I think almost every gamer knows something about "self-propelled chess" to a greater or lesser degree. At the beginning of 2019, Giant Bird Duoduo's "Dota Self-Propelled Chess" swept the home page of every live broadcast platform; and in the following year or so, domestic and overseas developers who saw the possibilities of it broke into this "new continent" one after another and began their own cultivation. Subsequently, we not only had countless games named "self-propelled chess", but also saw its shadow in MOBA (such as "League of Legends"), MMORPG (such as "Against the Cold Water"), RTS (such as "Art of War: Red Tide") and other categories of games.
My friend once called this rush to "pioneering" "slash-and-burn" — primitive people cutting down grass and trees with stone axes, setting fires to ashes, and then sowing seeds on warm land where the fires subsided. It is barbaric and extensive: the first to set the fire, the first to sow the seeds, is likely not the one who will eventually reap.
That's exactly what happens in reality. Now, three years have passed since Dota Self-Propelled Chess came out. Today, "Dota Self-Propelled Chess" is still updated and has a part of the loyal fans; "Genting Game", which was born from "League of Legends", is about to usher in a new season, and in terms of the number of players, it seems to be the last king of this land; the V Society has completed with rare high efficiency and has rarely been updated frequently, and "Dota Hegemony" has been doorwired more than a year ago, and this project has also made the "Artifact" project team left and right, and finally a perfect lose-lose. Instead, the "hindsight" Blizzard implanted in Hearthstone provides a unique experience that gives the game a whole new lease of life.
Looking back, we've been away from that slash-and-burn land for a long, long time.
Every gamer should feel the fact that the popularity of the self-propelled chess category is gradually declining - the e-sports competitions that bloomed everywhere last year (such as the 2019 TGA Tencent E-sports Games even included 4 different self-propelled chess games) are now almost impossible to see.
In addition, it is worth noting that with the continuous update of self-propelled board games, the threshold for players to get started and the cost of learning are also increasing. Due to the need to keep the game alive and maintain diversity, developers had to make drastic changes to the pieces and shackles at a fixed time. In the changes accumulated over the years, the game is becoming more and more complicated step by step. Saving money, selling blood, searching cards, going up the population, and combining equipment, the timing and purpose of these actions are completely different in each lineup, which means that as long as you haven't played the game for a while, it will be difficult to return again.
An obvious example comes from the mobile end of a self-propelled board game. Some time ago, the "Genting Game" authorized mobile game "Battle of the Golden Shovel" was launched, and in the actual play, people found that the more complex operation inherited from "Genting Game" was actually incompatible with the lightweight and portable characteristics of the mobile phone platform.
In the introduction of the official cooperation software "Tencent Mobile Game Assistant", they mentioned that players can play the game on the PC through the emulator, and the advantages include "you can play the game while watching the strategy" - in the past, people used a variety of uneven "cloud computers" to play Genting Game on the mobile end; today, people use the emulator to play its mobile game on the PC side, which is really a ridiculous change.
As the self-propelled chess piece becomes thicker and thicker, and the operations and decisions of each round become more and more numerous, in my opinion, it begins to be in opposition to the word "self-propelled". In fact, it's hard to be "double-minded" like you were in the beginning, playing chess and doing something else at the same time. Watching a movie will still affect your limited time operation, and it is even more impossible to touch the fish at work.
In such an environment, some lightweight, simple self-propelled chess pieces seem to have once again entered the player's field of vision. Recently, a game that was released in September last year, "Super Auto Pets", was used as a casual game live content by several well-known anchors, and unexpectedly got a good program effect; so on the first day of work, I also tried this small free game, and then really touched the fish of the day.
The form of the self-propelled board game is not complicated. This system, which was born out of mahjong and is now relatively fixed, wants to gain the favor of players, and the chess piece design is a good breakthrough. "Small Animals Walking Chess" makes various animals in the emoji into chess pieces - in the game, you can not only see low-level ants, mosquitoes, fish, but also high-level hippos, giraffes, jaguars, and even mythical creatures Such as chinese dragons - these emojis are not only easy to understand and learn, but also because of their rough and simple combat special effects, they have made a very magical performance effect, which can be said to be more effective with half the effort.
One of the pieces that impressed me the most was the "reindeer". Upon death it spawns an "Angry Bus" that can be splashed onto pieces in the second block, and another interesting piece is the "Chinese Dragon", which increases the health and attack of units on the field by purchasing level 1 pieces, somewhat similar to a version of Nomi in Tavern Chess.
In terms of gameplay, on the one hand, "Small Animal Self-Propelled Chess" follows the basic framework of traditional self-propelled chess, that is, each piece has a special skill, the plural low-star pieces can be synthesized into high-star pieces, as the game progresses, the player can buy higher-level pieces, and the player can spend money to rotate the pieces in the store.
On the other hand, it also simplifies the self-propelled chess mode. For example, players earn 10 coins per round, no savings, no interest; (like Tavern Chess) removed the waiting area and provided only 5 slots; battles are fixed in the order in which players are arranged, with little randomness; in addition to critters, players also swipe various foods in the store to enhance the pieces; and, in the unique "Arena Mode", you have no time limit on your operation - the player is facing the projection of the player who has played the game in this round. You can stay between the wheels for any time.
In addition, in addition to Steam, App Store and Android platforms, you can even start the game directly on a web terminal connected to itch.io, as long as you register an account, your data will be saved and interoperable with other platforms. Although there is no Chinese at present, the content of the game is simple and easy to understand, and you can get started quickly even without reading the instructions.
This means that you can open a web page in the office, form a group of pieces when you are idle, and pause as soon as something happens, without affecting anyone's gaming experience (and office experience) – so I say, this is a good piece of work for self-propelled chess to return to the "fish track".
In addition, although the game has in-app purchase bonus content, you can unlock new pieces, but the setting of free players and lesson players will not be lined up together, which is very friendly.
However, even with such a simplified self-propelled chess, there are still many routines. In forums, Tieba and video sites, you can already see a lot of "operational experience" and "chicken eating lineup"
"Small Animals Self-Propelled Chess" is not complicated, and there are not many feasible combinations, and it is foreseeable to be quickly studied thoroughly. However, I chose not to look at these strategies: the joy of the chess pieces ascending to the stars, the joy of forming bonds, and more importantly, the joy of leisure—these are the pure experiences I hope to find in this sketch game, derived from the original self-propelled chess.
When I saw my reindeer die many times and called out several buses; which had turned into flies again, were marred by turkeys, and attacked countless times, I laughed out loud in a game of self-propelled chess for a long time.
Of course, for a player who has only just tasted it, a game like this may not last more than 3 days, but it offers a possibility and will leave the moment of laughter in the game memory.
Looking back at the self-propelled chess, which is almost exhausted by slash-and-burn people. After the long war between the big factories and small workshops, there may be some unexplored possibilities in this land where the smoke has dissipated.
Anyway, thanks to "Little Animals Walking Chess" and the short pleasure of touching fish it brings.