In Chen Mo's plan, he would focus on client-side and mobile games, not web-based games.
In his previous life, web-based games did have their moments of popularity, but the biggest problem was that web-based games only became popular in a specific environment, with a specific group of players. Their success was short lived, and hard to replicate.
In Chen Mo's previous life, web-based games only became popular for three to five years before quickly falling into decline and being replaced by mobile games. Mobile games also went from rough to high quality in a very short period of time, and this speed was only increasing.
Although web-based games were very cost-effective, it was pointless without a group of players.
What kind of players were the players in this world?
Chen Mo had seen many large scale VR games, and the quality of these virtual reality games was even higher than the AAA games in his previous life. Giving these people a web-based game?
Giving them a "Dragon Slayer Sword, click and you'll get it"?
That would probably be a huge loss.
To Chen Mo, mobile games were the evolution of web-based games, suppressing web-based games in every aspect.
In terms of convenience, web-based games had to be played at work, but mobile games could be played at any time. When the leader came, all he had to do was place his phone on his desk.
In terms of graphics, web-based games were limited by the way they were made, requiring resources to be constantly loaded, and often having incomplete graphics, greatly affecting the game experience.
In terms of playstyle, the classic playstyles of web-based games were all inherited by mobile games, and as mobile games continued to develop, there were many new playstyles.
Therefore, web-based games were basically being replaced by mobile games. Chen Mo would be a fool to try and develop web-based games.
Chen Mo thought for a long time. His first real game was a classic casual game from his previous life: Plants vs Zombies.
It wasn't the most profitable option, but it was the safest and most long-term option.
What did Chen Mo need the most right now?
Money? He really needed it, but it wasn't what he needed the most.
What he needed the most right now was fame.
There were three main reasons why Chen Mo chose Plants vs Zombies for his first game.
First, the game didn't have a lot of resources, with only about 100 installers.
The amount of resources could be kept within three hundred. (Installers of games are usually compressed, so it doesn't represent the actual amount of resources.)
Moreover, the game's various numerical settings were relatively transparent, and the level design was clear. Chen Mo was able to control it with his current numerical and level design skills.
In terms of art and music, the main difficulty was in the design, but Chen Mo was basically copying it, so it wasn't too difficult.
Therefore, this was a game that Chen Mo could control.
Secondly, Chen Mo needed fame and word of mouth. Making games with paywalls was indeed profitable, but it was difficult to make them popular. Moreover, there was a high chance that they would be scolded.
For the first game, Chen Mo wanted to make it a national level game, letting as many players as possible see Thunderbolt Gaming's logo, letting them know the designer Chen Mo.
It was a long-term goal to let all the players know him, but he had to plan it from the first game.
Third, Plants vs Zombies may seem simple, but it's actually a very well-rounded game, especially when it comes to strategy. It's a game that will last for a long time.
Based on the fact that it would take three months to develop a game, Chen Mo would need at least a month for each of his games to be playable. From this point alone, Plants vs Zombies crushed many other casual games.
Moreover, the game could be released on both PC and mobile at the same time, and could even be used on both platforms.
In the end, Chen Mo decided that Thunderbolt Entertainment's first game would be Plants vs Zombies!
Chen Mo stood up and walked around the experience store. After resting for ten minutes, he started working on the game.
Chen Mo wasn't in a rush to use the Memory Playback Potion, as it only lasted for four hours. He needed to remember the game's structure first, and use the potion to remember the parts that he couldn't remember.
First, he had to write a design document, then input the basic rules of the game into the Illusion Editor, which would generate the basic structure of the game.
In his previous life, Chen Mo's speed in writing a design document was already very fast. It was basically one to two times faster than other designers. A system design document with over ten thousand words, from concept to prototype, to logical analysis, to final writing, could be completed in five to seven working days.
Moreover, this included time to think and make changes.
Of course, depending on the structure of the game, the number of design documents would be different. Normally, even a mid-tier mobile game would have at least twenty to thirty design documents, some big and some small, covering different systems.
There were even more tables and resource requirements, most of which wouldn't be seen in the game.
Most of the time spent writing a design document was spent thinking, considering different designs. However, Plants vs Zombies was very complete, and Chen Mo didn't want to make any changes, so he wrote it very quickly.
Interface layout, combat system, level design, plant types, zombie types, unique playstyles … it didn't take long for the design documents to be completed.
After that, Chen Mo started looking for free resources in the game engine, and downloaded them using his own resources.
For art resources, Chen Mo had to hand draw and check them himself in order to make the game as close to the original as possible.
These free resources were only replacements, to not affect the progress of the game. Once the game was more or less complete, Chen Mo would need to change out all the art resources.
There were quite a few art resources with green fields, plants, and zombies, but only a small portion of them were barely usable, and the art styles were even more bizarre. But since they were only replacements, Chen Mo decided to make do with them.
Just writing the general framework of the design document and finding the art resources took Chen Mo three days.
During this time, the company passed the review, and Thunderbolt Entertainment was officially established. Chen Mo also gained a new title on Weibo and the game engine: Founder of Thunderbolt Entertainment.
Of course, this title was just empty, as the company was just an empty shell with nothing.
According to Chen Mo's plan, Thunderbolt Entertainment would have many branches, such as Thunderbolt Games, Thunderbolt Literature, Thunderbolt Animation, Thunderbolt Movies, and so on …
Of course, this was only part of the strategy. If the opportunity presented itself, he would do it, and if not, he wouldn't. Chen Mo's plan was to focus on the gaming industry. As for other things like literature and animation, they would be of great help to the gaming industry, but they weren't Chen Mo's main focus.
After deciding on the name and logo of the company, Chen Mo gave a call to the staff from the competition, asking them to help with the signage for the experience store.
They were quite efficient, and the signage was done in two days. Someone came to install it at the entrance of the experience store.
The signage was beautifully written: Thunderbolt Gaming Experience Store, with Thunderbolt Entertainment's logo next to it. Chen Mo was quite satisfied with the result after taking a look.
After finishing all that, Chen Mo locked himself in his office again, organizing the framework of the design document, as well as the replacement art resources.
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