Moments later—
The group completely exploded!
"Isn't Tengda the same company behind The Lonely Desert Road?!"
"!!! They stopped making troll games and switched to mobile games?"
"This company is actually 'fair'? Is this for real?"
Everyone quickly searched online and immediately discovered that this new game was indeed from the same company that created the infamous Lonely Desert Road.
Calling this company "fair"? That seemed impossible!
Ruan Guangjian quickly explained: "It's true! If you don't believe me, download the game and see for yourselves. It's genuinely fair! You pay just 10 yuan for unlimited play, and the only additional purchase available is a 30-yuan lifetime membership card, which merely grants one extra ten-card draw per day. There are absolutely no other charges!"
"Seriously?"
Chen Qi was skeptical.
A card-based mobile game with practically no in-app purchases?
How could such a game even hope to make money?
Were they expecting to recover their costs just from each player's initial 10 yuan payment?
Wasn't this game doomed to lose money?!
Everyone remained doubtful but decided to buy the game and see for themselves.
Once they entered, they discovered the game was exactly as fair as described!
It did have a shop system, but only one item was available—a lifetime membership priced at just 30 yuan.
Unlike other card games, it lacked common monetization points like stamina potions, stage challenge resets, or additional card draws. Ghost General had none of that!
In other words, all players experienced essentially identical gameplay. There was no distinction between free players and high-paying "whales."
Even the only available in-app purchase was just 30 yuan—comparable to the price of a single subscription card for Fantasy World, yet it lasted forever!
Chen Qi was stunned.
He couldn't comprehend it!
As a famous concept artist working at a leading Chinese game company, he was well-versed in the industry.
Though his focus was on art, he still understood some basics of game design.
In card-based mobile games, the main profit source was always in-app purchases. High-paying players regularly spent hundreds or thousands, each contributing as much revenue as hundreds of ordinary players combined.
This profit model had begun with the mobile game Cute Three Kingdoms, whose incredible in-app revenues made many game companies envious.
Of course, plenty of players complained about its greedy monetization system.
But what game company would refuse to earn money?
Chen Qi had never imagined a company would be this bold: using their entire development budget to enhance game quality, spending nothing on promotion, and deliberately eliminating their primary revenue streams to give every player a completely fair gaming experience!
What kind of spirit was this?
It was idealistic—maybe even naïve—but unquestionably noble!
Chen Qi felt tears welling up in his eyes as he recalled when he first entered the industry.
At that time, single-player games were thriving in China, and many passionate developers like him devoted themselves tirelessly to creating high-quality, honorable games...
Nowadays, such conscientious companies were rare indeed!
"No problem, I'll post about it on Weibo right away. Such a fantastic game shouldn't remain unnoticed!" Chen Qi was the first to speak up.
Naturally, the others joined in enthusiastically.
"It truly is a fair game—I'll share it too!"
"I don't have many followers on Weibo, but I'll spread the word in other group chats."
"Those posting on Weibo, don't forget to include these amazing illustrations—they're the heart and soul of the game!"
Of course, some people initially suspected this was just a scheme to exploit the big names for free promotion.
But after further thought, they felt this wasn't the case.
The crucial factor was that Ruan Guangjian's illustrations truly captivated everyone in the group. Without genuinely impressive artwork, these industry veterans wouldn't bother providing free promotion.
Moreover, the game itself genuinely embodied fair—completely removing all typical monetization methods.
Such an upright company, neither buying fake reviews nor employing click-farms, clearly had nothing to hide. What was there to doubt?
Given the current situation, the game seemed bound to suffer significant losses. Helping to promote it a bit was, at the very least, a kind gesture to ensure it didn't go unnoticed.
Soon, several prominent artists in the group enthusiastically reposted Ruan Guangjian's artwork on Weibo.
Chen Qi reposted it too, adding his own brief comment:
"A friend's artwork from my chat group—I really like this artistic style. It reinterprets traditional Three Kingdoms characters with tremendous imagination, creating a unique aesthetic."
"P.S.: These illustrations were made for a game company's project, named Ghost General."
Chen Qi didn't elaborate further. Partly because of his personality—he wasn't fond of exaggerated praise—and partly because he didn't want his repost to come across as a paid advertisement.
Overpraising could easily backfire.
His original Weibo post felt natural, simply sharing a friend's impressive artwork with his followers.
Of course, although these artists were influential within the industry, they didn't necessarily have massive numbers of followers.
Take Chen Qi, for instance—despite holding key positions as a lead concept artist on major domestic game projects and having many acclaimed illustrations, he still only had around 100,000 Weibo followers.
Typically, his posts generated at most a few hundred comments—not much more.
However, Chen Qi's Weibo friends were not limited to artists focused solely on game illustrations.
Among his mutual followers were renowned comic artists, famous game producers, novelists, and even a few second- or third-tier celebrities, all interconnected within this extended network.
When multiple members of Chen Qi's influential chat group reposted the same content, their collective influence was substantial.
Very quickly, the number of comments on the Weibo post soared rapidly.
"Are these reimagined Three Kingdoms characters? So cool!"
"Is this artwork from a foreign artist?"
"No, it's created by a Chinese artist!"
"A Chinese artist created illustrations this unique?"
"Amazing! Even just seeing the illustrations gives me chills!"
"The game is called Ghost General? Why have I never heard of it before?"
"All mobile games lately have the same repetitive chibi-style—I'm so sick of it! This feels completely fresh!"
"I'm gonna go check it out!"
The response was unexpectedly enthusiastic!
In fact, this enthusiasm made sense, considering that Cute Three Kingdoms had dominated the market for a full year now.
Over the past year, Cute Three Kingdoms had continuously expanded the player base for card-based mobile games, ensuring that almost every mobile gamer had become familiar with this genre.
However, at the same time, players had grown increasingly bored with the repetitive formula of Cute Three Kingdoms.
This was especially true for the chibi art style. After seeing countless games following the same aesthetic, players had become extremely fatigued—almost nauseated by any new chibi-style games.
But Ghost General was completely different.
Just the unique illustrations alone were enough for players to recognize it as a game entirely distinct from Cute Three Kingdoms, naturally sparking their curiosity and interest!