Newly Entered The Top 2 Of WeChat Mini-games Best-selling List, What’s Different About This Xianxia RPG?

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Introduction:

Among the top three best-selling mini-games on WeChat, old and new Xianxia products have taken over alternately. Will it form a new outlet?

During the Dragon Boat Festival, the immortal-cultivation theme "Xundao Daqian" entered the Top 2 of the best-selling mini-games list on WeChat (Android), and its popularity remains unabated to this day. In addition to the best-selling "King of Salted Fish", the top five new products on the previous best-selling list were "Second God: Awakening of Light" and "Crazy Knights", and the sudden appearance of "Xundao Daqian" caused attracted our attention.

The two pictures on the left show the best-seller rankings on June 14, and the picture on the right shows the latest rankings.

Highlights of differences in themes under similar tracks

In terms of subject matter, although "Xundao Daqian" uses the theme of cultivating immortality, the theme is more about "monsters cultivating immortality", that is, animal cultivation. Compared with the immortality games that I have come across in the past, most of them feature human characters as the protagonists, which is quite unique from the perspective of novelty. On the other hand, content with the theme of cultivating immortals has a large user base. Whether it is domestic film and television dramas or online novels in recent years, there are many content with themes of cultivating immortals and immortal heroes. In terms of the concepts of character design and payment ratio design, "Xundao Daqian" has a "shadow" of "The King of Salted Fish", but on the other hand, it is also better than "The King of Salted Fish", and the character design also adopts a similar approach. "Funny style", but in terms of game art integration, "Xundao Daqian" is even better.

In terms of gameplay, "Xundao Daqian" is a turn-based RPG development game. Legally speaking, the game is a "turn-based RPG + "The Pirates Are Coming"-like". The character upgrading method of "consuming peaches and cutting down trees" is the same as the "Opening boxes to upgrade characters and obtaining equipment" method in "The Pirates Are Coming". The other sub-playing methods adopt the 1v1 gameplay of turn-based RPG. While using the basic gameplay to cultivate user satisfaction, common gameplay methods such as climbing towers, pushing levels, challenging bosses, and PK are used to supplement game content consumption.

The brilliance behind the simple and monotonous gameplay

"Xundao Daqian" adopts the same development logic form as that of early heavy-duty RPG games, and expands the scope of development through equipment, pets, NPC bonds, etc. The only difference is that compared with heavy-duty mobile games and PC RPG games, methods suitable for small games such as "the pleasure of acquiring equipment", "the pleasure of upgrading" and "lower acquisition costs" are used to cultivate user interest. The corresponding method is to use equipment, The depth of development of systems such as pets and monsters is no less than that of character development, thereby driving payments.

The main sub-games of the game are: adventure (push the level), suppress the demon tower (push the tower), challenge the demon king (defeat the Boss according to the level of development), fighting skills (PK), invasion of alien beasts (challenge the damage of the boss), fairy friends ( There are 7 types of illustrated collection + exploration), blessed land (mining), and supernatural powers.

In terms of character attributes, they are mainly divided into two categories: basic attributes and combat attributes. The basic attributes are our common attribute value panel, while the combat attributes are mainly divided into six categories: combo, blood-sucking, counterattack, critical hit, stun, and blood-sucking. Each type of basic attribute will have a corresponding value whether it is a character or a monster. Resistance. In terms of design, compared with other games that have many additional buffs/debuffs, although "Xundao Daqian" has only 6 types of additional buffs, each type is not "tasteless" and provides players with a certain degree of freedom of choice. For example, a combo can reach up to 4 times. When triggering a combo, there is also a relatively high probability of triggering a critical hit and a stun.

In terms of other cultivation, there are four major types: mounts, mythical beasts, spirits, and bloodlines. Bloodline is similar to the talent system, mythical beasts are the pet system, and spirits are equivalent to the pendant system. These systems mainly provide gains for the character's combat attributes and combat resistance. In terms of development ideas, they are all through the method of "repeatedly obtaining upgrades."

Since the game is a heavy RPG type, it needs to promote the desire to compete among players through "comparative social interaction" to stimulate consumption. In addition to the common arena system and ranking system, it has also become important to show the level and obtain high-quality equipment/spiritual beasts and other revolving doors.

On the other hand, it is the consumability of player time. RPG mobile games, whether MMO or not, all pay attention to the online time of game users. When all the gameplay is consumed by players in a single day, the blessed land system is a means to keep players online. This gameplay is similar to mining, but the overall mining time cycle will be shorter.

In terms of commercialization, the design of "Xundao Daqian" is "emphasis on in-app purchases and light on advertising". The ratio of in-app purchases to advertising reaches 9:1, and there are not many advertising holes. In terms of specific commercial design, in addition to common payment methods such as various funds, weekly and monthly cards, and gift packages, the game also attracts users to pay through "simplicity", such as double cutting speed, one-click upgrade of magical powers and other functions to attract users. To break the ice for users, the design idea uses both the ice-breaking payment features common in mini-games and the cost-effective attraction features common in serious games (common ideas).

In terms of release and purchase volume, according to the monitoring of hot cloud data, the release volume of "Xundao Daqian" is concentrated in the near future, and the video material is the main one.

On the whole, there is not much innovation in the overall design of "Xundao Daqian". In the future, the payment level will be similar to "The King of Salted Fish" which focuses on in-app purchases.

Another Xianxia game on the WeChat mini-game bestseller list: "Dao Tian Lu"

The Xianxia games that occupy the list are not only RPG games. For example, "Dao Tian Lu" is a classic representative. The gameplay of "Dao Tian Lu" adopts the integrated gameplay of "simulation management + team RPG". The game theme revolves around "building your own sect from 0-1", with simulation business games as the bottom layer, and team formation. RPG has developed into the main form of combat expression. The basic form of the gameplay is similar to that of "Xundao Daqian", but the two methods are completely opposite.

The game design of "Daotianlu" focuses on "immersion in online literature". In addition to having many character-related attributes, it uses vocabulary that follows various immortal vocabulary. The dialogues in the copywriting are similar to modern online literature: NPC dialogues are more literary, while the characters Most of the account dialogues are modernized, and excellent combat visuals are used to supplement the picture sense that online texts cannot provide. The volume of game content is "mainly complex", while "Xundao Daqian" has a smooth and simplified feeling out of the box. The game's visual mode, attribute types, gameplay scalability, etc. are designed to be simple and easy for non-literate players to understand, focusing on "simplification first".

In terms of operation strategy, "Dao Tian Lu" is linked to the domestic animation "Zhe Tian" to create the protagonist Ye Fan. In addition to creating the game character "Ye Fan" and related NPCs, it also sets up related game activities such as answering questions, themed levels, customized skills, etc. The method forms a broken circle and deep penetration.

"Dao Tian Lu" is linked to the domestic comic "Zha Tian"

"Daotianlu" in-game screenshots

What’s behind the “erosion” of Xianxia games on the WeChat mini-game bestseller list

In addition to "Xundao Daqian", there are currently 3 products in the top ten of the WeChat mini-game best-selling list that belong to the category of games with the theme of cultivating immortals, namely: "Dao Tianlu" and "The Legend of Artifacts", and "Mountain and Sea Beihuang Scroll" 》It fell out of the top ten a few days ago. According to information from Douyin, QQ, Kuaishou, Toutiao, Tencent Advertising, and the six major advertising platforms, the most popular game styles in Kuaishou, Tencent News, and QQ are mostly Xianxia and Legend games. Among them, fairy tale mobile games account for half of the top 10 mobile game promotion lists in QQ and Tencent News.

On the delivery side, according to the “Top 50 Creative Groups of WeChat Mini Games Launched” compiled by Hot Cloud, in terms of game types, role-playing and casual puzzles are the two major types of WeChat mini-games that account for the largest share of purchases. , among which, role playing accounts for more than 60%, accounting for a more concentrated proportion, casual puzzle accounting for 10%, simulation management and SLG are in the third echelon, accounting for 8% each. In terms of game themes, Legend and Xianxia are the two major themes that account for the largest share of WeChat mini-games. Legend accounts for 30% and Xianxia accounts for 24%. The two together account for more than half, while Modern Theme only ranked third, accounting for 10%.

In addition, the Xianxia game user base continues to expand, which is obvious to all. According to incomplete statistics in 2021, the user base of my country’s Xianxia mobile game is close to 200 million, with most users concentrated between the ages of 18-35. The user group of Xianxia mobile game is mainly male, but there is also a certain proportion of female players. Xianxia mobile game has a very broad user base, including not only game enthusiasts, but also some young people who are not keen on games. In terms of market size, according to the market survey of China Mobile Games, the market size of the entire Xianxia game theme is about 30 billion to 50 billion. In terms of the number of games, there have been more than 200 Xianxia-themed games since 2021. With such a huge potential market, it is not difficult to see that the Xianxia game has "eroded" the best-selling list of mini-games.

High on the bestseller list, but not impeccable

The shortcomings of "Xun Da Qian" are also more obvious in comparison. The main aspects are as follows: First, in terms of playability, from our experience cycle, if "Xundao Daqian" is played at the end of the first day and the beginning of the second day, all gameplay will be pushed to the most difficult level currently. In this case, the online time of the game can be as high as 7-8 hours. However, after the second day of the game, due to the significant numerical value and the linear increase in upgrade consumption, the game can consume content for about 3 hours or less, and this kind of The huge time gap in a very short period of time will have a certain negative impact on continued payment.

Secondly, in terms of payment value, after the character upgrades and breaks through the numerical barrier, the progress that can be advanced in all subsequent gameplays is relatively low. There is a certain weight imbalance between the main gameplay and various sub-games from the perspective of time consumption. The sense of achievement brought by players after promotion is relatively not significant. Take "King of Salted Fish" as an example. Every time a player awakens a card for a large period, or when other systems provide relatively high attribute gains for card characters, players can deal damage through PVP, pushing towers, or fighting bosses. In addition to the increase visible to the naked eye through methods such as receiving awards, the skill mechanisms of different characters provide different refreshing feelings for the characters. For example, Guan Yu can continue to kill 5 people in a row after killing a unit with his ultimate move, and Lu Bu can kill instantly with his ultimate move. 3 thick-blooded wild monsters, Sun Ce can be beaten to death in an instant with low blood volume, etc.

Finally, under the P2W model, the forms of promoting user depth and continuous payment are not diverse enough. Since the game currently does not have union battles, team PK and other gameplay methods, the paid competition relies more on the ranking system and level display. It is relatively single in form and lacks design comparisons such as "there is an obvious strength gap between the highest quality and second quality props" , unable to achieve effective and sustained payment flow.

High-profile bestseller list, low-key company

It is understood that the game manufacturer of "Xundao Daqian" is Hainan Xianglai Technology, but the official customer service account shown in the game announcement is Hainan Shangxuan. Hainan Shangxuan is the promoter of "Call Me Big Shopkeeper". According to the recent legal dispute between Yishijie, Hainan Shangxuan and Sanqi Interactive Entertainment regarding "Call Me the Shopkeeper", Hainan Shangxuan and Sanqi Interactive Entertainment have a close relationship. In other words, "Xundao Daqian" belongs to the products of the "Sanqi Series". In addition, the current publisher of Hainan Xianglai's web game "Celtic Continent" is also Sanqi Interactive Entertainment.

In recent years, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment has performed well overseas with its heavily overseas products such as "Song of the City on the Cloud" and "And". Another impression in the industry is that it is a "large purchaser". Nowadays, the purchase investment of "Xundao Daqian" is no less than that of other overseas games.

Summary: According to the trends and development of WeChat mini-games in the past three years, top mini-games are becoming more "heavy", and games such as "King of Salted Fish" and "Pocket Raiders" are now on the best-selling list. Judging from the performance of the rankings, the best-selling list of WeChat mini-games will be a red ocean of “emphasis on in-app purchase mini-games” in the future. Faced with the vast scale of the Xianxia game market, the frequent presence of Xianxia games in the rankings also reflects the trend of the red ocean on the track.