Almighty Video Game Designer

There were many types of reactions coming from the attendees, confusion, deep thought, some didn’t understand, some were surprised.

Qiu Bin said, “Don’t worry, you guys can ask questions at any time.”

Someone raised their hand, “Why would you say that cardgames should framentise player time? The first day of gameplay in I Am MT is incredibly long.”

Qiu Bin nodded, “That’s true, but it’s only for the first few days. The first couple days is to get the players into a habit of playing the game to ensure that the players understand the value of the cards.

“But their playtime should be shortened after a week because of how monotonous the gameplay is. If the players spend too much time in game they would easily feel bored, shortening the lifespan of the game.”

The person asking the question seemed to understand and was nodding.

Qiu Bin smiled and said, “The second keyword is to reduce cost. Many might think why not spend the money if you have it? It’s not that you shouldn’t spend money, but to push updates frequently.

“That are constant changes within card games. If you took three months to finish a game you might still be relevant to the trend when it’s released, but any longer and your game might be outdated.

“Was I Am MT a high quality game? No, but it doesn’t affect how profitable it was. While ensuring the game’s basic qualities, reduce cost whenever possible and update as frequently as possible. Bend but don’t break.

“The third point is a big IP. This one is fairly simple. IP directly decides the value of the cards. So I’m urging you guys to buy a good IP the first moment you set eyes on it. It doesn’t matter if it was expensive as the current market allows instant return given a good IP. There is no way to make a loss.”

Qiu Bin kept presenting, keeping nothing to himself, sharing all his experiences with developing and operating Demon Slayers.

The designers who attended gave it all their attention, there were questions here and there and Qiu Bin answered them as well as he could.

The core gameplay of a first generation game like I Am MT was fairly simple. Even if it wasn’t understood in the first place, after copying the game and operating it for a while, the designer would naturally come to an understanding.

Demon Slayers had the help of Emperor Dynasty Gaming Platform and a huge player base with large amounts of analytics. Qiu Bin spent a lot of time investigating so it wasn’t surprising that he reached a conclusion before the other videogame designers.

The presentation lasted for over an hour with some more questions and answers at the end.

In the end, one of the designers said, “Thanks for your presentation, I’ve learnt a lot. My question is: From the looks of the market, mobile card games are at a turning point, what do you think about this?”

Qiu Bin nodded, “Thanks, that’s a good question, you have a good grasp on the market.

“It’s true that the mobile card game market is at a turning point, or rather an adjustment point. The players have played games like I Am MT for a whole year now, and some of them are getting tired of it. We’ll need to make some innovations to keep these players.

“Many are guessing if there would be a massive change in card games? I can confidently say that there isn’t. Even if there is, it would be a way of presenting it.

“Why would I say that? Think back to the three points I mentioned. Fragmentation, low cost, big IP. It will never deviate from this. I don’t think there will be any videogame designers who dare make any changes to these three points as it’s the reason that makes it so profitable.

“As long as these three points remain, the palystyle as we know is here to stay. Naturally this means that there won’t be a huge change in the scene of mobile card games.”

There was a follow up question, “Is there really nobody who would dare make changes to these three points?”

“Absolutely not,” said Qiu Bin, but added a few moments later, “Oh, other than Chen Mo.”

Everyone was shocked, Is Chen Mo still relevant?

Qiu Bin added, “Because games like I Am MT was pioneered by Chen Mo. Who knows what he’s thinking, maybe he has a much deeper understanding of the market than I do.”

After a few moments, Qiu Bin added, “Therefore, it’s a good thing that he moved onto the PC market.”

The attendees laughed, it’s true that Chen Mo decided to dabble in the PC market instead. If Chen Mo decided to stay in mobile games and released game after game, who knows what’ll happen to them.

When the presentation ended, many designers came forward to Qiu Bin to make some small talk.

“That was great! I’ve learned so much from your presentation!”

“Me too, thanks for sharing.”

“I’ve heard Demon Slayers is doing better and better, congratulations.”

Qiu Bin tried to be humble, “You’re too kind. This is all thanks to Mr Lin’s trust in me. Of course, the platform also played a big role.”

Another designer said, “By the way, I’ve heard that Demon Slayers 2 is at the end of the production line? If it can continue the success of the previous game to become two games that dominated the mobile game scene, you’ll probably become the Game Committee honorary member of the year.”

Qin Bin waved his hands, “It’s hard to tell, who knows how the game is going to do just yet. I’ll take your words as good luck.”

Qiu Bin’s assistant was standing right behind him as he left the meeting room.

Qiu Bin asked, “Are all the promotional materials done for Demon Slayers 2?”

“It’s done. Everything is in place!” replied the assistant, “Emperor Dynasty have put particular emphasis on the promotion of Demon Slayers 2, they haven’t been skimping on advertising at all.”

Qiu Bin nodded, “That’s great. As long as we have a good enough promotion and the playerbase from the previous game, this sequel is sure to do well.”

“For sure,” said the assistant before adding, “But haven’t you heard from the people from operations about the promotions?”

Qiu Bin looked at him and said, “I thought you’ve been dealing with that this whole time?”

“Yes,” replied the assistant, “the person in charge over there gave me some strategies that were kind of implicit, that’s why I’m wondering if they contacted you.”

Qiu Bin was shocked, “What?”

“It’s nothing really, the person in charge suggested that maybe we could be a bit more daring with our slogan. Demon Slayers is the number one mobile card game in China and I Am MT has long since been irrelevant, its monthly income is just horrible now. Could we maybe advertise as ‘China’s number one mobile card game’ or ‘the people’s mobile card game’?”

Qiu Bin scowled, but didn’t reply.

The assistant added, “From what I can tell, Mr Lin seems to agree with that thought process. Moreover, Demon Slayers is the number one card game, it’s not too far of a stretch right?”

Qiu bin nodded, he did think that it was reasonable as Demon Slayers was number one with no competition.

“Alright, we’ll do that. Demon Slayers 2 must get more players than before!”