Text / mobile game that little thing rum
Recently, the new work "New Moon Companion" created by the Candle Pay Network finally opened the first round of "orange-level testing".
Hearing this name, some friends who may pay attention to the new products of the second tour will not feel strange. As early as last November, the candle salary network released the first PV of "New Moon Companion", which at that time attracted a lot of attention in the entire Eryou circle with its novel supernatural containment theme, the integration of Cantonese culture and the high-quality art performance full of style, and the current PV playback on station B has exceeded one million.
In mid-March this year, the candlestick network once again released a real demonstration PV. In addition to the actual combat gameplay demonstration, the most impressive thing is the targeted teaser copy for the next episode in the PV. This can be said to be an outstanding effect in the second-game player group, and a large number of players call them insiders. In less than half a month, the PV playback exceeded 117w.
Although the team currently has no other works to refer to, we have also mentioned in the previous article: this studio located in Nanshan, Shenzhen is actually a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Yihai Interactive Entertainment, which was previously responsible for the operation of the meat pigeon game "Neon Abyss: Infinite", and launched the national style strategy mobile game "No Regrets Huaxia" in March last year, the game has been downloaded close to 1.5 million on the TapTap platform, and it also rode the east wind of the anniversary celebration earlier. At one point, it returned to the TOP30 of the free list.
Now that "New Moon Companion" has finally undergone its first "orange-level test", we can also get a glimpse of the color of this second-game product that has attracted much attention.
Judging from the current player feedback and test performance, although "New Moon Companion" still follows the general framework of the traditional second game in terms of overall plot interpretation and combat gameplay, it has created its own unique "two-dimensional weird talk" experience in terms of theme interpretation and core gameplay design.
01
The collision of surreal shelter and Cantonese culture
I believe that friends who have watched the promotional PV of "New Moon Companions" will be deeply impressed by the supernatural containment and Cantonese cultural content presented in the video. Let's follow the plot of the game to talk about the interpretation and treatment of "New Moon Companion" on these two elements.
At the beginning of the game, the player will be brought into the perspective of the protagonist who has lost his memory for various reasons, and in the initial information dialogue, the protagonist will receive a large number of unfamiliar noun concepts, triggering the player's reverie.
As the story progresses, players will gradually learn that there are supernatural beings called "superbodies" in this world. In the face of this creature, humans created the Supernatural Authority to cope and shelter, and the protagonist himself is a team leader affiliated with the Supernatural Authority.
In order to create this conceptual element, the Candle Pay Network pits players against an oppressive superentity early in the game: the Remnant King. As soon as the remnant king appeared, it caused gravitational disorder and the collapse of the facility, which also highlighted the unknown and mysterious sense of supernatural creatures, and also highlighted the danger and magic of the supernatural world.
In addition, we can also reflect the concept of supernatural containment in the overall character design of the game. For example, the protagonist group has a weapon similar to a pistol, but the chamber is not a lethal bullet but a graduated restraint belt, which also fits the concept of "containment" in the setting.
As the plot develops, after the player moves to the city "Nanting", which is obviously based on Guangzhou, the strong cultural atmosphere of Cantonese comes to the fore. In the Southern Court, players can not only see the towers that pay tribute to Guangzhou's small man's waist, but also see fresh supermarkets, electronic cities, and construction sites full of market flavor. As the protagonist travels through the urban village, you can even hear familiar Cantonese in the corridors.
Correspondingly, after coming to Nanting, the player's battle object has also changed from sheltering supernatural creatures to solving provocations in the construction site (there are still confrontations with supernatural creatures in the subsequent plot).
It can be seen that the candle pay network also has its own ideas in the comparison of the settings of the early elements of the game. Fighting with superentities in the lunar scientific research facility, and then fighting with street skaters in the smoke-filled Nanting Tingzhong, this sense of contrast with the city atmosphere brings a novel play experience.
The candle pay network blends supernatural containment elements that are divorced from reality with extremely down-to-earth elements of urban life, on the one hand, because the theme itself is fresh enough to attract players to try; On the other hand, this concept of supernatural containment and strange talk similar to the SCP Foundation is an imported culture, which does not have a broad enough mass base in China, and organically combining it with the local Cantonese culture can make it more acceptable to domestic players.
On the whole, the stage completion of the "two-dimensional strange talk" of "New Moon Companion" can be said to be remarkable. The theme of supernatural containment is also quite a fresh attempt in the second tour market, and the candle salary network has also carried out a certain local neutralization by joining Cantonese culture. In terms of specific details, the candle salary network has also achieved "supernatural containment" and "Cantonese elements", both of which are full and balanced, and they are also quite outstanding in the performance.
02
A hardcore card RPG that can run groups
In addition to boldly testing the theme of containment in the subject matter, Candlepay Network has also come up with new content in terms of gameplay. Although the overall gameplay framework is still a traditional card strategy RPG, in terms of strategy, candle pay is not treated as lightly as similar second games, but has made a lot of additions. At the same time, Candlepay also added the trait detection gameplay of similar running groups in the plot exploration link to further differentiate the game experience.
Similar to similar card games, players need to recruit agents and develop enhancements, and match a reasonable lineup to clear the level. In addition to paying attention to the classic attribute restraint and character positioning of traditional card RPGs, players also need to pay attention to the position of the characters.
In battle, players have a total of four positions to assign. The middle two positions can have a wider attack range, but they will also be more vulnerable to enemy attacks; Although the positions on both sides are more secure, the targets that can be attacked are relatively limited. How to assign effective positions to character characteristics has become an important strategy for the game.
(Character location and attack range)
During battles, players also have to allocate battle resources from a global perspective. There are often two or three battles in each level, but after each battle, the character's status and skill cooldown are carried over to the next battle. That said, even if the battle is already won, players need to consider how to stay in relatively good shape for the rest of the battle.
(After entering a new round of battles, the character's HP is not satisfied, and the skills are still on CD)
In addition to the combat aspect, the Candlepay Network has also added a bit of "character Easter eggs" to the puzzle section of the story. Players can interact with objects and characters in most story exploration scenarios, but not always successful. To increase the success rate, players need to bring agents with the appropriate specialty traits and perform trait tests.
For example, when the player is questioned by Shixi's ability, he can gain recognition by competing in grip strength, and this requires the player to carry a character with enough physical characteristics to complete; And when players need to rummage through the trash heap for supplies, in addition to physical strength, players also need to detect intelligence traits to accurately find hidden materials.
This trait detection gameplay, similar to running groups or DND board games, promotes player interaction with scenes and characters, and combines with the plot performance to enhance the sense of substitution and immersion of the game, and also enrich the player experience.
On the whole, "New Moon Companion" is also fresh enough in terms of gameplay. Compared with the relatively hardcore of similar products, the interaction of multiple strategy points makes "New Moon Companion" a deeper strategic. The gameplay that combines the trait detection mechanism of the running group in the plot part also allows the gameplay and character plot to be further coupled. The two innovative points of being able to run the group and the deep combat also differentiate the overall gameplay experience of "Companion to the New Moon".
03
Will this year be a "two-dimensional" year?
Overall, "New Moon Companion" showed good completion in the first test. In terms of subject matter, the combination of supernatural containment + Canton culture is novel and interesting enough, retaining turn-based deep strategy elements in gameplay, while also combining running group gameplay to make innovative content.
In terms of artistic performance, "New Moon Companion" also handed over an extremely good answer sheet with its own stylized design, excellent plot performance, and cross-shoulder combat perspective.
It can be said that "New Moon Companion" is refreshing in all aspects and has potential visible to the naked eye. But what is expected is that the second tour track can now be described as "a hundred schools of thought". Not to mention that high-profile masterpieces such as "Ming Tide" and "Star Dome Railway" are poised to launch, there are also products that have been made public but have not yet been officially launched in the field of similar supernatural weird tales and national style themes.
However, with so many games opening at the same time, in terms of results, the probability is still a trapped beast fight in which only a few people win. But no matter who the winner is, the surprises brought in the process of deciding the winner are enough to look forward to.