Chapter 169: Honorary Committee Member
Chen Mo hadn’t spent money on improving his stats since the release of Warcraft as Wulin Legend and Onmyoji weren’t particularly challenging.
If he was making a large MMORPG however, not only would he have to spend money to level up his attributes, he’d need to hire more help too.
Chen Mo’s current set up was as minimalistic as it could go, a main designer, an a.s.sistant, a writer, and one working the numbers. This was more than enough to work on a simple mobile game like Onmyoji, but a large RPG would be too demanding.
It was a bit of a struggle to work on a game like Warcraft. Luckily most of the content in Warcraft was done in the game’s world editor, they were able to get by despite being such a small team.
Therefore, Chen Mo decided that if he was to make a larger game, he would need to expand his team. This time, he would need to expand it to around twenty people.
And when taking into consideration the professionals for art, animations and cinematics, music and sound effects, HR, game operations… the number would be even larger.
Chen Mo was on his computer trying to figure out how many would be the optimal number.
Everybody knew how well Thunderbolt Entertainment treats their staff after hearing about how Chen Mo gave them eighteen months of bonus after Onmyoji’s release. There were already many asking how they could join the company. Chen Mo would surely get many applicants if he said it he was hiring it online.
At this moment, Chen Mo received a call from an unknown number.
“h.e.l.lo?”
“Hi is this Mr Chen Mo? I’m the cultural leader at the Game Committee, Qiao Hua.
Chen Mo was shocked to hear from the Game Committee, a leader of one of the departments at that.
The Game Committee needed no introduction, but this Qiao Hua, a head of a department called him personally?”
Chen Mo replied, “Great to meet you Mr Qiao.”
Qiao Hua sounded elegant and polite, and even quite friendly for a head of a department. “I’d like to congratulate you again for receiving first prize with Wulin Legend. I’d also like to congratulate you with your success with Onmyoji, and thank you for your contribution to the development of the videogame industry.”
“Thank you so much.”
Qiao Hua got straight to the point, “Anyways, Mr Chen Mo. Regarding your contribution to Chinese themed games, we at the Game Committee have discussed and we’d like to invite you to join us as an honorary member, and you’ve been promoted to an A-grade videogame designer.”
“Uhhh…”
Qiao Hua laughed, “Perhaps you don’t know what being an honorary member means. The Game Committee will take in a few outstanding designers as an honorary member. They don’t have to do anything, it’s a t.i.tle more than anything.
“We invited you because of all the high quality games you’ve made. You don’t have designation jobs, but we might give you some a.s.signments, like giving talks to students about being a videogame designer.”
Chen Mo quickly interjected, “About that, I’m usually quite busy, I’m worried I don’t have the time.”
Qiao Hua replied ,”Don’t worry, we’ll communicate that ahead of time. I’m just letting you know, and asking if you want to join.”
Chen Mo replied after a moment, “Can I think about this?”
Qiao Hua laughed, “Of course, this is completely voluntary. You can ask the opinions of others before deciding if you want to join.”
Chen Mo was dumbfounded after hanging up.
He thought that Wulin Legend’s saga was already behind him. The trophy had been given, and the promotional spots were honoured.
But the Game Committee invited him to become an honorary member? What was this about?
In theory, this is nothing but a good thing, but Chen Mo wasn’t sure if it would affect his work,
Chen Mo decided to call Lin Mao.
Lin Mao was shocked too, “Huh? Honorary Committee Member? I don’t know either! I’m just a normal C-grade videogame designer, I don’t know anything about that!”
Chen Mo felt helpless, thinking long and hard of who to call next.
Of course there were Honorary Game Committee members in large companies like Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Entertainment, but Chen Mo wasn’t too friendly with them.
All of a sudden, someone popped into his mind, Qiu Hengyang!
He’s the founder of hengyang.com afterall, he’d probably know a thing or two about this.
Chen Mo called Qiu Hengyang.
Qiu Hengyang was shocked to receive a call from Chen Mo, “Chen Mo? You’ve been quite famous recently, what made you think of me?”
“I have something to ask you. What do you do as a Honorary Game Committee Member? Do I need to ojin?”
Qiu Hengyang was shocked, “Honorary Committee Member? Isn’t that released at the end of the year?”
Chen Mo replied, “I’m not sure either. I received a call from a Mr Qiao today and confirmed that I can join, but I haven’t’ confirmed.”
Qiu Hengyang was stunned, “Of course you do! Why are you even hesitating!”
Chen Mo was speechless, “I don’t even know what you do as an Honorary Committee Member, how could I agree to that w.i.l.l.y nilly.”
“Do you know how many people are willing to give up an arm and a leg to become an Honorary Committee Member, and here you are contemplating if you should join?” said Qiu Hengyang.
“Really?”
“Yeah! I’m actually a Honorary Committee Member too, of course I’m sure. Let’s put it this way, being a Honorary Committee Member is the same as recognition from the department. It benefits every part of releasing a game in the future, like their board reviews or promotions. And when you read A or S-grade, you’d get a lot of extra resources when developing VR games too. Basically you don’t lose from agreeing to it.” explained Qiu Hengyang.
Chen Mo nodded, “Alright, no problem.”
Qiu Heng Yan reminded him again, “Don’t reject that opportunity, it’ll be hard for you to get this opportunity again.”
“Alright, don’t worry.”
“That’s it I guess. We’ll both be Honorary Game Committee Members in the future, let’s look after one another.” said Qiu Hengyang.
Chen Mo decided as it was such a good opportunity, he should accept to become an honorary member.
It’s quite likely that larger games he makes in the future had some violence in it, and he would more than likely have to deal with the Game Committee’s review process. If he could get on their good side now, why not.
“Anyways, I’m an A-grade videogame designer now?”
Chen Mo looked at the game editor to check his information.