Chapter 153 - No Budget Limit

The foundations of Onmyoji were very clear cut. Even though its playstyle was vastly different from I Am MT after generations of card games, the core was still identical, it was still getting cards, training them, and arranging a team.

The more difficult parts of the development process would be the quality of the artwork as well as making models. Onmyoji’s models were exceedingly high quality, much higher than those in Warcraft and Wulin Legend.

There was a lot of work that needed to be done outside of the models such as background music, dubs, and character artworks. These were relatively to solve as long as he had money.

In Chen Mo’s plan, Onmyoji was split into six different categories, Shikigami and Onmyoji system, quests, combat, socials (hunts, mail, chatting, etc.), Souls and shop related things, and other systems(summoning, codex, etc.).

The most important ones were Shikigami, Onmyoji, Souls, and everything related to the combat system, followed by the story. Everything else should fall in place when these two are done.

Chinese card games were incredibly easy to play, and the difficulty comes from developing a play style based on the stats of the cards, which was how Chen Mo managed to finish the draft pretty quickly.

Chen Mo sent the concept draft and the sketch for Abe No Seimei to Su Jinyu before going downstairs.

—

Before Su Jinyu could take a proper look at the document, Wen Lingwei and Qian Kun gathered around her.

They were the two most interested in this type of game, which was why they were so excited to hear about the design document.

Everyone was shocked to see that sketch of Abe No Seimei.

“What? Abe no Seimei? Isn’t that a famous Onmyoji?” exclaimed Zheng Hongxi.

“Yeah, that clothing is also quite Japanese. Is this the theme you’re going for, manager?” asked Wen Lingwei.

Zheng Hongxi was a bit conflicted, “Is it going to work? The IPs they use are better than the last. Onmyoji doesn’t seem popular in China either, so do you plan on making your own IP, manager?”

Su Jinyu looked through the design document and said, “The manager wrote that it’ll be high quality, and will even hire voice actors in Japanese? From the looks of it, the game might be much more complicated than I Am MT.”

“How knows how this will end up!”

Everyone was kind of worried.

Chen Mo came down stairs while the discussion was still going on.

“Let’s go into the meeting room, I’ll quickly go over the plans for the game,” said Chen Mo as he walked towards the meeting room.

Wen Lingwei followed, “I want to listen in too!”

Chen Mo nodded, “Alright, suits you.”

After getting seating Jia Peng couldn’t help but ask, “Manager, what type of game is it? Is it similar to I Am MT?”

Su Jinyu asked too, “Another pay to win game?”

“Oh, this will be a very honest game.” replied Chen Mo.

Su Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh, thank goodness.”

Qian Kun was shocked and looked through the document again, “Umm, are you sure? The summoning system and Shikigami training system doesn’t seem honest at all.”

Chen Mo replied, “I’m saying honest in terms of the story. The game is placed in a time where ghosts and humans live side by side. The Onmyoji’s are responsible for maintaining the balance between them. There are also a lot of heartfelt stories between humans and monsters as most monsters have lived a sad life. If the story isn’t honest I don’t know what is.”

Zheng Hongxi replied as he looked through the document again, “Hmm. This story doesn seem quite honest.”

Qian Kun scratched his head as he felt that something wasn’t quite right, yet couldn’t find what was wrong.

Chen Mo continued, “You guys can view this game as an improved I Am MT. The core of the game is similar to I Am MT, it uses similar getting cards, leveling them, and battling systems. But instead of cards, it’ll be 3D models.”

Qian Kun seemed to be rejuvenated and full of life, “So, manager, it’s a scammy game then?”

Chen Mo was slightly irritated, “Yes, you could put it like that.”

“I have a problem. Since it’s a card game, the IP is very important right? You couldn’t even show your face on the market if you didn’t have a big IP. This game might do well in Japan, but there aren’t many fans who like this theme in China right?” asked Zheng Hongxi.

Chen Mo nodded, “Yes, it seems to be like that.”

“Then how do you plan to get this IP off the grounds? Do you plan to make an animated series like I Am MT?” asked Wen Lingwei.

Chen Mo shook his head, “No animations. We won’t be doing anything, the game will carry the IP with it.”

Everyone was shocked, Really?

Chen Mo laughed, “Really. That’s why we have to make the game as high quality as possible. This includes the artwork, models, scenes, music, voicelines, and dubs. It must be good enough to be better than any other mobile card game on the market.”

Su Jinyu scowled, “Be better than any other card game? That sounds hard.”

Chen Mo shook his head, “Not all all. It ends up being a problem of money. So Goldfish, when you go search for a company to outsource the companies, you can go straight to the highest quality ones. I’m alright with paying twenty thousand RMB for a piece of art. I don’t have any limits for artwork or music this time. And I want famous voice actors from Japan. I don’t mind spending more money if that means I’m getting someone I’m happy with.”

Everyone was shocked, Twenty thousand per piece? Famous voice actors?

I Am MT’s artworks were only two thousand a piece, but this time it was ten times more, isn’t this too wasteful? Combined with the models and animations, Shikigami’s budget would go through the roof, costing more than the models for Warcraft!

Sure Chen Mo had money, it was shocking to everyone that he’d spend it like that.

Qian Kun was a bit hesitant, “Managear, if you really aren’t looking at the price tag, the development cost could cost tens of millions…”

Chen Mo nodded, “Yeah, so what? Is tens of millions a lot? I spent thirty-odd million on the cinematics in Warcraft.”

Jia Peng scratched his head, “You can’t compare it to Warcraft, it’s a mobile game after all…”

“Don’t worry,” assured Chen Mo, “It won’t lose to Warcraft in terms of profitability. Let’s put it this way, there is no limit for the development budget, especially things that related to the quality of the game like artwork and music. I want the best, don’t worry about the cost.”

Wen Lingwei jested, “Geez, I didn’t know the stingy manager was this generous! I’m not used to this!”