A Game Discussion - THREE KINGDOM

The other day I had a chat with my CEO about game designs for movies MMO that we are producing. We discussed about our current game, its design and storyline within the game. The topic of what makes a great game storyline pop up and that our current movie game story do not allow the followings:

1.) Storyline is too short and shallow.

2.) Players takes time to understand a new storyline.

3.) Our game designer have a hard time expanding the movie storyline.

Its so unlike THREE KINGDOM where both players and designers know so much about the game. It makes it easier for both sides.

This got me thinking for a few days and went on to study the THREE KINGDOM games on the market today. WOW ! In total China have more than 150 THREE KINGDOM online games. "THREE KINGDOM" in China is really a big thing and its incarnation includes films. comics, TV shows, cartoons and even food. In 2008 movie director John Woo produce "RED CLIFF" Part 1 and 2 based on the THREE KINGDOMS and broke China box office held by James Cameron "Titanic". Even iPAD have a "Romance of Three Kingdoms" game from KOEI. There is even a restaurant theme after THREE KINGDOMS in Beijing which menu offers historical delicacies such as Liu Bei favorite dish "Liu Bei Spicy Fragrant Chicken".

There were reports that say even if a player is not familiar with history they could learn about THREE KINGDOMS from the game. "THREE KINGDOM KILLS" ( san guo sha ) is a mimic of Magic Gathering card game which became widely popular in China today. I heard the guys behind this card game is also making an online card game MMO.

BUT CAUTION

Andy Lau THREE KINGDOM movie was a complete disaster despite having top artist, big budget and a good director. Critics and viewers whom knows about THREE KINGDOMS gave it a lot of thumbs down from the fashion it uses to the lead actress and the fact that CaoCao do not have a female role in history. The movie backfire despite a good plot with lots of actions.

Only no more than 10 THREE KINGDOMS is doing good and reaping money from the market today in China. The reason could be overcrowded and/or bad storyline ... Unless you have the marketing muscle of Tencent whom can push any games upwards with its huge user base. That's why as a late comer to the THREE KINGDOMS MMO QQ still manages to be on top today.