Like all fashion trends, player preferences for gaming categories always seem to be playing a historical cycle. One of the most recent categories to return to the spotlight may be fighting games.
From "DNF Mobile Game" in South Korea to "Party Star" that swept the multinational free list, the Renaissance of fighting games is particularly dazzling in the spring of 2022. And now, another heavyweight product is about to debut.
On April 29, the two-dimensional fighting game "Time Hunter 3", developed by Yinhan Games and published by Bilibili, officially opened the pre-registration of the iOS platform. According to the app store page information, the game may be launched around June 29. At the same time, the game's online reservation volume also exceeded the 5 million mark. Under the high-quality fighting experience and IP-based two-dimensional packaging, the original niche horizontal fighting game seems to be carrying the ambition of Station B to continuously expand the boundaries of the two-dimensional category.
Official promotional video
There is no 2 generation behind it: fighting is the soul
Nowadays, when it comes to fighting games, most people's first reaction is mostly the three mountains of fighting games: Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and DNF. However, if you go back ten years ago, the popularity of "Time Hunter" in China at that time was no less than that of these three mountains from neighboring Japan and South Korea.
Player live demonstration
In 2012, smart phones are still in the popularization period, not to mention the development of mobile games, and even the 4G network licenses of the three major domestic telecom operators were officially issued a year later. But it is also the year when domestic mobile games are still in the barbaric era, Silver Han Network brought a 2D horizontal version of the fighting mobile game "Time and Space Hunter".
2D Pixel Wind's Time Hunter
At that time, for the domestic mobile game players who had just bid farewell to java games, this game with happy fighting and cool visual effects almost redefined their cognition of mobile games, and the grand situation of the crowded alleys also achieved the milestone of "Time and Space Hunter" in China to achieve a monthly flow of more than 10 million, more than 50 million or even over 100 million. Ten years later, this game is still updating and operating, creating a small miracle of long-term operation of domestic mobile games.
However, in this decade, players have not waited for "Time Hunter 2", until the birth of "Time Hunter 3" two years ago, players did not know that the original 2 generations have been stillborn. In the official release of the "Development Diary", there was finally a positive response to this: the planned 2nd generation is an MMOARPG product, but because the quality has not met the internal requirements, and finally suspended research and development. After that, Silver Man firmly chose to return to the horizontal version of the action gameplay in the 3rd generation.
Of course, like a generation of self-developed game engines that took three years to adapt to low-performance Android machines, Time Hunter 3 has become the best show for Silver Han's technical strength. From the beginning, the cool visual performance created in full 3D has become the key to the countless fans of "Time Hunter 3". Compared with the first generation, the full shift to the two-dimensional style allows "Time Hunter 3" to open a door that has not been opened by three mountains - the thriving two-dimensional group.
Two-dimensional + fighting: fun and good-looking can not be less
According to the original plan, "Time Hunter 3" has a completely independent new story and characters, but due to the old fans' call for the "reproduction" of the 1st generation of characters, the official finally chose to reproduce the popular characters in the 1st generation in the 3rd generation in the way of "tribute + innovation", these characters with new images inherited the code name of the "predecessors", but in the art style has been "judged as two".
For example, "Catwoman", who is known for her cuteness, although the standing painting in the first generation has a classic two-dimensional flavor, but in the third generation, it is not only replaced with a more suitable for the wasteland element, but the concentration of the two-dimensional element has been further improved. In particular, a pair of huge cat eyes worn on the head form a highly recognizable character label.
In addition to being close to the two-dimensional players on the standing painting, in the "Development Diary", the official also revealed a lot of gameplay optimizations for the two-dimensional players. For example, in the acquisition of cultivation resources, a copy design with a lower liver degree is adopted, and a customs clearance can obtain benefits in the subsequent way of hanging up the machine to brush the cost, reducing the difficulty of cultivation.
At the same time, in terms of kryptonite, the game also retains a first-generation auction house system with a high degree of freedom, ensuring that most of the resources can be obtained through in-game brushing and transactions, avoiding becoming a kryptonite game.
However, that doesn't mean Time Hunter 3 abandons the hardcore experience of fighting games. For example, in every previous test, the optimization of the "Ladder Race" has always been the focus of players and development teams.
The popular two-dimensional ARPG games often use asymmetrical design, that is, the player-controlled characters have completely different ways of acting and numerical attributes from the computer-controlled bosses, and the overall experience is more similar to "brushing the book". The biggest charm of the fighting game lies in the fair symmetrical game between the enemy and us, which also makes the moves between the masters often depend on whether the combo operation between the moments is fast and smooth.
Offline arcade confrontation is easy to create this level playing field, but once it becomes an online player duel like the ladder game of "Time Hunter 3", the network environment, hardware differences, etc. will become objective factors affecting the real-time feedback of moves. To this end, from performance optimization to weak net protection, the R&D team has been working hard to improve the stability and fluency of the ladder race. With the technical blessing of Yinhan, the competitive charm of fighting games has also been fully released.
As for the combat special effects and the sense of blows, it is even more needless to worry. Due to its cyberpunk wasteland sci-fi style in its worldview, Time Hunter 3 also uses higher-saturated colors and more artificial light sources in its overall tone. What comes with this is the gorgeous combat special effects and feedback of the "light pollution" level.
In past tests, the R&D team also pays great attention to collecting feedback from players, so it has been continuously optimizing combat performance in terms of sound, visual effects, interaction, etc., to achieve a more textured fighting experience.
Overall, as a relatively rare two-dimensional fighting game on the market, "Time Hunter 3" takes into account the aesthetic preferences and game habits of two-dimensional players on the basis of retaining the hardcore gameplay of fighting games, so that the product itself has achieved a wider audience coverage in the Z generation group. And now can achieve more than 5 million full-platform reservation volume, in addition to the highlights of the product side itself, B station efforts on the distribution side of the natural contribution.
IP rejuvenation and product diversification in both directions
It is worth noting that the high-achieving "Time Hunter" 1st generation product is self-developed and spontaneous by Silver Han Games, which also makes the distribution rights of "Time Hunter 3" more and more concerned by the outside world. To get this highly sought after star IP product from the hands of the original factory, it is conceivable that in addition to financial resources, the resource advantage of B station on the two-dimensional community is also an important reason why Yinhan finally held hands with B station.
At present, the official account of "Time Hunter 3" on Station B has more than 600,000 fans, and the number of pre-booked open video views released in mid-February has exceeded 1.4 million times. On the one hand, these numbers reflect the popularity of "Space Hunter 3" in the Z generation group with young IP, and on the other hand, they also show the efforts made by B Station to create momentum for "Space Hunter 3" in community operation.
In fact, in the past two years, through the official account of Station B, the operation team has released more than 30 videos and more than 40 column articles, covering many fields such as planning Q&A, game gossip, and novice guidance. These irregular content updates ensure the high-frequency exposure of Time Hunter 3, and also provide a platform for players and development teams to communicate directly. For example, an important part of the "Development Diary" is to provide centralized feedback on the questions raised by players, and "Meow Sauce", as the operator, will also interact with players through bullet screens in video content from time to time.
Through these prior operational efforts, in the testing stage, "Time Hunter 3" successfully established a player community on the B station, which is crucial for the long-term operation of the two-dimensional game. For Station B, after the successful experience of exclusive agents "FGO", "Princess Link" and "Original God" (exclusive intermodal), it is also very necessary to further expand its own product matrix and continuously broaden the secondary track. "Time Hunter 3" with excellent quality, high IP quality and unique gameplay is undoubtedly very much in line with the strategic demands of Station B.
Therefore, "Space-Time Hunter 3" seeking IP rejuvenation and Station B, which seeks product diversification, have completed a two-way rush to take each other's needs. The former achieves a seamless connection with Gen Z through the latter platform, while the latter also continuously improves its multiple advantages in the matrix of two-dimensional games through the former.
In fact, this also provides a new way to break the game for more products that are still in the niche track: the second dimension that is highly sought after by Generation Z can not only provide a window for the niche category to contact young people, but also its own inclusiveness can also be well aligned with various gameplay. Taking "Time Hunter 3" as the starting point, in the future, perhaps we will also see B station more beneficial exploration in the diversification of secondary products, and bring greater surprises to the market.
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