be humanoid creatures.
Changing from Xianxia to Wuxia would require a lot of game content, and the cultural meaning of Wuxia would be difficult to express through the form of a game.
Therefore, for the designers of this world, it was better to make Xianxia than Wuxia.
Chen Mo had quite a few Wuxia games in his previous life, but the problem was that these Wuxia games only had Wuxia skin, and were still Xianxia games and Western fantasy RPGs.
For example, most of the games derived from Jin Yong and Gu Long's masterpieces were created by leveraging intellectual property. The games themselves did not have any revolutionary gameplay innovations.
For example, making Six Pulse Legendary Sword into a ranged attack, Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms into a melee attack, Dark North Divine Martial Art into a mana drain, and Subtle Steps into an increase in evasion rate …
These were all forcefully copying the combat system of Western fantasy RPGs. If you didn't take into account the emotional factor of the original works, it would be quite far-fetched. If it wasn't done well, the players wouldn't necessarily buy it.
Jin Yong and Gu Long didn't exist in this world. Of course, there were Wuxia novels similar to Jin Yong's, as well as martial arts systems for internal strength and moves. The packaging of martial arts was similar, and non-original martial arts like Yi Jin Jing, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua Zhang were also quite famous.
It was impossible for Chen Mo to get his hands on these IPs, or copy one of Jin Yong's works, as he only had three months.
Wuxia IP in this world was expensive, and it wasn't as popular as Jin Yong's novels. Putting aside the question of whether it was a loss, the main thing was that it wouldn't be that useful, otherwise Zen Entertainment and Emperor Dynasty Entertainment would have bought it already.
For example, Zen Entertainment had always been making high quality games, and made China themed games. It wasn't that they didn't want to tap into the potential of Wuxia games, but the few games they made were quite average, so they switched to a Xianxia theme.
It would be hopeless to forcefully make a Wuxia themed game without innovating its core gameplay.
The judges weren't stupid. They could tell at a glance that this was a fake work that was selling dog meat. If a Wuxia game couldn't have Wuxia content, then they might as well not make it at all.
Chen Mo wanted to make a Wuxia game, one that could embody the true meaning of Wuxia. It was a game that was innovative in terms of gameplay, and not just a Wuxia game.
Chen Mo had made quite a few games since he entered the industry. There were high quality games like Plants vs Zombies and Warcraft, scammy games like I Am MT, and word games like Lifeline.
However, on the whole, most of them were classic games from his previous world. There wasn't a single truly China themed game.
Of course, Chen Mo couldn't be blamed for this. In his previous world, the development of the video game industry was like this. There weren't many high quality games in China, and most of them were games with paywalls. There weren't many that could really be brought out.
This wasn't Chen Mo's intention. He also wanted China games to go global, and wanted Chinese players to be able to play high quality Chinese games that fit Chinese culture.
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