introduction
An important feature of art is that it enables participants to feel the resonance of emotions. Video games, known as the ninth art. In recent years, video games such as DOTA2 and LOL have been selected for the 2022 Asian Games as one of the competition items, and then the LOL Chinese e-sports team EDG won the championship in the World Series 3:2, and the game art led by video games in the mainland began to rise.
Why can games be used as an art form? The viewing of the game screen is one reason, and the player's emotional investment and access to "timely feedback" are more important reasons. On the basis of timely, games with advanced emotional feedback such as stimulation and cool points are only shooting games. In the shooter game, players can get timely feedback by aiming and killing enemies. In addition, as players continue to explore the game, they gradually understand the world view of the game, and can deeply appreciate the emotions of the characters in the game and achieve resonance with it. Back in the FC era, shooters had a place in the gaming world.
The shape of the terminal has changed, shooting games have a new carrier, and casual shooting mobile games have gradually entered the public eye. The carrier of the mobile terminal breaks the shackles of time and space, and players can play games anytime and anywhere. Casual shooters can be traced back to REANIX's Bobble Shooter in 2010, and later, there were also releases of products such as Archery Tournament and Shooting World-Gun Fire, but the market response was not high.
In December 2019, the door to the market was SaidGames's "Johnny Trigger", which broke into the public eye like a dark horse and brought new life to casual shooters. By January 2020, Johnny Trigger had 44.5 million downloads worldwide, topping the 12-country download charts, making it the highest number of Google Play downloads and total downloads in January. The United States, the game's largest market, contributed 16.1% of downloads, followed by India with 10.5%.
As of October 2020, Johnny Trigger has received more than 100 million downloads and more than 10 million in-app purchases, and has become one of the pillars of Traffic for SayGames.
So, how did Johnny Trigger do it?
Breaking the game: grasp the commonality and innovate again
From the perspective of game design, casual shooter games generally have some commonalities, that is, simplifying shooting operations to ensure the basic traffic pool, sufficient operation feedback and a pleasant game atmosphere allow players to obtain the greatest positive feedback, and amplify the coolness of the game. The rich peripheral system enhances the player's exploration space, ensuring the player experience while ensuring the monetization of advertising. A single cohesive theme makes all the shooting interactions reasonable, the game content becomes cohesive, and the player's sense of immersion is more sufficient.
First, in the refinement of the theme. "Johnny Trigger" creates an atmosphere in which sharpshooter agents shoot enemies by intensifying slow motion, time stands still, and bullet time highlights shooting feedback.
Second, a rich peripheral system. In addition to the basic settings and paid de-advertising system, the peripheral system of ultra-casual action shooting has a rich skin system, gun system, and mission system. Simple skins can be obtained by watching advertisements or spending gold, but the gun system and shooting environment related to shooting feedback are generally linked to the progress of the game, which is used to update the shooting feedback when the player is aesthetically tired, increase the player's freshness, and maintain the coolness of the shooting feedback. There are hundreds of weapons and character skins in Johnny Trigger, and the Gun Shop is integrated into the game clearance process, popping up every few levels, players can change guns and skins when they are bored with the experience, and the game background will change as the game progresses. The mission system is closely linked to other systems, providing players with not only phased goals, but also enhancing the player's sense of mission and the sense of mission to complete the task.
Third, another point that maintains a sense of coolness is the change and increase of the elements of the clearance. When the ultra-casual action shooter is completed, the background elements affecting the clearance will gradually increase, and the explosive fuel tank, the collapsible wooden box, the steel frame that will cause bullets to bounce, etc. will be gradually added during the clearance process, and the simulation environment of TPS/FPS will be replaced by some simple background environment.
Finally, innovation on the basis of commonality. Compared with previous casual shooters, "Johnny Trigger" is not special in terms of single-player mode, combat themes, ultra-casual shooting gameplay, etc. in the game, and the shadows of many casual shooter games can be found. However, in addition to the commonalities of casual shooters, the combination of these gameplay and innovation again is the reason for the success of this game.
Casual shooter games have been tried by many manufacturers, the market is still lacking in the market can stand on the heel of casual shooters, why does "Johnny Trigger" appear in the public eye at this time? Because this dilemma needs a new game to break, and it happens to be the breaker.
Dilemma: Features of casual shooting games
advantage
Casual shooting games can quickly attract shooting enthusiasts, and there is a large audience in the casual shooting market. This winner-take-all category, after success in a single market, even if it is taken and placed in other markets, still works.
pain point
Definition of shooting game: Shooting game is a "shooting action" game that uses firearms, vehicles and other tools to complete, collectively referred to as action games, but only through the "shooting" channel to complete the goal. According to the player's [need to plan the shooting route] is divided into light shooting and puzzle shooting. Among them, in the light shooting game, the player needs to grasp the timing, aim, shoot and a series of actions, but does not need to plan and design the route; puzzle shooting and vice versa and there is no time limit. According to [visual], it is divided into two categories, namely first person (FPS) and third person (TPS). In the first person, the mouse is an extension of the machine gun, the player has a strong sense of presence, and the visual impact enhances the initiative and authenticity of the game; in the third person, the player can see his body in the game screen, highlighting the embodiment of the shooting action.
Pain points are closely related to the characteristics of casual shooting games, casual shooting games mainly have Bobble Shooter, bullet screen shooting, target shooting, simplified FPS shooting, shooting blocks, puzzle shooting and other categories, for a single game experience, players will be bored because of a single gameplay. Casual shooting mobile games are different from terminal shooter games, which need to meet the player's cool demands under the premise of lightness. Secondly, in casual shooter games, players need to perform a series of actions such as timing, aiming, shooting, etc., and the operating rules cannot distinguish between games. The pain point is how to create more fun points under the premise of established operating rules and mildness. If the game can't bring more fun points to the player, it will not attract the first wave of players to experience, and the retention after the experience will be poor.
Looking back at the market size of the shooting category, it is not difficult to find that the existing user scale is very large, so what manufacturers need to solve is whether they can bring players a new and interesting experience in terms of gameplay.
There is a demand for this category in the market, and the casual shooting market lacks products that can cater to the user's hi-point, and existing games can no longer do this, which requires a new game to complete this step.
This explains why Johnny Trigger appeared in the public eye at this time and received a high response around the world, because there is no precedent for a game with a super casual single-player playthrough combat theme like Johnny Trigger. This is a lack of casual shooters in the market, so it can be the first to emerge in this blue ocean.
Source: Game Working Committee, Pacific Securities Research Institute
Current situation: The current situation of fierce competition within the track
The data of "Johnny Trigger" has undoubtedly attracted the attention of many head ultra-casual manufacturers, a large number of manufacturers poured into this track, low entry barriers, strong replicability and other issues led to the explosion of products in number, such as "Hunter Assassin", "Hitmasters", "Knock'em All", "NERF Epic Pranks!" and a series of explosive ultra-casual shooters have been born.
There are so many competitors, if you want to break through, you must either innovate the gameplay or compete with things other than the gameplay, such as themes, art, forms of expression, details, etc. to make characteristics.
Innovative gameplay
In terms of gameplay, there are first-person and third-person shooting modes, and the core gameplay is mainly light shooting, puzzle shooting and action shooting. Action shooters have undergone continuous deepening, and the gameplay has become more and more subdivided, such as knock'em All, double-player "Archery King", multiplayer "Arrow.io" and endless mode "Flip the Gun-Simulator Game".
In addition to subdivision, the integration of traditional casual shooting gameplay with other types of gameplay is becoming more and more frequent, and the mixed gameplay of "shooting + X" such as shooting + Roguelike, shooting + Arcade, shooting + simulation continues to appear, which has injected a source of power into the development of the casual shooting game market.
Shoot + Roguelike
Simplify movement and attack operations and add a Roguelike element (restart the game every time you die, the gameplay is random, and the game experience changes with each round) to ensure that the game is playable.
rules
Select a role
Explore the map/dungeon
Kill the target, do not need to control the angle, move the main character to the shooting range to complete the shooting by yourself
Get rewarded
Representative game: Legend of the Bow and Arrow
Shooting + Arcade
Arcade ganes refers to a game that is simple to play, easy to use and addictive, and often tests the player's reaction.
rules
Angles need to be considered
Prevented from being hit by enemy bullets
The enemy's bullets end as soon as they hit
Speed needs to be considered
Representative game: Johnny Trigger
The Legend of the Bow and Arrow
《Johnny Trigger》
The subject matter is becoming more and more abundant
On the important elements of the game, in addition to the gameplay of the playability, is the game theme, the theme elements will affect the overall style of the game, the audience, therefore, is also the key point for manufacturers to do innovation, the following lists several types of popular themes (scenes / objects).
Events (Shooting Targets/Objects)
Features: A sport in which a gun is used to shoot at various pre-set targets to calculate the performance with hit accuracy. Mainly to imitate the archery or gun competition in sports matches, in the game players need to aim at the target through the scope and try to shoot the bullseye.
Representative Games: VR Archery Master 3D: Shooting Games
Combat (People/Weaponry)
Features: Use shooting tools such as guns or arrows to kill enemies in the combat environment
Representative games: Archer Hero 3D
Hunting (prey)
Features: Shoot prey outdoors
Representative game: Arjuna-Archer Epic Story
Abstract objects
Features: Use abstract objects for shooting action, including Bubble Shooter, bullet screen shooting, etc
Representative Games: VR Archery Master 3D: Shooting Games
Diverse painting styles
In terms of painting style, manufacturers have tried in 2D concise, 3D concise, 2D cartoon, 3D cartoon, 3D realism, Lowpoly and other painting styles, and enhanced the competitiveness of products through the differentiation of visual recognition.
2D simplicity
Representative game: Flip The Pistol
3D simplicity
Representative game: Knock'em All
2D cartoon
Representative games: Hitmasters
3D cartoon
Representative game: 3D Sling
3D realism
Representative game: Archery Go-Bow & Arrow King
Lowpoly
Representative game: Ball Blast
Looking at the products in the current game, from light shooting, to the subdivision of puzzle shooting, action shooting, and then to the integration of various gameplay today, the gameplay of casual shooting games is indeed becoming more and more subdivided. Themes and art styles outside of gameplay are also diverse.
A hundred flowers compete, a hundred schools of thought compete, the competition is fierce, the products are gradually high-quality, this is the current situation of the leisure shooting category, then, what is the future of this category?
Coming: Second half of the casual shooting class
Casual shooting mobile games were born in 2010, after 8 years of development, they gradually became hot in 2018 and began to break out in 2019. After several years of precipitation, it seems to be an old category.
Nowadays, this category has already opened the curtain of the second half, in the category of deep ploughing in the market, players after round after round of product baptism, the requirements for game quality continue to improve, in the blue ocean market, theme segmentation, gameplay innovation, category integration is the direction that various manufacturers are trying.
Why do major manufacturers keep an eye on this category? The answer is simple because there is a lot of market space.
In the 2021 global mobile game TOP100 list gameplay traffic performance, ultra-casual and action games ranked in the top two positions of the list, indicating that the market space for ultra-casual and action categories is huge. Focusing on the IAP performance of action game sub-gameplay in the global market, FPS/TPS occupies an absolute advantage in in-app purchase revenue. In the case of absolute gameplay traffic performance and revenue, the entrants can be described as numerous.
This is evident in the nearly year after Johnny Trigger, which shows the number of casual shooter downloads, Ruby Game Studio, Voodoo, Fun Games For Free, Playgendary Limited, Say Games, HOMAGAMES, Sigma App Labs, 7788-s, SOTEC APPS, Gun Fire Studio ranks in the top ten for these vendors. Among them, Ruby Game Studio has been involved in casual shooters since 2020, releasing a total of 11 games in the past year, of which 3 are casual shooters, accounting for 27%. Hunter Assassin is the head hit shooter from March to September 2020, ranking No. 1, and contributing 77% of traffic to Ruby Game Studio.
Over the past 12 years, the casual shooting category has completed the evolution within the same track, moving from the first half to the second half. Even with a large number of contestants, but the growing market size, the author believes that casual shooters are destined to be a tempting cake, and its future exploration space is unlimited. Some people say that life is like a chess game, those who know the game are born, and those who break the game exist. Not limited to the existing gameplay, continue to cultivate in a new direction, the next game breaker will not be too far away!